For the first time

I recognised that beauty, as the woman I'd seen before whom had clear signs of abuse littered across her body and now she was plastered onto his shield, dead. I felt my pulse grow faster and my eyebrows raise. The warden took off his mask, once again revealing his blonde hair which he flicked off, revealing his sunken yet ambitious eyes. I stared at him and we seemingly came to a standstill until he said, "I'll take off my armour to make this a fair fight".

"Why did you kill her?" I asked, disregarding his statement. He looked back at me, silent, before saying,

"We had an argument, and one thing led to another and now she's dead". His response left me with more questions and I asked,

"What argument, I'm asking for the specifics". He seemed hesitant to respond to me but managed to say,

"She slept with another man". I nodded in understanding. If a woman as beautiful as that betrayed my trust I too would have done the same but I had another question,

"And why did you decide to put her on your shield of all things, you could've burnt her or done something to disgrace her". He looked at loss but soon found his words saying,

"I guess, I still miss her" he paused, thinking of more, "but now she isn't really gone, things are just different". I nodded. By now we had a mutual understanding so instead of taking this chance to kill him I let him begin to take off his armour.

Finally, he finished and readied his sword and shield. He stamped his foot once, then twice, then thrice before raising his sword. I began getting closer, my bow wouldn't help me considering he had a shield. I stared deep into his eyes, trying to get into his head and make him feel as if he was trapped in a way, as if I knew his every move. My strategy however seemed to not work as he stayed stood, unfaltering. I took the first move and stuttered my steps, trying to get a reaction. He gave a reaction by leaning back a little and I took note of that. I grew closer and did the same thing, locking on to his throat, aiming for a kill. He gave the same reaction but however, as he dropped back he slashed at my head and I narrowly ducked but my hair was now cut flat at the top. I bit my lip but fell back. I'd been disgraced in battle, for the first time