The children from next door were bouncing a ball off the wall playing a game in the hall. It was a hard red ball turned from wood then painted. It made a thump-thud sound as it bounced from the floor to the wall. The second thud much louder than the first. This had been going on long enough that Naali was starting to want to go yell at the children. But they had come with their mother fleeing an abusive husband. The straw that changed everything was a blow to the jaw that knocked a couple of the woman’s teeth out. Thump-thud, thump-thud, Naali the Acrtic Fox grabbed the black mouse that she caught in the pantry last night that she had killed and was going to eat, remembering her land lord’s discussion of not eating mice, she takes it out. Pass the children and their red ball and out the front door. She drops the mouse in the gutter for another animal to come eat.
The look on her face was of distress. She hated to waste food, even a mouse. She struggled with the thought till a neighbor dog started to bark and run at her. Turning, she darted back into the house. Getting her room, she changes as the thump-thud is getting louder. She changes form to human and gets dressed in what she thinks is the rose colored dress. It was lighter than the ball, and she only knew it was red because the children had said so during a fight they were having. Grabbing some of her coins and tucking them into a pocket in her sleeve along with the knife that her things together. She tells the statue to guard the room without hurting anyone while she is gone. She figured that she would be walking into a water trap when she gets home, but if it keeps the children out of her room, that will be okay. Thud-thud. They children heard her telling the statue to guard. They had met the water traps before, but they did not realize that she needed to be near the statue for it to be animated. She smiled. It hurt to smile as her eyes were still black and blue from the beating she got at the bar down at the docks.
She had made an appointment to meet with Mister Jerrad Huntingston, a weapon and fighting trainer. Nai had actually setup the appointment; she had a thing about woman being able to protect themselves. Her black eyes and the story she told at the dinner table made it clear that she needed help. She really needed to learn to defend herself with her hands and a knife since that was normally all she had with her. She needed to learn to fight as a fox too, that would be a little harder to train. But, as a fox she was able to run away, climb, and hide from things bigger than she.
Nai had given a description of Jerrad and set the meeting up in the Knirin Gardens, a beautiful park across the street from Nai’s. Naali enjoyed hunting in the park most of the time. One morning a rat had come after her and she had to flee. Rats can grow to be fairly large if they get old enough. Jerrad greeted Naali first.
“Miss Naali?” he asked.
Naali blushed and replied, “Master Huntingston, I am Naali.”
Not wasting much time he asks her, “So, you need to learn to defend yourself. How much do you know?”
Naali looks at him and says, “Getting hit hurts, a lot.” Then she tries to chuckle. Nai had told the story about what happened to her to Jerrad. Nai has helped more than a few women get help learning to defend them.
Jerrad gives her a look and a smile, “Let us get started then.”
He walked up to her and grabbed her around the back. “What would you do if someone grabbed you like this.” His arms around her like a hug.
Thinking for a moment, she reached up to grab his arm and tried to dig her finger nails into his arm. His clothing protected him from her nails.
He let go of her and said, ”Grab me.”
She did as she was told.
He twisted his hips, moved a leg and she was falling backwards.
“I’ll show you again then you try,” Jerrad said.
He did the same thing again, this time slower.
He grabbed Naali and she tried. Which leg was supposed to move first, the right or the left. She ended up wrapped up like a knot.
“Again,” he said lifting her up, “move your left foot first, since my head is on your left side.”
She tried again, falling on top of him. “Good,” he said to her, “use an elbow when you fall and it will knock the breath out of them. Let’s try again.”
Again she twisted and fell on top of him.
“Now, let us work on punching,” Jerrad said. “You make a fist like this,” He makes a fist and shows her. “If you have your fingers like this,” showing a fist with his thumb towards the knuckles then continues, “or like this,” his fingers flat on his palm, “you will break your fingers if you hit someone.” She looks at her.
She tries to make a proper fist. It takes about 10 minutes for her to really understand what he was talking about. “Now punch,” he said to her. He did her best impression of a punch. It ended up being more of a shove than a punch. He showed her the right way to punch, over and over again. Never getting upset and patiently explaining and showing it. Till she finally could throw a punch that looked like a punch.
“What would you do if someone threw a punch at you?” he asked. Her response was obvious and unspoken, “block with my head.” Is what she thought. “Throw a punch at my head,” he told her. As her punch came towards him his arm moved in an arc to deflect her punch and his other hand moved to hit her, stopping right before her face. She blinked at the movement. “Slowly now,” he told her. She throws the punch slowly and he explained what to do. “Your turn,” he said. Throwing a slow punch at her. she blocked with the wrong arm, moving his fist into her face, making her eye ache. “Other arm. Try again,” He said. They repeat the process over and over for her to learn from. It takes another five more times she finally her arm to move the right way.
“What about a knife?” he asked. Pulling a wooden stick out a bag he brought. “How do you hold it?” He asked her. She grabbed it like she was shaking hands. “A slasher’s grip,” he says then continues, “Good for sticking someone if they don’t block it.” He waves her forward in a stab. He hits her arm moving the knife away then has a hand in her face. “Try this,” he said. Grabbing the knife with the blade point facing up his arm he said, “Try using it like you were punching me again.” He slowly moved his arm into the blocking position as she stabs. “See, now when I block I get cut.” She smiles with some understanding.
“How do I cut someone?” Naali asked. He asks a young boy that had stopped to watch to help him. Then he shows her slowly and telling her, “By punching past then bringing the knife back or by swinging across your body from the other shoulder down.” He pats the boy on the back and thanks him. A small cluster of people start to gather and watch. Some came to watch Master Jarred teaching his craft while others intent on watching the watching the redhead as she tried to learn how to defend herself.
A couple of young men were invited to help. One at a time they grabbing Naali, which the one young man seemed to enjoy and threw throwing gentle punches to help her learn to block and counter. Master Jarred was quite skilled in giving her some confidence in defending herself. When she did something well, he would praise it. When she made a mistake, he would praise the effort and suggest corrections. At the end of the time, Naali was tired. She hugged the men that helped; she was frustrated in the fact that these men had not broken a sweat or were even breathing hard. She figured that is must have something to do with the fact that they took part in the morning training. Naali had gone to watch it a couple times, three things kept her from taking part. The first is she doesn’t really like mornings. The second is she watched them dress down a young man who had just started for not knowing what he was doing. Naali really did not care to be yelled at. The third reason is she wasn’t sure they would let her take part. She was not a citizen and she was a young helpless woman.
As they were wrapping up and the watchers were leaving Naali asked, “What do I do if someone grabs my hair?” Jarred put his things down and showed her. It was a twist movement like before and using her elbows. He also showed her the basic things a woman needs to know. Use your elbows, hips, heals. He told her to wear shoes as the heals make good weapons. “Go for the soft spots, eyes, ears, groin, thighs, and shins,” he told her. He walked her out of the garden back toward her apartment. The conversation was encouraging. He mentioned the need to keep practicing to get better. He also told her that she was a good student. She was not totally convinced that she was a “good student” as she kept doing the wrong thing and moving the wrong way.
When they got to the street, Naali handed over the gold coins as payment for the training. He thanked her and again reminded her to keep practicing. She headed across the street seeing the mouse gone, she headed inside. The children were not playing with the ball in the hall way. The door to her room was open slightly and as she went inside, a bucket of water doused her.
“See children, that is how you make that trap,” the statuette said as the children giggled.
“Nothing was taken and the apartment is safe,” the statuette chimed. The children headed for the door and back to their mother. Naali washed herself off and dried the water. Then flipped herself down on her bedding and fell asleep.
Dinner came and passed as Naali slept. She woke to the sound of a man yelling as he came through the door. Shouting the neighbor’s name, drunk and belligerent. “Get your Arse out here!” he shouted. A door opened and soft foot falls went down the hall. The next sound was a thunk of a child being smacked into the wall and falling.
The sound made Naali upset and two instincts kicked in the Kelvic. The first was her genetic nature to help and care for people, she had to do something. The second was a deeper genetic instinct, maternal in nature, he had hit a child. A growl came from deep in her and she started to move. Now one of the things that Naali had learned was that men are stronger than women so she needed to be tricky. If she would have been thinking she would grabbed the statuette, but she was moving on instinct.
As he was staggering down the hall, Naali made contact. His was a big man in size and stature. His arms were tan and his had enough fat to him, that if he was jolly, it would bounce. Naali squinted with intensity and determination her raccoon eyes. As he moved, she thought about how to block and the other things that Jarred had been teaching her earlier that day. He swung a slap at her which she blocked and set it over her head as she ducked. She made a punch at his stomach making him bend over. He grabbed at her. She moved her arms up and falling back and rolling away, more from the force he applied to her than her own skill. He made a fist and threw a punch for her body. There was a pop sound and it felt like lightning exploded her side as she gasped for air. In her pain, she did what Jerrad has taught her, she went for the soft spots. Clawing at his eyes and kicking at his groin. Her nails caught his face and made his eyes water. The first kick hit the side of his leg making him shift his weight. He roared in rage and threw a punch at her head. She managed to deflect a little bit of it. It still stung as it made contact and made her head hurt. She threw a punch catching him in the throat. It wasn’t where she wanted to hit him. But, it made him gasp for a breath. She kicked at his leg again. This made him drop to a knee. He swung his arm and hit her on the ribs. She collapsed and whimpered balling herself up. He recovered first and came after her again. This time he kicked at her. She protected her ribs, but her legs took the blunt of his blows.
From behind him, Nai came with a cast iron pan. Hitting him hard in the head and dropping him to the floor. Naali squirmed back and crawled to her room. She grabbed her knife and her statuette. As Naali returns she starts to have a conversation with the statuette about how to tie him up, he starts to move and grabs at her again. She reached into the sleeve of her dress as he starts to squeeze her, she sticks the knife into his belly as she pulls the knife back, blood starts to pour out of his body in rivulets then starts to gush with each beat of his heart. He looks shocked at Naali and swears at her before falling forward on her. They landed on the floor with a thud.
Nai went to call for the city guards. With the gardens across the street, there was normally a few patrolling for pickpockets and others not following the rules. Two guards came through the door with Nai. They checked the boy, still collapsed on the floor then the man, pulling him off of Naali then finally her. She curled up in a ball and sobbed from the pain. In a few moments, more guards showed up. One carried the boy and another picked her up, gently. Each step he took made her whimper in pain. She was carried to the Gilia Medical Center to be checked and healed.
Karvin checked the boy then attended to Naali. She was given something to ease the pain she was feeling. Her ribs were strapped and the bones in her face and arms were checked. Ointments were applied, medicines were given. The best was a medicine that made her relax and fall asleep. She dreamed of a fat black mouse running across the floor chasing her.
When she awoke, she saw that Master Jerrad was just leaving her room. He stopped by to check on her, having heard about the attack and her attempt to protect people. She smiled, which hurt and closed her eyes again.
Tump-thud came from the treatment area, it was the red ball being bounced from floor to wall. Her statuette laughed and Naali sighed. Then called for the nurse.
Word count: 2654
