A Lesson

I stalked out of the tent angrily feeling furious and bitter. I went to my tree to finish skinning my hare but it was gone- so was my stuff. I inhaled deeply trying to remain calm. If anyone took my stuff... they were going to have a 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. There were very few other reasons on why my stuff was missing though. I doubt I could kill anyone here, however, I could definitely make them pay. Admittedly, I hadn't ever attacked something without the intent to kill so I would have to see how it goes. If they were stronger than me, I would have to let it go. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. I thought. 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴.

Well, time to go investigate. I walked towards the nearest person before calling out "Hey do you know what happened to that hare hanging on that tree?" He looked at me with contempt in his eyes, responding with "Yeah. It was taken by some members of the Lion tribe. Last I saw, they headed for the hall. One of them carries a black chain and sickle. Good luck getting it back."

I knew why he was so disparaging of me. My wolf headress showed that I have fought before but it isn't that impressive or could have been passed down. He could hear that I was a young girl by my voice and thus thought me weak. I politely asked him one more thing "Excuse me, thanks for your help. Is there any no fighting or killing rules?" "Killing or crippling is not permitted except if you challenge someone but beating is fine so long as you don't sneak attack for the first move."

"Just one more question please. Is taking someone's teeth considered crippling them?" "Yes, because there are a lot of teeth that you need for different things. Why do you ask? Do you think it's that easy to beat someone?"

I just smiled, baring all of my teeth. I leaped at him pulling out my sword. I wasn't using the iron one anymore I was using the white-haired man's gladius. It was 25 inches total, with the blade being steel and the hilt being bone. It was a nice gladius so he was either lucky or rich. I slashed at his arms and legs because I was way more likely to kill him aiming at his stomach or chest. Even if I was more likely to cripple him attacking at limbs.

He jumped back from my slashes and pulled out a haladie, a weapon with two blades at both ends and a handle in the center. He rushed me with a charging motion but I slid by just in time, stabbing my sword into his thigh while darting to his left side. He howled in pain "You brat, you're going to wish you were-"

While he was blabbing away, I pulled out the sword. Once it was free I punched the stab wound and kicked him in his jewels. He collapsed to the ground, eyes watering with pain. Just for good measure I kicked him in the ribs. I did not want a sneak attack once I thought the battle was done. The best way was to kill him but since I couldn't I made sure he would stay down for a bit.

"Hey buddy?" I told him smiling. "Maybe next time don't act like a jerk before you know that person's strength yeah?" He just glared at me as I smirked down at him. "You are so lucky that taking teeth is maiming. Now I want a trophy. So either give me something decent or I take that haladie of yours. Understand?" He glared for a few seconds longer before pulling out a Ria carving. He held it out to me and I grabbed it. I smiled genuinely, before going to leave.

That's when I really took notice of the crowd. I had been subconsciously aware of course, hard not to notice a ring of people around you but I stopped paying attention when nobody interfered. Now I saw just how big the crowd had gotten.