Spera vs. Hooktail

[BrookSkimmer]

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Spera vs. Hooktail

Setting: Sandy beach with water on one side and salt marshes to the other.

Hooktail has first post!

Hooktail
Age: 21 seasons
Gender: Male
Species: Rat
Description: Hooktail is average in height, a bit spindly, and always a little shaky. His eyes dart in various directions, never seeming to focus on one thing. He wears a simple black tunic, tucked into a broad leather belt. His tail has a kink at the end thus "Hooktail". He is missing some of his right ear, has scraggly whiskers and oily black fur.
Personality: New to the crew and unsure of himself, Hooktail thought becoming a crew mate would help him grow up. He spent his first few years being coddled by his mother and therefore is quite timid creature. He learned how to use a short cutlass by slicing vegetables for his mother and later developed a small amount of skill in using the weapon for battle.

[BrookSkimmer]

Hooktail launched himself unceremoniously form his boat at a shout from one of the other crew beasts. He was good at following orders, and following others around the ship. He had followed other all his life. His mother, brothers, street rats, he had followed them all. He wasn't good at thinking for himself, it made him twitchy. Now here he was, on the brink of battle. He touched the handle of his short cutlass, not gaining any comfort from the weapon. He had not had a need to use it since leaving his mother's kitchens. Now it looked like it was going to be either chop, or be chopped.

The warm water soaked through his fur as he waded towards the shore. His heart began to pound until his ears rung. Thumpa thumpa thumpa he placed a paw to his chest and swallowed. The taste of bile rose to the back of his maw. So this was battle? He had heard of the ways of war. Joining the crew of the BloodSpine was supposed to turn him into a rat, but instead he felt like more of a coward than ever. His ears flicked back as one of the last rounds of flaming ammunition sailed by overhead. It whistled through the air before it plunged hissing into the sea.

The smell of acrid smoke filled his nostrils. The ship was done for and Hooktail could almost feel his Captain's wrath. It seethed from the fox pirate like fire, scathing all who came near. Hooktail waded faster, he had to stay away from Visefang. He had almost been killed by the fox for spilling a bucket of hot deck wax all over the fore deck. He still felt the lashes on his back as if it had been yesterday. Why did he feel more a coward everyday? It seemed sailing, fighting, being whipped, and all the rest of the salty lot was doing nothing but making him want to disappear.

FREEEEEEDOOOOM!

The battle cry rang out, potent with rage and righteous indignation. He would die this day, he could see it in the eyes of the beasts who stood like a fortress before them. They were not beasts to cross swords with, not if one wanted to live to see morning light. Hooktail swallowed and pulled his sword from his belt. It was either face the wrath of Visefang or the steel of there warriors. Either would be death. Hooktail had hoped it would not pain him overly. A tear trickled down his cheek as his footpaws moved him onto the shore.  The fear was so great he felt he would faint.

There was a squirrel! A female squirrel in a blue dress. Perhaps he could handle this one! If he killed one of them his Captain would praise him. Yes, it would be done. He mustered all the courage he had left and charged forward. Sweat mixed with tears and salt water as he swung wildly as the squirrel maid.

"Blooood and deathhhh!"

[Rainshadow]

  Spera was afraid for her life, looking around and wondering what she should do.  They were in the midst of war and all she could do was stand by and shake, feeling terribly horrible.  Never had she been so afraid in her life!

  Spera shook herself, gripping her blood-red dagger in her right paw.  Get a grip, Spera! she told herself, wondering what had become of Joey.  She should be looking for him!  Hadn't she just seen him being taken off by a vermin?  She shuddered at the thought of the word.  Vermin.

  The young squirrelmaid had just decided to find her friend when she heard a blood-chilling cry.

  "Blooood and deathhhh!"

  Spera turned, shaking, to see a young rat, maybe a few seasons older than her, charging at her whilst waving a cutlass.  She fought the urge to run away, trying to remember something she'd been taught in battle training.  Anything!  Nothing came to mind other than a swift jab, so the maid dove forward, her eyes pinched shut as she cried, "FOR FREEEDOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!"

  In her mind, she immediately regretted this action, wishing she had just turned and run away.  She had left herself wide open to any attack the rat decided to do, so she would probably be dead soon.  And if the rat was slow to react, she would most likely kill him with this stab, which would make her feel awful.  In short, this was one of the worst decisions of Spera's life.

[BrookSkimmer]

Diving forward in a lunge was a risky maneuver, and one Hooktail was not prepared for. His battle cry was cut short as he sucked in his breath and side stepped. Even though he had reacted quickly, it was not quite quick enough.

"AAArrg!" He let out a ragged yell and clamped his free paw to his side. Blood quickly sprang through his fingers. The rat shuddered, for a moment lost in swirl of pain. So, this is what it felt like to be wounded in battle.

The young rat's eyes narrowed and his brow furrowed as he fixed his gaze of the squirrel. His paw left his side and blood ran onto the sand at his footpaws. It was not a fatal wound but it was enough to fog his mind. The clash of battle rang all around him, his nostrils picked up the scents of fear and blood.  He could feel his fur standing on end as battle rage overtook him. He was spurred into action by pain and fear. The squirrel would die. He would become a true warrior with  blood stained sword!

Hooktail swallowed back his tears, replacing them with anger. "You will die for that!" He moved towards Spera as quickly as he could, his cutlass held before him. The tip of the weapon shook, but he held on with as much strength as he could muster.

The cutlass came forward as he stabbed at her middle. It was a day for death!

[Rainshadow]

  *

  Spera felt horrible for wounding this beast, but she was too terrified to say anything.  She gasped as she watched the rat's blood flow from the wound.  She wanted to say she was sorry, but the squirrelmaid didn't dare to.  Who knows what could happen if she showed any bit of weakness?

  Suddenly, the rat lunged at her once again, stabbing at her middle with his sword.  The first thought that formed in the young Sword's mind was to drop to the ground as quickly as she could.  This is what she did.  The thought was that she would completely dodge the weapon, remaining unharmed, unlike the vermin.  That thought didn't go exactly as planned.

  Spera took a sharp breath, hissing through her teeth as she felt the pain of the slash in her forehead.  She clutched her brow with her left paw, the beautiful blonde and white fur turning dark red with her blood.  Sand from that same paw went into the wound, making it hurt even more.  Tears of pain streamed down the pretty maid's face, competing with the blood to make it down her head first.

  Spera stood up slowly, grunting as she took her paw from the wound, pushing upwards.  As soon as she was on her footpaws once again, she firmly placed the red paw back on the slice, hissing as she was trying to not cry out.

  Spera then shuffled her footpaws, remembering one of her many lessons.  She had been taught to keep moving.  Never be still.  Being still meant being dead.  So, the squirrelmaid kicked sand around as she tried to keep away from the nasty cutlass.  Who knew what diseases could be on that rusty blade?  She could die from a single scratch!

  Spera wracked her throbbing brain for any battle moves she had learned.  Another came to mind:  Slashing her opponent across the chest.  She wished she didn't have to do this, but it was obvious that the rat was going to kill her if she didn't do anything.  Spera ran forward yet again, this time a much shorter distance, waving her dagger in front of her as she screamed a wordless battle cry.

[BrookSkimmer]

Hooktail winced as his blade caught the squirrel on the forehead. He had thought that scoring a blow during a battle would make him feel bigger and bolder, however it did the opposite. He felt bile rising in his throat as he stumbled backwards from the injured maid. The young rat had to swallow to keep from retching into the shallow waters at the tide line.

"I- I'm sorry..." He stammered as she rose and came towards him. She held her weapon in front of her, ready to attack. This made the rat suck in a breath and try to grip his cutlass tighter. She was continuing to fight and so must he. For a moment Hooktail imagined what life would have been like had they not been fighting. He was sure she was not a bad beast. Something about her told him this. He didn't want to hurt others either, especially not in the way he had just sliced her with his blade. But, Visefang would kill him if he backed down. There was no choice. He had to attack.

His wound felt like fire as she advanced with her dagger. Every time he moved the pain lanced through him. Salt water added further pain as it dripped from his tunic onto the cut. Hooktail choked back a sob and put both paws to the handle of his weapon.

"AAAArrrGGG!" He shouted out a cry of anguish and fear while coming to meet the squirrel's attack.

As she slashed towards his chest he raised his blade to counter the blow. Then he moved to the side, gasping short breaths from pain. His cutlass moved forward once, twice, thrice! He aimed to take her through the side. If he could get the blade between her ribs this awful affair would be at its end.

[Rainshadow]

  *

 Spera barely heard what the rat said as she charged at him.  The blood was roaring in her ears, causing her to be deaf to the world.  She tried to keep tears from coming to her eyes as she attacked, fearing for his life as well as her own.

 The young squirrelmaid had her eyes closed, so unfortunately she didn't see the attack until it was too late.  Fortunately, though, her dagger caught the blow, saving herself from further injury.  The loud clang! made her eyes snap wide open, pain shooting through her arm from the force of the blow.  Before she could stop herself, Spera let out a cry of pain, dropping the weapon.  It fell into the sand by the rat's footpaws, much to the pretty maid's despair.

 Dropping to the ground once again, Spera yelped as the nasty cutlass flew through her right ear.  It had cut at least half of it off, by her guess.  She attempted to spread her bloody paw across her head to cover both wounds, trying to reach her dagger at the same time.  She was so close!  So close to grabbing it.

 Spera let out a sigh of relief as she wrapped her paw around the pommel of the weapon, wincing at the same time as a new wave of blood flowed freely down her head.  She stood up, not realizing that the rat had swung his cutlass at the exact same time.  Poor Spera screamed and jumped to the right as the icy cold blade worked its way into her left side.  Luckily, it was a shallow wound, but it hurt just as bad as if it had gone much farther.

 Tears were pouring down Spera's face as she turned to her foe.  She was practically sobbing now, not even caring if she showed weakness.  She had never been in so much pain before!  She was leaning mostly on her right footpaw, not daring to put a single ounce of weight on her left, for fear of opening the wound farther.  She very much wanted to shout out, "Why?  Why are we fighting?  Let us stop this nonsense!"  But the maiden just wouldn't dare to.  She may let herself cry, but she'd never show so much weakness as to beg for mercy.

[BrookSkimmer]

Hooktail grimaced as his cutlass did its job. This was a ll too much, he didn't want to fight the squirrel maid anymore. He had already done more damage than he had ever wanted to. He had never wanted to harm this squirrel, or anybeast else. He thought being involved with a battle would make him feel grown up. He had imagined himself as the victor of a battle, his enemy's blood dripping from his cutlass. Oh how brave he would feel, and how strong. But this was the opposite of what he had imagined. Looking at his crimsoned weapon made him feel sick. His knees felt weak, as if he could topple over at any moment. The blood had drained from his face and he felt cowardice creeping through his body. The young rat began to shake.

"I never wanted to do this!" He croaked out the words to the squirrel. She was sobbing, tears coursing down her face as much as they did his own. Hooktail felt as if he could reach out a paw to this squirrel to help her with her injuries. But they were wounds he had caused. This was his fault!

"I'm sorry! So sorry," He swallowed hard, staying his paw to the handle of his weapon. He had to finish this. If he didn't he knew Visefang would find out. He would be labeled a traitor and the penalty for that was something Hooktail did not want to think about. He had seen a traitor punished by the captain. He could still hear that beast screaming out for death before the end.

With one last look of despair the rat hefted his blade and moved forward. He would kill her quickly and get this done with. After that, well, Hooktail was not sure he wanted to keep living. The wound to his side might prove and end to it all.

He made no battle cry but moved in to attack the squirrel. His cutlass swung out to the right, attempting to take his opponent in a slash across the chest.

"AAAAuugg!" The rat cried out s his side wound opened further from the attempted attack. He stumbled forward, unable to keep himself steady because of the pain. Hooktail tried to stand up straight but he had left himself wide open to Spera's soon coming attack...

[Rainshadow]

  The rat's words shocked Spera.  He was sorry?  How could a rat be sorry?  Weren't all vermin cold and cruel?  Then the squirrelmaid saw him charging at her.  She couldn't bring herself to scream from how exhausted she felt.  She had to fight the urge to close her eyes.  Maybe it would feel good to just lie down in the sand and sleep.

 Spera gasped, her eyes popping wide open.  She was losing too much blood!  That was what was making her so tired!  Stumbling to make herself stand upright, her eyes wide with fear, the maid watched in horror as the rat charged at her.  However, he stumbled in his charge, probably from his wound.  He ran right into Spera, knocking her down as she finally let out a scream.  Spera then proceeded to swing her dagger at the rat, hoping to strike him on the head with the pommel of her hilt.  She didn't want to kill him, just knock him out so she could get away.  She wouldn't be able to live with herself if she killed this rat.  After all, he showed that he had at least a little sliver of kindness, or maybe regret, in his heart.  Why else would he be sorry he'd hurt her?  She knew that no vermin would be apologizing when they watched their foe start crying.  This rat... he was different.

  (OOC)