Terric
The men worked as a unit as they tried to keep Terric surrounded. They fanned out into a semi-circle and began advancing cautiously. A rictus grin pulled his lips apart. Usually he’d be veiled showing only a glint in his eyes, but today, they would see the whole thing. He sprung to the left, placing himself to the outside of their formation, face to face with Morning star. The man brought his shield up to knock away Terric’s spear and retaliated with a swing of his own which Terric dodged back from. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Swordsman had crept around them and was attacking from behind on Terric’s right. He swung his spear back in a maneuver he would never have used against a live blade. Thankfully, it was a practice blade, lathes of bamboo made a cracking noise as Terric blocked with the haft of his spear. He turned on Swordsman, swinging the spear like a baton bringing the haft down on his hand with a sick thud. The man let out a cry letting go of the sword with his right hand. Terric didn’t give him time to recover, he trust the practice spear, stopping less than an inch from jabbing it into his opponent’s neck.
As the man yielded, Terric turned raising his buckler to see the other three fighter’s advancing in formation with Morningstar in the lead, shield head in a defensive position. Felessan Solonne held his spear over Morningstar’s left shoulder advancing like a phalanxman. Hammer edged to the right trying to pincer him. He backed up a few paces and charged forward. With a plan he himself considered more stupid than brilliant, he leapt into the air kicking out with both feet towards the shield. He hit the top of the shield forcing the unsuspecting Gaidin to stager back and fall. As the men fell in a heap, Felessan Solonne thrust his spear into the madness with a quip Terric missed. He managed to twist aside but the practice spear grazed his ribs tangling in his coat. His landing was less than graceful and he felt his ankle twist and buckle. He went to a knee but quickly thrust behind him hitting Morningstar in clavicle. Two down, that’s all I need. He thought to himself. Why not? I can go for four.
He brought his buckler up to catch a blow from Hammer. He managed to deflect most of it but he felt the shock radiating up into his shoulder. He was pulled off balance as Felessan Solonne pulled his spear free. He used his spear to stop himself from falling and pushed himself to his feet, ankle throbbing. As he did, Hammer and Felssan Solonne launched into a coordinated attack, Hammer’s wide sweeping strikes aimed to force Terric into the path of Felessan Solonne’s darting ashanderai[. Terric back peddled dodging and parrying. He realized he could take advantage of their close proximity. He sidestepped placing his enemies in a line in front of him. Felessan Solonne slashed and thrusted with his bladed spear but Hammer couldn’t reach his opponent, instead he was forced to step around his partner.
Terric took advantage, lunging forward with his buckler, swinging it parallel to the ground at Felessan Solonne’s eyes. When he flinched back, Terric followed with a thrust towards the gut. The Gaidin managed to twist out of the way. He was extremely nimble, despite his size. Terric sidestepped again, keeping Hammer behind Felessan Solonne. He pressed the advantage. Lifting his spear and buckler to a defensive mid, he stuck forward, spear flicking out like a viper attacking high and low, seemingly at random.
Felessan Solonne was forced to back, using both ends of his spear like a quarter staff to ward off the attacks. He noticed that Terric was favoring on ankle. He twirled the spear, slashing at Terric’s head. Terric easily ducked under it bringing his buckler into a high guard. Felessan Solonne was not done. He carried the slash though into a spin. He passed the spear to his left hand with the butt facing out. He ended the spin on one knee, empty right hand back. The spear haft struck Terric’s injured ankle with a resounding crack.
Pain shot up Terric’s leg and he let out a growl. This would not become his spar with Danos al’Sheen. Hiding his pain behind his rictus grin, he forced it into the Flame, desperately trying to pull the Void around himself. There, the pain was distant now, like it had happened to another man. He fed his pride to the Flame next. This was just another fight. Things seemed to slow down outside the Void as he counter attacked. He felt a spike of pain outside the Void as he pivoted on his injured ankle. He brought the other foot down in a stomp kick on his opponent’s spear haft. He didn’t manage to break Fellessan Solonne’s iron grip but he did throw him off balance. He stepped of the spear with his good foot, planted it and brought his left up in a round house kick aimed at the man’s face.
As Fellessan Solonne fell forward, he saw the kick arcing towards his face, he tried to bring his right arm up to defend but it was too late, he head jerked back with the massive impact. Terric’s ankle screamed anew, almost enough to shatter the Void. He let the pain wash around the outside of the Void, and struck the Gaidin in the back with his training spear before he could recover. As Fellessan Solonne yielded and dropped to the ground, Terric caught a blur out of the corner of his eye. He had forgotten about Hammer, he realized as the padded hammer stuck him across the jaw. He felt himself twisted to the side and staggering. In a real fight that blow would have killed him or at least severely inconvenienced him. He let himself drop to a knee and threw his hands up in submission. He ran is tongue across is teeth to make sure they were still in place. One molar was loose but somehow, thankfully, he had still had not lost one. He could feel blood inside his mouth and was thankful for the Void. A memory surfaced and was gone: a younger Terric straddling a suspect, blood dripping from him mouth, in a blind rage, threatening to force the bridge of the suspect’s nose into his brain. He fed that memory to the Flame before letting the Void recede. He could hear Fellesssan Solonne laughing has he pulled himself to his feet. Terric couldn’t help it, rubbing his cheek, he began to laugh as well.
OOC: If we need to ad more to the word count or just ad more stuff we can add more RP or have them meet for a second day after a Yellow sees to his ankle and they do try something like a two on two fight.
Despite his aching jaw and ankle, Terric was quite pleased. He had managed to impress Fellessan Solonne and his fellow Gaidin. They had agreed to meet again in a few days to try a team match. He was quite excited for this opportunity, it had been a long time since he had fought alongside other skilled warriors. So far most of the Drin classes were monotonous basics or one on one spars. He was eager to prove his worth as a warrior. Maybe he would be allowed to train the Ji or even the full Gaidin once Fellessan Solonne submitted his evaluation to the Mistress of Arms. Because of this, he had insisted on continuing the evaluation past a single day.
As he limped to the infirmary, he considered which of the four Gaidin he would choose for his team. His first thought was Fellessan Solonne because he would feel good with another spearman by his side. Upon further reflection, he decided it probably would be for the best if he chose another and let the evaluator face him on the battle field. Morningstar was his second choice, he would have to learn the men’s names. The man’s weapon and shield tactics would lend themselves well to a team battle. They could both keep their shields up to guard each other while they fought.
Pleased with his choice of partners, he pushed open the doors to the infirmary. They were surprisingly light, probably so patients on stretchers could be quickly rushed through. He looked around for the Yellow on duty and found himself face to face with a familiar Aes Sedai. The Yellow Sister who had healed him after his match with Danos al’Sheen. Too new to the Shawl for the ageless look, her face was pretty without being beautiful. Her large, almond shaped eyes regarded him skeptically, “How did you get hurt this time, Terric?”
He was surprised she remembered his name, then again, there weren’t many Aiel in the tower. He hadn’t caught her name however. “Who says I’m hurt?” he said adopting an air of nonchalance.
“Well you look like somebody took a hammer to your pretty face, and you’re limping. Come sit down,” she said guiding him to one of the hospital beds.
Terric limped along slightly incredulous. Why do these Wetlander women keep calling my face pretty? He would have assumed they would all swoon over milk faced lordlings. He shifted as she placed her hands on his head. “Forgive me, Aes Sedai, but I never caught your name.”
“Leona Rosvani,” she said. Her lips quirked up into a slightly wicked smile, “You get hurt so often, Terric. One would wonder if you’re doing it on purpose.”
Terric was sure of two things: that her far smile was much more than just pretty and that this conversation was treading very close to inappropriate sands. He cleared his throat, glancing towards a Dedicated making beds on the other end of the room.
Leona Rosvani’s eyes darted to the Dedicated and her very un-Aes Sedai blush turned her pale face a shade of crimson. Terric felt the now familiar jolt of healing, like walking out of a sweat tent at night. The young Yellow stepped back, self-aware about how close she had been standing to the Drin. “On with you,” she tried to snap, embarrassment overwhelming any sense of authority, “before I have you sweeping floors.” She paused, “In the Entrance Hall,” she added thinking of a place far from the Infirmary.
Terric leapt to his feet, his ankle miraculously healed. He sketched a quick Aiel bow before turning and quickly making his way to the exit. He didn’t think it would be fair to be punished for her indiscretions so he beat a hasty retreat. He could swear he felt her eyes on his back as he left the Infirmary.
