Gissur was standing his ground against Sturla, the leverage they thought they would have with capturing his family was nonexistent, Gissur was an extreme person and knew he would reunite with them in Valhalla.
Sturla was here, the elusive Sturla, and this was his chance to strike a vital blow to Sighvatur, or would it be more accurate to say the Sturlungar clan?
Sturla was surprised that their plan did not go as expected but his father had considered this and still accomplished their end goal; did they just want Gissur's wife?
That seemed a bit short-sighted but it was a possibility nonetheless.
"Very well then," Sturla said and before he could even equip his blade fully, he saw an incoming flying kick from Gissur, he managed to block it with the hilt of his blade but the force in which the kick packed was enough to send him crashing out of the building as he rolled in the ice, screeching to a halt by burying his sword into the ground and out of the hole came Gissur.
Gissur looked happy, this was the first time he was fighting Sturla, and he was skilled, to say the least. He could block his attacks and he was smart enough not to use his body to block his blows.
"I see that the stories about you being a hothead were true…" Sturla said, dusting the snow off of his body. The fight was about to begin and he was not worried about Gissur's men backing him up because he knew that he could take on every one of them and Gissur simultaneously or at least this was what Sturla thought.
Gissur swung his sword down without warning and Sturla managed to get out of the way with a single step back but Gissur used his sword and plunged into the floor as an anchor to propel himself forward attempting to land another flying kick and this caught Sturla off-guard,
What was this unorthodox way of fighting? Sturla could not predict his moves at all but he was well equipped to counterattack, Sturla thrust his blade forward in a bid to impale his chest.
But Gissur easily caught the blade between his thighs and kicked Sturla's chest as it acted as a foothold for him to execute his next action, which was to disarm the enemy.
Gissur had taken the blade of Sturla and Sturla did not even know what had occurred.
Gissur was mixing both sword fighting and hand-to-hand combat, it was an advanced level of fighting but it would all be in vain if he did not kill Sturla and he knew this.
Sturla was not moved by this, and he dashed toward Gissur, despite not having any weapon in hand.
Sturla's hand was reaching for Gissur's neck, Gissur cut his hand into two but for some reason, he still felt Sturla's hand firmly around his neck.
"What?" Gissur thought as Sturla began to squeeze the life out of him, but he could swear he cut his hand into two so why was it around his neck?
"You look confused…" Sturla said, noticing the look of confusion on his face, but Gissur tried to struggle in vain and he could not believe Sturla was this strong physically.
"What you saw was an afterimage, it is easy to trick the human eye if you know how the mind works. In reality, you never cut me…" Sturla said as his firm grip tightened around his neck, choking the life out of Gissur.
The skill he had just displayed was commonly known as a sleight of hand.
But at that moment, reinforcements arrived, and Sturla found himself facing an army but he wasn't concerned. Multiple archers let loose, but all Sturla did was use Gissur as a human shield. Gissur took the arrows in his place before Sturla tossed him into the building he had kicked him from earlier.
"I guess the fate of this pathetic little clan has been sealed…" Sturla said, walking away and no one dared attack him despite him being alone.
They knew if they fought him, the bodies of their enemies Gissur had littered mere moments ago would be theirs but this time, done by Sturla.
Sturla was quick and had used some skill to trick Gissur into thinking he had him and that momentary opening was all he needed because there was no way that Gissur could wield his broadsword when he was being choked out.
Sturla had demonstrated his strength and it was equal to GIssur begging the question of just how strong Sighvatur was; if his son was this powerful. It was a well-known fact that Sighvatur surpassed his son in both skills and intellect.
"What is happening? Check on the Chieftain! Find the wounded!" A man commanded as they began a search effort to accurately assess the damage of this attack. In terms of casualties, it was surprisingly low meaning the enemies' primary objective was not to grind down their numbers.
"Sir! The Mad Hound was defeated!" A lower-ranked warrior barked but another one soon joined him in the sharing of bad news.
"Sir!" The other warrior screamed as he ran towards the man temporarily in charge.
"What is it?" He asked; he could tell by the urgency in the lower-ranked warrior's voice that this was something of importance but he did not have time for beating around the bush.
"O-Our food! It is all gone! Our water has been contaminated!" The lower-ranked warrior said and before he could speak, Gissur walked out of the building.
Everyone was surprised he could still walk despite the arrows sticking out of his body.
Gissur did not have any other injuries and he did not consider this a defeat because Stturla knew if he tried to go any further, he would be drawn into a real life-or-death battle.
Sturla came here to deliver a message and he had delivered that message, but he did not want to "trigger" Gissur because Gissur was most dangerous when his life was in danger.
"I see! They intend to starve us out!" Gissur said. Sighvatur had orchestrated this as he had taken into account that his plan would not go according to plan and had orchestrated another.
