Story
3
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VS
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49%
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51%
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TESSIEN VS. FALDRON
An ample crowd of people were in
a sizable cluster right outside The Dragons Den tavern. The people of the
mob seemed to be spectators to something happening in the middle. Tessien
couldn't see what, but she intended to find out. Pushing and shoving her way
past the cheering crowd, Tessien finally broke into the center. A man wearing
full plate mail and a feathered helm paced around the circle the mob formed,
waving a huge sword in the air. It appeared he was celebrating his victory,
for two people lay on the ground... dead.
A scrawny old man was standing on
a cheaply made wooden stool advertising the street fight. "Any man daring
enough to challenge the brave and mighty Faldron, show your face! See the
action right here, place your bets! Surely there must be a man out there willing
to fight the mighty Faldron. Show your skill in combat, defeat him by any
means necessary."
The man rambled on for several more
moments. Members of the crowd were urging others to join the fight, reminding
each other of the handsome reward if they defeated the warrior, but no one
stood up. When at last it seemed there would be no more challenges for the
day, the man began to step off his stool. Just then the crowd went silent
as someone yelled "I'll fight you, coward." Everyone looked around eagerly
to see the new challenger.
A cute young girl of no more than
nineteen stepped into the inner circle with the warrior. He took one look
at her and began to bellow loudly. The mob was quick to join him. When the
chain of laughter had slowed down a little, the old man spoke to the girl.
"Be gone to your mother girl! This is a deadly dance of warriors, not a tea
party!" Tessien kept her eyes fixed on the warrior, but talked to the old
man. "I realize that old man. I also know this is not a slaughter house, where
the strong warrior fights the peasants! Now let me by so I can teach this
man a lesson."
The old man looked at her for a long
moment. The crowd waited in complete silence, hoping there would be another
fight. They didn't care the blood was of a young girl, all they cared was
that it was blood. Nodding his head, the old man approved the fight. "Very
well, if the girl thinks she is in charge of her own destiny...so be it!"
The mob erupted into an ear splitting
cheer, and the old man began taking bets. While the mob was betting on which
fighter they thought would win, Faldron drove his two handed blade deep into
the ground, then moved over to Tessien. For a moment. he admired her tight
doeskin pants and her revealing silk blouse. He grabbed her waist and pulled
her close. "Why don't me and you find a place to bed after the fight? That
is if there is anything left of you..." he said mockingly, looking down at
her ample breasts.
Tessien shuddered at the smell of
his breath through his helm as he spoke. She dared herself to look him in
the eye. His face through the helm was scarred. This was no rookie, he was
a veteran of war, a smelly one at that. She spat in his eye at the same time
she moved her food behind his leg, so when he moved backwards, he toppled
to the ground. The mob booed Tessien as she drew her glimmering Falchion.
Faldron, his back still to Tessien, picked up a handful of dirt with one mailed
glove, with the other he pulled his blade from the earth.
In the same rapid movement, Faldron
spun about and hurled the dirt in Tessien's face, blinding her for a second.
A second was all Faldron needed. He slashed his blade horizontally, splicing
the skin on Tessien's upper arm. The mob, now fully aware of the full scale
combat, cheered noisily. The wound wasn't deep, but it stung painfully. Tessien
grasped the laceration for a moment. Quickly recovering, Tessien moved back
a little and waited for Faldrons next attack.
The seasoned warrior was raising his
blade height up in the air once again, getting the spectators all hyped up.
He lowered his two handed sword from the air, and grasped it tightly in his
mailed gloves. Cracking his neck, the warrior moved in. Faldron moved in quickly
for a man wearing plate mail. Tessien was beginning to become worried, for
his blade was at least three feet longer that her short falchion. His blade
was slow and clumsy though, and difficult to recover from a missed swing,
and that was where she intended on beating him.
Faldron spun himself in a circle while
holding his blade low, hoping to remove the girls feet. Tessien jumped the
low attack and moved in on Faldron, drawing a dagger with her left hand. Faldron
continued through with the swing, unable to slow the incredible momentum his
swing had created. Tessien was behind him in a second, stabbing twice swiftly
where no plates covered his body, right between the shoulder and the backbone.
The dagger was short however, and did need to go through chainmail, so it
didn't make for a killing attack.
Faldron howled in rage as a jolt
of pain ran down his left arm, forcing him to let go of his sword with that
hand. He spun around to face his attacker, and immediately head butted her
in the face, breaking her nose. Tessien fell to the ground, stunned and blinded
by tears. She tried to wipe them away, but it was still blurry. By the time
she could make anything out, all she saw was a man with a sword poised to
stab her in the chest. She instinctively kicked her foot up, nailing the man
in the groin with her boot. Faldron struggled for breath as he held his groin
with both hands, his sword on the ground next to him. He bent over, causing
his helm to fall on the ground next to him.
Tessien rolled out of the way, recovered
her sword and stood up. Faldron was moving for his sword already, his left
hand still over his groin. It was only a second before he was up on his feet
and ready for action once again. "BITCH!" he screamed, "You'll pay with your
life for that!" He moved so fast Tessien had no time to react. He grabbed
her by the hair and brought her face down into his metal knee pad, then let
her fall to the ground.
Still thinking clearly, Tessien slashed
at the back of his knee with her sword, this time cutting deep, ripping through
flesh and tendons. Faldron dropped to one knee and he held his other with
both hands, blood streaming steadily through his fingers and onto the ground,
mingling with the dirt. Tessien was almost too weak to move. Her face was
bleeding and her nose was smashed in. In his maddened rage, Faldron got up
and sat on top of Tessien. Steadying her head with his left hand, he pounded
her face in with his right, over and over. The sharp metal of the gauntlet
was leaving huge cuts in her face. By the time he got off, Tessien was no
longer the beautiful young girl she had been minutes ago. Now she was a pile
of flesh and gore, her face no longer recognizable as a human. Her eyes were
swelled up and bloated. She lay still.
The mob stared at the scene with
gaping mouths. The gore had brought them
back into the real world, and they were repulsed by the scene in front of
them.
Just then, someone from the crowd
screamed "Guards! Coming this way!"Within seconds people were scattering every
which way, running like mad. Faldron grabbed a man at random and stole his
cloak. He wrapped the cloak tightly about him and limped off into an ally.
By the time the guards reached the scene, there were only a few dead bodies,
including the mangled form of Tessien... also dead.
A sergeant moved up to her broken
form and kneeled down beside it. He said a quick prayer for the girl before
he was forced to turn his head away from the grisly scene. "Damn!" he yelled.
"Private!" the sergeant called. "Yessir!" a young man answered. "Private,
I want a bounty placed on the head of the man who did this... make it a sizable
amount too." "Yessir." The private saluted and went off to do as his sergeant
asked.
By: Calvin Cockell