Flashback Dueling Quills

[Erick Barnett]

60th of Spring, 509AV Syliras Region, The Bronze Woods, Right outside Stormhold Mid-morning Clang! The clashing steel echoed between the trees, like the arrhythmic banging of a gong, over and over again. Clang! Clang! Clang! Young Erick cried out as he was yet again toppled to the ground, the heavy plate mail he wore jingling and rattling like a bushel of keys as his back slammed against the cold hard dirt of the forest floor. ”So, d’you give up yet?” ”No,” The young squire struggled to get the words out around his laboured breathing as he looked up at his patron from the flat of his back. ’Not ever.” The boys patron knight grinned at him, tapping the wooden practice sword she brandished on the ground as she paced around Erick. ”Well that’s good, lad. You’ve got lots of heart and all that.” She watched Erick struggling to his feet for a moment, before adding with a smirk,”But if you want it to keep on beating, you might want to stop letting your sword drop.” ”It’s this, nng, cage you’ve bid me fight in.” He tapped gently on the chest of the platemail with his knuckles, eliciting a sharp steel ding.”I can barely move. How am I supposed to fight?” “First of all, boy,” Sera Goldmane began, reaching out with the tip of her wooden longsword and jabbing Erick in the chest with it. ”That armor is the only reason you don’t have a couple of broken ribs after that last shot. These swords may be wood outside, right?” To add emphasis, she swung the sword round and tapped her knuckles on the blade. ”But there’s metal inside. Makes sure the weight is similar to the real thing. That, and it makes sure that when whiny little squires drop their guards,” she prodded him with the tip of the sword again,”They learn not to do it again. Besides,” She bowed slightly, motioning toward herself and the full plate she wore, like Erick’s yet totally pristine as he had yet to land a blow. ”I seem to manage..” At this, Erick gripped tightly at the hilt of his practice blade and lunged forward with it in a wide horizontal arc directed for his patrons knee. Thrak! A different noise - a more muted, drier sort of sound - echoed between the trees of the Bronze Woods as with barely more than a flick of her wrist, the two swords met and Erick was sent stumbling forward with the momentum of his attack. Stepping to the side to let him pass, the Sergeant-Knight simultaneously whipped around and cracked him hard across the back of his shins, eliciting a yowl from the young man as he collapsed face-first into the dirt.

[Erick Barnett]

”No no no. I swear, you’re actually managing to get worse somehow. On your feet.” With some effort, Erick pushed himself back off the ground. The armor felt ten times heavier than it had when he had adorned it earlier that morning, but it honestly wasn’t the reason he was doing so poorly. Eliza Goldmane seemed able to telegraph his every move. Each swing, each step, was matched in kind. Not only that, but she had proven nightmarish to defend against as well, as almost none of her attacks ever came from the direction Erick anticipated. Back on his feet at last, he bowed his head slightly.”Apologies, Sera Goldmane.” His face was beat red, and sweat was running profusely down his face, stinging his eyes and dripping from his chin. He already could tell his entire body was going to ache tomorrow morning - as it had many mornings since starting his Squireship under Sera Goldmane. ”Apologies are nice. Improvement would be better. You’re not holding it correctly!” She stepped around to his side, resting a hand on his back and altering his posture gently. ”Square your shoulders. But relax. I said relax. Bend the knees a little. Not too much. Widen your stance. No, not that much! Yes, better.” Examining him further, she tapped on the hand holding the weapon. ”Your grip is too tight.” ”Erm,” Erick glanced at his right hand, trying to soften his grip just ever so slightly. ”Apologies, Sera. What if I drop it?” Eliza shrugged as she walked away from him, turning back to face him as she lifted the wooden blade she carried back up, in a ready position. ”Then I suppose you’ll be dead, wont you? If you’re clenching onto it for dear life, you will actually be easier to disarm. Counter-intuitive, I know, but trust me, I’ve learned the hard way. Just try and think delicate, but firm.” ”Delicate… but firm?” The knight-aspirant nodded hesitantly, although his furrowed brow would indicate no such understanding. ”Right. I’ll give it a shot.” ”Well then,”Eliza casually beckoned Erick forward. ”Hurry up, lad. Let’s see what you got.” The boy lunged forward again, and with a quick step back Eliza swept his attack aside, another resounding [i]crack![i] emanating from their practice swords as they connected. ”Control yourself, lad.” She took another quick step back, once again casually knocking his blade away as he came in for a hit. Erick did not swing again, and instead took a step back, beginning to slowly pace around to her right, facing her all the while.. ”How do you keep doing that?” He swallowed, trying to get his exaggerated breathing under control. ”It’s like you know where I’m about to swing before I do.”

[Erick Barnett]

She shook her head softly. ”It’s not magic, boy.” The Sergeant-Knight reached out with her weapon and tapped Erick’ on the side of his boot with it, eliciting a sharp note from the steel. ”Right before you throw all of your upper body strength into a swing like that, you shift your stance ever so slightly. Right foot takes a bit more weight, left foot slides forward slightly,” Instantaneously, the worn oaken edge of the weapon was at the boy's throat, the air whirring as it parted. ”Which makes it easy for me to get my sword moving before yours actually does.” Erick nodded slowly, and she pulled the weapon away. They began slowly encircling each other in the clearing once more. ”Hya!”It was Eliza who lashed out first this time, the boy staggering slightly as she struck him square in the breastplate, moving to the side as she fluidly brought the weapon around and cracked him in the back with it. The young squire stumbled forward from the blow, before spinning back round, letting his weapon drop so he could bring it in an upward arc with the momentum of the turn. Thwak! There was another clattering smack as the polished surfaces of the wooden weapons slid off one another. Erick twisted his wrist around and immediately brought the blade back down, glancing off her pauldron. Erick’s eyes lit up as he brought the sword back, lifting both his hands up. ”I did it! I got you that time! I go- OOF!” He was sharply cut off as Eliza stepped forward, drilling him once in the chest before spinning around to strike him across the back of his knees again in the same fluid movement, causing Erick to collapse to his hands and knees. As he looked up, Eliza rested a foot on his back. ”Yeah, yeah. A lucky shot, boy.” The squire grinned up at her, despite having to speak through airy gasps. ”I didn’t shift all my weight into the attack that time, just like you said!” She eyed him suspiciously a moment before finally relenting, taking her boot off his back and grinning as she offered him a hand up. ”Alright lad, alright. You can listen. Guess you aren’t totally useless after all. Might make a decent swordsman out of you yet.” They faced up, once again beginning to carefully encircle one another. A quick horizontal swipe from Erick deflected, and he whipped the weapon right back round, only to find her guard suddenly on the other side. Frustratedly he took a quick, lunging step to the left, while swinging hard toward her left flank. Once again, her sword found his before it made its mark, and this time Eliza quickly jabbed out with her free hand, slamming her armored fist into his chest. Once more he toppled over, and as he did his blade slipped from his hand, which the Sergeant-Knight deftly plucked from the air, and then pointed it down at Erick, just inches from his throat.

[Erick Barnett]

”Oops. Guess you’re dead now.” She flipped the weapon back round to offer it to him by the hilt, and he took it, getting back to his feet. His vision darkened slightly as he did, and he lifted a hand to cradle his forehead, clamping his eyes shut to try and dispel the static that momentarily flooded his vision. ”M… My apologies, Sera.” He opened his eyes, shaking his head, which felt lighter and airier than it should have. Eliza let out a long sigh. ”You’re getting dehydrated. C’mon, lad.” They trekked the few feet back to where they had left the horses tied, their respective plate armors chattering loudly with each step. ”Really Sera, I’m quite alright.” The boy did not want to appear weak, and worried that the many breaks they had been taking was out sympathy for some perceived weakness. He didn’t want that to be the impression his patron had of him, especially when they had only just met a few weeks ago. Taking a waterskin from the backpack attached to one of the saddles, Eliza took a respectable quaff, letting out a satisfied sigh before offering it to him. ”You see this armor?” She wrapped her knuckles against the front of his plate. ”Well, whenever you’re wearing this, you’re drinking for two, alright? Especially during the summer. No honor in a knight passing out because he was too bloody stupid to drink from his waterskin.” Erick was suddenly aware of how not only was the armor exceptionally heavy, taxing each movement he made beyond any reasonable measure, but he felt like his whole body was wrapped in layer upon layer of blanket - so many that no heat could escape. He swallowed, at it felt as if sand resided at the back of his throat, a vast desert that had seen no rains in some time. He took the waterskin, drinking with vigor. ”There you go.” She took a small piece of cloth from her saddlebag and gently wiped the sweat from her brow. Having imbibed his fill, he felt much steadier on his feet now, and having replaced the waterskin in the backpack, he turned to lock eyes with his patron. ”Sera, why are we sparring without shields?” ”Oh, we will.” She had begun crossing back to the center of the clearing as she spoke, and Erick quickly followed along. ”But it’s important that you learn to defend yourself with or without a shield. Don’t worry though. You’ll be starting basic shield drills soon.. But for now, we focus on the sword.” Erick’s forehead scrunched up as he contemplated the meaning of what she had said. The basics. ”How much is there to learn about using the shield?” The knight scowled at her squire. ”About as much as you still have to learn about using the sword. Now focus on the lesson at hand, Squire.” ”Yes, Sera!”

[Erick Barnett]

”Good. Go on then, let’s see that stance.” He slowly adjusted himself slightly bending down at the knees, bringing his shoulders up and back to make them more level with his hips, as she had shown him. She walked around him, scanning him carefully as she did. ”Not bad. You catch on quickly.” She stood back, and postured up so that he was only facing her right side. ”Try and turn your body more to one side. You present less of a target that way. Less area to defend.” Erick studied her stance, doing as she said but also adjusting his legs slightly to match her even closer, his boots widening slightly on the ground. ”Good. Now try and remember, when defending with a blade, try and think of it like dueling quills.” Erick stared at her blankly for a moment. ”Dueling quills?” ”That’s right.” The boys cheeks turned flushed, and he reached back, idly scratching at the hair at the base of his skull. ”Not uh… Not sure I follow, Sera.” She lifted her wooden longsword. ”The line, right?” She then re-adopted the basic opening stance. ”When I attack, I’m essentially drawing a line with the tip of my sword, aiming to draw it right across my opponents soft and squishy regions. Realistically, there are only eight types of line I can draw.”[b] As she went down the list, she slowly brought the weapon around, demonstrating each. [b]”Horizonal left to right, Horizonal right to left,” she lifted the blade up high, gentlying bringing it straight down. ”Vertical Top to Bottom,” She switched the grip she had on the blade around, and proceeded to reverse the strike. ”Vertical bottom to top. Imagine my blade drawing a line in the air, right? A line you need to cut off with your own blade. Your own line. So, say I suddenly decided to smash your skull…. Vertical High!” There was a loud snap as Erick managed to bring his weapon up at the last moment, catching his patron’s an inch from wrapping him on the skull. He swallowed slightly, remembering her earlier comment about the blows from the weapon being able to break ribs, suddenly wondering why they weren’t helmeted. ”Good. See, you can block. Now as you may have guessed, the other four lines are here, here, here….” As she spoke she brought the sword quickly around, creating an X like attack pattern as she stopped the weapon barely an inch from hitting Erick each time. ”... And here.” She took a step back and readied herself again. ”Now, we’re going to keep at this till you can block, even without me calling the hit out..” The moment he was back in the stance, she was on him, whipping the weapon with a horizontal shot that may well have fractured Erick’s collar bone, not for the armor. Panting, he desperately turned his body to swipe away her next hit, moments too slow and letting out a grunt as the force of the blow sent him staggering backward. She took a step to follow him, bringing her blade down with wild force to finish him off. He stepped back again, the blow passing directly in front of him. He took the opportunity to lash out, both hands on the hilt of his sword to deliver enough power to knock hers clean from her grip. He then took a clean step forward, bringing the tip of his weapon up to her throat. ”Guess now you’re dead, eh?” She rolled her eyes, pushing the sword aside with her palm as she bent over to pick hers back up. ”Alright lad, alright. I got a little overconfident there for a minute.” Her eyes narrowed as she pointed it at Erick. ”You want to impress me? Do it again.” That was all the encouragement the squire needed to hear. After all, Erick would stay out here and keep at it for as long as she was willing. And although he had only been squired under Eliza Goldmane for a few weeks, he had already developed an immense respect for her not only as a teacher and a knight, but as a person - and knew that she would be just as willing to keep at it, as long as it took.

[Izuyanai]

Grades : Grades Name: Erick XP: Weapon (Longsword) +5 Observation +2 Socialization +3 Body Building +1 4 Shield Points Lores: Weapon (Longsword): Don't Let Your Sword Point Drop Weapon (Longsword): Proper Combat Stance Weapon (Longsword): Grip Delicate But Firm Weapon (Longsword): A Overly Strong Grip Makes It Easier to Disarm Weapon (Longsword): Concept of Reading an Opponents Next Move Armor: Novice Training in Armed Combat Weapon (Longsword): Presenting Less Target Area Weapon (Longsword): Eight Lines In Combat (Dueling Quills) Practice Swords: Steel On the Inside Patron: Sera Eliza Goldmane Health: Keep Well Hydrated While In Armor Notes: As a real life fencer, I really enjoyed how you described the 8 lines. I guess it's the same with any kind of sword. I'm an epee, myself. Let me know if you think I’ve missed something.