Weaponmaster
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2024 12:26 pm
17th Day of Searing, 124th Year of the Age of Steel
Masagh missed Riah’s blade and stumbled forward, Ghoulblade tipping into the hard packed earth of the training ring. He was not out of practice, he had not tripped. He had missed due to losing his balance. He had lost his balance due to a ghoul in full plate armor colliding with the small of his back. Hard.
He sprawled forward and Riah shuffled out of the way. Masagh growled and rolled to his feet. As he suspected Sabrione stood there glowering at him. Her arms were crossed and her eyes burned with agitation.
“Having fun sparring with my knight, brother?” She asked coldly.
“What the hell was that for?” Masagh rumbled at her, climbing to his feet. He stepped up face to face with her, but she did not move. Her gaunt pale face twisted into more of a sneer.
“You think you can just leave my knights and play house and still spar like you’re one of them?” She breathed under her breath. He watched her gaze shift backhand forth between his own eyes.
“Sabrione, I-”
“Weaponmaster Sabrione, little brother.” She cut him off.
He stared at her. “Mother is the reason I am trapped here.”
“You are the reason.” She spat back. “You lied and you snuck off. You were gone so long we thought you were dead. If you had trusted me…” She cut off. The muscles in her jaw flexed under the rot. He could see the hurt of betrayal in her eyes. It was not so much what he did but that in doing it he had not trusted her and robbed her of her brother’s presence on the battlefield. “You want to spar with a knight, brother?”
She raised her hand and with a shimmering wave her greatsword appeared in it. “Then ready yourself.”
He raised his own blade. If this was the only way he could get her to stay in his presence long enough to actually have a conversation then he would just have to beat her. If she thought this was going to be a lesson, or a venting of her frustrations, she was wrong.
Masagh would show her just how far he had come.
He sent a pulse of will through his blade and it pulsed, phasing in and out of existence in a shimmering wave. Sabrione smirked at him. “Using tricks are we?” Her tone was ice.
“Something tells me you won’t be pulling punches.” Masagh countered.
Riah glanced between them and shuffled back out of the ring to stand next to an apprehensive Indira. Sabrione’s blade shimmered as well. Masagh felt the anger burning in him. She didn’t understand. What use was all this ability if they just sat in the damn compound? She was like Emerande. Content, complacent.
He reached back as if to swing overhand. In that moment he channeled three abilities seamlessly. He felt the aether pulse from him along his arms to the sword. He left the Duplicate in his hand and the Pact weapon Danced behind him. Then he lunged. Instead of striking her, he Blinked behind her, the heartbeat of Slipspace doing little to disorient him at this point.
Masagh swung his Duplicate down at her. Lightning fast Sabrione spun to meet his blade. When the blades met her eyes widened as she understood the feint. She dove to the side and the Pact weapon plunged through her shoulder from behind. Masagh turned as his own sword spun past him. Sabrione had Phased in the last moment to avoid the contact of the blade.
He reached back and caught the grip with one hand before swinging again from above. Their swords clashed and aether sizzled in the air. He Blinked again to find a new angle but his sister was fast as well. They danced across the ring with blades floating through the air and their own bodies flickering and clashing together.
He was in and out of Slipspace. Weaving as much of his Runes power together to trick and subvert his sister as his mind could come up with. Masagh was surprised to find his anger was quickly turning into enjoyment. It had been a long time since he had sparred with his sister.
It had been longer since they had used this level of mastery in combat. It was usually the unspoken practice to use only the power required to do the job so as to conserve strength and dignity. Masagh sensed this fight was an unleashing of pent up animosity between siblings. They both wanted to wear out the other, and themselves. If their elders could see either of them using their Runes as a means to release emotional tension they would be highly displeased.
Masagh found he did not care. It was too freeing to fight so close to the limit, his aether coursing through his body like molten adrenaline.
He lunged with another feinted Duplicate, sending a pulse of will and aether through his body as he merged into Slipspace once again. Through his incorporeal form his Ghoulblade lunged at Sabrione. She twisted in order to dodge the brunt of the blow, making it a glancing one. That was enough for Masagh.
He sent a pulse of willpower to the Pact blade, releasing the Varnish and imposing on his sister the Blink he had imbued in it. She slipped out of existence as he snatched at the Ghoulblade. Sabrione fell from the focus he had set above them. He swiped at her falling form and she was forced to Phase again to dodge the attack. Her own Dancing blade tore through the air from above at him. He rolled away, unable to follow up with an attack at his prone sister.
“Pathetic.” She spat as she swung her blade at him. He brought his own up to parry but was slightly too slow. Her blade lashed against his shoulder. The damage was minimal but Sabrione released the Varnish she had placed on her weapon, sending him tumbling into Slipspace again. An instant later he was slamming into the opposite wall of the ring.
“You think my skills that bad, sister?” He groaned as she Blinked into him. Once again he tried to parry, but she grappled him. Her elbow slammed into his chest and he saw the Dancing blade above them, ready to strike.
“You’re timid.” She snarled as her blade shot down from above. Masagh invoked his Animus Rune with Polymorph. A heartbeat later he was coiled around her arm in cobra form. He snapped at her face and wrapped around her head. The sword struck into the wall where he had been and Sabrione stumbled back, yelping in surprise.
Masagh focused on wrapping his scaled form tightly around her face. If he could obstruct her vision he could land hits with his Dancing blade and end this fight. He squeezed around her tighter and bit at her head. It would be largely ineffective, but would distract and annoy her.
He felt himself falling and then landed on the ground. Sabrione had used Phase again to remove his grapple. A crushing weight landed on his reptilian form and he saw Sabrione towering above him, foot pinning him to the ground. As her blade fell Masagh transformed again, back to his original form. He yanked her down, sending her slamming into the ground on her belly just as her sword sunk into the ground next to his face.
He rolled away graceless to and stumbled to his feet. Willing his own sword to fly to his hand, he watched her get up and retrieve her own. They had both spent the surprise of their Varnishes. They had both expended lots of aether in their attacks. Now they circled each other, conserving what they had left.
“Timid?” He barked. “I’m trying to realize our goal!”
She Blinked again and she was behind him. A moment later she had him in a headlock. He wrapped his fingers around the dark steel gauntlet. “Timid because when it came to your own interests you were willing to go again our mother.” She hissed in his ear. “But when it comes to our immediate threat, when it comes to Riah and me, you sit here like some chastised pup afraid to make mommy mad.”
She held her blade in one hand at her side. Masagh stopped struggling. “What do you mean?” He rasped, his heart sinking.
“Those missing goblins? The dead eastsiders?” He could hear the frustration and anger in her voice and realized too late that it wasn’t all for him. “They were the ones the Goblin King sent to us for our deals. They were linked to the House. The Kinvaren are trying to track us down again and all I’ve got is one green Knight.
“I didn’t know.” He croaked, slumping into her headlock.
“Yes, well, it’s hard to confide in a boy who’s sobbing into his books.” She spat back, letting him slump to the floor.
She stood over him and stared down at him. He stared up at her. He could see her emotions more clearly on her face. Anger masked something deeper. Fear. Sabrione was worried.
Masagh pushed himself up off the ground. “I’m sorry, I’m here. I’ll do whatever you need.”
Sabrione dismissed her blade and stepped forward, putting a gauntleted finger in his face. “I need less of this self pity and more of this.” She waved a hand around her at the ring, indicating their duel. “Riah is strong and good, but she is young and inexperienced.” She hissed under her breath. “And I can’t watch every corner. We have lost so much, Vasile, Calliope, Cleon! I can’t do this without…” She trailed off, gritting her teeth.
Masagh put an hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, I’ve been an idiot. I’m with you. I’ll be there next time.”
“I know you’re an idiot. I told mother when you were ten years old and maintain it.” She said without a hint of humor. “It’s bad, Mas. I think they know we’re underpowered. I need you at our next meeting with the goblins.”
“I’ll be there.” He whispered. “Mother can’t know though.”