Sara sat in the ready room waiting for her announcement to enter the arena. Her tail coiling and uncoiling behind her.
"Of course I had to fight you," she whispered angrily.
She mentally reviewed her gear, stopping on the special item she had had Jack make for her. Sighing, she slowly unwrapped the package.
Vect was pacing back and forth in his ready room. His sword propped up against the nearby wall.
"Dammit," he growled as he punched a nearby wall. He pulled his fist back, seeing a small crack where he had hit the wall. Slightly stunned that he actually caused damage to the structure he made a note to bring it up with that naga Vesper.
"I hate I have to fight Sara. I'd hate to fight any of my friends for that matter, but I knew I'd eventually have to face off with at least one of them during this tournament." Just then he heard the announcer begin to call him to the arena. He grabbed his sword and rested it on his shoulder as he headed toward his opponent.
Sara and Vect stopped a few feet from each other in the center of the arena as the announcer continued to introduce them.
"Hey Sara. No hard feelings?"
"Yeah, but I should be asking you the same thing. I'm going to win this."
Vect slowly shook his head. "Sorry, but I must win this. If I do, I'll have some proof that my choices of schooling these past years were the right ones and have some leverage to convince my parents to allow me to return next year." He lifted his sword and took a 2 handed stance. "I'll try to make this as quick and as painless as possible."
Sara said nothing, only reaching into one pouch with one hand, and the other gripping her dagger. The same one Vect had given her.
Upon hearing the signal for them to begin, Vect lunged forward swinging the blunt edge of his weapon. Sara ducked below the horizontal swing, feeling the wind tug at her hair. The tips of her horns narrowly missed the oversized weapon. She thrust forward with her dagger, only to have her wrist grabbed by Vect's hand that had let go of the blade. He brought his leg up to kick, allowing the momentum of his swing to carry him with the arc. His leg made contact with the side of Sara's head, causing her vision to blur momentarily from the blow. The two broke away to gain some distance between them. Vect began to stand only to feel a sharp pain in his left side. He clutched his side and felt wetness.
'But how? I stopped her dagger so where-.' Vect saw Sara's tail swinging behind her. His eyes widened when he saw the end of her tail, and the clinking armour. The last 2 feet of Sara's tail was encased in a series of interlocking plates to defend it. However, it was at the end of her tail that caught his eye. An 8 inch blade was attached to the end of the tail armour, the blade tip covered in fresh blood.
"Sorry Vect. I didn't want you to be the first one to use this on." Sara shook her head.
'Dammit!' Vect gritted his teeth and got to his feet. 'I gotta finish this fast.' He reached one hand into a pouch and then running towards Sara. He flexed his arm to swing his weapon in a vertical downward attack. When Sara sidestepps the weapon, Vect removes his hand from the pouch and throws a cloud of black dust at Sara's face. She blindly slashed with both her dagger and tail weapon. Jumping backwards, using her wings to increase her distance from Vect. At the height of her jump, Sara threw several throwing knives at the general location she thought Vect was.
Her wild attacks were met with some success, a trio of cuts on Vect's chest, 2 on his right arm, and one on his left and one lucky throwing knife in his shoulder.
"You're weapon may be impressive, but it's too slow to hit me. You will not win this," Sara said as she tried to wipe the blackout powder from her eyes.
'She's right. All I've managed to do is temporarily blind her, while I've been repeatedly cut. Sorry about what's gonna come next Sara.'
Vect began running forward while Sara managed to slightly clear one eye. She still only saw blurs for the most part and heard the elf's approach. Vect spun rapidly mid stride and let his weapon fly towards Sara, spinning wildly in the air. Sara managed to duck down, but not quite enough this time as it impacted her horns, jerking her head backwards. She just barely got to her feet in time to feel Vect's punch hit her jaw. Vect sickeningly felt her bone give way and the jaw broke and sent Sara tumbling end over end, settling a few feet away. Vect stood his ground panting heavily, fighting every impulse to run over and comfort his love. When the announcer gave the final count, Vect ran over to try to awaken her.
Sara's eyes fluttered open and saw Vect's concerned expression. She tried to tell him to not cause a scene, but found her mouth refused to function. 'Motherfucker actually broke my jaw.....well damn I'm gonna have to get him back somehow. Still, good left hook.'
The healers took both her and Vect off the arena and to the healing center.
The announcer called Vect a winner, but he definitely didn't feel like one.
Sara thanked the cleric for healing her, jaw set back in one piece. Vect refused to look her in the eye ever since they'd made it to the center.
"Oh Vect stop sulking. You won!"
"Yeah but I had to hurt you to do it. And before you say anything, I was prepared to fight Jack, he does need a swift kick."
Sara sat up in her bed, and looked at Vect smugly. "If I makes you feel slightly better, I know exactly how you can make it up to me."
"I feel like I'm not gonna like it, but what?"
Sara's sheets began to tent. "Drop your trousers and bend over."
Just then, the door flung open and Gorg's hulking form squeezed through the too small doorway. In each hand was a large bag. "Here you go, you magnificent woman." He set the bags on Sara's legs.
"Uhh...what's in the sacks Sara?"
"Oh, nothing you need to worry about."
"You need me to do this again," asked Gorg sounding slightly hopeful.
"Nah, you get your cut?"
"Yep."
"Oh you didn't. Please tell me you didn't throw the fight."
"Oh gods no. I did my best. You really did beat me soundly. This however," she said motioning at the sacks, "is me covering myself if I lost. Now don't lose, you're my golden goose."
Gorg grunted and left with a toothy smile.
"What the hell just happened?"
"I think you're going to be Sara's champion for this tournament," responded the cleric. "And possibly mine," he lifted up his own bag of coins."