If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.

-Sun Tzu

"Shit, shit, shit, shit!"

Mengus dodged a giant sword that was aimed right at his face. His right arm was so bruised he couldn't do anything with it.

The crowd in the arena became louder and louder with each swing. He used the axe in his left hand to block some of the attacks he couldn't dodge. Lysa didn't hold back, not even a little.

"The horse is a good reward, but being this violent for a fucking horse? Did I smack her too hard the last time?"

Mengus, once again, had no understanding of women.

Running around her, he tripped over a shield on the arena floor. The crowd gasped waiting for the final blow, but to everyone's surprise, Mengus rolled back, got on his feet very quickly, and blocked the attack with the axe.

"If this was me from my past life, it would take me 10 minutes to stand up."

Mengus sometimes spoke the truth to himself.

The sun was shining high on the blue sky, and shadows played around the participants of the tournament. This fight was worthy of the finals.

"Now a right swing, she'll step up closer with her left foot in front and try and stab me right through."

Lysa swung aiming at his right side, Mengus blocked and saw her stepping fast inside, her sword aiming at his torso. He read her perfectly. They fought too much in a very short time period so he got used to her moves.

She thought she had him but then she didn't. To stop her attack, Mengus stepped in just like her and hit her with his torso. She didn't have enough time to react to the attack, she lost her balance and fell to the floor.

Mengus raised his axe high and aimed at her sword. The sword made a loud noise when it hit the floor and bounced off a couple of feet from them, his axe under her throat. Mengus, injured, won again.

"I win, again." He smiled.

She spat on the floor and left, leaving him alone in the middle of the arena, with the crowd around him completely lost in cheering.

"I shouldn't play that much, she became much better and fucking faster. Now my hand hurts so much I don't know if anything is broken or just badly bruised."

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Mengus didn't know then, but his hand was only bruised. When he tried to ride his new horse, he just won, outside the arena, he fell so hard that he actually got very nervous if he broke it this time. Idiots with not much brain have more luck, this applies to Mengus as well.

"It is not broken, but you should be careful, it is badly bruised." a short woman, with short brown hair, took care of his wounds.

"Just give me some ale and it'll heal by tomorrow." Mengus took his mug waiting for the refill.

"Yeaaah... That's not how it works. I'll give you this cream, put it on your face you have a bad scratch under your eye."

"Yeah, I almost lost my eye when I tried blocking the swing with my left arm." Mengus thought to himself.

"What's your name? I didn't catch it, it is too loud in here." Mengus sipped some ale.

"Aena." Short and sweet.

"Where are you headed?"

"Just wandering, from battlefield to battlefield. Healers are always welcome."

"That sounds sad."

"What do you mean by sad?"

"Watching people die, the smell of death. You probably saw a lot of gruesome scenes in your life."

"I'm not that old," she hit him on his injured arm. He screamed. "Sorry."

"I won't pay you twice for treating my wounds." He joked. "I can see that you're tired. Join my party, I need someone to treat my wounds after tournaments. I see you're good, I'll pay well."

"Hmm.... I'll think about it."

"We're leaving tomorrow around noon, be at the gates if you want, or find me here I'm spending the night in this tavern."

"Sure thing, Mengus was it? I'm all done now, rest well and maybe we'll see each other soon."

"Another win! Let's celebrate, the drinks are on me!!!" Mengus yelled, the whole tavern raising their drinks and cheering.

"Shitty horse, got good money for that fucker tho, almost broke my arm. Should've cooked him."

"Hey..." Someone touched his shoulder.

"Look who showed up! Lysa welcome to the party!! Have a drink, have a drink hahah that was a good fight!"

"To what? Never mind that I came because of my promise." she lowered her head, face blushing. "I guess I'm yours now."

"That's great to hear! Hey everyone!" Mengus yelled, and the whole tavern looked towards them. "Lysa lost a bet so she *hiccup* belongs to me now, so from now on she is a member of our party!"

Weird silence, a cough or two, and a quiet round of applause.

Lysa red like a beetroot punched Mengus.

"You idiot." She grabbed the mug from his hand and started drinking. If she had to be this embarrassed at least let her be drunk.

Mengus woke up the next day. The rest of the night was a blur. A lot of drinking, arm wrestling, and singing that's all he could remember. His head felt like it'd explode.

Someone else was in the bed with him.

"Who the f- - -"

The memories of last night became much clearer, Lysa drunk just like him, her soft lips on his, the fight to get his pants off, the warmth of her body, her scent, and her moans.

"Did I lose my virginity last night?"

"What are you looking at idiot?" Lysa turned on her other side and continued to sleep.

"Well, at least she's not screaming and punching me I guess."

He looked at her back.

"Can we do it again?"

"If you touch me I'll kill you." short and....sour.

"Loud and clear" Mengus jumped out of bed, it was time for the old-fashioned stress release.

image [https://imgur.com/a/MGcVG8W]

image [https://i.imgur.com/qEUdqUn.jpg]