Author: Elizabeth
Rating: A saucy PG-13... cause that's all I can write... and no more, else you'll be highly disappointed with my knowledge thereof.
Disclaimer: I wish I did... but I don't... wish I was one of the official writers, but I'm not... and never will be <sigh>... so, is that good enough to disclaim my non-existent ownership of W/T?

"Fighters, take your stance."

Tar'airah strode smugly to her mark on the left side of the rink.

"When the ceremony begins, you'll receive a sword, I'll already have mine. Perhamia will most likely begin with telling us to 'take our stance,' or 'Brelhas nuesos ascasis.'"

"Brelhas nuesos ascsis, right, gotcha."

She walked forward, holding up her sword as the capture received his.

"You stand opposite of me, just follow whatever I do..."

The foreigner, to Caranthia's surprise, mimicked the amazon girl perfectly in sync.

"And when you hear..."

"Raise your hands, believe in your struggles thus far, and do not let fear control your actions..."

"That means you need to hold your hands open... like this, it's a sign of respect and our acceptance of fate."

"How romantic."

"Shush, this is important. After a few more words you will hear three commands," Tara's hand rose counting off on each finger.

"One: Uweljua"

"Stand."

"Two: Ykia"

"Breathe."

"Three: Morta"

"Kill."

"And then what happens?"

"We fight."

It was an easy dance, circling one another, balancing on how much looked as if they were judging each other's fighting capabilities. The crowd was cheering wildly, throwing out insults left and right at Willow.

Good thing she can't understand them.

Willow heard the voices, and could only speculate what was intended by the foreign words being shouted.

Too bad I can't understand them.

She realized after a few minutes of 'judging' her opponent it was time for the first move.

Here goes nothing.

Tar'airah, immediately recognized Willow's action: she let her head slightly turn away, as if distracted by something her foot had stepped on. With one fell swoop, the amazon was upon the redhead, swiftly knocking her sword to the ground, being sure to not touch one hair on the redhead's arm.

Tar'airah backed off, triumphantly, grasping the other sword in her hand. She raised the two swords to the crowd: A sign of victory of the first level of battle, upon which the crowd of women responded in full-blown cheer. She discarded the weapons to the side of the rink as demand for hand-to-hand combat.

Phase one complete - sharp, painful objects taken out of the picture and away from Willow.

Willow, upon loosing her weapon, raised herself up again, taking in the sight of bloodthirsty amazons within twenty feet of her in every direction.

Phase two: surviving them.

Tar'airah stalked the redhead easily, as Willow feigned staggering away in fear. In one strong jump, Tar'airah was on top of Willow, tumbling them both to the ground, twisting and turning with each revolution their two entwined bodies took. The friction of dirt on skin stopped their momentum and Tar'airah up-righted herself on top.

Hoots and hollers could be heard from around the circle; Tar'airah had obviously won five minutes prior to the fight's beginning, but it was still fun to cheer their winning side.

She looked down at the love of her life, as she raised her hand to punch the living daylights out of her.

God she is so beautiful.

Willow looked up and saw the clear blue eyes of the woman she loved, just as she saw the fist coming towards her face.

Could she be any more gorgeous?

Leaning slightly away from the swift hit, her helmet was slapped off.

Tar'airah up-righted herself for another hit when looking down at her 'prey' dramatically, stopped her movement.

"MENTIA!"

Willow could feel the vibrations of her love's voice shoot ripple through her ribcage as she bellowed the word she had been waiting to hear since this dreadful fight began, "Lie!"

"MENTIA!" came the holler again, and the crowd's universal cheering was stifled. Caranthia came forward from her stand, and looked down at the scene before her.

"What are you talking about? Kill him! KILL HIM, you weakling!"

"This is no man..." Tar'airah grabbed Willow's arm as she stood up, lifting her at the same time, pulling her towards Caranthia the torchlight flashing around the now silent arena, "this is a girl... you have made a mistake..." her voice grated with the rage she had been holding in since the beginning of the Sacrament, since the beginning of the ridiculous fight, "THIS, is an innocent. AN INNOCENT!" Tara's voice bellowed. Willow had never heard anything like it come out of her sweet mouth before.

Caranthia stood still, then realizing her last chance was slipping away from her, "If you cannot kill a simple human from the outside world, than I guess I'll have to, you weak slow-witted beast," she shrieked.

In one swift movement, she raised her sword in her right hand towards Willow's brow.

"You will NOT escape death!"

The redhead looked up.

What the...?

Fa'aith and Buf'aneah saw from across the arena in sudden alarm.

Oh fuck.