Post by Sir Haymar Glen on Oct 2, 2015 11:11:09 GMT -8
Hey everybody, here's my res entry to GCXI: Duel in the Sand
Duel in the Sand
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Peering cautiously around a bend, his horse tethered a few meters behind him, Haymar watched as the two spies he was chasing entered the secluded cove just up ahead.
The first guy peered around suspiciously, but Haymar was far enough back and so well hidden that the Loreesi didn’t notice him.
“I think we can converse safely now.” The first guy said.
“Huh,” the second guy grumbled, “We could have conversed safely several miles back. You’re too paranoid Jaques.”
“I am not.” Jaques responded testily. “We were still too close to their city.”
The other said nothing, advancing farther into the cove instead.
“Oh good, our boat is still here.”
Haymar leaned slowly out from behind the boulder, staring into the cove. The water fronting the beach inside the cove was spotted with sharp rocks, which no doubt made for some tricky navigating. These sporadic rocks continued all the way to and on the beach itself, and it was to one of these that a distinctly Loreesi rowboat was tied to. Sitting on the sand next to the boat was a burlap sack one of the spies had placed there, and in the rowboat itself was a barrel, covered over with a canvas lid.
“Let’s get this thing cast off and get out of here.” Jaques said, reaching down for the burlap sack.
“Agreed,” the other guy said, and moved over to the rock the boat was secured to.
Haymar took a deep breath. This was it. If he didn’t do something now, the spies would get away, taking who knew what in valuable information, back to their Prince.
Slowly reaching back, Haymar withdrew an arrow from his quiver, and nocked it to the string of his longbow. Drawing it back, he prepared to step out from his hiding spot.
——————————
Haymar had been exiting the Durrough City Hall, having just finished delivering a report from the border about the Loreesi military build-up there, when he’d first noticed the two men.
The first one was dressed in simple, yet fancy clothes, including a rather nice looking wide-brimmed fedora with a feather in the band. The second one was wearing considerably less fancy clothes, and a dinged and scratched black helm. All this combined, they gave the appearance of a pair of Outlaws, up to no good.
Contradicting this image however, was the fancy leather sheath over the first guy’s back, containing a gold katana, as well as the gold knife at his side, and the poorly-concealed scimitar, also gold, that the second guy carried.
The clothes were a good disguise, but there was no mistaking their true alliance; They were Loreesi spies.
Turning away from the docks, where he’d been headed, Haymar began to follow the two men, as they made their way through Durrough’s busy streets.
As each successive minute passed, Haymar became more and more convinced of his conclusion. The two men were acting quite suspicious, looking back over their shoulders a little too often, as well as suddenly stopping or ducking down side streets. It was quite obvious to Haymar that these guys were amateurs. Not that Haymar would have claimed himself an excellent spy, but he did pride himself in knowing at least some spy techniques. These guys didn’t seem to know any!
Their intermediate destination quickly became obvious; the east gate of Durrough. Picking up their horses from the stable they had left them in, the two spies rode out of the city, heading for the nearby coastline. Haymar hurriedly rented a horse from the stable-owner, and rode out in pursuit.
That had been two hours ago. The spies had ridden east for half an hour, then turned north, making like they were going to Garheim, for an hour, then turned back east, and rode a half hour, until reaching this rather rocky part of the coast, where they dismounted, released their horses into the wild, and headed into the rocky passageway that ended in this cove.
————————
The Loreesi were totally caught off-guard when Haymar spun out from behind the boulder.
Both looked up, startled, and Black Helm reached for his scimitar, but that was all they managed before Haymar let fly with the arrow, which struck Black Helm in the side, dropping him where he stood.
Before the arrow had even hit, Haymar was charging forward, drawing his sword and dropping his bow in the same smooth movement.
Jaque however, was almost as fast, and when Haymar swung his sword in a vicious overhead strike, intending it to land on Jaques’ left shoulder, thus disabling him, it was stopped mid-swing by Jaques’ knife, which he’d managed to draw.
“Ah,” Jaque said, deflecting Haymar’s blow to one side and spinning away, “You nearly had me there.” He drew his katana from it’s sheath as he spoke, the sun glinting off the razor-sharp blade.
Haymar barely had time to reverse his swing before Jaques launched his counter-attack.
Feinting with his knife, Jaques swung his katana underhand, aiming to slip under Haymar’s guard.
“Oh no you don’t,” Haymar said, deftly blocking first the knife, then the sword.
“You’re almost as good as me,” Jaques replied, darting around Haymar, and launching a counter-strike that nicked the other’s arm. “Almost.”
Jaques constant commentary was unnerving and distracting Haymar, which was surely the intent.
“You seem awfully cocky for a guy fighting for his life,” Haymar commented, in an attempt to counter this, while deflecting a side-swing.
“Likewise,” Jaques fired back, deftly evading Haymar’s overhead strike. Haymar had no answer.
“We don’t have to be fighting like this though,’ Jaques continued, swiping at the other with his knife, “You could just let me go.”
“Yea,” Haymar said sarcastically, blocking the other’s knife, “Like that’ll happen.”
Before Jaques could respond, Haymar launched a blistering series of counter-attacks, keeping his opponent constantly on guard, thus leaving him no time to talk.
To Haymar’s surprise, Jaques managed to block, sidestep, or deflect all of Haymar’s expertly time blows, and talk. What couldn’t this guy do?!?
“You don’t know that I’ll take all this stuff right to Jarius.” Jaques commented in between blocks.
“For that matter, you don’t even know that I have stolen information from anybody. I could just be delivering the mail, or a love letter or two.” As he finished speaking, Jaques spun away from Haymar, keeping the rock between them.
The other laughed. “Oh really?” Haymar said, moving around the rock to the water’s edge.
“Then why is there a map with a bunch of islands that are supposed to be a secret on it lying next to this guy?” Haymar was pointing at Black Helm as he said this.
“Huh?” Jaques said, confused. To his knowledge, that map had been of Stonewald’s defenses.
Predictably, he leaned around the rock to see for himself, which was exactly what Haymar had been waiting for.
Over the past five minutes, Haymar had noticed that Jaques’ fancy gold katana had been weakened by their fight, not to mention the weapon was made of gold, which was a poor metal for an actual fighting tool. Counting on this, Haymar now swung his sword in a double-handed strike at the middle of the blade, putting all his strength behind the blow.
It connected solidly with Jaques’ sword, snapping the blade in half.
Jaques staggered back, shock etched on his face, half a second before he was flung backwards, as Haymar reversed his strike, and slammed the pommel of his sword into Jaques’ gut, flinging him back and knocking the hat off his head.
Jaques, shockingly, started to rise, bringing his knife up, but the other swung his sword again, knocking the knife away and slicing Jaques’ shoulder. The Loreesi fell back into the sand with a grunt of pain.
“Guess you’re not a better fighter than me, after all.” Haymar said.
He then stepped back from his opponent, breathing heavily, and, after wiping Jaques’ blood off on the sand, sheathed his sword.
Leaving Jaques on the ground, Haymar walked over to where the Loreesi spy’s hat had fallen, and picked it up. Placing it upon his head, Haymar decided he liked the hat, and looked over to where Jaques lay injured.
“I like your hat,” he said, “I’m keeping it.”
The Loreesi sighed.
“That was my favorite hat.”
—————————————————————
Hope you all like it!
Cheers,
Joshua
Duel in the Sand
———————————
Peering cautiously around a bend, his horse tethered a few meters behind him, Haymar watched as the two spies he was chasing entered the secluded cove just up ahead.
The first guy peered around suspiciously, but Haymar was far enough back and so well hidden that the Loreesi didn’t notice him.
“I think we can converse safely now.” The first guy said.
“Huh,” the second guy grumbled, “We could have conversed safely several miles back. You’re too paranoid Jaques.”
“I am not.” Jaques responded testily. “We were still too close to their city.”
The other said nothing, advancing farther into the cove instead.
“Oh good, our boat is still here.”
Haymar leaned slowly out from behind the boulder, staring into the cove. The water fronting the beach inside the cove was spotted with sharp rocks, which no doubt made for some tricky navigating. These sporadic rocks continued all the way to and on the beach itself, and it was to one of these that a distinctly Loreesi rowboat was tied to. Sitting on the sand next to the boat was a burlap sack one of the spies had placed there, and in the rowboat itself was a barrel, covered over with a canvas lid.
“Let’s get this thing cast off and get out of here.” Jaques said, reaching down for the burlap sack.
“Agreed,” the other guy said, and moved over to the rock the boat was secured to.
Haymar took a deep breath. This was it. If he didn’t do something now, the spies would get away, taking who knew what in valuable information, back to their Prince.
Slowly reaching back, Haymar withdrew an arrow from his quiver, and nocked it to the string of his longbow. Drawing it back, he prepared to step out from his hiding spot.
——————————
Haymar had been exiting the Durrough City Hall, having just finished delivering a report from the border about the Loreesi military build-up there, when he’d first noticed the two men.
The first one was dressed in simple, yet fancy clothes, including a rather nice looking wide-brimmed fedora with a feather in the band. The second one was wearing considerably less fancy clothes, and a dinged and scratched black helm. All this combined, they gave the appearance of a pair of Outlaws, up to no good.
Contradicting this image however, was the fancy leather sheath over the first guy’s back, containing a gold katana, as well as the gold knife at his side, and the poorly-concealed scimitar, also gold, that the second guy carried.
The clothes were a good disguise, but there was no mistaking their true alliance; They were Loreesi spies.
Turning away from the docks, where he’d been headed, Haymar began to follow the two men, as they made their way through Durrough’s busy streets.
As each successive minute passed, Haymar became more and more convinced of his conclusion. The two men were acting quite suspicious, looking back over their shoulders a little too often, as well as suddenly stopping or ducking down side streets. It was quite obvious to Haymar that these guys were amateurs. Not that Haymar would have claimed himself an excellent spy, but he did pride himself in knowing at least some spy techniques. These guys didn’t seem to know any!
Their intermediate destination quickly became obvious; the east gate of Durrough. Picking up their horses from the stable they had left them in, the two spies rode out of the city, heading for the nearby coastline. Haymar hurriedly rented a horse from the stable-owner, and rode out in pursuit.
That had been two hours ago. The spies had ridden east for half an hour, then turned north, making like they were going to Garheim, for an hour, then turned back east, and rode a half hour, until reaching this rather rocky part of the coast, where they dismounted, released their horses into the wild, and headed into the rocky passageway that ended in this cove.
————————
The Loreesi were totally caught off-guard when Haymar spun out from behind the boulder.
Both looked up, startled, and Black Helm reached for his scimitar, but that was all they managed before Haymar let fly with the arrow, which struck Black Helm in the side, dropping him where he stood.
Before the arrow had even hit, Haymar was charging forward, drawing his sword and dropping his bow in the same smooth movement.
Jaque however, was almost as fast, and when Haymar swung his sword in a vicious overhead strike, intending it to land on Jaques’ left shoulder, thus disabling him, it was stopped mid-swing by Jaques’ knife, which he’d managed to draw.
“Ah,” Jaque said, deflecting Haymar’s blow to one side and spinning away, “You nearly had me there.” He drew his katana from it’s sheath as he spoke, the sun glinting off the razor-sharp blade.
Haymar barely had time to reverse his swing before Jaques launched his counter-attack.
Feinting with his knife, Jaques swung his katana underhand, aiming to slip under Haymar’s guard.
“Oh no you don’t,” Haymar said, deftly blocking first the knife, then the sword.
“You’re almost as good as me,” Jaques replied, darting around Haymar, and launching a counter-strike that nicked the other’s arm. “Almost.”
Jaques constant commentary was unnerving and distracting Haymar, which was surely the intent.
“You seem awfully cocky for a guy fighting for his life,” Haymar commented, in an attempt to counter this, while deflecting a side-swing.
“Likewise,” Jaques fired back, deftly evading Haymar’s overhead strike. Haymar had no answer.
“We don’t have to be fighting like this though,’ Jaques continued, swiping at the other with his knife, “You could just let me go.”
“Yea,” Haymar said sarcastically, blocking the other’s knife, “Like that’ll happen.”
Before Jaques could respond, Haymar launched a blistering series of counter-attacks, keeping his opponent constantly on guard, thus leaving him no time to talk.
To Haymar’s surprise, Jaques managed to block, sidestep, or deflect all of Haymar’s expertly time blows, and talk. What couldn’t this guy do?!?
“You don’t know that I’ll take all this stuff right to Jarius.” Jaques commented in between blocks.
“For that matter, you don’t even know that I have stolen information from anybody. I could just be delivering the mail, or a love letter or two.” As he finished speaking, Jaques spun away from Haymar, keeping the rock between them.
The other laughed. “Oh really?” Haymar said, moving around the rock to the water’s edge.
“Then why is there a map with a bunch of islands that are supposed to be a secret on it lying next to this guy?” Haymar was pointing at Black Helm as he said this.
“Huh?” Jaques said, confused. To his knowledge, that map had been of Stonewald’s defenses.
Predictably, he leaned around the rock to see for himself, which was exactly what Haymar had been waiting for.
Over the past five minutes, Haymar had noticed that Jaques’ fancy gold katana had been weakened by their fight, not to mention the weapon was made of gold, which was a poor metal for an actual fighting tool. Counting on this, Haymar now swung his sword in a double-handed strike at the middle of the blade, putting all his strength behind the blow.
It connected solidly with Jaques’ sword, snapping the blade in half.
Jaques staggered back, shock etched on his face, half a second before he was flung backwards, as Haymar reversed his strike, and slammed the pommel of his sword into Jaques’ gut, flinging him back and knocking the hat off his head.
Jaques, shockingly, started to rise, bringing his knife up, but the other swung his sword again, knocking the knife away and slicing Jaques’ shoulder. The Loreesi fell back into the sand with a grunt of pain.
“Guess you’re not a better fighter than me, after all.” Haymar said.
He then stepped back from his opponent, breathing heavily, and, after wiping Jaques’ blood off on the sand, sheathed his sword.
Leaving Jaques on the ground, Haymar walked over to where the Loreesi spy’s hat had fallen, and picked it up. Placing it upon his head, Haymar decided he liked the hat, and looked over to where Jaques lay injured.
“I like your hat,” he said, “I’m keeping it.”
The Loreesi sighed.
“That was my favorite hat.”
—————————————————————
Hope you all like it!
Cheers,
Joshua
