A Terrible Victory

Tarmen's oponent sends a kick to his chest sending him rolling down along the beach before jumping down on top of him with a stone knife trying to pierce his face.

Alexis makes a dash for a fallen axe nearby in the sand, turning, grabbing at it desperately.
Before she can fully swing back into the action a huge weight crashes against her.

She hardly has anytime to see Tar falling across her with a spear haft jutting from his chest, before the last warrior his upon her swinging his club down on her.

Alexis‘ eyes widened as she realised what just happened.

Not a second later they darkened in absolute, unadulterated fury. She caught the blow of the club with her newly acquired axe as Tar slid down between them. Pushing the Sentinel back with a strength that moments ago she would not have believed she still possessed she stared him in the eyes. Between gritted teeth she hissed at him, pitch speaking of cold, deadly finality.

“Pàighidh. Tu. Airson. Seo.”
~You will pay for this.~

She pushed harder, forcing him to stumble back. With her teeth, she loosened the straps on her shield, letting it fall into the sand as she stalked after him, axe at the ready.

While the kick had smarted, the pain quickly vanished when Tarmen was now facing a blade to his face. A panicked surge of adrenaline kept the warrior from fulfilling his purpose, but with the man bearing down with all of his weight it was a gradually losing battle.
The best he could do was guide where the knife would stab, shakily moving away from his eyes towards his cheek and finding purchase as they puffed out with each breath he took.
Realizing he couldn’t gain the upper hand here, Tarmen decided to give the man what he wanted, giving a desperate buck that unbalanced his opponent. The knife dragged across his left cheek, a thick gash flowing as he grabbed its wielder.
To his credit, the Sentinel fought hard to regain control, one arm holding keeping balance while the other still held the knife to stab at Tarmen.
With another kick however, he was sent rolling off with a timed hit to the elbow. Tarmen quickly regained his blade, the sting of his wound only fueling the following flurry of attacks.

Suddenly, the Sentinel facing Alexis didn’t seem quite so confident anymore.

As she closed in he swung his club at her once again, hoping that without the protection of her shield she would not be able to withstand its force anymore.

He was wrong. She sidestepped his attack and grabbed his left arm, pulling him towards her and into a resounding head butt that had him stumble back yet again.

Before he could regain his stance she swung her axe into his leg, having it give in with his scream of pain. She windmilled around, driving the axe head deep enough into the flesh of his arm to breach bone.

She pulled the weapon free with a jerk, blood gushing after it, and stared down at the man kneeling before her.
But only for a moment. She grabbed the axe with both hands and swung one last time with brutal precision.

The body slowly fell forward, as the decapitated head rolled off a few feet away.

Alexis turned to look towards the remnants of the battle between Tarmen and his adversary. He didn’t need her help.

With that asserted she dragged herself over to Tar’s fallen form, letting the bloody axe slide into the sand uncaringly as she fell to her knees next to him.

Gingerly she turned him onto his side. She just… she just didn’t understand why he would do that for her…

Lost in a blood-rage, Tarmen only saw that the man before him hadn’t been killed yet. He would have commended the agility of the Sentinel, barely dodging a swing or tactfully dodging out of reach to try and get Tarmen to over extend, all with only a knife .
Today there was no luck for the warrior, as the machete soon began taking chunks with each bestial cry that escaped Tarmen.
Even when the body was still and blood soaked the earth, Tarmen went on hacking to satisfy his temporary madness.
When there wasn’t enough to cut apart, he finally fought to regain himself and immediately sought out Alexis, his heart dropping when he saw her kneeling on the sand. Getting closer gave him relief, but also more frustration seeing Tar’s body.
Not knowing the man well enough, but seeing the emotion clear as day on Alexis, he offered a careful hand to her shoulder without a word.