[Flashback] The Sharpest of Memories - I

[Kavala]

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

Eachann wouldn’t take no for an answer. Kavala had fought and argued with her father and yet still she ended up on the circle of matted down grass outside of the Denusk Pavilion with her sister and brother looking curiously busy in plain sight of the sparring ring. Great. What she did not need was an audience. But it looked exactly like she was going to get just that. Kavala was a private person, prone to long silences and inner reflections. Sparring with her father while he taught her the art of wielding a dagger was not one of the highlights of her life from her perspective. Her siblings, on the other hand, were obviously going to consider it great fun.

“I’ll try.” She finally conceded as he offered her a perfectly balanced dagger. Studying the thing, Kavala frowned childishly and held it exactly like one would hold a snake that was about to bite any moment. Eachann frowned. “First things first, Kavala. You need to learn the parts of a dagger. One must understand one’s weapon before one truly master’s it.” Kav figured there was no ‘mastering’ to it, but nodded regardless. It didn’t pay to argue with her father, especially when he had his mind made up about something, especially something he considered important like his youngest daughters self defense.

“The main parts of a dagger are simple things, Kavala. The hilt, the blade, handle, and the pommel are the main parts.” He said, pointing to each section as he named it. “The quillion, the fuller, and crossguards are additional parts that may or may not be part of your blades. Throwing daggers don’t have the additional parts, but the best melee daggers will.” He added. Eachann pulled out examples of each dagger and let her look. He also had a very cheaply made dagger which he used to show her the difference. “The shank, which is an extension of the blade, should reach all the way through the handle to the pommel. If it does not, it’s a cheap dagger.” He demonstrated to her by handing her his really poor quality blade. She could instantly see the difference because the good dagger she had at first had a line of metal running along its side all the way through the handle to the pommel. The cheap one did not. “Cheap daggers will have the blades break off. They never last and are always without fail made of inferior metal. Always spend more and get the full shafts and the best metal you can find and afford.” He added, cautioning her that frugality when it came to weapons was not the best course of action.

[Kavala]

Kavala admired her father’s knowledge; not understanding what he taught her was simple common sense and nothing more. A grown person would have understood that, but Kavala was still a girl. To her, he was one of the smartest men she knew; second only to her grandfather who had long gone rejoined the web. Eachann cherished the times for he knew the days when she’d take what he said with face value and never question it was limited. Soon, very soon, she’d be out on her own in the world and if he didn’t teach her as much as he could now, it might be too late by then.

She still held the dagger as Eachann continued. “Often people teach dagger as a sort of ritualized combat or a haphazard group of techniques that remind me of tricks more than actual structured combat. That’s the wrong way to teach it in my opinion. Instead, dagger should be taught in a much formalized way so that you are drilled in the basics until they become second nature and then from there build technique to make your training a strong physical and emotional bond that can be paired up with almost anything, including unarmed combat techniques. Unarmed is very close to dagger fighting because in both cases you need to be very close in to your opponent to hit them. So these two art forms can be blended almost seamlessly if one gives them enough individual attention and then trains them together as a next step. We’ll do that, Kavala, to make sure you never forget how valuable a blade in your hand can be.” Her father said, smiling at her.

“Will I get to learn how to throw daggers?” She asked suddenly, this thought somewhat exciting to the young Konti. Cutting something for a non-medical reason wasn’t inspiring, but she’d always loved to see things fly.

Eachann nodded. “Definitely. It may not be a ranged weapon by its original nature, but you can get daggers crafted that have been repurposed for ranged weapons and work incredibly well. I’ll definitely introduce you to throwing daggers, Kavala. We will definitely lean on technique in terms of throwing weapons and see if we can’t build them into your weapon’s repertoire. But most importantly, Kavala, you’ll get face to face sparring time.” The Denusk Ankal said thoughtfully. Kavala smiled and nodded, happy that at least she got to throw things being stuck in this training with her father.

[Kavala]

Kavala listened to her father and through the course of the day learned a great deal. He talked and she practiced, repeatedly, taking breaks only when she wobbled or showed signs of weakness.

After a brief respite, they talked more about daggers themselves. The dagger was an excellent choice of weapon for numerous reasons. It could be used in close quarters where there was no room to maneuver or draw a blade. It was quiet, easily concealed, and well able to slip past even the most careful defensive in order to strike at vulnerable parts of the body. They easily invaded the face, throat, chest, abdomen and groin. If one was fast, there was very little in the way of stopping a dagger attack, especially if it was a complete surprise. Daggers capitalized on the natural ability of a person to move, their agility, and grew even more successful the more a person trained their body in precise movements.

The next thing Eachann taught her was how to hold a dagger. There were three main holds as far as he was concerned. First was the standard grip sometimes called a straight grip. He carefully showed her how to arrange her hands on the handle, fingers even and tight against one another, thumb carefully laid alongside the grip. Kavala arranged her hand in a strong ‘v’ formation and allowed the knife to nest down comfortably in her hand before she wrapped her hands around it very comfortably as if she were going to shake someone’s hand. The handle, at that point, lay across her palm and the point of the blade was naturally thrust outwards towards the enemy with the cutting edge down. Her father also demonstrated how the cutting edge could be held vertically or horizontally to the ground.

“Got it. Straight grip for thrusting and slashing.” Kavala said, practicing first with her right hand then with her left. She did so until she was equally comfortable either way.

“This is the best grasp for standard dagger fighting. Remember, the dagger is a stabbing weapon, so you always want the point facing the direction you want the damage to do. But there will be times when your need to stab backwards. For that, there’s a reverse grip.” Her father took the dagger from her and demonstrated the reverse grip. He made a stabbing backwards motion, as if he neatly just flipped the dagger around in a fight and made an almost upper cut to an invisible opponent behind him.

Kavala nodded, took the dagger from him, and mimicked the grip until she had it correct. She felt the weight of the weapon in her hand and allowed her father to slightly adjust her fingers on the weapon until the grip felt absolutely perfect. “When you get better, you can dual wield a set of these, Kavala, and believe me, there’s nothing more dangerous than a daggerist well versed in their art armed in both hands. You can even break swords with this type of scenario. So pay attention, but always train both hands first the right then the left, and then train them together.” He said. His daughter nodded and carefully switched grips with the blade, moving it to her opposite hand and practicing arranging her fingers on it in both the standard grip and the reverse grip. Then cautiously, she asked another question.

“What is the third hold?” Kavala said. Eachann smiled, held out his hand for the dagger in hers. Kavala reversed the blade and laid it in his hand handle first. He nodded it, sheathed the blade, and then slipped another from his shirt pocket. It was a smaller blade, almost perfectly weighted and balanced throughout its entire form. He handed it to her carefully, in the same manner she had handed him his, and smiled. “That’s a throwing dagger. Feel how carefully it’s weighted and balanced? There’s not much handle to it and instead all its meat and bones falls in its blade. Throwing daggers can and should be razor sharp so be careful. But in this case, you want to hold the blade in your hand with the handle pointed towards your target.” He neatly demonstrated the grasp and then carefully handed her the dagger. She copied the hold and then immediately noted the difference between a normal fighting dagger and a throwing dagger. Once it was pointed out to her, the discrepancies were evident. She examined them both closely. The Konti took the time to learn the difference both in craftsmanship and balance before offering her father the throwing blade back.

[Kavala]

From there, Eachann moved onto stances. “Kavala stances are important. If you don’t have your weight distributed correctly, the fight is over before it has begun. There’s only two stances. The first one is a fighter’s stance where you put your feet about shoulder width apart, with your dominant foot towards the rear. About seventy percent of your weight needs to be on the front foot and about thirty percent of your weight needs to be on the rear foot. Stand on the balls of your feet and hold the knife with a straight grip. Keep your free hand close to your body where it’s ready to use but protected against attack.” Kavala nodded, stepped into the position her father advised, and then looked thoughtful. “I’m ready… is this okay?” She asked, fidgeting lightly but holding the position as her father described and then demonstrated. He circled around her, nodding, and then smiled.

“Okay the second stance is called an concealed stance.” Eachann said before he moved into the position. “This is the same as fighters stance except the knife is held close to your body with the other hand held close over the knife hand to help conceal it.” Kavala nodded, mimicked her father, and assumed the stance. “I got it. You look at their face and not their hands because who’d hide a knife out in front of them right?” She said, looking silly standing in front of her father holding a knife concealed. He nodded, smiled, and then seemed to make a decision.

Kavala waited patiently while her father once again confiscated her dagger and continued on with the lesson. “The first thing we are going to learn is attacks. But before we get started, I want you to thoroughly stretch out. Warm up by taking a very wide jog around the camp, then come back and stretch each muscle from your legs to your arms to your torso. Pay special attention to your neck, shoulders, and back. Once your good and warmed up, we’ll begin.” Eachann had them both stretching out thoroughly and then he sat down quietly to wait out her run.

Kavala nodded, half expecting this. Her father often made Kavala run to warm up her body and limber up her muscles. It was especially important training horses to make sure one could move to the fullest extent of their ability. So she stretched out her hamstrings, calves, and ankles then reached for the sky stretching her back. Then, once she was ready, she set off at an easy jog around the camp. It took her some time to actually traverse the Denusk Pavilion setup to hit the outskirts of the camp. She lightly moved at a steady pace past the enormous main pavilion setup which housed her father, his wives, her brother, sister, and herself. The pavilion was far larger than it should be, but then again with Vanator of age, everyone expected him to fill the pavilion with children soon enough. There were three large wagons parked on the outskirts, empty and broken down for an extended stay. The seme that pulled them graced in a small herd of twenty four – twenty one actual working horses and three spares – just outside of camp. There were smaller pavilions of course that belonged to cousins and various other kin.

Along with the pavilions, there was a large tent that acted as a stables in acclimate weather where the bonded striders of the people within camp were kept. It also acted as a field hospital and large gathering space in case the Denusk’s met up with other sapphires and decided to hold meetings, dances, or any other sort of function that the weather didn’t cooperate enough to allow for outdoor activities.

Kavala stretched her young legs, limbering up now enough to stretch out and really find her stride. She loved running, the repetitive motion of it, the breathing in and out, and the slow burn of her muscles as she really used her body the way Rak’keli made it for. Kavala felt strong powerful and so very alive when she was alone and running. It was something she learned to enjoy from an early age and kept up all through her adolescence. She hoped it was something she’d do throughout her adult life too.
So staying in good physical condition was important to her. It always had been. She hoped it always would be. Kavala breathed in, breathed out, and on her stride circumnavigated the encampment, running out past a ridge where most of her family’s striders were grazing. She was proud of the herd, which equated to the amassed wealth of the Denusk family. Kavala leaped a small gully and was soon back to almost where she started from, breathing deeply but not heavily.

[Kavala]

As she made her way back into the encampment she slowed to a walk until she returned to the matted circle of grass where her father gave his lessons. Then, carefully, one by one, she stretched each muscle group and slowly limbered up until Eachann would have no complaints about her. Then, when she was ready, Eachann rose from where he was sitting, obviously meditating, and presented her with a dagger. “This will be yours for the duration of this practice. Guard it well for it was your mothers.” Kavala nodded, smiled and stroked careful fingers across the blade and handle of the weapon. It was embossed with pearl and made of a metal that didn’t to tarnish. She nodded, turned to face him, and carefully waited for him to begin.

He didn’t make her wait long. “Well, we’ll definitely stat with attacks first, Kavala. When considering only simple stabs and mind you that’s primarily the dagger’s job, there are high, low, left and right attacks. The dagger position can be either forward or in a reverse grip position which I’ve already taught you. You can let the dagger be placed in the right or left hand.” While Kavala was listening to this, her mind was whirling as well. She looked thoughtful then smiled at her father. “Interesting. That means there are exactly sixteen different attacks, isn’t there?” She said. Eachann looked surprised then pleased, nodding his agreement to his daughter.

“Now, just knowing the attacks aren’t enough, Kavala. You need to know how to deliver them." Eachann went along with his youngest daughter, knowing she wasn’t anything like Akela who was practically born with a sword in her hand. Kavala needed coaching, extra attention, and a whole measure of supervision. With that in mind, he continued the lecture. He let Kavala stand there while he was doing so, holding the dagger he’d given her to fight with.

“There are several ways of delivering these attacks, Kavala. Your most reliable attack is to stab while stepping forward with the side holding the dagger. The dagger is a thrusting weapon, so the tip MUST be directed towards the opponent at all times or you are indeed no threat.” He said, demonstrating the move with his own dagger and having Kavala follow suit. She did so envisioning a threat and letting her body learn what it was like to move with a dagger as an extension of her body. Eachann continued.

“What this means is that a dagger, to be effective, must travel in a straight line at all times. That makes a person's body be forced to learn new ways of moving and bending. The easiest way to do this is to make thrusts follow an arch, which is more natural for a body to move. But as you get better, Kavala, you’ll arch your body and keep your weapon absolutely straight. That is the proper way to deliver an attack and one I want you to practice from the beginning.” He said, then stepped back and let her begin mimicking the attack. Kavala worked until her body began to tremble, thrusting forward, blade up, body arched, and line of knife edge absolutely straight.

This workout concluded their day and they broke apart to wash and take care of evening chores. Kavala promised to meet her father again the next day for the next lesson.

[Kavala]

It seemed the next lesson was going to be on targets. As always, Eachann had something interesting to say about them. Well, at least Akela would be fascinated. She and Vanator had wandered off early in Kavala’s training having heard most of their father’s words before. They were strangely absent today, and Kavala wondered if perhaps her father hadn’t encouraged them to go elsewhere in order for their sister to get a whole lot more work done by not being so worried about how she looked to them or concentrating on impressing them when really she should be impressing herself and her father.

Eachann began his lesson today by having Kavala demonstrate her attack and then warm up with another run. This time she was to run out to the main herd, check on them, minus her strider, and run back ready for more dagger lessons. She did so, returning hot and sweaty from the sun overhead even in the late season. Once she’d caught her breath, Eachann started out with a fresh lesson.

“There are so many places to pick as a target. But like there are many horses in the world, only a select few are worth anything. Like good horses, know what makes a good target. Always use the head and face as a target of choice. Subsequently, being denied those targets, use the fingers and hands of the opponent as a secondary choice. If one wounds the hand or fingers... particularly if one is able to remove a thumb, the opponent cannot wield a weapon to continue the fight.” It made perfect sense. Kavala nodded, memorized this, and thought about the ways she could apply her knowledge of anatomy and the human body in being a better fighter. There were pain centers, pressure points, even weaknesses where joints came together or tissue was ill suited for blows. There were also places in a person where clusters of arteries or veins were very close to the surface and if punctured or somehow lacerated, they could cause a person to be in excruciating pain or to even bleed out almost instantly. Kavala took a great deal of time to think this through before her father moved on with the lesson at hand.

“So now child, the best offense is a good defense. Let’s talk about defensive movements with daggers. I’d rather you know those next and understand them. Even if you never master attacks, being able to defend yourself with a dagger is critical.” He said, patting her on the shoulder and stretching a moment so he could demonstrate the moves as he offered her the information.

“Always be thinking in terms of defense when using a dagger. The easiest way to do this is to defend TOWARDS the side under attack, with the foot on that side forward, and displace the attack towards that side, and attack with the opposite hand armed.” He said, explaining then giving her an example. He took a stance, gripped his dagger, and then moved as if he was defending. “For example, if you’re high left is attacked, and then you need to move towards the left with your left foot, and use the left hand to displace the attack towards the left while slicing in with the right hand that is armed, opening up your opponent. If they open up, they are dead.” He assured her, demonstrating the technique again. Then, he asked her to demonstrate it against him, though the daggers he had them use were wooden and blunted. He attacked, she followed through with what he’d told her, and saw how easy truly was to defend against the attack using the small wooden blade.

[Kavala]

Kavala smiled her understanding, slowly starting to enjoy the blade work and all that came with it. Her father persisted. “If your high right side is attacked, move towards the right with your right foot forward, and use the right hand to displace the attack towards the right attacking from the left.” They practiced this scenario. She found it slightly more awkward since it was on her off side, but was able to follow through as Eachann suggested. “If your low left is attacked, you move towards the left with your left foot forward and use the left hand to displace the attack towards the left attacking from the low right in an up thrust motion.” She was catching on fast now, moving as he indicated and anticipating what the next defensive move would be before he suggested it. On the third scenario, he simply said...

“If your low right side is attacked, show me what you do?” Kavala nodded, then moved towards the right with her right foot forward, and then used her hand to displace the attack towards the right, attacking again from the left lower side. Eachann smiled, cheered, and stopped to hug her to him. “You got it. You really did pick this up. Vanator was betting you wouldn’t; while Akela said you’d probably cut off your left hand with the wooden practice blades before we ever got done training.” Her father said, obviously proud of her.
It really was that simple, Kavala decided. The opening attack determines the initial response. It was as clear as the Cyphrus sky in summer and winter. The Konti sighed, smiled at her father, and reviewed what she’d learned. But it seemed he had some additional advice.

“Always learn to handle left-handed attacks with the same ease as the normal right-handed ones. Conversely, teach your left hand to use the dagger with as much ease as the right. Practice, Practice, Practice is the key to success here.” He said and she nodded. Practice they did, well into the night and long into the next day. He threw attack after attack after attack scenarios at her and managed to stump her only a handful of times. She was hot and tired by the end of the lesson, but she was having fun. Her father was teaching her an important skill she’d carry with her throughout the whole of her life. Every time she picked up a dagger, fingered one, or witnessed someone sparring or actually using one, she’d think of her father. Always. It was a nice legacy.

[Kavala]

Eachann moved on the next day. He had several rules, it seemed, he was going to teach her and test her on throughout the next few seasons. And while they were basic, he said they were vital for Kavala’s survival.

“Okay, Kavala… listen carefully to me. There are four absolutely basic dagger rules you need to follow. Just four. As part of your training, I will require you to memorize these four rules. The first is simple. Evade the attack. I will teach you to intercept, but in case the intercept misses, the enemy requires a much larger amount of energy which equals what can sometimes be an awkward or advantage opening course correction to continue their attack on you. A proper evasion will always put you behind his or her dagger in a fight. Being behind their dagger is a protective position that leaves them vulnerable to your attack.” Her father could not stress this enough and even said it when they were sparring or fighting for position around the dinner table as children. He looked sad for a moment, thinking that he was teaching his daughter how to defend herself and e en kill was some sort of mark in their lives, such as when Akela picked up a katana for the first time and swung it. Things would never be the same.

“The second rule is simple. Keep the Enemy in front of you where you can attack them easily. Don’t let them circle behind you or flank you, Kavala.” Eachann said softly. It was a simple enough rule to remember. Kavala made a mental note of it. “Well, what if you have more than one enemy at a time?” She asked. Her father looked thoughtful and nodded. “Good question. When fighting daggers, unless they have a distance weapon – even if armed with just blades – there are a limited number of ways you can be attacked and positions you can be engaged in. All of them are deadly but right in front when you’re talking about daggers, daughter. Get out of there. There is no shame in running. When you have overwhelming odds, survival is the most important thing. Run if you can. Daggers were never designed for use in a battle against numerous foes. They are survival tools and deadly ways to defend oneself . You could keep a few frontal assaults at bay, but unless you are dual wielding, it is hopeless to think you’ll survive being surrounded and overwhelmed.” He said firmly, wanting her to understand. Kavala did. There was no shame in running. “I understand.” Kavala said firmly.

“There is more.” Her father said, looking thoughtful. “Take a superior position, away from their free hand. They cannot defend against you on this side since you control their hand.” He demonstrated what he meant against Akela whom just happened to be handy there for such purposes along with her Katana. He showed Kavala how to crowd up on Akela’s tied-up hand, the one bound to the sword. In a heartbeat her moves went from defensive to offensive. He kept her moving, tired her out, and waited like a patient hunter to bring her down. It reminded Kavala of a pack of wolves encircling an elk about to fall from winter’s trials. Then in a similar fashion he made Kavala practice with Akela, teaching his youngest daughter via his oldest daughter how to better be prepared to battle sword against dagger, dagger against sword.

It wasn’t easy. There were new rules. Duck under a reach. Go for the vulnerable side, the side always committed to the action of the steel, while not getting in the way of the steel. Staying alive when the dagger was your only defense and your only offense wasn’t easy. You had to be strong. You had to be fast. You had to be both stronger and faster than those who wielded weapons with a longer reach and more power behind their swings. Not that daggers weren’t powerful. They were. Deadly was a better term, Kavala thought, for in all her lessons she learned most fully that daggers were under appreciated and often misjudged.

Displaying one dagger and threatening with it, while someone was well versed in the use of both hands, allowed a distraction that might be all that was needed to throw a second dagger from the opposite hand; an attack that was planned all along. You didn’t have to be within an enemies reach to throw a dagger. You just had to be as accurate as the Gods.

[Kavala]

And so she practiced her accuracy. Eachann taught her the stance. Feet shoulder width apart, slightly splayed, weight forward on the leading foot – leading being the side that held the arm she was going to throw with. The best way, her father had expressed, was to visualize energy traveling up from the ground, through her body and out her finger tips with a sudden controlled flick of her wrist wherein the knife was released with perfect timing to allow its speed, travel and slight ecliptic to perfectly hit its target. Easier said than done, Kavala wasn’t the most accurate to begin with.

She missed target after target, which in fact was a frame hung with an old hide. The frame was originally used for stretching and tanning hide, but the Drykas believe in multiuse for all things, thus it had gotten drafted as her target. Someone, quite possibly Akela, had painted in a cartoonish version of a blond man whom looked suspiciously like Vanator. There were red marks on the drawing, targets, depicting heart, lungs, guts, throat, groin and vulnerable points on the legs and arms. It was helpfully marked front and back.

Kavala spend hours throwing at the makeshift target, trying to get the knife to pierce the hide in just the right spot. Sometimes she succeeded sometimes she failed. It was a matter of her learning the technique. If she threw correctly, body in perfect alignment, then often the blade flew to the general vicinity of where she wanted it to go. If she lost focus or forgot technique in her haste to see a knife piece the makeshift heart painted on the target, then the knife always flew wide. Kavala repeatedly threw, focusing her body, trying to teach it to automatically toss the dagger and have it land true with enough force to hit the skin. She felt lucky when she actually struck the target anywhere on the canvas. By the fourth day she was actually hitting inside the painted on form of the man. The throws weren’t accurate, but they were indeed closer and closer the more she tried. Throwing her daggers became as much a part of her routine as her lessons with her father and running the circumference of the encampment.

And the interesting thing was Kavala was starting to like them.

After the lesson on throwing daggers, Eachann decided to give her a talk about Strong vs. Weak which was an important concept in knife fighting and the use of daggers. He’d promised her to begin teaching her dagger: Because you changed the angle, your posture is strong and the enemy’s is weak, therefore you should advance strongly rather than weakly.

[Gillar]

A well written, very detailed thread. Heavy dagger use, a bit of conditioning and lore about here. A nice read and surprisingly educational. I hereby award the following Experience and Lore: Dagger 5 Running 2 Lore: Anatomy of a Melee Dagger Lore: Anatomy of a Throwing Dagger Lore: Choosing a Quality Dagger Lore: Blending Unarmed Combat with Dagger Use Lore: Formalized Dagger Training Techniques Lore: Dagger Grips: Straight, Reverse, Throwing Lore: Dagger Fighting Stances: Fighter, Concealed Lore: Physical warm-ups: Stretching and Limbering up Lore: Basic Dagger Strikes Lore: Targeting an Opponent's Body Parts with a Dagger Lore: The Best Dagger Offense is a Good Defense Lore: The Four Basic Rules of Dagger Combat Lore: It Takes Practice to Hit the Target Lore: Approach Combat in a Strong Manner as Opposed to Weak