Season of Fall, Day 15, 513 AV
The Kendoka Sasaran was filled with students as usual when Jorin stepped inside. Sohryn was nowhere to be found, which meant either he was off doing an errand, or else perhaps he'd been called away. It didn't matter. Jorin set up in the far corner, like he was used to doing, and began his daily stretching exercises. As he'd practiced many times over the last season, he stretched his arms, then his back, and finally his calves, making sure to work each major muscle group and loosen them up for their daily punishment.
But Jorin's mind was not on his exercises today. As he picked up a staff, and begun to swing it in his usual stacatto pattern, his thoughts were entirely elsewhere. It had been nearly ten days now, and he'd still not heard or felt anything from Rinya. Was she severing the bond? But if she was doing that, Jorin felt sure she'd tell him. But if she wasn't severing the bond, why couldn't he ever find her, and why was she all but hiding from him?
Jorin's distraction caused him to miss the large red akalak until it was too late, and his back collided into the larger man's impressive bicep. Jorin looked up almost impassively at his new opponent. In the past he would have been nervous, but what was the point? He knew the rules. The Akalak simply grinned, wooden Lakan at the ready. Jorin just sighed and entered forward stance. It was still the only stance he knew well.
The Akalak sprang forward, ignoring the forward thrust of Jorin's staff to twist his body to the side, his wood Lakan springing for Jorin's throat. Jorin jumped back, but was too late as the wooden weapon scraped across his throat. The Akalak took advantage of Jorin's momentary lapse to send a large, red fist right for his gut, and Jorin barely had time to roll out of the way, the fist striking his back instead.
Pain blossomed from the impact area, and Jorin growled as he swept his staff low. A staff sweep was not a move he'd practiced, however, and it went wide, giving the large Akalak more than enough clearance to jump over and then grab Jorin's left arm, immobilizing it. Jorin in desperation kicked forward blindly, and managed to impact the Akalak's shin with the heel of his foot. Despite the pain, the Akalak maintained his grip on Jorin's arm and brought his wooden Lakan smashing down on his shoulder.
There was a hollow popping sound, though in his adrenaline-fueled state, Jorin barely noticed. He did notice the arm did not seem to respond the way he wanted it to, but he merely forged forward, squirming and struggling to free himself, finally bringing his elbow across the Akalak's impressive stomach, elbowing him there again and again despite the growing pain in his shoulder.
The Akalak acted as though he did not feel a single one of Jorin's elbows, so Jorin grabbed the staff with his good hand and brought it whirling upwards. It didn't have the force that a two-handed stricke would have, but the length of the staff meant that the impact of the one-handed buttstroke was significant enough that the Akalak released him, rubbing his sore chest and glaring at him.
Jorin tested his left arm, and found it only barely responded. Deciding to tuck the arm in and use the hand sparingly, he entered a sort of monkey-grip-like stance, relying mainly on the grip of his right hand and the power of his legs to compensate for the lack of a second hand. The Akalak merely sneered, tossing and catching his wood Lakan before attacking once more.
Jorin this time attempted a staff strike to the knee, first sending a thrust to the Akalak's face, and quickly dropping the end of the staff several feet to instead catch the knee. But the Akalak responded with a feint of his own, dodging left and circling to Jorin's right, catching Jorin in the chest with his wooden weapon as his arm shot out. Without any hesitation, the Akalak then pounded in another powerful punch, followed by a side kick right into Jorin's solar plexus.
Jorin's head swam. He normally did better than this. Sure he'd lose, but he could put up a better fight than this! Why wasn't he
focused like he normally was? Why was this Akalak beating him so badly?
Jorin roared and charged the Akalak, now dropping all semblence of strategy or tactics. The big red man just grinned and side-stepped, holding out one foot to trip Jorin, who landed, painfully, on the floor. Jorin could feel a shadow above him and quickly rolled; which was a good thing he did because the Akalak had thown himself down, elbow-first. The elbow was intended for Jorin's spine but caught him in the kidney, and he could feel pain radiating throughout his body. His vision briefly wavered, but he scrambled to his feet and refocused.
He was losing grip on his weapon with his left hand, and had a death-grip on it with his right. With that sort of setup he knew he could barely use it to ward away attacks, to say nothing of actually attacking. But he wouldn't give up. He
couldn't give up. The Akalak just shrugged and attacked again, dodging first, left, then right, then leapt up and brought the wooden Lakan down with the full weight of his body on Jorin's chest.
He could hear a crack as something broke, and he stumbled back, the pain in his chest so severe he choked and watched with almost detatched interest as blood came out of his mouth. The edges of his vision began to fade but Jorin maintained his grip on his weapon and continued to stand. The Akalak was relentless however and pursed the attack, despite the blood, wooden Lakan now beating on his head, his neck, his back...
"STOP!"It was Sohryn's voice, and before he blacked out, Jorin thought it was truly ironic that he'd actually be glad to hear it.
