Lightning strikes

[DoS Archive]

From: ladythesbe@aol.com (LadyThesbe)
Date: 28 Jul 1999 19:17:06 EDT

Chapter One:


If you must fight, all other methods of reasoning having failed,
fight with every ounce of your heart, else with none. -Knight Tantor


Sweat glistened on her forehead, a single drop stinging her eye as she faced off with her opponent once more. He was the superior bladesman and they both knew it but she would not capitulate so easily. Thesbe had a reputation to uphold and although she faced the finest weapons master in the Order of the Rose she would give him his fair share of bruises for having dueled her this day.

With a quick flick of her wrist she feinted low with her longsword, it's weight nominal after years of practice with it's familiar grip in her hands. Tantor moved with the grace of a mountain lion, his chain armor hissing in protest as he moved with lighting speed to intercept the strike that was not coming. At the last moment, she turned the blade up, the sharpened and oiled edge flashing forward, an extension of her determination only to be
deftly parried round to the ground.

His blade moving as a piece of himself found it's way to touch the tip to her chest, level with her heart. "My Lady Thesbe, do you yield?".

She smiled at him, she unintentionally had a manner that could disarm a man of his wits , most men anyway. With a calm manner she pointed out to him a small detail he had obviously overlooked, "Surely Sir Tantor, it would be you that wished to yield."

The moment his blade intercepted her own, Thesbe had drawn out the short sword from her secondary sheath and the tip of the shining blade rested at his gut, ready to spill out his intestines with one swift cut. They stood for a long moment staring at one another, the faint blue hue of their eyes matching nearly identical mock glares.

"Very well sister, shall we call this one a draw?", his blade nor his voice wavered in the least.

"I suppose so brother. Shall we mention this one to Father?", her tone taking on a warm quality. It would be a good tale to tell their father, it was so rare that they were all together in one city let alone the same roof.

"I do believe he would enjoy the tale over dinner. Eight then?", he mirrored Thesbe as they both cleaned off their blades out of habit, ridding the fine steel of dust before sheathing them.

"Eight would be perfect. I shall come dressed in my finest.", she smiled to him as he replied with a short word or two and left her in the courtyard.

She would have to be in her finest, the Council would all be in attendance and expecting formal dress. She could wish that the circumstances that brought her brothers and her father to her home were of a less urgent and more personal matter, but that would not change the facts as they stood. Trouble was brewing in the south, the Clans were restless it seemed and looking north for a cure to that boredom.

She could bear believe that the Council had only been formed a little over two years ago, it seemed like an eternity. She did not regret the responsibility it brought, nor the weight she felt had been laid upon her shoulders; she was tougher than she looked and her support system was as good as any woman could wish. Heavy thoughts troubled her mind as she walked through the rotunda and down the stairs toward her personal quarters. War was
never an option she liked to consider, she was a knight and prepared for that event by years of training as a Knight of the Sword. But she knew that war was not the glorious picture that many would paint it to be; she had chosen to become a Knight of the Crown for a reason, that reason being to prevent any wars from occurring.

She could hear the laughter of her brothers as they played with wooden swords in their garden at home. Her mother disappearing that she would never have roses if they continuously trampled the fledgling buds. Her mother looked much like Thesbe, long chestnut coloured hair, pale blue eyes and a slight build. Thesbe suspected that was why her father had a difficult time keeping eye contact with her for too long. She had her mothers' aura as
well, she was small but had a presence that matched the largest Knight in any of the Orders.

Servants bowed to her as she passed, she acknowledged each with a nod. Curtesy cost her nothing, but the loyalty it bought was priceless. Her mother had taught her that when she was young, a time that seemed an eternity ago. Her mother, Elizabeth, had raised two boys and Thesbe nearly by herself; their father was busy building a reputation as a Knight in a time when most did not trust a Knight as far as they could throw them. Thesbe had been
the apple of her mothers' eye and when she announced that she would follow in her fathers' footsteps and join the Knighthood Thesbe could almost hear her mothers' heart breaking.

((Authors Note: This is the first post of a storyline. Please do not post random things in this thread. :-) Hopefully someone is reading it though. ))