Trial in the Dark | Tales of the Knights II - Pt. 1

 Arossa liked to be moving. Not towards any specific location, but where there was motion, there was progress, and so she tried to never stop. That being said, motion was doing little for her surroundings here. Cold. Dark. Grimy. Those three words summed up her experience walking through the undercity of Old Breta, where she headed in a zig-zagging path along the intersecting, dulled-steel corridors. Her pace was brisk, splashing in pooled water gathered in the beaten shape of the metal, but the thought of her solitary, armoured footfalls booming through the passages held her back from running. She had set out leading a detachment of knights into the tunnels, but a devasting ambush had hit them as they headed along the main pathway. Their formation had been crossing through a huge, multi-leveled chamber which provided access to the other levels via a dozen different staircases, but upon reaching its centrepoint, the ranks of their foes had erupted forth from the side passages and instantly threatened to encircle them.
 "Break past them! If we're caught here, then we're finished!" she had shouted. And so they had scattered, each knight seeking their own path out of the growing chaos before it enveloped them. Every such effort was a struggle in its own right: for each knight that retreated into a passageway, or dropped down to the lower levels, another two were entangled in combat to buy their comrades' escape. For her part, Arossa had managed both acts - staggering the nearest opponent with a flurry of strikes from her rapier, disarming a second with a flick of its point, and then sprinting past them with a handful of her squadmates following before the gap closed. Their group had chosen to split up deeper into the maze of criss-crossing passages in an effort to thwart any pursuers, and now she travelled the virtually unlit path alone. The sound of the trackers in her helmet ticking away was the last remaining comfort she had in this place, recording the time, distance and direction since they had been set at the mission's start. She could map out the location of their objective in relation to each measure and knew that would be the key to their success now.
 That, and also speed.
 She lunged forwards past an arched alcove as a spear struck out, its wielder was entirely hidden from view in the gloom but she had caught the glint of its tip reflecting in one of the few rays of light that pierced through the cracked ceiling. One step too slow, the attack missed and the ambusher was forced to emerge from concealment to confront her. Like the attackers from before, her opponent wore the armour of a knight - though the livery she had glimpsed was not of any recognisable order - and furthermore, the armoured bulk, looming a head taller than her in the dimness, matched the full warplate of an elite paladin. Arossa would have superior mobility in her lighter cuirass, but in these confines she was at a clear disadvantage.
 Rushing in as the giant advanced, she stabbed towards the vulnerable underarm, but her weapon was blocked by something imperceptible before it reached. The spear swept down and she spun to one side, pressing her back to the wall and letting it glance off her breastplate. She tried again and ducked into a slash at the leg joint but at this angle it was impossible to get past the greave. The spear rose once more, almost battering her helmet as it swung up, and prepared for another strike. Unwilling to let this fight draw on any longer, an idea came to Arossa as she rose from her crouch.
Still side-on, she shifted her weight to her back leg and feinted a thrust towards her foe's neck. There was little chance of her making out the gap between the faceplate and the gorget in the darkness, but as she hoped the veteran warrior instinctively shifted to block and stepped back. In that moment, Arosa turned and ran, throwing caution aside for the moment and using her greatest advantage to its fullest. She could hear the stomping footsteps pacing after her, but they grew increasingly distant as she turned right once and then again, but louder as she turned right once more and after one final corner she met the ambusher again - this time on her terms. Similarly aware of their own enemy's footfalls, the paladin tried to turn, but the heavy shoulderpads bashed and scraped against the walls, and the weight and bulk of the armour made turning on the spot an arduous task. Before they could manage so, Arossa rushed in once more towards her foe's exposed back. A disabling strike to the leg brought the massive opponent to one knee and a downward blow to the back of the neck finished it.
 Arossa flourished her sword in a salute, then went to move past. Immobile, but still huge even when kneeling, the defeated soldier had inadvertently blocked the way ahead. For a moment, she thought about clambering over the wall of armour, but supposed that the others would consider it undignified for a knight, even in the context of battle. She glanced at the time display in her helm: no time to waste here, she needed to be moving again. She turned again, retracing her route back round, but then splitting off as she reached the second junction, in the direction of her true destination.