Snippet #1474045

"I'm going to disengage and try to hit you from behind."

The complete deadpan tone of this sentence threw Caine off... Would Talae actually tell him her attack like that? Was there a chance that she was messing with his head? Damn Dark Elves and their mind games. She could be just as easily be lying as telling the truth, and the tone gave no indication of which. Caine would have been frustrated at her if this wasn't a spar.

Either way, Caine continued to press the sword lock. All the way up until she did, in fact, disengage and hopped to the side. The quickness of the Dark Elf disappearing from the front and the sudden emptiness where his blade was forced him to lurch forward, throwing him off-balance... Something you'd expect from a Dark Elf. Caine stumbled forward one step and hit his left knee with a wet thump into the mud.

Without pausing to stand and think, instinct took over and he twisted and contorted his body, sliding his knee over the wet ground (accompanied by a slight damp sucking sound) enough so that he was able to pull the longsword behind him and intercept Talae's bastard sword. Sparks flew from the blades and pushed the human backwards. Good thing she did take the obvious route and attacked at his back. If she chose to continued around and attack his opposite side, he may have been in trouble. However, even if Caine managed to stop the Bastard sword from cleaving him in twain, the uncomfortable and straining position he was in took it's toll. At the last minute, he pushed with all of his strength on the locked swords to try and push the attack off. This did, however, send him further backwards...

Immediately after deflection, Caine fell over backwards, head over heels, due to a combination of the force of the Bastard sword and positioning. Figuring this would be a great time to gain distance, he flowed with his body backwards. On his back he continued the roll over his shoulder and his legs continued to fly over him. With his legs pass his head and body, Caine used his free hand to push off of the ground and hopped back into a standing position. Even back on his feet, he shambled backwards, confused, disoriented, and still off-balance. The mud wasn't forgiving either as he slid back more than he stepped

If Talae chose to pursue him, Caine would be at a disadvantage with the quick and nimble Elf. He held out his longsword at a diagonal angle to defend most of his torso and his left hand flew out to his side to try and balance himself. The hand was encased in a film of mud as was his entire back, hair and left knee. He looked a mess, but he didn't seem to mind.

"Are you going to tell your next move?" he asked with sarcastic wit.