Back in Lopan, the young twelve year old Tya leaps over a
sword coming at her. When she lands she slams her sword into her attacker's knee
with all her strength. The sound of it snapping can be heard. She's striking
with great force and deadly accuracy to take out the enemies without killing
them. Without looking behind her she moves to the side as a giant sized Sudanese
Spear comes down right where she was once crouched. She spins and brings her
bokken up breaking the handle of the spear. She then leaps up and shatters the
collarbone of the individual.
After her last encounter with Bacard and Valice seeing how
strong they've gotten, it had nearly driven her insane. She couldn't understand
it. Then after the duel with Angel everyone tried to explain the others became
stronger as a result of protecting someone. Still she couldn't understand it.
However, she couldn't argue with the results. So she became the personal
bodyguard to one of the nobles on the island.
With her skills, it was easy to get a position. Naturally, as
it was his goal to become better than her, Kannis tagged along as well. She was
the only one in the school that he couldn't defeat and he was determined to do
so before moving on. It was the mark he set for himself before he would call
himself a true warrior. However when she left he had to follow his goal to the
end and that meant following her on her quest. That didn't matter much to her.
He was weaker, and he always would be, but he was still good back-up. Despite
their young ages, they were still better than any of the noble's other guards.
While traveling between cities on Lopan, they were attacked by bandits. The two
of them were making short work of them. However she still didn't notice herself
getting any stronger. She's in the middle of protecting a lord just like Angel
said, and it wasn't working. Even now she still couldn't get it. That didn't
matter right now though.
The only thing mattered at this moment was the fight going on
right here and now. But something seemed off about all of this, she could feel
it in her bones. The way the bandits attacked them gave her the feeling that
someone more was behind this. Logically she couldn't put her finger on it, but
her instincts said otherwise. Do to her denial though she was unable to realize
it was her psionic powers keying her into that which was still hidden from her
normal sight. Her eyes picked up movement of someone moving fast. She struggles
to keep up. Her eyes go wide as she suddenly realizes he's behind her. Realizing
that she tries to turn, but her motions feel so slow compared to his. As she
moves her head back he attacks. She avoids most of it, but not all of it as his
dagger cuts her cheek. The dagger is a bich'hwa bagh nakh. Even with his
tremendous speed she is able to make out that much. Her heart is racing. Whoever
this guy is he's good, better than her.
He's moving in for another attack. She can't do it, she can't
keep up! If she were able to realize that he was using the same fighting style
as her, she may have been able to plan out a strategy. However as long as she is
in denial of her predictive combat, she'll never be able to handle someone like
him. Right as he's about to cut deeply into her body Kannis suddenly moves in
the way. The dagger digs all the way into his forearm as he uses it to parry the
attack. Then he quickly maneuvers his pike to slam this stranger in the ribs
knocking him across the field. The man hits the ground and rolls over. Tya
watches in awe. She was powerless and yet somehow Kannis was able to defeat this
guy without problem. No wait, not defeated, he's still getting back up. She
starts to move to attack but Kannis holds out his hand to stop her and tells
her, "Stay protecting the carriage. We still have a job to do."
She looks at him, but he's still not looking at her. His eyes
are fixated on the assassin. In a voice of concern she says, "You can't handle
this one. He's too strong for you."
"I'll be fine," he replies.
"No, I should --"
He cuts her off, "Just stay here and let me protect you."
His words cause her to freeze in place. She can't move; her
body simply won't move. Those words echo through her head. She thinks about
them, 'He wants to ... protect me? Those words again. What do they mean?!'
As the man starts to stand back up, Kannis rushes in to
fight. This boy can use a pike that is over twice his own height, and uses it
with great speed skill. As the assassin comes in for an attack Kannis presses
the pike against the ground to parry the attack. Then he quickly spins full
circle using the pike's momentum to sweep out the legs of the would-be assassin.
The assassin has speed and skill though and won't be defeated by such a simple
move. When he hits the ground he rolls back and up to his feet. However when he
gets to his feet he doesn't see the boy in front of him anymore. Quickly he
notices the boy's stuck into the ground. The moment the assassin hit the ground
Kannis used it gain elevation like a pole vault. Once he gains enough height he
starts to come back down. In his descent he moves the pike and brings it down.
Narrowly the assassin manages to move out of the way as the pike slams into the
ground.
The assassin looks at Kannis with shock. Had that last attack
hit he'd likely be unable to still fight. In the time he's been watching them he
had ascertained that the twelve year old girl was the strongest fighter guarding
this noble. This boy's skills were totally unexpected. For now, a tactical
retreat seems in order. As Kannis makes another side ways swing the assassin
back flips over the swing and out of range. His hand lands on the ground and he
pushes off further back for added distance. By the time he lands Kannis is
already moving in for another attack. The assassin reaches behind his back and
throws something. Kannis stops his charge and leaps back to avoid whatever it
is. What the assassin threw hits the ground and explodes releasing a cloud of
smoke. Quickly Kannis covers his mouth the best he can to avoid inhaling it. By
the time the smoke clears, the attackers are gone. Kannis stares and grimaces
that he allowed the attackers to escape.
Tya looks at Kannis. She can feel anger rising. Kannis got
this good and hide it from her. Even worse is that she feels hurt that he's
gotten that good and she hasn't. He said something about protecting her causing
her to wonder if that could be the explanation behind it. But if that's all
there is to it then she can't explain why her doing her job protecting this
noble isn't letting her get stronger too. It doesn't make any sense, and she
just doesn't get it. Suddenly Kannis stumbles and collapses over. She rushes
over to him. His body feels cold to the touch, but he's sweating. At first she
wonders if maybe he overexerted himself, but she soon dismisses that fact. It
doesn't take long for her to realize that the cause for his ailment lies within
the wound on his forearm. That's where the assassin's knife stabbed him. More
than likely it was poisoned and right now that poison was coursing through his
system.
The dagger cut her cheek as well and may have spread the
poison to her as well, but it was just a surface scratch for her while the blade
went all the way into the arm of Kannis. She should probably be treated as well
just to be safe, but her main priority is him right now. With such a superficial
wound it'll take longer to pass through her system. Meanwhile, it entered
directly into the bloodstream of her friend. Summoning all of her strength she
helps pick him up to get him to the carriage. If the lord has any problem with
that, then he can try to stop her.
