Snippet #1474649

Caine did manage to raise his sword up... That was it however. Talae's foot managed to find the crook of Caine's knee and bash it. His knee bent forward and and his foot slid from the mud and from out under him. He was falling, so resigned to this fate he threw his weight backwards instead of forward. It would be painful if he toppled on the Talae and her sharp sword. Perhaps for both of them. As he lay on his back he suddenly felt the tiredness of the day. They had marched seven miles, most of it Caine had a hangover. Then the ambush. Then the spar. There were perhaps only a couple of hours of downtime between each of these. His arm throbbed harder, however the cold mud had reduced the swelling slightly. The redness was a mysterious... His arm was covered in mud.

"Oh, of course. Sorry; allow me to make it easy for you."

"Oh no, can't have that, can we? Nothing's easy, don't you know that?" Caine said sardonically to himself. He turned over and began to heft himself up, he size and weight detrimental to the speed of his rising. He slid around trying to gain solid footing. From the wallowing in the mud, Caine was now filthy. He was going to have to give his armor and leather and good scrubbing before the Captain initiates a dress check or something...

On his feet, Talae was already upon him, darting around trying to get as his back... Probably. Caine grunted as he tried to follow Talae's movements with his eyes, avoiding spinning in place in fear of splattering on the ground again. She swung at his back again and he pivoted to his right, the dominant side to block. As he fear, his left foot threatened to slide out from under him, but he managed to keep it in check. However it stopped his pivot short and he was only a quarter of the way around to face Talae.

To compensate, Caine arched his back and turned his torso around to catch the bastard sword in another uncomfortable position. However, unlike last time, his footing was relatively solid. He pressed a hand on flat part on the upper end of the blade to stabilize it and grant more strength the weapon. Then, he pushed with brute strength on the blade, hoping to send Talae stumbling backwards.

He finally picked a foot up and planted it in front of his solidly, digging into the mud. Another solid stomp forward would place him in front of Talae. Finally, feeling a bit more confident, he slashed at Talae's left shoulder followed by another slash aimed at her right. If she could not block these strikes then Caine would land the flat of the blade on her shoulders, probably leaving a bruise, but otherwise unharmed. This would probably be the last offensive move Caine could preform, now feeling tired and his movements sluggish.

Either way, Caine felt sure Talae had learned and adapted to the bastard sword proficiently.