Duendewood vs. Solari: Foreign Blades

"What the hell is this thing?" asked Ruin, hefting the wooden practice blade. In its basic design it wasn't all that different from his two-handed scimitar, but it was huge. He couldn't imagine trying to fight with it; he'd have to adjust his entire fighting style to its length and weight.

"Oh," said Aesa. "That was what Tavros used for practice." 

"Do you jest?" asked Ruin. "That's not a sword, it's... an oar for a longboat, maybe."

"Well, Tavros is very big. And very strong." 

"He must be." Ruin set the practice weapon back on the rack. "I'd spend half my time moving myself around the blade, instead of moving the blade around me." 

Aesa blinked. "I mean... Tavros did that, sometimes." 

Ruin looked over at her and smiled. "I do, too. But it's supposed to be part of the technique, not all of it."

Aesa shrugged. "So find something you can use." 

Ruin looked around until he found something that resembled his two-handed scimitar. It was a little longer, and the guard was different, but... He hefted it, tried a couple of swings, and then nodded. Turning back to Aesa, he said: "This will do." 

She nodded and stepped back out onto the patchy grass of the practice field. Twilight was giving way to darkness, but there were statues at the corners of the field that had been spelled to give off light. Aesa held a wooden mace in her right hand and carried a shield on her left arm; she set herself in a fighting stance and backed away. 

Ruin stepped onto the field and approached her, raising the practice blade and moving it from stance to stance, watching the way she reacted. Mostly, she didn't: she kept her shield in front of her and mace cocked over her shoulder behind it, ready to swing when he came into range. Yes, she definitely had some training... 

He stepped in, feinting high and then attacking low, but she leapt back and he only cut air. Cautious, he thought. All right, draw her out. Or overwhelm her. He moved in with a series of low cuts, driving her back, then stopped and drew back himself when she suddenly lowered her shield to catch his sword and stepped in to brain him with her mace. 

She didn't over-extend; when her mace went past him she caught herself and twisted back, bringing her shield back up between them before he could attack again. "Not bad," he said, and she smiled. 

Then he slid his practice blade just above the top of her shield, hooked it behind her mace, and shoved it aside. He cut down at her forearm, and she stumbled back and fell, dropping her mace in the process. 

Off to his left, someone screamed and charged him. He stepped away from Aesa and turned, intercepting a steel blade with his wooden one and dropping his hand to catch it underneath the guard. He pulled, and a moment later he was holding the steel sword as his wooden practice weapon hit the ground. 

The woman in front of him swept with her shield, but he stepped back and threw the sword away behind him. His own weapon was still on his belt, but he was pretty sure that all this would end in blood if he drew it. "Are you mad?"

Aesa said, "Anica, no! We were just sparring." 

The woman in front of him stopped, took a careful step back, and looked down at Aesa. She was already picking herself up, and for a moment they were almost perfectly matched: each with a shield on one arm, and a weapon missing from the other hand. 

Anica was completely human, sturdily built and well-armored. She looked down at the wooden blade, then back up at Ruin. "I'm sorry," she said. "I thought... I don't know what I thought."

Ruin shook his head. "I do," he said, disgusted, and turned and walked away.