Zandria Reclaim - Page Ikrah

Squire's Game. This was the main event in the contest for the Squirehood. They were up against the male squad on the target range. Archery tested skill and accuracy rather than might in strength. Sparring between the sexes was not permitted, except in the showmanship category in which only the best swordplay artist may come on stage to display their skills and form. The winning prize this year was the opportunity to join the Royal Guards in the Great Stag Hunt. Everyone knew that also meant getting noticed by the rulers of all the kingdoms for either employment or knighthood, depending on achievement merits. After the Great Stag Hunt, there was still the next major event: Tempest Rite, after which was the Knight's Ball. Captain Boleran climbed the ladder to the archer tower. Once up there, he looked to the pulpit that by now was filled with dignitaries from the six kingdoms from ambassadors to generals alike. He then turned to the pupils with a very short and precise speech. "Squires, do your best. To the winner, the spoils of war! Let the game begin!!!" He roared, then picked up the beating sticks to pound out the giant drum. The archers moved with their bows and arrows ready. Each was accompanied by their pages. The first two rows marched onto the target range. The drum beat changed to a slow rhythm to set them. The fusilade of arrows found their targets of straw figures. On and on, wave after wave of the same routine continued. Then, came Taye's turn with Ikrah keeping up behind. They did their part with high marks as Taye's arrows hit the headshot. They took their places to side to watch the rest come up. Ikrah looked proudly up to Taye. "Bitch." Ikrah's eyes shot open, hearing the sneer. "Look at the whore who slept her way to get tutored high marks from a prefect." That remark was meant for Taye's ears, who subsequently turned around to the accuser. "Say it to my face, Mogren." Uh-oh. Cringing beside Taye, Ikrah really had nowhere to hide, not with the open range behind them. Mogren was this big dark blonde with sea-green eyes. Judging by her color affiliation, she heralded from the Red Bang Company. And she had company, her entourage of four other girls dressed with the same red sash on white shirt and red pants with black boots. Not that Taye, who hailed from Zandria, didn't have teammates as they thronged over to the scene having heard the confrontation, but this was personal. "I'll say it. You cheating bitch. Taking advantage of access to what the rest of us are denied." Taye mocked a laugh. "He's my husband. I have every right to do so. What do you cry about at night?" "Oh you slut!" And the fight began. Ikrah wished she could sink into the ground and avoid all of this mess, but she was loyal to Taye. Even though, she balked at joining, they came at her anyway. So, she ducked and strafed to have Taye's back. Being shorter than them, she went for their legs, kicking behind their knees to trip them while Taye was punching and blocking out her opponents. Others were in a frenzy cheering or jeering them depending on whose side they took. A determined fist jabbed into her face below the eye, smacking the cheekbone loudly. That threw her back. She got back up seeing they were jumping on Taye from all sides. The one who punched her pushed her down, and was about to put her in an arm lock, choking her. So she moved to bite, which got the assailant off of her. She realized she still had the quivers on her. Pulling out two arrows, one in each hand, she leapt onto the Red Bangs to start stamping them with arrowpoints each in the butt, back, and shoulders. They yelped jumping in pain, which angered them into targeting her. "Ikrah!" She ignored Taye's cry at this point as the blood rush had enraged her. The stinging bruise on her face fueled it. She drew more handfuls of arrows this time and began to use them like twin blades as she moved into the fighting motions she had practiced daily. They circled her. She waited for them to come at her to do the Firecracker move, which was to let fly the arrows at two or three faces laced with Wind while she ducked backing away into an opponent behind her with a clenched elbow. Then, turning, she struck into that body with a re-enforced punch. She scissor-kicked into the one beside her. And then, someone countered her next move. She jabbed again only to have her fist caught in a massive hand. It was a Zandrian man of barely forty-five winters maybe, who was dressed in deep-blue velvet mantle. He sported a mustache and goatee that made him immaculate. The fight had stopped altogether. Everyone was in shock that someone of his magnitude had come in to intervene. "Enough!" He didn't even need to shout. She cowered in his presence right away. "They started it, General Topaz!" One of the Zandrians spoke up. "Yeah! That one over there! She called Taye----" "I said ENOUGH!" Topaz announced forcefully. Then, he set his eyes on Ikrah. "Quite the pair you two have made of yourselves, hm?" Ikrah scowled impotently, indignant to be accused as the problem when the situation wasn't her fault. Where was the justice? He smirked eventually. "You're a scrappy one, aren't you?" She yanked her fist out of his grip. She glared at the Red Bangs with her eyes welling with tears. This might cost her the privilege to stay in the Squirehood. But to hell with that, too. She marched up to Mogren, short of breath in anger, but calm as can be she spoke: "Say it now, " she dared the big girl. Mogren froze, darting eyes at the spectators. "Next time you think you can smear Taye with six on two, better bring a full dozen. And I not only won't pull punches, I'll gut you where you stand. Asmi puma." Taye had to pull on her shoulders to usher her away. "Come on, Ikrah."

Squirey Dean's Hall. Taye and Ikrah along with two others from their team were put to stand in one corner. Mogren and her cohorts were put to the other. The tension between Zandrian and Asmi pride were high. The teenagers were still giving each other sniding looks across the floor of no-man's land. The issue remained whether they were disqualified from participating in the contest. Three instructors were speaking among themselves in the far end of the hall. Each of them represented the regional ethnicities: Northerners (Gorran), Mid-lands (mainly Falshiren-Poplari and Asmi), and Southerners (Zandrian desertbred). They gestured and argued, then broke to look at the teenagers, and resumed their discussion again. In the end, apparently, they agreed to disagree. So they walked to the center of the floor to address both sides. "Who here is ready to excuse themselves before being expelled?" Master Templo spoke up first. He was Mid-land by trait with his motley features of auburn hair and fair skin with substantial height. His eyes were the color of hazel. No one volunteered to answer that question. Master Fawna from the southlands, particularly Asmi, scanned through the Zandrian group. She settled her eyes on Ikrah, who was the youngest and stood out like a weed with her looks. "You," she charged, and Ikrah looked around, "yes you. Tell us what you saw and heard." "She threatened to kill me in public!" Mogren interjected. Ikrah instinctively looked at her rat-accuser with a distasteful scowl. Taye had to grasp onto her by the elbow to remind her about restraint. She looked up to the Squire with an adamant expression, but quelled her anger adequately. "Master Fawna," she began, "if I may be blunt with my words, I heard Mogren call Taye a bitch and a cheat. Then, they attacked us when Taye merely challenged her to back up her claims." "And why didn't you stop them or in the least go report on them?" "I would have if her cohorts didn't blind-side me with this bad shine." She pointed to her bruise below the eye, which by now was turning purple and blue. That brought a few muffled snickers and disguised coughs praising her bravado from her side. Even a couple Asmi girls were jeering on that note as well. Master Templo forgot to hold in the smile though he managed to contain his amusement. "What is your name?" "Ikrah of Falshire." "Falshire---?" Fawna looked at Templo out of the corner of her eyes while Master Pierce remained silent as he crossed his arms. She turned on Ikrah's Squire next. "Taye, what have you got to say for yourself?" "I'm no cheater, Master Fawna. Nor am I a loose cat. It was insulting to say the least, and at worst a pack of lies to besmirch my family honor." "And what about the threat on Mogren's life? Will either one of you make good on those words?" "If they have to, I wouldn't blame them," General Topaz spoke up, coming in from behind the drawn tapestry of the back entrance. "Six against my two girls plainly speaks cowardice." "General Topaz, we take death threats seriously. Clearly, these two have personal vendettas, and that degrades the cohesion of schoolmates." "Oh?" He looked at Ikrah who was only as tall as Mogren's shoulders. "I'm not taking sides here, but do you think Mogren can take on Taye's page?" "Not likely, General. Witnesses say she used magery." Now that changed the level of the playing field in his arguement. But he was not about to budge on his stance to advocate on her behalf. "Then, you should prove that before judging her by her name alone. Not all who hail from Falshire carry mage-blood in their veins." "Well, then, we'll test her mettle on the mock battlefield. That should be the special event of the year." Ikrah froze upon hearing those words. The Asmi girls were smug with Master Fawna on their side. Taye stepped forth without hesitation. "In that case, I invoke Battle Royale on Mogren and her partner. I defend my honor, as well as my husband's name." Taye spoke seriously. Fawna nearly fell backwards upon hearing this challenge. "Mogren, what is the meaning of this?" The girl retreated sheepishly. "Why is he involved?...Someone answer me!" General Topaz eyed his daughter with pride, then looked at the would-be Asmi pumas of the future vying the Zandrian desert-bred in glory. Master Pierce paced into view. "Well, Master Fawna, this looks to me as a matter of cultural differences," he said. "Asmi tradition has it that pumas who come of age tend to kin-take a groom? If I have that right. Usually a dozen are involved." "In short," Templo put in, "the girls are fighting over a boy." "This is Falcon's Spire, not the forest of Asmi," General Topaz said. "Battle Royale, then," Master Fawna conceded. "At high noon tomorrow. We will use the showman stage." She stepped back toward Pierce to whisper a question, "Who is the boy?" "Aquine the Eagle, Prefect of the Seventh Squad," he whispered back, which made her eyes pop up in surprise. "Impressive." "You haven't even seen him." "He's in the Seventh Squad, enough said."