sparring log - BACKLOGGED - Geddoe vs. Ferid

[trueltning_fury]

Who: trueltning_fury and marriedtothesun
When: back in June*
Where: out beside the lake
What: SUPER EPIC SPARRING

(*seriously, this took place in late June, we began around June 17th, but real life conspired to keep us from actually finishing until now. This is the sparring match Geddoe has been referencing since then, in speaking to Kyle and others about his road to recovery)

During the middle of the day when he was alone, Geddoe tended to wander about the castle, keeping tabs on things and looking for people to talk to. It was such a bright, sunny day, many were outside, so he stepped out from the tavern and stood on the top of the side stairs, looking down at the wharf and the lake beyond. A tall figure could be seen down by the water, perking Geddoe's interest and sending him down the twisting staircase to meet him.

Down by the water, Ferid took a deep relaxed breath. There were still a lot of unanswered questions and mixed feelings stirred up in his mind, but for the moment, he felt relatively at ease. After returning from the trip with his sister, Kyle, and the others, he found being by water was almost therapeutic.

Geddoe approached casually, not wanting to look like he was in any urgency even though some part of him was awakening to excitement. He'd been looking forward to a chance to do this for a long time, and both he and Ferid were finally in good health and ready. He came up behind and beside the man so as not to startle him. "It's a nice view, isn't it?" he said lightly.

Ferid turned to the visitor and smiled before returning his gaze back to the water. "Hahaha, it certainly is. Despite its many charms, the lake remains one of the castle's best features."

After a moment, he turned his attention back to the man beside him. "It's been a rather long time since we've spoken. How have you been holding up?"

A smile slowly grew on Geddoe's face. "Quite well, actually. Aside from a few rough spots, life has been good to me." He tilted his head slightly. "I trust your visit to the Islands went well?"

"That's good to hear," Ferid responded with a nod. "And indeed, the trip went quite well. Though it was time that could have been spent with the children, returning to the islands did me more good than harm. Haha, besides, I hear they don't care for the ocean much."

As he spoke, he quieted looked the man over without being obvious about it. Maintaining his smile and tone, he inquired as politely as possible, "And the rune... It hasn't been giving you any distress lately, correct?"

Geddoe folded his arms over his chest. "No, none at all," he replied evenly. "The silencing effect wore off about a month or so ago, but it's been relatively quiet. Except whenever there's a thunderstorm," he added with a wry smile. "It prickles a little, as if feeding off the energy, but that's it. I'm used to that."

Hmn. Feeding off the energy... It was such a despicable thought to have something like that in one's body. For someone to force themselves to live like that... He tried to clear that unsettling feeling from both his mind and his body language. "Ahh, that's good to hear!"

Nodding, Geddoe faced the other man more directly. "I actually have a reason to seek you out, Ferid. I was wondering if you were interested in sparring with me. I've been trying to test myself against the best swordsmen in the castle...and you've been tops on my list for a while."

That brought him back from his previous thought successfully. His smile seemed to renew itself completely. "Oh, is that a fact? Haha, That actually doesn't sound like a bad idea. I fear I'm starting to get rusty if I don't maintain my own training as well."

He nodded, making up his mind and turned to face Geddoe as well. "I accept. This should prove interesting." He placed a hand to his chin thoughtfully. "Are you ready any time?"

"I am." Geddoe nodded toward the sword sheathed at his left side. He rarely went without it, even in the quiet castle. "Even now, if you're up for it."

"Absolutely," he responded. He moved away from his spot near the shoreline, assuming Geddoe would follow as well. There was no need to move too far out, just so long as there was the alloted room needed for comfortable movement. As per customary habit, he stretched out his arms quickly and rolled his shoulders before finally assuming stance and unshealthing his sword. Of course, he was more interested in analyzing Geddoe as a fighter than actual training at the moment. What kind of techniques could this man have picked up?

Geddoe followed naturally, his back straight and arms flexing in advance of the fight. After having both Kyle and Georg fill his head with their praise for their commander, and then miraculously getting to meet him after all, he'd been itching for this chance. He wanted to see if their boasts were true...even half-true, it would still be a challenge. Ferid had recovered from his injuries much faster, so even out of practice, he had the arm and body strength Geddoe needed to test himself against. He pulled his sword and held it up in one hand, stepping into a guarded stance. "Until one can't fight, or chooses to yield," he decided. "The first move is yours if you want it."

Those were certainly terms he could agree with. Ferid stood still for a moment, assessing his opponent's stance as well as how he held the sword and centered his weight. The man's experience was relevant through these factors alone. Interesting, indeed. After a few heartbeats of nothing, Ferid finally took his move, closing the distance between them with a few quick steps. Still maintaining his smile, he offered a blow with more speed than power behind it. It was the first strike after all, and it was best to test the waters.

Geddoe shifted his arm up to block, stepping easily to meet it, but even bracing himself didn't fully prepare him for the impact. He felt his arm give slightly, but held firm. Stepping back out of it, he turned his sword and swung forward, mid-height, testing Ferid's defense.

It was a good deflection, and Ferid seemed to almost seemed to brighten. As per usual, he found himself over analyzing the movements of the fight at the beginning rather than simply fighting, and he found himself interested in the method used to shift from defense to offense. Ferid brought up his sword at a slight angle. This way, the swords slid against each other and Geddoe's sword was deterred away using its own momentum rather than blocking the attack completely. Maintaining the motion of that move, Ferid brought his sword down in full circle and swung the sword in an upward diagonal swipe.

Geddoe expected the swing but had to move fast to counter it, as it came up on his blind side. Taking another step back out of the way put him in the right position to block, though the abruptness made their blades ring against each other. Realizing he was focused too much on the sword, Geddoe lifted his good eye to regard Ferid's face, to judge his body language...and found the man smiling at him. So he was enjoying it, too. He backed off another couple of steps and then rushed forward, swinging from his right.

Ferid maintained his current position, moving one foot back to brace himself for the impact of this swing. With one hand on the hilt of the sword, he moves his left hand up so the flat of the upper half of the blade braced against his palm. When Geddoe's blade struck his, the shock was absorbed by his knees more than his arms. Rather than a right out attack, Ferid simply used his current sance to push against Geddoe's sword in an attempt to push the man back, and see if he would be caught off guard.

The push disengaged Geddoe's sword, but he only drew back his arm and struck again, this time thrusting forward. Ferid was obviously no novice, he didn't need to hold back or ease into it.

"Hah!" He couldn't help but let that escape. He was honestly having fun. Geddoe's attack left little choice but to move out of the way, which was more a matter of speed. He twisted his body slightly and managed to step out of the way of the blow. Geddoe had extremely fast response and he tended to choose the shorteest, fastest route to counter; a pleasant surprise on both counts. His movements needed to be watched carefully. After moving out of the way, rather than attack the man himself, he swung his sword up under Geddoe's to deflect it upwards. It was more a diversionary tactic than an attack...

The deflection left Geddoe wide open for an instant, but wielding his sword one-handed left him with options. Grinning to himself at Ferid's robust laugh, he shot out his left hand and struck Ferid's arm just above the wrist, pushing to keep him from bringing his sword backward into the captain's exposed middle. At the same time, he pushed himself back with the same movement, back-stepping out of range of that long blade and drawing his right arm back so his sword would be poised for either attack or parry.

Excellent. The free attack with his swordless hand had actually been a bit of a surprise and adequately stopped him from executing an immediate followup attack. Forced to keep back his hand, by the time he could attack, Geddoe had already placed himself at an adequate counter position. He probably looked a lot more amused than he should have during a fight. Taking the silent invitation, Ferid moved forward and delivered a quick horizontal strike, aiming for the flank area.

Pivoting sharply on his foot, Geddoe struck down the sword with a matched swing of his own, deflecting Ferid's blade to the side. Following through with his momentum, he spun and swept a foot out, low, aiming to kick Ferid's feet out from underneath him. He doubted it would do full damage, but if it put him even slightly off-balance, it would be worth it.

As soon as Geddoe deflected the sword in such a manner, Ferid predicted the man would indeed spin around and counter attack. If he had analyzed the man's style correctly, that was, after all, the fastest way to counter. However, he hadn't expected that said counter would involve sweeping his feet out. Ferid was preparing himself to deflect a sword strike when he saw the movement a bit too late. He was fast enough to at least begin moving out of the way before Geddoe's foot finally hit. Had he been caught completely off guard, he might have fallen. Though it wasn't much better, Ferid, stumbled back a little trying to regain his balance.

Coming out of the spin, Geddoe continued right into another thrust directly to Ferid's middle, silently pleased that he'd gotten the man off-balance just enough. If he could counter this, Geddoe would be beyond impressed...though he was feeling himself becoming winded, and the thrust lacked some of his usual strength behind it.

As he stumbled back, he could see Geddoe following through with an attack as predicted. Of all things, another thrust forward; an attack to take advantage of his lost balance. Good thinking on his opponent's part. His choices were to either allow himself to fall back completely (not exactly graceful, but effective) or to try deflecting the sword (a move that would send him even more off balance; also not very graceful and could possibly twist his wrist). Considering the former would open him up to attack, he decided to try for the second option. Due to the lack of proper footing, Ferid's swing to deter the attack didn't have that much power behind it either. He barely managed to move it aside, the blade actually scraping against his flank from how close it was. The blow caused him to stumble to the right now rather than backwards. He stopped himself long enough to properly regain his footing but not long enough to deliver a counter attack.

The forward movement also carried Geddoe a bit further than he wanted, forcing him to also pause and gain his stability. He took a deep breath while they both paused, his left side toward his opponent so he could keep an eye out for the next movement. Geddoe hated that he was still getting winded easily, but he chose to push past it. He hadn't even scratched the surface of what Ferid was capable of, he wanted to see why his knights worshipped him. Shaking his hair out of his face, the captain stood firm, sword lowered but ready, feet planted, good eye on the watch. "Impressive," he breathed. "You're certainly giving me a workout."

Ferid had to laugh at that. "I admit I haven't had this much fun in quite some time. You're very quick on your feet."

He twisted his neck a little back and forth to work out the kinks and faced Geddoe proper, obviously more than ready to start up again. His opponent was fast and certainly held some surprises up his sleeve, but Ferid felt he'd had enough time to gage his general fighting style by now. It also meant Geddoe had the chance to analyze him back as well. So now that they both had the chance to understand each others' approaches, they could move on.

"Ready?" he asked, though it was more a formality. He could tell by the man's stance he hardly had his defense down. Ferid moved forward once again, same as the previous few times he had done so. However, the last step he took before striking was taken quickly, almost like he was starting to run but chose to stop after that single step. He placed both hands on the hilt of his sword this time and sent a strong horizontal swipe.

As before, Geddoe swung up from his side to block, but the force behind Ferid's swing had doubled, and the impact of blades forced Geddoe's back. He took a hop back to reevaluate his stance, balancing the pommel of his sword in the palm of his left hand to give it added leverage. Coming in again, he swung three times in quick succession - down, across, and then down again - aware that each would be blocked, but using his continuous attack to try and wear the other man down. On the third strike, his left hand came free, so that all of his arm strength went into the downward blow, so much that it twisted his body sideways. The blank eyepatch covering his missing eye stared straight forward at Ferid, betraying nothing of his moves.

Maintaining both hands on the handle, Ferid twisted the blade back and forth, blocking each attack with a loud clang of swords ringing loudly. The force behind each blow was much stronger than earlier, most especially the last one, which caused him to take a step back. The message had been adequately delivered on both sides: Warm ups were over.

Both swords stayed locked for a moment as both men pressed their swords forward. Ferid twisted the sword quickly and pushed Geddoe's weapon to the side. He followed this motion through with a small series of horizontal slashes, swinging back and forth quickly in an almost fencer-like motion. The blows were fast, but without full power behind them. If he wanted to make any headway in this match, he would need to force Geddoe off the offensive and push the man back a little first.

The rapid flurry of short strikes adequately had Geddoe stepping back with each one as he swung to block, moving his torso side-to-side to prevent the horizontal swings from breaking past his defense. Grunting a bit with the exertion, he planted his left foot hard and drove forward instead of back, forcing the last strike in Ferid's sequence back at him, though the momentum only deflected it to the side. He gauged their stances a moment, realizing he'd been put on the defensive and could not go on the attack right away - not with his body twisted so. He chose to wisely take one more step back and square his shoulders, ready to take whatever was next to come. Part of him wanted to make some kind of comment or quip, but he didn't need to - both of them knew how much they were enjoying this session.

Not as far back as he would have liked, but he had successfully managed to get Geddoe off offense. There was no time for hesitation, though. To pause too long provided an opponent time to fully prepare. There was a certain level of combat that was reliant only on instinct. Ferid was full confident Geddoe was attuned to this instinct as well; that's what made this interesting.

Moving forward quickly, Ferid lifted his sword up to strike down at half strength in a partial feint, fully expecting this to be blocked. Immediately afterward, he pulled his sword right back up and struck the sword down to perform the exact same move, this time at full strength.

The first blow fell, and Geddoe held it off firmly, but his blade gave slightly. He didn't expect the second, and wielding his sword one-handed was precisely the wrong way to counter the strength behind it. His blade was struck right down towards the ground, his arm shivering with the force.

"Dammit!" he hissed, hopping backwards and drawing his sword along with him. There was no way to counter-attack, not after losing ground like that. The mercenary captain kept his blind side toward his opponent, since it was his dominant hand, subtly listening instead of watching for the followup move that he fully expected. Ferid would have been a fool not to take such an obvious opening, and Geddoe wasn't sure what he would have to do to hold off another blow like that. His arm was already tingling a little.

He had to give the man a lot of credit: He had guts turning his blind side to his opponent. Though Ferid knew personally never to underestimate someone just because of an eyepatch.

Ferid moved forward to continue the assault. Switching back to a single handed hold, his right arm swung out in a wide arc, aiming for the sword rather than the man's body. This was just a sparring match, not an outright battle. Though it was important to give one's all while training, actual harm wasn't on the agenda.

Though he could see the sword coming, Geddoe had to work hard to counter it, as it swept in from his left. He chose to pivot and parry with a hard swing of his own, downward, slashing at the blade. Ferid's sword was much longer than his, and looked heavier - that he could swing it with one hand was impressive, indeed!

Geddoe's strike deflected the blade, making both of them ring loudly. The echoes of it reverberated off the stone walls of the castle beside them. Gritting his teeth, Geddoe ignored the repeated tingle in his fingertips and flicked his sword sharply upward, deflecting Ferid's blade a second time to keep it at a distance from him. It left the commander wide open, so Geddoe lunged hard with his forward shoulder and barrelled into the other man's chest, trying to push him back or even knock him over.

Ferid's sword was deflected widely, forcing his sword arm away and, indeed, leaving the man wide open. He almost had to keep himself from laughing: It had been an excellent technique to use for the situation! Continuing forward, Geddoe plowed his shoulder right into Ferid.

However, he had forgotten about one little thing: Ferid's free hand. As Geddoe's shoulder hit, Ferid's free arm came up and wrapped itself around Geddoe's neck in a move not unlike what he did while giving his son a noogie. Consequently, it meant he took the full brunt of Geddoe's attack (good thing his stomach was mostly healed).

Ferid spun slightly with the momentum of the hit, dragging Geddoe with him, and proceeded to fall to the ground. Depending on Geddoe's reaction, it may or may not successfully pin the man down.

Geddoe's eye flew wide open in suprise as he found himself being dragged to the ground, landing hard on his right side with Ferid mostly beside him. Geddoe's elbow struck something, possibly the other man's belt or the ground, and the sword came loose from his hand. Moreover, the body-slam nearly took the wind out of him. As it was, he let out a startled grunt and gasped for breath, fighting to roll away - except that there was still a muscled arm pinned around his neck. Pulling wouldn't work, so instead, he pushed - a head-butt primed for Ferid's chin, so Geddoe could disentangle himself and grab for his loose sword somewhere in the grass.

There was no point in holding back now: Ferid did laugh. He supposed a regular person would be focusing too hard on trying to win the duel to do so, but one had to admit this was funny. Certainly this wasn't the most royal approach to fighting, but Ferid proudly didn't have a drop of nobleman's blood in him despite his status.

After both had landed hard onto the ground, Ferid consciously let go of his sword, allowing it to rest on the ground and freeing both hands. Trying to keep that one arm around his neck, his other hand moved to pin him down to the ground. That's when Geddoe's head jerked forward, accurately hitting the commander in the jaw and earning an "Oof!" The hand that was going to pin him down now only managed to grab Geddoe's shoulder, albeit loosely.

While not nearly as amused, Geddoe found himself whiffing a slight grunt at the ridiculous position they were in. Forgetting about his sword for the moment, he grabbed for Ferid's arm and pried it off his shoulder before the commander could get a grip on the epaulet of his armor - a good hand-hold for anyone in so close. Deflecting with his forearm, he managed to wriggle out of the headlock and finally roll away through the grass, coming up on his hands and knees fighting for breath. His opponent was further away, but so was his own sword, something Geddoe knew he would regret as soon they were both back on their feet. He had to get back to it before Ferid could permanently divest him of it and he would be forced to yield on account of no weapon. Geddoe had subconsciously decided he was not going to yield unless injured - there was no shame in being knocked down by Ferid. If he lost, he would lose giving it his all, not backing down out of prudence.

As soon as Geddoe broke free and managed to roll away, Ferid got to his feet as well, snatching his sword up from the dirt. Once he was up, however, he noticed Geddoe had only managed to put distance between the two. The mercenary's sword was only a few strides away from Ferid, a significant enough distance from Geddoe. There wasn't even a need to think about it: Ferid quickly moved to the sword and used the side of his foot to send it skittering towards Geddoe's feet.

Geddoe looked down as Wild Geese slid right to the toe of his boot, understanding the nonverbal cue and smirking slightly to himself. Keeping his senses alert, he bent to pick up the sword and gave it a swipe through the air to make sure everything was still in order. "All right, then," he responded, his shoulders squaring as he lowered into a waiting crouch. "I'm not ready to give up, either." The smirk grew into a pleased grin. "I haven't had this good a workout in a long time."

When he figured Ferid was ready, Geddoe sprang forward, slashing fast and hard in three continuous movements, going for speed over strength. The pause in action hadn't been nearly enough to catch his breath, but he needed to press the attack regardless of his stamina, not wanting to be caught by another unorthodox mercenary-style move like the last.

The distance between the two allowed Ferid time to begin moving back as Geddoe approached. The attacks were quick but there was hardly the amount of force behind them as there had been a few moments ago. It was at least noticable enough for the commander to pick up as he block each swing. Geddoe seemed to be playing a bit of a more cautious hand after that move, which almost made Ferid laugh again.

Rather than attack back, however, Ferid did something slightly puzzling: He leapt back a step and started circling Geddoe, moving to the left. It was fairly obvious he wasn't planning to move around Geddoe, since he wasn't moving fast enough for such a thing. He was also circling deliberately to the left since it would be easier for the mercenary to follow it with his good eye. There was a small smile on his lips as though he was just playing around here, but the odd move was deliberate. He would see if he could manipulate Geddoe's movements enough...

Geddoe paused in his assault to watch what Ferid was doing, wary, uncertain. He didn't know a thing about the commander's style, but anything was possible. He turned his head to follow, keeping his sword across his body at guard, but at a certain point he had to shift a step in order to keep Ferid in his line of sight. He decided to attack before the man could pull off something sneaky, whirling fast to put his momentum and strength behind his swing, aiming at shoulder-height.

Perfect. As soon as Ferid saw Geddoe moving toward him, he immediately moved in the opposite direction. With Geddoe focused on the movement to the right, it was easier for Ferid to move himself quickly the other way, stepping into the mercenary's blindspot and side stepping the attack in one move. Ferid swung his arm in a quick, shallow move, hoping to catch his opponent with the blunt force of his hilt rather than the blade.

With all of his strength committed to the swing, Geddoe was completely open to the feint move and took the force of the hit to his shoulder - right in the spot that his armor didn't cover. Hissing in pain, he stumbled out of it and immediately reversed his motion to counter, throwing his blind side toward Ferid with his sword kept lowered until the last second, sensing the man's sizeable form moving swiftly to his right. He figured the swing would be blocked, but attacking was better than losing the chance, so he turned his head to finally find Ferid with his vision and swung upward at him.

Ferid was forced to move backwards to avoid Geddoe's attack. It might have been best to take advantage of the blind spot now while he had it, but Geddoe wasn't going to allow much open opportunity. Even not fully seeing the man, Geddoe was able to swing the sword in a dangerously precise manner. Putting a bit of space between the two, Ferid swung his sword down hard to counter Geddoe's upward slash, the blades meeting somewhere halfway. Geddoe would be on guard for future tricks, but it would be best to continue on the offensive if he was to maintain any uphand. Ferid pushed against Geddoe's blade momentarily, long enough to swing his blade in for an attack, and swung his sword horizontally at the man back and forth about four times quickly.

The sheer power behind the enormous broadsword had Geddoe stepping back each time their swords clanged together, unable to parry at all. Blocking was hard enough, because his shoulder smarted with each jarring blow to his sword-arm. On the last strike, Geddoe quickly set the palm of his other hand against Wild Geese's pommel, so he could have both hands, both arms, braced to meet and then push back the hit. At last, he was able to hold his ground, and the two of them stood on opposite sides of crossed swords, pushing against each other, neither yielding. Geddoe's arms strained against Ferid's power, and a drop of sweat ran from under the strap of his eyepatch. "You're...a lot better...than I expected," he panted, flicking his eye up to regard Ferid across from him.

Ferid had to smile at that, breathing heavily himself after the prolonged amount of effort. He himself could probably benefit from training as regularly as he had in Falena. He chuckled a little at the man's comment. "As are you, I have to admit... You are a good fighter and would prove to be a match for any Queen's Knight."

Their blades continued to press against each other all the while, neither warrior giving way. Ferid refused to pull his gaze away from Geddoe's eye, trying to read what his opponent might be thinking, turning the next few seconds into a momentary staring contest. Without removing his gaze, he quickly tilted his blade up slightly, using the momentum of the force he was using to guide the blades of both swords in a large wide circle, clockwise from Ferid's point of view. This hindered both from any conventional means of counter attack, keyword being 'conventional.'

As soon as both blades were almost around full circle, Ferid pulled back for just a moment before charging forward in a rather unkingly move, using the full force of his elbow and body weight to hit Geddoe hard in the gut.

It was the sort of move Geddoe would have used - and probably had, time and again. It was a mercenary move, an unorthodox move, and even after just complimenting Ferid on his talent, he failed to predict it. He should have known that despite being a man of his status, the commander would have a few of these moves in his arsenal. The take-down earlier was just one; this was the second, and equally effective. The hit came too fast for Geddoe to block, the elbow was already in his gut by the time he realized what was happening. Layers of leather armor softened it a bit, but it hit just above his belt before he could even brace for it. His grip on Wild Geese seem to vanish as his body staggered backward a couple of steps, and he went down onto one knee. The sword fell through the air with no one to hang onto it, plunged tip-first into the grassy turf, and stood there quivering even while its master clutched at his stomach, gasping for breath.

Ferid immediately paused in the assault, lowering his blade as soon as Geddoe had gone down. He used the opportunity to continue catching his breath as he walked over to where Geddoe knelt. He wasn't sure how bad the blow had affected the mercenary, but asking if he was alright was against sparring etiquette. He held his hand out to Geddoe, where he would be able to see, wordlessly offering to help him up if he needed it.

Geddoe held up his hand, asking for a pause, and tried to get up on his own. He winced, and then surrendered and grasped for the offered assistance, hauling himself to his feet. "I think...I think that's enough," he breathed, still guarding his vitals with an arm. "I'll yield. I don't...need to be knocked down again..."

From what Ferid could see, it looked like he'd gotten the wind knocked out of him, but was otherwise okay. That was always good. He allowed himself to fully relax his guard, now knowing the match was over. Nothing made one realize how tired they were until they started to relax. Still, he kept a smile on and clapped a hand on Geddoe's shoulder. "Haha. I haven't had a good spar like that in a very long time... I greatly appreciate the good fight."

It took a few minutes for Geddoe to catch his breath enough to speak without stammering. "Yeah...glad to be of service," he said with a dry chuckle. "I wanted to test my limits...that definitely did it." He lifted his head and focused on Ferid, looking him in the eye. "I see why you're a legend among your own knights. Kyle and Georg were not lying."

"A legend?" he repeated with a laugh. Kyle and Georg had been talking about him, eh? Though Ferid hardly considered himself any kind of legend, he supposed it was better than a lot of the stories they could have told people, especially Georg. The two had known each other for a long time, and the man probably had enough blackmail material to last years to come. "Unless you're talking about my old drinking habits, I'd hardly call myself that! Hahaha! But thank you. I must admit you greatly impressed me today. Had this been another place or time, I'd say you have well enough potential to become a Queen's Knight yourself."

Geddoe whiffed a slight chuckle. "Thanks. But I don't know if I'm knight material. The things I've done to get the skills I have would probably disqualify me right off the bat." He finally straightened up fully, still breathing heavily and feeling a stitch in his chest. "It's been an honor, Ferid. And I hope it isn't the last time." He walked over to where his sword stood in the turf and pulled it free, sheathing it. "The two of us could go on and on all day about how impressed we are with each other, but the real story is, you beat me..." He glanced over his shoulder and smirked rougishly. "...and someday I'll want a rematch."