Hug the Children with your Nuclear Arms

Bairon gave a small bow to Arlyn. "It would be an honor to cross blades with you" he said. "I hope that you will find my skill satisfactory enough to be able to travel with your group. If not, I shall take my apprentice and we will scout out any other fighting force that may be able to help you."

"Wow, this is going to be amusing." Faorn said, rubbing her hands together, smiling. "I wonder how good Bairon is. And I've never, ever seen Arlyn fight before."

"Maybe he's getting 'too old' to fight." Sarian joked. But really, Arlyn was only two years older than her.

Faorn watched from a distance contently, waiting for the sparring match to start.

"Don't make me get out the problem stick Sarian," Arlyn growled, casting a quick glance over his shoulder to the hawk. When Bairon bowed, the older wolf turned his attention back to his opponent and nodded his head. While the guesture seemed almost smug, coming from Arlyn, it was one of the highest forms of respect he gave. He just wasn't the bowing kind of person.

Akaelin was already half way satisfied. Bairon was cooperating excellently. A quick little spar - just to see what the stag could do - would finalize his decision.

Arlyn waited, his hand on his blade, though he didn't draw it just yet. Among the Elain, it was custom for the one being challenged to make the first move.

Ares watched excitedly as her master slipped the hardened leather sheath off the end of his six-foot spear. It had been about a year since he sent her off to train on her own and she had missed seeing him fight. Bairon jumped forward at Arlyn, coming in on the right side. He kept the tip of his spear low to the ground and the blade held parallel to the ground so that he could strike with the flat of it.

((sorry, this is probably the only post I'll be able to make today. Summer reading and all))

Kitai slowed the hellcat she was riding down and let the people in the front of the group know to stop. She didn't want the group to leave the people in back behind as Bairon and Arlyn had their sparring match.

((That's okay. I have to work tonight anyways. XD))

Arlyn danced off to the left, out of range of the spear. He drew his sword, sunlight flashing off the pale metal. He took note of the way Bairon attacked with the flat of his spear, keeping it low to the ground. His entire line had been specifically bred for speed and stamina, but not strength - which was why his sword was the light weight poiters.

A spear was a long range weapon, so if Arlyn would be able to get in close, then Bairon would be in trouble. The trick was, how to get past that wicked looking spear tip?

Bairon dodged toward the left of Arlyn, sweeping the spear along the ground to try to knock the wolf's feet out from under him. The three heavy rings that were attatched to the shaft of the spear jingled as it was swung. The rings served the same purpose that the gap in the blade of Ares's spear did. If he was able to hook an enemy's sword in those rings he could disarm his opponent.

Arlyn jumped upward about six inches, just enough so that the spear would sweep under him. He timed it so that he would come down at the exact moment the spear was aligned with the bottoms of his feet. He would bring all his weight down on the shaft end just below the spear tip. It wasn't until Arlyn heard the rings jingle that he noticed them. Lime green eyes flashed to the attatchment for just a split second, taking in their width, thickness, useage, and distance from the point in just a quick glance.

Bairon pushed into his spear with sudden force so that it dug into the ground and carried both man and spear away from Arlyn. He let his spear change hands as its momentum carried it behind him and changed one of his feet into hooves to stop his trajectory and take another swing at Arlyn while he was still in the air.

((I should probably go to sleep soon, Minnesota starts school tomorrow ^-^))

((I'm having a bit of trouble picturing your last post. Is he driving his spear into the ground and using it to swing around behind Arlyn?

If so, then unless he did it within a split second, Arlyn would've been back on the ground because he didn't jump very high.))

((he drove it in to push himself back))

((*murgle* first day of school and I already got a buttload of AP Calc homework))

Kitai watched the fight with interest. Arlyn might be - dare she say it - old, but he could still move pretty quickly. It looked to her that the man from Paloma had shown enough skill just by from the tens of seconds that this sparring match had lasted so far. Of course, she was expecting great things from him anyway since she had heard his name during her brief life as a human.

((XD I suck at math. I could be in AP Literature if I wanted to, but...

Me: Hey, when's the test for AP Lit?
Adam: A week ago.
Me: Dammit! >.<))

Arlyn felt the back of the spear tear at his pant leg just as his feet touched the ground. He eventually distributed his weight to both legs, pivoting his left foot backwards to turn and face the stag. He slid the last three inches of his sword underneath the crook of the spear, aiming to use the blade to force the spear tip to the ground. If he suceeded, Bairon wouldn't be able to use his spear for just a second, but it would be enough that he could move in close and - only if the stag had been an enemy - tear out his jugular with wicked sharp teeth. If Aryln didn't succeed, he would simply jump back once more, calculating his opponents next move.

((I assumed a couple of minor details.))

Bairon's spear point was forced to the ground for the time he made a quick mental calculation that would be needed for the wolf he was fighting to come in close and end the fight should it have been to the death. He swore softly as soon as he realized what happened and lowered his head slightly towards Arlyn, bringing up his armored left forearm to shield his neck. At the same time he started morphing partially and let the antlers of his stag form grow up and point dangrously at the wolf. Antlers were a stag's natural defense against wolves, so he would use his to defend himself from the Elain until he could regain full control of his spear again.

Arlyn hissed as one of the prongs scraped against his cheek just before he jumped back. The cut was shallow, but had broken the skin, and a small drop of blood trickled down the side of his face.

"That'll do," Akaelin said, bringing the fight to a halt. Bairon had proven himself good with a spear and a quick thinker in battle.

He had also proved himself good enough for the younger wolf.

"It was an honor to have fought you, Arlyn was it?" Bairon said. "It is not often that I get to battle against a skilled opponent." He let the antlers recede back into his head and brought his spear upright to wipe the dirt off the blade and cover it once again with the leather sheath.

Arlyn didn't really respond right away, wiping the blood off his cheek with the back of his hand. He really wasn't quite sure what to say. He knew that Bairon was just being respectful, but irritation radiated off the wolf in waves that were practically visible. He wasn't irritated at the stag so much as he was at himself. He knew he was getting older, but he hadn't thought he was getting 'that' old.

How old was he anyways? 40? 41? Something like that. He was old enough that his dark gray muzzle was becoming tinged with silver. More and more strands of gray were showing up in his hair.

A few years ago, he would've kicked Bairons ass within one move. Now, he was simply keeping up.

He made a kind of sound that was like half whine, half growl. Bairon probably wouldn't understand it, but in wolf speak, it basically meant that Arlyn wasn't mad at him. Being a wolf, he could communicate to other wolves using these kinds of noises.

"What did I tell you?" Kitai asked. "He's definitely good enough to join with us. Even if he wasn't that skilled, we still need as many people to fight this with us regardless of their ability in combat. Otherwise you would have kicked me out the moment I found out I was pregnant."

"Wait, you're pregnant?!" Arakil asked in surprise, overhearing his sister. "Who's the dad?"

"Barion needed to serve some use," Akaelin pointed out. "We don't need just more mouths to feed." He didn't regret testing the stag. Like he had said, the last thing they needed to worry about was someone who couldn't even begin to hold their own. If Bairon had turned out to be a sucky fighter and of no use, Akaelin would've turned him away regardless of what Kitai had said.

Kitais opinion of the man had never really mattered to the wolf. He didn't judge people based on what others thought of them.

"And yeah, Kitai didn't tell you already?" he asked, turning his head in Arakils direction.

((I forgot to mention. I won't be on at all tomorrow. We have a football game that's an hour and a half away. After school, a bunch of us are staying and ordering pizza before the game. So basically I leave the house at 7:15 am and won't be back until like 12:00 am. XD I will probably peek in during that computer class I keep ranting about.))

((yeah, there's a football game that we have tomorrow too. Then this weekend we have a marching competition at Eastview on Saturday and rosemount on Sunday >-<))

"No, she didn't," Arakil said, hurt that his sister didn't tell him the news. "I just thought that we were called to escort her back when the fighting got too thick. I know that she's your blacksmith, but that doesn't necessarily mean that she's a good fighter. So who is the dad?"

"His brother," Kitai responded, motioning at Akaelin. "You saw him the first night you found me." An embarassed look came over Arakil's face as he realized that the man by his sister that he had attacked was the father of his future niece/nephew.

Akaelin let out a feral growl when Kitai addressed Yoko as 'his brother'. His last impression of a sane werefox had not been a good one, so the two weren't on great terms. Akaelin pretty much flat out hated the fox. He made Hitlers hatred of the Jews look nonexistant.

"We should keep moving," he grumbled as he started to walk again.

As soon as the sparring ended, Sarian snickered to Faorn, "Arlyn must be losing it. But both did a great job."

Faorn rolled her eyes. When it came to people around Sarian's age, she seemed to be the most childish one, just like how Faorn was probably the most moody, odd 19 year old.

Arakil flinched back a bit at the sound of Akaelin's growl. As expected with his past, werewolves or anything wolfy, were his weak point. Kitai put a reassuring hand on her brother's shoulder from her seat on Leartes as the group continued moving.

((sorry for the shortpost, but homework's killin' me))

((S'okay. My post will be short too.))

Akaelin took no note of the effect his growl had on Kitais brother. Frankly, even if he had, he wouldn't have cared. He had stopped to test Bairon and he had done so. It was time to move on.

((Umm....*insert amount of time it takes to get to Kanten here?* XD It's your half of the map Kitai, so you get to decide how long the trip is.))