Lynde rested the flat of her new sword—Iet'baen—upon her shoulder as she met Ivuldr in the dueling room. Today was the day. He had always figured some way of avoiding this, but this time Lynde had gotten Razrok to get him here. She was glad that Razrok felt the same as she did, and now, in the dueling room, they met for battle. Now nothing would save him from defeat, because today was the day. Today was the day Lynde battled Ivuldr for the last time.
The two of them had sparred for much of her time at the Tower of the Dragon Riders. The two of them had inspired each other to do better and to fight harder. Lynde had developed her skills wielding a Kull sized blade fighting him, and Ivuldr had always improved his existent skills to match hers. But soon her time as a Rider in training would end, and all Lynde needed to do was prove her skill with a blade to end it.
She had learned much at the Tower. She'd learned to read in both the Human language and letters and the Ancient Language—which she found even harder to do. She had learned much about magic and was more creative and skillful than before. She had learned only the minimum of the Rider's requirements of diplomacy, history, philosophy, and the various cultures that inhabited Alagaësia. She had also learned of weather, aerodynamics, and other things from Artsanna and her lessons—which she did not think she would find nearly as useful as her silver companion. And finally she learned swordplay, which she was about to prove in front of Hvirag, Razrok, Ivuldr, and many other Riders and students gathered.
Lynde lowered her silver blade Iet'baen, which was less than a foot shorter than she was tall. She gripped the blade just beyond the hilt with her left hand, where it was dull and easier to handle, so that she had better balance. This weapon was made for a warrior of her strength and skill; this weapon was made for her. Hopefully she would not fail.
She looked across at Ivuldr with his curved white gold sword and hair as green as pine needles and was confident in her victory. He was unsure of himself, evidenced by the change in his hair from black with a white strip down it, which was hideous, to his new green hair, which Lynde thought was even worse. The Elf had avoided combat with her for so long that she now believed him incapable of winning. With this in mind, she said, "You may make the first move."
Ivuldr took her challenge and lunged at her sloppily. Lynde parried and lunged, letting go with left hand as she did. Ivuldr stumbled to the side just in time. Lynde pulled her sword back to strike him, but he jumped into the air most unexpectedly and swung his sword at her head. She barely ducked in time, and he landed expertly behind her.
Lynde was so stunned by the revelation that Ivuldr had been playing the fool in this fight that she almost didn't have enough time to parry his next blow. Each of his moves was now careful and showing of the skill he had initially hidden from Lynde. She batted away lunge after lunge, keeping him at a distance so that he wouldn't be able to get close enough to hit her.
Ivuldr then jumped back and threw his sword at Lynde. She swung madly to block the projectile, and managed to deflect it onto the ground, losing her balance in the process. But now Ivuldr was weaponless and she intended to keep him that way.
She stood over his sword, grinning ear to ear. Without his weapon he couldn't fight properly, and both of them knew that. Or at least she did as Ivuldr didn't seem to have quite as hopeless an expression as she thought he would, given the situation. She knew how stoic Elves could be, and they didn't always display all the emotions they felt, but she expected some sort of reaction.
Ivuldr charged at her, which she responded to by thrusting her sword in his direction. He dodged the attack and then grabbed onto the sword. She tried pulling it back, but his Elven strength was such that she couldn't. Instead Ivuldr suddenly and violently swung the sword so that Lynde would be thrown to the ground. The air left her lungs as she struck the hard floor, but she didn't have time to recover as Ivuldr approached, throwing Iet'baen to the side.
Lynde dashed to Ivuldr's sword and swung it at him. He moved his head and chest out of the way, but he was still close enough that she could kick him in the knee. He yelped as Lynde rolled backwards onto her feet, Ivuldr's white gold sword in hand.
Lynde lunged at Ivuldr, but he grabbed the sword and put it under his arm and held it there so she couldn't retrieve it. She kneed him in the side and he gasped, but he managed to sweep her remaining leg out from under her with his weak one. She fell again, but held onto Ivuldr's sword as she did, pulling him down too.
She threw him off after he landed, but he was in a position to twist her wrist so that she would relinquish the sword in her hand. After she got her hand back and massaged her wrist a little, she saw Ivuldr rise and lower her sword down towards her. She rolled to her side and barely avoided the blade. She then got up and ran to her weapon as it lay on the ground.
As she retrieved Iet'baen, Ivuldr made one last mad charge towards her. She swung her sword at him as he did, and the strike caught him in the side—or it would have had it not been for his wards. With that strike the battle was over and Ivuldr was defeated.
Hvirag clapped for her as several others began to as well. The large Dwarf approached her and said, "Good job, Lynde. Defeating an Elf is no easy business, even one such as Ivuldr. You have proven yourself a student of mine admirably."
Lynde smiled and said, "Thank you." It made her feel good to have Hvirag's approval.
Ivuldr sheathed his sword as he said, "You got lucky."
"As Kaesdir would say if he were here," Hvirag noted as he wagged a finger, "there is no such thing as luck."
"After that duel, I can only believe that luck was involved somewhere," Ivuldr said.
Razrok scoffed at his Elven student. "Luck is an excuse for those who are either too humble to admit victory or too sore to admit defeat."
Ivuldr looked like he was about to say some mean remark, but instead he bowed his head. "Yes, Master Razrok." With that conversation done, Lynde and Hvirag left the dueling room.
The sun was bright, but a chill wind blew upon the air. It was most certainly autumn now and she missed summer. It was especially sad since she hadn't gotten to seen Cathalorn in the summer, or at least the Spine, which was a wondrous sight with the summer sun shining on its white snow. Even more than that she missed Gelsey, who had raised her, and Edana, her adoptive sister. But greater than that she missed her father and Arlen and Rose. She missed everyone in the old world, the world to the west of the Unknown Lands. Fortunately she would be able to get back to it soon with her training almost being done.
Hvirag said to her without taking his eyes off the path, "The trousers helped, didn't they?" He referred to the fact that some time after her battle with Shruikan she started wearing trousers instead of skirts. They were helpful in battle, certainly, but she always felt like it was indecent somehow. While she did not show skin she did show her form beneath her waist a little too much, which still felt bad. She had seen other women Riders wear trousers, but it still felt wrong somehow.
To answer Hvirag's question, Lynde said, "Yes, but I'd rather not where them too often. I don't like them."
Hvirag nodded. "I understand, but you can't change every time you expect or win a battle. I'll have Jeneve figure a solution, but for now you can wear a skirt over the trousers if that will make you feel comfortable."
It did a little, but not much. Though it was the thought that counted so Lynde said, "Thank you."
She soon split off from Hvirag and headed for the dormitories to get that skirt on. As she had gotten inside, Artsanna contacted her mentally. She seemed to be happy, but in a strange way. It had been like this since Baeguirn had returned, and Lynde could tell they fancied each other. The biggest clue was Artsanna's dirty thoughts every time either of them thought about Baeguirn long enough. Fortunately they went outside of mental range when they met up so she was spared the details of their encounters.
Artsanna had a strange grogginess in her voice as she spoke to Lynde. So how did your duel go?
It went well; I won, Lynde replied. She was concerned about Artsanna as she added, Are you alright?
I am fine. Lynde entered her room as Artsanna said, Baeguirn and I mated. Lynde felt a shock through her system at the news. She sat down on the bed to avoid falling over. Lynde hadn't been keeping any of this from Artsanna so it wasn't surprising when she asked, Are you alright?
Yes, Lynde said, still reeling from Artsanna's news. You're mated?
Yes. After a slight pause she added, As Humans say, I am sorry you were not invited, but you would not have liked it anyway. A Dragon mating is much different to a Human wedding, and guests are usually unwanted.
Lynde felt like vomiting. The thought of Dragons… She wanted to get that out of her head immediately. It was barely worse than thinking her parents had to do that for her to be born. If she was the type to commit suicide, that would be the trigger.
Lynde, stop being a child about this, Artsanna said.
A child? You're less than two!
Dragons can mate at six months, Artsanna noted. The fact I have not yet done so in this time of crisis for the Dragons is stranger than doing it now instead of later.
Lynde still couldn't wrap her head around this. So you're married—sorry—mated to Baeguirn?
In a way yes. We have agreed to stay together until whatever eggs we might have are all hatched, and from there we don't know.
She felt like vomiting even more. That is not a good agreement. That's like waiting until a child is born to split up. That is more like an animal than a proud Dragon.
Artsanna conceded to that. I suppose, but it is a strange time. Baeguirn and I may stay together longer. I do not know what Dragon mating customs are except what I hear from my beloved Baeguirn, and he seems quite knowledgeable about it.
Probably because he helped make them up, Lynde pointed out half as a joke. Artsanna snickered in her mind, gladdening Lynde. One thing she wondered was, Do you know if you… conceived I think the word is?
No, not yet. I believe there are spells that can help divine it though.
Good. We'll see if Karasi knows them, and if she does, we can find out if you can be expecting an egg any time soon. It was fortunate that Karasi the dark skinned healer Rider had been around since Lynde and Artsanna's battle with Shruikan. The reason she gave was so that her Dragon—Shival as he was named—could spend time with Jeneve the Shade looking Rider's Dragon, Shadow. Apparently the red Dragons were father and son, or whatever Dragons might call that relationship. Since Karasi stayed with Shival, they could ask the dark skinned Rider about this subject.
Artsanna was hesitant though. I believe I wish to sleep before doing that. It was somewhat tiring to…
Okay, you can take a nap, Lynde said, not wanting any more details than she already knew. We'll do it later then.
