My First Kill

Second time in armor, again in the Shire of Silfren Mere. I slowly get geared up in loaner armor, wrinkling my nose at the smell of Eau de Gambeson, and try to put on my best game face. Tosten is already on the field, sparring with someone so I don't feel like everyone is watching me.

I spar a bit with Lyulf who gives me a number solid thumps on the helm. They ring pretty loud, but they don't hurt at all, so no fear. I swing and swing at him, and nothing lands good- my arm is swinging so wide you could fly a plane using it.

I'm fighting with my left hand, and I'm not left-handed, you see. I really injured my base of thumb joint doing alot of jewelry wire work, and it kicked the arthritis into full gear. After wearing the hand splinted for an entire month, the Ortho Doc told me to lay off using any impacts on it, as the joint was going to need surgery to keep being viable.

So I'm warmed up now, even if I'm not feeling too confident, but happy to be out on the field fighting. Lyulf takes a break and points me toward another fighter on the list and say, "Go fight with him."

He's big, he's got spiffy armor, and I'm thinking, "Oh well, what have I got to lose?"

We square off, and I'm determined not to be a wussy fighter so I start swinging as fast as I can. I throw and throw and the third time, he wheels back and says, "Good!"

He's got this weird questioning look on his face, and he slowly says, "Ohhhhh, you're a lefty!"

I'm sure I have an equally quizzical look, that says, "How in the hell did I do that?"

Now my head didn't swell up, as I know I pretty well sucked, but hey, I made a kill! I couldn't tell where the blow landed and I'm not sure I was even aiming at all or if my eyes were even open! But it felt good, it felt really, really good.