Disclaimer: TAMORA PIERCE owns the Tortall universe. Everything here that's hers is hers, what's mine is mine. Done.
Ice, snow, and blood hazed her vision as she cut threw body after body, in what seemed to be a never-ending sea of thrashing limbs and weapons. Her vision was obstructed by the red haze that always clouded her sight in the mist of battle and all she could her was the pounding of her heart and the sounds of death from her vanquished enemies. As the day wore on the sound of battle grew quieter and quieter until suddenly she cut down a large Scanran with a flick of her sword and saw that there was no one left to fight.
Alanna the Lioness surveyed the area around her and couldn't suppress the feeling of disgust that rose up in her at the sight of all the carnage. It was by far one of the worst battles of the Scanran War and would certainly not be the last. As she sighed, dreading the fact that she would soon have to pick through the corpses looking for friends and wounded, she noticed a figure riding towards her. Taking a fighting stance she prepared to intercept the rider, but quickly relaxed when she recognized the rider.
"Alanna! Thank the Gods that you're alive. I saw you go down in the first charge and thought…"
"Quit the waterworks Jarl I'm fine," said Alanna as she tried to put on a smile for her second of command, relived to see him alive. As she walked over to him she said, "I was just pulled off my horse by some Scanran and had to fight on the ground for a while."
Jarl raised an eyebrow skeptically and said, "Well I'm sure that he quickly regretted dismounting the Lioness." They both laughed at this, yet they could both see the hollow looks in each other's eye that the fresh battle had left them with. The laughter soon died down and only silence remained as they both began looking through the bodies and ordering the remaining soldiers to bring the wounded back to camp.
As Alanna worked, healing those she could save and easing the deaths of those touched by the Black God, she couldn't help but wonder why the Scanran's had suddenly attacked this position. The fort at Jaden's Pass was one of the best-fortified positions along the Scanran-Tortall border yet just today a large Scanran force had come down from the Mountains to attack the fort.
As she voiced her thoughts to Jarl he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Honestly I have no idea how these bastards think. We've been fighting this war of attrition for 10 years and still their King sends man after man against our forts slaughtering countless on both sides? If you want my honest opinion I say that their King is a loon and there is no reason to his madness. In fact…" but his words trailed off as they both heard the sounds of steel meeting steel in the distance.
The two warriors didn't even look at each other before unsheathing their swords and running in the general direction of the fight. As they approached they saw that freshly killed Tortallian soldiers littered the ground and upon passing a pile of corpses saw the fight.
10 Tortallian soldiers were surrounding a man covered in wounds and gasping for breath. He was leaning on his sword, using it as a crutch as his head darted back and forth surveying the enemy soldiers surrounding him. Alanna quickly surveyed the man and her first thought was that this man was deadly. He was tall and thin and had lean muscles that were clearly developed though extensive combat experience. His experience was also evident in the many scars covering his arms and the obvious grace that only master swordsmen could have composed while exhausted and leaning on their sword. The seven freshly killed Tortallians beneath him were also examples of his combat ability. However what was most unnerving about this man was that he had jet-black hair and green eyes. These were traits hardly seen in Scanrans yet here he was, on a battlefield killing Tortallian soldiers. In the brief time that Alanna took to survey him she realized that she would have to fight him, rather than fruitlessly wasting more lives.
"Stand back soldiers." Alanna said quietly in her iciest voice. The soldiers hesitated for only a second before letting her enter the circle surrounding the Scanran. Alanna raised her sword at the man and said in poorly accented Scanran, "I am Alanna the Lioness of Pirate's Swoop and Olau. Who are you who dare attack soldiers searching for wounded after a battle. Say your name so I may know the man I kill." As Alanna said this she took up a fighting stance tensing for the fight to come.
The man looked her up and down and smiled at her. Before Alanna could be caught off guard by this action the man shifted his position bringing up his sword to an attacking position and said in perfect Tortallian, "Hello Lioness I have heard much about you and am honored to fight you on this day. May I say though that your accent is quite atrocious." The man laughed then in the blink of an eye flew across the distance between them and slashed at Alanna's side.
His sword is Yammani style. Alanna thought briefly before barley raising her sword in time to deflect his blow. She then countered with a overhead slash and their swords locked together in mid air. As the pushed against each other, each trying to gain the upper hand the man laughed and said, "As to who I am dear Lioness. You may call me Zareth Snowson, and remember the name for it will be the last you hear." And with that he broke away and they began exchanging blows. And so the dance of blades began as the two warriors slashed at each other endlessly.
Alanna quickly realized that she had the upper hand in stamina and strength, but couldn't understand why none of her hits were getting through. Desperately she tried to disarm him by wrapping her blade around his and flicking, but found that he easily deflected it. She then realized with a crushing certainty why none of her attacks were landing. She was less skilled than this man.
This thought filled Alanna with a sense of wonder as she realized she was fighting a swordsmen better than her for the first time in 20 years. However this feeling of wonder quickly turned to fear when he broke through her defenses and dealt a slash to her thigh and elbow. Alanna quickly jumped away from the man and took up a defensive position. At seeing their Lioness hurt Jarl and the soldiers started moving towards the man with murder in their eyes in when Alanna yelled, "STOP!" Everyone took their eyes of Zareth long enough to look at Alanna as she said, "Do not touch this man! It is my fight and you will not dishonor me like this." She then healed her wounds and the two warriors began to circle each other.
"Where did you learn to wield a sword Snowson?" Alanna asked nonchalantly, while studying his movements for any signs of fatigue or weakness.
"Now lets not be coy Lioness. I see you studying my actions and I know your buying time. But I will tell you if you beet me Lioness. Now lets end this." Replied Zareth.
Alanna laughed and said, "Yes lets." As she lunged at him throwing everything she had into her last attack. Zareth responded with his own attack yet right before they met she saw a brief smile touch his lips as he withdrew his word a fraction of an inch.
Yet before she could even register this their swords meet and Alanna's slid by Zareth's burying itself in his arm while his left a small graze across her cheek. Zareth's eyes widened in pain and he slumped to the ground as Alanna's sword rested coolly against his neck.
"I yield." Were the only words heard in the utter silence that filled the battlefield, followed quickly by the thump that Zareth's body made when he hit the ground unconscious.
The Lioness stared at the man at her feet for a moment or two before thrusting her sword down. It buried itself in the ground to the right of his head and the Lioness swiftly turned around and looked at Jarl and the soldiers.
"Chain this man and bring him back to camp. Bandage his arm up and tell me when he regains consciousness. No man is to touch him without my permission. That is all" and with that the Lioness pulled her sword from the ground, sheathed it, and went back to the battlefield to look for survivors.