Uprising

No More Hiding

Artemis lifted herself up straight, so she stood on the large branch. Upon further inspection, Artemis found that she was also still wearing the gifts given to her from her mind's eye. She smiled slightly as the new weight of cuffs on her wrists made itself known. Lifting up the monster sword, she dove off the branch and land onto the ground, heavily. There was a scatter of dust and leaves as she caught her teacher's attention. 

Alkyone smiled wryly, nodding to her student, "Those were some elaborate traps. I just got loose an hour ago." Artemis simply shrugged, 

Funny, she thought, So did I.

Alykone pulled up both her rapiers, or maybe two new ones. Artemis never really cared, she brought her sword into both her hands and glared. Alkyone took that a symbol to begin and ran at her student. Their blades collided together in a flurry of sparks. Alykone was pushed back with a wide arc from Artemis' blade.  With surprise the womyn relented her grip on the her opponent, backing up to regain her footing. Artemis glowered, crouching down towards the ground.  Alykone barely dodged a quick jab to her upper thigh.

Is this the same kid? she thought, The one who can't hit for nothing with a sword?

Artemis didn't give her teacher time to think on her strange actions.  Quickly pushing forward with not just the sword, but even kicking up dirt to decrease her opponent's visibility. Artemis disappeared into the dust cloud, as did her teacher. The two enemies fell silent as they waited for their opponent to give away their position. Artemis' eyes shifted around quickly, trying to make out dark shapes or movement. She took a soft breath, trying to keep calm. 

She'll come soon enough, no one can stay silent forever......

Artemis chuckled, she could see a movement towards her direction, it was Alkyone no doubt. Artemis instinctively, dodged right, to her own surprise. Alkyone cursed loudly, seeing no scratch on her target. Artemis laughed in surprise and swung her own blade haphazardly. It knicked Alkyone, sending the womyn back into a tree. Artemis stood dumfounded at her hit, and her large flow of good luck. "This is really happening!...." she whispered excitedly.

Alkyone on the other hand, hissed as pain flew through her collar. She lifted her hand to the new wound, a shallow cut that leaked slowly. Alkyone's eyes widen in surprise, she hadn't had the privelege of seeing her blood spill in a very long time. Turning slowly back to Artemis, she felt this sudden anger surge through her.  For some reason the sight of her blood by the hand of her opponent..........it wasn't something she wanted to see.

Artemis had no time to block as Alkyone reccovered from her hit and flew at her with the two rapiers. She struck at Artemis with an x-like motion, sucessfully catching Artemis' mid-section and throwing the younger womyn through a few dozen trees. Artemis cried out in pain as she felt her back crash through six or seven trees. The girl bounced against the ground like a toy, thrown by an angered child, finding herself now in a small clearing further downstream.

Artemis struggled to pull herself up, but something in her back wasn't working right. In fact, as Artemis tried to check, she found that her back was bleeding heavily. It was a past wound, and it certainly had opened up once more. Artemis staggered upright, onto her knees. She could see Alkyone coming towards her, anger flowing from her full force. Artemis flinched back a little and then took a fighting pose.

No more running.... she thought, and no more hiding.......

Artemis allowed her blade to collide with her teacher's, pushing forward to stop herself from being pushed back. She grit her teeth as she found a more stable stance, "N-not today, Alkyone!" She glared into her teacher's bloodshot eyes. In less than a mintue, Alkyone the fancy-free teacher had reverted back to a warrior. And Artemis could not be more relieved. She had been anticipating a real opponent since she had come from her mind's eye. And though Artemis herself had changed on the outside, Alkyone had changed on the inside.