The Road to Shallowgrave

[The Stranger]

Flea squeezed her hand, and wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his cloak. "I don't know."

[The Stranger]

Flea hugged her warmly, pressing his cheek against her breast. After a while he strengthened himself, and looked up, kissing her.

"Enough sad stories from the old days. We're tough hard whisperers now. Show me what you know about using a blade." He grinned at her with a pleasant mischievous smile.

[The Stranger]

Flea drew a dagger from the sheath on his left arm, and dropped down into a combat stance, he gave Dacey a naughty smile.

"Show me your strokes." he said with a wink.

[The Stranger]

Flea circled, his eyes focused on her blade.

"What areas are you aiming for darling?" He asked her, as they circled.

[The Stranger]

Flea contorted his body and sidestepped past her, leaning in and placing a light kiss on her cheek as he slid by.

"Good. But aim for the inside of the thigh, you want the artery near the crotch. That's a killing blow."

[The Stranger]

Flea grabbed her wrist with his left hand, and raised it above her head. "Don't forget you have more weapons than just your knife in a fight."he pecked her on the lips, and than backed away.

[The Stranger]

Flea laughed, "distracting your opponent is an important skill." he tossed his dagger to his left hand, and than feinted with it.

[The Stranger]

Flea nodded, "Good. Remember your block is just another attack. If you were in a real fight, you should block my wrist, not my blade. With luck, you'll sever the muscles and leave me defenseless." He switched his grip and slashed with his left, forcing her to move to the right.

[The Stranger]

Flea leaned all the way back to avoid the slash, and so had his weight on the foot which Dacey kicked, sending him over backwards. At the last moment he flailed out with his foot, sweeping both of her legs from under her. They both hit the ground in a confusion.

[The Stranger]

Flea let her break her fall upon him, and than quickly rolled over, seizing her hands above her head, and bringing his dagger up.

"Gotcha!" he said, in mock triumph.

[The Stranger]

Flea looked deep into the woman's eyes, and withdrew the dagger, planting it in the ground a few their heads, Dacey's beautiful flushed face reflected in gleaming blade.

Flea kissed her hard as his fingers interlocked with hers.

[The Stranger]

Flea groaned as her knee struck him, and he felt the blade as his throat. His eyes narrowed as he considered her for a long nervous moment, before smiling.

[The Stranger]

Flea rolled over to the side, and put his hands between his legs.

"Yes." he wheezed. Many men would have had bruised egos, and proclaimed the unfairness of the tactic. But not Flea. There were no rules for whisperers, other than survive and succeed, and she had.

[The Stranger]

Flea rolled his eyes, "Yes it really hurts." he grunted. "But don't count on it to win many fights. If I hadn't put the dagger down, you'd have likely had your throat slit."

"Ahhh, careful." he said, as she put her hand on him.

[The Stranger]

Despite the pain, and there was pain, Flea's young body began to respond anyway. He grinned at her.

"I'm resilient," he said with a wide grin.