Spring 75, 517 AV
Karyk was parking his carriage for their normal midday rest, when he saw Fildred, the scout leader, trotting over atop his chestnut horse. The middle aged man, maybe a decade or so older than Karyk was smiling at the caravan's green leader mischievously. He knew Karyk had been struggling with being a new, inexperienced leader for a while, especially with no real combat practice. It was tough, being in a position of responsibility without the power normally coming with it. But the man had a lot of support from his people, especially his new mate, Salara. Fildred figured he could help push Karyk in the right direction to get better on his own terms.
Fildred called out, "Get settled quickly Southwind, then come with me."
Karyk nodded curtly, coming to a stop near an oak tree. He hopped down, slammed his fist against the side as he always did to let the occupants know they were stopped for good and to get out. Karyk moved around to his oxen, running his hand up Bobertha's flank, reaching the yoke, unclasping it and setting the two hat wearing oxen free. They lowed softly, and wandered over to the shade, and began munching on the grass.
Karyk saw Fildred over next to a beech tree, and sauntered to him, the lead scout standing against it with a smug grin on his face, arms crossed. "I hope you're not too tired, fearless leader," with a teasing tone. Fildred was one of the few people Karyk had mentioned his struggles with, as the scout leader was more experienced. He respected the shipwright for it, which was why he was being more helpful. "Hopefully Salara isn't wearing you out too much..." All the scouts knew of what happened at the pond, and none but Fildred had the balls to tease them about it. Karyk smirked a bit, covering the slight flush in his cheeks.
"Because you're going to need the energy." He smacked the tree, "I want you to punch the tree. Much like I had you do with your axe. Use both hands. Now punch it. Hard."
Karyk nodded, remembering the axe training, and hoped this didn't end with yukmen like last time. Karyk squared up in front of the tree, wrapped his fingers around his thumbs, and swung a wide, arcing haymaker at the tree. It struck the tree with his inside knuckles hard. The poor fist though caused his thumb to throb in pain, and his knuckles hurt mildly, but nothing terrible. Karyk rebounded from the tree, shaking his hand, "Motherpetcher, petchin' hell!"
Fildred was laughing. "Alright, so now you've seen the wrong way to do it. Time to do it right." He moved over to Karyk, taking his hand in his own. "When you make a fist, close it with your thumb on the outside, and put that thumb across your fingers." He guided Karyk's fingers into such a position. "Don't clench your fist too tight either."
He stepped back, and Karyk gripped his fists open and closed, practicing making it the correct way. "Now we'll keep practicing for a bit with your wild haymaker, but you'll need to learn some others too. Just try to focus on keeping that fist, and hitting the tree with your big two knuckles. Hitting with the small ones can break your hand. Hitting with your fingers can break them."
Karyk nodded, and squared up with the tree once more. He made the proper fist this time, and once more, threw a heavy haymaker, arcing wide at the tree. His larger, inner knuckles hit the bark hard, and this time his hand only mildly stung. Satisfied at the immediate improvement, he swung again with his left. He had slightly less control over this one and his fingers hit the bark. That one stung, a lot. But Karyk kept at it. Over and over, Karyk swung at the tree, trying his best to hit with the large knuckles.
He was huffing and puffing, the skin on his hands a bit torn and scuffed and red, but not too terrible. He was sure they'd be bruised tomorrow. But he was smiling all the while, catching his breath. "All right, time for a much better type of punch. They haymaker works as a sucker punch sometimes, but it is too wild and slow to ever be useful in a real fight. Also we need to work on your stance, its very similar to what I showed you before with your axes. Lead with weak leg and hand."
Karyk stepped his left foot forward, pointing forward to the tree. Fildred took Karyk's left arm in his hands, moving it so that it was held out in front of him. Elbow pointed down and slightly to the side. He then moved to the right side. He kicked at Karyk's right foot, pointing it slightly to the side, keeping it under his shoulder but a bit back from the other. He moved the other arm into a similar but slightly lower position. "This is your default position. If you're not punching, your arms protect your face and throat. From this position, you can throw most of the necessary punches. The first two we will learn are the jab and cross. The jab is always thrown with your lead hand, the cross from your rear hand. Punch the tree with your lead hand."
Karyk nodded, keeping his hands up. His hand shot forward, and it struck the tree with his large knuckles. It was clear how much faster it was than the previous haymakers, but it didn't feel nearly as strong to Karyk. "Again." Karyk punched again, striking the bark hard, hand stinging and a vibration moving up his arm. He punched again, his rear hand dropping and he received a punch to the jaw. It knocked him off balance and he stumbled from the tree, his temper starting to rise, "What the petch?"
Fildred smirked, "Keep your arm up when you attack. They protect you. You drop your guard, I'm gonna hit ya, plain and simple. When you punch, twist your body and hips with the punch, this will give you more power, and protection. Again."
Karyk got back into position, making sure to get his feet right, and hold his arms up protectively, but his was slouching his head and torso a bit. He received a punch in the side of the gut. He coughed, and swung a left handed haymaker toward Fildred, which the man easily blocked, and returned with a jab to the jaw. Karyk stumbled backward, not expecting such force from the blow, "Stop, calm down. You just learned several things." Karyk's eyes burned with pain and rage as he glared at the man, but he sucked in some air, and relaxed a bit, his face and gut still hurting.
"First thing, you need to keep your torso straight. This lets you keep your muscles tight, to serve as protection. Hunched over like that, you lose a lot of it. Secondly, you just saw how useless your haymaker is. Even a novice like you can stop one once you learn these simple punches. Third, jabs aren't a joke. They are your bread and butter. Now go again, practice that jab."
by Karyk on May 29th, 2017, 11:39 pm 
