[IC] Swords of a Master

[Gisk]

“I am called Gabriel Drapsmannen, and I accept your challenge,” she stood up, and dropped her cloak to the ground as she picked her sword, shield and helm from her pile of possessions. She put the helmet on her head and held the sword and shield at the ready.

‘Gabriel’ The Dan woman was surprised and pleased by how quickly her challenge was accepted. The people around them began to form a ring, and as she had predicted, their number increased.

She had her own sword strapped to her back. Normally on the mountains she did not carry it so on her person, but when she walked where she knew she would encounter others she always wore it. The sword was an important article to the Dan. She would feel naked without it in the presence of others.

She drew it now, it was a simple and practical sword, strong sturdy and sharp. Its metal was dark, and it’s handle a lighter wood, the pommel and guard black. She shrugged off her fur shawl (someone quickly took it from her), and she began to pace the far edge of the circle that the spectators had created.

Gabriel waited, following along and pacing the opposite direction, so they always faced across from each other. Always fighting alone had taught her long ago not to be the first to strike. When Naira made her first move, Gabriel stepped forward to meet her, using her shield to deflect the sword, but choosing not to strike back yet.

Naira was larger than the other woman, but quickly discovered that she could hardly be called weak. She was quick to deflect her blows yet reluctant to return them. Naira kept a steady advance, seeking a window beyond the shield that the other woman bore. It was a defensive advantage, but no battle was won by a shield.

Gabriel blocked over and over with her shield, seeking to wear her opponent down as she waited for a good opening. She was about to lose patience with Naira’s endurance, when she saw a potential strike. She lashed out with a low swipe with her sword. But Naira was faster than she expected, and brought her own sword down to parry the blow.

As their swords met, there was a sound like a thousand insects, and a rush of wind. And then both blades shattered. Gabriel held the hilt up to her face, seeing that the blade was cut perfectly across right above the crossguard. Naira’s was the same, and the ground was littered with jagged chunks of steel that miraculously hadn’t hit anyone as they burst forth.

Gabriel’s guard was dropped as she looked in awe at their ruined weapons, and the gathered crowd had exploded in chatter, gossip and speculation.

When the blades shattered Naira did not stop. She pressed forward as she saw her opponent take pause after the event.

The Dan were known for their tenacity, Naira herself exemplified that mindset. The battle was not over until there was a winner or a loser. No other opportunities existed during a fight.

A broken blade hardly ended a fight, for a warrior was their own best weapon. In fact Naira was gladdened by the event. She could finally use the advantage of her size to the fullest. She filled her lungs with a great guttural growl as she charges at gabriel attempting to tackle and grapple her into the ground.

She did not even think of the shield. Naira saw it as a decoration, little more practical than the lowlanders necklace.

That was her mistake.

Naira collided full force, but the shield took the brunt of the assault, Gabriel’s muscles tightened automatically to hold her attacker at bay. The Dan woman was quite determined to continue the attack, all the while Gabriel was trying to shout her down.

“Stop, I say! Did you not see the work of the goddess in that?”

Naira ignored her completely, grabbing the shield and wrenching it around, forcing Gabriel, whose arm was strapped in place, to the ground. She tried to tackle on top of the downed woman, but Gabriel kicked upward, striking Naira in the chest and knocking her on her bottom.

Gabriel charged forward and slammed her foot down on Naira’s chest. “I said, listen.” She gestured toward the rest of the field. “Are you blind as well as deaf?” But of course, the Dan didn’t see it. They didn’t fly, they didn’t navigate. They had no reason or means to know the shape of the continents, and they didn’t recognize that the shards of the two broken swords had aligned themselves perfectly into a picture of the world.

“Look!” She gestured at her belly again. “The godess’ symbol, on the ground. Even purified and smelted, the iron is part of the earth and under her dominion.”

“Iron is a weapon, and your words are to distract me!” She grasped Gabriel by the foot with her free hands. She ached, she had hit the ground with all her momentum quite ungracefully, but her opponent still stood tall, so she must, as tradition and training begged her to, fight on.

Gabriel stepped back, forcefully pulling her leg free. Naira tried to get up, but Gabriel leaped forward once again, pinning her by the neck with her shield. Naira reached up and tried to grab at Gabriel’s arms, both women bared their teeth and strained for a few short seconds, before Naria’s arms swayed, and then fell. Gabriel waited a moment to be sure, and then let up.

~~~

Naira stayed where she lay for a while, Gabriel sitting, cloaked once more, nearby, waiting for her to wake up. The crowd never dispersed, but was now standing in a near perfect circle, apparently not willing to breach the ring of steel shards that lay around the pair.

“Now that I beat you, you’ll listen?”

Naira’s throat burned when she awoke, but she could speak. She had been spared her voice and her life. She had lost.

She groaned and sat up, bowing her head toward the victor. “I shall.”

“You’d feel better if you had stopped when I asked. Stand, look.” She stood as well, gesturing around, and the arrangement of the steel chunks that the other Dan men and women stood outside of. “Do you know what this is?”

Naira stood, she looked. “I do not.” The shards of their swords were strewn about around them. No one dared to touch them, as if they sensed something, but could not know it.

“Of course not. It is the shape of the world, as seen from outside of it. We know it from the goddess, in the lowlands. And from mapping ourselves.” She took a step to the side and knelt down, “We stand right here, exactly in the center of the image. Look here,” she pointed at where a small ruby had fallen on the map. “A stone from my sword’s pommel. I believe it marks a location. Where we are meant to go, together.”

Naira looked upon the… world. The world draw in in the shape of iron shards. She didn’t understand the map, but, she understood that the goddess favored the right in a duel. So, humbled and honorably, she bowed her head to the stranger. “So, we shall go.”

“Good. We will need new swords,” before she had even finished speaking, half of the crowd was thrusting their own weapons toward the pair.

[Gisk]

Deep in the untraveled forest to the East of Lan, as men and women scrambled to find him, the king's assassin was striding with melancholy purpose. Few knew this place these days, except in a vague way as a place that should be avoided. But Yllicus knew its past. After all, it was his own Swords that, in the past century, had rendered this place obsolete. But he had dropped his swords, in a failed attempt to hinder himself on his foul quest. And now he needed the creature that stayed here. The old thing, which was once friends to his people.

He had caught a deer, the biggest stag he could find, and carried it on his broad shoulders, hoping it was succulent enough to appease the creature, Atchetho. The trees in this part of the wood were coated with a shimmering white substance, though valuable and mysterious, Tharans knew better than to touch it. When he could go no further without stepping in the creature's webs, Yllicus dropped the stag into the tangle of silk in front of him. He called out:

"Atchetho! If this beast pleases you, see my past, know the plight that I cannot speak, and tell me what I should do next."

The webs stirred. There was something at the center that Yllicus could not see, pulling on the strands. The stag, stuck to the silk, was pulled in toward the center and out of sight. Something scuttled and clicked, all the while Yllicus stood still, awaiting the creature's verdict.

"I have missed Thara," a voice filled the air. It was a quiet rasp that seemed to reverberate in the threads of silk that surrounded the place, coming from everywhere and nowhere. "Ages have gone by. I have had to catch my own meals. Hunting isn't difficult, but I confess I had been pampered by your kind. It would please me to See you here, if you had truly chosen me. But I See you have no options. You have been my brother in the Sight, but you gave it away. In vain, I See. You are hunted by legions, and by few."

"What should I do?" Yllicus wailed. He dropped to his knees, outpouring his grief and guilt to the creature that felt the vibrations of time. "Surrender and face justice? Or hide in shame?"

"It is good you came to me, shortsighted as you are. You shall do neither. I See the earth, and I See the sky. And I See Their hands moving things to Their favor. Lan pushes the Nomad and the Sellsword, and his wife pushes the Priestess and the Goatherd, both destined to meet if, and only if, you stand where their paths intersect.

"I See that your actions were not your own, but I also See that you wish to atone for them regardless. If you want to assuage your guilt, take foot North, stay in the woods, under cover from eyes from above until you reach a clearing where an alter to the Goddess stands. Lay on the alter, in plain view of the sky. The Sellsword will try to take you. Resist with all your might. Go."

And he went.

[Eyeris]

She had traded most of her goats for the supplies they needed for their journey. The rest she gifted to young headers, they were all grateful and wished her well. It was harder than she had imagined to leave the heard behind, and even the mountain itself. The goats and the mountain wind had always been her constant companions...

Yet, she had been defeated in a duel, so, it seemed the goddess willed it that her life change. Now she shared the wilderness with a woman...

... and horses.

They rode the horses. It took her some time to get used to the beasts. She concluded that they were inferior to goats in every way. Save if the contest was one of speed across flat-lands. Which, apparently, the rest of the world was made from. So, was ones strength only relevant to particular abilities? Or was it fair to judge, as the Dan did, upon the things that mattered most?

As she questioned her own deffenitions of 'strength' (something the goddess apparently encouraged her to do) she let the forest slide by in silence. It was the best way to experience nature, in silence and deep thought.

She decided finally, that if it came to a real fight, the goats would triumph.

Yet, she could not begrudge her steed it's own nature. So she stroked her mane affectionately and lead her around a rotting log (that the goats would have easily hopped over!). She had been walking beside her horse for some time now. The pace was a bit slower, but the girl felt more comfortable that way. It was necessary anyhow, as the horses needed rest (they had far less endurance than the goats!)

Naira followed Gabriel the victorious, Gabriel followed the map that had been drawn by their broken swords and the goddess's breath. They did not know where they were headed, nor what they might find. Though, at this particular moment, Naira was ahead of Gabriel.

She squinted and peered ahead. "I think I see something ahead... there." She pointed with her sword, her new sword. This had been given to her that fateful day her life had changed. Both women had their pick, of course, the previous owners of the swords were honored by the goddess herself to admit their weapon to another. Naira chose a fine sturdy blade with animals painted into the hilt in orange. Naira was unsure exactly which animals were drawn, they curled around one another and big each others legs and tails, they created an intricate knot, you could not tell who was winning or loosing in their quarrel.