Skyhaven

The Sun's Equal

There is something uniquely satisfying about shield-bashing your enemy's sword away. At the perfect moment, Ana thrust her shield sideways and her opponent's weapon flung to the side. Blocking an attack at just the right angle to ricochet it away,requires a delicate balance between timing, momentum and strength. But with her success, Ana was rewarded with the gratifying scraping sound of metal on metal,and the satisfaction of seeing her enemy's face twist into a mixture of confusion and surprise at the instant of realization. With her adversary staggering back,his sword aimlessly pointing away from her and his front wide open, Ana used her momentum to quickly lunge forward for a decisive blow. She sliced her sword downward and banged it against his chest armor with a deafening clang. She could feel the wood of the grip biting into the leather on her hand and doubled down by vigorously gripping her weapon even stronger. Steadying her feet, she didn't give the knight in front of her a chance to catch his footing as he lost his balance and tumbled backwards. She transitioned fluently into another shield bash, this time one based on pure force. A piercing shout escaped her lungs as she fluently brought her shield in front of her, thrusting it forward and bashing it against the entire front of her opponent using nothing but velocity and strength.Together with the force of the impact from the two hits before, he completely lost his footing and flew backwards in an almost comical fashion, losing grip of his sword and hitting the dirt like a sack of potatoes.  

"Yess!" Ana triumphantly thrust her sword skywards, sweat dripping off her forehead and her sped up breath forming one thick cloud after the other in the cold afternoon air. She beamed over at Liam, who was still standing a few feet away from the ring, arms crossed with an indiscernible look on his face. He raised a bushy eyebrow at her as a reaction to her exclamation, while a random bystander started clapping for three beats before realizing the awkwardness of being the only person applauding, and abruptly stopping. Ana waved her shield at the bystander as a thank you while still grinning like mad, before helping Melvyn back on his feet. "That shield bash was neat." The stout guy knocked playfully on her shield to congratulate her on her newly mastered technique, before brushing the dust off his armor. He had beaten her the last two matches, and Ana had been at it all week, practicing her shield bash to show it off during practice. She grinned as she received the compliment. "Thanks! I guess I'm better than you now huh!", she returned his playfulness by hitting his shoulder, then abruptly turned on her heels and dashed over to the stern looking man standing adjacent to the training area. He had started to roam around a bit, hands behind his back, observing the other couples beating on each other with their swords and clubs for practice. The courtyard was bustling with the clanging and shouting of two bakers dozens of children and young adults in training, and he was watching it all. "So? How did I do?", Ana asked, skidding to a halt right in front of Liam. He shifted his attention to her, his ash colored ponytail swinging behind him as he turned to face her. Steely grey eyes held the gaze of the sparkling amber ones beaming up a him in anticipation. "You won. Good." Liam's voice was a throaty one, in line with his bulky figure, towering over the young girl. Their voices mixed into a melody of crystalline highs and growling lows. His gaze fell on the sword Ana was still loosely holding in her right hand, and another eyebrow was raised. Ana started fumbling at the sheath at her side and guiltily shoved her weapon into it like a thief trying to hide stolen goods. "Don't run with your sword out, I know.", she shuffled her feet a little. "Sorry." Luckily, she was still flushed from the exercise, so the shade of rouge gracing her cheeks went almost unnoticed. Liam barely gave any discernible reaction. Quickly regaining her composure, she implored, "So, since we finished early, can we leave?" once again she was met with a silent, judging stare. "Uhm, SIRE, since we finished early... you know?" Ana shuffled her feet again, impatiently staring up at the man in charge of most of the hours in her day. While Liam weighed her request for just a few seconds, it felt like days to Ana. Her thoughts were not wavering from her goal, but it all depended on Liam's next few words. He spoke up, "If I let you leave now, will you go home?" the implied accusation was all too clear. "Of course!", Ana exclaimed, insulted at the insinuation, "I'm going straight home!"