[CHAL] A Reaver and an Herbalist

[Dulcea]

Davke could not remember how long she had been on this path, nor how long it had been since she had set out from home for that matter.

The more she considered it, the less it seemed real. Home, her life there, her mother's grave. All were covered up in a dark and endless fog that seemed only to get thicker with each passing day. It was unwise to dive into the fog, dark spirits lurked there. She was not wise, but she was not stupid.

With each rising sun she brushed herself in herb and set out as if anew, born into the world fallen from the moon. If she was no one, then nothing could touch her. If nothing could touch her, then she was immortal. And so it went that she had found herself climbing up and up toward a place she'd heard of in stories. Rogues whispered of a place thriving with new life, great warriors and those fearful of the gods' wrath. It was a curiosity for her, somewhere she might become grounded.

But now that she had arrived she found herself unsure. Call out, they had told her, and so she did. What was intended as a great roar came out strangled, and for a moment she considered turning to run. No, she was immortal after all.

CaliWolfe

 

[CaliWolfe]

Maybe it was luck, but who answered the challenger's call was a reaver who would have mercy on the victim of his anger. Contrast to the common statement, he had many enemies this day.

Skall was stressed. Moreover he was annoyed, confused and at a loss of how to react. He had only just recently returned from his viking and yet the reaver was restless rather than sitting back and relaxing in his victory. He wasn't stupid, and when he had stumbled upon a lion who looked the spitting image of himself in the rogue lands he knew why they looked so similar.

His father, no, their father was both one and the same. A lion Skall once respected, and now he simply looked back upon with fury. It bothered him that a lion now dead could still leave problems for his heir to look after. 'Ugh!'

When Skall heard the somewhat forced cry for a fight, he originally stopped and considered moving on, not even bothering with the challenge at all. But then? How else was he to relieve his stress? By battling his fellow reavers? No.

He turned and walked back to where the lioness stood, awaiting for him to answer her challenge. "You wish to join the stormborn?" He asked her with a growl undertone. "Prove yourself outlander! Flee, or fight!" He would allow her the benefit of the first attack.

Dulcea

 

[Dulcea]

Fleeing sounded like entirely the right idea, Davke decided and began to turn herself right around. The herbs and bark strung around her neck and across her back clattered as she went, accompanied by a soft and deeply accented cry of "So sorry, so sorry."

Three quick steps in the reverse and she paused, the haunting voice of her mother playing out insult after insult inside her mind. The witch haunted her yet, it seemed.

When she turned around again the face she wore was one entirely foreign to any who had known her before. That life was long gone, after all. In this life, she was a warrior. A hedgewitch with just the same claws and teeth as any other. A deeper, sharper noise escaped her as she dug into the ground and launched herself forward, shedding much of her baggage along the way.

CaliWolfe

 

[CaliWolfe]

Skall was a bit surprised when the outlander turned to run away. What surprised him even more though was when she turned around and began to charge.

The reaver braced himself for the impact of her hit, and allowed her to ram into him head on. Somehow, the pain that followed was reassuring. It was the only thing in his life that seemed to make a shred of sense anymore. Hurt, and be hurt.

Skall then retaliated. He shoved against her hard enough that the female would reverse, adding a snarl to be more menacing. He aimed to sink his teeth into her shoulder and given his largely stormborn size such was likely to be easily accomplished. He wouldn't bite too hard though, just enough that it hurt.

Dulcea

 

[Dulcea]

While Davke had heard rumors about the size and ferocity of the warriors that made this place their home, the reality was still startling. The lioness had always been small, even in her homeland. She believed it to be the result of spirits angered by her mother's rituals preying on her as she grew in her womb. In this venue, it but her at a distinct disadvantage.

She screamed as the teeth sunk into her flesh, but the pain gave her a feeling she hadn't experienced in a long time. She was very much mortal, that was obvious. "Loa will curse on you all," she hissed, twisting herself over backward with a swift rabbit kick of her back legs, "A proper hello it is."

CaliWolfe

 

[CaliWolfe]

The outlander's speech confused Skall, what was this talk of Loa and the alike? Curses and all that as well.

He thought back on his brother whom he had met during his viking. How this bumbling idiot of a lion he shared relations with seemed to be trying to find the stormborn himself. "I'm already cursed." He told the outlander, and felt his own legs almost buckle under the unexpected pressure from the rabbit kick.

Skall was tempted to pounce on the stranger, but instead he began to circle her, looking for a chance to attack that would hurt them both the least. After all, Skall was many things, but he was not brutal. To the stormborn this was a flaw, weakness to the enemy. It was something Skall didn't have the heart to outgrow, and would carry to his grave.

He only wanted to scare the outlander away if she was unworthy to join the pride of his fellow warriors, or allow her to defeat him if she was. He had no intention to maim or kill. Though through this hardboiled mindset the orange lion still found himself growling at the other. "Your move."

Dulcea

 

[Dulcea]

"Aren't no curses worse than ghosts followin round the living," Davke muttered as she spun slowly, following his steps with piercing green eyes peeking out from beneath a ragged overgrown mane, "And we got some of dem."

Her voice was low and shaky, hardly one that would instill fear or confidence beside in any onlooker. The words streaming from her mouth were not her own but those she had heard her mother among her darker rituals.

Muscles twitched beneath her skin as she thought toward the next move. Fights she had been in, of course, but never a face off with a warrior such as this. She knew well enough that cornered was not a good position to be in, but she hesitated to be the first to break the circle. Still, something had to give.

She pushed herself toward his back legs, front claws outstretched and reaching to pull his paws out from beneath him.

CaliWolfe

 

[CaliWolfe]

Her move would not hurt Skall, he decided, and the lion jumped out of the way to avoid being caught. His claws found themselves unsheathed in that movement, and he listened to the sounds of them scraping across the hard ground beneath him.

He noted her lack of confidence to look back on later. "Ghosts do not scare me." He told her bluntly.

With a building roar Skall surged forwards, aiming to use the bulk of his body weight to knock over his opponent. Still, this time around he lifted his front paws up in a semi-pounce as he targeted her back this time as his victim.

Funny, Skall usually was not this mean. He probably would have gone soft on the stranger to try and let her win her way in without harm. Deep down however he knew it must have because no stormborn was weak. Even the frailest ones were strong in their own way, tongue, spirit, muscle. If you couldn't fight your way in using one of these methods, then you most certainly didn't belong.

Dulcea

 

[Dulcea]

Davke screamed out as his claws found purchase in the skin of her back, digging deeps tracts in the muscle on either side of her spine. Far too close to death for the lioness to accept, her eyes searched the ground frantically for the deep purple flowers she had seen fall from her pack.

There they were, just a few feet further. Wolfsbane, a few specks in the eyes or mouth to cause crippling pain. She thrust a paw forward, managing to smash a few of the dried petals against her claws. Just enough, she had no desire to kill him. Silently she hoped the male knew too little of herbs to recognize the kind.

Content that she had her weapon in paw she twisted onto her back and took a hard slash at his face. She didn't need to win, that was a useless endeavor at this point, she merely needed to escape and put herself back together.

CaliWolfe

 

[CaliWolfe]

Skall's whole face turned with the slightly unexpected slash at his nose. He was about to make a comment about how she was trying, at the very least, when an itchy, painful sensation curled up his nose.

His eyes began to tear as he reversed off of the lioness, clawing at whatever it was she had just pounded into his face. Had she not been a challenger, had she instead been a rogue or attacker he probably would have tried biting into her neck for that.

Through his watery eyes he thought he could see the lioness and spoke to her while trying to maintain what intimidating nature he could; "Return when you learn how to fight ghost-lady."

He figured it was enough brawling for today. His anger had faded and turned into new anger, but at least this anger wasn't focused on his brother anymore. For that alone he was thankful. For that reason alone he'd let the challenger live, and flee only to return later.

Dulcea

 

[Dulcea]

Davke paused for a moment. considering whether the fortune had shifted toward her. The reaver had given her permission to leave, although the concept of permission in a fight still seemed quite foreign in her mind. Rather than argue with him she turned, keeping a sidelong view of him as she took off in case he might change his mind and come after her. This was a strange place indeed, and yet she felt all the more compelled to do just as he had said. She would rest for a while and try again, although she silently hoped she would not face this same creature twice.

CaliWolfe

Finished!