Disclaimer: See chapter 1.
Escaflowne: All you need is Love, Isn't it?
Chapter 25
At the Great Arena
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"Isn't it dangerous for them to be fighting without any armor on?" Hitomi Kanzaki asked.
"The objective in this tournament isn't to strike or disable your opponent." Van Fanel replied.
"It's not?"
"No," pointing at one of the young knights on the field he continued. "See the flower in his lapel. The objective is to sever the flower from its stem without marking your opponent at all."
"Oh, well… what happens if you do strike your opponent?" The she asked.
"You lose automatically."
"Well, wouldn't it be easy enough for someone to let themselves get marked intentionally so they can win?" She inquired.
"That would go against the code of a knight, besides even if a knight did try to do that, he may suffer an injury that would prevent him from continuing in the next round or worse he may suffer a serious enough injury that would prevent him from continuing on as a knight. No, this tournament is to test the skills of the contestants, there swordsmanship. No knight of Asturia would disgrace himself and his order by allowing himself to be marked intentionally." The king declared.
"Oh, I see." Hitomi felt more than a little ashamed for even suggesting anyone might try to cheat. "Hmm, well has anyone been seriously wounded during the tournament?"
"A few, but that was in the earlier rounds yesterday. Some of the younger, less experienced knights got careless but none of the injuries were fatal. Yesterday, there were over 200 knights that started the tournament. Today the final sixteen will compete for the tournament championship."
"Why isn't Allen competing?"
"Because he is a Knight of Heaven. This tournament serves to identify the best young knights that have been training the past three years. Allen and the other Knights of Heaven have nothing to prove. In fact, it is widely accepted that the Knights of Heaven are not only the finest knights in Asturia but are the finest knights in all of Gaea and of the twelve Knights of Heaven, Allen Schezar is regarded as the most skilled with the sword."
"And you're going to fight him after the tournament is over?"
"Yes."
"But why?"
"To honor Queen Millerna. The original plan was for the best knight from each kingdom to compete in an exhibition after the tournament but when they heard they would have to compete against Allen Schezar, they all turned down the invitation."
"Why?"
"No one wants to be humiliated in front of all the rulers of Gaea."
"So why are your competing?"
"Because I intend to win." Van looked out over the field. "The first match is about to start."
Hitomi couldn't help but smile. 'He's so confident in himself. He really thinks he can beat Allen. I hope he's right.'
On the field, the two knights and the official bowed to their queen then turned to commence fighting. After receiving the signal from the official the two knights raised their swords and began circling each other. The two young knights were 16 and 18 respectively, each was a student of Sir Vincent Holler, the oldest of the Knights of Heaven, widely regarded as the finest sword instructor in Asturia. The two competitors had crossed swords many times while training and were very familiar with each other's tendencies and it showed. When one would lunge forward with an attack the other would take a specific defensive stance, which would cause his opponent to halt his attack. This went back and forth for several minutes without their swords actually clashing once.
"What are they doing?" Merle asked.
"They're feeling each other out. Testing what defenses the other will use depending on the attack." Van pointed to one of the knights. "Look carefully and you'll see that he doesn't attack the same way twice. He does this to see what type of defense his opponent will use against each particular attack. Once he finds a defense he is confident he can defeat, his attack will be real."
Just then the older knight charged holding his sword wide to his right. He made a broad sweeping stroke at his opponent who quickly positioned his sword to block the attack. The older knight used the block of his attack to swing his sword back around as he spun to his right and raised his blade high in the air. Spinning all the way around, he brought his blade down to strike. Again, the younger knight blocked the attack then spun to his right while side stepping his opponent. He then launched his own attack, thrusting his sword forward at the orchid in his opponent's lapel. The older knight swung his blade to the left, blocking the attack sending the younger knight's blade wide right, leaving him exposed. The older knight quickly seized the advantage slashing swiftly at his opponent's lapel. The younger knight recovered with remarkable speed, bringing his blade back down against his adversary's blade while stepping back with his left foot to avoid his blade. The sword of the older knight struck a petal of the younger knight's flower, slicing it in half. The official took a few steps forward but then backed away and signaled for the match to continue.
The two young knights continued attacking and counter-attacking time and again, each time managing to block or avoid a strike that would eliminate them from the tournament. After about twenty minutes, the two knights, weary and sweaty stood toe-to-toe, exchanging blows with their swords. Finally, carelessness on the part of the younger caused him to swipe wide with his blade and he stuck his opponent along his arm, slicing the sleeve open but avoiding the flesh. The official immediately raised his hand high in the air and instructed the two competitors to stop and separate. After a quick inspection of the gaping tear the official signaled the older knight the winner of the match. The each bowed to the queen then exchanged a handshake. Then they turned to the official and bowed respectfully and left the field. The crowd applauded enthusiastically as the two opponents walked off the field.
"So what did you think?" Van asked Hitomi who was sitting to his right.
"Wow, that was much more intense than I thought it would be. I assumed since they had to avoid striking each other, they would be more deliberate with their attacks, not as fast. But I was wrong. I must say there were a few time there I thought one or the other was going to lose a limb." She admitted.
"But neither sliced the flower off. All he did was tear the other knight's shirt." Merle complained.
"That's all it takes. Control is critical, failure to control ones sword is a sign of an undisciplined knight." Van explained.
"Mmm" was all Merle responded with.
"Oh, the next match is about to start." Hitomi said with a fair amount of excitement in her voice.
As the matches continued on throughout the morning and afternoon Hitomi began to realize that all the competitors save one was at least a year older then Van. With the exception of when she first saw him appear on her high school track field and later when he was being coronated, she never really looked at him as being a teenager like herself. 'Against the dragon, he just looked so young and during the coronation he looked like a boy wearing his father's clothes.' She thought. 'But other than that, he always seemed so much, older; so much more mature.' She stole a glance at him. 'Can he defeat Allen in a tournament like this? In Escaflowne, I have no doubt, but this. He said so himself, control is critical. He's always seemed so reckless. When fighting for his life, it served him well, but here?' Her confidence in his ability to defeat Allen began to wane.
The king glanced at the object of his affections only to see her turn her gaze from him down to her lap as she began to brush way some none existent wrinkles in her dress, one Millerna had given to her and had insisted she wear to the tournament.
"Is something wrong Hitomi?" The king asked.
"Hmm?" She looked up at him with a forced smile. "No, nothing… nothing at all."
"That's good." He replied as he lightly patted her hand.
In that instant, a vision appeared to the girl from the Mystic Moon. As she stared straight ahead she saw Van and Allen bow to each other then raise their swords and begin battling. But in less then a minute Allen severed Van's flower from its stem and the crowd of rulers and dignitaries began laughing uncontrollably. She broke in a cold sweat at the image of Van's humiliating defeat. 'I can't let that happen.' She stole another glance at him. 'But what can I do? He would never agree not to fight. He's made the commitment. He'll go through with it no matter what.' She continued to sit and stare off into nowhere as she tried to think of something, anything to save the man she loved from such humiliation.
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AN: Sorry for the long wait. Well, I managed to survive another campout, barely. ^_^ I should be able to update more regularly now until May 15th. That's the day before ACEN'03. Of course, I will be at the con that entire weekend and won't be writing while I'm there. But I hope to post at least 5 or 6 chapters before then. Maybe more if I'm especially inspired. ^_~
I hope I was able to get you to visually the sword match clearly. I really don't thing such things are my strong suit but I hope I did it justice.
Okay, time for reader interaction, where you get the chance to have some direct input in what happens in the story. As I'm sure you know. There is no way, I can allow Van to be humiliated in front of all the rulers of Gaea so here is your opportunity to offer your suggestions as to how or what Hitomi will do to enable Van to fight with more focus and control. I have an idea I am planning to use but if anyone suggests something that I like better than the one I already have, I'll go ahead and use it and of course give credit where credit is due. ^___^
The match between Van and Allen should take place in chapter 27 or 28 so you have until then.
Again, thank you all for your wonderful support. I'm glad you liked the last chapter. I must say I liked it a lot while I was writing it. It just felt so right.
A. Amishi
PS: Just 15 more days till ACEN'03!!! ^_^