Love to Hate (Attack Thread; Tags Within)

[Ise]

(Tags: Akroma, N’var, Razia)

Posting Order:
1. Akroma
2. Razia
3. N’var
4. Holdless


With no Weyrling lessons that morning, U’ski had requested N’var and Razia’s presence. Both had been told that he was interested in seeing if they wouldn’t mind helping out with the self-defense part of lessons since D’seus had spoken highly of their skill. Of course the letters had forgotten to make any mention that the other green rider would be there as well. The two had shown up early to the meeting place at the same time. After a few minutes of bickering with each other, both green riders realized that they were there for the same reason.

Snarky comments were traded back and forth until both of them stopped, listening to the bronze dragon that spoke to them.
Shadow Wingriders meet at the opening of the lower caverns now. Dragons to the highest places you can get to.[/color]

---

Akroma had woken up to Nalaar going nuts, images flashing in her mind too quickly for even her to keep up with at first. Then it all clicked. The Weyr was under attack. The normally calm woman was in a rush as she threw her clothing on before her heavy leather armor went on. She snatched her sword up, pulling it free of its sheath and leaving her room, Shade following behind her. She calmed her brown fire lizard down and started to get better information from him. The Holdless forces were inside the Weyr already with another group of them outside in the Weyrbowl.

A grim look fell over Akroma’s features as the Dragon Shield woman moved through the halls, trying to figure out where she was most needed. She should head towards the entrance, were A’lez was making a stand. Kyrah was in the Lower Caverns helping out there, and Jarshan was somewhere in the Weyr as well. Akroma felt she’d be most useful making sure that no one else got into the Weyr.

Akroma moved quickly but quietly through the halls, Shade and Nalaar following beside her and staying just as silent. Any time they heard a sound in the corridors around them, they went to check it out. Weyrfolks were directed to safe places while the few Holdless she ran across were quickly killed.

Turning down one hall, Akroma heard a familiar voice and followed after it, a slight scowl on her face. It only took her a few moments to reach the room where her sister and the green rider that Razia loved to hate were.
“Faranth. You two had better not be arguing with each other while the Weyr is under attack.”
Akroma turned back to the hall, listening before she sent Nalaar between to go scout the area out before she turned back to the two riders. She couldn’t leave them there, the Holdless were coming this way. The two of them were suppose to be good fighters, and both had a sword with them. Letting out a sigh, Akroma brushed her bangs off her face. Three would have an easier time getting through the Weyr then one would.
“Both of you come me with. If you stay here much longer you’re going to be over run by Holdless.”

---

Finally someone had realized just how good she was. U’ski and sent her a letter praising her skills as a fighter and wanted her to help with the self-defense lessons. He had just wanted to see some of her sword work first. So she had come early and prepared only to find N’var showing up as well.

If it had been anyone but him, both of them saying ‘What are you doing here’ at the same time would have been humorous. Instead it was only annoying. Why did he always have to show up and ruin things for her? It hadn’t taken them long to find out that they had both gotten the same letter from the Weyrling master. Maybe U’ski was just going to make them compete against each other to see who would be better at teaching the Weyrlings, that wouldn’t be so bad. So long as U’ski had all day to watch that…

Her thoughts were cut off as Zorometh’s voice suddenly filled her head.
Shadow Wingriders meet at the opening of the lower caverns now. Dragons to the highest places you can get to.[/color]
Suli? What’s going on?
The Weyr is being attacked by the Holdless.
Go with the other dragons and make sure you stay safe.
Razia bit her lip slightly, worried more for her dragon then for herself. She looked back to N’var, assuming he was getting the same sort of information.
“We need to find the fastest way to D’seus and the rest of the wing.”
She frowned a bit as she wondered just how far the Holdless had gotten into the Weyr, would it be easiest to just go the most direct route or would they need to find some way back to the lower caverns?

She jumped a bit as her sister’s voice suddenly came from the doorway. And of course she started giving orders right away. Though Akroma seemed to know more then she did about the attack. And she was Dragon Shield. Razia just hoped they found the rest of the wing quickly, the idea of being stuck with her sister and N’var for long amounts of time wasn’t an appealing one. Pulling her slim sword free, Raz glanced at N’var to make sure he was coming. As much as she disliked the guy she wasn’t going to leave him behind. He was part of her wing after all.

[HG]

The summons from the Weyrling Master had been completely surprising to the greenrider. Apparently Wingleader D’seus had given a good review of his skills at sword play. He always knew they would grow to appreciate his talents. Weyrling Master Us’ki’s message had been quite amusing to him at first. This would be fun. He could show these new riders how great a fighter he was, putting them in their place below him quickly enough. N’var would do anything to make himself look better than the others. This was a prime opportunity to be revered as the best swordsman at the Weyr. He was in good spirits and per his usual arrived early.

He was all smiles until Razia showed up. His eyes darkened at the sight of her. Why was she here? It was not like she was as good as he was. For one, she was a woman. Women were not innately as strong as men were. So the male greenrider began to bicker with her over why she had bothered coming at all. They finally stopped when suddenly Nemesyth told him what was happening.

They are here. I am to go to the high places. You are to report to D’seus at the entrance to the Lower Caverns.The green did leave her own ledge to one of the higher ones, joining Sulisanth on the same one. Since their riders were together it would be easier for them to take comfort in eachother while the fighting wore on. Hello Sulisanth. Mind if I share? She said politely. Nemesyth was not known to be nice but she would be to get what she wanted. Mine and yours are the best fighters. They will be alright. She said it to reassure herself more than the other green.

N’var frowned and then took on a much more serious demeanor. This was important. He could not let them kill her! Nemesyth was his world and they would not get to her and they would not kill him. He had a lot to do with his life yet and he would not let them cut his plans short!He was about to make a run for the Weyr when that Dragon Shield sister of Razia’s showed up and started talking down to the pair of them. N’var was a dragonrider and that gave him precedence over her!

Holding back all the snarky remarks he wanted to make the greenrider just smiled and said. “Did you think we were going to stand here and let them? We have to get to the rest of the Wing. D’seus will need our help.” Although he wasn’t too happy about the other woman taking charge he did know better than to stand there by himself, a target for the Holdless. He had his own sword ready and glanced back at Razia. He was prepared if she was. Much as he hated her, he hated the Holdless more.

[Ise]

“Considering everything I hear about the two of you, yes. Though I assume you’d be too busy fighting with each other to even notice that the Holdless were on you.”
Akroma’s voice was low and soft as she led the two down a hallway. She didn’t have the time or the energy to baby either rider. They may have been riders that outranked her but fighting the Holdless was what the Dragon Shield did. She knew how stubborn her sister was and everything she had heard about N’var told her he was the same way. Both of them would think they had a better way to do things.
“I doubt you’ll be able to make it to D’seus. They’re already being attacked and I doubt the two of you will be able to flank an entire group of Holdless.”

Akroma came to a sudden stop as the hall forked off and held up her hand to silence the two green riders. A low rumbling growl came from Shade and the large cat tensed. Placing a hand on the feline’s neck, Akroma first sent Nalaar to check things out. She wasn’t going to risk battling through a whole party of Holdless. The flitter returned a few seconds later. Ah good, only a small group of five was up head. She pointed at the left passage then ticked off five fingers, hoping that N’var and Razia understood that she was trying to tell them there were five enemies up ahead.

The Shield woman was certain that she and Shade would be able to take care of five Holdless on their own if they got a jump on them. She hoped that the two riders would prove to be useful but wasn’t expecting much from them. This would be their first real fight, where they would see that no matter how good you were at sparring, fighting and trying to kill someone was harder.

Keeping her sword out in front of her, Akroma lead them down the left hall. Shade and her moved silently, slowing when they heard the echoed murmurs of the group ahead of them. She waited until they were almost at the Holdless before sending Shade at them. One second the feline was there, the next a dark shadow was dashing down the hall. He didn’t let out a roar until he was on top of the Holdless. Akroma waited until hearing Shade’s roar to charge after the Holdless. The arrival of the black cat had stunned the small group of Holdless and Shade had one of their numbers pinned down under him before the other four Holdless could even think of attack him. Akroma’s sudden arrival stunned them for a moment but then they understood that they were under attack. Akroma crossed blades with one of them, turning their blade to the side before taking a step back to dodge another incoming blade. She barely noticed howl of pain that came from the man on the ground before it was suddenly cut off as Shade ripped out his throat. That was one down, only four left.

---

Nemesyth’s politeness was a pleasant surprised but not unexpected. Both of theses were separated from the rest of their wing and stuck with each other. Sulisanth had never be on the receiving side of Nemesyth’s anger but she had also gone out of her way to avoid making the larger green mad.
Our will both be fine. There shouldn’t be too many Holdless in the Weyr. And you’re right, they are the best fighters.
Suli tried to sound just as sure as Nemesyth did. She was worried about Razia but the small green stayed positive, if she got worried Razia would just pick up on it.

With N’var following, Razia went after her sister. She scowled at the back of her sister’s head as all her complaining about N’var was now being used against her. The two of them may not have liked each other but that didn’t mean they were so stubborn that they would have argued with each other that much. She had to remind herself that now wasn’t the time to get in an argument with Akroma, once they made it to D’seus she could give her sister a piece of her mind.

Hearing that they wouldn’t be going to their Wingleader annoyed Razia but she trusted that Akroma was right. Akroma was Dragon Shield and with her flitter probably had a better idea as to what was going on in the Weyr. She hoped the rest of Shadow Wing was ok without them. She was about to ask where Akroma was going to take them to when her sister came to a sudden stop and silenced them. It was hard to miss the low threatening growl coming from Akroma’s black feline and Razia gave it a nerve look. As a little kitten that thing had been bad enough, she didn’t want to know how mean Shade was now that he was full grown.

She watched her sister, wondering what they were waiting for. Akroma was one of the best fighters in the Wey, and N’var and she had been the best fighters in their Weyrling class. And they were still better then some of the older riders. The Holdless were an unorganized rabble, even if the three of them were outnumbered they should be able to handle twice as many. Razia waited quietly as Akroma did her thing and altered them to the five Holdless that were up ahead.

Razia wondered what was taking her sister so long when she noticed that Shade was no longer there. Less the a second later the cat let out a roar and Akroma took off. Razia was frozen for a moment before she followed after her sister. While she had seen sparring matches plenty of times before, this was the first time she had seen a real fight before were people were actually trying to kill each other. Shade had one man down, her sister was dueling two of them at the same time, and the other two Holdless looked like they were about ready to bolt before Razia and N’var appeared. The two riders found themselves being charged at by the two Holdless. Before Razia had a chance to think, her sword was up and she was parrying a hastily swung blade. She didn’t let herself think too much as she fought. Oh she could beat this man, his first few blows told her that, he was strong but his swings were wild and he left himself open far too much. Killing him was another matter though. A stubborn look crossed her face, if she didn’t kill him he would just go on to hurt someone else. She had heard the horror stories from Haven, the Holdless didn’t care who they killed; man or women, rider or child, the Holdless saw anyone in the Weyr as an enemy. Razia stopped merely defending herself and started to press the attack, her blade slashing and cutting at the man until he finally gave her an opening that let her jab her sword into the side of his chest, her blade puncturing through heart and lungs. When she pulled her sword out, the man collapsed to the ground and Razia finally got the chance to see what was going on with the others.

[HG]

N’var grimaced at the other woman’s words. Personally he felt it was wrong not to go and help his wing but what could he say? He did not much care for Akroma’s style of speech and it seemed to him her sister did not much care for it either. Silly women who thought they were in charge of people. He had to remind himself that the Shield were just like this. All of them. Their job was to protect the riders and they were doing that. Although he would like to argue he did not need protecting. He was perfectly capable of fighting off a good number of Holdless. N’var felt his inner fuming getting the better of him. What else could he do? If he said anything outloud they would gang up on him. Two against one would hardly be fair.

The greenrider stood still when Akroma motioned for them to. Heck, they were going to have to fight them all eventually, did it really matter how many there were? Looking over at Razia he decided he’d rather be with people who he knew could fight. At least she had been able to keep up with his obvious skill. Akroma well, as a Shield he expected her to be a good fighter. His blue eyes watched intently as first her firelizard went to investigate and then the dark, rather fearsome feline bounded ahead of them to attack the burly looking men who were coming close to them. Akroma went to work right away taking on two men at a time.

He could at least take on two himself however being that there were two left, he’d hate to rob Razia of her fun. N’var had automatically unsheathed his sword when Akroma had sent the feline ahead. He was ready. The nerves that had gotten him anxious were gone. The battle was here and there was nothing to do but fight. Fight for his life and that of Nemesyth. There could be no more compelling reason for him to fight than that. So in quick, fluid movements he met with the Holdless who came to challenge him. N’var was never a bulky sort and so moved as if the entire fight were a dance.

Even as he deflected blows he caught the other two’s progress out of the corner of his eyes. They were fine. Of course they were. He had to kill this man and the sooner the better. This was not a game. It was not sparring practice. This was the real deal. So he set about disarming the man which he managed with a couple of more complex moves. He spun around quickly and kept up with his footwork. He was too fast for this fool. N’var took only a moment before he did what he knew he must do. He plunged his sword into the left side of the man’s upper chest.

Pulling his sword from the man’s body, he knelt down and wiped the blade on the man’s shirt. He did not have time to think about what had just happened. He wanted to vomit but he would not give either of the women the satisfaction of seeing him so vulnerable. Standing steadily he looked to see where Akroma would lead them next. “Ready when you are.” He said clearly but not loudly. N’var knew better than to draw attention to the small group.

[Ise]

One scream had echoed through the halls but Akroma knew that it would be enough to draw some of the roaming groups of Holdless to them. The Shield woman took care of the two Holdless she was fighting quickly. Her blade flashed out, leaving a bright trail of red across one man’s throat. Before he had even collapsed to the floor she had turned her attention to the second one, pressuring him back until he left an opening. One hard jab and the tip of her blade pierced his chest above his heart.

With both of her foes dead, she turned her attention to the two green riders and watched them. N’var and Razia were both better fighters then their Holdless opponents and yet both of them seemed to delay their killing blows. Oh yes, this was probably their first fight that would end in taking a life. It was tempting to just go in there and finish things for the riders but she needed them to understand what it would take to get through this.

While the riders fought, Akroma sent Nalaar out to do a little more scouting. The flitter was back far to quickly. Images flickered through her mind quickly and she muttered a soft curse. No matter what way they went there were going to run into Holdless, larger groups now too.

While she knew they needed to move quickly, Akroma took a moment to look the two riders over. Her sister was pale and N’var looked like he might be ill but neither looked like they were about to faint. Nor did they seem too traumatized. They were shaken but they weren’t going to fall apart on her. Not wasting the breath to give any sort of reply to N’var, Akroma took off down a hall, trying to be quiet but more interested in just putting some distance between them and the dead. Once she had finally turned a corner she risked slowing down. She didn’t want to risk wearing N’var and Razia out too early.

Turning down a new corridor, the small group practically ran into another group of Holdless, a larger one this time. There was only a moment of hesitation as both groups realized they were enemies before the fighting started. No command was needed for Shade to jump in the fray and Akroma’s sword was a blur as she defended herself. Her skills marked her as one of the Shield and Holdless sent more of their numbers after her rather then the two riders. She was fine with that, she could read where each attack that came at her and defend against it. But that was all she could do. There were too many blades coming at her to risk making an attack that might leave her open, even with Shade helping to distract and take them out. She would need N’var and Razia to help dispose of them.

---

Razia looked over at N’var as he cleaned his bloody blade off on the dead man’s shirt. She looked a little pale but seeing that N’var seemed to be fine, both physically and mentally, made her take a deep breath and steady herself. If he could do this then she could do this as well. Razia gave her sword a flick to shake some of the blood from it but didn’t bother trying to clean it up, it was just going to get blood on it again.

She fell in behind her sisters as the Shield woman took off, glancing behind them every so often to see if anyone was following. The green rider thought she could hear people behind them but wasn’t sure if she was really hearing it or just imaging it. She kept expecting people to jump out at them. Razia almost ran into Akroma when suddenly slowed down again and she gave her older sister a sheepish smile as an apology.

Their slower walk made it easier to hear something other then their own footfalls. With no sounds of anyone chasing after them, Razia relaxed a little. There may only be three of them but she could have been stuck with worse fighters and that was all that mattered right now. N’var and Akroma may have been two of the people she liked least in the Weyr but at least she trusted them to watch her back while she watched theirs.

Razia was lucky this time and happened to be looking forward when they turned a corner and almost ran into a group of Holdless. She scowled at her sister but managed not to say anything about Akroma’s skills at leading them through the Weyr. Instead, she slashed at one of the Holdless, forcing them into an attack before they could join the group that was going after her sister. Not that she needed to worry, while Akroma had a handful of them all to herself, she had left plenty behind. There would be no one on one fights for her or N’var this time.

Gritting her teeth, made sure she stayed near her rival. Akroma could handle multiple targets like this with ease, Razia was less sure of her skills. Oh she had done some training with fighting two or three people at once but not very often. And this wasn’t training, these were people who were out to kill her. This time when Razia had an opening, she didn’t hesitate to go for it. Not all of her blows struck as cleanly as she would have liked, but even when they didn’t make mortal wounds they still injured the Holdless. Sweat beaded on her brow as she parried blows before making quick hard thrusts at the Holdless. It was slower work trying to kill multiple targets at once but between her and N’var, none of them stood a chance.

Once N’var and her had killed the last of their Holdless, Razia paused long enough to run the back of her hand over her forehead before she went to help her sister. She had the benefit of surprise on her side with her first attack and made it count, hitting one of the Holdless in the side and jamming her sword upwards before pulling the blade out and going after another one before they realized what was going on. Three well trained fighters against five unorganized Holdless almost wasn’t fair. The Holdless were killed even before most of them could realize what was going on.

With the enemy dead and her sister seeming to be ok, Razia took a moment to lean against the wall. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to be sick, or cry, or just laugh at how badly trained the Holdless troops were. Shouldn’t killing them be getting easier? She shut her eyes as she tried to make some sense of this. She knew there were highly skilled Holdless warriors out there but they were few and far between. How many people were being slaughtered just because a handful of people decided they hated dragons and their riders? And what had those people done to get the Holdless to be so willing to die for their cause? Even when they had the chance to run, the fought to the death. It was scary and depressing that people would be willing to do that. She let out a sound, something between a laugh and a sob before clasping a hand over her mouth. If she started now she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to stop.

[HG]

What could he do other than follow the woman through the corridors? He was keeping up well, staying next to Razia since they seemed to be in the same situation. Akroma was only a few footsteps ahead of them. Eyes widening at the shock of seeing such a large group of Holdless inside the Weyr he quickly put his sword at the ready. Faranth save them, he thought as he rushed forward to help the Shield woman.

The two men who sought him out were obviously peons. The one was a poor fighter and much easier to deflect. So he took advantage of his poor skills by simply deflecting his blows and focusing on killing the other man first. N’var killed the first man quickly and then took care of the other man. Despite not being as well trained as the Shield, he felt he was doing really well. He knew he would. Those Holdless did not stand a chance against him and with Razia helping there was no way they could possibly lose.

Holdless seemed to be overwhelming Akroma, just a smidge so, just after Razia he rushed towards the woman. They could handle this. He began battling it out with one of the men on the left parrying was easy, getting a kill blow not so much. He was going to kill the other man though. If it were him or the other guy, he sure as Fall was not going to be the one dying. Nemesyth needed him. His family needed him. The mission needed him!

When he finally was able to kill the man he noticed the other two were doing just fine without his help. Well he had better try to keep up! The greenrider moved forward towards another man and this time found the target a bit less quick on his feet. The crossing of blades was quick as he scratched the man’s arm with his blade. The fear on the other’s face made N’var smile, almost sadistically. Pay back was a bitch and she kept on having puppies! In the next moment the man was dead and there was quite the pool of blood around him and the two women.

N’var wondered where exactly they were going or if that was the idea. They weren’t going anywhere in particular. They were hunting down and killing as many Holdless as possible. He could certainly handle that except he did not like being kept out of the loop. That Shield would do well to tell him and Razia what her plans were. They outranked her!