The otherwise silent arena rang with the clash of steel on steel. Even with all of her skill, Hurricane simply couldn’t penetrate Asger’s unbreakable defense. For her part, though, she was far too agile to take any serious injuries. She’d been hit backhand in the jaw with the shield once, but that was all.
They were currently locked in close quarters. Asger knew that the spear gave Hurricane an advantage in range, so he constantly aimed to close the gap, lunging for her with savage chopping strikes powerful enough to decapitate her if they found their mark. She couldn’t strike back, simply because of his fighting style; he used his sword like a berserker, hacking and cutting with reckless abandon and no precaution. However, his shield was constantly held in close. At the first sign of an attack, the small wood-and-metal disk would catch it, rendering it harmless. The attacker would be left open for a few seconds, and with Asger’s level of skill, that meant goodbye pegasus. At the moment, Hurricane was concentrating on dodging. She was confident that, with full armor and a longsword, she could keep fighting for far longer, wearing the poor guy down until she could close in for a strike. And in any other battle, that strategy would’ve worked. She could even defeat the supernaturally resilient earth ponies with that strategy.
Unfortunately for her, she was fighting a gryphon, not an earth pony.
As the fight drew on and her breath began to come faster and harder, she was astonished by her opponent’s state. Maybe it was the feathers, but he hadn’t even broken a sweat, as far as she could tell. The tempo of his blows was perfect, precisely in line with the beginning of the battle, and his stance was firm and unbreakable, rooted solidly in the ground.
As that thought passed through her head, she smiled wickedly. Flaring her wings and crouching low, she exploded upwards, careening into the air in the great cavern. A scoffing laughter came from the gryphon below. “What’s the matter, little horse? Too tired to fight me on level ground? Wish you were stargazing instead of fighting?”
Hurricane growled. “You’re the one who’ll be seeing stars by the time I’m done with you!” She hovered for a moment, then tilted downwards, flapping her wings a few times to gain speed, and dropped like a stone, diving at Asger with incredible speed, spear held out to impale. Laughing in derision, the gryphon held up his buckler to block the strike.
She struck with tremendous force, the spearhead driving through the shield and smashing it in half. The iron bands could only do so much, after all, since they only ran up and down. The sheer speed behind Hurricane forced Asger back several paces, his beak set in an angry grimace. She tore the spear through the shield, twisting in the air to avoid a sword swipe, darted away, ascending into the air once more.
Asger cast one look at his shield and knew it was a lost cause. Discarding it, he narrowed his eyes in anger and unfurled his enormous wings. Easily twice the span of Hurricane’s, they were a deep brown speckled with white. Flapping them heavily a few times, he rose almost effortlessly to Hurricane’s altitude. The pegasus grinned sardonically at him. “What’s the matter, little birdie? Too tired to hold your shield? Wish you were eating birdseed instead of fighting?”
With a roar of anger, Asger flung himself forwards. Hurricane was startled for a moment. It was such a drastic contrast to his previously cool-headed attitude that she lost that precious second. Only a last-second twist to catch the blow on her armour saved her from having her head lopped off. She chuckled awkwardly. “Yeah, I’m not staying within leg’s reach. Later.” With that, she dove sharply and flew beneath him, needling him in the back paw with her spear before flicking her wings and flashing to the other side of the arena. Interesting. When I mentioned birds, he completely flipped out. If I hadn’t been so surprised, I would’ve been able to capitalize on those glaring gaps in his defense. Hmmmmm… He’d slowed down again, regaining his methodical approach. Little droplets of redness slowly ran down his paw, marking the first blood. She spared a moment to grin. And they thought ponies couldn’t fight.
“I thought you were supposed to be the champion! Why are you so slow, you buzzard?”
It didn’t go quite as before.
His eyes, instead of burning with rage, had chilled to absolutely frigid, and his voice had followed suit. “This is a fight, not a flyte. If you wanted to bandy words, you should’ve stayed with the rest of your kind’s useless females.” The pegasus growled at him, darting forward to stab at him from a safe distance. She didn't bargain on him being so quick. With a single beat of his wings, he tore through the air at her, delivering a stunning strike to her face with his left talon before she could react. His blade hissed through the air in a powerful downward stroke, more of a bludgeon than a slash.
Her reaction time dulled by the punch, she could barely raised her spear to block it. Bracing it in two hooves, she strained against the downwards force of the longsword. Her wings beat so fast they nearly hummed and she slowly began to rise, the sheer force behind her flight ramming her forcefully upwards. She drew level with Asger and their eyes met, the first real hint of fear touching his. He backed furiously with his wings, retreating to a far corner as Hurricane shot up to the ceiling, staring down on him with...a smile on her face?
She was laughing, loudly and powerfully, her pegasus blood roused. They were, after all, raised as warriors for a very long time. She dove once more, down, no longer letting gravity take hold, but actively moving straight for him. Abandoning all strategy, she blasted forwards, letting her instinct take over and placing her trust in her overwhelming speed. She wasn't let down.
Gryphon combat, though barbaric to outsiders, was actually quite complex, almost entirely centric on exploiting weaknesses. By careful observation of the opponent, the apex of their skills could be measured, and then carefully-planned, calculated strikes could slice through any kind of defense. So, when Hurricane came at him faster than he’d ever seen anything move in his life, Asger had no counter to speak of. The point of the spear smashed into him just above his left wing joint and he gasped in pain, falling on his back hard to the ground beneath him as his wing gave out. There was a booming sound as Hurricane landed, the point of her spear centered on his throat, flames dancing in her eyes. Asger shivered, breaking eye contact by closing his eyes and preparing for the end.
The end refused to come.
His eyes flicked open and he turned his head, watching incredulously as Hurricane walked over to Star.
All of sudden, the voice of the elderly gryphon Hroki rang out from his high seat. “The Ravenlord has spoken. Hurricane and her companion are innocent. Now, Champion, the loser forfeits his life. Kill him.”
Only one word came from the pony’s mouth as she turned to face him, face suddenly set in an angry snarl. “No.”
The crowd, which had been silent since she’d grounded Asger, began to murmur among themselves. Hroki, sensing himself losing their attention, simply kept talking. “You must. If you wish to spare his life, then that is noble, but it cannot—“
“I’m not doing it for him!” Hurricane exploded. “I’m not doing it for any of you! I’m doing it for myself! Do you have any idea how many I’ve killed? Too many, and I’m not about to add one more to the list because I lost control!”
She turned sharply, marching stiffly over a guard who wisely gave up Star’s knives without protest. She hoofed them to Star, who shrank back slightly, then made to leave. The door creaked open.
“Hurricane?”
The pegasus, still walking, cast a glance over her shoulder. It was Star who had spoken. “I’ve been thinking…that gryphon that was murdered, the one that started this whole mess. If we didn't kill him, then who did?
Hurricane stopped, a thoughtful expression flowing over her face as her anger vanished like it had never been there. “That’s...a really good question, actually."
Star's tone was that of curiosity and mischief. "So, what would you say to staying another night here?" Hurricane shrugged and turned back ahead, continuing on her path.
“I’ll meet you back at the inn. And call me crazy, but after this fight, I don’t think we’ll be getting disrespected quite as much anymore.”