(1311-09-04) Confrontation
Summary: Two Gotlander ladies engage in a secret meeting and swordplay. There can only be one!
RL Date: 11/09/2019
Related: Incident at the Palace Plot
elin kalisha 

Tournament Grounds — Eisande

The wind sweeps long and low over a generally flat stretch of terrain, here. There are some signs that areas of the plain might have been built up to help flatten it— one corner in particular overlooks a steep downward hill. The plain has been trodden bare of grass in huge, haphazard patterns, giving it a patchy, threadbare look, but the patches of dusty ground are practical, useful for hemming in a spar or using as the start and end points of a footrace, and on any given day you might find some house or hired blade out here honing his or her skills. Sometimes larger war games are held out here, as well, where the Eisandean army or Marsilikos city guard can be put through its paces.

For structure, well. It's sparse. Perhaps a wooden plank has been set up on two stakes to serve as a bench where soldiers and blades may sit and rest. Perhaps a few haybales have been toted out to serve for archery practice. Perhaps someone has even staked up a flapping canopy to help keep the sun or the rain off of their heads, or their gear. But all in all the place is given to the dust and the clover and the odd sound of steel against steel.


Kalisha has to roll Stealth to get off the ship unnoticed.
<FS3> Kalisha rolls Stealth: Great Success. (3 7 7 7 5 1 8 4 8)

Shortly before leaving the citadel, Kalisha had sent a message to Elin Asbjornsdottir, requesting a meeting outside of the city, at the tournament grounds. In the letter, it said that Elin were to come on her own to the meeting, at midnight. Kalisha’s belongings, including her gear and her sword had been handed to the captain of the ship, only to be handed to her after the ship would have departed the harbor on the next morning.

It was of utter importance, that Kalisha would get off the ship, and so she made use of her sneaky abilities, even snatching a sword from somewhere, as she made her way into the city and over the city walls, to reach the meeting place in time.


It is midnight, and it is only due to the clear sky and the full moon looming above that the path is bathed in faint silvery light. Even so, the flames burning in the fireplace by the tourney field will make Elin Asbjornsdottir easy to notice for someone arriving, even from afar. The blonde Gotlander has taken a seat on the ground, back resting against a post at the sidelines by the field. Even with the hood drawn over her head, it will be the golden shimmering curls spilling out from beneath that give Elin away. Beside her on the ground is her sword, good Gotlandish "quality, stored in a leather sheath showing ornaments of her home.

A few bushes and trees are nearby and catch the light of the fire, creating dancing shadows on the grass. It will be only for those coming closer, that the shadow of Einar will become apparent, leaning as he is against the wooden structure of the ducal box, half-hiding in the shadows.

A small figure appears in the light. It steps aside from behind one of the larger trees. That figure starts moving across the path which leads to the ambassador of Gotland. Her long dreadlocks sway to the sides as the movement of Kalisha is firm and quick. Her deep blue ocean eyes are glaring in the moonlight almost like a lightning in a far far distance. Her pale skin is visible here and there but the visage of a young woman fades where the dark ink has been used to decorate her body.

She is carrying a sword in her right hand. It's already drawn and glints in the night. "Pick up your own, usurper!" Kalisha hisses when she gets closer. She doesn't even look at the guard of Elin, "We will end this story here. Odin knows that the truth is on my side and so I will send your head to your father." The words are spit in Gotlandish tongue. "Any last words?"

The ambassador of Gotland is not here in any official function. A faint smile curls her lips as she moves to stand, instantly, when Kalisha elects to approach. Elin even lifts her hands to pull the hood away, making her long blonde hair spill down over her shoulders and upper back. In a smooth fluid motion, she gathers the sword from the ground as she rises. "Usurper?", she counters sweetly. "You must be jesting." Her dialect of Gotlandish sounds a touch more haughty than Kalisha's speech. In some faux consternation Elin raises her brows. "Are you not supposed to be on a ship? Such a fool you are… to sneak away from a place where you would have been safe from us…" Dark grey eyes glitter, catching the light of the pale moon as she looks towards Einar in the shadows. "But if a fight is what you desire, my wild little friend… A fight is what you will get. And I will hear you beg for mercy in the end, when I cut you open and make you spill your precious blood on d'Angeline ground." Elin too can hiss, and her gaze hardens, eyes narrowing as she draws her blade from the scabbard and tosses that scabbard to the side.

"Don't you even dare to call me a friend!" Kalisha shouts out and spits at Elin's direction. "Your family and you are heartless murderers who abandoned their gods. I am going to send you to Hel for what have you done to my brothers, my mother and my father, and my people!" She crouches into a defensive position. Her gaze now slips to the guard briefly and then back to Elin. "He will not save your fucking ass and I am going to do a favor to d'Angelines and Andre for getting rid of you before you spread your poisons. Come, just come at me!" Kalisha bumps her fist into her chest a few times before steadying her position. She chews on her lips quite firmly as if to hold an explosion of hatred inside of her. For now.

"It was your father, Kalisha, who decided to invade Kalmar territory," Elin contradicts coldly. "We… merely defended ourselves. It was necessary, that we eradicated all of your branch." She chuckles softly. "I didn't kill all of your family. But I killed your mother." And there is that faint glitter in her eyes that returns as Elin lowers the blade. "You owe your life to my brother. To Aksel. Yes you do. And even towards him, you don't feel any gratitude?" The blonde lady pushes the cloak back over her shoulder, revealing a light armor of padded leather. "I don't need my father to save my ass. But you need Aksel, to save yours, and he isn't here, so…" Again, she smiles. It is a chilly smile, and her eyes focus their cold gaze on Kalisha.

"No.", Elin informs her then with a soft smooth voice that hardly hides the edge beneath. "You want to end it? You come at me, and I will send you off to join your father in Valhalla. That much I owe you at least…"

<COMBAT> Elin will spend luck on attack this turn.
<COMBAT> Kalisha attacks Elin with Broadsword - Serious wound to Neck (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Elin attacks Kalisha with Broadsword - ARMOR on Abdomen stops the attack!

"You are delusional or you consider me an idiot!" Kalisha rolls her eyes. "We all know that it was your father who invaded our lands. Your family always considered themselves as superiors of sort! Now I will drag you over the mud then!" Kalisha shouts out and springs forward aiming at Elin. The sword is not Kalisha's and she obviously doesn't feel fully comfortable with it. Her actual sword is thinner, sharper and lighter. But the anger within helps to hold onto it. And so one of the Gotlandish foreigners swings her sword and runs its sharp edge across the skin of Elin.

"You. Are. An. Idiot.", Elin snaps back, as she sidesteps to intercept Kalisha's attack. Her own blade strikes hard across Kalisha's front. "Ah… Odin!", the blonde lady cries out when the other blade manages to nick her at the side of her neck. "Aiming to take my head off, are you?", she spits out, pressing the palm of her free hand against the bleeding wound, as her feet remain in motion, in a cautious dance circling Kalisha Knutsdottir. "Don't think that I will make it that easy for you, you filthy creature…"

<COMBAT> Kalisha attacks Elin with Broadsword - ARMOR on Left Arm stops the attack!
<COMBAT> Elin attacks Kalisha with Broadsword - Moderate wound to Chest (Reduced by Armor).

"Ah!" Kalisha staggers and takes a few steps backwards when Elin pushes her at the chest. "One of us will die tonight. Perhaps, it will be both of us! One way or the other, I at least know that I am not a sick lying rat who tries to hide under the shimmering silks! Go to he-…" But Kalisha's words get stuck in her throat when a young woman makes no damage with her next turn but receives a deeper cut right onto her chest. She runs with her hand over her blood and then she drags that same hand over her face as if to mark it in a war symbol by her own blood. "Odin will punish you at the end!"

"I'll cut you to pieces…!", Elin Asbjornsdottir whispers, lips twitching into a more victorious smile that her next strike hits home and manages to penetrate through Kalisha's armor at the side of her chest. "Hah. Got you!" The blade hisses through the air as she swings it again, aiming to bring Kalisha eternal piece. Possibly.

Einar no longer leans against the box, but stands there, upright, the hand resting on the pommel of his sword, watching with a faint frown the lethal dance of the two Gotlandish women.

<COMBAT> Kalisha will spend luck on attack this turn.
<COMBAT> Kalisha attacks Elin with Broadsword - Serious wound to Chest (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Elin attacks Kalisha with Broadsword - ARMOR on Abdomen stops the attack!
<COMBAT> Elin has been KO'd!
<COMBAT> Elin spends a luck point to keep fighting!

This time Kalisha doesn't waste her energy on words. This is enough! She launches forward simply growling at another woman as if she would be a wild wolf. Though, instead of biting through the neck of her prey, Kalisha stabs her sword into Elin's chest.

Deadly steel is driven through the leather armor that protects her torso and Elin goes down, hissing a low curse, palm now pressing to the side where Kalisha's blade nicked her. "Spawn of Asgaard," she spits out saliva and blood, not really caring about the stain it will leave on her pale chin. "I'll finish you. Off. This time." And a calm settles on her, grey gaze lingering on Kalisha, with reckless determination. And with a loud battlecry, she jumps to her feet, swinging her blade with all her might after her opponent and sworn enemy.

<COMBAT> Elin will spend luck on attack this turn.
<COMBAT> Kalisha attacks Elin with Broadsword - Moderate wound to Chest (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Elin attacks Kalisha with Broadsword but Kalisha DODGES!

"You have fought bravely. But for the murder of my mother, you shall rot in Hel!" Kalisha laughs and swirls around to avoid the hit. Even more, she manages to squat down then and tuck her blade just under the murderer. It pierces through Elin's chest again. "It's better to die as a warrior than as a coward surrounded by gold and fancy silks you so love!"

Regardless of the pain throbbing in her chest and her neck, Elin attacks Kalisha with a fury that no doubt would have been deadly, had Kalisha not managed to evade that hard blow of her blade. Even as she takes another strike from Kalisha's blade, Elin lifts her chin proudly, lifting her blood-smeared hand to gesture for Einar not to intervene. "You make me consider other options for you then…", she smiles, licking her lips and spitting out some more blood. "You should have been executed, you lunatic. But this way, it will be so much more fun."

<COMBAT> Kalisha attacks Elin with Broadsword - Light wound to Chest (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Elin attacks Kalisha with Broadsword and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Elin has been KO'd!

"Poor girl. Can't you hear the voices of Hel whispering in your ear? Because I hear those voice every time, every step I take!" Kalisha did not even have to dodge that Elin would miss her. "This is the difference between you and me. I am not afraid to die. But you are!" And Kalisha twirls around herself to make another slash across Elin's chest.

It is another slash, drawing more blood from Elin as it makes her stagger a step backwards before she falls to her knees. Her blade falls from her hand, and with a faint shudder she wraps her arms around her, bracing herself. "Einar!", she whispers hoarsely. "Kill her." Before her senses leave her and she falls forward onto the grass of the field, staining it with her blood.

Einar had been watching, restlessly, weight shifting from one leg to the other, before he jumps forward when his lady calls. "Don't you dare," he hisses in Gotlandish at Kalisha. "For this, you'll pay."

<COMBAT> Einar attacks Kalisha with Broadsword - ARMOR on Chest stops the attack!
<COMBAT> Kalisha attacks Einar with Broadsword - Moderate wound to Chest (Reduced by Armor).

"Shouldn't you bring her remains to her father? If I am going to kill you here, you both will be buried their ways. Then you might not even reach Hel, not even talking about Valhalla!" Kalisha suggests. She is a bit too late to raise her sword at the attack. The man hits her chest, but almost as if not feeling the pain on her open wound, Kalisha slashes back at Einar. Her bloody sword now opens a wound on the man's chest as well.

"She isn't dead yet. And I'll save her. That, and I'll end you.", Einar, snaps back, moving with the elegance of a trained fighter. He is taller than Kalisha, and yet, this doesn't hamper his movement. A low curse leaves his lips when her blade manages to strike at him while his own blade doesn't manage to penetrate her armor. But that doesn't keep him from continuing the dance of swords.

Elin rolls onto her side, watching with eyes that look close to breaking their gaze. She breathes as of yet, as air is drawn in slow noisy inhales through her blood-stained lips.

<COMBAT> Kalisha attacks Einar with Broadsword but Einar DODGES!
<COMBAT> Einar attacks Kalisha with Broadsword but Kalisha DODGES!
<COMBAT> Einar attacks Kalisha with Broadsword - Light wound to Chest (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Kalisha attacks Einar with Broadsword but Einar DODGES!
<COMBAT> Kalisha has been KO'd!
<COMBAT> Kalisha spends a luck point to keep fighting!

"I will…" But Kalisha's words remain unfinished. A series of attacks come from Einar, and a young woman has to trust in her abilities to avoid the sword instead of answering back. She does not manage to hit the man and instead receives a thrust right into an already open wound on her chest. She growls and falls down to her knees. "For…" She is out of breath but tries to swear for herself, "For my father, and for my mother, and for my brothers… I shall fight. Valhalla, I am coming." She stabs her sword into the ground and uses it to raise back to her feet.

After that first exchange of blows, Einar seems to get into it, moving faster, eyes on Kalisha, anticipating her next actions. The strike he lands eventually across her chest is not a hard one, but well placed, knocking air from her lungs, and bringing her down. "Yield," he huffs, "yield, and I'll let you live." For the fraction of a second, he looks towards Elin, meeting that breaking gaze. It looks almost as if her head moves in a very faint nod. Lips almost twisting in a wicked smile. But Kalisha moves to stand, and so Einar takes a step backwards, before he starts circling her again, seeking for a breach in her defense he can take full advantage of.

<COMBAT> Kalisha will spend luck on Attack this turn.
<COMBAT> Kalisha attacks Einar with Broadsword - Serious wound to Chest (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Einar attacks Kalisha with Broadsword and MISSES!

Kalisha patiently waits while the man is circling her. She is still trying to get her breath back. Her both hands are holding the pommel of a sword which has been lowered down. Her eyes slowly follow the man. It almost looks that she is counting in her head. She is counting his steps. She is counting his breaths. And then she suddenly swings that sword with both of her hands. She does stagger and turns around, but she can feel how that sword goes right through the armor and then touches the man's skin.

The force of that strike surprises Einar, perhaps. And he curses again, "You evil witch!" His hand grips the pommel of his sword more firmly. "I will finish you off." Said in the melodious tongue of Gotland, uttered so far from home. His features show steely determination, as he moves in for the final attack. "You're bleeding."

<COMBAT> Kalisha will spend luck on Attack this turn.
<COMBAT> Kalisha attacks Einar with Broadsword - Moderate wound to Chest (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Einar attacks Kalisha with Broadsword and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Einar has been KO'd!

"TYR!" Kalisha shouts out the name of God who holds law, justice and victory dear to his heart. The name of the God whose symbol has been carved on the pendant which has been given to the girl by her father when she was born. That name leads Kalisha forward despite how tired she is. And she gives that last swing of a sword. It's hard to know where exactly she was aiming at, but she hits the chest of Einar, a brave warrior. And then she falls down to her knees again. Her sword stabbed into the ground again holds a young woman who is out of breath. And that fall helps her to avoid the last swing. "Tyr…" She repeats in a whisper.

"Loki's piss!", Einar hisses, when he feels the cold steel of the blade pierce through his armor, running him through, and he falls, knees landing on the soft grass that is soon stained with his blood. There is hate in the look he gives Kalisha, and then a horrible realization when Einar glances towards Elin, who lays there so still on her side, her grey eyes staring at the both of them.

"No!" It is more of a gargled sound than a word, rising from a chest that has been pierced numerous times, and Elin lifts her hand as if she could grab Kalisha's heart from afar and twist it forth from that nimble body through her sheer will. "No! Ei…nar. Kill… Her." Words that need so much effort to be formed barely manage to leave her lips in more than a whisper.

"Your fight is not yet over," Kalisha hisses when she looks back at Einar. "You fought bravely and you will live now. You will live that you could go back and tell to her father that I - AM - COMING." Then a young woman pushes herself up. She starts walking toward Elin, dragging her sword across the ground. She is breathing fast. She giggles and grins almost like a madman. "Do you hear them? They are calling your name. Hundreds of voices. Soothing voices. They extend their arms ready to embrace your cold body. They will sing you a lullaby. Ha ha ha…" She laughs and raises her sword up when she is close to Elin. "Any last words?"

Einar exhales noisily when that blade is pulled free of him, and he falls forward, unable to push himself off the ground; unable to move to his feet to stop the mad daughter of late Jarl Knut. But he can still crouch, and so he tries to, following all too slowly in Kalisha's trail, leaving a trail of blood on the grass of the field as he drags himself forward inch by maddening inch. "No… No… you must not…", he croaks, eyes wide with terror as he realizes that Kalisha is already standing over Elin Asbjornsdottir. He can see her grey eyes lift to regard Kalisha's features twisted into that mad grin.

"Aksel will have you.", Elin whispers. "You will run right into his… trap. And he'll make you pay. By… Odin… and Hel…" A bit restlessly, she reaches for her sword, fingers touching the pommel but too weak to get a good grip.

"Aksel will never have me." Kalisha states. She leans her head to the side. She moves one of her legs to step over Elin, that her slim body would be in between Kalisha's legs. "Go to Hel!" Kalisha shouts out and stabs her sword right into the chest of Elin. The daughter of Jarl Knut goes down together with her sword to straddle Elin, lean over her body and whispers into her ear, "Your brother, your mother, your father will join you soon."

Then she withdraws a sword and drops it to the side of Elin's body. Just then Kalisha seems to be hit by the pain caused by her own wounds. She brings a hand to her chest. "Ouch…" She hisses. Her own blood is running across her face as that is where she left a mark of battle before. She lets out a sigh. Looks around and then rushes off to find a shelter behind one of the larger trees. After taking a breath or two, she will move to another tree. And another… and another…

The thrust of the sword goes right through her chest, the momentum of the blade forcing Elin onto her back, as a choked sound rises in her throat, eyes wide as they stare into Kalisha's face and then further into the night sky. That gaze finally breaks, as life leaves Elin Asbjornsdottir in a last trembling exhale. Hand resting on the handle of the sword. Touching the weapon as she is called away to the high table in the halls of Valhalla, to feast with other dead heroes and warriors.

"No!" The word leaves Einar's chest in a deep sob as he raises his hand, but he is too far away, unable to interfere, when Kalisha sinks her blade into Elin, finishing her off. Trying to drag himself closer, as Kalisha for a moment seems to be overwhelmed with her own pain, but he is not getting there in time.

When Einar reaches Elin, she is already dead. Kalisha is gone. His purpose and duty? Failed. A realization that draws him further and further towards the dark abyss of oblivion, when his senses are starting to leave him.

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