An angel’s road to hell

50. Of training, lessons and a little bit of barter

Cassandra Pendragon

It was a much closer call than I would have liked to admit. Honestly, it was more due to Ahri’s perfect reactions than my agility that we didn’t crash into one another. Unfortunately only one of us was spared any form of collision. As I approached her from above, my spear angled to the side as not to hit her by accident, I saw a small smile flutter across her face and she immediately dropped one of her wooden swords and fell back on the deck. She fanned her 4 wings out behind her and raised an arm and a sword to welcome me. I could easily evade the pointy stick, and her reaching hand. I released more energy into my wings and quickly changed directions, angling my body parallel to the deck with the intention of slinging some of my wings around her body and slamming her into the planks. She had read me like a book and my wings were intercepted by hers, resulting in an unholy mess of red fire and blue energy.

Even though I was stronger and faster, with her legs firmly planted on the ground I had no chance and was pulled off balance. I was firmly tethered to her wings and as soon as my momentum pushed me further away from her, I was jerked backwards. Ahri was lifted off the ground and dragged along for quite a distance but I slammed head first into the wall of crates around us. I smashed through a massive oaken barrel before I came to a halt, blood ran from a cut on my forehead and a ringing noise filled my ears. When I opened my eyes again, my surroundings slipped in and out of focus and I had trouble orientating myself. From far away I could here the cheers of the dwarfs and Ahri’s voice ring out beside my ear: “you will have to do much better if you want to stand a chance, darling.”

Gritting my teeth I sent energy to my aching head and into my sprained back. The pain disappeared immediately, my vision cleared and I could appreciate the shitty position I was in for the first time. My upper body was stuck in the remains of a barrel, the smell and taste of mead were overwhelming and I was drenched to the skin. I was more or less on my knees, my girlfriend a step behind and to my right, her swords positioned above my neck. Our wings were still hopelessly intertwined and while I thought that I might be able to either pull her to her knees or destroy her wings entirely, I knew that she wouldn’t give me the time for the former and I wasn’t going to try the latter. Instead I retracted my wings as soon as I had control over my limbs again and channeled energy into my arms and legs and pushed off the deck and the back wall of the barrel with everything I had.

Ahri reacted immediately, bringing her swords down for a clean hit but she was just a little bit too slow. Like a bullet I shot back- and upwards, her swords brushing along the back of my head. If she had had sharp weapons I would have lost most of my hair along with quite a bit of skin. I unfurled my wings again and landed gently a couple of meters behind her, the tip of my spear now pointing directly at her.

“You really are the better fighter. I seriously hoped you were exaggerating.”

“Sorry, I wouldn’t want to mess with you in a real fight but as long as we aren’t trying to rip each other to shreds I don’t think you can beat me, even with your newfound abilities.”

“That’s good to know” I said and before she could answer I closed my eyes and allowed my vision to change into shades of silver. Information flooded my mind but it was selective. Most of it just laid there under the surface of my conscious perception and only the things I focused on entered my thoughts. I knew where every obstacle and every dwarf were, how they were moving and even how long it would take me to get there. A map started to from in my mind, linking every spot I could perceive together and I knew I could teleport from one to the other on a whim. Whirling around with my spear extended I simultaneously vanished and reappeared behind Ahri, my strike in full swing towards her abdomen. A stab might have been better but I was still reluctant to seriously attack her. Another stupid mistake on my part.

“Not bad,” she commented while she easily blocked my strike with her two sticks. I had no clue how she had done it, she had to have moved before I even appeared but how could she possibly had known? I couldn’t think about it much longer, Ahri’s knee impacted my stomach with enough force to push me back a couple of steps and drive the air from my lungs. I gasped and dropped my spear, my hands going to my middle inadvertently. “But also, not nearly good enough.” Before I could channel energy into my hurting torso she had already crossed the distance and her swords were both heading for my head from either side. Time for a gamble.

Instead of healing myself or defending I channeled energies into my legs again and pushed forward as hard as I could. I was within her guard in a heartbeat and slung my arms around her waist while I used my wings to pin hers to her side. We were locked together and I was pretty sure that she wasn’t strong enough to throw me off. She didn’t even try though. Instead she reversed the grip on her swords and slammed both hilts into my temples. It wasn’t as painful as you might imagine but I immediately lost all strength and crumbled to the ground, dizzy and confused. My thoughts were scrambled and I couldn’t muster enough concentration to blink away. Luckily I had already reinforced my brain before and my injuries healed nearly on the spot but it was still too slow to prevent Ahri’s next attack. When I could think straight again, the tip of her sword was rapidly approaching my solar plexus. If I couldn’t get out of the way I wouldn’t get back up, the overload of the nerve cluster would send me into shock or render me unconscious in the best case scenario.

As I felt the sword caress my skin, my body vanished into silvery sparks and Ahri had to take two quick steps to regain her balance. I watched her stumble from the rigging, maybe 12 meters above her head. While my injuries were washed away I was tempted to comment on her rather inelegant movements but I didn’t want to give away my position. If I didn’t want to keep on embarrassing myself I’d have to use every advantage I could gain. For a moment I thought about channeling more energy into my wings and simply catching her like a spider would in her web, but that would defeat the purpose of the exercise. While I wasn’t averse to testing out my limits, it was mainly about getting to know how I would move in combat, preferably with a weapon I thought grudgingly. Alright then, from what I had seen, my reactions and reflexes were accurate enough, thanks to Greta’s lessons, and I knew how to use a spear instinctively, courtesy of my past life I presumed. The problem was I had no idea what I was actually supposed to do. Should I attack, using my speed? Should I wait for her to move and counter? By all the demons, I didn’t even know how I could leverage the length of my spear, provided I would be able to retrieve it.

Well, if she couldn’t see me, I would be able to get at least one hit in. Surprise was the best friend of every fighter, so I had heard. And from my own experience I could tell that being on the back foot during a battle was a serious pain in the ass. I didn’t know if Ahri was able to sense my wings so I decided not to use the, and simply drop on her head from above. What could possibly go wrong? I didn’t hesitate any longer, or she might regain her balance. Quite like whisper I fell from the mast, feet first, and aimed for her back. I could feel and hear my trousers sliding over coarse wood before gravity pulled me down.

Ahri had heard it as well. Still swaying her head snapped up and she focused on me while I was still 10 meters away. So much for a surprise attack. With a thought I used my wings to push against the mast and the air and accelerated my fall, my tails spread out to help stabilise my trajectory. Ahri immediately abandoned her efforts to righten herself and used her remaining momentum to lunge forward. Her wings flared and she shot into the air, narrowly dodging my extended wings as I tried to grab her on the way past. I was the one in a disadvantageous position now, directly below her and struggling to slow down and change my direction. Unfortunately she didn’t seem to suffer from the same lack of ideas that plagued me.

Directly after her body had cleared the last of my wings, she entangled one of hers with mine and used the resulting tug to whirl around and slam into my back with her full weight. I could push enough energy into my wings to keep us both afloat but I felt the cool edge of her wooden sword against my jugular. She clung to me tightly and the smell of pine trees was nearly as distracting as the feeling of her warm body pressing against mine. With a thought I teleported us both out of the marked circle.

We appeared behind the wall of crates, Ahri still behind me, her left arm around my waist while her right still held her wooden sword to my neck. She breathed into my ear:

“Well done. I’d call it a draw.” She didn’t release me, though. She lowered her sword but tightened her grip and pulled me into her. “But don’t underestimate me again.” I could feel her hot breath on my skin before her lips touched my neck and she bit down gently. Goosebumps erupted all over my body and she laughed softly at my reaction before she released me. I wanted to complain for a moment, she didn’t have to let go that quickly but the approaching dwarfs, most of them clapping enthusiastically convinced me to hold my tongue. Xorlosh, his brother and his cousins, Atosh and Brombolosh, had joined them before we had even begun our mock fight, were the first to reach us. The rest of the dwarfs stayed respectfully back and soon went back to their duties as they realised that our conversation would take a bit longer.

“Amazing, it’s been a few decades since I’ve seen such a beautiful display. Your skills aren’t too shabby either.” Etosh smacked his brother’s head.

“Don’t take him seriously, you were truly spectacular. I couldn’t even follow some of your movements! Excuse this old dwarf for being blunt, but while you Casandra have a stunning amount of potential, your partner was truly a sight to behold. I was wondering if the lady Ahri would mind crossing blades with me in the near future.” Even though I had just been beaten to a pulp if I was being honest, I was quite proud of their compliments. I didn’t care if Ahri was better than me, she was mine after all.

“Now, since when have you learned to sweet talk like that? You’re sure you’re me brother?” Xorlosh inquired which caused Etosh to blush again. He was obviously a rather sensitive fellow. Ahri ignored him and bowed to Etosh: “it would be my pleasure, master dwarf, but one fight is quite enough for me for a day. How about tomorrow?” Etosh nodded eagerly but before he could reply another voice joined the conversation.

It was the first time I had heard Brombolosh talk. He was sturdy, even broader in the shoulders than Etosh or Xorlosh but also really short, maybe 1.3 meters. He had a deep voice, like ocean waves crashing into a large cave, it made me feel like it reverberated in my bones.

“Now, before you praise ‘em to the heavens, we haven’t met yet.” He offered his calloused hand to Ahri and me and we shook. His fingers felt like rods of steel as they closed around my hand which disappeared entirely into his grip. “Me name is Brombolosh and I’m unfortunately related to those two scoundrels. I watched you more closely, Cassandra, Xorlosh told me you want some plate armour?”

“Yes, as you might have seen, I’m quite strong. I thought if I can still fly with it, I might as well get as much protection as possible.”

“Makes sense. From what I’ve seen, you can easily pull it off, but making one that suits you is quite another matter. I don’t know if you even realise how snake like some of you movements are. You remind me a little bit of that dragon we cut Etosh’s drum out of, when you’re in the air. It would be easier to forge an armour for your lovely friend, her actions are precise, controlled. You’re fluid, always reacting, always changing and metal armour isn’t necessarily the best to accommodate your style.” I didn’t mind wearing leather overly much but after the last battle I had really been looking forward to something more durable and sturdy. It must have shown on my face because he immediately continued.

“But don’t you worry, I don’t want to toot me own horn but I’m a friggin genius when it comes to armour. I might have an idea what we could do, but there are a couple of things. First, making one out of steel is out of the question. I’m going to have to use a shit ton of movable parts and steel would deform with the first strike that landed on a joint. Second, Atosh and I need a real forge to work with, no way we can get the needed temperatures from our cute little smithy down there. If the fiery lass to your right can help out, we might be able to solve that problem, though. Third, while I like you and all, I’m not keen on giving away stuff that’s not strictly necessary and from what I’ve seen your going to be just fine without it. If we want to hunt a dragon I’ll gladly change my mind. Fourth you’re in luck, Xorlosh took quite a lot of mithril from the mine and had it stocked on the ships before we even left to fight in the garden. From me point of view, it’d make for the best material you could get. Add some astralite to the mix and you’re good to go. Now, if you have something to trade for Xorlosh’s mithril and our hard work and if we can get the smithy to work with Ahri’s flames, I think I can help you out. So, how about it?” I had to smile. I had been rather reluctant to use the token Mordred had given me, but Brombolosh had made it perfectly clear that this was business. So it shall be.

“Sure, how about this?” I asked as I carefully went to the spot where I had placed my belongings before we had started to bash our skulls in, or more accurately, before I had gotten my skull bashed in. A small crate was all I had needed and I quickly grabbed the golden disk with Xorlosh’s insignia. The dwarfs were looking at me curiously, but when Xorlosh saw the small token on my palm his expression quickly turned to one of annoyance.

“Right, I almost forgot. That’s what your brother wanted that favour for. Should’ve known. Now lass, seems like you got me by the beard. If me memories serves, and it usually does. I’ll have to get you one piece of equipment in exchange for that token. You gonna want that armour Brombolosh spoke of I take it?” I nodded and handed him the small piece of metal.

“Alright, the metal is yours and I’ll pay for the work of me lads.” He turned towards Atosh and Brombolosh and added: “but not the foreigner’s fee. Don’t you even dare!” Both smirked but waved their hands in an “we would never” gesture.

“The boys will need to construct the blueprint and we’ll have to take your measurements before they can get started with the forging but all in all I’d say we might be finished within a week.”