Solo A Night On the Town

[Alexander Ross]

Alexander Ross It was a rather cool afternoon, much colder than the past few weeks in Syliras had been. It seemed that the season was still transitioning from Winter to Spring, and the previous season still had a few cold days left over. However, that did not bother Alex too much. It seemed that whenever the wind blew a torrent of chilly wind his way, then the warm padding beneath his armor would protect him from most of it. It was just a bit cooler than a usual spring day, but not so much as it was unbearable. This was another example of the type of weather Ross enjoyed. Unlike Winter, which would have those horridly freezing days that almost forced him to stay indoors the entire time. Well… almost the entire time, if he did not have duties to fulfill and training to get done. “Ah! You’re earlier than usual, lad!” The hearty voice of Alex’s patron, Ranqor Grayne called out. “And this time you have all of your gear. Do my eyes deceive me, or are you finally learning?” “Ha ha heheheh.” Alex said, rolling his eyes. Speaking of duties, today he was tasked with a short sparring session with Ranqor, which would undoubtedly lead to Ross having at least a few bruises. Afterwards, they would walk to Windmount Stables for their horses and patrol the Trost District. It had already occurred to Ross that he usually had nothing going on in his day-to-day schedule, so he might as well get a bit of training in. “Maybe one day I’ll learn… maybe one day.” He gave a sigh and began to do a few stretches; rolling his shoulders, lifting his legs, turning from side to side, etcetera… “So… just a normal sparring session, or are you hiding tricks up your sleeve?” Ranqor scoffed. “If you were fighting a bandit or a murderer, do you think they would let you know if they had any special secret techniques that they planned on using on you?” Alex blinked in surprise, before giving but a simple shrug in response. Ranqor nodded. “Exactly. Now get ready. The sooner we get this done, the sooner I can get back to my study.” With that, the man pulled his rapier from his sheath and walked to a more open area of the training grounds. Alex sighed and followed him, before pulling his own blade from the harness on his back. “Let’s make this quick.”

[Alexander Ross]

Alexander Ross As soon as Alex took his stance, Ranqor wasted no time in throwing out a rather vicious swipe toward his left hip. Alex blinked in confusion and quickly deflected the blow purely upon instinct, raising up his shield just in time to feel his patron’s rapier clatter loudly against it. Before Ross could plan a counter attack, Ranqor had already begun to execute a second, immediately swiping his blade toward the squire’s right shoulder. Alex gasped and raised his blade, barely parrying the attack in time. He took a step back and glared, gritting his teeth in frustration. It seemed that today, his patron would be a bit rougher on him than every other sparring session prior. It was obvious to him that Alex was slowly gaining progress in using his own blade, and that it was about time for Ranqor to take his teaching methods up a notch or two. As soon as he felt Ranqor’s blade collide with his own, Alex swiped it away and quickly thrust his longsword towards the patron’s midsection. Ranqor parried the attack almost too easily with a rather perceptive swing of his rapier, knocking Alex’s blade aside before following up with a quick swing to the squire’s torso. Unfortunately, Alex wouldn’t block in time, and he cringed in pain as Ranqor’s rapier struck against his chestplate. Apparently, he had for a few seconds lowered his shield and forgot about protecting his torso. “Keep your shield up!” Ranqor snapped, before thrusting his blade back towards Alex’s midsection. This time, Alex was able to raise his shield in time to deflect it, but the force of the blow nearly knocked him off balance. His patron dashed forward and swiped his blade near the squire’s legs, but he jumped out of the way just in time, causing the tip of Ranqor’s rapier to cut into the dirt. This is nuts… Ranqor was being much more rough on him than he usually was, and Alex was having a bit of difficulty keeping up. If he didn’t work something out soon, then he would be limping back to the squire dormitories littered with bruises. He watched the older man as closely as he could, searching for any sign of the Knight’s next move. There wasn’t much he could go off of… until he just barely noticed Ranqor glance toward Alex’s right side. This time, Ross was able to get his blade up in time and protect his right side from yet another vicious swipe to his ribs. Of course, he wasn’t going to stop there. He wanted to get as many attacks in as he could while Ranqor was distracted. Gritting his teeth, Alex stepped forward and immediately followed up with a few vicious swipes of his own. One toward Ranqor’s midsection, which was deflected. Another one to his left arm, which was parried almost too easily. The last one however, Ranqor was not fast enough to block, and Ross grinned as his blade swiped across the knight’s shin guards. If one were to look from a distance, then it would look as if the two were actually trying to kill each other, even though that was clearly not the case.