Redux: Lineage

I decided it'd be best for me to get a contract signed with the Barb Tail group before heading back to the inn to save myself the trouble of going back and forth to get everyone. I was escorted by several hunters as they brought my reward from the Manticore contract: a cart full of golden coins. I was welcomed into the mercenary compound once more and met with the leader.

"Well, well, well," she said, walking over to me with a smirk on her face. "I didn't expect to see you again."

"And why's that?" I asked her, folding my arms as I looked up into her eyes.

"Because most of the little kids that ask us to kill something usually run back home when they find out how much of mommy's money it's gonna cost them," she shrugged. "But it seems that you sacked up and got the job done. That's impressive for a kid that barely looks strong enough to hold a conversation much less a position of power."

"I'm guessing you get off on insulting people, right?" I asked her, gritting my teeth in annoyance.

"Rather a lot, actually," she nodded. "Nothing helps me forget and hide my own insecurities and failures by making fun of everyone else's."

"Duly noted," I said, rolling my eyes. "So I got you your money. Are you gonna fight for us now?"

"Well that depends if you're competent enough to fight with," she shrugged. "Forgive me if I come off as rude, or don't, but you must see the importance of testing a possible candidate to see if they're as useful as a three-legged donkey when it comes to a job offer this dangerous. You're asking to rent my entire army to fight a dragon and yet I don't know anything about how you plan to tackle it. For all I know you could be paying me the deposit and then merely charging the entire force into its mouth."

"I can see that worry," I nodded, the catgirl finally giving an opinion we both agreed on. "So what'll you have me do to prove my worthiness, Fluff Ball?"

"You can start by explaining your basic strategy," she said, walking towards me before roughly gripping my shirt, dragging me over to her and holding me in front of her face. "And if you ever call me that again, I'm going to make sure you'll be shitting out your own teeth, are we clear?"

"Then how about you give me your name?" I asked, gripping hold of her arm and forcing her back slightly.

There was a tense standoff between us for a few brief seconds, her deep blue eyes glaring furiously at me before she released with me with a shove. I was forced back several steps by her strength before she jabbed a thumb at her own chest, her tail twirling around behind her as she spoke.

"The name's Karra," she said in a stern tone. "Now, get talking."

I straightened my shirt, sorting out the creasing her grab had given it before beginning to speak. The two of us clearly weren't becoming fast friends any time soon and I was more than eager to get her on my side and get her mouth shut.

"Each of my group usually has a job that changes depending on the foe," I began. "We have a good number of basic battle strategies we use whenever we end up getting into combat, and this situation's no different. The basic plan is something we call a toppler. The plan involves Zane, the big guy I brought beforehand, knocking the enemy over onto its side or back and letting the rest of us get a shot at it."

"How often does that work?" she interrupted.

"As often as it needs to. Zane's beyond a normal human and can knock over practically everything, especially with that greatsword of his," I explained.

"That thing?" she asked, cocking a well-groomed eyebrow. "It barely looks any different from a regular zweihander. What makes it so unconquerable?"

"Its weight," I answered. "The whole thing weighs about three hundred pounds because of how dense the Kairosteel used to forge it is. Zane swinging it as hard as he can packs enough power to either cut entirely through whatever he's fighting through momentum alone or, if that fails, cripple it with sheer force."

"And how the hell doesn't he send himself flying after one swing of that thing?" she asked, crossing her arms and giving me a scrutinising expression. "All that momentum isn't easy to stop."

"Not over swinging helps," I shrugged. "And he's strong enough to slow it down if it does swing a little too far. The guy can lift over three tonnes. He's really not gonna let a measly three hundred pounds show him up."

"Right, whatever," she said, waving it away. "Big man uses big sword with big muscles. What else does your little squad do?"

"Annerose acts as our pin-point piercer-" I began.

"With a katana?" she asked, really laying on her disapproval.

"Hey, they can pierce," I pointed out.

"So can a fucking rock if you hit hard enough with it," Karra countered. "Why the hell isn't she using a rapier if she's supposed to be a pin-point piercer? They can gap pretty much anything and she decides to use a weapon pretty much designed for slashing?"

"It can do other stuff," I said, trying desperately to defend a choice I didn't even support myself. "And she doesn't use a rapier because she's more of a sword-to-sword fighter than she is a deflector."

"Once again-" Karra said. "She's using a fucking katana. If that single-edged piece of shit she keeps on her waist is an authentic pig iron piece of work, then she's lucky it doesn't break coming out of the sheath."

"It gets the job done well enough," I growled.

"Despite the lot of you seemingly having access to a thousand other weapons that are much better designed for this kind of thing..." she muttered under her breath. "But anyway, what does the dog do?"

"The Direwolf," I corrected. "Usually acts as our tracker, hunter, and all-around ravager if needs be. A lot of the guys we go up against don't tend to be clad in full plate, so Grael's teeth make quick work of them all... which is also why Annerose prefers using a katana."

"Are you gonna drop that already or what?" she asked.

"You're the one that brought it up!" I snapped, screwing my eyes shut and shaking my head. "Right, anyway, the point is: we know what you're doing and we can trust us with your forces. Is that a good enough breakdown?"

"No," she answered, not even giving it a second of thought. "It isn't. I wanna see how you yourself fight."

"You wanna duel me?" I asked.

"Mostly I just really wanna hit you in the face a lot," she shrugged. "But I can also use it as an excuse to test how you handle yourself. You up for that, kid?"

"Sure," I growled. "I just hope you're alright with not being able to eat solid foods for a few months after I break your jaw."

"Talk shit all you want, kiddo," she sniggered. "But we'll see who comes out on top in the arena."

I balled my fists angrily, heading after her as she led us both into the arena. A loud bell was rung to signal our little fight and a crowd of the other mercenaries gathered around the arena, several holding food and drink as they settled in to watch our bout. We squared off in the arena, both of us drawing our weapons and shaking hands, Karra being the first to offer and surprising me with the honour she apparently possessed.

"Remember: no killing," she said. "So you're safe for now."

"I'll say the same to you," I said, the two of us briefly clashing blades for a second before we turned around and walked to the chalk-lined starting position for the duel to begin.

I took the time to look over Karra's weapon and armour. It was basic and effective: longsword and plate armour, but lacking a helmet. It meant that regular slashes were worthless here and that I'd have to focus on making use of the sword's tip and pommel. Stabbing and bashing were my best bets here as she had a lot more protection than I did. I was thankful for my thick leather gloves having just enough finger to allow me to half-sword against her without worrying much about cutting my fingers open. That technique would most likely be my ace in the hole for this bout.

The bell was rung a second time, signaling the start of the fight, and Karra slowly advanced towards me. She kept me at her sword's length, hers definitely being in the middle range of longswords while mine barely qualified as one due its borderline length, and I knew that distance advantage she had would be dangerous. I also missed a shield on my arm but knew that if I kept my guard up she wouldn't be able to exploit that as much.

I made the first move, using the leather bracers I was wearing to knock aside her blade and go for a stab that was aimed for her shoulder. It was deflected by her knocking my own blade aside with her plate gauntlets and swinging for my stomach. I was able to slash my sword downwards, knocking her slash into the dirt just ahead of my feet before darting forwards, slamming my fist into her nose and causing her to stagger back. I once again made a stab for her shoulder only to have her spin out of the way, using a mix of my forward momentum and her sideways spin to get around my sword and past my guard, slamming her fist into my face and cutting my cheek open.

I staggered sideways, nearly knocked to the floor by the force of her punch, and barely brought my sword up in time to catch a slash aimed for my arm. A loud metal clank sounded as her blade hit into mine, though my Kairosteel sword managed to chew pretty deep into the edge of her regular steel blade, something the two of us noticed and something Karra wasn't too happy about.

"Rich bastard," she muttered, now having brutal strikes taken out of her arsenal of attacks due to the damage it would do to her own blade.

She moved forwards again, trying to kick me onto my side and get me in a defeated position. I slapped her leg aside, making her spin sideways a little before rocketing to my feet. I caught her in the mouth with my own punch, knocking her clear off her upset balance and onto the floor. She didn't stay down for long, however. She was back up on her feet after using her momentum to roll backwards, soon springing forward with a vicious, two-handed slash aimed for my right knee.

I dodged backwards, her sword missing my leg by a wide margin. She didn't overswing it, however, and was easily able to bring the sword back up, using that second hand on the hilt to give her a good bit of extra control to angle the sword into a mighty cleave. I dodged back again, but not far enough. The sword cut through the padded shirt I was wearing and into the top layers of skin, pain flaring and hot blood trickling down my stomach. The crowd cheered for their leader and Karra retreated backwards, bring her sword up in a guarding position and not letting her lead go to her head.

She'd landed the first blow and had drawn first blood. She was skilled, nimble, and fast, a bad combination for her opponents. I gripped the leather-wrapped hilt of my sword even harder, my knuckles turning a shade of white as I gritted my teeth. I moved towards her, going for another stab, this time aiming for her knee. She darted to the side and avoided the attack, then switched her stance and darted backwards, lunging at me with a stab aimed for my torso. I copied one of her early moves; dodging to the side to avoid the attack and close the distance. Sadly, the follow-up strike didn't work as it did for her.

She ducked under the punch and brought her own fist up, slamming it into my jaw and sending me staggering backwards. I was lucky that I hadn't bit through my tongue at that point, but was starting to feel the ache of her repeated strikes. My cheek was already cut and bleeding from the earlier blow and I felt as if she'd drawn blood from my chin as well, if the sting was anything to go by. I recovered, but was on the back foot; Karra used this advantage to keep pushing me further backwards.

She was quick and controlled, my arms barely able to keep up with her expert strikes before I was finally up against the wall. She knocked my sword aside, slammed her knee into my gut, and punched me in the face again. Blood splattered onto the floor next to me as my head rocketed to the side, the cut on my cheek made even deeper by the repeated strike before she raised her blade and placed it against my neck. The cold, chipped metal dug into my flesh, a mere draw or pull away from me meeting my creator before she stepped backwards.

"You really aren't shit without your team, are you?" she asked, sheathing her sword at her side and picking mine up for me, handing the hilt back to me.

"I'm usually better than this," I said, both my face and my pride stinging from the beating I'd just received as I took the sword back and slid it into its sheath over my shoulder.

"I bet you tell all the girls that," she chuckled, retying her hair into a ponytail behind her head and scratching her cat ears. "I wanna test your other friends to see if they're worth my time. Sorry to say it, kid, but you haven't instilled much confidence in me giving you control of my men, no matter how much money you pay. Let's hope your friends do better."

"Yeah," I nodded, feeling rage and inadequacy boiling in the pit of my stomach. "I'll be back with them soon."

As I headed out of the arena, I had a hand of one of the Barb Tails placed on my shoulder. I stopped and turned to him, the larger man looking at me with a solemn expression.

"Kid, don't beat yourself up about it," he said, trying to make me feel better about myself. "She kicks everyone's ass. We're all losers to her."

"Sure," I said, nodding but not believing. "Whatever, man."

I wiped the blood from my cheek onto the back of my leather glove, grinding my teeth furiously the entire way back to the inn as I couldn't shake the feeling of failure from myself the entire walk back. I figured that a shower might help, but knew the only thing that would heal my pride was time and distance from this place.