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Jas	By : awcoppelia Category: A through F > Forgotten Realms Views: 3207 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the Forgotten Realms series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 6
- 7
- 8
CHAPTER 7

The combat had continued now for as long as it had taken Drizzt to almost single-handedly defeat the entire class, although neither opponent seemed particularly fatigued. On the contrary, both seemed to pull their energy directly from the clash and dance of their respective wooden weapons. It was actually the most fun either of them had had since they had first attended the Academy. A few moments after they had first begun sparring, Jas couldn't help but crack a few jokes and jibes. When he arrived at the point that he was improvising names for movements using various ways to remove clothing from one's body, Drizzt actually threw in a few of his own witty renditions, thus revealing he did have a sense of humor in there somewhere, although he hid it pretty well most of the time.
The banter and the successive laughter seemed completely apart from the intricate motions of their bout, never slowing for a moment. Even though he was truly enjoying himself for the first time in what seemed to be decades, Drizzt was no longer wondering why he was put in this particular Melee. This was in some ways a relief, since his earlier opponents had been so easily dispatched. Jas was not going to be put down so easily, not at all. So far, he had tried several varying combinations, each ending in a stalemate, usually long before he had been able to exercise in his intended plan of action. He had tried then to be sneakier, trying to lead Jas the long way into an intricate offensive set of maneuvers, but was again Jas seemed to guess his movements, and his strategy was frustrated again. He kept hoping he could lead Jas into a double thrust low where the younger drow could use his version of the cross down parry, a movement that he had added his own signature to, making it harder to predict, but the older student wouldn't even let get him get to the point where he could implement it. It was almost as if the older drow was reading his mind. Drizzt's saving grace however was that he was quicker than Jas and could improvise faster than he and in more innovative ways, thus cutting off Jas's own tactics, bringing them thus far to an impasse.
At present, he was trying to figure out exactly when Jas catching on to what he had planned. He knew there was no way Jas was actually reading his mind, there were strict controls against that type of intrigue, there just had to be some way to trick him, or some way to avoid giving himself away. The start of an idea was beginning to form in the back of his mind, but how to implement it? Jas's technique seemed to be based on his ability to see the end result of several defense and offense patterns at the same time. Drizzt was wondering what would happen if he offered Jas a series of moves that brought no gain and had no discernible pattern; would it be enough to throw him off? But he would have to be careful not reveal what he was actually doing, so it would have to be very subtle and intricately performed, or Jas would use the opportunity to take him out instead. He thought he could pull it off however, as he had noticed that he was quicker and more agile than the older student, bringing him an advantage he could use to cover himself.
So he concentrated on finding a good position from which he could implement his idea. A moment later, Jas flashed him a smile. He could tell Drizzt was up to something, that couldn't be helped, but Jas had to know Drizzt wasn't the type let the combat just lead him along anyways; he was bound to try something new at some point or another. But as long as he didn't know precisely what Drizzt had planned, it shouldn't make too big a difference. It wouldn't seem much different from his earlier tries at beating Jas's system.
On his first attempt to lead Jas into confusion, he was only partially successful. Although the somewhat chaotic routine did indeed throw the older drow off for a moment or too, he was quick to see any accidental openings and quickly took advantage of those, forcing Drizzt to again resort to traditional modes of defense. Drizzt continued to fight ordinarily for a little while, waiting for another opportunity to implement his revised plan, one that would accomplish the same goal, but would not leave him open and vulnerable, which was not as easy as it appeared.
Furthermore, Jas knew something was up as well, as the banter between them had stopped and he had intensified his own offense, trying not to allow Drizzt a chance to throw him off again. Drizzt allowed this, letting Jas think he had the upper hand for now, hoping to let overconfidence conceal his subtle plan under a shadow of possible discomfiture. Certainly Jas certainly had a natural talent for the complexities of single combat as well as an uncanny ability to predict what his opponents would do, but Drizzt had been trained by the best. In times where Drizzt and Zak'nafein had accomplished what they had set out to learn for the day, his mentor and trainer had taken the time to show him some archaic movements, demonstrations that were too complex to be very useful, nor necessary, in actual combat. Most had been used in ancient times as ceremonial, meant purely to awe the public, and had fallen out of use centuries ago. Drizzt was glad now that Zak had made him learn those, when he would have rather been goofing off. The movements were obscure and pointless enough that Jas could not recognize and therefore predict them, but were close enough to actual fighting to not leave him open enough for Jas to launch his own offensive. Once the younger student had found his routine, his focus sharpened, all senses directed to actualizing his plan and keeping himself protected from Jas's counters. Somewhere, though, in the back of his mind, he was again thinking that this was the first time in a long time that he had this much fun, been able to completely let himself enjoy the fight. So many times now, the opponents were dispatched too easily, or he had to be constantly on the lookout for those like Jas's Laa'ven, those who would snatch victory by way of treachery rather than an equal contest.
This time he was able to keep Jas more on the back of his heels, keeping him off balance more often than not. He continued to execute his chosen routine, pushing Jas a bit further back with each drawn out series of patterns. It was almost becoming tedious, and Drizzt was momentarily startled when Jas suddenly broke the silence that had set in since the combat had become more intense.
"Shit!" he hissed.
Drizzt was confused for a minute, but then saw what the older student had predictably seen many actions before him. There was no way, no combination of defense, that was going to save Jas now; he had him. Even if Jas simply tried to run away, he couldn't escape; Drizzt was too quick for a cowardly retreat such as that. Sure enough, a few moments later, the tip of Drizzt's right pole was resting against Jas's throat, and the masters, who had been intently watching their bout, immediately dropped a blue ball of light over Jas's head. Jas dropped to the floor and lay on his back with his head near Drizzt's feet, grinning him up at him.
Drizzt looked down at him and asked, "Aren't you upset that you didn't win?" Most of the time his last opponent at the Melee (usually Berg'inyon Baenre ) was pissed off enough to spit like a cornered cavvekan.
"Not yet, maybe later," Jas casually replied, still grinning, eyes focused much lower than the younger drow‘s face, "Plus the view down here is pretty sweet."
Drizzt's cheeks went a bit pinker, and he looked up frantically to see if the masters were paying any attention to them. They were not; they were finishing announcing the end of the Melee and letting the defeated students up from their positions on the floor. Jas took advantage of Drizzt's distraction to hook his arm around the younger drow's ankles and pull him to the floor. Once Drizzt was sitting on the floor, hands behind him on the ground supporting him, Jas pushed between his bent knees and put a hand on both of Drizzt's thighs, his face close enough to the younger drow's to feel his breath on his cheek. Drizzt thought that it looked like Jas was going to kiss him again, and he found himself fervently wanting him to. His breath shortened and his cheeks flushed even hotter than before. Jas noticed Drizzt's response, he couldn't help but notice with his hand positioned where they were, and breathed into Drizzt's ear.
"Now that you killed me, does the mean I get to haunt you now?" he whispered sweetly.
Before Drizzt could answer, a bolt of lightening hit the ground not too far from where they were on the ground. Startled, both students jumped to their feet and looked up to see where it had emanated from. One of the masters was scowling down at them.
"Break it up, that's not what we're here for," he growled, and Drizzt‘s cheeks, if it were indeed possible, went even hotter.
But Jas was not going to be deterred this time by outside interruptions. He made a quick show of apologizing to the master, and as soon as he was able, took Drizzt by the arm, and pulled him out of the Melee chambers and out onto the plateau that contained the buildings of the Academy. Although they were supposed to go directly back to the pyramidal structure that housed the fighters, Jas led Drizzt down a different avenue to a small storeroom that had at one time housed lizards used to train fighters in mounted combat. The lizards had been moved to larger quarters long before the students had attended the academy and now housed spices and other components used in practice at Sorcere. Drizzt hesitated when Jas picked the relatively simple set of locks and traps on the door.
"Are you sure we should be going in there, won't people need to come in here and get stuff?" he asked.
"Nah, they have their own end of year exams, they only use this stuff for teaching, not tests." Jas replied, a little relieved. At least Drizzt wasn't pulling back because he didn't want to be with him. He tugged on Drizzt's arm and led him into the dark cavernous interior, the pungent smell of the spices providing an exotic flavor to an otherwise crowded and ugly room. He led the younger student over to an old stack of lakeweed seed strands left over from the days of the lizards and spread a fairly clean bit of canvas, usually used to protect fragile components from any ambient light, over the stack. He went back over to Drizzt, who had moved back to the middle of the storeroom, standing with his arms crossed over his chest and gazing at the stacks of varying components. Jas tried to pull him towards his makeshift bench, but again Drizzt hesitated.
- 6
- 7
- 8
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Jas