[Flashback] The Sharpest of Memories - III

[Kavala]

Timestamp: Fall 503 AV
Location: Southern Sea Of Grass
Purpose: Dagger Training
Status: Closed/Flashback

The sun was up bright and early that morning as the two girls took their morning run together. Sometimes they actually rode instead of hoofed it on their own two feet. But this morning they ran the parameter of the camp, breathless with laughter, sharing a joke at Vanator’s expense. “I swear. He was swinging his axe and flexing his muscles and trying to look all impressive when suddenly on the backswing the whole head of the axe went flying off into the distance and almost hit father who was over by the stable tent!” Kavala said, laughing.

“Eachann was so mad. I thought Vanator was going to be skinned alive. The lecture he got afterwords for both showing off and failing to properly shim his axe after the cold weather hit… I don’t think he could sit down for a five-day. Father never hit him or anything, but man the skin just peeled right off his rear from the tongue lashing he got. That’s why he’s so careful with his axes now. It’s true. He was about … oh… fourteen years old I think?” Kavala said, pulling up finally at the training circle between two tents and letting her hands drop to her knees so she could blow a bit and catch her breath after both the story and the long run.

“Thank you, for helping me today. I’m not sure I can take much more of Father’s training. Last time he decided a great lesson was just to keep nicking me with his blade until I learned how to get out of its way.” Kavala said softly, shaking her head. She wasn’t great with the weapon yet, and her father was slightly frustrated at the slowness she was picking it up.

Tamar smiled. “Don’t worry. We all have fathers like that. Impatience is a virtue out here, Kavala.” The older woman said, still laughing lightly from the young konti’s story about her husband. Vanator was an amazing young man in her eyes, but the fact that he wasn’t perfect as a child somewhat secretly reassured her.

“Now…we’re warmed up and stretched out. Let me go over what you know, Kav. What’s the first principle of thrusts verses blows?” Tamar said, as Kavala donned her armor and drew her dagger. “You can push a thrust aside with the strength of a child, but a blow must be blocked with supreme dare I say manly strength?” Kavala said, grinning. Tamar nodded. “Good!” Now.. Today we’re going to work on some of the specialized moves your father taught you. And we’re going to review thrusts, blocks, and parrying cuts. The Ankal said you had problems with those things still.” Kavala nodded.

[Kavala]

She moved to the center of the circle and then swung her arms wide, loosening them up further. “Let's see… I’m only using a dagger alone and I don’t have skill enough to dual wield. So… I parry all sword or dagger cuts to my left side using the true edge of my dagger. For cuts above my arm, I need to hold my dagger with my palm down and the true edge to the left. “ She added, reviewing. “For cuts below my arm, I turn the point of my dagger down while still parrying with the true edge. This throws the blade of the opponent out of my way so I won’t get cut closing the distance.” She added.

Tamar nodded. “I’m going to teach you something else, Kavala. The men don’t know this because they don’t’ think about it, but I want to talk about fighting tempo where you keep your body in a sort of rhythm with your thrusts and parries.” Tamar demonstrated, coming at Kavala while humming, her body keeping time with the beat buried in the tune she produced. Kavala nodded, moved into position, and slid into place countering blocking and parrying Tamar’s attacks. They switched places, and Kavala attacked, changing the tempo of what Tamar was humming in order to have it move more fluidly with her body.

The music wasn’t important, but over the course of the morning where the girls fought, Kavala’s grace got better and she began moving more as one unit rather than a jerky series of taught stances, attacks, and blocks all cobbled together.

Eachann walked by a few times though didn’t pause to watch. He was doing what Kavala called hovering without seemingly being busy or showing that’s what he was doing. Only once did he correct the girls when Kavala made an incorrect counter attack after she made a block which caught Eachann wandering by on some invented errand. He shook his head and hollered once… “Kavala, counter attack only after you parry, not block. When you block, your whole body is stopped in motion. Don’t do it. Keep the flow going and retreat after a block to regroup and then attack. Parry’s just beg for counter attacks to follow, especially counter-cuts. Tamar show her!” He ordered, then wandered off, no doubt to watch from a ‘not watching’ distance.

Her sister-in-law gave her a rueful grin and patiently went over the principle again that Kavala had obviously missed on the first round. They practiced when to dodge, when to parry, and how to safely block most types of blows then coupled those procedures with when and where it was safe to counterattack. There were lots of instances it was safe. There were lots of instances it wasn’t, however. So Kavala learned as well as she could, trying to soak it all in with as much practice as she could muster.

[Kavala]

Then, Tamar went back to the basics. Kavala had learned the ninety degree up thrust, a vertical slash, horizontal slash, blocks, parries, forward stabs, backward stabs and basic throws. But there were other techniques that Kavala hadn’t learned yet that Tamar knew and could teach her. Most of the types of techniques Tamar knew had names and were easily learned so long as the daggerst had all the basics down at a fundamental level. Kavala had them down fairly well, so she felt confident enough when Tamar moved her forward.

“Okay Kav, we’re going to learn ‘remove the thumb’, ‘cut the hand’, ‘hack and stab’, ‘triceps hook’, ‘scissor’s hand’, ‘backatcha’, and ‘switch hands’. “ Her sister in law said. It was a lot to take in, so Kavala swallowed then nodded. “Don’t worry.” Tamar said. “It will take far more than a day or two to learn all these.” Kavala grinned at that point. It meant her sister in law was going to go a lot easier on her than her father would have. Eachann would have demanded the training be done all in one day.

Tamar was a much kinder soul. Plus, the woman knew Kavala a little better than Eachann probably did even though she was a newcomer to the pavilion. Vanator spent far more time with Eachann than Kavala did, but in the recent months Tamar and Kavala had been inseparable.

Tamar, it turned out, was a good teacher. Kavala had appreciated her herbalism lessons far more than she expected. But when it came to fighting with daggers, Tamar had a great way of expressing herself so Kavala could easily understand. “Okay, Sis. First things first. Let’s talk about ‘Remove the Thumb’. It sounds down and dirty and it is. In a knife fight there’s very little time to be worried about neat and orderly or even technique. Sometimes you just have to get in and wound your opponent. You want to limit their ability to use their weapons, whatever the weapons may be. That means you have to harm their hands. If they can’t hold a weapon, they can’t kill you.” She said, grinning slightly. Tamar had a little streak of mischievous cutthroat in her. Kavala suspected it was the bloodline she came from, but never actually got up the nerve to comment on it.

“Remove the thumb exemplifies the long range aspects of keeping your body and your dagger out of your opponents reach. It is vital to get in and get out and remain untouched because people know how to do this and they will, Kavala.” Tamar said, being firm and driving the point home. “The first moment you can safely cut your opponents hand, you do so right away. Never hesitate.” Tamar said, emphasizing this. She moved into position, tossing Kavala a practice dagger and then continued the lesson.

“Practice defending through different angles using slashes and hacks to the fingers, hand, wrist, and forearm. Cutting the weapon hand or arm is one of the oldest methods in blade combat that there is.” She added. “The best way to do it is thusly. You strike, dragging your dagger across the attackers thumb, removing it completely. They will be shocked, enraged, and in so much pain suddenly you have an opportunity to win the fight. Win the fight by their death though, Kavala, otherwise there will be retribution for maiming them.” Tamar cautioned. She then demonstrated as the girls faced off with wooden practice blades with blunted edges.

It took Kavala a round or two to understand and then smoothly execute the move. It was brutal, deliberate, but it would win her a fight in close quarters if she employed it. And that made all the difference in the world in Kavala's mind.

[Kavala]

The girls came together, drove each other apart, and circled fighting. Kavala threw in slashes via well calculated strikes. Kavala hacked and drove forward, pressing her advantage before getting driven back. Tamar always came in, going for her hands, often hitting her so hard she dropped the dagger. Had the daggers been steel rather than wooden, Kavala would not have had any fingers left.

After Tamar demonstrated numerous attacks and their levels of success, Kavala went on the offensive and tried the same with Tamar. Even though she didn’t have the same level of expertise. She was still able to cut in and take what would have been neat slices off Tamar’s hands.

Next, the girls moved on to “Cut the Hand”. This should have been identical to remove the Thumb, but it was not. Tamar explained the difference. “In this scenario you have a good forward grip on your dagger and wait for your opponent to take a reverse grip and try to close in with a high stab. The reverse grip will force him or her to close, because he will be unable to match your superior range with your forward grip.” Tamar demonstrated and Kavala copied the motion.

“ You try to stay at a long range, and look to evade and slash or hack the opponents hand as he or she attacks. Against the downwards stab you slash across the hand with a backhand motion. This gives the defender a good possibility of cutting off the attacker’s pinkie.” Once more she showed Kavala what she meant by gripping the dagger forward, indicating for Kavala to take a reverse grip, and then let Kavala attack. Before Kavala knew it, Tamar’s blade was dragging painfully across her fingers. Had the pressure been harder and the blade sharpened metal, she would have lost at least one of them.

“Nice.” She said, shaking the stinking hand after transferring her dagger to her free one. Tamar nodded approval as Kavala switched hands. Tamar always nagged Kavala to practice with both hands for the day she’d be able to use two daggers effectively at the same time. That meant that being right or left handed went out the window. Instead, Kavala had to practice each move with both hands until they grew equally comfortable and familiar regardless of which had was gripping the blade.

[Kavala]

After sweating it out several hours, reviewing what they’d learned, Kavala and Tamar retired for the day to swim in the stream their pavilion was camped alongside. Eachann had only dropped by three or four times in their four hour practice, nodding to himself before wandering on. The next day, midmorning, they were back at their dagger practice again. After warming up with a run and then spending some time loosing up their upper body by throwing daggers, Tamar continued the lesson with the next move.

Strangely enough, Eachann didn’t hover or even stop by to observe.

“Hack and Stab.” Tamar explained then carefully demonstrated. “When the opponent stabs at your body, use your left hand to parry or hack it aside with a low outward and downward blow then immediately counter with your own stab.” This went right along with the main rule Eachann had taught her about using her hand, even daggerless, and willing to take a blow with it. Kavala nodded, some of her previous learning falling into synch with the current lesson.

”This quick stab and counter makes an excellent back and forth style for sparring.” Tamar said. “The closer you can deliver the stab after the parry the better. Timing and rhythm can really make or break the move, so dagger fighters who can dance are especially apt students at this move. If you are too slow and make it a "1 and 2" kind of exchange you are giving the opponent a window of opportunity to interrupt your pattern and counter you on the half-beat, or the 'and'. If you think of a parry as a "1" and the stab as a "2" you want to be striking at the "And" of the "1 and 2".” Tamar said, feeling clever with herself. Kavala laughed, because put that way, it made perfect sense to her very feminine mind.

Spontaneously, Kavala laughed and grabbed Tamar. Together, the two of them waltzed around the training circle chanting “One and Two and One and Two” before spontaneously drawing their daggers and moving into the dance with the added weaponry. Several clansman passing by stopped to stare, some began grinning, and quite a few made polite suggestive remarks. The two girls ignored all the friendly jabs and got to work on the next move.

[Kavala]

The next move Tamar taught her was the “Triceps Hook”. Tamar was very clear on how this one worked so that Kavala understood the methodology completely. “The opponent stabs with a middle thrust and the defender hack parries the wrist of the attacking arm from the inside with their free hand. Grab the wrist upon contact if possible, and immediately hook the dagger behind the triceps, and deliver a deep pull-cut with the false edge of the dagger. Use your hip rotation to power the pull by simply reversing the body mechanics of the initial blast. That way the cut is clean, fast, and disabling to the opponent.” Kavala nodded.

It made sense when Tamar demonstrated, then in turn let her try on Tamar. They faced off and quickly began sparring again. Round and round they danced, practicing with the wooden blades until they could get the moves right and stay in the rhythm of the sparring. They were tired at the end of it, and with the rest of the day ahead of them – a day of chores and other work that needed attention, they called it a day on the training and promised to meet the next day.

The next bit of excitement on the following day was Kavala’s introduction to the “Scissors Hold”. Tamar once more patiently explained the methodology. “The attacker stabs with an overhead strike from a forward stance.” Tamar moved into position, demonstrated, then continued with her explanation. Kavala took a similar stance and moved through the motion as Tamar explained. “You parry with your empty hand and guide my wrist counter-clockwise into the dagger's rising “hook”. Grab your dagger's blade with your empty hand and lock in the triangle. Pull and circle to take me off balance and deeply cut my tendons by the wrist and then follow up with strike. I am unable to wield another weapon and will be vulnerable instantly to the strike to come.” Tamar said, as the girls gently came together, Kavala slipping her blade into place, and locking wrists with her teacher.

She was glad the blade was just wooden without an edge. They grappled a bit more until Kavala had the basics of the move down, then Tamar moved on.

“You can also drag a man to the floor with this hold, but you do not need to. At any point after the attacker is “jolted” by the triangle lock, quickly stab them as they are fighting for balance and follow up with another technique. The quick pull of the triangle lock can add a “whiplash” effect to the follow up strike.” Tamar said, demonstrating to Kavala once more what she meant. After only twice, Kavala thought she understood and tried the scissors hold on Tamar again, forming the triangle lock, then practicing the quick pull. She did not dual wield so it was nearly impossible for her to do another strike as fast as she’d like, but with enough practice she found she could lock, release, and strike with a singular motion that allowed the whiplash that Tamar was talking about to take effect.

Again, it was a slow process to learn, but as the girls circled, engaged, disengaged, and practiced their new moves Kavala slowly felt more comfortable.

[Kavala]

Finally, Tamar decided to show Kavala how to counter the scissors hand hold. “Scissors Hold Counter is perhaps one of the simplest counters there is, but one which is often overlooked. All you do is drop the dagger that’s in your hand into your other hand and break free. The hand switch is seen by daggerists as a counter to a number of different more sophisticated holds, Kavala, and it is one of the reasons why we teach these techniques with both hands. You need to stay fluid, well able to switch from one hand to another with the blink of an eye. It makes you flexible and dangerous. Though it appears obvious to do this, many people panic and cling to the dagger under stress. By training the response in combat scenarios like this one you build the reaction and timing needed to stay flexible and think on the fly.” Kavala nodded, and once more the two girls began to practice the moves. Engage, switch hands, disengage, reengaged. The lesson went on and on well into evening until both girls were actually starting to feel confident with releasing their weapon and switching hands.

Kavala figured it was a lot like setting a trap for a crow. You put food that is far larger than the mouth of a jar into a jar carefully sideways and set it out in the open for a crow to come along and find. Odds are the crow will grab the food through the mouth of the jar or bottle and try to pull it out. Once it decides it won't pull out of the jar, rather than release it and move on, often the animal will continue to hold onto the food and try and figure out a way to extract it from the jar. They were often refereed to as crow traps on the Sea of Grass. Fighters could easily get crow trapped by not being willing to switch hands with their weapons or let go of them at all. Kavala didn't want that to be her. Not in the least. So she did what she could to teach herself it was okay to release.

And with that, Kavala was taught both scissors and the counter to scissors which seemed brainless. Both took practice, but with time and Tamar’s urgings, she honed her skills carefully and was able to at least not feel awkward or fumbling with the weapon.

And so it was throughout Kavala’s youth, daily, until the eve of Tamar’s death, that Kavala both practiced her throwing and fighting with daggers. She came to like them and know their advantages and disadvantages thoroughly. They were beautiful because of their flexibility. Easily hidden, and having no problems carrying multiple daggers, the weapon was both a melee device and a ranged attack.

Kavala came to believe that Eachann knew what he was talking about teaching her daggers – in all their capacity for they were infinitely suitable for slim slight Konti who needed an element of surprise or a range that they normally didn’t have. And at the same time daggers had vulnerability for it had no true reach in melee and was hard to aim and target in the long run.

Daggers were a great place for Kavala to start in terms of self defense. And like the Suvai, which she had no true access too on the sea of grass, they were light and portable and just as deadly as a sword if used correctly so their advantages were exploited and their disadvantages worked around.

[Gillar]

Continued character development and insight into the character's past relationships; I like the flavor it adds as the whole story through the 3 threads becomes more personable. For this thread, I award the following: Dagger 5 Acrobatics 2 (from the style taught by Tamar) Running 2 Swimming 1 Lore: Running with a Partner/Close Friend Lore: Using Dagger Parries and Thrusts to Gain a Strong Position Lore: Smoothing out movements; making them more Graceful Lore: Counterattacking only after a Parry, not a Block Lore: Dagger Technique: Remove the thumb Lore: Dagger Technique: Cut the Hand Lore: Dagger Technique: Hack and Stab Lore: Dagger Technique: Triceps Hook Lore: Dagger Technique: Scissor’s Hand Lore: Dagger Technique: Backatcha Lore: Dagger Technique: Switch Hands Lore: Dagger Technique: Scissor Hold Counter