Talon's POV
He has been walking through the woods for some time now, before coming to a cliff with a few ledges hanging on the side of the cliff. He effortlessly slides down the cliff and lands on the first ledge, before going down to the next few by jumping across to each one. Suddenly, one of the cliff edges collapses and he starts falling down the cliff. He manages to wedge his right blade into the cliff side, searching for a way to get across.
There, he thinks as he sees a tree branch close to another ledge, using another one of his blades to climb up and jump to the branch, swinging off it and rolling onto the ledge. He pants softly at that workout, and looks over to the wasteland, seeing a faint figure approach the cliff.
Riven's POV
She keeps her eyes fixed to the horizon, grass crunching beneath her feet as she approaches the cliff edge. A fair distance ahead of her, the young warrior can see the smoking remnants of a small village.
Singed's handiwork, no doubt.
Riven surveys the narrow cliff ledges, crouching down and launching herself off the edge with her left hand. She lands steadily on a ledge directly below her, carefully skipping across a number of others. However, she halts upon noticing the collapse of a nearby shelf – one of her few ways down to the ground – and scans her surroundings for another way to the bottom.
As she turns her head, she catches a flash of red and silver at the edges of her vision, and spins around, hand outstretched to steady herself by the cliff wall.
Only metres away is a man with twin blades of steel, face partially shrouded by a crimson scarf. He stares at her intensely, unmoving, his sharp eyes fully aware of her every movement.
'Who are you?' he inquires, eyes boring into her.
'My name is Riven,' is the reply.
'Riven, you say?' His eyes narrow further in suspicion.
Without warning, Talon leaps at her, skilfully landing on her ledge in a crouch and swiping his right blade in an upwards curve towards her neck. Riven's sharp reflexes spring into action, and she parries the fatal strike, the sheer weight of her sword pushing Talon's right arm aside. He uses the sideways momentum to pivot on the spot, slashing at her with his short sword as he turns to face her, but she sidesteps to dodge the metal.
Riven gasps as her new foothold crumbles, throwing her off balance. The assassin's eyes glint as she is left wide open to attack, closing in on her to deftly follow up with a flurry of consecutive strikes. Yet somehow, Riven barely manages to block his stabs and slashes, somersaulting backwards to land on a cliff ledge a considerable distance below him.
She briefly glances at her left arm, a shallow wound causing her to curse in dismay. So he had managed to draw blood after all.
Damn.
However, she is allowed little respite as his shadow appears in the air above her, having vaulted off the shelf with no hesitation. Talon twists in midair, angling his blades to strike yet again, but is blocked by the girl with both hands as she firmly kicks him in the chest, sending him reeling backwards off the ledge. He manages to grasp her ankle, the tables turned as he pulls her along with him.
The wind beats against Riven's back harshly as the pair freefall. His left hand now tightly clamped onto her shoulder, Talon pulls her towards himself, kneeing her in the stomach and knocking her air out of her as the wind whistles through his hair. Winded, Riven only just deflects his arm's blade – an attempt to stab her through the chest.
The assassin's eyes bore into her, miffed at her parry, but nevertheless mildly impressed at her display of skill.
Her eyes tighten in determination. In an unexpected move, she grips his wrists and swiftly wrenches the both of them around so that she is above him. Talon's eyes widen in surprise - milliseconds before Riven painfully slams him into an overhanging shelf, back first.
The tables had turned.
The soldier smirks, no longer on the defensive. However, as she curls her fingers into a fist, she notices a faint, yet bitter and alarmingly familiar scent pervade the atmosphere.
No way.
The girl falters mid-punch as the smell grows increasingly acrid, and is violently booted backwards by a quickly recovering Talon. She falls, backflipping just in time to land on a steeper ledge, and she breaks into a run.
Craning her neck upwards, Riven spots the nameless assassin dodging incoming poison bombs from a mysterious, unknown person.
Talon POV
As soon as he knocks her off of the ledge, he finds himself bombarded by strange, poison bombs. Barely able to dodge them, he jumps off the ledge, landing on another and taking cover underneath the ledge above him. Turning his face her, he sees Riven hide there with him.
-mutual unspoken truce-
"Why is this guy after you, Riven?" He asks her coolly.
She pants, obviously not used to the strain of jumping from ledge to ledge.
"I'm... I'm a deserter, and this guy murdered a whole squad of both Ionian and Noxian forces! He's mine assassin, so don't get in my way," she remarks spitefully as she readies her sword hand.
Talon sighs, and sprints to the right, leaping to the next ledge so as to provide a distraction for Riven to climb up.
He barely hears her cry of "What the hell are you doing?!" his hearing hindered by the wind.
He kicks off the wall of the cliff to climb onto another ledge, the deadly barrage of poison bombs trailing at his back. Eventually reaching the top of the cliff, he notices Riven doing the same on the other side.
Riven's POV
Riven hauls herself up and over the edge of the cliff, clambering onto the flat ground. Raising her head, she lifts her upturned eyes to the numerous figures standing before her.
Singed grins at her malevolently. Facing her are twenty-five or so, combat hardened soldiers, weapons drawn and at the ready. Riven grimaces, wondering where the mysterious assassin could be.
This…is going to be difficult to get out of.
"Well, well, greetings Riven. I see you couldn't have chosen a more convenient time to show up."
"Singed. You bastard," she spits fiercely.
The smirk on the chemist's face melds into a sneer. He turns to his men, mocking eyes now cold - almost glacial.
"Eliminate her."
Bracing herself for battle, Riven leaps to her feet, sword ready in hand as she sees as the soldiers flanking Singed rush towards her. Her eyes glint.
It was do or die.