[Training Fields] A Blade's Blades (Basic Dual Longknives; Self-mod)

[Aratar Mori'ithil]

Timestamp: 42nd brightening in the Month of Kalendryas, Winter
Era I of the Celestine Mandate, Era XV Post Fractum


Johannes Fritz was one of the most experienced and battle-hardened among the Blades of Carmelya. He was not exactly the highest ranked among them, but he was very respected among the members of the Blades. A large, blond Vagaran who's skill is matched only by his gruffness, he was a Bladesman of almost unparalleled skill among his unit. Thus, when Aratar had heard rumors that he was the man to see on dual longknives after over a brightening of investigation on the Training Fields, Ar sighed, but did what he knew he should.

"Excuse me?" Fritz responded, mildly incredulous.

"I'd like you to train me," Ar replied, smiling pleasantly. He had his mesh armor on today--he'd need to learn how to fight with it on, so why not--and his longknives on his hips. His violet eyes were congenial, and hoping that the man's gruffness didn't mean he had a closed mind so much as was just frustrating to deal with.

Fritz laughed at the request, but before he could say anything, Ar grinned. The military had agreed to it, after all.

"I'm working for the War Ministry...they'll gladly compensate you for your time." This made the warrior think a moment, and he nodded slowly, stroking his chin in thought.

"How much?" Ar shrugged.

"Since it's only basic I imagine it shouldn't take long or too much intricate instruction. I'd say a hundred crowns." He saw no reason to be stingy with the government's money. This clearly peaked the Vagaran's interest, because he had a strange twinkle in his eye.

"Alright, you've won my attention. What with dual longknives were you hoping to focus on?" Ar grinned and shrugged.

"Speed and flexability. I need to be able to attack quick, block quick, dodge quick, and counter quick and I need to be able to do it in pretty much any direction." Fritz chuckled and nodded.

"That'll take a lot of doing. I'm willing to help, of course. You won't learn much of that type of specialty at the basic level of combat, but if you live long enough, and if this war lasts long enough, you might see enough action to become skilled enough to learn such things." Ar nodded. "Come back in a candlemark to this field and we'll get started right away." Aratar nodded and departed, excited at the prospect of learning the vital art of not dying nor cutting himself.



When Ar returned at the requested time, he found four dulled training blades sticking into the ground. They were, probably not overly shockingly, the length of longknives. Fritz bent down and pulled two from the loose silt and tossed them to him.

The first thing you need to know is the basic knifefighting stance. Stance and footwork is very important in weapons skills, but they are especially vital with knife combat. These weapons don't have the staying power or the distance that most weapons see, so the best way to make up for that is with their versatility and their speed, which can only be maximized by good stances and footwork. The weapons themselves don't have much leverage, so you have to create it with momentum and spin to get a good cut in.

"Have a go at this, you might have seen other fighters using this and it's primarily used because of the increased balance you get because your center of gravity is lower to the ground. Let me show you."

Stepping forwards with his left leg, his forward leg was bent at the kneecap so that if he looked straight down, all he could see was the tips of his toes. This right leg which was behind him was perfectly straight and the foot was turned at a slight angle because otherwise it would be a little bit painful to maintain. In between his legs was a gap about 30cm apart. Aratar watched closely, and it took him a few seconds but eventually he got the stance down. The Vagaran chuckled softly.

"Took longer then I'd hoped." He reached out and took the longknives back. "Seems we're not ready for these yet. I want you to be able to fall into that stance naturally and without thought. All brightening I want you to simply practice that. Practice going from regular walking into knife combat stance. Go about your business, and then repeatedly throughout it just fall into the stance. It'll take time at first, but I want it to come as naturally to you as breathing. We'll pick back up at dawn on the morrow, and I want to see you able to fall into that stance in an instant, intimately comfortable with it." Ar nodded, grinning.

"Sure thing." Fritz left, leaving Aratar standing there. For several candlemarks he practiced right there on the field, simply going from a regular stance into the combat stance. Once he felt comfortable enough to be able to do it without it taking longer then several seconds, he left and went about his brightening. Whenever he went to get food, when he went for a walk, when he explored Taralon, when he spoke to various members of the legion, it didn't matter. He received odd looks, but he didn't particularly care. He was improving, and that was what was important to him.

By the time he crashed on his bunk that darkening, it had become second nature to him after such strict, hard practice, just of the stance. Some might have considered it a brightening wasted, but he'd rather spend the brightening learning for it to come instantly and naturally than wind up dead because he wasn't in the right stance with the proper balance.

Come the next brightening, he was on the field bright and early, as was Fritz, with his four training longknives. Fritz nodded, and instantly Ar fell into the stance. It was a very natural movement, and only took a heartbeat to do. Fritz, with his critical eye, nodded again.

"It'll do."

[Aratar Mori'ithil]

"Okay...so now what?" Fritz smiled in a fashion that made Ar very weary before he took a similar stance. His hands were still empty of the knives, and he did some practice unarmed moves of all things.

"We'll use the knives soon but for now we'll just start with the strikes and then speed things up a little..." He slid forward, bringing his left arm across his body, he struck in a Knifehand block before pulling it back quickly and following through with a Reverse punch, his body swiveling at the hips slightly to bring about more momentum. Aratar watched intently and waited as Fritz looked back up at him expectantly.

"Well?" Aratar flushed slightly and nodded, mimicking the moves with a high degree of accuracy. He didn't have the unarmed experience, so against an actual foe it might not have been very useful--he didn't know, he'd never tried--but when his only resistance was air it flowed well enough. He started off slow, making sure he had the moves down. Once Fritz nodded, satisfied, he went at half-speed a few times. Finally, once he was comfortable with that, he moved up to full speed, doing the move several times in succession. Once he was comfortable doing the block-punch combo, Fritz nodded again. He never really seemed to smile much, but he did wear a quirky half-upwardly-curved-mouth that didn't really count, though it was reminiscent of one. That half-curve was what he wore whenever he found Aratar's movements acceptable, that much the mixed-blood elf had determined.

Keep my feet about me...stance and footwork is essential to the combat style... He was careful with how he moved as he tried to practice the unarmed set, keeping his balance carefully placed and his consciously aware of his feet at all times.

Continuing onwards rather than stopping to give more instructions, Fritz brought his guard up and pulled his right leg forwards so that he was pretty much standing to attention with his feet locked together.

Spinning around in a incomplete circle--about 270 degrees to be precise--he stepped forwards into the forward stance at the same time as he used his right arm to do a backfist before striking over it with a reverse punch.

"What we're doing now are basic combinations and kata. I don't usually teach fighting as a series of moves like this but this class is a little different than usual so why not? if you've any questions as we continue then please don't hesitate...they're your lessons, after all." Aratar nodded, and again he attempted the move in slow motion, then once he was comfortable with it and was sure it was being done properly increased it to half-speed, before, eventually, doing the move full-speed. Aratar probably wouldn't do well in political or philosophical pursuits or debates, but if there was one thing the bastard child took to like a fish to water, it was practical application tasks and training like combat or manual labor. He'd grown up, essentially, on the streets. He was rather used to such exertions.

So absorbed in learning the movements was he that he didn't even realize Fritz's movements until he was literally thrusting the training knives, handle first, at Aratar. He took them, looking at Fritz curiously, and the trainer spoke with a shrug.

"You seem to have that down so far, which is acceptable. Now we're going to slowly try the first half of the kata with the longknives." Ar nodded, clutching the knives, and took a deep breath as he let his hands and arms adjust to their weight.

He let his arms drop to her side, as he stepped forwards with his left leg, settling into the 'forward stance'. Now familiar with the motions, he knew where to place his feet without having to look at it constantly. Twelve inches of space separated his feet, the left leg bent at the knees while the right leg remained straight. Leaning forwards slightly to achieve a better balance, he brought his arms up and positioned them as indicated by the bladesman: left arm straight with the long knife pointing away from him, right arm bent at the elbow with the blade pointing upwards.

Taking a deep breath, Aratar started performing the kata in slow motion. As before, he took two steps forwards starting with his left foot. On his first step, his left arm, bent at the elbow, came across his chest before snapping out, parrying an invisible weapon. Another step, and he performed a wide horizontal slash at about chest-height. As he rotated his hips to increase the momentum, he realized that he was vulnerable to an attack with his left arm out so wide. To compensate this, he brought his right arm down across his body, resulting in his hand hovering over his left hip, the blade resting at a horizontal angle. It clicked that in doing this, he could easily bring his right arm up to block any attacks of note.

"Alright. Second half." Aratar nodded and began the movements. Still in his 'forward stance' from his previous maneuver, he moved the weight of his body upon his left foot, as he stepped forwards with his right. Aligning his feet next to each other, he kept the weight concentrated on the ball of the left foot, but prepared to move it to his right foot should something warrant the change.

Moving slowly, he turned in a clockwise direction, his upper body leading the way. He found it harder to maintain his balance while moving slowly, but realized if he could achieve this, it would be relatively easier when moving at a faster speed. Bending his will, he kept pivoting on the ball of his left foot, until his whole body had turned 270°. Grounding his right foot to stabilize himself, he stopped momentarily to study his position. He was now standing in a sideways position, with his right shoulder facing his opponent. It was, he thought, a vulnerable position, one that left him unable to defend himself properly from an attack. However, he knew that the turning maneuver was made to lend momentum to the subsequent attack.

As long as I don't stop here, I should be alright.

Satisfied with his deduction, he stepped forwards with his right leg, moving into the 'forward stance' as before. Performing a wide horizontal slash with his right blade, he brought his left arm across his body in a defensive position as he did earlier. A moment of inspiration hit him as he modified the maneuver. He snapped his left arm outwards in the motions of parrying an overhead slash, before following through with a low, stomach-level stab with his right.

Completing his maneuver, he took a deep breath, and realized that beads of sweat dotted his forehead. He wiped them off with the back of his sleeve. Performing the maneuver in slow motion had required a high level of concentration, and exerted his will more than if he had gone through the motions normally. Fritz didn't seem to care, though. He nodded and spoke once more.

"Not bad. Not great, but not horrific. Now that we've done those basic movements to get a feel for how they handle, let's talk a bit about the basics. These are the basic strokes of bladed combat. I'll show them to you." He held his blade in the basic hold, with the sharp point sticking out in the same direction as his thumb was. He slashed in the air nine times: horizontally twice--left and right, vertically twice--up and down, diagonally four times, in downward slashing and upwards slashing X-patterns. And finally finished off with a basic forward stab. He stepped back from the target, and looked at Aratar.

"For the rest of the brightening, you're going to start out alternating those things. Twenty strokes of each type of basic cut with each blade separately, followed by a slow-motion version of the kata. Then twenty more, then a half-speed version. Repeat that over and over for half the day, then add a third set of twenty and a full-speed version. Come dawn tomorrow, I want to see you able to expertly strike each of those slashes as well as perform that Kata at any speed I ask you to." Aratar groaned, but Fritz narrowed his eyes.

"We're alternating here so you don't get bored. You're arms will be burning by dawn on the marrow, but you'll know the barest hint of how to hold these things. You'll be marching off to a likely death where this could very well save your life, so we don't have a lot of time. Because of that we're doing the high-speed version. You've learned stance, now you're not only learning basic strokes but you're alternating it with kata to learn how to attack and move at the same time. We're only scratching the surface here, but you need a crash course since you could be shipped out to the front lines at any time. This would normally take cycles, but we don't have cycles. Devote yourself for most of the brightening each brightening to my instructions, and you might come out of it capable of basic usage of these things in a short amount of time, but if you don't give me your full effort and cooperation, then you might as well stop now. I won't teach someone who half-asses this, nor will I teach someone who doesn't listen. So do it, and do it right."

Aratar didn't need to be told twice. Aeternia, he didn't need to be told once; Fritz had misunderstood the groan. The words reinforced something inside of him, though, and so with renewed vigor he followed the request. For the rest of the brightening until the suns set he devoted himself to practice with the dull blades. Dancing kata moves alternated with basic uses of the blade. Over and over, the repetition started off boring, but as the brightening wore on, Aratar saw one of the dual uses of this style of training. Not only was he learning the basic moves so he could create combinations himself, but it was also muscle conditioning. Training his muscles to not only learn the moves by reflex, but also just training them period. His arms weren't used to being held up all day, much less holding anything in them and being flexed from repeated use. After mid-brightening he was already slowing noticeably due to his arms' exhaustion. Had it been real combat he'd probably already be dead. By the end of this, hopefully he'd be able to sustain combat for longer then his arms were currently lasting.

When the suns sank below the horizon, Aratar could barely lift his arms. He returned to his bunk and collapsed into blissful sleep, missing his meal entirely. The next dawn he was re-energized, but true to Fritz's word, his arms burned like nothing else. Stretching them he returned to the field, the Vagaran was already waiting for him. He sighed, drawing the training longknives and waited.

"Show me full speed," Fritz asked. Aratar complied, and his movements were almost like a dance. His speed and precision was wonderful, and though he could feel his muscles screaming in protest, he noticed that the movements weren't even thought about. They were reflex. It was an interesting sensation.

The not-quite-smile that the Carmelyan Blade had become known for appeared on his face, and he nodded.

"I've seen better, but it'll do." Aratar was coming to understand that from Fritz, that was something akin to praise, and he couldn't keep from grinning as he waited for the next brightening's torturous instructions.

[Aratar Mori'ithil]

"When wielding two weapons you must always keep one thing in mind," the Vagaran told his student, "a good defense is a better offense. The more aggressive you are the the less your opponent can concentrate. Even more so if he is only wielding a single blade, most of the time if you keep the pressure he is forced to give up ground." The elf nodded, all focus. He recalled the street fight between one who had had two longknives and the others. Some had had weapons, but none of them had wielded two at once. In one-on-one situations, the one with the single blade had often succeeded to parry the first attack, but his opponent had followed with an attack with his other weapon and hit. It was one of the reasons for why he had chosen to learn this particular style of combat.

He admired the grace of that fighter; his speed, his aggressiveness. He preferred weapons that demanded dexterity from its user rather than brute force. The knives were his weapons. They were small and decidedly harmless looking in comparison to a sword, as the Dorin at Darkblade had pointed out, and easily concealed. A knife fighter could keep his weapons hidden and appear unarmed.

"Even a skilled opponent--no, especially a skilled opponent--will know that he can not move fast enough to parry two advancing weapons and still be able to follow up with a counter, doubly so when said weapons are as small and nimble as the longknife...a good balance between a knife and a shortsword. So far we've concentrated on some beginning kata and the basic slashes, but the true benefit with dual wielding comes with the versatility. You can parry with both blades, which is handy when you're in multi-opponent combat. You can attack consecutively, alternating weapons so as to create a continuous string of assaults without letting up on pressure as single-weapon combat does by virtue of necessity.

"There is a third use we haven't touched on yet, however, and that is simultaneous attacks. Using both blades to attack at the same time. Trying to track and combat multiple opponents with each hand independently isn't something a beginner can do, but if you manage to reach the higher levels before getting your ass killed, it's a very useful skill. For now, though, simultaneous attacks will be limited to attacks against a single target." He demonstrated by crossing his arms, a blade in each hand, and doing a cross-body horizontal cut with each blade passing close by each other.

"This move leaves you relatively defenseless at the opening, but an opponent likely can't parry both attacks. Once of the slices will cut. Additionally there are other moves such as this one." He turned and crossed his right arm over his torso so it was on his left side, and created two parallel horizontal cuts--one at midsection-level, and one at throat level.

"Most opponents will parry high or parry low. Very few will parry both at once, and even if they do, only one will be a strong parry close to the guard where they have the leverage to have a solid defense. The knife closer to the farthest end of the opposing weapon, whichever that might be, is the weak parry, and if you can see by how they aim there defense before contact is made which one will be the weak parry and throw additional power behind the blade that'll contact it, sometimes you can power past the parry to strike even though they tried to counter it. They can't reposition for more leverage, because they still need to worry about the weapon in your other hand." He chuckled softly as he held the blades aside, making one of his few jokes...which unsurprisingly was at Aratar's expense.

"There’s always a chance that your arms will get all entangled, that your blows won’t be as effective as they should be because you move so fast and are thus unable to concentrate on a single attack. If you're not too careful you'll wind up doing more damage to yourself then an opponent. A bit of practice should take care of that problem, however." As he made his little joke, he demonstrated another move. This time leading with the left across his body to his right side he made a slash at throat-level, followed up immediately by a thrust.

"The point of that move was that it's supposed to distract the opponent. He will concentrate on the first attack, and in trying to parry it he'll likely fail to see my second one coming, or react too late. Keep in mind, though: the thrust is the most committal move that a fighter can make. It leaves you open, but in exchange you can fire off a powerful, penetrating blow that is much more difficult to parry than a slash. However, a virtue of two-weapon combat is that with some good footwork, your second weapon can usually cover most gaps in your defense left by such a committing strike." Aratar nodded in recognition, and Fritz shrugged.

"Such footwork probably won't get covered until you're ready for the more difficult stuff, however. In the meantime, I'm going to teach you a few more moves in the kata." Without waiting for an answer, he went on to demonstrate, letting Aratar match movement to keep up. He didn't open with the unarmed version this time, leaping straight into the version where they held the knives.

He stepped forward, performing a cross slash down to the right hip with the right hand and cutting a horizontal line across the shoulders with the left hand. In a second step, he tightened his grip around his longknife again and shot his left knife into the air, curving it into a slash across what would have been an enemy's neckline. His other blade went forward in a thrust. In the next step he he took his left arm in to cut across an invisible opponent’s midsection and at the same time did a stab at an angle up underneath his chin area. It was not quite a vertical stab, but it was not horizontal either. It was a compromise between both.

Aratar followed the three steps at slow-speed, a few times, then increased it to half-speed. Once he was comfortable with that, he glanced at Fritz.

"Alright. For the rest of the brightening do the complete kata that you know so far, new moves included, alternating each repetition with twenty repetitions each of the various slashes with each hand. Do it until sunsdown, and be sure to include a full-speed version of the kata by at least mid-brightening." Aratar nodded and when he stalked off, and went about diligently practicing, increasing his skill and conditioning his body at the same time.

By dusk he was exhausted, but less so then previous as his body was adjusting to the level of work. He managed to eat an early meal before passing out in his bunk.

The next morning, at dawn once more, Fritz asked him to show him the full kata at full speed, which he did. Fritz's upwardly-curving mouth appeared once more, and he nodded.

[Aratar Mori'ithil]

"Alright, So far you aren't sucking, but that can change fast. Try to follow me again if you can in the next few moves in the kata." Aratar chuckled softly as he took a forward stance just as Fritz did, and watched intently as his body moved in imitation of Fritz's slow-motion movements.

He took his left arm in to cut across an invisible opponent’s midsection and at the same time did a stab at an angle up underneath his chin area. It was not quite a vertical stab, but it was not horizontal either. It was a compromise between both. The mongrel elf watched him, taking note of the odd angle of the second attack and then stepped forward with his right foot, settled into the stance he had been taught during his last class. He began with a horizontal slash and followed up with a stab with his left hand weapon at that rather odd angle. He performed the move three times, to give Aratar a chance to fully grasp it.

Once both were moving in sync, Fritz stopped, eying him curiously.

"The first move was a distracting move, the second the killing blow. It took you a little longer then usual. Dunno what was up with that, but try to keep up, pointy-ear." Ar nodded, ignoring the racial slur, instead feeling slightly frustrated. His arms felt like lead, and they were moving frustratingly slow. He matched slow-motion speed easy enough, but he could barely keep them in motion at half-speed, and it took almost everything he had to keep up with Fritz.

"Alright, you're flagging, and I can see that. We'll let those be the last ones in the kata for you. Rest for the first half of the brightening. You've been training so hard that you can barely move your muscles. If the orcs moved on our camp here, you'd be useless; a meat shield and nothing more. Once you've rested and gotten some energy back, practice the full kata. Don't worry about the slash movements. Once you can do the entire kata at full speed we'll do a test spar and call it done." Aratar nodded, sighing, and fell to the ground panting. Fritz snorted and walked away, muttering something about weaker races. Aratar lay there, relaxing, and eventually fell unconscious despite the cold winter air, right there in the middle of the training field.

When mid-brightening arrived, Ar felt a boot connect with the sensitive area right below his ribcage. His eyes shot open wide and he sucked wind, gasping for air, as he climbed to his feet. His lavender gaze shot angrily to his persecutor, but Fritz was standing over him with his arms crossed over his chest, a look of disgust on his face.

"If I were an orc and we were under attack, you'd already be dead. If you're going to lead a life of battle, you're going to need to learn to sleep lighter, no matter how exhausted you are." The anger faded from Aratar's eyes--not easily, he forced it into the back of his mind, determined to get along since Fritz was the best person to help him now and in the foreseeable future with his knife training--and he resumed a stoic presence. "Get to practicing." Aratar grinned.

"Worried about me?" Fritz snorted and stalked away, and Aratar grabbed the training longknives. He began to practice, the rest having done him a world of good. He could now do half-speed without much trouble, though his muscles were still aching painfully. His muscles screamed at full speed, but he was adjusting to the feel of the burning, finding himself able to operate during the painful moments rather easily, so long as he ignored the sensation of pain. Now that he could move at full speed, he practiced the entire thing in one long string, cycling it over and over, trying to make each movement flow into the next; each step look less like a step and more like part of one long dance.

As he practiced, a thought occurred to him. He was used to manual labor, and even though he wasn't used to this amount, he was exhausting himself faster then he should have. It was an honest puzzlement to him. He'd messed up several times during the early training, and had would have cut himself on many occasions had it not been for the fact that they were dull training blades.

The entire rest of the brightening he trained, his movements flowing smoothly despite his muscle's protests. When the suns set he retreated back to his bunk. He wasn't as exhausted this brightening as usual...his body was getting used to exertion. He ate his meal before heading to bed, even staying up for a bit before eventually falling asleep. His rest earlier much have helped him out, making him not as tired. He slept well, and come the next sunsrise he arrived at the field again, and Fritz was there waiting for him. Without being asked he performed the full kata at full speed, almost to perfection.

Fritz nodded again, quirking a brow.

"Time for a sparring match." Aratar blinked, staring at him, and spoke up in objection.

"I'm not ready..."

"I'll tell you when you're ready. Training in midair doesn't do you much good at this stage except to build muscles. You know the moves, you've built enough muscle to combat consistently, now there's practical application--combat against someone else, so quit your bitching and prepare yourself." Fritz thought for a second before brining up a last minute inclusion to his instruction, almost like an afterthought.

"Which reminds me. Parries and feints. They're basically deflecting an opponents blade with yours. We're not gonna go into detail on them, because they're easy and often times instinctual. If you can't do them, then you're worthless. However, there is also the cross-blade parry, which isn't as obvious, which, like the name says, crosses your blades into an 'X' shape to catch the opponents blade and guide it into the center where your blades meet. It's a good way to control an opponent's weapon and force an opening. Double blade parries aren't really worth mentioning because they're just as obvious. A single blade parry against a heavy weapon is stupid, so don't do it if you can avoid it. use a both blades to block at the same time to even the weight distribution and soften the blow, your second arm will help absorb the shock. Occupies both your arms so you can't counterattack, but it also makes sure your arm or blade doesn't break and helps make sure they can't penetrate your guard and slice you in half.

"Now feints...they are a trickier monster. They are false attacks that look real--or false openings in your defenses that look real--to force the opponent to commit to an attack or defense so that you can properly predict their move and come up with an appropriate counter. Hard to do...you as a beginner probably won't be able to do it, but you should be aware of it in case an enemy tries to use it on you." He thought for a moment, then nodded to himself.

"That should cover it. Got all that?" Aratar nodded, hoping he could adjust to using parries and spotting feints on the fly, since he didn't get the chance to practice them.

"Now, lets do this, pointy-ear."

Aratar nodded and raised the two training blades.

This was probably going to hurt.

[Aratar Mori'ithil]

"Oh, before we get started..." Fritz flicked his wrists as he released the longknives, and the spun end over end as they flew forward, but towards the ground at the same time. The blades dug into the silt at Ar's feet, even as Fritz drew a second pair of longknives, the ones on his hips.

"Someone as skilled as me can train with the real thing without hurting anyone. You're best off using training blades." Aratar frowned, glancing at the two blades that hadn't left his side since he'd been given them to train with.

"Then what are these?" Fritz snorted.

"You wear longknives...but clearly you're not used to them, otherwise you woulda noticed right away. Those are my custom creations...I call them 'conditioning blades'. They're half again as heavy as regular longknives." Aratar blinked. "Pointy-ear, you've been exerting half again as much energy as me to move at the same pace as me. Those things are meant to condition your body and, once you get used to regular longknives, they should feel more like feathers in your hands...allowing your arms to move quicker. That was what you wanted, right? Quick, agile movement?" Aratar nodded and tossed the two to the side, taking up the two blades sticking hilt-first out of the soil, testing their weight. He was right, the felt a bit lighter.

He didn't have much time to figure things out, though, because Fritz came at him at a speed that made Aratar's head reel. His blades came up defensively, and he was almost shocked at how fast they moved. He parried the attack effortlessly even as he fell into a forward stance, shuffle-stepping backwards to gain some breathing room.

So fast...not just him, but me too!

Even though he was shuffle-stepping backwards, Fritz would have none of it. He kept advancing, a smirk on his face as he pressed Aratar. True to his word on the varying attack styles, his current method of attack was to consecutively attack. It felt like there was no break in the hail of knifeblade strikes that came at him. He moved his blade out to turn them aside with his blade, trying for all he was worth to keep up...but what surprised him the most was that the lighter blades were taking more getting used to then he thought. His arms were moving faster then he was used to, and his brain wasn't processing his ability to attack and defend at that speed, because it was used to fighting slower.

More and more ground, Aratar gave, and Fritz didn't let up in the slightest.

Then he saw it, during a parry.

He's favoring his left side. I might be able to open him up there... When the Vagaran came at him again, he heard a tone in the soldier's voice he hadn't before. An element of enjoyment. He seemed to take pleasure in toying with the novice knifeman.

"What's the matter, pointy-ear? You can't kill any orcs by just turning away their blade, and I guarantee you that you'll tire before they will if you turn it into a contest of stamina...you'd best figure out a way to go on the offensive or else you won't last five minutes on the battlefield!" Aratar growled quietly as he turned aside attack after attack, and kept relinquishing ground...a fact that was somewhat damaging on his ego, despite his clearcut knowledge that his teach had a lot more skill with these weapons than he.

I'm trying....if I can just get you to open up your left...

Then almost as though reading his mind, Fritz twisted his body to present his left side as he made a noticeably strong attack with his left hand. Aratar was careful not to reveal with his expression that he'd seen Fritz's opening, and the instant he saw it he turned an attack away and went on the attack, lunging forward with a heavy thrust to Fritz's ribs. The might be training blades, but the tip was still pointy and would hurt like a bitch.

Got you!

And then, Aratar was on his back, sucking wind.

"Wha...what...the...feth...?" Fritz held his blade up to Aratar's throat. He was grinning. Of course it was, it would make sense that such a bitter and hostile man would only enjoy himself torturing others.

"Not every opening is an opening, kid. It's called a feint. Get used to the idea. Most orcs probably ain't smart enough to use feints, but some of 'em are, and if you try to take advantage of the wrong opening, you're dead. Remember that." He took his blade away as Aratar caught his breath, his mind reeling as he tried to track how exactly he'd wound up on his back with the wind knocked out of him.

Oh right, the thrust. His lunge had left him seriously unprotected, and he had been going after a spot the enemy had wanted him to go after, and was expecting it. Such an obvious and ungaurded move couldn't have presented a better opportunity for Johannes Fritz. A quick kick to the back of his leading knee--where all his weight was--and he crumpled like a doll.

"Get up, panty-waist. We ain't done yet. Come at me again." Aratar, finally having stopped wheezing, stood and held his blades up in the customary stance...one in front pointed at his attacker, one held upwards with his arm drawn back, almost as though he were holding a drawn bow. Aratar's violet eyes carefully looked at Fritz, examining him as his mind raced.

He advanced quickly, his lead blade making a few quick light taps at his opponent's, trying to bait him into an attack. Normally Fritz wouldn't have fallen for it, but for whatever reason the soldier decided to be merciful and fight as though he were a fair bit less experienced then he was....not all fighters were as skilled as he, after all, and he wanted to let the boy know that ploys sometimes worked.

Intentionally taking the bait, he advanced with a slash that would have run from Aratar's left shoulder to right hip, but that was the distracting move. His second followed it up with a thrust, snapping his hips to alternate lead feet and put his power behind the move in an attempt to drive it into Aratar's gut. Aratar, noticing that Fritz had followed through, he parried the distraction blade, having expected the second attack to be the real one. It was not dissimilar to some of the later moves in the kata, after all. As the second attack came, Aratar side-stepped to his right, maintaining the parry,and for insurance parried the thrust away from him as well.

In an unexpected and unconventional move, Aratar advanced, parries still fully extended, and slid his blades up Fritz's, riding them almost like guides up towards the instructor, and executed a cross-slash, only at an angle. His right hand blade was across his body, inverted and facing his feet, his left a high parry. Simultaneously, the right downward-pointed blade came up for an upwards vertical slash, while the left high parry came down in a diagonal slash across Fritz's right shoulder to his left hip. The angled cross-slash hit skin and dug in, Fritz feeling the contact of the training blade knew that the move had been successful.

Not to say he couldn't have blocked it, but he wanted the kid to get a reward for doing decent. He wasn't completely heartless, he just came across that way. It was his image.

Aratar, meanwhile, was absolutely blown away. His attack had worked. He'd struck a blow against Fritz!

...wait. That's not right. I'm a beginner. There's no way that should have happened. He must have let me. He gazed at Fritz for a long moment scrutinizingly.

"What's wrong, kid? Your eyes stuck?" Aratar smiled congenially.

Oh well. I'll take a shallow victory over none at all.

"That smile pisses me off." Fritz came at Aratar, quicker and harder then he'd expected, and it was all the elf could do, even with his faster-than-he-could-process reactions, to deflect them all by instinct. Fritz really did look pissed, and it sent a small shiver of fear through Aratar.

No...can't be afraid...have to overcome fear...and weakness...overcome lack of skill and training...and there's only one way to do that...

"ILUVE!" Aratar shouted in his natural tongue, and with an almost primal drive, throwing all his speed and power behind one of his kata moves. He parried Fritz's attack as he stepped into it, a thrust immediately following the parry. His first kata combo. Fritz parried the thrust, but was forced to backpedal to do so, opening p a few steps of distance between them and--more importantly--stopping Fritz's drive and forcing him to think a bit more calmly rather then openly attacking Aratar.

Iluve. The literal translation is 'everything', but there is a more commonly accepted slang for the word...guts.

He knew he had less skill, power, speed, accuracy, and experience than Fritz...but there was one thing he'd been training like the dickens since he'd first started practicing for an entire brightening without much of any rest, and that was guts. It had come through for him weather he liked it or not, and he would use it here. He would leave it all on the field. This was not a training fight. Fighting as though they were training had no meaning. Fighting as though he were fighting for his very life; fighting as though Fritz were trying to kill him and he had to kill or be killed...that was the only chance he had to win. He had to give it everything he had. It would take guts to win, because that was all he had to give.

Fritz came again, but with a bit more caution. Aratar quickly recognized that Fritz was approaching it with his soldier's training mentality. Aratar was too unskilled to be able to afford such a mentality and still survive. If he wanted to come through this successfully, he had to come at Fritz as though he intended to kill the Vagaran. In a huge, lunging move, he did a hard thrust with his lead blade, Fritz almost sighed as he parried it, moving in on the wide open Aratar. It connected an instant later that Ar's thrust had been way too light; too easy to parry.

FETH! the veteran cursed mentally, realizing it was his first true and honest mistake since they'd begun the spar, and if he wanted to not come through it with another point lost, he'd need to abort his attack. Now. Fritz retreated, pulling his blades down defensively, and Aratar was already on him. It had looked like all the mongrel elf's weight was on his front foot, but in reality it had been evenly distributed, as indicated by his too-light thrust. He did a reverse spin and his blades came quick and furious.

This was not a simultaneous attack like before, but a chain of successive moves. Fritz was stunned to notice the power and determination behind each strike, but not nearly as stunned when he realized that Aratar's movements, fluid as they were for a beginner, were pieces of the full kata, but mixed up. They were in varied order, but each piece of the kata was there. He was in full defensive mode, deflecting the moves each as they came as Aratar came at him in offensive mode, each two-step section of the kata coming in a different place then it normally did--and to mix it up, occasionally two pieces of the kata followed exactly as they did in practice, because Fritz would have expected him to mix it up, not chain them together in the order he was taught.

He was right, Fritz was blown away. He deflected all the moves, but he wasn't able to get an attack in edgewise, so furious was Aratar's assault of blades. Each blow came with a cry of effort and force from Aratar's throat, a clarion call of the heart he was putting into the spar.

No...he's not treating this like a spar...he's really trying to kill me... An unexpected wave of approval passed through Fritz. That had been the final lesson he'd wanted Fritz t learn, but he'd learned it unexpectedly fast.

Treat every fight as life or death, even if its not. You don't have enough skill to make the distinction yet. Every time you hold those blades, do it with the intention of killing your opponent, even if its practice or training. If you don't do that, then that practice and training is worthless, because it's not a display of your real ability, and without showing your real ability and evaluating it, how can you ever hope to get better?

Aratar maintained the assault for an extended period. A few minutes, in fact. Fritz had expected him to give up once he noticed it wasn't working, but he just kept coming. More grudging approval escaped Fritz's thoughts. He was giving this everything he had. Obviously it wasn't enough to beat the experienced Bladesman, but to put that much effort behind it...to push his limited knowledge to such an extreme...

If this goes on, I might actually have to hurt him to win.

"STOP!" Fritz bellowed, and Aratar froze as he backpedaled, standing in a defensive stance, blades up. His chest was heaving and he looked exhausted, but there was a glint in his lavender eyes. One that Fritz knew well, because it was something every good fighter--every good survivor--needed.

Determination. To win, to succeed, to survive....this Aratar had it clearly. Once he had some experience and skill behind him--assuming he survived that long--he could become someone quite dangerous.

I may need to look out for this one a while down the road... he hated the thought, but Aratar's remarkable improvement and quick learning of physical tasks might make him someone who could match the Bladesman somewhere on down the line.

"Alright, we're done." Aratar looked at him, confused. "You're not completely worthless, pointy-ear." That was as close to approval as he figured he'd ever get from Fritz...but considering it was Fritz, he might as wel have slapped Ar on the back and laughed. He grinned and offered the training blades back to his instructor, who nodded and took them after sheathing his own.

"So I passed?" Fritz sighed.

"Do I gotta spell it out for you? You won't hurt yourself with your own knives now, and if you're really lucky and have a really stupid opponent, you might even manage to hurt them. So go. You need some live-fire combat under your belt before you're of any worth training further." Aratar nodded solemnly.

"Thank you." he said happily and with an air of seriousness.

"Go on, get outta here." Aratar nodded and turned, leaving the field.


OOC: Woo! Finally. mmkay, I know it's only five posts long, but hopefully you'll look at quality and length and not post count. Thanks.

[Steve]

Awarded 2 EP for Dual Long Knives.