(Flashback) It is Not Mine Alone (Demlin)

[Xalet]

46th day of Fall, 508AV

Xalet had been a squire for many years. Having gone through the tedium of being a Page and learning the history and lore behind the Syliran Knights, the life of a squire was still wrought with menial tasks and manual labor, but now and again his Patron would request particular challenges of Xalet. Sergeant Braklin was ever testing her Akalak subordinate in order to teach him the values of a Knight, which didn't simply end at combat. A Knight also knew how to inspire men and women, lead, and most important educate and train others. Today Xalet was going to get that chance with a Page. A Human boy by the name of Demlin, he was told.

The Akalak had been dealing with Human's for quite some time, growing up inside of the Castle City instead of his people's hometown of Riverfall. Still, there was always some apprehension dealing with members of an opposite race, especially when his own race was sometimes viewed with fear and distrust.

The Akalak squire wore his full uniform, including his platemail armor with full chainmail beneath. Underneath even that was the heavy cloth padding that provided protection from the impact of forceful blows and protected his skin from chaffing against the articulate plates or being pinched in the chain links. He brought several additional pieces of equipment out into the area they would be using, most notably an assortment of shields. There was the buckler, the heater, the kite, and the tower shield. Each shield had advantages and weaknesses, however any shield was a valued asset to a Knight. Valued to the point where understanding how to utilize one was mandatory.

As he awaited his Page for the session, Xalet leaned the various shields up against the stone wall, a soft autumn breeze blowing through his stringy black hair, rustling it lightly. All around him Pages, Squires, and Knights were honing their skills. To think this entire time he had been benefiting from the teachings of others, and now he would be dispensing knowledge of his own. The seven foot tall Akalak, his skin shining purple in tone, could only hope that the boy would listen to and practice such knowledge given to him.

[Demlin]

Demlin was running late, he had just woken up and realized that he should have left for the training area about 10 minutes ago. He scrambled out of bed, hair messy and still in just cloth darting to the other side of the room clumsily.

"Where are my gloves!!!" Demlin screamed to himself, tearing through his desk.
After about a minute he found them, placing them on top of everything he began to put on his armor. He fitted the chainmail over his head onto his torso and then pulled up the matching legs for protection. Finally he put on the gloves he had taken the time to find, grabbed his sword and ran out of his apartment.

As he arrived to the training area, he looked around. Remembering to look for the tall squire, he was told his instructor would be hard to miss. He noticed a man, tinted purple skin very tall leaning against a wall. He was very muscular, obviously trained in some sort of body building and has had experience if not in combat then in much training. He had an array of shields lined up next to him.

"That must be him" Demlen whispered to himself reassuringly.

As Demlin walked up to the man he waved shyly hoping he was not going to bother the wrong man. That would be quite embarrassing, but this was a man who stood out which is what he was told to look for. He finally closed in to the man and he almost froze as he started speaking quietly, he was fidgeting his hands unknowingly to himself.

"Hey, are you Xalet? I was told to meet you here for training." Demlin said, looking strait up at the man who appeared a giant to him.

Demlin had a look of fear on his face, not that he was afraid the man would do something to him but he never met an Akalak before, and he was just ignorant to their differences. He was just hoping he did not appear to insult him in any way.

[Xalet]

The Akalak heard his name, looking up at the Human boy addressing him. Never having met Demlin, he was surprised to find a boy so small. The age and physical progression of Humans was very different from the Akalak people, and it had been quite some time since Xalet had been around Pages. More often than not his time was now spent around other squires, or even other Knights, training and learning various scholarly lores. Most of the training items he had prepared were made for a man, leaving him with a bit of a quandary of how could they would work upon someone much smaller. It was no matter, he decided, the idea of combat was always the same, the boy would grow into the equipment, after all.

"Yes, I am Xalet, squire to Sergeant Irine Braklin." he said, pulling Demlin's hand up into a shake. Xalet's hands were enormous, as his frame would suggest, and a simple handshake from him felt like shaking hands with the vice like tongs of a blacksmith. "Do not feel troubled, I'm just hear to show you some proper sword and shield techniques. As I understand it, you've not had much time with a shield. The shield is a requirement for every Knight. The shield is not meant to cower behind, but instead to move forward with. The shield not only protects you, but it protects your brothers and sisters of the Knighthood. A Knight must offer their shield to protect all of Sylira, so that any whom are innocent may stand behind it and gain it's solace."

Releasing the boys hand Xalet walked over to the first shield, a small metal sphere, probably only twelve inches in diameter. "This is the buckler, the smallest of the shields. Typically solid metal in construction it can withstand many blows, but has little area to disperse a heavy impact." he then moved on to the second shield. The second shield was also circular, but probably a good twenty one inches in diameter. The construction was wooden with metal studs seen throughout the planks, "The targe is also a small shield. Larger than the buckler it allows the shield hand to be free enough to pick up objects or grip things, while providing some protection."

The third shield was very familiar, as it was the same shield that Xalet had upon his back. The heater shield had a square shaped top with sides that tapered down into a curved point. In total it was approximately twenty six inches wide, and thirty five inches long. The construction was wooden, with metal reinforcement. "This is the heater shield, a large shield that provides great protection at the expense of your shield arm. It can be used well on foot or on horse, this is my shield of choice." Then came the final shield, a huge mass of curved wooden planks, roughly rectangular in shape. Thirty six inches in width, the shield was most likely nearly five feet long, "Finally, there is the tower shield, the largest of all shields. The tower shield completely interposes itself between the Knight and the opponent, providing the greatest degree of protection against blade and arrow. It can be heavy and cumbersome, making it difficult to use and maneuver. You will probably use each shield sometime in your career, but for now pick them up, test their weight, and choose one for this practice."

[Demlin]

Demlin felt as his hand was grabbed by the squires, he had a firm grip, on top of that his hand was so much bigger than Demlin's. It felt for a second like his hand was being crushed, it was a big relief to Demlin when the Akalak released his hand. While listening to Xalets reasons for a shield besides protecting yourself, he flexed his hand open and closed a few times to shake off the weird feeling he had.

Demlin listened closely as his instructor began explaining the various shields. The buckler was a small shield, to the boy even, who was not fully grown yet. Demlin did not like the idea that you could not really use your hand with such a small shield. The Targe appealed to him much more, still small enough to allow him to move easily but if he needed two hands he would have them without sacrificing his shield. This seemed like a probable pick for the human.

The next couple shields were of a bigger type. Demlin wondered if at his size he could feasibly carry them, what is a normal size shield to a man might be too hard for a kid to effectively use. Demlin still considered the third option though, it had more of the shape of a kite but most importantly, it was what his teacher knew best. If he went with this option he would learn the most from the squire. The last shield was not even an option is seemed, Demlin looked at the shield and as Xalet explained it, he just shook his head thinking he would be stuck in one spot holding that, it was taller then himself no less wider.

Giving each shield a feel anyways, Starting with the buckler. Demlin strapped the shield to his arm, moving around with the new weight. The feel was a bit heavier then he expected for the size of the shield, but it was a given being it was pure metal. After moving around his arm, seeing how fast he could switch his position holding the buckler, he took the shield off and placed it back neatly on the wall. Now he would try the Targe, It was a bit bigger but mostly the same feel. While holding this shield he made an appoint to attempt to pick some things up such as his sword which took a few tries to grip but after playing around with the new feel he managed to get used to it. He once again neatly replaced the shield he had just sampled.

Demlin moved to the heater shield, it's shape was different but seemed more efficient for covering a larger spot of his body. It could also be used to bash someone if he gave it enough force. Carefully place the shield on his arm he felt it was very heavy, but movable and he could definitely manage to fight with it if he tried. He decided to give this one a bit more a feel because he was not sure but then he replaced it to it's original spot.

For humor's sake, the boy attempted to pick up the tower shield. He got it attached but could barely walk, let alone move his arm. As he tried moving his arm the shield began to scrape on the floor. He immediately stopped moving, and unequipped the large shield.

“I am sorry...I did not mean to scrape the shield ser” Demlin apologized to the squire. “I have decided I wish to work with the heater shield today. It had a comfortable feel, and as you said you could probably teach me more about this than any other.”

Demlin was finally beginning to feel a bit more comfortable now that he was waking up more and realized even though the large man looked scary, he was friendly. Beyond even that he was very willing to help and pass on his knowledge which Demlin was grateful for.

[Xalet]

Akalak's never showed much emotion, such was the nature of their being. Battling between the two Souls that existed within their body meant keeping ones emotions in check at all times. It took concentration and willpower, and sadly it meant sacrificing a great deal of ones outward emotion. Xalet still felt like any man however, and inside her was smirking at the boy trying to pick up a shield standing five feet tall. The weight was nothing to scoff at either, with the giant defensive mechanism weighing in the range of twenty pounds. The heater shield was much more manageable, especially for someone the boys size, weighing in the range of eight pounds. "Just Xalet is fine, I'm not a Knight...yet. The shields are auxiliary equipment, made for practice, so don't worry about a scrape here and there. I've gone through a few shields in practice, they're made to take punishment, after all."

Slinging his own heater shield from his shoulder, the boy could see the emblem upon the front was at one time some faint coat of arms. By now the paint was mostly faded and chipped with harsh training in the elements and constant use. Drawing his short sword from his scabbard, Xalet instructed Demlin to do the same, "Unsheathe your weapon and ready the shield. I'll show you the proper stance, and then we'll get right into using the shield aggressively and defensively." as he spoke, the Akalak pointed his short blade down at a space of slate and rock in front of him, the training grounds having various debris upon it to replicate uneven fighting terrain.

"The most basic stance when utilizing sword and shield is the triangle stance. By keeping the shield leg forward and the weapon leg back, the body is bladed. The bottom of the shield is left away from the body, while the top rests near the shoulder. Thus, the shield is angled. The blade is held with the hilt angled toward the rear, while the blade is angled toward the front. This creates a line along the blade, the edge of the shield, and the hips, making a triangle. This is the triangle stance. It is from this stance that many attacks and defensive maneuvers come from." Xalet mentioned, waiting as the boy assumed the stance. Hopefully with some proper positioning and movement, the two eventually mirrored one another.

"The shield is angled, and not held straight. The reason for this is simple." Xalet said as he brought his dulled short sword down across the boys shield, the metal chipping the wood slightly. The blow itself was tremendous despite the small sword the man used, as behind that blade was his heavy weight and years of body building. As the strike hit, the elbow would naturally flex inward, allowing the bottom of the shield to move closer against the body. Effectively the shield held at an angle acted as a cushion to absorb heavy blows, rather than leaving the shield flush against the body and forcing the reverberation of impact to move throughout the entire skeletal system. "Now, recover the stance and strike!" he called out, his voice raising slightly as he tapped the flat of his blade against his own heater.

[Demlin]

Demlin was glad he was holding a much lighter shield now, it was an embarrassment dragging around the large tower shield. He heard Xalet reassure him that the shields are just for practice, a scrape would do nothing compared to a blow against the shield during practice anyways. Perhaps Demlin was being a little to cautioned. As the squire mentioned, he goes through shields in practice, It is what these ones are made for.

Xalet explained to the trainee the stance they would first be practicing, it was basic and would provide the most options of either reaction or action. This was the triangle stance, Xalet demonstrated by going into the stance, Demlin examined noticing that as the Akalak said, his shield leg was forward with his shield angled outwards from the body, and his swords blade would be facing straight forward from his body.

Demlin began to mirror this, the leg positioning was not a problem and he was able to quickly mimic his lower body actions. Once it came to the shield, Demlin raised it but kept forgetting that it needed to be outward, not towards the opponent, once he had his long sword drawn and positioned he knew he was forgetting something in the stance. Quickly realizing, he pointed the shield's face to his side so that the stance was complete, ready for whatever would be instructed next, or in this case coming at him. Expecting more words instead of action, Demlin was surprised to feel the large thump on his shield, he naturally brought the shield in by retracting his arm, as if ready for another attack from the front. Xalet mentioned this was one of the purposes of this stance, it gave a natural defense reaction from your body if the shield was struck. As ordered, the page reassembled himself into stance, much quicker this time now that he was familiar with it's purpose. Now Xalet wanted him to attack.

Demlin figured to repeat the attack Xalet did would probably be the least effective, so instead he tried to do something different. If this stance had the shield to his side this meant the only thing defending the squires open body was his sword, which takes a lot more effort to block an attack then the shield. Demlin taking advantage of the fact his sword was already pointing forward, lunged with his right foot now in front instead of his shield leg, to get him closer to the large man. While lunging he thrusted the sword forwards towards Xalet's lower torso with what little weight he possessed in his body behind the attack. Demlin now felt fully awake, adrenaline pumping through his veins. Even though he was small and had not had the amount of training of the akalak, he was still fast because he did not have as much weight he needed to carry. But as he was nearing the end of the attack and got closer to his training partner, he realized that he was assaulting a giant, even though he ordered him to this is not an opponent he would readily fight in most cases.This would not stop him from training his hardest though, he was up for the challenge today.

[Xalet]

Xalet seemed pleased enough with the page's recovery, nodding as the boy took up his preparatory position for an attack. The large Akalak awaited a retaliatory attack from the boy, and he got one. Demlin's attack was interesting, he did not duplicate the same attack Xalet had previously, and this was fortunate as it gave Xalet a greater breath from which to teach. The boy clearly had some skill with his longsword, even at a young age. If Xalet hadn't been trained in slightly more advanced techniques, the blow itself would have been an excellent choice given the type of weapon Xalet wielded, as well as his choice of shield stance for the encounter.

"Excellent!" Demlin heard Xalet voice with some enthusiasm. The vocal appreciation was met with a stinging blow against Demlin's upper back, as Xalet simply crossed his smaller sword above his shield edge and executed what he called a stop cut. Demlin's attack was still on center, but the weight of a weapon striking his rear caused his body to shift only slightly and cause the thrusting attack to skip off of Xalet's plated cuisses. Some explanation was clearly in order after allowing the page to regroup himself, "Recover. The maneuver I just performed is the stop cut. I was going to explain it at some point, so it was a good thing you attacked as you did. Attacking the sword side of an opponent is a valid tactic, but only if you prepare your shield appropriately. Lunging in anyway will force your own sword side forward, as you did. This will force your shield to become the object to your rear as your left side succumbs to your right side moving forward. This leaves the entire back open, but more vitally the head and neck, which I was not going to strike given our simple practice."

"Should you be superior in both blade skill and speed, your best scenario sees you landing a blow. Should you be equal, the neutral scenario sees you both cutting one another. Should be you inferior, the worst scenario sees you dying before your weapon touches your opponent. Always wanting to fight from an advantageous position, two of three results not in your favor is unacceptable. Thus I will teach you a shield maneuver to combat this. The full cross is possibly still too advanced for you, until you gain more comfort with your shield, so I shall show you the half cross." Xalet then stood, utilizing his own sword as a type of pointing mechanism with which to accent the various parts of the half cross. It also served to move Demlin's body into place as necessary. "When you come low, and place the sword foot before the shield foot, you must be prepared to cross the sword beneath the shield, and leave the shield to block. The line of the body shall turn the heater, so the bottom twists to the left, allowing you to get beneath its point. This, as I call it, is the half cross."

There was no way around it, a technique like the half cross was going to feel uncomfortable the first few times. However, as the page increased his balance as well as his skill with a shield, he would find moving in and out of the half cross took but a mere fraction of a second. The sword could cross beneath the shield as the body twisted in a lunge, and then snap back into the triangle stance in the blink of an eye. "Now, come at me again, but this time utilize the half cross. Practice a few times until you become familiar with it."

[Demlin]

Demlin got overconfident with his attack. He forgot that this was shield training when he struck, and forgot to bring the shield into play. He knew his attack would not land correctly once he felt his opponents blade strike his shoulder, this brought his attack off balance and caused his blade to slide across Xalet's armor causing no damadge at all. He felt foolish, but he should have expected that Xalet would have a counter to any move he decided to go with, the squire was his superior in training and size. Xalet still seemed happy with Demlin's choice though, it was the perfect gateway into a lesson for shield stratagy.

Xalet explained that if you are to lunge, you still need to be behind your shield for protection, so what he explained as the half cross was the most effective way around this. Demlin listened as he explained that you need to lunge, twisting your body to thrust your sword under your shield, in the end your sword would not only meet your opponent but you would be safe behind your shield, it was also a simple maneuver that did not require too much energy. But what it did require was being used to it, and practicing it. Demlin watched as he demonstrated the move, and then Xalet requested he practice it a few times before trying it on him.

Demlin put himself into the triangle stance, turned to the side, not facing Xalet directly so that he would not hit him once he did the move. Demlin attempted to twist his body while thrusting his sword to be met by a big thump and he managed to knock himself backwards. He had thrusted the sword into the back of his shield, he was not used to lowering his sword so much for a simple thrust. Determined to get it right he immediately formed his stance and tried the half cross a seconed time, this time he felt as his body lower, he moved his right leg forward, kneeling under the shield and starting very low with the blade thrusted out under the shield towards where a makeshift enemy in his mind was. Demlin being satisfied with this, repeated the action twice more to make sure he had it down. Turning to the Akalak, Demlin stated “alright I am ready to try it out.” Both of them forming a triangle stance, Demlin snapped into a half cross, lunging straight behind his shield like he had the last time he practiced it and then watched as his sword went towards Xalets legs, hoping this time Xalet had a harder time blocking his move since his sword arm was no longer revealed, and his blade was aimed at a spot that would be harder for Xalet to reach his blade to parry.

[Xalet]

Xalet observed closely as the boy preformed the maneuver a few times in a solo capacity. He looked on to ensure the position of the body and the placement of the feet were appropriate. Balance was an extremely important factor in the half cross, as was the speed of the maneuver. You didn't want to get tangled up when performing it, but with enough practice and fleetness of movement it was almost impossible to react against. With skill and great effort, one could preform the half cross, and eventually the full cross with nearly no pause in the flow of combat. There was even a more advanced technique than those, the back cross, but Demlin was no where near prepared to learn something of that complexity. One day, perhaps.

Taking up his own stance, Xalet prepared himself for the lung of his page, noting the placement of his shield and sword in order to help him learn the proper triangle stance. As Demlin came in, he could immediately find the shade of his shield was prevalent, allowing him to slip in blows while not exposing his body. The proficiency of the half-cross in protecting the vital parts of the body was revealed by the harsh clang against the facing of his wooden shield. "Much better. Again." Xalet required of the page, going through the maneuver a few additional times before feeling confident that the boy had some grasp of it. "Excellent, these techniques will aid you in becoming a very well rounded combatant on the field, or within the ranks. You did well in attacking my weapon side to start, but now I will demonstrate how to use some simple yet aggressive shield work in order open up an opponent's defenses and attack the shield side."

Slowly the Akalak was feeling more and more like his own Patron must have felt, or the Knights that instructed him on occasion. While he only had a slight bit of practice teaching, sticking to the basics wasn't all that difficult, luckily. It also helped that he was describing a field of knowledge that he had a great deal of experience with. "Recover your stance. The shield is often thought of as a defensive tool only, but it serves great utility in a fight, of course for shield bashing to gain balance and superior position, but also for opening up a tight defense. One way to do this is called the shield punch. The shield punch involves using the edge of the shield to slam against the inside of the opponent's shield, nearest the weapon hand. By swinging your own shield in this direction you will protect yourself against any attacks from your opponent and stifle your opponent's weapon arm, while simultaneously moving the shield far enough on the opponent's shield arm to make a suitable cleave."

Of course, what was an explanation without a bit of demonstration. As the two took up their stance Xalet opened his shield for just a moment, allowing the edging to drive against the innermost portion of Demlin's shield, the right side closest to his sword. This made the shield rock against the strapping encircling his arm, pulling the right most side of the shield away from the body and opening the shoulder, arm, ribs, and hips up for attack. If Demlin observed closely, he could see Xalet's arm bending at the wrist slightly, curling his short sword in, almost wrapping about Demlin's body. The maneuver was surprisingly painful, as it utilized the elasticity in the arm and wrist muscles to generate a whip-like force. "And that blow is called a wrap, or wrist cleave. To increase your damage potential, you will constantly need to strengthen your wrists and forearms, as well as increase their flexibility. If you can do this, the attack is quite devastating, especially with a heavier sword just as long as your wrist can take the weight. Give it a try, and observe how your own shield will naturally end in a position to defend against my weapon side."

[Demlin]

Demlin had trained a long time with people his own age, usually there were no compliments but a lot of joking as they trained. He was glad this partner took him seriously, there were many things Demlin could learn if on a serious page. Xalet had complimented his thought's yet showed him where there were flaws in the execution of his thoughts. Demlin was excited to learn and was very focused on what he was being told. He let the idea of using a shield offensively soak into his mind, going step by step in his mind as to what he would mimic of Xalet's demonstration. Demlin was happy, he understood what he was about to execute he was just not sure if he was comfortable with it yet, training his sword arm had been his past and he was very much capable with his arm, among people his own age even deadly. His shield arm was always there just to take hits or set up a strike with his dominant side. Today he was realizing the fact that he would need to utilize his left side to hit his full potential.

Raising his shield Demlin gave a grunt as he focused all his energy into a punch, to him there was no shield there it would be more convenient to think of it as just an extension to himself for this move. As he started the punch he lowered his arm quickly, and came with the shield as if it was his fist, slashing starting on the opponents weapon side to the inside of the large Akalak's shield attempting to slam the man's body at full force in the chest. This was not enough for Demlin though, he was determined to push himself to the test, once he knew the shield was inside the range of Xalet's shield, He raised his sword arm high, still blade faced out towards Xalet attempting to thrust the sword over his opponents shield, in Demlin's mind this would succeed attacking from two points of the man's shield giving him a choise to parry one or the other, either be knocked back by the shield or get impaled by the sword. What did not occur to Demlin however was his arms were both at full lengths reach out and to the side, and his opponenets shield was the only thing between Demlin and Xalet, leaving him open to a quick punch from Xalet if he was the quicker opponent, which was very much true in this matchup.