A sword flew inches away from her face. She step back and forth evading most blows, acting mostly out of muscle memory. The guy was a head taller than her, but she compensated in speed. She wished to have the strength to knock him out and end that. As it didn't came, she focused on not getting killed.
She made the mental note of killing Varys later, though."Let's sneak into this sketchy carnival in town, it'll be fun." "You always wanted to be in a tournament, didn't you?"
The darts competition sounded fine. The pie eating, the show, even the archery. Now she was in the middle of a team melee battle, sword and shield in hand, against the Rhino Horns. Do rhinos have horns or tusks? Her team couldn't even talk that one out, but she hoped they'll work well together. Not that they did know each other before today, but still...
They were quite the good assemble.
Jacob, the wood carver, and Harold, the 12-ish kid, kept their ground well. They also mostly blocked out the other team. The boy from the food stand was scary enough by his size, let alone wielding a giant axe, which Varys took into account to hide behind and sling some unsuspecting spearmans. Abilene, the hustler girl, kept on helping the others by basically smashing into any enemy formation, making it impossible for them to regroup.
The guy she was fighting with grew frustrated he couldn't land hits, so instead used his whole force against her shield. She fell to the ground. He raised his sword up high. A smaller girl stood in front of him and kicked him hard in the chest. She proceeded to hit him with her short sword until he yielded. The fact that those weren't real weapons completely slipt from her mind as she got up. The other team was scary, after all. The girl -Abilene, she remembers- helped the other back up.
"You okay Morgan?"
She nod, looking around. The audience seemed to be cheering them. As much as it was a fight (where one could seriously get hurt), it was mostly a show. To keep a loose formation was a good idea. The leader from the other team, somewhat skinnier than the rest, was in the middle of the arena trying to redirect his forces. He left his flank exposed.
Morgan prepared to charge, but heard a scream coming from behind. A spearman had cornered Varys far away from his big friend. He couldn't get past the spear's long range, and was getting various hits. The cry baby. Morgan bit her tongue and ran towards them. Ended up hitting the Rhino so hard in the back he fell over. Varys and her finished him.
Eventually, and surprisingly, the Dusty Knights won the tournament. Each one was given 20 GP, plus some 10 GP the audience have thrown in the arena. It was the most money they ever thought they would have at once. For blunt weapons, they did certainly hurt, and would sting for several days. But they parted ways richer than they left, and overall proud.
Varys still had to make a run to get to the darts competition. He got second place, because Abi also participated, and beat him for the narrowest of margins. The judges we're imprsssed. They both ended up in good terms, though. He also won a pair of berry-stuffed turkey legs, so he couldn't really complain. In the walk home he gave one to Morgan and smiled widely.
"Told you this was a great idea."
She chuckled. "True. But next time we go to the pie eating contest."
"Of course." He said as he feriously chew on his turkey leg.
After all, it's not like they're going to be in any tournament after this, right?
AN: Please leave your comments on what you'll like to improve! Thanks for reading!