[center][color=gold][h2]Drizzak[/h2][/color][/center][hr]The serpentine blade glimmered in the light of the day as it sailed through the air and looped around the small, bloodied goblin. A blur of metallic sheen waved in-front of Drizzak's face as he redirected another sweeping cut and lead it down to his lower left-hand side before whirling the blade back up to its high guard and twisting his body around to deliver a broad horizontal cut. A defensive move, but an effective one. Where Xilipha had size and two weapons, Drizzak was able to balance the conflict with greater speed and a propensity for surprisingly effective acrobatic displays. The air parted with a whistle as he spun the blade back to high guard and rolled to the side to avoid a slice-stab-slice combination from the formidable young woman he was facing. Drizzak could have sworn she was cracking a smile beneath those wraps of hers. As she wheeled around, Drizzak took the opening and dashed forward with his blade held flush in his hand. The opening was small, but just small enough for Drizzak. With a swift slice, he scored a cut along the woman's thigh, truly aiming for the stomach but being unable to catch her properly as she back-wheeled and retaliated mid-step. The silver of her blade caught him much more soundly, an advantage of her size.

With a flash of silver and a spike of literally blinding pain, Drizzak lost the sight in his left eye. The entire side of his face felt warm as he stumbled and rolled to the floor, clutching his face in pain. Xilipha squeezed at her thigh before uttering a weak giggle at the fallen heap of goblin. Her step was staggered, but she still attempted to wiggle her hips a bit as she sauntered over to Drizzak and raised a blade, point down and ready to deliver the coup-de-grace. The act was set into motion as the blade came down quickly, careening towards Drizzak's exposed back like a hawk after its prey. But it was an act that never went through, as Drizzak rolled over and threw a handful of soil at her eyes. Xilipha screamed inarticulately and recoiled, ceasing in her attack for long enough that Drizzak was able to leap to his feet and bring his blade up in a two-handed strike intended to separate one of her arms from her body entirely. Though he connected, the cut was too shallow and she moved too quickly. The shrouded woman was left with an ugly red fissure between her breast and her bicep, carving its way up partially as it began to seep dark red onto her cloth vestments.

Xilipha's hand went to the wound quickly, and came back dappled with dark crimson, as her eyes darted from the blood to Drizzak and back again. It was only a few moments before she dropped one of her blades and tucked her arm close to her side with a groan of pain.

[i]"You have torn one of my silver sisters from my grasp, Creature. Now I've a want to take that lovely snake-blade of yours for my own keeping. As compensation and an apology."[/i]

Drizzak looked through his one eye, yet unbloodied, at the coy but dangerous woman. Then he looked to his blade. The slender, waved blade edged with her warm red. With no more than a second thought, Drizzak advanced on the woman wordlessly, transferring his grip on his blade's hand-and-a-half handle from both hands at high guard, to a single hand in a reversed grip, with the blade extending behind him. Xilipha paused for a moment, before advancing as well, faster yet than Drizzak was striding. As the neared him, her pace quickened from a power-walk to a charge. Her blade reflected light into his eyes as she raised it to ready for a thrust. Drizzak smiled and twisted his body in preparation for a gut-spilling horizontal slice. He kept smiling as he stopped in his tracks and felt the blade enter his shoulder with slight resistance. He could not move, for fear that her blade would cut and tear deeper. He could only grimace and continue smiling as Xilipha leaned down, pulled down her wraps to reveal her comely features and smiled at him.

[i]"Ever so sorry, Creature. Looks like its the fair lady who sticks it in the monster this time."[/i] She giggled as she leaned in closer, now almost breathing into Drizzak's mouth with her sweet-smelling scents. [i]"I would offer you a rematch, but it seems that you're a one and done kind of deal. A shame."[/i]

Drizzak then made a move, when all thought he was done for. He put a vice-like grip on her wrist and pulled the blade into his shoulder deeper, to draw her in closer, before chuckling darkly. His lips slowly curled up to reveal his predatory fangs and beady eyes, like a creature staring out from the shadows of a nightmare. Her smile faded as she felt herself being drawn in to the world spoken of only in the bawdiest of myths and legends. Softly, their lips touched, as the goblin continued to chuckle and giggle maliciously. The feeling of his lips, slick with blood and scarred beyond belief, was like laying a sloppy smooch on a bowl of boiled worms. Terrible. Disgusting. Painful. Very painful.

Xilipha looked down to see that she had been pulled to her knees in the struggle. And there was a strangely familiar snakelike blade peeking out from a dark patch on her chest.

Drizzak burst out into full-bore mad laughter at that point as he twisted his blade and tore it out with a wet splat and a series of squelching gurgles. Xilipha fell to the ground, lifeless on impact, and leaking a wonderful shade of red onto the ground. With the blade still in his shoulder, piercing all the way through to his back, he cackled until his laughter died down to a grim setting of his face. Drizzak brought his blade down firmly, feeling the red spray from its surface and onto the ground to join the rest of the red. He had won, and it was fun. So, why did he not feel great about it? Why was he not feeling the same relief burning in his chest, instead being harassed by the very literal burning in his chest, like some sort of punishment? His mouth tasted bitter and metallic, his face hurt and his entire body was dirty and bloody.

He looked down at the lifeless body of the young woman and slumped into a sitting position, looking like a fish that got hooked incorrectly with the blade in his shoulder. With a hint of malice, he spat on the ground to his side, away from the body. The taste wasn't fading. Nor was the burning, as he looked into the once-bright blue eyes as they began haze over and lose their spark. A silent, painful moment passed before Drizzak looked down at himself and then to the girl once more before looking to the blade stuck in him, sighing.

[color=gold]"Yes. Shame."[/color]