Thankfully, once Nikki had cleaned and vacated the kitchen, breakfast was ready fast. They didn't eat much; sparring on a too-full stomach was worse than doing it on an empty stomach.
Ravenlight, amusingly enough, was out the door first, even with making sure her children were situated and would be out of trouble for the day. Evidently, she was fairly eager to get the armor finished. The men followed soon after. They were eager to go out again, about as easy to keep inside as a hunting hound when a horn was blown. They about ran out, not really noticing or caring that Nikki decided to tag along.
The group earned some curious looks on their way out, as Nevano guided them to the gate he'd mentioned just outside the city. Evidently, Nords, Dunmer, and Altmer getting along was not exactly something people saw every day.
The waterfront district stank like any good port did. Rough dock workers and slightly wobbly deck hands made their way to and fro and cargo going in and out of the city. Not a single one of them cared one whit when the warriors all jumped the road and headed away from the briny stench to a broad stretch of grass in the shadow of a tower complex.
"Was the center of the Mages Guild." Nevano said, looking up at the tower. "Wonder who's running the place now?"
Zak showed no interest in the tower, looking instead at Gyrmallion with a grin that suggested he was very much looking forward to their first bout. The Altmer answered the grin with one of his own. They moved slightly away from the others, drew their blades, and started.
Veleth looked over the spear, then at Drizzt. "Well? Shall we test this theory out?"
Drizzt drew his blades and grinned in response.
Veleth settled into position, spear ready, almost as if he had done this hundreds of times before. Nevano blinked. He knew Jorun would have taught him but he didn't think Veleth had ever actually fought with a spear before now. To see him like this was...quite interesting to say the least.
Drizzt allowed him to open the match. He'd fought against spear-wielders before, but not often against ones that were truly skilled with them. This would be new for him as well.
Spear attacks, usually, were thrust attacks. Put enough power behind such an attack and all but the heaviest of armor would be insufficient. However, spears were slower, often clumsier weapons. It was easy to see the attack coming, if often difficult to get through the longer reach to the wielder. Once inside the reach of the spear, it was easy to take out the opponent. Or so it was taught.
All of that flew out the window the instant Veleth opened with an incredibly fast and powerful sweeping strike from the side.
Drizzt avoided it-more out of reflex than anything else. He could have got inside Veleth's reach then-but that was him. He wanted to see what else Sul was capable of, and stayed in range, dodging or parrying whenever it came too close.
The end of the spear was not the traditional single point, yet wasn't curved or long enough to classify as a halberd. It was almost as if a daedric dagger had been welded to the end, curved like a claw and jagged like teeth. It was built into the shaft of the spear, leaving no chance that it could ever be cut off in the heat of battle. Veleth used Sul's memories of how to use the spear but combined them with his own knowledge of sword play, often changing his grip on the spear, sometimes even mid-strike, to adjust just how he wanted to use the weapon. He was experimenting with what would or would not work...and he was having more fun with it than any other weapon he had ever touched in his life.
And Drizzt was having just as much fun with it. Veleth was a real challenge now-a rare opportunity for the Drow to push himself as well. He was quick to let him know what techniques wouldn't work-while the ones that did often missed him by the slightest margin.
As Veleth settled in, not only did his offensive speed and power increased, but his defensive techniques improved by leaps and bounds. Drizzt darted to his flank, a move that had gotten through multiple times yesterday, to deliver a stinging slap but Veleth, almost without thinking, flipped the spear over his shoulder to block the blow. Then, using his shoulder as a pivot, he flipped the spear back over, throwing Drizzt's arm wide, and twisted it in front in time to block the other scimitar, though this one was off balance with half of him going in the opposite direction.
Incredibly, Drizzt was able to avoid being actually struck with the spear-testament to the Drow's unbelievable agility. Anyone else would have been struck, or left vulnerable to a strike. Drizzt went flat, rolling beneath the spear before coming up again-grinning broadly. ''Finally got that flanking problem solved, have you?''
Veleth was grinning as well. "Apparently so."
"About damn time!" Nevano called out.
With that now in mind, Drizzt changed strategies. It was clear that Sul-and through him, Veleth-was highly skilled. Now... He wanted to see just how skilled.
Veleth saw the look in Drizzt's eyes and, far from feeling a sudden rush of anxious adrenaline in anticipation of an explosion of speed and skill, he found he was looking forward to it. He was ready to finally stretch out and see just what he and Sul could accomplish.
In a fight with a spearsman, mobility was important. So was getting inside his reach. So, that was what Drizzt focused on doing, forcing Veleth to react to that. Veleth had enough experience with shorter weapons he knew how to change his grip and block, pushing Drizzt back to use the full power of the spear once again. Sul gave him a brief blip of a memory of double-headed spears and Veleth ran with it. He allowed Drizzt in close and switching his grip to closer to the blade, giving him the reach and bite of a sword and, with a sharp flick of the wrist, a swift strike from the opposite direction. Once again, the Drow barely avoided the blow, and anyone else would have been knocked flat.
Veleth did not let up. Perhaps it was because he was still experimenting or perhaps there was something that told him to do so but he never struck the same place twice. Shoulder, ribs, feet, arms, knees, stomach, hips, left right, center, up, down, he continually changed his strike point and the method of the blow.
And then-everyone stopped and stared in disbelief as Drizzt went down, gasping for breath. He'd mistimed a dodge by a hair, and taken the butt of the spear to the solar plexus.
Veleth froze, staring dumbly at Drizzt. He had sunk so deep into the fighters mindset that it just wasn't clicking in his mind that he had gotten through that superior defense.
"Vith!" He cursed finally.
Drizzt came up, coughing, and grinning broadly. "Match," he gasped out. "Well done!"
Veleth held out a hand to help him up. He took it, glad for the assistance while he was still winded.
"Well...guess that theory was right." Veleth said, pulling him up. "Didn't even have to get mad."
"No. Well done!" Drizzt finally got his breath back, and clapped Veleth on the shoulder.
Nevano hid his smile. No, Veleth hadn't turned to rage. He had stayed perfectly clear-headed the entire spar. It was good, very good. He did need that rage but it was also good for him to fight without it. And Nevano had a pretty good notion as to why he was able to achieve that this time.
While Veleth and Drizzt were catching their breath from their sparring session, they sat back and chatted a little; mostly discussing the spear techniques and how Veleth had been using the information Sul gave him. They also watched the others. Gyrmallion was doing better this time around. This time, at least, he never missed a block aimed at his head, and he was getting better about avoiding the ones aimed at his chest. His arms and legs, however, where going to look striped by the end of the day.
Meanwhile, Nikki bounced over to Nevano. "C'mon! We haven't sparred in ages." The songbird that had been following Zak around since the previous day looked up from preening itself by the tower and chirped softly.
"That's because last time we sparred, you tried to turn Trueflame into a bunch of flowers and its magic, which came from Azura, by the by, blew up in your face and the flowers grew out of your ears." Nevano crossed his arms. "The time before that... okay, that one was my fault. Still, no trying to alter my weapons. Save that for something that deserves it."
Gyrmallion hit the ground again-but this time, Zak let out a startled cry and stopped, lifting one arm. A bright trail of blood ran down from the inside. He stared at it for a moment, then looked down at Gyrmallion with frank astonishment.
"Look at that." Veleth grinned. "I'd like to think it's us improving and not you two slipping."
"Tried to get him in the shoulder with the flat," Gyrmallion said, gasping. "Got inside my guard...didn't realize I was in his, too."
Veleth shook his head. "How bad is that cut?"
Zak twisted his arm to look at it more clearly. "Not bad. Not a scratch, either, but it's not deep." He looked down at Gyrmallion and nodded. "Good job."
"Be interesting to see what happens when he gets Goldbrand." Veleth mused quietly.
Drizzt nodded in agreement, rising and pulling a healing potion out of his bag as he did. "It will. Let's get that taken care of before the healers have to see it...unintentional or not, I don't think they'll be pleased."
"We are on thin enough ice as it is with them." Veleth muttered...then yelped when Nikki suddenly popped out of thin air and landed in his lap. Hard. His yelp quickly became a groan of pain. "Ow..."
"Sorry!" Nikki gestured wildly, making Veleth scramble back a bit even as he was half curled as she held a dagger in each hand. "That one nearly threw me in the lake!"
Nevano was facepalming. "I didn't throw you. Azura save us...how do you trip over grass?"
Gyrmallion rose, rubbing the new bruise on his chest and trying not to laugh. "Especially that hard?"
"Please...get off me..." Veleth rolled to his side when she finally hopped off, curled up and coughing.
"Oops..." Nikki tugged at the long chunks of her hair. Drizzt looked around, as if counting injuries.
Nevano sighed as Nikki danced from foot to foot. "Nikki." Nikki continued to bounce around, chattering a mile a minute, much to Veleth's growing annoyance. "Nikki!" Nevano got a decidedly annoyed look when she continued to ignore him. "RAW MEAT! I called your name, you will pay attention! I swear I've scraped things off the bottom of my boots that were more intelligent! Do you not know your own name?! The next time I have to yell your name, it's going to be telling you to scrub the entire inn."
They all stared. None of them had ever heard Nevano snap like that but the response in Nikki was remarkable. In the span of a heartbeat she was in front of him, her eyes wide, standing straight.
"That's helpful," Zak muttered.
"Making me pull out the old goat's insults, for gods' sake." Nevano sighed. "You chattering isn't helping. When was the last time you actually fought? You made the twins' fight from yesterday look good. And I was telling them you were good with those daggers. You used to be as fast as Drizzt. The Golden Saints not fighting with you anymore?"
Nikki huffed. "When did you learn to yell like he did?!"
"Nikki...I lived with him." Nevano slapped a hand to his face. "The man raised me. I could have mimicked his voice, and I can, but calling you 'boot' or 'raw meat' has plenty of the desired effect."
Farkas and Vilkas gave each other amused looks; probably thinking of when they had been trained by Kodlak and Skjorr. Vilkas certainly used similar insults while training new members of the Companions-and they certainly knew to come to attention when his voice took on that particular tone.
Nevano glanced at them with a grin. Nikki was the only one that he had as a more...permanent student but he had certainly helped with quite a few others. He spent more time zooming up and down the ranks than any steady training though.
"Maybe you could train her like you'd do Athis," Farkas suggested to Vilkas. "Or I could."
"She was trained once." Nevano sighed. "You weren't supposed to let the horse out to pasture."
"I got magic now." Nikki said. "And none of the Golden Saints will spar anymore! The Dark Seducers sometimes do but they didn't like losing."
"Then...spar with something else," Drizzt suggested. "Something a little stronger, from a different realm."
"The only one who let me was Boethia. Then she got mad when I took out her Dremora." Nikki said. "So I decided to work on magic. I'll practice though!"
Veleth barked out a laugh.
"So ask if you can spar with the souls in Sovngarde," Zak said absently. "Might be a similar system there as in..." His voice trailed off, and he stopped, frowning.
"Eh, heh heh." Nikki gave a nervous laugh. "No. No no no. Not going near the goldy places. Nope. Uh uh."
"Showing more sense than Bal," Gyrmallion muttered, his hand again dropping to the lantern.
"They are nice places. Too nice." Nikki waved her arms. "They want you to be all...'honor' and 'you did this and that' and 'that wasn't your fault you still won' but guess what? I might have won but it was still my fault and lots of people died! So no...sorry, uh uh, I'll drop Bal in a bowl of cheese and let a Churl eat him."
"Fires," Zak murmured, a faraway look in his eyes. "Why...do I..." He shook his head. "Nothing else. I don't remember anything else."
"Because you haven't earned the whole memory back." Nikki said matter-of-factly. "Once you do something you get it back. Not fair to come back remembering everything. Otherwise you end up with me in the Shivering Isles."
"Hopefully those won't come as...sharply as the last ones," he muttered. He accepted the healing potion, throwing it back and gasping. "That...tasted worse than usual."
"Wasn't me! I don't make potions!" Nikki said.
"That...might have been my fault," Drizzt said, a little shamefaced. "I wasn't checking the labels...it's a healing potion for sure, but it might be one of Lucia's. Beginners, well..."
"I suppose it could be worse. She could have gotten stink potion ingredients mixed up in there." Nevano said.
"True." Drizzt did not say that Ravenlight did not actually make stink potions.
Nevano saw the look. "Oh, no no, I know. A lot of the ingredients are...similar though. Don't ask how I know."
"Don't think we want to know," Vilkas said teasingly. "Not after the seagull story."
"Gods above...of all the damn stories..." Nevano groaned.
"Well...I think Ravenlight was mostly concerned with making sure nothing she tried mixing together would be poisonous." It was a valid concern: many seemingly innocent ingredients had darker sides, and it was shocking how easy it was for a beginner to discover all of them by accident.
"A good thing to worry about. Ugh...the garlic incident." Nevano made a face. "Did you know you can make garlic dangerous? I can tell you the Mages Guild hall certainly didn't. We didn't either. We were outside and we were vomiting our guts up from the fumes. No one wanted to even see garlic for a few months."
"Nothing quite like that-yet," Drizzt commented wryly, "but she once set the alchemy table on fire. We're still not sure how."
"That...is impressive." Nevano grinned.
"Not the word Ravenlight used," he muttered. "Of course, she used...a number of them, especially when she realized where the smoke was coming from."
"Nevano, don't open your mouth and confirm that your mind froze at the same age as the rest of you." Veleth said.
"Thankfully, it only happened once. Whatever she did, she's been careful not to do it again." He glanced over at Zak. "Hasn't done much for the taste yet, though."
Zak glanced at his arm and shrugged. "It wasn't something I want to try again; but you can at least tell her it worked." He lowered his arm and looked over at Gyrmallion. "You've earned a rest. You two-" he turned and pointed at the twins. "Your turn. One at a time again. Drizzt, I'll want your help with them again."
The twins didn't hesitate this time though it was still obvious that separating was exceedingly difficult for them. There was a slight defiant look in their eyes this time, one Veleth recognized immediately. He wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not yet.
Zak may have also noticed it. In fact, he probably noticed it...and wasn't all that pleased with it. Because he was merciless. The twins fought remarkably better than yesterday, but they seemed to have built a mental wall up. Zak's pushing didn't seem to have the same effect as it had yesterday. He pushed... they braced against it.
Veleth frowned. There it was. He hadn't seen it in a while, but they were showing off their old resistance again. He twisted his jaw. They wanted to learn, or else they wouldn't have agreed to even come today, but they were struggling with themselves. There had to be something they could do.
As the session continued, Zak definitely noticed-and he was not pleased at all. He stepped up the intensity, until he was going harder on them than he had been on the Chii Chare the previous day. He allowed them both to fight at the same time, then proceeded to thrash them within an inch of their lives. Each time they crashed down, a new nick or bruise taken right over the vitals, he reminded them that, had he been an enemy, they would have just died.
The twins didn't give up, they kept pushing, never complaining a single time...but that was the problem. They were so focused on enduring Zak, they couldn't seem to focus fully on learning how to fight him.
Then-he swung, slapping them both hard against the neck with the flat of the blade at the same time. They dropped like a string had been cut, wheezing. He hadn't slapped hard enough to kill-but he'd certainly struck hard enough to make breathing difficult. "Lay there," he said, eyes blazing. "Lay there until you understand. You're both dead. You're dead, and so are your allies. You refused to fight-there are consequences."
Min's eyes blazed. "You don't think we get that?"
"Evidently not, judging by how you're fighting!" he snapped back.
Min looked as if he really wanted to rage back but Zeb but his hand on him. "Drop it. They had nothing to do with that. Just...drop it."
Min huffed but fell silent.
Drizzt and Gyrmallion both looked up at that and exchanged looks. Then both of them stood. Drizzt beckoned to Zak.
"Come on," he called. "Spar with me for a little while."
Veleth crooked a finger at the twins. "You two. Over here."
Zak briefly looked angry, then relaxed slightly and followed his son over to a clear spot of ground. Soon enough, their blades were ringing off each other as Drizzt helped his father work out no small amount of frustration.
Veleth plunked them both in the grass with the others. "Before you two work Zak enough into a rage that he just outright kills you, which is a frustration I have felt many times with you two...It's becoming blatantly obvious that you are allowing something to take over your minds to the point you can barely fight." Veleth crossed his arms. "I think we all know you two are better than this. But we can't help if you don't work through it. And we're even more powerless if we don't know what that is. We all seem to be going through a personal crisis one at a time and, so far, it's been working. So. Start talking."
The twins looked at each other, obviously sharing a silent argument if they should...or could. Gyrmallion silently moved closer, listening.
"He just...struck a nerve is all." Min grumbled, looking away.
"Min...just tell it." Zeb said.
"Why? You said so yourself they had nothing to do with it." Min snapped.
"Because...it's finally starting to take away the last thing we got." Zeb said.
Min jerked at that, a small creep of fear breaking through the anger in his eyes.
"It was...getting to him, too," Gyrmallion said quietly. "Knowing what's going on with you will likely help all of us. That was...very close to a killing rage."
"We were...born somewhere north of Kragenmoor. Not sure exactly where. But that's an Ashlander for you. We move around. It's what we do. Winter further south, go north or east in the summer. Not an easy life but...Ashlanders don't do easy." Zeb said. "We were unusual...not just because we were twins. Our mother was the wise woman...and we never knew who our father was. That's not something that happens, just so you know. Our little sister knew who her father was. Threw the whole tribe into a bit of a fit when it was the Ashkhan. Small tribe, not a lot of choices, you know?"
"Mainland tribes have...a reputation. Well deserved with some of the bigger ones." He continued. "They aren't friendly. They raid, they steal, they kill. Some tribes are like that. Almost like a feral dog. We avoided them. We didn't do that. Our biggest concern was finding good hunting grounds. Min and I were good at finding those. Were taught to do that as soon as we could walk. We just wanted to live away from the city mer. But I guess...not everyone could tell us apart from the bad tribes."
"We...were sent out one day. We just got to a new camp. The ashkhan sent us out. Just us." Zeb said. "Weird but...we didn't question. You don't question the ashkhan. He said to go hunt, so we went out to hunt. They weren't there when we got back."
"The tribe abandoned you?" Gyrmallion asked, stunned. "Or..."
"All dead. Every single one of them." Zeb said quietly. "No idea what happened. No sign...no one nearby. Not even footprints. Just...a broken piece of a pendant our mother had grabbed before she was killed. Warriors, hunters, women, our sister...the one baby that had been born a month before. Cut down, throats sliced, left to rot."
Min stormed off a short way, hardly able to hear it.
"Gods," the Chii Chare whispered, closing his eyes.
"We got them all together and sent them off into ash. It was all we could do. Then we left." Zeb said. "We had no idea what to do, where to go or what had even happened...So we just kept going north until we didn't get thrown out of a town. No one likes mainland ashlanders. Vvardenfell ashlanders are different. They were part of the Nerevarine Cult. People view them differently. Now, at least. We never were able to find out what happened to our tribe because...well, no one looks into a dead ashlander tribe. The spirits couldn't say either. Wasn't until...until we came back to Blacklight after Solstheim...we...we saw something but...there's no way it's right. It's been eating at us for a year."
"What did you see?" Gyrmallion leaned forward, his eyes intense.
"A pendant like the one our mother had." Zeb looked down.
"Why didn't you say anything?" Veleth asked.
"Because...we saw it...it's..." Zeb struggled. "It's the symbol of the Buoyant Armigers!"
"The Armigers," breathed Gyrmallion. "This...I think that's something Jorun needs to hear. I can't imagine he's the sort to order that kind of slaughter."
Veleth looked as if he had been punched in the gut. "That's...unless your tribe was threatening to wipe out Kragenmoor or something equally heinous, which you said they weren't...the Armigers had no reason to be within a day's walk of your tribe. My da can be ruthless and has been but...not this. Never this. Do you still have that pendant?"
"Min has it." Zeb said quietly. "That's why we didn't say anything because...Jorun is a good liar but...well, we might have poked through records. He shuned that...that one. Anyone who can carry out that sort of punishment on someone who hurts a child usually won't turn around and do it themselves."
"Which may mean he's got a rogue among the Armigers," Gyrmallion said grimly. "Which is...worse."
"You'd think he or my mother would have sniffed that out." Veleth frowned. "We should...act on this now. I hate to cut all this short but...I think it'll sort your minds out so you can actually benefit from what Zak can teach you and maybe make it so you can move forward with your lives...as well as solve this mystery once and for all."
"I agree," Gyrmallion said, eyes growing dark. "Let's start gathering the others and head back."
Nevano waved them off. "Go. I'll bring them back once Zak is not likely to scare women and small children in the streets just from standing there."
"Good idea," Gyrmallion muttered, glancing over at the fight.
"Let's go. I remember how to get back." Veleth said. "Min! Let's go. Don't give me that look. Whether it was Armigers or not, we aren't fond of murder."
With a few final glances over at the storm of blades going on by the end of the field, the rest of them gathered up their weaponry and headed back to the city.