Reminiscence [Bellona]

Despite the rain, Bellona was outside, in the castle garden. An open umbrella leaned casually against her shoulder, at just the right angle to barely shield her from the rain. Meanwhile, her free hand rested on the hilt of her rapier, as though she would be called to use it at any moment. The flowers around her still showed signs of life despite the heavy rain, a testament to their strength. Bellona admired that. Though most of her interests were decidedly un-girly, she still liked flowers for their resilience. For once she wasn't out here for them, though. The garden was her favorite place to go out and think on her own, when she didn't have work or a fight to distract her. Her thoughts turned to the announcement of a ball in Newhaven, the symbol that a full year had passed since the riots. The whole thing left a bad taste in her mouth, especially since the instigators had gone to ground since then and had been thus far impossible to dig out. There was no way the ball was any more than a show of what small shred of accomplishment Liliana and her pet noble had attained. Still, there was a chance more important members of Spectre would show up. That would hopefully be more exciting.

"I wonder if she joined up with them," Bellona mused out loud, angling her umbrella enough to stare up towards the sky. As she did, the memories came back to her, as vividly as if they had been yesterday.

...

..

.

"Ahh, thank you for coming," Bellona said, gazing down on the kneeling woman before her. Athena Delacroix, an assassin serving the throne from the shadows and known as the Nightblade. She had earned quite a bit of infamy, as many assassins with even the smallest amount of recognition do. Of course, most of this recognition was within the innermost circles of the Empire - the rabble would only know her by the bodies left in her wake.

Her body count was respectable enough, but some of the stories she'd heard made her out to be an unstoppable killing machine. Any lowlife with a talent for stealth and subtlety could kill, though. 'Unstoppable' was a description bestowed only on those who could survive direct combat. "You've made quite a name for yourself, haven't you, Miss Nightblade?" Bellona asked, adopting a facade of amicability. "I would like to see your abilities for yourself, if you don't mind. Spar with me."

The last part was not a request. Sure, Athena could turn it down if she wished, but not without consequences. Bellona would not accept even an infamous assassin refusing her.

Fortunately for the Nightblade, she had chosen not to try and refuse Bellona's request. Bellona could tell even before the assassin affirmed her assent that she was preparing to begin in earnest. She'd start with a throw, most likely. Something to catch Bellona off-guard and enable her to get in a quick first attack. So the moment the Nightblade spoke, Bellona had already shifted her weight to move. Sure enough, the thrown knife came, glinting in the sunlight as it left the assassin's hand. But Bellona had already moved, with a short step to the side that would allow it to fly past its intended target - her arm - while still permitting her to keep her eyes on Athena.

It was good that she did, too, as Athena quickly moved towards her with a pair of inward-curving blades. Bellona stepped back, drawing her rapier in a quick motion and using it with short, defensive thrusts and parries to keep Athena at a distance. The assassin had proven that her abilities were not limited to dispatching unsuspecting or distracted opponents. Now Bellona wanted to see how far those abilities extended.

For the moment, Athena's strikes still seemed very deliberate. She was testing Bellona, gauging her defenses. But if Bellona faltered, or chose not to take them seriously, each one of them would still cause serious injury. Her response was to time and position her own responses to minimize risk and effort. But that would only go so far when the the Nightblade got serious.

And sure enough, it didn't get far at all. Bellona soon found her rapier trapped in a hole within the blade of one of Athena's knives. Clever. Did she regularly use that to disarm nobles, or had that just been improvised on the spot? Either way, enough movement in that arm and the rapier would come right out of her hand. The rapier was already lost, and so Bellona made no effort to retain control of it. Instead, she let go the moment she felt resistance on it and lunged straight for Athena.  She passed and parried the other blade with one hand on the assassin's arm as she closed the distance between them. She wrapped the arm to trap it, then thust her knee forward to drive it right into Athena's side.

The sudden shift in tactics had worked. Bellona's knee connected with Athena and and left her winded for a moment. The instinctual reaction even caused her to drop the knife that still posed a potential threat to Bellona. Even so, to Bellona's delight she still continued to try and fight. Bellona brought her left arm up to shield against Athena's punch, then followed through after it connected to hook on to the back of the Nightblade's neck and push against the side of her head. She pushed the assassin's head down to prevent any subsequent punches from being effective, then continued pulling with her left arm and pushed with her right. In doing so she would twist Athena's body until it fell off-balance, then push her to the ground. As she did, her hand slid up Athena's arm until she could grasp her hand, preventing her from doing more with her remaining knife. Then, assuming that Athena didn't manage to immediately get away from her, Bellona would raise her foot to step on her, pressing the heel of her boot into Athena's side.

Bellona was visibly delighted now at the determination still in Athena's eyes. Even after being pushed to the ground and pinned under her boot, she was still ready and determined to continue. Though this would normally be the point where Bellona would call an end to the match, the War Goddess now wanted to see what else Athena would do despite her position.

But sadly, she would never find out. Not what the Nightblade had originally planned at least, for it was at that moment that a soldier came running into the garden. Bellona's attention shifted, out of necessity. Reports could be ignored to a certain extent, but it was better to take them when they came, in case someone had come with vital information. Not that Bellona expected anything important at the moment. But whatever the soldier had to say, it apparently could wait, as he quickly stammered out an apology and ran off.

In that moment of distraction, though, Athena had struck. She pulled on the foot pressed against her ribs to try and pull her off-balance (and, in the process, spread the legs of the short skirt-clad woman standing right over her0. Realizing what was happening, Bellona snapped her leg up and brought it back down in an axe kick. But Athena had managed to turn and kick at Bellona's other leg as well, sending her keeling forward.

Unable to stop herself in time, Bellona found herself laying directly on top of Athena. While she might have had more thoughts on this compromising permission in a moment, all she thought right then and there was that she was going to make that soldier suffer when he finally gave his report.

Seeing Athena's blush, it started to dawn on Bellona just what position they had found themselves in. She blushed faintly as wel, but had little time to do anything about it. Even as embarrassed as the assassin no doubt was, she still had plenty of fight left in her. The next thing Bellona knew, she had been rolled onto her back, and Athena now lay on top of her. The assassin quickly sat up and tried to grab the dropped knife. But Bellona still had Athena's other arm, and that was all she needed. Rather than attempting to grab Athena's other arm, Bellona brought her trapped wrist to her chest (uncaring at the moment of where that arm ended up) then trapped the arm under her other arm. Using it as leverage, Bellona rolled Athena right back over, pushing the assassin onto her back and shifting her legs up to sit on her in a similar position. With their positions reversed once again, Bellona used her grip on Athena's wrist to push the knife closer to the assassin's throat.

Still, for a moment longer, Athena continued to fight back. She resisted to the best of her ability as Bellona guided her hand and knife to her throat. Even more delightful to be sure, although Bellona wondered if, despite her spirit, the assassin would also have the sense to surrender when she knew she had lost.

And, before Bellona could go too far, she did. She yielded, graciously and almost happily. As though she, too, had been yearning for a proper challenge and had finally received it. Bellona loosened her grip, and sat up again. "I accept. I'm impressed though. You put up a valiant fight, and remained determined right to the end." Though Bellona's voice had been full of false niceties before, every word she said now was genuine. She smiled, then stood up and offered Athena a hand. "You've earned my respect. That's not something many people manage."