Cero one last time. He stepped back when the boy shook his head and faced Inadar. The girl lunged forward and landed a solid blow on Cero’s nose that sent him staggering backwards.
“You simpering fool. You think that everything belongs to you and you never think about when you hurt others.” Inadar landed another blow against the unresisting Cero.
“I don’t think that everything belongs to me and I'm sorry if I hurt you.” Cero wiped his nose with his sleeve even though there wasn’t any signs of blood.
“Fight back, or are you too spineless to stand up for yourself?” Inadar derided Cero as she lunged in again with a blow to Cero’s stomach. Urake heard a warble from Bani and saw the little dragon looking between the two combatants mournfully.
“It isn’t right to hit a girl.” Cero messaged his stomach while Inadar recovered her power of speech.
“Don’t you dare call me a girl! I hit you first so you can try hitting back; that is, if you aren’t too much of a wimp.” Inadar spit on the ground and stalked forward. This time Cero didn’t stand still, but dodged and twisted around in time to avoid another punch. Inadar reacted and swung a fist at his head. Ducking, Cero retreated a couple paces while Inadar glowered. Urake was a little surprised. Cero’s display of agility was more than was to be expected.
“You sniveling coward, that wasn’t fighting!” Inadar was shaking in rage now.
“I will fight how I please.”
“I bet you have never been out of you father’s shadow and never had to stand up for yourself.” Inadar tried advancing on a retreating Cero.
“I spent the last few months by myself. I had to keep from being killed every day, you know nothing about me.” This time when Inadar charged, Cero side stepped and went into a backwards somersault coming out in a crouch. When Inadar came at him again, he lunged forward and rolled over his shoulder onto his feet. Inadar stood watching Cero until her trembling rage had settled into an eerie stillness. Her breath came in clouds of fog. When she charged this time, Cero looked worried. She was moving too fast for him to manage an evasion. Taking the attack full on, he tumbled backwards from the impact with Inadar on the top. A moment later she went flying through the air into a pile of musty hay several paces away. When she lifted herself to her feet, Urake felt a chill in the air.
“Hey, I think we have had enough.” Urake was about to step into the fray when Inadar came at Cero with a vengeance. He took a good hit on the shoulder and returned one just as good that nearly knocked Inadar off her feet. While Inadar was off balance, Cero came in with a jab aimed at further throwing Inadar off. This was foiled when she recovered and dodged at the last moment and gave him a shove as he came by. Cero managed to grab her jacket and pulled her down in his fall. Inadar tried to flail free, but only succeeded in getting a face full of dirt.
Urake strode over to the wrestling duo when he had decided that the fight had gone on long enough. Reaching down to drag Cero off, he was surprised to find the lad launched backwards into his face. The impact and surprise was enough to knock him to the ground. Springing to his feet Urake, faced an enraged Inadar with a dirt smeared countenance. He raised an arm to stop her when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Cero sped past him and crashed into Inadar again.
Urake retreated until he had found a sturdy staff with which to separate the combatants. When he had the staff in hand, he again advanced. Cero and Inadar were rolling around on the ground wordlessly. When they had separated a couple feet Urake leaped in and shoved Inadar back. Turning to Cero, he found the lad’s reflexes to be faster than he had anticipated. Cero caught the staff and spun to bring a knee into the center, smashing in two pieces. A moment later the remaining piece was torn from his hands by Inadar. Urake fled the whirling fighters. Unable to think of a way to part them without permanent injury, Urake was forced to watch as they wielded the broken poles like swordsmen.
There was quite a ruckus as the staff pieces were brought together