Freedom of Flight

Chapter 4

©CRGangell aka Whitesabretooth

                Chapter 4

Alanna shifted uneasily as Tarval joined them during their morning spar the next morning. Sage’s comments had kept her up last night, thinking further on what she was going to do about Tarval: let him in or keep him out? He smiled at them, “Morning.” He greeted warmly, noticing her slight unease.

“Hey Tarval, what brings you here this morning?” Sage asked, trying not to snicker at her sister‘s obvious discomfort.

Alanna jumped her sister to keep her from blabbing about what they had discussed after he had left and after their pillow fight. They started to tussle trying to unseat the other but both slammed into the ground as Alanna kicked Sage's legs out from underneath her, making her go down but still she refused to release Alanna, dragging her down with her. Right before landing, Sage twisted and landed on top; she struggled for a moment but managed to get Alanna into a headlock. Alanna growled and as Sage was changing her grip to deal with her struggling body, she bit Sage near her wrist and bit hard but not hard enough to break skin.

“Hey, no biting!” Tarval refereed, trying to keep the tussle from turning into a brawl, sensing that this may not be their normal way of sparring.

Alanna released Sage, “Hello, there are no rules in immortal battle dummy.”

Sage grinned and added, “Well, one rule: no pulling feathers!”

“And no pulling punches.” Alanna jerked her head back, breaking Sage’s nose. Sage released her and was on her feet in an instant. She righted her nose wincing a bit at the pain as she set her nose and glared at Alanna as she wiped blood from her face and flicked it onto the ground.

“Watch it…” She growled warningly.

“Bite me.” Alanna dared back as they started to circle. They had gathered a small crowd; their duel less than a week ago had perked the interest of many of the senior warriors. Alanna was the first to attack again as she spun and kicked at Sage’s head but Sage ducked while trying to sweep Alanna’s legs out from under her. Alanna skipped quickly away before she was struck. When it came to hand fighting Alanna was faster than Sage; when it came to wrestling Sage was stronger and bigger, so when they fought they mixed both styles of fighting to keep things even.

Sage took a stance more akin to a boxer’s as Alanna took a stance closer to kick boxing and martial artists. They circled carefully, looking for the opening that would allow them an advantage. Alanna twitched her muscles, faking her attack. Sage took the bait and quickly changed her footing to meet the believed attack she had seen was coming only to have her feet kicked out from under her. Alanna’s foot came down and landed on Sage’s stomach with a thud which forced the air out of Sage’s lungs. Many watching winced as Alanna skipped away and waited for Sage to get up.

Sage glared at her sister as she sucked air back into her body. She flipped onto her feet and charged at her sister. Alanna caught her around the middle and bent back using Sage’s speed and weight to slam Sage face first into the training mat, re-breaking her nose. There were collective gasps and murmurs from the watchers. Sage tried to buck and move but Alanna’s arms were firm around her arms and torso. She tensed her muscles as Sage tried to break the hold.