Dazzling Display
Twenty-Seventh Day of the Eighth Month 293 AC
Mychel Redfort had the inescapable feeling that everyone in the whole cheering arena was looking right at him, that they would know his name, his House, and what he had for breakfast on the bargain as soon as they laid eyes on him. Figuring out what the word 'Inquisitor' meant had not exactly quieted his nerves in that regard. It was one thing to imagine the Dread Sorcerer peering into his magic mirror to look for you, since at least one might have the comfort of imagining the Sorcerer being a bit too busy to work his way down to the identity of squires. Alas that he had apparently thought of that and gotten help.
"Will you stop fidgeting?" came an exasperated call from his left, a girl's voice which was honestly speaking half the reason for his anxiety. Jon didn't think it was proper to go out and watch the mage duels, but then again he was also sleeping in after his win in the joust and subsequent celebration. So when Mya had shown up, black-armored guards in tow, offering to take him to see the duels, Mychel had somewhat hesitantly agreed. He had a sort of vague notion of telling if she was suffering or in trouble and doing
something about it.
What exactly he could do against two fully armed and armored warriors he was even more uncertain of, though it quickly became clear that Mya was not suffering from durance vile and needing desperate rescue. For one thing he was reasonably sure that durance vile did not include having a full coin pouch with more coin than he had ever personally handled in his life, nor did it involve happily chatting about
griffin hatchlings. This put him right back in the position of having disobeyed his brother, his
knight, because he really wanted to see how the heathen sorcerers fought. The only excuse he could come up with now was 'I wanted to learn their weaknesses' which sounded really weak even to him.
Almost against his will his eyes darted to the arena, noticing something odd. "Are they both
women?"
Mya rolled her eyes just as she had when she had to show him how to clean out a stable box. "Yes, they're women. Do you think tits get in the way when swinging a sword?"
"It's, I... that is... it's not
right," Mychel said with more in the way of vehemence than coherency. How was it his fault to be shocked by something so strange?
"One of them has bloody
wings, you know," the girl pointed out, motioning to the combatant in question. "You would think that would come up first." She did have a point, as much as Mychel hated to admit it
Thankfully the bell rang the last time before he had a chance to answer, sparing him from having to eat crow. The young squire watched fascinated as the masked woman charged the winged 'captain Moonsong' with what looked like a scroll in one hand, waving a shower of gold sparks into existence.
"That's so she can't turn invisible," Mya pointed out, but that barely registered as the winged woman darted up, still trailing golden sparks.
"Thank you, darling, but I think I'm quite brilliant enough as it is. Say, did you hear the joke about the snake man, the bull man, and the slaver?" There was something dark about her bubbling silvery voice...
The masked one just shook her head as though dispelling an errant fly and motioned with her sword, calling out strange words Mychel had never heard before until a ghostly replica of the blade flew upwards to hang in midair and tear through the end of one wing before the captain could react.
"Really now, that is just uncalled for. If you did not like the joke you should just try another. Why did the foreman save up to buy a quarry?" One dramatic pause and swipe from the magic sword later she answered herself while swooping down, sword at the ready: "So he could mine his own business!"
Having sheathed her sword and taken out something that looked like a crossbow the other woman just took aim with a few involuntary giggles slipping past her lips. A glowing green vial hit the fey in the chest, striking her from the sky and face-first into the dirt... which promptly exploded into magic weeds that looked like they were trying to strangle her.
Somehow she managed to roll out of the tangle, magic sword still trying to cut her as she charged her opponent. "You are a tricky one. I like that!"
The fight turned into a sword duel for a little bit, one in which it was clear the heavy two handed weapon had an advantage over the light Braavosi sword... not to mention the other glowing weapon behind her. Then the winged woman rolled out of the fight and told another joke, a bawdy one that made Mychel's ears flame.
The masked woman was laughing... almost to the point of dropping her sword, but she held on and made the vines spring up again. Again the fey dived aside, and this time she charged not for her foe, but for the crossbow on her back... and was met with a sword to the face.
One would think that having one's face covered in blood and one wing tattered would be enough cause to quit the field, but the faerie woman cupped her hands and blew into them to make a cloud of gold just like the one she was still covered in, and her foe couldn't keep it out of her eyes. That turned the fight around. One magic sword and one blind foe was not enough to keep Captain Moonsong from finally claiming her prize.
"I yield," the raven-masked woman said at last.
"You were really good," Moonsong answered with a smile. "You made me copy you to win."
OOC: Yes, you read that right. The reason Moonsong was going for the much easier save for Hideous Laughter instead of Glitterdust is because she did not want to look like a copy-cat. This was a pretty close fight with Moonsong at barely 14 HP at the end.
