I don't own any of the Tamora Pierce characters
"Please!" Matthew begged, as Ivy began sharpening her sword. Ivy said nothing and merely glared at him, before returning to her sword. Matthew sighed. "Alright fine!" he said. He went on, sarcastically."Let General Git beat you up! I mean it's not like I'll miss you or anything! It's not like you mean anything to me! I mean, I'm sure it'll be great fun watching him slice you and laugh at you! But just before you commit social and personal suicide at the same time, I'd better ask you this; what kind of flowers do you want at the funeral?"
Ivy looked up. "Roses." she said shortly. "Red and white roses." If Matthew noticed the small grin on Ivy's face, he refused to acknowledge it.
"So you admit he's going to beat you then?" he said, crouching next to Ivy and covering her hands with his. Ivy rolled her eyes, and Matthew carried on. "In that case, you shouldn't do it! Just make up an excuse! Please! It's not hard! Just tell him that you've..."
"I am not telling him that I have come on for my monthlies Matthew of Tirragen!" Ivy hissed, shocking Matthew. "I am not a coward and contrary to what you seem to believe, I can defend myself! So get over it and shut up trying to persuade me to chicken out!"
Matthew took his hand away and stood up, putting his hands on the back of his head. "I didn't say you couldn't fight!" Matthew said quietly, "and I wasn't saying chicken out. I was just saying..."
"You were just saying that he'll beat me if I fight him. Well thanks for the confidence boost, but if it's all the same to you, I'll ignore it." She stood up, put the sword in its scabbard and then went to leave the circle of people around the fire, many of whom were staring at her and Matthew.
"Where are you going?" Matthew asked sharply, grabbing her arm and pulling her back.
Ivy shook him off. "To the latrine!"
Matthew watched in silence as Ivy walked into the middle of the circle of men, standing on the opposite side of the fire from Gavin. He'd earnt himself another month of latrine duty for demanding that Ivy and Gavin fight away from the fire, and also earnt a fierce look from Ivy that had said, in not so many words, that he had better be quiet before she sliced him. Now he watched as Ivy swung her sword around in a warm up pattern, biting his lip with both anxiety and annoyance. When Gavin and Ivy were both ready, it was Raoul who gave the call to start, and Matthew watched with an extremely unpleasant taste of bile rising in his throat...
Ivy circled as Gavin began to spin his sword around. With another opponent, Ivy would have let them wear themselves out before attacking, but somehow she doubted that Gavin would be the kind of man with a low stamina, so instead she watched every move he made very carefully, trying to see where he was weakest... She was caught off guard when Gavin leapt over the fire towards her, and only the last second dive to the left saved her from being impaled instantly on Gavins sword. Gavin had obviously expected her to move, and did an impressive somersault to land in front of Ivy before beginning to attack in earnest, using his size -for he was head and shoulders taller than her, though still smaller than Matthew- and weight to his advantage. The strong muscles in his arms, Ivy noticed, were tensed as he attacked, and it appeared to her that the General liked to have tight shirts, to show off his muscle to anyone that wanted to look. Gavin brought his sword down hard, and Ivy managed to bring her sword up just in time to stop an extremely painful cut landing on her face. The muscles in her arm screamed in protest at the amount of weight being pressed down onto them, and Ivy gave a last push up, before dropping to the floor and rolling away, while Gavin fell forwards as a result of no more resistance. Jumping to her feet, Ivy ran forward, jumping into the air and planting a hard kick in the General's stomach and was pleased to hear him gasp for breath. Flipping off him, she brought her sword down, beginning to attack whilst he struggled for breath. He blocked one blow weakly, but the edge of his sword cut Ivys hand open, and blood began to spill. As she went to back down in defeat, Gavin continued to attack. She blocked desperately, but the blood on her hand caused the sword to become slippy, and it flew from her hands, behind Gavin's back. Trying to ignore the sickening look on Gavin's face, Ivy once more flipped backwards, catching Gavins sword by the hilt and flicking it from his hands. Landing close to the ground, Ivy watched as Gavin instantly clenched his fists and began to move on his toes, ready to begin hand to hand combat with her. Ivy had meant this to happen, she had been taught by various Shang warriors, the training master and her cousin Aly and Uncle George, how to defend herself without weapons, though the feeling of the dagger sheaths stowed in both of her boots increased her morale slightly. As Gavin moved cautiously forwards, Ivy jumped up and lashed out with her foot, catching the Generals shoulder and pushing him backwards. Without waiting to see Gavin's reaction, Ivy began a sequence of kicks and punches, a mixture of Rogue, Shang and Noble hand-to-hand combat. Gavin managed to block some of her feebler blows, but he had obviously not expected her to be so accomplished in this way of fighting. Ivy planted one last punch on Gavin's face, then somersaulted backwards, drawing the two knives from her boots as she went through the air. Gavin missed the two sharp blades that she had drawn, and came forwards, fists clenched and ready to attack. He lashed out with a fist, catching Ivy on the jaw just as Ivy spun one of her knives in her hand and brought it slashing down aboveGavins left eye, leaving a deep gash from the eyebrow to the cheek. As the General staggered away from her, with one hand clamped over his bleeding eye, Ivy put her knives back into her boots, before kicking Gavin one final time in the stomach and heading away from him. As Ivy reached the edge of the ring of men, Gavin growled at her.
"You'll pay for that Squire, mark my words!" Then he shoved through the crowd of men to find a healer, leaving Ivy as the centre of attention. Ivy wasn't sure what to do, and pushed her way gently, but forcefully through the men. Matthew followed her, pushing through the men who were staring after Ivy and refused to move. Running after her, he caught her by the arm and steered her forcefully away from the men and into the shadow of a large tree, on the edge of a small forest.
"Ivy... that was amazing!" he said, putting his hands on her shoulders. Ivy snorted.
"Hardly!"
Matthew smiled and kissed her forehead. "You never told me you'd learnt Shang..." he said quietly.
Ivy shrugged. "It's hardly important." she said plainly.
Matthew raised an eyebrow. "Sure it is." he said. "I know it too... maybe we should start practising..." he leant down slightly, so that he could press his lips to her forehead, thenmoved them down her face, finally finding her lips and pressing their mouths together hungrily. Ivy sighed as his arms wrapped around her and relaxed into his hold, wrapping her own arms around him and pressing herself to his chest. Matthew had just coaxed open her mouth when there was a cough from nearby. He pulled away, a look of annoyance on his face. Raoul ran over to them carrying Ivy's sword, closely followed by her Uncles and Aunts.
"Sorry to interrupt," Raoul said, with a rather cheeky grin directed at Matthew, who frowned. "Here's your sword Ivy." he handed over the sword that had been thrown from Ivys hands, then ruffled her hair. "Well done... you might want to watch out for him from now on though, he'll want to get back at you." Ivy smiled and nodded.
"So you did understand about all the Rogue style of fighting?" George said, grinning at his niece. "And there was this poor old man thinking you'd believed it a waste o' time and paid no attention." He smiled. "I'm proud of you lass."
Ivy grinned. "I'd never say learning to fight like a Rogue was a waste of time George." she said. "You were one after all."
Several more congratulations followed, before, finally, Ivy and Matthew were left alone again. Matthew smiled at her and kissed her cheek, before leaning down next to her ear. "Do you think it's time we went to bed?" he asked quietly, nipping affectionately at her earlobe. Ivy giggled and nodded. Wordlessly, Matthew lead her to his tent, trying to hide the longing that had suddenly overcome him, and the realization of how much he had missed her being in his bed. He didn't know it, but at that same moment, Ivy was thinking much the same thing.
Matthew pulled out of Ivy, breathing heavily and whispering in her ear. "Imissed you..."
Ivy snuggled closer to his warm,muscled chest and smiled. "I missed you more..." she murmured into his soft skin,savouring his smell.
"Thats impossible..." Matthew said, just as quietly. Ivy smiled, but said nothing. After several minutes of silence, Matthew looked down at her and tilted her head up. "I love you." he said, his voicegentle, almost a caress.
Ivy smiled, trying to ignore the sudden stinging in her eyes that said she was about to cry."I love you too..." she managed, before breaking down into tears and burying her face in Matthews shoulder. Matthew froze, shocked byIvys behaviour, then slowly wrapped his arms around her, rocking her gently in his arms.
"Hey..." he whispered. "It's ok! I'm here!" he stroked the hair away from Ivy's face, then kissed her forehead. "Don't cry... I'm here... everything's fine alright."
"I'm... s... s... sorry," Ivy sobbed. "I just... missed...missed you..."
Matthew closed his eyes and rested his head on hers. "Shhhh..." he saidsoothingly. "Shhh... I missed you too, just... shhh...everything's fine..."Eventually, after several long minutes,Ivy stopped, andlooked at Matthew through red eyes,glistening with tears.
"Sorry..." she whispered. "I didn't mean to get you wet..." Matthew chuckled and kissed her forehead.
"It's fine!" he assured her, then bent down to kiss her lips, gently pushing his tongue in to meet her own. Ivy sighed into his mouth, and kissed back fiercely. A sudden stirring in his groin alerted Matthew to the suddenly painful longing he felt. He kissed her more fiercely than ever, then lay her on her back, entering her body swiftly, and beginning a rhythm of thrusts, each one causing Ivy to gasp in pleasure. She came quickly, several times, before Matthew joined her, releasing his pleasure inside her and not wishing to pull away, not wanting to break the connection that he had gone for months without. "Gods, Ivy I missed you." he whispered, resting his forehead on hers and playing absently with her necklace, whilst Ivy played, just as absently, with the medallion that hung round his neck.
"I missed you too." Ivy said quietly.
"I love you, Angel."
"I love you too, Hero."
Matthew frowned at this name. "Since when was I a hero?"
Ivy grinned. "Since when was I an angel?"
Gavin sat in his tent, tracing his finger over the scar on his head. The healer had done as much as possible, but said that there was nothing he could do to get rid of the scar, and that Gavin would have to live with it. The General, who was used to being told of his perfect, handsome face, felta surge of anger every time he thought about it. Women, he had heard before, liked men with scars, but the women with whom he had been sleeping recently, seemed repulsed at it. Gavin looked absently at the tent flap. He had walked past Tirragens tent, not even an hour before, to hear, much to his annoyance, vows of love and affection being exchanged, closely followed by a silence which could have only been a very long, passionate kiss. It was necessary, he believed, to teach the Goldenlake girl a lesson, and it seemed that Tirragen was the perfect way to anger, if the vows were -as he assumed they were- true. And perhaps at the same time, he could get to Tirragen... he managed a small grin at the thought... two birds with one stone... and possibly some entertainment along the way...
So? How'd you like it? Please review...
Mage of the Heart
