Closed Watchdog

[Ricky Maze]

Watchdog
Autumn 36th 514 AV, 9th Bell
Location: Zeltiva's Outskirts

Mathew's Bay sure knew how to roar at times when the waves crashed against the rigid shoreline, but given the geography and terrain it should've been expected when one such as Ricky walked along the shores. Never let it be said that he enjoyed the sound of a good roar with the wind, especially when you could feel it in your very bones at times when the weather felt just right. Of course even then one didn't want to stand to close to the water, specifically around the jagged areas where rocks could easily threaten a life short if they weren't careful. Today of course Ricky thought to approach this area of the bay in earnest desire to start his training, he'd been holding off on it long enough and felt it best to get started now. Thus he came here today with not but the clothes on his back and the shield he used during public duty, though that was only half the time when he deemed it necessary to carry around. He definitely needed to start doing so more, seeing as how they had a use for combat. Mainly though Ricky sought practice not for defensive purposes, but in turn offensive since the shields could serve in that purpose as well.

Plus given the fact he'd had a couple of strange dreams on and off, he found himself liking the shield much better than the sword. Plus he needed to work on tactical combat with shields and unarmed combat much more, seeing as how he was far more experienced with the sword and lacked the same with the other two. Looks like 'ere 's a good spot. He thought once he stopped to arrive at a dead end, it appeared to be a cove that had been tucked away just within the outside reaches of the city. Surprisingly Zeltiva seemed to remain in sight and at large, so he could only surmise that he was still pretty close to the vicinity. Either way he was at a good distance and felt himself alone right now, that was all that mattered seeing as how he needed to focus with as little distractions as possible. Given Oi could be in combat Oi also need t' learn 'ow t' use magic at whim too. He noted as he tightened the loose grip he had on the shield he carried, he wondered then what possible combinations could occur when he combined several tactics he had with others.

There were a number of possibilities, all which needed to be thought out and planned well enough. That and sufficient testing to see how effective they were, all which could help him lead or support others to victory should he be involved in future battles to come. And he knew, he knew good and well there certainly was future battles ahead of him. Roi den. He raised the shield up before him in a defensive stance, the round piece of armor felt somewhat heavy on his left arm as he raised and lowered in a couple of different positions. Oi used it in me roi hand back t'en, but let's see if Oi can't use me left. The idea of it seemed pretty silly actually as it was only a simple dream, a practical imagination his mind fed him while he slept at the time. Yet even so he felt part of it held meaning, and even if he couldn't comprehend it just yet, he could at least understand that his preference was over the shield rather than the sword he practiced with. Guardians defended the weak after all and to defend you have to know the way of the shield, not the way of the sword like the warrior. Therefore Ricky would spend his time dwelling on his role as a watchdog, and how he should better serve the role by using the shield as his weapon instead.

[Jadlin Hayes]

Jad made his way to the shore and looked out across the rolling swells, highlighted by Syna'a gleam. He felt better than he had in many days. The intern at the infirmary had told him his ribs were most likely not fully healed, so he'd brought his skirmish sword along, used in its second office as a walking stick; the rubber grommet dulling the spear point at the lower end, and the leather sheath wrapping the blade end in a "peace" glove.

He loved the sea, loved its restlessness, its endlessness; the sense that you could never sail far enough to exhaust all its mysteries. And he felt strangely that the sea loved him back. Not like the love he shared with Black, of course. Nor the brotherly love he was developing with Ricky. It was more the mischievous love you felt for a worthy adversary that you respected.

He also loved the shore, the mix of sea and land cultures, the boundary of submerged wilderness land dwellers could only guess at, and sea creatures likewise, but in reverse. He knew there were peoples that made homes that blended the two elements. The Charoda that sold fishing gear among them, he recalled with a chuckle. That fellow was not so very different from any other merchant, gills or not. He wondered how many others there were. He envied their dual knowledge of what was both above and below the waves.

Jad made his way along the beach until it started to rise to a windswept overlook on the edge of a small cove. He knew he was not that far from the city proper, but relished the solitude for a change. His injury had made him a focus of attention for a while and was glad to be free of it. He was still getting easy tasks at work, and though he appreciated Mr. Pelthes' intent, he was getting a bit tired of being treated as if he might just fall to pieces if he lifted anything more than twenty pounds.

He smiled ruefully and shook his head at the thought that they'd probably offer to carry him up the modest slope to the level top of the overlook. No, he was not going to suffer that indignity he snickered as he started puling himself up with the haft of the pole arm for leverage.

He didn't really look across the top of the outcropping, having bent over to catch his breath, and turning as he rose to look back on the vista of city and sea. 'Yes,' he mused, 'One more thing I love...Zeltiva!'

His reverie was distracted by sounds of exertion some ways behind him. It was mildly annoying, but he knew it was common ground and he had no right to impose his wish for silent preoccupation. But as it went on, he simply became curious as to what was taking so much of someone's effort.

His eyes were still somewhat dazzled by Syna's glory upon the water, but they cleared quickly enough to see a man practicing some sort of martial techniques with a shield. As his vision cleared further, and the other man completed some motion and held still for a moment, he was stunned by coincidence to see who it was.

"Ricky!"

[Ricky Maze]

He couldn't go around being a watchdog his entire career and he definitely felt it time to better his skills for the future, granted there could be anything that might happen in the city while he was on duty or even off. He served Zeltiva and her people and the best way to keep that duty alive was to defend it, thus his training with the shield was far more important compared to the training with the sword. Since he hadn't really grown accustomed to the idea just yet though, it became a work in progress seeing as how he was right handed and the shield served him better on the left. He started with a few basic swings, mimicked them as though the shield were just a rounded sword instead. To be honest he felt rather odd about the whole thing, and he wasn't sure if it was because of the idea in general or if it was just him being right handed.

Either way he knew he would break into the habit sooner or later, create a better sense of ease as he developed a sort of style out it eventually. When he recalled the way he used the shield in his dream, he not only used it as a weapon but a literal extension of his body. Almost like the sword tended to be when he would use that in a fight, only because he seemed to have a bit more experience with it than anything else. Yet if he was to follow the example he set in that specific dream, then he would do whatever he needed to give up the power of a warrior just to bear the power of a guardian. Such ideas were silly and probably didn't make much sense, but deep down he felt that the dream itself served some purpose in hinting that's what he wanted to do. What he should do anyways. Thus he went in for a few more swings, made his arm throw the shield around as though it were his punching gear. Though he could've easily bought a set of knuckles or something for that, he definitely wasn't in need of that kind of training. No what he needed to train himself with was his shield and his magic, they would both serve him better than the sword or any other weapon for that matter.

Ricky moved forward with each swing, the heavy shield made a swoosh sound through the air, as each step he took was followed with another repeated swing. Left to right, right to left. He was doing what any good sort would do when it came to practicing and learning how to use a weapon, and that was creating a routine to build a memory in the mind, a memory of how this or that attack should function while in practice and in real combat. Let's combine de two den, see how versatile Oi can be on de battlefield! He twisted around with a stomp on the ground as he tapped into the reserves of his Djed, a small dose channeled in a quick manner through his right arm as he whipped it downward to expel the Res out from his hand. As he brought his right arm up he spun around clockwise and directed the hand forward, the small orb of Res quick to react and mimic his movement with a swift orbit around him before it launched forward and in turn transmuted into a small ball of water.

Good, me reaction timin' seems decent. Now t' see if Oi can keep up with chainin' combos and switchin' between de two. He contemplated as he thought about how effective it should be in actual combat, granted his magic would be a bit more challenging since he'd put more into it than he did earlier. While he could grasp at the fact this was only a mere training routine he decided to start, he had to remember that were he to really fight it would require more concentration and force. So more Res would've been required to generate an actual ball of water that could hurt, then again there were several other ways to make a person hurt than just splashing them with water. He grinned a bit as he looked at a jagged boulder nearby, his mind went to the day where he learned how to make the water work like a whip thanks to Aoren. Of course that took a bit of time and effort to figure out, and practice wasn't something he'd focused on since then really.

Given the circumstances now though, there wasn't any real reason for him not to give it a try. Little did he know though that he was not as alone as he thought he would be...

[Jadlin Hayes]

Jad watched his half brother for a moment, figuring the breeze may have carried his greeting off undetected, or that Ricky was so focused on his maneuvers that it didn't register. He decided, though, that a man concentrating on defensive postures would be more focused on the surrounding clues of a possible enemy's approach than at most other times.

The prankster in him could not help but consider sneaking up on his brother and spooking him. But it was too easy to imagine the edge of his brother's shield, instinctively swung back in his face, shattering teeth, to go through with that. Even a blow to his torso would be painful, with his ribs still in question.

But a bit of sparring could be a pleasant diversion. The day was warm, the breeze invigorating, his pole arm "peace tied" and blunted. The more he thought about it, the more it appealed to him. He raised his voice. "RICKY!"

Without waiting for an answer, he began making his way forward, exaggeratedly leaning on his impromptu walking stick like some old hermit, a grin putting the jest in his comments. "Some guard YOU are, letting a cripple sneak up behind you with a sword. and armed with naught but the lid off some trash bin! Why I ought to report you to your superiors, though I don't know how I'd choose from among so many!"

Jad stood his ground defiantly, anticipating his brother's answering bluster. Ready to either concede defeat in this battle of wits, or extend magnanimous acceptance of surrender from his adversary. In either event it was now time to ratchet up this battle of wits to a true test of skill, however restrained.

"If you like, we can call it a draw, and let your ability to thwart my intent to spank your disrespectful backside with my sheathed blade, decide the winner, or in your case, the whiner." he chuckled at his last insult. "Whatta ya say, big brother? A bit of sparring?"

He whipped the two handed blade up into a ready position and stabilized his stance. "Don't be scared now, Sergeant Maze." he taunted good-naturedly, "I've still got sore ribs AND I'm out of practice, so you can probably take one out of five." he gave a salute, by extending the weapon up at an angle and giving a slight bow, then resumed his stance in preparation.

[Ricky Maze]

Quest Initiated! :

Jadlin has initiated the sparring event, there are no rules in particular, as this is mainly a sparring/relation building thread.

He had taken a stance that would allow him to throw his arm into a horizontal sweep with his right hand, only to find that somebody had managed to arrive and catch him off guard in turn. While he'd swung his arm over from his left he spun around to discover that Jadlin had in fact been the one to gain the element of surprise, and in turn the Res that corresponded with his whim came to be halted before it propelled from his very palm. At best he managed to clutch the air in which the royal blue orb was surrounded in, and in turn contain it in his mental grasp as his eyes revealed a bit of shock in the fact that he actually did have company. "Shyyyyke." He sighed in relief as the younger brother stepped forth and made a mockery of him, a rather nervous chuckle to follow as he gave a slight grin at the banter he brought with him.

"Were Oi armed wit' somet'in a bit more dangerous t'en surely ye'd be sufferin' more dan just a few broken ribs Oi'm sure." He mused as he brought his right hand up to show the royal blue ball of liquid that pulsed and vibrated above his palm, though it was in fact part of his own being to Jad it could've no doubt looked to have a life of its own. The way his Res responded to his whim lately seemed less taxing with the more practice, and of course there was also the fact his connection to the natural element he was always surrounded by. Ever since his brief but thankfully short moment spent overgiving himself just to pull a small boat to shore a while back, he's felt himself oddly more attuned to the element as though he were naturally part of it. Which actually scared him quite a bit when he thought about it honestly, yet he couldn't let a minor event such as that hold him back from further practice. One didn't just reach their limit and give up further trial and error after all, even when the result of doing so very much intimidated him into doing so for a while.

At the suggestion of calling it a draw perhaps, though unlikely given the look in his face, Ricky's face seemed relaxed as he drew his right hand into a closed fist around the Res. The liquid ooze already gone as it already seeped back into his being and became part of what it originally once was, he felt a slight sensation of relief from it in the process as he chuckled at his brother's intent to try and make a sparring session happen between the two of them. "What. Just 'cause yer a crippled ye t'ink Oi'll be takin' it easy on ya? As much as it pains me t' hurt people, Oi ain't afraid t' give a proper ass kickin' when it comes to gettin' some deserved respect!" He jested with a bit of humble mirth as he took a defensive stance with the shield in front of him and his fist propped up as though he would've been holding a blade. "Oi'll warn ya t'ough, Oi'm not used t' fightin' wit' just a shield." Yet nevertheless he couldn't help but grin at that fact, as he thought to be interesting nonetheless.

[Jadlin Hayes]

Jad's friendly taunting gave way to a sudden seriousness. "Okay now, let's be sure of one thing. That empty hand is just for imaginin' a sword, right? I mean you're not gonna throw some kinda fire balls or anything like that. I don't mean for this to be a magic fight. We both know what sort of tactic I'd have to use. Even if it was just for sparring, Leeching would still give me that, sort of...poisoned feeling."

Jad circled as he spoke, "stirring" the air with his skirmish sword as he did. "I'll really try to consider there to be that blade in that hand, though I admit I'm wondering why you didn't bring it along for this practice. You know, practice like this is only gonna do you so much good, without the actual weight there to give you the element of balance you'll actually experience with the blade genuinely there."

Ricky must have guessed that this last bit of "advice" was only intended as a distraction, because he was entirely ready to use the shield to knock aside Jad's sudden lunge with the covered spear-point end of the two-headed weapon. Jad grinned as he leaped back in anticipation of a cross swing by Ricky's "sword" hand, "Well, I guess you were more prepared to disregard my wise discourse, than I thought, after all."

Whether Ricky had actually pressed the counter attack or not, did not alter Jad's patient side stepping. He had seen soldiers use shields as weapons enough times to expect his brother to try that, despite his current stance suggesting otherwise. Jad decided two could try that 'misdirection' game. He re-gripped the haft of his pole arm and swung it across in front of him, as if he hoped to surprise Ricky with its longer reach. Then twirled completely, retreating a single step, to swing it across again, in case Ricky had moved in on a seemingly vulnerable opening.

But even that follow-up move was not the basis of the deception he was building towards. It was the same move he'd used on one of the thugs on East Street he had in mind. The first step was to give Ricky the idea that the two handed swing he'd repeated was the only move he made with that initial grip. So he inserted that move in between lunges and uppercut style swipes, as well as parries and sudden vault-style kicks, braced by the pole arm being planted tip down in what was designed to look like a miss.

They carried on this way for a few chimes, both getting occasional hits in, which were acknowledged good-naturedly by both participants, some leaving genuine bruises, others getting credit for the bruises they would have left. But soon enough Jad thought he'd led Ricky into the "assumption trap", and made as if to attempt another two handed swing. But this time, instead of keeping the grip with both hands, to hold the swing strong and steady, he let the haft side through his right hand as he pulled the weapon the same way with his left.

From Ricky's perspective, unless he was watching for it, it would look like the same swing with the same grip, since the left hand was the leading hand to his view. It would be the spear-point tip leading, since the swing would be expected to bring the blade around. He would try to act just a bit off-balance, hoping to lure Ricky in. When the left arm was extended far enough, he would re-grip the haft with his right hand. This would basically put him in position to thrust forward with the spear tip, his right arm still cocked back by his ear, ready with a grip similar to how one would throw it.

If Ricky wasn't ready for it, he'd get the blunted end of the spear-tip in his gut like a punch. If he was ready for it, Jad would be very hard pressed to recover without having to acknowledge a serious wound at least.

[Ricky Maze]

""Ricky laughed a little as he opened his fist to reveal that no Res remained there, seeing as how Jadlin seemed a bit worried about involving magic in this fight. "Relax brot'er, Oi'll only be usin' me fist an' me shield in dis fight." In turn Ricky returned to the defensive stance he took and kept his front faced in Jadlin's direction, mind focused on the moves the slightly crippled man made as he talked about the idea of fighting without a shield. It amused Ricky nonetheless, as he could tell Jad didn't really get the idea, as to why Ricky came to practice without the use of a sword. The sword itself was a tool of destruction, a means to an end that the guard didn't need. The shield though... The shield could be his weapon to protect all his friends and family, and if he could master fighting with that then he wouldn't need any other physical item to use.

Still that was hardly a thought Ricky dwelt on, in fact he was more focused on the stance and movements Jad had going on. With a transition into a lunge Ricky brought his shield up higher a little, and block the attack enough to where he could bash it to the side and allow him to go in for an attack. Except when he went in for a punch that crossed over from his right, Jadlin managed to dodge it in time and regain his current footing momentarily. Fer a crippled yer fast on yer feet. Ricky's gaze sharpened as the focus honed on Jadlin in general, the analytical part of his mind awakened in the process as a slight smirk grew on his face. So far Jad proved to be agile and favored a sense of speed, but that was based upon the first to interactions to his fighting style. Ricky needed much more to go on if he wanted to really anticipate his opponents mannerisms in combat.

Jad went in for another attack that showed the length of his weapon more than anything, which gave Ricky a measure of how much range the boy could gain with that one attack. Though his observation would be a guesstimate Ricky figured that there was a couple of feet between him and Jadlin at the first point, and with the younger brother quick to create a rounded secondary attack it left Ricky even more on the defensive, as he could only manage a step forward before the pole came in for the second hit. Speed is 'is game! He surmised at last granted that Jad's attacks were more in numbers rather than in strength, but that was just where the duel started with the older brother.

All while Jadlin made several more attacks that showed how much Jadlin favored swiftly made agile attacks, Ricky had taken each and every hit with his shield as the surface rattled and banged with each blow. All in all he only really needed to alter the positions and angles of his arm so that the surface absorbed most of the impact, and the chaining of combos the younger brother followed up with led him to try and thrust the dull end of the spear at Ricky's gut area. No good came of it though, Ricky practically lowered the shield with enough force to redirect the end downward, in turn avoided a direct blow while in turn created a wonderful opportunity to both test Jad's own defense as well as recovery timing. Ricky used the right hand, his free hand which was being used for unarmed, to grasp at the end of the pole displayed before him, and then he gave a good yank to throw Jadlin closer to him with the shield raised.

If Jadlin was indeed quick with his recovery then he certainly would prove Ricky's analysis for the most part, as speed and agility were the favored attributes the little brother carried. However if Jadlin failed to come up with a way to shrug off this passive offensive maneuver then he'd meet with Ricky's shield, likely resulting in a bash to the torso region if he wasn't careful about how hard he impacted against Ricky's defense.

[Jadlin Hayes]

Given a tick or two, Jad would have had to acknowledge Ricky's foiling of the thrust move, when he intercepted the spear with the downward swing of the shield. But the grab of the weapon, presented a whole new opportunity. His big brother was surely counting on the counter weight of Jad's own grip for balance. And while it was true, he did not normally consider it a good strategy to relinquish his weapon, in this case, it could give him an opening he'd been unable to create so far.

He held on just a fraction of a tick, just to give him the beginnings of forward momentum, then released his pole arm. He did not really feel like he was disarming himself while arming his opponent. Every indication was that Ricky had not developed any skills with pole arms, so giving him temporary access to one was really only causing him to give up the empty handed skill that he apparently WAS trying to develop.

He knew he was going to be slamming into the shield, but he'd be in more control of the impact than Ricky was expecting, while Ricky himself would be a little off-balance from the unexpected release of Jad's hold on the weapon. Jad boosted the momentum from Ricky's pull and slammed into the shield, driving it back into Ricky.

Whether Ricky was taken completely by surprise or not would either be something he'd exploit, or something that Ricky was feigning to draw Jad into a complete defeat. Jad hoped that Ricky was genuinely falling back, trying to regain balance with a step or two back. This would keep Jad's impact with the shield from being painful, AND allow him to use it to possibly knock Ricky completely onto his back.

Naturally, he didn't want to truly hurt his brother, but he DID want to give him good wallop with his own shield, just to show him how badly it could be used against him. To be on guard for this reversal next time. it was only a matter of whether or not Ricky had already learned that trick and knew a counter move to turn the momentum back around against Jad.

There was the additional element of what Ricky would do with the pole arm he'd pulled from Jad's hand. Jad did not believe that Ricky had training with such weapons, so it was actually hindering his combat ability to hold onto it. Jad was hoping that Ricky would not only let it go, but do so in such a way that Jad could grab hold of it again. If so, it would depend entirely upon where, along the shaft of the weapon, that he got hold of it, that would determine how he would use it.

It would either be in hand in a way to bring an end to bear, either stabbed into the chest or neck, or brought lengthwise across the neck, to choke. If the weapon was somehow hurled aside, out of reach, Jad would slap his thigh, shout the word "dagger", and bring the implied blade to Ricky's throat, claiming a sparring victory.

But all this depended on Ricky being so much off balance that Jad could topple him in the first place. If not, the best Jad figured he'd be in position to try would be a leg sweep to bring his older brother off balance, or to grab onto the shield and try to gain some leverage by twisting and wrenching it.

All this flashed through his mind as he released is hold on the pole arm and launched himself at his older brother's shield...

[Ricky Maze]

With Jadlin now pulled in for a dynamic blow against his shield Ricky believed that he in fact had the little brother in a sticky position, but of course much to his surprise he wound up being tested with Jadlin's own little gambit in the process as he soon found a bit of his balance shifted in the process. While Ricky had pretty much stood firmly enough to resemble a brick wall, he didn't expect to find that his own little tactic of pulling Jadlin into him could so quickly backfire into a different propaganda, one that involved finding some sort of resolute option to strive for now that he'd been met with two new conflicts that he had to deal with at the moment. While he'd kept a sturdy ground he hadn't quite thought about how hard he could be hit with Jadlin's own force, granted there was a surge from the momentum the younger brother generated, Ricky had little choice but to allow himself to flow along with the force that clashed into his front.

In this process he staggered back and fell into a stumble that nearly led him to fall as his heal caught a small rock buried within the sand, which lead him to turn over and drop into a side roll that looked awkward compared to the usual ones he could perform on an opponent. The reason being was that for one the fact he had a weapon kinda different from him ever using, he had to angle it to where he didn't hit the damned thing in the process so the crash down wouldn't be so painful. Even so that still left him open to interpret a possible attack as it revealed him to be caught by surprise, granted his fault in poorly handling the terrain of their battle ground could've easily cost him much worse in an actual fight. Shyke! He thought as he picked himself up quickly as he caught himself at his hands and knees, of course when he stood firmly back up he now had himself a weapon in his possession, a weapon he had no petching idea how he was suppose to use. Damn! The thought echoed in his mind loudly as he glared down at the useless thing in his hand, granted it'd be a different story were he actually able to use it of course, in this case though it'd been pitted against him as he failed to expect such a tactic to be used.

It was a very useful gambit that had been played at a opportune moment, which pretty much revealed just how clever Jadlin really proved to be. He's got a good mind fer dis kinda shyke. He mused as his gaze shot from the weapon in his right hand to the younger brother that charged at him, the word "dagger" shouted as he pretended he went in for a killing strike. Debilitatin' his foe with shock an' confusion, leavin' 'im open t' guess at what he should do next. I see. The workings of combat ran through Ricky's hand as he thought came to the conclusion, that two specific outcomes could take place depending on the choices at hand. Ricky could either attempt to use the weapon but what good would that do, granted he had no sense of familiarity with it he'd likely cause himself to mess up, catch one end of the pole in the ground and therefore leave him open for this sudden attack. What Oi could do... is block 'im first an' den go in fer a strike. He considered granted it'd only be one simple swing, then again why even bother having such a thing when he could easily go in for a better laid attack.

Rather quickly he went ahead and brought his shield up to defend against Jadlin, the pole simply dropped as he waited for the impact of his brother's hand to land on the surface of his shield. In that particular moment was where Jadlin would face himself in a new dilemma, as Ricky would shrug his sudden assault off and go in for the attack that would surprise his opponent. Jadlin found himself able to attack Ricky as a literal front opening occurred as the fisherman moved his shield out of the way, only to send his right fist forward with the full intention to punt his brother in the middle of his torso. He'd hoped to hit Jadlin without inflicting pain or injury, granted that he still actually had a couple ribs he'd rather avoid breaking further. In that moment though Jadlin could either go in for an attack that would allow him to land a blow on Ricky, at the cost of being hit at the same time no less as the countermeasure would end in a stalemate. However if Jadlin defended against the fist to shrug or parry the attack, he would find that Ricky's foot was next to come as he intended to trip him while the opportunity still existed.

[Jadlin Hayes]

"Dagger!" Jad shouted, both to establish the scenario of him holding such a weapon in his empty hand, and also to possibly startle his older brother enough to inflict that half step of frozen indecision on him.

But the shield rose as fast as his hand. This surprised Jad, and let him know his brother was considerably stronger than he was. This was not to say he hadn't assumed his older brother, trained in a military regimen, would be stronger. But he had truly believed he could beat the quickness of a shielded arm with his unweighted one.

Well, it was too late to divert the impact now. Too late, as well, to scoop up his skirmish sword. It was not, however, too late to adjust the nature of his impact. His right hand was clenched and positioned to mimic the wielding of a dagger, whereas the left hand was free to take up whatever function he chose.

For a moment he considered dropping and trying to strike beneath the shield, but instead went the opposite way, leaping to reach over the top of the shield with a battle scream. He managed to get hold of Ricky's shield arm, intending to attempt some sort of leverage to either rip it free, or possibly twist the arm out of a position of strength.

He saw the fist. as well, and though he was unable to grab it, he managed to deflect it enough to render it seemingly ineffective. He had a notion that if Ricky was putting enough swing into this fist, he might be able to pull and twist to his right, to pull Ricky forward off his feet. Then he could snatch up the skirmish sword and they would see what was what.

But he was undone by what he would have seen if he HAD gone for a move beneath the shield. His landing was right on his big brother's foot, which was lashing out to trip him up.

It succeeded, carrying one foot completely out from under him and putting more weight on the weakly planted second foot than it was prepared to support. The only question was whether Ricky was also enough off balance to be pulled over by suddenly having all of Jad's weight dragging the shield down.

But even then, it would only serve to dump all of Ricky's weight right on top of him.