The sound of ringing metal and clashing steel sang out in the crisp morning air of the alpine forest. Roland grimaced and parried, batting aside Kelsea's swipe with the toothed head of her Man-Catcher, smacking it out of the way with the flat of his blade. She stumbled, having put all of her weight into the attack. He stepped smoothly into her guard, pointing his blade tip at her neck as he shook his head disdainfully.
"Sloppy." He grunted. "Again." He stepped back and resumed his stance.
She trailed to his right, her feet stepping in short bursts as she attempted to build momentum in her legs. She swept her staff around to thrust at his face, and he trapped it with his sword, the metal scraping along the staff as it caught against the head of the weapon. Roland ducked beneath her, pulling his weapon free and blocking a second attack she attempted to smack him with, his head jumping to the right as she skimmed by his face.
Growling, the purple-skinned woman hunched her back, her body coiling like a panther as she lashed out wildly. The top of the catcher came whistling down in an overhead smash, heedless of Roland's safety. It didn't matter much though, for the Mercenary merely danced back from the strike, stepping down upon the pole hard with his foot and taking Kelsea to the ground alongside the weapon she gripped so tightly. She looked up at him with barely suppressed frustration in her eyes. "You little-" She said, stopping to pick herself up off the ground. He stepped back, his body charged with the act of movement.
"You need to step, lead with your toes." Roland gestured, pointing like a lecturing teacher at her feet using the tip of his sword. "You keep trying to strike flat-footed. I can catch you off balance every time. Your footwork is more important than your swing, for now."
Kelsea's red-rimmed eyes trailed across his body like a predator viewing prey. She flashed her sharp incisors and stepped forward, jabbing the head of the weapon at his face. Roland twisted his shoulder and stepped around it, gripping the staff by the hand and yanking it from her grasp. Tossing aside the sultry thing, Roland advanced upon her again. She scowled at him, glaring at the tool lying on the leaf-strewn ground across from them. Her arm lifted to point at it, her tail moving behind her like a whip. "Pick that up." She said. It was a command. "Give it to me."
"No." He replied, pointing the blade at her neck again. "You knock the sword from my hand, I'll pick up whatever you want me to. You chose the weapon, now you've gotta learn its ins and outs." The look she gave him as she bent down to retrieve the Man-Catcher could have melted stone. Secretly Roland was glad they were just fighting. Had a more carnal intent been present, he doubted he'd be able to walk afterwards.
They'd been on the mountain road for days now, the trail narrowing sharply as they ascended farther into the peaks of the Auroch Mountains. Carl Hale had been an invaluable, if nonverbal asset in their trek, scouting the path ahead, hunting game in the mornings and making camp for them in the evenings. It was unnerving just how completely under her spell he was; all it had taken was a few words and a tender shagging. Despite his own misgivings, Roland was glad for the additional company. During one of Carl's longer sojourns into the wilds, Kelsea and Roland had taken the opportunity to practice fighting.
"You've got the longer reach. Use it." Roland said, circling her as she held the weapon in front of her, like a thrusting spear at a sixty degree angle from herself. It stuck outward, the biting spikes on the inside promising severe pain should she actually land a good grab on one of his limbs. She wouldn't though; she was too slow for him. As if to underscore the point he reached forward with his sword tip, drawing her out by dangling his blade like a hooked worm for a fish. She took the bait, swiping forward in an attempt to catch his weapon in the jaws of the Man-Catcher. Roland let her, the loud sound of scraping steel grating his ears. Gripping the now-entrapped hilt of his sword with both hands, he twisted sharply in the opposite direction, pulling her own weapon out of her grasp. Dropping the sword, he promptly pulled his long knife free, stepping yet again within her guard and planting it near her neck.
"This is stupid." She said, huffing as he kept the blade at her throat. The normally boastful Succubus seemed ill at ease practicing the rigors of combat. She'd gotten so flustered she'd even reverted to her more bestial appearance. "I can't fight against someone like
you
! You've been doing this for years!"
"Nine years. And two years as a guard a'fore that." He replied, "All the better to train you, yeah? You think every fool you fight from now on will be a green boy with no skill?" His red mane of hair trickled down his head as he stepped back and casually stretched. "You can't get through yer life just by having a mystical cunt. One day it's going to be your own strength and skill against another's, and you'll have to make do."
She huffed, holding up her feminine bicep and flexing. "I'll do what I did to the Briar Dogs back at the tavern."
Roland spat on the ground, unimpressed. "You caught 'em off guard, and in a public place. They weren't gonna draw blades till well into the fight. Had one more of 'em been there someone would have ended up dead." He cracked his neck, "What are you going to do next time?"
She looked angry at his casual indifference to her skill. "I'll melt them with magic! What does it matter, Roland? We should just stop."
Still he pressed her. "-And what happens when that doesn't work? Say it's a ghost, or a - Gods forbid - a demon tryin' to carve out a piece of succulent Succubus? D'you want a repeat of the Imps?"
Kelsea looked at him for a moment, her eyes studying him in the mid-morning light. Without warning she threw herself against him, her body moving preternaturally fast as she grabbed him by the wrists and tackled him to the ground, using her smaller size to angle herself atop the large man's chest. Roland was caught off guard at the strength displayed, his body smacking against the ground as his knife clattered out away from them. He struggled in her grasp, astonished at the easy way she'd managed to dominate him.
"You've..." He grumbled, struggling in vain against her seemingly weaker body. She was like a stone statue held above him. "You've been holding back."
She laughed, leaning down to roughly kiss his face before pulling back, grinning at how easily she'd pinned him. His hands felt like they were held by steel manacles against the ground. She didn't seem to be even struggling to hold him. "Only when you make me mad, Roland."
"Would that I'd have done that sooner, I'd have been rid of you long ago." He replied, his hands opening in a sign of surrender. "Let me up."
"Not till you learn to do as I say." She said, her smile teasing. "Pick up my weapon."
"No, I won't." He said. "You didn't disarm me. Try that little leaping bit when I've got a sword in my grasp and then maybe we can talk."
He saw something shift in her eyes."Yes. You will." She replied, her voice lower. Kelsea's mouth was no longer smiling. Roland felt a sudden swell of feeling rise up within him. Despite the knowledge of what she was doing he began to harden in his trousers. "Get it for me, Roland."
"Kelsea-" He said, his body tensing as he heard that distinctive sing-song sound enter her voice. He felt his own voice become hoarse, "Stop it. I'm not Carl."
"Why should I?" She said, her tongue slithering out from her mouth and licking along the line of his lips. "Are you jealous of Carl? He's a good boy..." She said, her voice deepening as she leaned just slightly forward, draping her body a mere hair's breadth from his own. She was so warm. "Don't you also want to be... good? For me?"
"I can't..." He murmured, his face softening as he fell into those red, gazing eyes. His body began to go slack. Kelsea's eyes were lidded, her voice a gentle purr on the edge of his sanity. "Don't..."
"Shh." She said, her breath tickling upon his face. She sounded so firm, so
controlling
. "You know you want to do it. Just walk over there, and..."
