Closed Of Campfires and Combat[Sayana]

[Clyde Sullins]

26 Spring 517- Evening

After a long day of travel in the wilds Clyde was ready for a rest.

He wasn't used to riding a horse, and so when the party came to a stop he nearly fell off the front of it.

Carefully he dismounted, eying the ground and trying to figure out the best way to go about it.

Eventually he settled on an odd sidled hop, putting both feet on one side of the horse and holding out Cha before slipping off the shot gap to the ground. With his long legs this was perhaps a shorter distance than for some, but he still felt the jarring of the impact as he landed.

Perhaps from the way he had landed, perhaps from sitting on a horse all day, regardless of why when he landed his knees gave out and he crumpled to the ground, propped up from falling flat on his face by Cha still held in his grip.

Done with the ordeal of getting off a horse, Clyde set out for his task of helping make camp for the day. Someone else had already scouted out their campsite, and his job had been to prepare a campfire.

Of course before that he had to find wood for the fire, walking about close by their campsite and finding various bits of dead wood. A few medium sized logs would do well once the fire got going, so he dragged these back. Along with that were various largish branches and sticks of wood, on down to some twigs and tinier bits. Lastly was some leaves and dried grass, dried out well from the sun due to the lack of a winter coming.

Once all of that had been collected and set up he set about preparing the fire, one of the few things he could do properly and mundanely, at least most of the time. His prep work done with gathering the needed ingredients he set about putting them together and getting the fire going.

Using a few smallish twigs he set up a small tent of crossing wood, wide enough to allow him access and to let air in. Sweating from his exertions by this point Clyde put down a small bed of easily combustible grass and leaves beneath the tent.

Lastly he took out his flint and steel and stooping over the fire to block any stray wind he struck, sending sparks into the tinder he'd prepared with some degree of precision. Most, perhaps more than half, of the sparks landed on target. A few even caught flame.

Still blocking the child flame with his body Clyde breathed life into it with a gentle blow of air, watching as bits caught on fire and slowly spread. Quickly growing Clyde fed the child of flame more, adding in more combustibles like leaves and grass till a few twigs and bits of wood caught aflame.

After that it was simply a process of adding larger and larger bits of wood to the fire, building it up and out, until by the time the others had returned he had a fire going at a good pace, burning warmly in preparation of preparing dinner.

Satisfied by his managing to do so without using magic, Clyde rolled back from the flames to take a seat on one of the logs he'd dragged over, enjoying his fire for the moment while he waited for the others to arrive, Cha still as ever in his hand.

[Sayana]

It was the first night actually out in the woods. Sayana had picked out a spot with reasonably high ground and enough of a cleared area so they wouldn’t be fighting branches just to get from the tent to the fire pit. She had asked Clyde to take care of the fire while she unsaddled the horses and set up the tent.

Many hands make light work. Many of her hands, that is. After setting up camp once before upon arriving on the mainland, her hands worked with reasonable efficiency as she set aside the food and cooking items near the proposed fire pit, and got to work unrolling the tent and associated ropes. She hammered in pegs with the back of an axe and configured the light wooden poles to support the fabric of the tent. As she held the frame in place with her mid and low hands, she used her highs to tie lengths of rope to some nearby trees for additional support.

Before setting out on the journey, the Eypharian had advised against bedding with too much padding. It would only weigh the horses down and as long as they had blankets, it would be largely unnecessary if she could find suitable material to compensate within the forest. Once the tent was set up and secure, she set off looking for vegetation that could provide some suitable comfort.

After scanning the area, she spied upon some tall evergreens but with large drooping branches. They seemed to practically shelter the ground beneath and they were covered with thick interwoven pine needles which fanned out with the branch. Finding an easy to reach place where the wood wasn’t too thick, she swung the axe several times against the branch. It cracked with the strain, and with another swing she managed to break it off from the rest of the tree.

This was by far the largest branch she would need, and she dragged it over to the tent for it to form the base of the bedding, careful that the wood was not about to dig into someone as they slept. She found several more smaller branches with similar dense needles to lay over top. Lastly, she added dried leaves to soften everything out and carefully arranged the blankets to completely cover the ‘mattress’.

Her handiwork done, she joined Clyde by the fire he had started. The Eypharian let out a long contented sigh. It had been quite the day of travel and her legs were stiff from all the riding. She half sprawled on the log and enjoyed the warmth from the fire as the evening temperature cooled.

She planned to cook some fish. Again. It had been the meal for several days now, since the salted fish had been able to keep and she hadn’t yet started hunting on the mainland. Fish had also been something that the island of Sahova could actually provide. Milk and cheese had been out of the question, since never had she seen a single cow or goat while on the undead isle. So their choice of food was ‘boring’ to say the least.

Sayana was about to start with the dinner preparations when her gaze fell to the dagger at Clyde’s side. She had noticed it before. He had started wearing it around the time they set off for the fallen star. But of all the things he wore, it seemed most out of place. Not once had she seen his hand stray tenderly towards the hilt, or suddenly, out of reflex. Whereas often she might rest a low hand on one of the many daggers that she carried, and she always maintained at least six strapped to her belt. In contrast, the mage would always be holding Cha, his blue staff. He was almost never seen without her. Even during sex, Sayana found that she was subtly trying to encourage him to part with the staff, if only for a few chimes.

“Clyde, have you ever even used that? Your dagger?” Sayana asked rather bluntly as she pointed with a high hand to the sheathed weapon.

Not waiting too long for a reply, she got up to unpack the food and cookware she would need. The fish and dried travel rations were pretty self-explanatory. She also retrieved a pan and a flipping utensil.

[Clyde Sullins]

Resting after his work was done for the moment, Clyde only noticed as she spoke that Sayana had returned. In the meantime, she'd also done a good bit of work to set up camp around him. Focused on his task as he had been he'd not noticed her actions.

Taking a moment to recall what she meant, Clyde stared down at the magic dagger on his hip. How it was magical he wasn't completely sure, though he knew it was. Considering the source it likewise seemed likely. He'd not wanted to leave it behind, and had brought it along on the chance it'd be of use.

“This?... No, not really. I've used a dagger once or twice, but not this one. And I suppose in the way you'd think, as in to fight, I've not really used one at all properly. But daggers can be of use in other things, particularly magic. Usually for bleeding. A lot of world magics require bleeding, and it can be useful for an initiation or two. Most Reimancy initiations for instance involve it.”

Peering down at his blade, Clyde unsheathed it for a moment, looking at its odd appearance and material. Even while sheathed it was distinctive, though once drawn even more so. People were likely to start thinking he had an interest in oddly colored weapons, though he'd not chosen this one himself like he had some of the others.

“I know you've skill with a few weapons. I'm not sure which all you use. Me myself, I've not learned to fight much with mundane measures besides using a staff. Even before I made Cha I had another which I kept for quite some time.”

Not feeling like going further into the history of said past staff, due mostly to the negative memories it dug up, Clyde re-sheathed the dagger and turned back to Sayana to see if she had a further question besides questioning his prowess with the weapons he carried.

[Sayana]

His answer was mostly expected, yet still puzzling to her. It was hard to imagine having a weapon at all times but not knowing how to use it. Of course, she had a couple of her own weapons bought on a whim that she had next to no skill in, but they weren’t the ones she carried at her hip.

Continuing with her cooking preparation, she set the fish into the pan and dripped a tiny dollop of precious oil. At his mention of world magic, she gave a nod and looked up from her work. “Like how for summoning you needed blood?”

When he pulled out the blade completely, it brought about her full attention. It was definitely a blue blade, not something she had seen before. And immediately she started wondering what it felt like to hold, the balance, the weight, the amount of force needed for a quick flick or twist…

For several moments she was so absorbed that she nearly missed his next words. She briefly smiled as his comments. The Eypharian hadn’t expected the mage to be very proficient in weapons. His comfort with the dagger had suggested that, and he didn’t carry any others. Well, apart from his staff. Although it was technically new information to her, more because she hadn’t considered the staff a weapon, but it was reasonable that he had learned some techniques with it that were not magical.

“It’s a pretty blade. Both straight and true.” The Eypharian remarked casually. “You seem to have an affinity for the colour blue. Your staff, your dagger, your eyes.” There was a coy smile and a flutter of her own eyes.

She got up from her cooking and approached the mage. With their height difference, she was now about a head taller than the seated mage as she moved behind the log he was sitting on. With her high hands placed upon his shoulders, she bent down and kissed his cheek then whispered, “Daggers, are in fact, my specialty. They are particularly good for close combat.”

A moment later, the cool touch of steel would be felt upon the back of his neck. The naked blade of a dagger which had been subtly drawn during the maneuver. Once the point was made, she lifted it off and gave a hard throw at a nearby tree. After a single spin, the dagger embedded itself into the soft bark and the Eypharian slipped out from behind him to tend to the fire.

“They are also good for clever tricks,” Sayana added as she glanced up at Clyde. “I could teach you a thing or two if you’d like. It’d be a shame for such a pretty dagger to go to waste through lack of use.”

[Clyde Sullins]

More by absent thought and will than a direct conscious effort, Clyde's aura sight latched onto Sayana's aura. Getting a lock onto the person he was conversing with was simple enough and took a minute bit of his attention such that it almost wasn't worth noting.

He knew where she was in proximity to himself, like knowing where your left leg was in relation to the rest of your body, and could see her clearly even without looking at her. It was a basic level of Auristical reading that while difficult for a initiate was as simple as drawing a blade was for a master swordsman. Directed attention and digging in for deeper knowledge would take more than said fragment of awareness, but for his passing needs this level was sufficient.

Of all the time he'd spent examining Sayana's aura he was quite familiar with it, its nuances and tells and shifts. At some level he was aware he was seeing her aura, but at another he wasn't as he was so used to seeing her aura he could almost see it without seeing it. Though not quite.

Nodding Clyde confirmed her thought in relation to his mentioning of blood being used for world magic. He'd forgotten she had seen him use that magic and half thought he'd used a dagger then though wasn't completely sure.

“Yes. Blood has many uses, your own blood especially for linking you to the work of magic in world magic. Its more common than you'd think.”

For the dagger, Clyde simply shrugged, keeping his eyes on the flames he'd made.

“I chose Cha, though not for her color. The coloring of her is but a sign of her material. Not all wood is created equally, especially fine Muran wood. If she'd been another color but more useful, I'd have used that. Somethings desired effect, its use and value, is more important I find than its appearance.”

Clyde's words could be inferred to carry meaning beyond weapons, after all many in Ravok focused on such physical appearance and not on use, effect, and value. Sayana for her odd appearance and extra arms was looked down upon, but it had never really figured into Clyde's appraisal of her. She had other value and use to him, regardless of such petty things. But then he didn't like her despite such things, or because of them. Clyde felt as he did for Sayana simply for her as she was, regardless of such things.

Of course Clyde assumed such things were known to her, and didn't consider the need to state such obvious facts.

If taken the right way though, for his hinting at a deeper truth, the words could be taken as something passing for romantic. Or at least as close as Clyde usually got to such romantics.

He felt her presence in relation to himself through her aura as she approached. Knew the positioning of her arms, the blade she held in her hand, and so was not surprised when he felt the gentle prod of a dagger.

He listened to her words as she approached, but was aware of her and her weapon and knew of its presence. He also knew of her oath, and that he had little to fear of it, especially with that tied in with their relationship. He doubted she'd try to stab him even if not for the oath, though for his trouble with trusting the two did pair nicely to offset such fear of betrayal.

He did however have to turn to watch the dagger as she threw it, while he was focused on her aura he couldn't so easily see things once they left her person. The blade nicely turned in midair to land sticking into a tree.

Clyde rose and turned to face Sayana as she offered to teach him the uses of the dagger, pressing up close to her as he did. Reaching around with his free hand he not so subtly grabbed her rear and roughly pulled her up against him, following up with a long deep kiss. A hungry kiss, hinting at wanting other things besides a kiss.

Breaking from the kiss Clyde smiled at Sayana, the same non-forced smile he often used to show enjoyment and happiness which he could never quite fake. Faking a smile for social effect was something Clyde tried at times but never seemed to get quite right. His real smiles were always as such, lacking any subtlety or deeper motive.

Sayana on the other hand was quite skilled at such social maneuverings and fakings, her smiles being deeply imbibed within a certain layer of guile or the possibility of it.

“Well, I already have a favored method for sticking someone as you know, but I suppose it wouldn't hurt to learn another. But not with this dagger.”

Looking down at the dagger on his belt for a moment, Clyde turned back to Sayana before continuing.

“As I said, I didn't pick this weapon. It was given. And I'm fairly certain it has some amount of magic to it, though I'm not sure in what way or to what effect. But considering that, I'd rather not use it unless I have to, until I find out what it does specifically. If it saves our life that is one thing, and I'd risk using it, that's why I bought it. But otherwise I'm happy to use the more mundane variety of such daggers.”

[Sayana]

Sayana sank into his arms, highs over his shoulders and the rest of her arms wrapping him in a warm embrace. The taste of his lips, delicious and hungry, with very little to keep them from such passions alone in the wilds. Except for the smell of burning fish.

As the mage broke their kiss, Sayana let out a small sound of surprise and stepped quickly towards the pan that had been cooking. She caught a fleeting glance of the mage’s smile before she grabbed the flipper to unstick the fish.

“Work first and then play,” she teased as she tended the fire and evened out the hot coals for the pan to rest upon.

When he mentioned his favoured method of ‘sticking’ someone, her gaze immediately went to his staff. Even though she had rarely seen Cha in action in such a manner, she had certainly not lost the irony of his choice in wording.

“Of all the great mages and aurists, even Clyde Sullins might not know what magic lurks within the confines of that dagger…” Sayana teased again while taking another glance at the weapon in its sheath. It seemed as though the mage was surrounded by a variety of magical implements and that she should stop being surprised when he identified them as such. But she knew better than to go against his choice in caution.

Instead, the Eypharian unbuckled one of her own daggers, a standard foot long dagger good for close combat but not ideal for throwing. Without preamble she tossed the blade in its sheath towards the mage.

“Clyde, catch!”

Getting out her other dagger of similar length, she held it up and drew the blade from its sheath.

“There are two main ways to hold a dagger. You can use an underhand grip like how you might hold a sword. That’s this one here.” She paused to move the dagger from side to side, demonstrating with her mid hand wrapped around the hilt and her thumb resting on top.

“Then there is the overhand grip, like so.” She flipped the dagger around so it was pointed downwards and her thumb upon the pommel. “This one is good for a killing strike to the neck, shoulders or even the heart, but it’s not nearly as flexible as the underhand grip.”

She mimed doing a downwards jabbing motion with the dagger before flipping it around to weave through the air with the first grip.

“And the key with any dagger fighting is to get in close. Intimately close. If your opponent has a sword or spear or anything with range, you can’t do shyke unless you plan to throw it. That is, if you keep your distance. Then they have the advantage of range. But if you can get in close, past their weapon, then they will be the ones fumbling to get a proper stab in whereas you’ll have free range of which body part you’d like to slice up.”

The Eypharian sheathed the blade and gave it a quick twist in her hand checking the balance. “Why don’t you try to get a few strikes in? Sheathed, that is, so you don’t hurt yourself.”

For her part, she held the dagger in an easy grip, underhand, and waited calmly for him to come at her.

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde hadn't been paying attention, and so hadn't noticed that Sayana was cooking, nor that a short distraction might imperil said cooking. He might put some things before others, but he wasn't one to imperil his own food's preparation knowingly.

He simply shrugged at her comment on the dagger, noncommittally.

“I've been rather busy, understandably, since I got it. Perhaps I'll find some time to give it a good inspection auristically speaking, but I've not yet. Though considering the source its questionable what I'll be able to glean...”

Clyde watched as Sayana removed one of her daggers, similar in appearance to the others arrayed about her person. He wasn't expecting her to toss it to him however. Despite it being a slow toss and not a throw he reacted as if it was a weapon being thrown at him, and batted the dagger and sheath out of the air with Cha before it reached him.

Grinning a bit sheepishly afterwards, Clyde picked up the weapon in its sheath from where it had landed on the ground before him, mentally comparing it to his own dagger and that of the odd one he wore.

He listened as she explained the weapons common uses and how to hold it, noting the facts as he did anything else he learned. Clyde was a learner, a studier, and an understander. He never knew enough, and was always interested in learning something new if it was of interest and useful.

With a forlorn glance Clyde set down Cha for a moment, easily within reach but leaving him feeling uncomfortable without her in his hand. But he knew he couldn't learn to use the dagger with her in hand, needing to focus on using the single weapon at a time.

Clyde mimicked the traditional hold for the dagger, blade pointing upward as he usually used it. Then he tried the opposite, with the blade pointing down at the ground. He'd not used it as such before, not that he'd used it in combat.

Copying the motions she made, Clyde practiced her shown strikes, feeling a bit odd but proceeding with the lesson. He didn't try the odd flipping motion however, turning it from one grip to the other, as he didn't feel he'd be able to work that quite yet. Instead he turned it about more slowly within his grip.

Her point on range made sense, something he'd not thought of before. He supposed every weapon did have a given range of use, and a range of vulnerability. A bow was good at a distance, but vulnerable at melee range. A longer melee weapon was good at keeping shorter ones at bay, but within its reach it fell to a shorter weapon like a dagger. And then a dagger was good at said closer range, assuming it could get to said range.

At her order to try a few strikes on her Clyde gave one more glance at Cha before moving slowly forwards toward her with his blade pointing upwards. He tried a quick thrust at her middle, before jumping back at making a slash at her neck. Of course if it did hit it wouldn't do much, being sheathed... Assuming he did hit her, which didn't seem all that likely given her skill compared to his own.

[Sayana]

As the mage thrust towards her, Sayana flipped her dagger to point down, and swung her right mid in an arch, almost like throwing a hooked punch. The result was a muted slapping sound of leather against leather as she forced his strike to the side. He was reasonably quick to jump back, which she gave him credit for, but in the moment that he slashed at her neck, her high hand made a grab for his wrist.

She caught it hard and left the tip of the sheath mere inches from her neck. Then she yanked his arm downwards with the intent to get him off balance before disengaging once more and stepping back.

“Decent first try.” Sayana commented. “Don’t forget that you can use your free hand too. Even if you’re not comfortable holding a dagger in it, you can block, grab or punch someone in the face. This isn’t some elegant noble’s sport like sword fighting.”

“Daggers are far smaller and can be used with surprise. They can do many unique angles too.”

She demonstrated such by starting with an arching slash that came in at an angle. Then at the end of the swing, she had switched her hold to a downward grip, except instead of pointing down her dagger thrust to the side with a backwards swing of her arm. All this was demonstrated a few paces from Clyde instead of right up close.

Then glancing at the dagger at his hip she asked, “So who gave you that dagger?”

If he paused as if to answer, or even began to answer her question, she would utilize the moment to teach a second lesson: surprise. In a moment in which she thought he was not expecting anything, Sayana would dash forwards with her dagger raised and pointed down. With one of her left hands, since she was trying to teach a two handed fighter, she made a grab for his shoulder and with her right mid, she stabbed downwards again and again and again with fierce swiftness. Some of her blows were lessened since this was merely a point to prove, but many were only softened by the leather sheath and could easily leave bruises on his chest.

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde hadn't truly expected his attempt to attack Sayana to work. He hoped he'd get the chance to complete his original series of attacks, but had no hope that'd he'd be able to do more or that either would succeed. He knew his own limits, and knew his skill in this task as compared to Sayana.

His first strike was pushed aside, but as he made his second attack Sayana used a free hand to stop his hand at the wrist. The tip of the sheathed blade stopped inches from landing, most likely exactly as Sayana had planned.

After that she pulled at his arm, nearly making him fall, before releasing and stepping back out of range.

As he pressed upon Sayana's aura he felt... Nothing... Not nothing in the sense that she had no aura, but nothing in the sense of nothing more. Nothing more than the basic things he'd already known. With the time he had spent examining her, he should have been far deeper, and able to tell a good bit more. Instead, as best Clyde could describe, his actions were... Sluggish... His Intent was to understand her, but he felt that at the moment his Intent was weakened akin to how he'd been with Auras long again. Back when he'd been far less skilled...

The only difference between moments ago when he'd easily pressed upon her Aura, and now when he could see the aura but made progress as slowly as a fly sinking into molasses, was that Cha wasn't with him. Once more feeling uncomfortable without the staff in his hand, Clyde couldn't help but wonder if he was truly so dependent on her that he was literally weaker magically without her.

It wasn't something he'd noticed before, but then he'd not really cast magic without her in his hand since he'd started using her. The discovery was an unsettling one.

Using his connection to her, Clyde felt her presence without use of Auristics, but knew where she was in relation to himself as easily as if he was. Knowing his weakness, Clyde gave up on pressing forward into her aura, settling for just seeing Sayana in his aura sight. Even with his weakened Intent that was still simple and easy enough to accomplish.

“I'd rather not punch someone in the face, last thing I need is to break my fingers or something trying to mash in someones face bones. Unlike you I don't have any hands to spare, and I need mine to be in good shape for my work. Most of it anyway...”

Clyde noted Sayana's advice of surprises being useful, a simple and obvious enough statement but still good to bear in mind. As he watched her weapons display Clyde traced the path of the dagger with his eyes, knowing he had no hope of repeating such a thing.

As she finished her display Clyde was surprised by her question, once more delving within his memories of not so long ago that were not so pleasant.

He'd been given the blade as a reward for a trial of sorts, though the particulars were a bit muddled in his mind.

Unexpectedly Sayana rushed forward, coming at him and once more grabbing with a free hand, only to make a repeated stabbing motion at his torso. The first strike hit somewhat painfully, and Clyde did his best to block it as she'd done before by stopping the wrist, putting his own free hand up to try and stop the hand stabbing at him, and using the dagger for a similar effort to stop her. If that didn't work he'd let his legs fall, attempting to tip over backwards, hoping that in his own flopping on the ground and her firm grip on him she'd be pulled along with him and her attack interrupted.

Regardless of if he managed to take her off her feet or not, or to stop the dagger or not, he'd at least be hit several times, several painful times, by the dagger. He'd also at some point manage to drop the blade, ending up with it tossed clear of both of them by several feet, and with him resting on his back unarmed on the ground.

Panting after the exercise, and wincing slightly at the pain of the strikes, Clyde looked up at Sayana.

“It was given... To me... By Silvas, a Druvin, in the well of madness.... Along with... A promotion to commander.”

Clyde pulled at his memories, the word Izar shining in his mind, though he couldn't recall why. He knew it had something to do with that day, but at the moment couldn't quite remember what as it was buried in the confusing memories of the time of his trial.

[Sayana]

The fierceness of her strikes were muted slightly by his attempts. He even managed to grab her wrist for a moment before she wrenched it back and proceeded. However as his legs buckled, they both went down with her on top. By this point, she stopped any further jabbing motions with the sheathed dagger.

“You’re dead. Six times over.”

“But you held my wrist for a moment and you got me here.” She indicated to her forearm of her dagger hand where she had felt a wack during the scuffle.

The Eypharian slowly got to her feet. Her hands had been splayed to soften the fall and she dusted off her arms and dress. She also saw that his dagger was on the ground off to the side, and she noted it critically.

This time she actually listened to his explanation without intervening. The demonstration was over and she was in fact interested.

“A Druvin?” She questioned curiously, and cocked her head to the side. “Commander in Sahova or Ravok?”

Again she would let him explain, even if it was through pants. It would give him enough of a breather before the next lesson. When he was finished, she would continue with an explanation.

“First, fighting dagger against dagger can be deadly. It can be over in a matter of ticks, not like grand flourishes of other weapons and fancy duels. Even someone with little to no skill can be extremely dangerous if they rush in fast and start stabbing like mad. Armour complicates things. You have to go for the neck or the armpits or other weaknesses in the armour. But the problem with daggers is if you rush in really close, you’re also in a lot of danger if they have any close range weapons.”

“What I just did, you could easily mimic if they were unarmed or not quick enough to draw steel, especially if you used the element of surprise. But you might not be so fortunate, and going in with that little finesse might endanger yourself as well.”

“One alternative is to throw a dagger. That’s why I keep so many with me. It means you don’t have to get in as close, but armour might put a damper on that depending on what it was made of. Another alternative I use frequently is to threaten and intimidate. Often I prefer to slip in quickly and make my demands with cold steel against someone’s neck and avoid one or two dead bodies. The second being mine.”

“Let’s have one more go before I show you how to get past a long weapon.” Sayana said. If the second dagger was still on the ground, she would scoop it up in a free left hand and toss it back to the mage.

“One tick, let me check on the fish,” she added as she bent down to flip their dinner in the pan that rested on the hot coals.