Fight:Emrith vs Kaori

This is a Warrior's Guild RP.

Summary: Kaori spars against Emrith to complete her application for Warrior's Guild membership.

Frostmaw: Snowless Training Yard

Kaori steps past the gate and on to the training yard, a little shiver running down her back as the chill of this frigid realm leaves her bones. The four orbs that seem to control and contain the climate here are noted even if she can't discern their magical purpose, reasoning they must have something to do with the lack of snow and bitter cold. Having been told to report here by Lionel days ago, the young girl searches the yard for the sight of him or perhaps another appointed trainer. Kaori stands at most five and a half feet tall with boots, a somewhat slight build for a supposed warrior. Her form is adorned in lamellar armor and a spear rests in her left hand while a curved blade sits in a housing on her hip, likely some kind of small sidearm.

　

Emrith stalks out from behind one of the columns which ring the yard where he had been waiting, boots crunching lightly on the unsullied sand of the arena. He has not only heard Kaori coming, but smelled her; finely tuned senses and a favourable wind saw to that. He moves unhurriedly toward her, a blond elf with two shortswords crossed on his back over a cloak of deepest black. His armour appears to be a mix of boiled leather and ringmail, light and unencumbering, and his own physique appears built not for brute strength but for speed. "There you are," he says to the woman, stopping several feet from her. He bows formally, then straightens, hand to heart. "I am Emrith of house Kohl, a member in good standing of the guild of warriors. If you are here in these remote parts, you have come to prove yourself, I assume?" His voice is quite polite, his thin smile genuine.

　

Kaori fixes her gaze on Emrith as he moves to greet her, a small smile appearing on her face. She bows in return, as is her custom. "Indeed, I was referred to this place by one known as Lionel. I suppose he is not present today, but if you are here in his place than I trust you must be of some equivalent of authority in the warrior guild. I am Kaori, please to meet you Emrith." She straightens and reaffirms the grip upon her spear. "I was told I would receive training. I do have some level of skill and experience, but I'm afraid most would describe me as..." She pauses, biting her lip as she tries to come up with a good word in the common tongue. "...A squire? Or on a level akin to one."

　

Emrith nods politely as Kaori speaks, to indicate that he understands. "I am not Lionel's equal in the guild, but I am a warrior of some repute," Emrith says, choosing not to elaborate further. "And comparable to a squire, are you?" Emrith grins, and when he does, a set of slightly pronounced fangs can be seen. "Some squires are indeed quite skilled, and a spear is a good choice for a weapon, particularly if your hands are quick and you are brave enough to make thrusts in close quarters." Emrith begins to backpedal slowly across the sand as he continues speaking. "Very well. If training is what you wish, training is what you shall have. Traditional combat. I will play no tricks. But beware of this." In one moment, Emrith is gliding slowly backward, increasing the distance between himself and his soon-to-be assailant; in the next, the two shortswords, Heleg and Nahr, are in his hands. Heleg glows blue, Nahr glows red. He flicks his wrists, one after the other, in order to make his point. When he does, Heleg sends off a brief burst of intensely cold air in Kaori's general direction, and an icicle coalesces in midair, falling harmlessly to the sand. A split second later, a burst of sparks spits from Nahr's tip, sizzling balefully for a moment before dissipating. "I am a spell-blade," Emrith calls out, raising his voice a little owing to the greater distance between the pair. "I will not use spells or further enchant the blades, but they are naturally ensorcelled if they should strike. Not all foes are mundane, and not all weapons what they appear. You may attack when ready, Kaori." Emrith bows formally again, and waits to see what will happen next.

　

Kaori seems a bit suspicious when she spies Emrith's pronounced fangs. Vampires were not common in her homeland, but they were quite a few tales of them. Perhaps they are more common place in this realm; the idea heightens the young woman's anxiety and readiness, instinctively gripping her weapon tighter. "It has been my chosen weapon for many years. In my home realm, women more often take to a polearm such as this than a sword, although I am competent with one of those as well." Kaori pauses when Emrith glides backwards and the elemental aspects of his twin blades become quite apparent. Those who mix sword and sorcery were again rare in her home, but quite formidable when they did present themselves. Knowing she has a tough fight ahead of her, Kaori bows and takes a readied stance. "Very well then, Emrith. I'll begin." Narrowing her eyes, Kaori takes a deep breath and sprints toward her appointed foe, her spear held firmly out to keep a safe distance between her and this perhaps vampiric elf. Drawing close upon the spell blade, Kaori sweeps the steep tip of her spear toward the elf's legs with the aim to slash across them just below the knee and hinder his mobility. Planting her feet now, the young woman makes a second strike: shifting her weight into the blow to fully augment its power, Kaori thrusts the weapon out toward Emrith's chest, hopefully with all the strength and technique to pierce the man's formidable armor.

　

Emrith waits motionlessly as Kaori charges toward him; she is fast for a human, and it is only a few scant seconds before she is upon him. His eyes track her spear, and as it swipes toward his legs, Emrith hops backward and drops his left wrist, slashing Nahr across his body in a horizontal parry meant to send the spear out to Kaori's side in precisely the opposite direction in which it had previously been moving. His position is a slightly awkward one, though, and Heleg can manage only an inward slice toward Kaori's spear-arm just below the shoulder. With both arms tucked in partially across his body, elbows nearly meeting on his breastbone, he is ill-prepared to meet Kaori's follow-through thrust at short range with anything but a simple evasive arch backward. Instead of striking his chest, the spear nicks his shoulder as Emrith, leaning backward at a steep angle, gazes up at the sky. From this compromised position, the spell-blade knows that further attacks from that spear will quickly give Kaori the advantage, and so he springs backward, twists to the right and scissors Nahr across his body, attempting to hit the spear itself from underneath. Heleg remains ready in his right hand as Emrith crouches in readiness, his left side now facing the spear-wielding woman, left arm up, right hand near his hip, a hot ribbon of pain scoring his right shoulder. Again, he waits.

　

Kaori did not expect to score a hit on Emrith, however slight. Even so, she refuses to grow arrogant: this man is testing her skill and limits. She has no delusion that he could overwhelm her in little time if he chose to do so. Her spear indeed takes a strike from Nahr and sends it upward awkwardly, forcing Kaori to right the weapon and reassert her control over it. Ordinarily this would leave the girl quite open, but it seems Emrith has chosen not to take advantage. A bit perlexed but trusting that a man far above her skill has his reasons for doing so, Kaori turns to face Emrith with a careful expression etched upon her features. Again the woman advances upon the elf, affirming her underarm grip on the spear as she leads with a volley of thrusts, each coming in at a more peculiar and tricky angle than the last; among the targets are Emrith's waist, his scored right shoulder and finally another attempt at his chest. None of these strikes carry the raw power the last one did, but they employ the full reach of her weapon and do not leave her as open to a counter attack, either.

　

Emrith waits for Kaori to regain the offensive, and smiles openly when she does so. As she moves forward to begin her series of tricky thrusts, Emrith's face adopts a set, concentrated look, and he begins to move at even greater speed than normal. He dodges the first waist-aimed thrust simply by leaning to one side, bending gracefully like a reed in high wind. Now fully utilizing water stance, the most evasive of his natural combat stances, Emrith shrugs his shoulder and lowers his arm to allow Kaori's spear to slide above it. He arches his neck to the left to make sure the weapon's point does not clip his ear. As she tries for his torso, Emrith allows himself to go boneless, fading backward, hitting the ground on his back, shoving both hands out to the side as he rolls to his right. In a trice, he is on his feet, coming up fast with both swords swiping in a pincer attack toward Kaori's still-outstretched spear-arm, meaning to converge on it from the wrist. At this relatively close range, and with the lady's spear aiming harmlessly back over his own left shoulder, Emrith pistons his left leg out, meaning to clip Kaori's near ankle with his leather boot. If she should stumble, it will be even less likely for her to evade the attack on her wrist, but Emrith is no fool. His own position is unguarded, and he cannot duck and dodge forever.

　

Kaori seems impressed as Emrith so deftly dodges her attacks, making a mental note to put more speed and fervor into her future efforts. What she does not expect is the elf falling straight to his back to evade her final thrust...how odd! So perplexed, Kaori is nearly caught off guard when the spell blade takes to his feet and moves upon her like a man possessed...or an elf possessed, to be entirely accurate. Not seeking to lose her hand today, Kaori jerks her spear aside as quick as she can and ends up in a slightly awkward position. It's to no surprise, then, when Kaori's ankle is clipped by Emrith's sneaky little kick. The young woman does indeed stumble and there's a brief flash of red in all the movement coupled with a cry of pain. Finally Kaori rights herself and her weapon, but there's a clear laceration on her arm near the wrist that's still trickling blood. Not a very deep or debilitating wound, but a painful one nonetheless. Reminding herself not to overextend, Kaori advances on Emrith again with a speed she seemingly did not possess before, perhaps doubling her efforts. Though pain throbs in her arm, Kaori adjusts her hold on the spear and sends it in a quick series of thrusts that target the elf's knees. Knowing that Emrith moves at a speed that makes such an attack unlikely to succeed, she's not content with leaving no follow up. Instead, she lifts her spear and sends it in a sweeping slash that aims to carve Emrith across his belt. While spears are not often slashing weapons, the business end of her weapon is appropriately sharpened for such a technique.

　

Emrith is having difficulty remembering that this is a combat training lesson, of sorts, and not a battle to the death. Every time Kaori moves, Emrith's mind feeds him a brief but extremely vivid mental picture of how to follow up for a killing stroke. In all likelihood, had this been truly mortal combat, either or both of them could have been dead several times over by now. Emrith winces when Heleg bites the woman's flesh, eliciting a thin rill of blood, but sympathy is an excellent way to ruin this display, and so he ruthlessly banishes it. Soon enough, Kaori is on the attack again, but this time, Emrith decides to meet fury with fury. When the woman thrusts toward Emrith's knees, Emrith spreads his legs, brings his hands up to either side of his head and leaps forward and upward, letting the spear pass between his shins. When he lands, nearly chest to chest with Kaori, he snaps his legs together, meaning to pin the spear between them. If he can manage this even for a moment, the next phase of his plan should go off without a hitch. The spell-blade extends his arms forward so that both of his hands are behind Kaori's shoulders, then brings them together so that his swords come together a foot or so behind the woman's neck. The coup de grace is nothing more or less than a solid headbutt delivered at point-blank range. Both sword-blades threaten her unprotected back, and her spear-arm is not likely to be of much help in the moment the elf needs to enact this more brutal attack.

　

Kaori finds her spear trapped between Emrith's legs, her eyes widening in surprise. Even with her weapon rendered useless, she's not without a backup plan. Just as the elf's arms find purchase with her shoulders, Kaori takes one hand off of her spear and moves it to her side, gripping the hilt of a perhaps forgotten blade fixed there. With a rasp of steel on steel the blade leaves its confines, revealing a rather short sword little longer than a dagger. Seeing Emrith's head diving for her nose, Kaori grits her teeth and resorts to the only defense she knows for this situation: a headbutt of her own. Though her head may not be as large or as sturdy as Emrith, she lowers it and drives it for his own, resulting in a dizzying collision that has her seeing stars. Mindful of the blades threatening her back, she makes to thrust her tanto for Emrith's armpit before stopping short. "Wait!" She cries out, deciding this has perhaps gone long enough. Perhaps she could have scored a deep wound in such close quarters, but her back would have been torn to shreds in the process. Better than both of them avoid any serious injury. "I think this is enough," She concedes, "You have the upper hand, even with my attempt to adapt to the disadvantage. No need for us to seriously harm one another in a mere test, I hope."

　

Emrith sees Kaori's blade through a haze of stars, metaphorically speaking; human she may be, but her skull is still just as hard as his. He leaps backward, flinging his arms wide to make sure that he does not inadvertently slash open Kaori's back with his shortswords, and lands several feet away in a spread-legged stumble, knees smarting from the pressure of pinning a spear so forcefully. "You are right," he concedes. He does not appear to be winded, but his shoulder still smarts from the wound it had taken, and he knows that his last ploy, daring as it was, had been a foolish one. "You are sound," he says. "Rare is it that a person gets me into a compromised position. I have been fighting the sword for more years than you have likely been alive. I congratulate you on a fine showing." Emrith sheathes both swords and extends a hand. "And I am sorry about the wrist." He looks critically at the woman for a moment, then shakes his head. "To my untrained eye, it does not look too serious."

　

Kaori accepts the compliment with a tip of her head. Normally she would bow, but she would likely stumble in a very comical manner if she tried with those stars still swimming in her vision. "I thank you, but I know you were holding back to some extent. I expected as much, it would do little good if an expert overwhelmed those of lesser skill in training so quickly." Reminded of the wound to her wrist, Kaori lifts it up for a look. Blood no longer trickles from the wound, but the pain is still throbbing there. "Ah, it isn't really. I'll visit a healer and I'm sure they will have it right and ready in little time."

　

Emrith nods his head in agreement. "Whether or not I was more skilled than you, it behooves both of us to remember, as we did at the end at least, that this was indeed an issue of training, not deadly combat." He grins. "That you nearly made me forget it is testament to your skill. I will have no hesitation in recommending you for placement in the guild. Your expertise will only grow from here."

　

Kaori finally finds her equilibrium restored. As such, she can finally bow to show her appreciation and respect. "Thank you, Emrith. It was an honor to have you test my ability today." She straightens now with a smile. "I look forward to meeting the other members of this guild and training alongside them."

　

Emrith gives Kaori a fluid bow, then turns slowly and begins to walk out of the arena. "Remember," he calls back over his shoulder, "that the best way to advance your skills is to test them against those who are your equal, or your better. Most of us in the guild will be happy to help in that regard, myself included. It has been a pleasure, Kaori. Now go and tend to that wrist." Emrith continues walking, suppressing an inward wince at his last few statements. They sound banal to his own ear, but then, greetings, salutations and goodbyes were never this elf's forte.