Dance Of White And Blue
Though it was underhanded and highly dishonourable, there was no rule explicitly against killing horses. It was essentially an unwritten rule that most would not dare break (cough). However, Rhaerra's men were foreigners and did not hold the same idea of honour.
"I ought to disqualify your team," Edric remarked with a jestful tone.
"Are you afraid that you can't win on the ground?" She crossed her arms. "Besides, there are no such silly rules in a true battle. You either win, or you die. Is a melee not supposed to be an imitation of that?"
"You either win, or you die." Edric repeated, nodding as he slowly rose to his feet. "That's fine by me."
"KINGSGUARD!"
A voice like thunder echoed across the grounds, gaining the attention of its intended alongside the rest of the tourney grounds.
"Use every skill, tactic and weapon at your disposal. Take every advantage that presents itself. Do not quiver at the thought of fighting without honour, for they will not!"
"Attain victory at all costs!"
Brienne, being the closest one, heard him best. It was all good and well that they could fight dirty, but Brienne wasn't exactly experienced in that.
"Taelor, circle the arena and harass their group," Daman instructed, raising his shield to block one of Balon's arrows. "The rest of you focus on your individual matchups and aid those who require assistance."
"Big Baegel needs to make up for losing the melee…"
He didn't look too fond of focusing on a woman in a fight, which made Brienne realise that he underestimated her. To this end, she took a more defensive approach.
"If they seek to fight without honour, then so shall we," Arthur spoke, glancing back. "Ser Balon, Hound, fire on his horse!"
Ballio took this as an opportunity to strike, swinging a halberd right at Arthur's head. His eyes widened with shock as Nightfall flashed to block the axehead. The speed of the swing was like a flash of lightning.
"Yes, captain."
The knight was not one to have pride or an inflated ego and simply obeyed his younger sworn brother. He took his bow and readied an arrow, firing it towards the horse's eye. Taelor rode past, countering with an arrow that practically bounced off Balon's armour…
Then, a javelin from the Hound struck Taelor's shoulder, piercing the lighter armour he wore and digging into his flesh.
"Argh…"
The horse archer cried out in pain, dropping his bow.
As he focused on taking out the javelin, Balon fired once more and hit his mark. Taelor's horse neighed in its pain, rising up before wildly charging Balon. The archer fired on its legs… forcing it to fall alongside Taelor. He had waited a bit between his shots, leading to them almost reaching him.
Then, Balon drew his morningstar and was about to bash his head.
"I concede! I concede!"
"Go on, then." Balon stopped his swing. "Get out of the way."
Taelor ran off, clutching the javelin stick to his shoulder. Balon observed the field of battle, seeing Ser Arys struggling against Daman, Ser Mandon getting beaten, and the rest matching their opponents. He chose to go ahead and aid Ser Arys.
Meanwhile, on a separate side of the arena.
"I am your opponent!"
Whoosh, whoosh.
The Hound dodged Gaegor's twin axes, which aimed right for his head. Since all of Rhaerra's men except Taelor wore full plate armour, the Hound had chosen to use a warhammer. It wasn't quite as formidable nor heavy as Edric's... but it was still a warhammer nontheless.
A few good hits from the Hound, and most men would fall.
The problem was Gaegor had agility that surpassed the Hound's, making up for their disparity in strength and putting him on the defensive. His coordination with his twin axes was also seemingly perfect. He hadn't seen a man who could wield a weapon in each hand so well. It was as if the axes, indeed, were twins and read each other's thoughts - fighting in perfect sync.
With the Hound on the backfoot, he wasn't able to aid anyone else.
"You're brilliant with the lance, but it seems that's all you're really good for," Valaegor remarked, swinging a long crescent-shaped poleaxe at Loras.
Loras blocked the blow with his own axe, albeit being pushed back a step.
"Right... you're good with swords too." Valaegor chuckled, withdrawing and swinging for his head without hesitation. "Particularly when it comes to taking them."
Loras didn't reply, keeping his composure and blocking once again.
"Not much of a talker, huh? That's no fun. I believed a pompous, arrogant, noble like you would have more to say."
"There is nothing to say to a man who is about to lose to me."
"That's more like it. Except... you couldn't be more wrong. I'll beat you again, just like I did in that race. I'll beat you in the duelling event as well as the joust. I'd beat you in anything, really. You're just inferior."
Loras didn't believe that he'd ever face someone who was more cocksure arrogant than him. Here he was, experiencing what others likely experienced fighting against him. It was enlightening in a way.
The problem was that Valaegor wasn't exactly wrong. He was an inch taller, skilled, stronger, just as fast, with longer reach and even a weapon that countered his own. He couldn't even get close to the foreigner without being swung at.
However, Valaegor's poleaxe was definitely heavier than Loras' axe, and the Knight of Flowers had chosen to take advantage of this. He kept his distance, leading to Valaegor slashing through the air time and time again.
"You're not going to win by running from me all day." Valaegor taunted him, stepping back. "You're truly not going to attack me?"
"Didn't you say you were superior? Why is it that you can't hit me with a far longer weapon?" Loras tilted his head slightly.
"... Heh, if you want, we could make camp while our friends face each other."
"You didn't answer my question. Do you want to rely on your friends to save the day?" Ser Loras looked to the side and then back at him. "I'm beginning to believe you're not even half as good as you think."
"Valaegor!" Daman shouted while being assaulted by both Ser Arys and Ser Balon. He was doing a lot of blocking with his shield but not much more. "Either finish Ser Loras or aid me with these two."
"Tsk, fine." Valaegor sighed, shaking his head. "I'll show you the difference between a warrior and a boy who picks flowers."
He swung at Loras, pushing him to sidestep intentionally. He then turned his back on the knight and went to aid his comrade.
"Where are you going?"
"Babysitting."
Valaegor accelerated faster than Ser Loras could react, seemingly going right for Ser Arys' head. At the last moment, he shifted his angle and struck a great blow to his knee. The knight stumbled and took a blow in the head right after.
By the time Ser Loras caught up, Ser Arys had already fallen to the ground.
"Your knight in shining armour has arrived."
"On time, for once," Daman remarked, blocking Balon's morningstar with his shield before stepping behind Valaegor. "Let us switch opponents."
"You want me to handle this one too?" Valaegor chuckled, swinging his poleaxe at Balon and forcing him to block with his shield. "That's fine by me."
Ser Loras frowned with anger, feeling that he had failed his sworn brother by letting Valaegor get past him. Now, with Valaegor seemingly switching opponents, it looked like he would defeat Ser Balon and tip the tides of battle further. He had to best Daman before Valaegor defeated Ser Balon...
As he confronted the foreigner, he experienced his seemingly peerless defence firsthand. He clearly had no intentions of beating Ser Loras, stalling him, which made defeating him even more difficult.
Meanwhile, Brienne was evading Baegel's onslaught with the goal of tiring him. The unfortunate thing is, despite his wounds, the absolute unit didn't seem to tire at all.
"Big woman annoying," Baegel remarked, shaking his head. "Fight back."
Brienne evaded his large mace once more, noticing that he had begun to swing a bit slower. She continued doing so, being completely untouched despite Baegel's best efforts.
Then.... an opportunity presented itself.
As she sidestepped to the side of Baegel, she struck the back of his knee with her chain morningstar. The spiked ball had crashed against Baegel and noticeably damaged him as it was one of the few gaps in his armour. Baegel would retaliate with a mighty swing, which Brienne had to stumble back to dodge completely. She almost fell to the ground as a result.
Baegel surged forward and swung for her head, only to miss, stumble... and Brienne to counter with a blow to his right shoulder - where Edric's warhammer had landed only a day earlier.
"Bitch-"
Baegel tried to grab hold of her chain, but she dragged it back and smashed his hand with the spiked ball. However... Baegel persisted and proceeded to grab the ball - pulling her in with deadly force and aiming to smash his head against hers.
In the last moment, she let go of the morningstar, and Baegel only struck air. She would duck beneath Baegel and draw a dagger, going for the back of his other leg. The dagger easily pierced the gap in his armour, spilling the giant's blood.
He groaned in pain, turning to swing on Brienne. To his irritation, she once again dodged him. With both of his joints shaking, he could hardly run without falling to the ground.
However, he held both main weapons while Brienne only had a dagger. So there was that.
"Big Baegel... too wounded. Big Baegel fighting like Little Baegel." Baegel took a deep breath, raising his collosal mace and...
Throwing it.
She raised an eyebrow, dodging it... while he followed up with another throw with chained morningstar from the other side.
With a great deal of focus, she managed to dodge that one as well... but Baegel had no intentions of hitting her with either.
He had sprinted at Brienne full force, tackling her to the ground, tossing away her dagger and wasting no time going for the head. She raised both hands to block him, feeling the great strength behind his punches. Even blocking hurt.
'Attain victory at all costs!'
Edric's words echoed in her mind as she raised a knee to Baegel's groin.
"Argh..."
Dazed, Brienne overpowered Baegel and turned him over. She removed his helmet and started bashing his head, over and over again.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
It was only when Baegel showed a face of defeat that she stopped, slowly getting back on her feet.
"Big Baegel tired..."
He closed his eyes and went straight to sleep.
The giant of a man even began snoring.
"..."
Brienne took a deep breath, feeling a shaking in her arms. Baegel hadn't lost without leaving his mark, that was for certain. She grabbed her chained morningstar and surveyed the field of battle.
Arthur was locked in combat, slashing apart Ballio's armour by targetting the harnesses. Ser Loras wasn't making much progress with Daman, while Valaegor was besting Ser Balon. As for the Hound, he was struggling with Gaegor's barrage.
Ser Mandon had fallen to Raedor already, though he wounded him severely in their dance. Rhaerra's seventh representative was a mighty foe like his fellow comrades, surpassing the knight in almost every physical aspect... yet Ser Mandon showed great determination and hunger for victory. It was only when Raedor beat him unconscious that the knight lost.
Brienne chose to intercept him before he could attack any unsuspecting member on her team.
With both teams losing two members, it was effectively a five-on-five.
'That's my girl.' Edric smiled with a look of pride. He then glanced at Rhaerra with a confident grin. "The tides have shifted once more."
"Even a wounded Baegel is a fierce opponent. Your Brienne is full of surprises." Rhaerra didn't look angered at all. If anything, she shared his look of amusement. "In truth, I was far too eager to defeat you in the melee. If I had known better, Baegel would have fought her at his best."
"And you'd probably have my armour by now," Edric remarked, shrugging his shoulders. "It's too bad."
"This team battle is not at all lost yet, however. My best fighters are still on the tourney grounds."
"So are mine."
'Go on, Hound.' Edric thought to himself, looking in his direction. 'Show Gaygore that you have that dawg in you.'
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Author's note (this was on the newest patreon chapter, so I figured I might as well put it here):
My bad for being slow on the update, I was addicted to AC: Odyssey and figuring out how I wanted to do the duelling tourney bracket took way longer than I imagined it would. The unnecessarily long five-hour nap from after work on Monday didn't help that much either, but we're back.
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