The Dragon Prince Arranged Marriage AU

Fighting and Flashbacks

"You know, we don't approve." Rayla said, unamused by the situation.

"Please don't act like I'm excited to fight the most dangerous assassin in the world, while he hates me." Callum pleaded as he stretched.

"Then don't. We can talk him down, it'll take a while, but we can do this without a fight." Callum shook his head at Ethari's words.

"Backing out now would only make it worse. I want him to respect me, and if I just hide behind any of you than I'll never have that respect. Besides, he's not the only one who's got some anger to vent." Callum turned away from them and walked closer to where Runaan was waiting.

"I won't be holding back." Runaan called.

"Perfect, that means I won't have to either." Callum's voice was fa more confident than he truly was. As soon as Callum's hand landed on the spear, Runaan lunged forward.

"That's not smart." Soren mumbled, drawing Ethari's attention. Just as he was about to ask the young knight what he meant, Ethari's eyes caught Runaan staggering back from his attack.

"What happened?"

"Um, Runaan ran into the spear?" Tiadrin spoke in confusion.

"That doesn't make sense."

"Callum leaned into Runaan's strike zone too early, causing Runaan to try and adjust too late in his movements. This change in focus prevented him from seeing Callum move the blunt end of the spear in line with his stomach. When Runaan made contact with it, his momentum pushed the spear into the ground. Basically, Callum did nothing and Runaan got the wind knocked out of him." Sarai spoke with a bit of pride. "Everyone falls for it. To his credit though, Runaan is still standing, most fall to the ground trying to catch their breath."

"And now, instead of looking for Runaan's weak point, Callum made one." Soren added.

"Need a minute?" Callum asked sincerely, only receiving a glare in response. "It's ok, everyone falls for that trick."

"Damn you." Runaan hissed as he stood straight.

"Oh, you're good? Cool." Now it was Callum's turn to charge forward, forcing Runaan to react before he could fully recover. Callum's movements were graceful as he both attacked and defended himself for Runaan, seamlessly changing his guard as the fought.

"I know you said he was good, but this is not what I was expectin." Lain spoke, the surprise heavy in his voice.

"Don't let him fool you, Callum is only good with a spear. Give him any other weapon and he'd be better off with just his hands." Soren told. "He also isn't a regular spear user."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, watch. Runaan's about to get behind Callum. And instead of turning around and throwing himself off balance, Callum's gonna flick his spear as Runaan lands and force him to step back." Everyone watched carefully as Callum did just as Soren told. Runaan narrowly missed the flick as he moved further back, giving Callum plenty of time to turn without a loss of footing. "And now he'll fake a trip and once Runaan gets close, he'll strike Runaan in the same place as earlier."

"Come on Runaan, I thought you WOAH!" As predicted, Callum dragged his foot as if he tripped. And almost on cue, Runaan moved in. What wasn't expected was Callum throwing his spear at Runaan. Easily ducking under the spear, Runaan wasn't expecting Callum to suddenly lunge and use his elbow to strike his chest.

"That's strange." Tiadrin spoke. "Runaan's normally faster than that."

"Oh, right. He isn't breathing correctly." Ethari violently turned to face Soren.