Firstly, the way this sentence is written: [i]His right foot shot forward as her left leg tried to propel itself backwards, his foot dropping down, and without any upsets, just in time to catch his enemy’s own.[/i] I read it as an auto-attack. There was no previous mention to him trying to step at her feet, thus this would require an extra motion in the lapse of such an extremely tiny fraction of time. Also, it is not stated as to which foot Sigurd is trying to step on, but I'm assuming it's the left? If so, Iolanthe had already begun getting up before her shield was struck.

As for the frequent attempts to take advantage of Iolanthe's cumbersome armour, assuming she's always too slow, and he's always too fast; this shouldn't apply when her body is being relocated by the grace of her lower legs, which I'm sure can bench a lot more than Sigurd can, perhaps even with his stone arm! Her kit allows her these short dashes. His previous attack only landed because Iolanthe doesn't have his upper body strength.

Given how fast she could spring up off her left foot, I'm absolutely sure she'd be able to fully rise before Sigurd was able to adjust his sword and stab. I think you're overestimating the weight of her armour, from how you've added bits to Sigurd's set so far, both warriors are wearing roughly the same amount; Sigurd actually has more covering for his legs, while Iolanthe simply has an extra large pauldron, the only thing to add any difference. Since Sigurd has leather with iron, and Iolanthe only has singular pieces, this should make the Viking's gear a bit heavier, if it is indeed plates he's wearing, and not tiny studs. The extra pauldron is on a part of Iolanthe's body that can handle weight with ease - so although that may be heavier, it's not a huge issue.

I just want to get this info out of the way before making another post... given how picky you are on how you must always win your exchanges, I'm sure that regardless of how I write it, if Iolanthe doesn't take damage in my next post, you'll say that she should.