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But it's unbroken and required me to learn how to poem so I call it even. If you read Gauntlet then hopefully this one will mean something.", "description_bbcode_parsed": "This one  is under my normal word count.   But it's unbroken and required me to learn how to poem so I call it even. If you read Gauntlet then hopefully this one will mean something.", "writing": "By Right: Duel\nBy TerraMGP\n\n\tIt hadn’t been long since the escape. The clock in Gwenhwyfar’s helm HUD told her it was little more than an hour at most. A surprise considering the fact that she had not seen any hint of a tail as she ran off with the deer.\n\n\tInitially the young knight had hoped to free a few others. Soften the defenses and sneak out all of those taken in the town that hadn’t been shipped off-world. Taking out the tiger girl in charge of the pathetic merc company stationed in the base would have probably made it easy, too. Not that she had a ton of time to deal with it before that attack shuttle showed up.\n\n\tIn the end the bargain struck with the does brother went off, but only just. She’d gotten him to bring a transport from the town to pick up everyone she freed. In the end it was only his sister. The poor girl had clearly been traumatized. The whole dash out of the compound and towards the rendezvous point required her to all but drag the girl along behind her. A lack of balance that, when mixed with the relatively small number of modifications she currently sported, seemed to indicate she was just recently taken out of stasis and put into processing.\n\n\tGwen didn’t like it. Nothing about the compound made a damn bit of sense. Too small, too poorly defended. No signs of where larger production would be and no signs of mass storage for shipping. If the prospect of facing down something with starship grade shields and weapons wasn’t insanely suicidal, odds were good that she’d have tried to investigated further. Other than the tiger merc nobody put up a shred of a fight. Oh there was damage to be sure. The Pangolin sat on a small bolder, part of a stone ring she’d set as the rendezvous point not long ago. It made a good place to rest while she decided if it was worth going back. Thus far the pause in action had only served to show the young knight how indecisive she could really be. Having done little beyond collecting the larger sword that now hung on a strap from her back and checking over the systems of her armor to ensure nothing was damaged.\n\n\tFor what little it was worth the standard issue rail rifles for the Mercs had done almost nothing. A few tears and scars she could repair at her leisure with the kit back at camp. She could go back, if only she could ignore the threat to the people still captive in that little hellhole.\n\n\tA loud noise finally dragged Gwenhwyfar from her distracted contemplation. A familiar set of sounds. The loud metallic whine of high-powered engines and angry grumble of virginal soil and grass being churned up under a heavy set of ball wheels. One look made the source clear. A screaming, streaking silver and black motorcycle throwing itself headlong towards the circle from the approximate direction of the camp site.\n\n\t“Guess I still need to work on hiding my tracks better.” The pangolin sighed as she shifted her position on the rock. Watching, for now at least. The shield projectors on her armor cranked up on high forward. If it was who she figured, there was no way Gwenhwyfar was gong to allow herself to be taken by some dishonorable attack at range. But at the same time she wasn’t about to let herself appear afraid.\n\n\tAs expected the attack bike streaked its way to the circle and skidded to a stop a few meters away. A shining silver-black steed with no apparent weapons to speak of but a decent bit of armor plating. The Slaver-wolf sat astride it. Her power armor caked with the dust and grasses of the ride, yet otherwise immaculate. The rider pulled herself from her mount slowly and carefully. She reached up to grip her helm, undoing the clasps to pull it open and free. Shaking her mane of light brown hair as the hidden rainbow dye flashed below it. \n\n\tRuna gripped the rim of the helm under one hand and withdrew her weapon from its case on her bikes side. She looked off at Gwen with those blue and silver eyes. Slowly pacing towards the circle as she began to sing. Footsteps matching her pace.\n\nCome the old wolf riding\nMarching out to war\nIn the cold of Midguard deep\nUlfbert at the fore\n\nArmor shone of silver\nGuns of blackest steel\nWorld-tree throne standing strong\nThe pack shall n’ere kneel\n\nAllfather bless the thane\nFreya bless the child\nFor conquest and glory\nA birthright from the wild\n\nA new day dawns\nThe world tree rise\nYggdrasil foes\nShall meet demise\n\nGods, hear our cry.\n\n\t“English?” The Pangolin pulled herself up on the rock slowly and flexed her body around in that marred silver armor. The sunlight showing the tarnish of battle and flight. Dents and torn fibers from deflected rail gun fire. Gwen held her helm under her right arm. That harsh farm girl face turned to a proud scowl as she strode with all the pride of a former squire gaining her spurs. “Here I figured you’d use New Norse. Or Old Norse. Keep your self-aggrandizing more authentic.”\n\n\t“You’re familiar then?” Runa muttered as she looked the other warrior over slowly. The jet blacks and bright silver accents of her armor shining like dark mirrors in the sunlight. “Then you know who it’s for.”\n\n\t“And who you are.” Gwenhwyfar noted “Now, at least.”\n\n\tRuna narrowed her eyes as she stepped forwards. Helm hanging limply from her left hand, blade firmly clutched in her right. Her strides were thick and forceful. A slow war march along the blue-green grasses and patchy dirt sending gnats and small feral rodents and still-waking fireflies scrambling away from her boots. \n\n\tThe wolf stopped a few dozen paces from the rock and pointed the pommel of her weapon at the silver-clad woman. Her left foot slipping behind her right in a crude proto-stance as she dug herself in. “You took something from me.”\n\n\t“Did I now?” Gwenhwyfar smirked softly at that and tossed her hair out of her face. The sweat and grime of her recent attack and escape still stained the Pangolin’s cheeks and showed in her matted straw hair. “Forgive me. I figured someone like Runa Thanedottr would be at peace with the idea. Besides, the eye suits you.”\n\n\tThe wolfess gritted her jaw and narrowed her eyes as she tossed the helmet on the ground before her. The helm rolled out and rested in the grass. The sharp green photoreceptors gazing up at the foe on its side.\n\n\tGwenhwyfar looked down for a moment before pushing herself off of the rock and on to her feet. Her own helm slipping in to her hand. She kept her gaze on her foe. Heavy, squared boots digging firmly into the soft soil between them. She stopped, half way between the wolf and the helm, gazing down at it a moment before casually tossing the white-striped hunk of silver ceramic and carbon thudding next to her opponents helm.\n\n\tThe pangolin pulled at the blade strapped on her back and undid the latch, gripping the scabbard and tossing it blade-first down into the ground. She then took a proper Florentine fencing stance with the blade on her left arm snapping to life. Gwenhwyfar wrapping her right hand around the hilt of her rapier and pulling it free. Her posture shifting slightly and tail grazing along the ground as she shifted her stance. The blades slowly tracing each other along their impossibly fine edges.\n\n\tRuna slipped back and took a simple plow stance. Snarling only a moment as the thin hard light of her own blade quickly and deliberately flared to life. That sharp tip shimmering menacingly as the wolf growled.\n\n\t“Well then.” Gwenhwyfar said with a grim smirk “Lay on!”\n\n\tThe attack was quick. A hard, low charge as Runa crouched and tucked her gait. Left hand slipping back along the haft of her weapon and gripping it near the pommel. A hard drive thrust shot out like a spear only to be quickly turned to the side. The flat brushed by the parrying blade as Gwenhwyfar stepped back. The blade shifting as Runa shifted her posture and swiped down hard in a sharp sweeping circle.\n\n\tIt was easy enough to dodge, if only just. The wolf moving predictably with an aggressive barrage of swipes and swings. Gwenhwyfar shifting and twisting as the blade pushed though the shimmering telltale rainbow flicker of New Avalon shielding and twisting to slip the strikes down into the ground. The pattern leading the two around in a circle. Shifting swipes digging though the ground. Each blow shifting perfectly into a wheel before swiping down at a new but oh so easily read angle. The attack left no room to counter. Every opening closed almost instantly by the next one.\n\n\tLuckily for the Pangolin, the moves were telegraphed rather easily. Each wide swing took only minimal movements to avoid or turn. Runa screamed with each one. Seemingly driven to a hard fury. The absence of much real finesse was offset by the ferocity, and by the sudden inclusion of hard pommel strikes and quick knees thrown at any point where an overextended swing broke the deadly arcs of the massive blade.\n\n\tIt was a slow and methodical task, leading the wolf as she had in their first fight. Around the helms in a slow circle. The strikes all aiming at center mass or the shoulders. Gwenhwyfar could see the fire in the one good eye, watch the prosthetic whir and shimmer with data as it struggled to calculate the next point of attack. Points that were ether painfully predictable or utterly ignored. Simply hard forceful slashes that seemed to grow more wild and uneven as the wolf started to bare her fangs. \n\n\tThe first counterstrikes were little more than tests. Soft silvery flutters of the twin-length blades that kissed the shimmering hexagonal mesh shields projected around Runas armor. Blows that would normally slip though with more than the feather forces the knight applied. Each one was met with another furious swipe. Another heavily extended yet reflexively guarded blow that wore though her foes natural stamina and senses. A half dozen of these little stings soon found their way though the shield. Just enough to graze and nick the wolf woman’s armor. Tiny tests showing holes and gaps in defense.\n\n\tThe slowing wolf managed to keep the attack pressed as she tried to herd her opponent towards the rocks. The relentless barrage of swings cutting through the first droplets of rain and each time driving the knight to dodge sidelong mere moments before being cornered. They once again fell into the dance of blades this way. Once, twice, the a third. The third time putting Gwenhwyfar with her back almost to the large rock she’d been perched on mere moments ago. \n\n\tA sudden hiss split the air as the first light sheets of rain were cut by the large blade extending itself out several meters in length. Runa swung it downwards quickly and forcefully as she could at her foe. The strike missing the knight by mere centimeters and splitting the rock clean in half.\n\n\tThis time the hard leap set Gwenhwyfar in front of another stone, barely able to get her footing before the wild wolf woman closing the gap in a hard leap. Her blade once again returned to its proper size and making a sudden hard swing that barely missed. Slipping though the shields and taking a hard slice off of the knights shoulder. The small bit of plating repaid with a hard knee strike to Runas gut.\n\n\tThe wolf hopped back even as she took another hard overhead swing to deter any attempt at an offensive. The maneuver regained much of the distance the two had before hand as their eyes locked from across the circle.\n\n\tRuna snarled loudly as she shifted her stance quickly. Pulling herself from plow to a low, modified ox. Gwenhwyfar stopped and shifted on her back foot. It was clear the wolf had been working hard. Improving, refining. If she wasn’t facing down a monster it might even be impressive. \n\n\tBut this wolf was a monster, and it was time to put her down. She started to loop her way around again. Carefully watching the wolf as she matched the pacing herself to match the flank of the knight. It seemed clear to both by now that neither could give quarter in this.\n\n\tThe pair locked eyes as they returned to their basic stances The movements slowing as the rains picked up. The heavy weight of their respective armors starting to dig their way in to the thirsty dirt as it shifted into soppy muck below them. The wolf was the one struggling a bit more for it. She’d worn herself out and with the heavier plate it was already hard to keep herself from getting stuck as easily. Mere moments of pause seemingly enough for the thirsty ground to draw her boot tips in near the ankle.\n\n\tGwenhwyfar made particular note of this as she paced and circled with her foe. Watching carefully. Watching the uneven placement. Watching the weight and weariness after the initial attack. The frazzled, rage-addled mind which seemingly failed to notice. \n\n\tGwenhwyfar took a half step back as she adopted a more aggressive posture. She pushed free quickly and sprang out of the mud. Armor augmented muscles pushing her forwards in a sudden streak with the left parrying blade cocked and ready, swing out while her rapier stayed at the ready to strike the wolfs blade aside. As expected the mud made it all too easy. The weight of wolf and weapon moving far too slowly and easily swatted aside by a quick twist of the rapier. Gwen watched the real eye going wide in shock. Runa nearly fell over, one arm lifting quickly. Watching the left hand blade suddenly streaking forwards towards Runas head.\n\n\tIt was only a split second shift that saved Runas life. Her left arm swinging up. Gashed deeply at the forearm and shoulder as she awkwardly swung at the right angle to dissipate the hard light blade before it struck her in the face. This movement still left her wide open as the Pangolin knocked her in the face and back against a stone. A powerful punch to Runas good eye to accompany the freshly formed and quickly sealed wounds.\n\n\tAnother frantic flurry swing of the great sword drove Gwenhwyfar back from the fray once more and left her panting as she watched her foe struggling to recover. The weapon now hung down far lower than it had. Her arm struggling somewhat with mobility. Gwenhwyfar saw her opening to end this. Slipping back into the same stance before, watching as this time Runa took a heavily modified ox stance. Her blade tip pointed down at almost a forty five degree angle and left arm trembling a bit as both natural and false muscle sought to compensate for the slash. \n\n\tThe second attack was as sudden as the first,. Gwenhwyfar bounding back to the periphery of that large swords range. She watched for it to swing. It didn’t. Instead the Pangolin felt a sharp, sudden pain. The greatswrod blade springing to its maximum length once more. Spearing through shimmering shields and hard armor composites as it dug though her left shin. The blade streaking upwards a few centimeters before dissipating as the shifting armor twisted the fragile structure enough to break it free.\n\n\tGwen shifted her weight to her good foot and pushed forwards, taking a hard swipe at the haft of the great sword. Her rapier bit most of the way through before Runa managed to twist the thing enough to dissipate the thin blade. Unfortunately for the wolf her sword no longer sprang to life.\n\n\tGwenhwyfar panted and heaved as she shook the growing rain from her straw hair. Gone was the grace, the elegance, the sophistication. She lumbered on though the pain. Slamming the mutilated leg down to speed her final attack. Both blade tips angled and twisted with sharp lines headed towards the wolfs heart. The headlong charge looping and lopping as the armor around Gwen’s left leg struggled to hold itself in place Blood managing to seep out from the swollen membrane of the inflated inner lining.\n\n\tRuna shivered as she watched the figure moving towards her. Her own body beaten and battered. She could feel the scars on her arm. Clutching at the hilt of her blade as it sputtered and spat. Little more than a crude club in its current state. Her good eye, her real eye, was starting to swell shut already. She could see the angle of both blades. Watched the flats where she could strike to dissipate them. Watched the gait of the charge that had to be all but liquidizing the pangolins lower leg.\n\n\tShe just glared at her. The battered sweat and rain soaked face. The pain, rage and defiance in those sharp blue eyes. The thick heavy scarf once fluttering behind her now clinging around the gorget of the armor. Clinging to the colored carbon and ceramic mesh like spools of thick, heavy cable. That simple cloth hanging metal-heavy against the scarred silver breastplate. Runa just watched it, gazing, fixating. Everything else seeming to fall away. The hate, the rage, those old feelings of assurance and certainty. All the good and bad melting from her mind and body as the broken hilt slowly slipped free from her paws. Her left arm reaching up wearily as she watched the figure speeding towards her.\n\n\tThe sudden movements were all a blur. Flashing painfully and fast though the minds of both warriors. A simple shift pulling Runa out of he path of the right-armed blade and yanking the silver armored woman in close. The wolf could feel the sharp sting of something slipping into her side. The blade protruding though her right side, mere millimeters at most above her kidney. The familiar swell of the armor inner lining starting to slowly swell as Runa gripped hard on he thick cloth scarf. \n\n\tThe wolfess let her trembling free hand lower down to the backhanded left-armed blade of her foe. Gripping it tight and squeezing as hard as she could. The armor twisted and snapped under the grip of the augmented gauntlet and Runas natural strength. The hard light sputtering and winking out as she slowly crushed the bracer against Gwen’s wrist. A hard crunch sound audible to the two of them as the armor finally buckled and the blade emitter was smashed along with the housing. Gwen screamed in pain as she tried to shift her weight and swing down with the main blade. Runa quickly yanking the scarf forwards and stepping to the side letting the Pangolin fall flat into the mud face first.\n\n\tGwenhwyfar twisted and yanked the narrow rapier hilt free of the mud. Swinging it in a wide arc in the general direction of the wolf. Runas boot tip met the forearm mid-swing and slid along the armor. Contacting the hilt bottom and kicking it free. Runa stomped down hard on the wrist as her foes arm fell back into the mud, grinding down hard and jamming her heel down on that wrist.\n\n\tThe Pangolin, in return, swung her left arm up and smashed it against the crook of Runas leg, knocking the wolf off balance. The wolf thudded hard into the mud on her shoulder, feeling mud and grass brushing against the pressurized and compressed wound in her gut. Gwenhwyfar soon landing a hard if lopping stumble-punch down on the fallen wolfs face. The blow of ceramic and carbon plate hitting bone causing a loud crack right along the bridge of the muzzle. Gwen gasped and panted for air just a moment, then started to claw though the mud towards where the blade would have fallen.\n\n\tRuna shook her now bleeding muzzle and reached up to grab the back of the scarf. Yanking hard and pulling Gwen back into the mud. Ass and tail smashing into the dirt and mire with just enough time to watch the wolf half-fall in with her own hard left hook. Then a right. The second blow soon repeated as she smashed her fist into Gwenhwyfer’s cheek again and again. Half the blows missed. The other half finding far more purchase than they should.\n\n\tThe rain of punches only stopped as Gwenhwyfar managed to get her hand to stop slicking off of Runas spalder and gain the leverage needed to grip it firmly, yanking herself in close and head butting the wolf in her already broken muzzle. Followed quickly by a hard knee under the chin that sent Runa flying on her back in the mud. \n\n\tThe wolf was barely able to catch herself, watching as her foe struggled to stay upright. Her left side limp and quaking. She loosed a weak backhand which nevertheless nicked the pangolin’s nose. Nearly knocking her over.\n\n\tThe two were soon half-braced on their knees. Heavy body-blow punches cracking and smashing as the delicate balance of trying to rise and knocking each other on their faces. Bloodied wounds caked in dirt and eyes stinging with rainwater. The thick, mineral mélange of clay-mud, rainwater, grass and ozone seeped into their noses though the metallic copper blood. Soon the two were barely able to start pulling themselves up. Both pairs of blue eyes locked on each other as both shivered and struggled to stand. Runa feeling her eye starting to glitch and distort, Gwenhwyfar pushing every possible nanogram of the suits weight on to her largely uninjured right leg. Both slowly rose. Wobbling and shivering. Eyes never leaving, not until the snap.\n\n\tGwen screamed. Her body twisting and contorting as she collapsed into a heap in the mud. Her left leg now twisted around almost one hundred and twenty degrees from where it should be and bent out of angle along the line of where the blade slash had been. Sensor sirens from the discarded helm screamed and shrieked out into the stormy dusk. Blood beginning to pool out from the leg wound as the suit struggled to cu off the blood flow as much as possible. \n\n\tRuna shook her head and shivered. She started towards the young knight for a moment, and then stopped. Pulling herself instead towards the direction of the discarded blade.\n\n\tGwen looked up and once again tried to pull herself up. Between her injured arm and ruined leg there was no longer a way to stand. No way to move. The knight trembling and fumbling her good arm over to grip at the crushed bracer. The thick gauntlet plated fingers beginning to dig and claw a the small and now utterly ruined release mechanism for he blade emitter Banging and tugging frantically as she could wit hher slowly hazing vision.\n\n\tIt was just barely clear enough to see the wolf coming back. The dark armored figure half limping as she held the shimmering silver blade tight in her right hand as the left gripped her right elbow to hold it steady. She plodded though the mud. A hard dragging, sucking sound following her as the heavy suit suck deep into the muck and the mire. The march leaving a long dragging trail up to the silver-clad knight. \n\n\tRuna lifted her foot slowly. The heavy armored boot smashing down hard on Gwens chest and then lifting again. It came down second time on Gwens muzzle. Pushing the hazy knights face into the mud as she struggled to draw breath. Fading eyes looked up from the dirt with defiance and exhausted rage. The wolf looked back and spat in her foes face, shifting as much weight as she dared on the foot pinning Gwens muzzle while dragging the rapier blade up and holding it above the fallen foes face. Letting the Pangolin gaze up along the rain droplets as they spattered and popped on the flat of the shimmering silver.\n\n\tThe Pangolin didn’t flinch. Her eye fixed on Runa, her body tensed. Loosing a loud, guttural growl of defiance and twisting as best she could. Letting the mud stained white shield ornament on her spalder in one last show of defiance.\n\n\tThe wolf smirked and gripped her shoulder, twisting the blade just a bit. She pushed down hard, keeping a firm grip down on that muzzle as she traced a long, slow streak with the tip of the blade. Starting back near the far corner of her eye and curving down at a slight arc part way down the cheek. It was a simple mark. Noticeable, but innocuous. The meaning obscure, but beyond dispute.\n\n\tA mark of a runaway slave.", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "By Right: Duel
By TerraMGP

\tIt hadn’t been long since the escape. The clock in Gwenhwyfar’s helm HUD told her it was little more than an hour at most. A surprise considering the fact that she had not seen any hint of a tail as she ran off with the deer.

\tInitially the young knight had hoped to free a few others. Soften the defenses and sneak out all of those taken in the town that hadn’t been shipped off-world. Taking out the tiger girl in charge of the pathetic merc company stationed in the base would have probably made it easy, too. Not that she had a ton of time to deal with it before that attack shuttle showed up.

\tIn the end the bargain struck with the does brother went off, but only just. She’d gotten him to bring a transport from the town to pick up everyone she freed. In the end it was only his sister. The poor girl had clearly been traumatized. The whole dash out of the compound and towards the rendezvous point required her to all but drag the girl along behind her. A lack of balance that, when mixed with the relatively small number of modifications she currently sported, seemed to indicate she was just recently taken out of stasis and put into processing.

\tGwen didn’t like it. Nothing about the compound made a damn bit of sense. Too small, too poorly defended. No signs of where larger production would be and no signs of mass storage for shipping. If the prospect of facing down something with starship grade shields and weapons wasn’t insanely suicidal, odds were good that she’d have tried to investigated further. Other than the tiger merc nobody put up a shred of a fight. Oh there was damage to be sure. The Pangolin sat on a small bolder, part of a stone ring she’d set as the rendezvous point not long ago. It made a good place to rest while she decided if it was worth going back. Thus far the pause in action had only served to show the young knight how indecisive she could really be. Having done little beyond collecting the larger sword that now hung on a strap from her back and checking over the systems of her armor to ensure nothing was damaged.

\tFor what little it was worth the standard issue rail rifles for the Mercs had done almost nothing. A few tears and scars she could repair at her leisure with the kit back at camp. She could go back, if only she could ignore the threat to the people still captive in that little hellhole.

\tA loud noise finally dragged Gwenhwyfar from her distracted contemplation. A familiar set of sounds. The loud metallic whine of high-powered engines and angry grumble of virginal soil and grass being churned up under a heavy set of ball wheels. One look made the source clear. A screaming, streaking silver and black motorcycle throwing itself headlong towards the circle from the approximate direction of the camp site.

\t“Guess I still need to work on hiding my tracks better.” The pangolin sighed as she shifted her position on the rock. Watching, for now at least. The shield projectors on her armor cranked up on high forward. If it was who she figured, there was no way Gwenhwyfar was gong to allow herself to be taken by some dishonorable attack at range. But at the same time she wasn’t about to let herself appear afraid.

\tAs expected the attack bike streaked its way to the circle and skidded to a stop a few meters away. A shining silver-black steed with no apparent weapons to speak of but a decent bit of armor plating. The Slaver-wolf sat astride it. Her power armor caked with the dust and grasses of the ride, yet otherwise immaculate. The rider pulled herself from her mount slowly and carefully. She reached up to grip her helm, undoing the clasps to pull it open and free. Shaking her mane of light brown hair as the hidden rainbow dye flashed below it.

\tRuna gripped the rim of the helm under one hand and withdrew her weapon from its case on her bikes side. She looked off at Gwen with those blue and silver eyes. Slowly pacing towards the circle as she began to sing. Footsteps matching her pace.

Come the old wolf riding
Marching out to war
In the cold of Midguard deep
Ulfbert at the fore

Armor shone of silver
Guns of blackest steel
World-tree throne standing strong
The pack shall n’ere kneel

Allfather bless the thane
Freya bless the child
For conquest and glory
A birthright from the wild

A new day dawns
The world tree rise
Yggdrasil foes
Shall meet demise

Gods, hear our cry.

\t“English?” The Pangolin pulled herself up on the rock slowly and flexed her body around in that marred silver armor. The sunlight showing the tarnish of battle and flight. Dents and torn fibers from deflected rail gun fire. Gwen held her helm under her right arm. That harsh farm girl face turned to a proud scowl as she strode with all the pride of a former squire gaining her spurs. “Here I figured you’d use New Norse. Or Old Norse. Keep your self-aggrandizing more authentic.”

\t“You’re familiar then?” Runa muttered as she looked the other warrior over slowly. The jet blacks and bright silver accents of her armor shining like dark mirrors in the sunlight. “Then you know who it’s for.”

\t“And who you are.” Gwenhwyfar noted “Now, at least.”

\tRuna narrowed her eyes as she stepped forwards. Helm hanging limply from her left hand, blade firmly clutched in her right. Her strides were thick and forceful. A slow war march along the blue-green grasses and patchy dirt sending gnats and small feral rodents and still-waking fireflies scrambling away from her boots.

\tThe wolf stopped a few dozen paces from the rock and pointed the pommel of her weapon at the silver-clad woman. Her left foot slipping behind her right in a crude proto-stance as she dug herself in. “You took something from me.”

\t“Did I now?” Gwenhwyfar smirked softly at that and tossed her hair out of her face. The sweat and grime of her recent attack and escape still stained the Pangolin’s cheeks and showed in her matted straw hair. “Forgive me. I figured someone like Runa Thanedottr would be at peace with the idea. Besides, the eye suits you.”

\tThe wolfess gritted her jaw and narrowed her eyes as she tossed the helmet on the ground before her. The helm rolled out and rested in the grass. The sharp green photoreceptors gazing up at the foe on its side.

\tGwenhwyfar looked down for a moment before pushing herself off of the rock and on to her feet. Her own helm slipping in to her hand. She kept her gaze on her foe. Heavy, squared boots digging firmly into the soft soil between them. She stopped, half way between the wolf and the helm, gazing down at it a moment before casually tossing the white-striped hunk of silver ceramic and carbon thudding next to her opponents helm.

\tThe pangolin pulled at the blade strapped on her back and undid the latch, gripping the scabbard and tossing it blade-first down into the ground. She then took a proper Florentine fencing stance with the blade on her left arm snapping to life. Gwenhwyfar wrapping her right hand around the hilt of her rapier and pulling it free. Her posture shifting slightly and tail grazing along the ground as she shifted her stance. The blades slowly tracing each other along their impossibly fine edges.

\tRuna slipped back and took a simple plow stance. Snarling only a moment as the thin hard light of her own blade quickly and deliberately flared to life. That sharp tip shimmering menacingly as the wolf growled.

\t“Well then.” Gwenhwyfar said with a grim smirk “Lay on!”

\tThe attack was quick. A hard, low charge as Runa crouched and tucked her gait. Left hand slipping back along the haft of her weapon and gripping it near the pommel. A hard drive thrust shot out like a spear only to be quickly turned to the side. The flat brushed by the parrying blade as Gwenhwyfar stepped back. The blade shifting as Runa shifted her posture and swiped down hard in a sharp sweeping circle.

\tIt was easy enough to dodge, if only just. The wolf moving predictably with an aggressive barrage of swipes and swings. Gwenhwyfar shifting and twisting as the blade pushed though the shimmering telltale rainbow flicker of New Avalon shielding and twisting to slip the strikes down into the ground. The pattern leading the two around in a circle. Shifting swipes digging though the ground. Each blow shifting perfectly into a wheel before swiping down at a new but oh so easily read angle. The attack left no room to counter. Every opening closed almost instantly by the next one.

\tLuckily for the Pangolin, the moves were telegraphed rather easily. Each wide swing took only minimal movements to avoid or turn. Runa screamed with each one. Seemingly driven to a hard fury. The absence of much real finesse was offset by the ferocity, and by the sudden inclusion of hard pommel strikes and quick knees thrown at any point where an overextended swing broke the deadly arcs of the massive blade.

\tIt was a slow and methodical task, leading the wolf as she had in their first fight. Around the helms in a slow circle. The strikes all aiming at center mass or the shoulders. Gwenhwyfar could see the fire in the one good eye, watch the prosthetic whir and shimmer with data as it struggled to calculate the next point of attack. Points that were ether painfully predictable or utterly ignored. Simply hard forceful slashes that seemed to grow more wild and uneven as the wolf started to bare her fangs.

\tThe first counterstrikes were little more than tests. Soft silvery flutters of the twin-length blades that kissed the shimmering hexagonal mesh shields projected around Runas armor. Blows that would normally slip though with more than the feather forces the knight applied. Each one was met with another furious swipe. Another heavily extended yet reflexively guarded blow that wore though her foes natural stamina and senses. A half dozen of these little stings soon found their way though the shield. Just enough to graze and nick the wolf woman’s armor. Tiny tests showing holes and gaps in defense.

\tThe slowing wolf managed to keep the attack pressed as she tried to herd her opponent towards the rocks. The relentless barrage of swings cutting through the first droplets of rain and each time driving the knight to dodge sidelong mere moments before being cornered. They once again fell into the dance of blades this way. Once, twice, the a third.  The third time putting Gwenhwyfar with her back almost to the large rock she’d been perched on mere moments ago.

\tA sudden hiss split the air as the first light sheets of rain were cut by the large blade extending itself out several meters in length. Runa swung it downwards quickly and forcefully as she could at her foe. The strike missing the knight by mere centimeters and splitting the rock clean in half.

\tThis time the hard leap set Gwenhwyfar in front of another stone, barely able to get her footing before the wild wolf woman closing the gap in a hard leap. Her blade once again returned to its proper size and making a sudden hard swing that barely missed. Slipping though the shields and taking a hard slice off of the knights shoulder. The small bit of plating repaid with a hard knee strike to Runas gut.

\tThe wolf hopped back even as she took another hard overhead swing to deter any attempt at an offensive. The maneuver regained much of the distance the two had before hand as their eyes locked from across the circle.

\tRuna snarled loudly as she shifted her stance quickly. Pulling herself from plow to a low, modified ox. Gwenhwyfar stopped and shifted on her back foot. It was clear the wolf had been working hard. Improving, refining. If she wasn’t facing down a monster it might even be impressive.

\tBut this wolf was a monster, and it was time to put her down. She started to loop her way around again. Carefully watching the wolf as she matched the pacing herself to match the flank of the knight. It seemed clear to both by now that neither could give quarter in this.

\tThe pair locked eyes as they returned to their basic stances The movements slowing as the rains picked up. The heavy weight of their respective armors starting to dig their way in to the thirsty dirt as it shifted into soppy muck below them. The wolf was the one struggling a bit  more for it. She’d worn herself out and with the heavier plate it was already hard to keep herself from getting stuck as easily. Mere moments of pause seemingly enough for the thirsty ground to draw her boot tips in near the ankle.

\tGwenhwyfar made particular note of this as she paced and circled with her foe. Watching carefully. Watching the uneven placement. Watching the weight and weariness after the initial attack. The frazzled, rage-addled mind which seemingly failed to notice.

\tGwenhwyfar took a half step back as she adopted a more aggressive posture. She pushed free quickly and sprang out of the mud. Armor augmented muscles pushing her forwards in a sudden streak with the left parrying blade cocked and ready, swing out while her rapier stayed at the ready to strike the wolfs blade aside. As expected the mud made it all too easy. The weight of wolf and weapon moving far too slowly and easily swatted aside by a quick twist of the rapier. Gwen watched the real eye going wide in shock. Runa nearly fell over, one arm lifting quickly. Watching the left hand blade suddenly streaking forwards towards Runas head.

\tIt was only a split second shift that saved Runas life. Her left arm swinging up. Gashed deeply at the forearm and shoulder as she awkwardly swung at the right angle to dissipate the hard light blade before it struck her in the face. This movement still left her wide open as the Pangolin knocked her in the face and back against a stone. A powerful punch to Runas good eye to accompany the freshly formed and quickly sealed wounds.

\tAnother frantic flurry swing of the great sword drove Gwenhwyfar back from the fray once more and left her panting as she watched her foe struggling to recover. The weapon now hung down far lower than it had. Her arm struggling somewhat with mobility. Gwenhwyfar saw her opening to end this. Slipping back into the same stance before, watching as this time Runa took a heavily modified ox stance. Her blade tip pointed down at almost a forty five degree angle and left arm trembling a bit as both natural and false muscle sought to compensate for the slash.

\tThe second attack was as sudden as the first,. Gwenhwyfar bounding back to the periphery of that large swords range. She watched for it to swing. It didn’t. Instead the Pangolin felt a sharp, sudden pain. The greatswrod blade springing to its maximum length once more. Spearing through shimmering shields and hard armor composites as it dug though her left shin. The blade streaking upwards a few centimeters before dissipating as the shifting armor twisted the fragile structure enough to break it free.

\tGwen shifted her weight to her good foot and pushed forwards, taking a hard swipe at the haft of the great sword. Her rapier bit most of the way through before Runa managed to twist the thing enough to dissipate the thin blade. Unfortunately for the wolf her sword no longer sprang to life.

\tGwenhwyfar panted and heaved as she shook the growing rain from her straw hair. Gone was the grace, the elegance, the sophistication. She lumbered on though the pain. Slamming the mutilated leg down to speed her final attack. Both blade tips angled and twisted with sharp lines headed towards the wolfs heart. The headlong charge looping and lopping as the armor around Gwen’s left leg struggled to hold itself in place Blood managing to seep out from the swollen membrane of the inflated inner lining.

\tRuna shivered as she watched the figure moving towards her. Her own body beaten and battered. She could feel the scars on her arm. Clutching at the hilt of her blade as it sputtered and spat. Little more than a crude club in its current state. Her good eye, her real eye, was starting to swell shut already.  She could see the angle of both blades. Watched the flats where she could strike to dissipate them. Watched the gait of the charge that had to be all but liquidizing the pangolins lower leg.

\tShe just glared at her. The battered sweat and rain soaked face. The pain, rage and defiance in those sharp blue eyes. The thick heavy scarf once fluttering behind her now clinging around the gorget of the armor. Clinging to the colored carbon and ceramic mesh like spools of thick, heavy cable. That simple cloth hanging metal-heavy against the scarred silver breastplate. Runa just watched it, gazing, fixating. Everything else seeming to fall away. The hate, the rage, those old feelings of assurance and certainty. All the good and bad melting from her mind and body as the broken hilt slowly slipped free from her paws. Her left arm reaching up wearily as she watched the figure speeding towards her.

\tThe sudden movements were all a blur. Flashing painfully and fast though the minds of both warriors. A simple shift pulling Runa out of he path of the right-armed blade and yanking the silver armored woman in close. The wolf could feel the sharp sting of something slipping into her side. The blade protruding though her right side, mere millimeters at most above her kidney. The familiar swell of the armor inner lining starting to slowly swell as Runa gripped hard on he thick cloth scarf.

\tThe wolfess let her trembling free hand lower down to the backhanded left-armed blade of her foe. Gripping it tight and squeezing as hard as she could. The armor twisted and snapped under the grip of the augmented gauntlet and Runas natural strength. The hard light sputtering and winking out as she slowly crushed the bracer against Gwen’s wrist. A hard crunch sound audible to the two of them as the armor finally buckled and the blade emitter was smashed along with the housing. Gwen screamed in pain as she tried to shift her weight and swing down with the main blade. Runa quickly yanking the scarf forwards and stepping to the side letting the Pangolin fall flat into the mud face first.

\tGwenhwyfar twisted and yanked the narrow rapier hilt free of the mud. Swinging it in a wide arc in the general direction of the wolf. Runas boot tip met the forearm mid-swing and slid along the armor. Contacting the hilt bottom and kicking it free. Runa stomped down hard on the wrist as her foes arm fell back into the mud, grinding down hard and jamming her heel down on that wrist.

\tThe Pangolin, in return, swung her left arm up and smashed it against the crook of Runas leg, knocking the wolf off balance. The wolf thudded hard into the mud on her shoulder, feeling mud and grass brushing against the pressurized and compressed wound in her gut. Gwenhwyfar soon landing a hard if lopping stumble-punch down on the fallen wolfs face. The blow of ceramic and carbon plate hitting bone causing a loud crack right along the bridge of the muzzle. Gwen gasped and panted for air just a moment, then started to claw though the mud towards where the blade would have fallen.

\tRuna shook her now bleeding muzzle and reached up to grab the back of the scarf. Yanking hard and pulling Gwen back into the mud. Ass and tail smashing into the dirt and mire with just enough time to watch the wolf half-fall in with her own hard left hook. Then a right. The second blow soon repeated as she smashed her fist into Gwenhwyfer’s cheek again and again. Half the blows missed. The other half finding far more purchase than they should.

\tThe rain of punches only stopped as Gwenhwyfar managed to get her hand to stop slicking off of Runas spalder and gain the leverage needed to grip it firmly, yanking herself in close and head butting the wolf in her already broken muzzle. Followed quickly by a hard knee under the chin that sent Runa flying on her back in the mud.

\tThe wolf was barely able to catch herself, watching as her foe struggled to stay upright. Her left side limp and quaking. She loosed a weak backhand which nevertheless nicked the pangolin’s nose. Nearly knocking her over.

\tThe two were soon half-braced on their knees. Heavy body-blow punches cracking and smashing as the delicate balance of trying to rise and knocking each other on their faces. Bloodied wounds caked in dirt and eyes stinging with rainwater. The thick, mineral mélange of clay-mud, rainwater, grass and ozone seeped into their noses though the metallic copper blood. Soon the two were barely able to start pulling themselves up. Both pairs of blue eyes locked on each other as both shivered and struggled to stand. Runa feeling her eye starting to glitch and distort, Gwenhwyfar pushing every possible nanogram of the suits weight on to her largely uninjured right leg. Both slowly rose. Wobbling and shivering. Eyes never leaving, not until the snap.

\tGwen screamed. Her body twisting and contorting as she collapsed into a heap in the mud. Her left leg now twisted around almost one hundred and twenty degrees from where it should be and bent out of angle along the line of where the blade slash had been. Sensor sirens from the discarded helm screamed and shrieked out into the stormy dusk. Blood beginning to pool out from the leg wound as the suit struggled to cu off the blood flow as much as possible.

\tRuna shook her head and shivered. She started towards the young knight for a moment, and then stopped. Pulling herself instead towards the direction of the discarded blade.

\tGwen looked up and once again tried to pull herself up. Between her injured arm and ruined leg there was no longer a way to stand. No way to move. The knight trembling and fumbling her good arm over to grip at the crushed bracer. The thick gauntlet plated fingers beginning to dig and claw a the small and now utterly ruined release mechanism for he blade emitter Banging and tugging frantically as she could wit hher slowly hazing vision.

\tIt was just barely clear enough to see the wolf coming back. The dark armored figure half limping as she held the shimmering silver blade tight in her right hand as the left gripped her right elbow to hold it steady. She plodded though the mud. A hard dragging, sucking sound following her as the heavy suit suck deep into the muck and the mire. The march leaving a long dragging trail up to the silver-clad knight.

\tRuna lifted her foot slowly. The heavy armored boot smashing down hard on Gwens chest and then lifting again. It came down  second time on Gwens muzzle. Pushing the hazy knights face into the mud as she struggled to draw breath. Fading eyes looked up from the dirt with defiance and exhausted rage. The wolf looked back and spat in her foes face, shifting as much weight as she dared on the foot pinning Gwens muzzle while dragging the rapier blade up and holding it above the fallen foes face. Letting the Pangolin gaze up along the rain droplets as they spattered and popped on the flat of the shimmering silver.

\tThe Pangolin didn’t flinch. Her eye fixed on Runa, her body tensed. Loosing a loud, guttural growl  of defiance and twisting as best she could. Letting the mud stained white shield ornament on her spalder in one last show of defiance.

\tThe wolf smirked and gripped her shoulder, twisting the blade just a bit. She pushed down hard, keeping a firm grip down on that muzzle as she traced a long, slow streak with the tip of the blade. Starting back near the far corner of her eye and curving down at a slight arc part way down the cheek. It was a simple mark. Noticeable, but innocuous. The meaning obscure, but beyond dispute.

\tA mark of a runaway slave.", "pools_count": 2, "title": "By Right: Duel", "deleted": "f", "public": "t", "mimetype": "application/msword", "pagecount": "1", "rating_id": "2", "rating_name": "Adult", "ratings": [ { "content_tag_id": "5", "name": "Strong Violence", "description": "Strong violence, blood, serious injury or death", "rating_id": "2" } ], "submission_type_id": "12", "type_name": "Writing - Document", "guest_block": "t", "friends_only": "f", "comments_count": "1", "views": "96" }