Battles Without Bloodshed (Kieran/Elske)

[Harbor]

Elske shook her head at the grim thought of one’s line of work potentially killing someone while they were at it, and killing you for leaving it. What a restrictive and silly way to run a business. Of course some lines of work lent to the kinds of secrecy that could only be known by those willing to commit themselves for life. She supposed it depended on what you wanted for yourself and your future that would drive you to such a commitment. According to Lord Camarat, Elske could leave whenever she wished, though he wished she wouldn’t. But she’d dipped her callused fingers in too many small endeavors to feel comfortable leaving now, and even that was sometimes too much.

”Well, Elske, I’m sure you’d love to chat more….”

Elske rolled her eyes. ”If you start telling me about your uncle’s gout there’s a snapped neck in it for you too.” She recoiled with another roll of her eyes at the bow, as though the sight of it burned her skin, and determined to leave him with at least one bruise later, not that he had to know what it was for.

Elske trotted up the castle steps and instead of going directly to her room to change, detoured toward Lord Camarat’s office, regardless of who else was in there with him. She thought he’d appreciate the sight she made drenched in ale, and gave him enough trouble to feel he’d earned it.

After changing Elske took her leather-guarded hatchets down to the training yards to see what kind of harmless trouble she could get into. She spotted Fenir in the distance, making friends with a few knights, and left him to it. The more people who liked Fenir, the better.

[Starfyre]

{Two pages! And how did I write this much? I hope you don't mind}

Kieran sincerely hoped that, somewhere deep inside, Elske didn't mind his teasing. However, he did realize that he really should go light on it, otherwise he'd wind up injured in some form or fashion. 

Now, finally, he could give his staffs a few good spins. Kieran accustomed himself to the feel of the twin spars as he twirled them in his hands. Every now and then he'd spin one so it just barely brushed the dirt, then flip his grip and ram it into the ground. There was just the right amount of give in the wood. Too little, and it would shatter under a heavy blow. Too much give, and it would bend too easily or snap. Kieran rubbed his palms against the smooth wood as he walked to the sparring grounds. When he arrived, a few heads turned, and a few people even called a greeting to him. Kieran flashed a smile or two in reply. Already now a few people were approaching him to ask to duel. Kieran estimated he might have time for two before Elske arrived. He'd like to spar with her again; she was much more of a challenge than anyone else he'd sparred with since. 

For his first duel, Kieran decided to spar with someone - Bartley by name - who seemed to fancy himself a friend of Kieran's. Really Kieran couldn't care less for the man. He was a bit too outgoing and just idiotically friendly. Elske would probably hate him, but he was fast. Not good. Fast. This Bartley, as he'd made known to everyone, was a relatively new trainee among the city peacekeepers - or the police, whatever they called it; they were the people who had to round up all the raving drunks every odd hour. Kieran supposed that perhaps Bartley would be good at doing that. Anyone fast enough to dodge an occasional sword blow could dodge a drunkard's punch (not as if they had good aim in the first place). Bartley had also shared with Kieran - multiple times - that he was used to streetfights and could punch a guy all right but didn't know one end of a sword from the other. Obviously that was a hyperbole. He was using one just now as he and Kieran were sparring. But Bartley was right in that he still wasn't very good with one. Kieran had long-sufferingly taken it upon himself to teach the man a few of the finer points of swordsmanship. 

"No, no, stop hacking at me," Kieran growled for the tenth time. "Change it up. You always come in from the left, then the right, then the left again. It's too predictable. Besides, your job isn't to hack peoples' heads off, is it? Just jab a little bit. Lunge. Thrust. Like this." Kieran demonstrated with one of his staves. Albeit being too long, it served the purpose of a demonstration. The butt of the staff hit Bartley's shoulder with only a little bit of force behind it. "If that had been a sword, only a tough soldier wouldn't be writhing on the ground," Kieran explained. "I've seen people fall over because they stubbed their toe. A sword hurts a lot more."

Bartley eventually seemed to get the hang of it. Kieran taught him for another ten minutes until the other man was panting and sweating like a dog. Actually, dogs didn't sweat, but Bartley gave a pretty good impression of one.

Almost as soon as Kieran had had five seconds' break, an eager young man carrying a sword came up to him. 

"C- can we spar?" the young man asked, halfway awed before Kieran. 

"Sure," Kieran said, shrugging obligingly. "What sort of sparring did you have in mind?"

"Oh- I'm not sure. A duel, I guess, like a practice fight. How many different ways are there to spar?"

Kieran shrugged again. "Depends on if you want a lesson or just a fight." The boy actually looked rather confident, just anxious. Maybe he thought he could beat Kieran and was already wondering what people would think when he did. Kieran snorted internally. He was just a kid, to Kieran's eyes. He wasn't as good as he thought he was either. Kieran had watched him duel a few days before but hadn't seen him since then. The kid was talented, but inexperienced. He had good reflexes, a good swing and decent economy. You could survive well enough on that, and the boy had. He'd actually beaten a senior guard member in a practice duel before. So Kieran guessed that he was just jumpy now at the prospect of fighting a truly skilled swordsman. 

Then again, Kieran wasn't using his sword. But he didn't see that becoming a major impairment to his skills. Sparring with Bartley had given him time to get used to how one actually fought with two staffs, and already Kieran was confident in his ability to disarm and beat up any standard warrior who came his way, just as he should very much like to do to this boy who thought he was better than him.

So they fought. The kid tried a few tentative swings at Kieran and Kieran dodged or deflected them with as little effort as he could use. He didn't want to do anything much until the boy made an overconfident error. Soon, the young man tried a heavy overhand swing at Kieran. Kieran could have dodged easily, but instead he crossed the staves and let the sword thud home in the X. He then scraped his weapons across each other to push the crossing point farther towards the tip until he lunged as well and shoved the sword away. The young man stumbled backwards, obviously not having expected Kieran's added impetuous to the withdrawal of the sword. He quickly recovered and feinted another overhand swing to the other side. Kieran could see the lack of motivation in that swing and only gave a token shifting of one pole into a better place to swipe the sword aside with if it came down. But then the young man lunged, aiming for Kieran's chest. 

Hopefully, Kieran thought, he's experienced enough to control a lunge like that. No sword is ever dull enough to not seriously injure someone with by stabbing them in the chest.  It would have been okay if the sword had been given a magical barrier to dull it, but Kieran knew it was not enchanted and also did not have a high enough opinion of his opponent to believe that he'd be able to avoid stabbing Kieran. But Kieran didn't care enough to find out. He stepped easily to the side, and then trapped the boy's sword between his staves and twisted it out of the kid's hands. Just as a precaution Kieran made sure he also batted the sword safely to the dirt. One wouldn't want to be responsible for a flying-weapon-caused injury.

Kieran bent down and picked the young man's sword up for him. As he passed it back, he said, "You're good, kid. Just need a little more experience." He liked belittling his opponents in a duel, but he didn't want people to know that was in his character. He could possibly go easy on someone every once in awhile, but Kieran did not ever seriously consider downplaying his skill. He was better than other people and they should be able to deal with that.

Kieran had noticed out of the corner of his eye that Elske had arrived, but he didn't glance at her. He just shifted both of his staffs to one hand and made his way over to the water barrel.