----------------------------------------------------
“Two handed or sword ‘n
board?” she said as she took the metal sheet from her back with a single hand.
“Both” Rog replied
sheepishly, Elloria kept the smile on her face and placed the shield carefully
on the ground before unclipping the neck fasteners on her riding hood and then
wrapped it into a ball to be placed under the leather straps of the shields
support.
“I'll teach you the basics of
both for now, but when we get back home, I'll teach you more,” she said calmly
“Thank you princess”
Elloria placed the sword in
Imm’arogs hands and placed his palms upon specific points on the grip.
“The thing you have to
remember with a sword is balance,” she instructed as she began turning Rog’s
body and lengthening the gap between his feet to help him form a battle stance
with his left hoof forward first. “The sword was designed for slashing, not
thrusting, poking or hacking, though sometimes that's the only choice we have.
With your bodyweight equaled
out you should be able to swing thoroughly enough to kill in a single blow”
The princess stood behind
Imm’arog and raised his hands upwards to the right whilst still in the battle
stance, ready to strike.
“Swinging just isn't enough,”
she further explained before taking a few steps back “Try swing the sword
diagonally downwards to the ground”
Imm’arog did as the princess
instructed and felt the top-heavy sword carry his body round to face the
princess as the momentum carried him.
“Now, I want you to swing
again with the exact same motion, but this time, I want you to step forward
with your right foot as you do”
Feeling rather stupid, the
goblin once again did as his new mentor asked of him and planted his right foot
in front of him as he swung at the air, the sword stopped dead where he wanted
it to and he looked at the princess in shock and excitement.
“Weight distribution is key,
as you've just seen, a single movement can make all the difference when
controlling you're weapon” The princess said with a smile. “Upward strikes work
the same way and can easily follow into a downward slash, just remember to move
your feet accordingly and shift your weight… Try it”
Imm’arog gripped the handle
of the sword tightly and stepped forward with his right foot as he sliced up
into the air and then with a sharp stomp in front with his left, brought the
weapon crashing back down to the ground.
“Good” the princess said as
she clapped for her friends success “Now, we try the lunge.
Basically it’s the same as
the slash, except this time, you rotate your arms down to your waist and thrust
forwards with the tip of sword, don't forget your feet placements though”
The goblin soaked up this new
information like a sponge and mapped out the manoeuvre in his mind before
trying it for himself.
When he felt ready, Rog
raised the sword as before and shifted his feet to the correct positions and
concentrated hard before winding his arms down by his waist and pushing
forwards with the sword while using the same weight distribution technique that
he used with the slashing attacks.
“Excellent, simply excellent”
the princess said proudly while giving a round of applause “You're a fast
learner, all that's left now for the two handed approach are defensive
maneuvers, then we move onto single hand fighting”
Slowly Elloria scoured the
nearby environment for something with her blue eyes until she caught sight of
what she was looking for with a simple grin.
Quickly she ran over to a
fairly smooth sword-length and thickly rounded stick, twirling it in a single
hand before taking her stance, ready to fight.
“Ok, first, I'll show you how
to parry an attack, come at me and attack me, any way you like” she ordered
“What? With the sword?” Rog
replied with slight confusion
“Yes, with the sword… Don't
worry, me and my stick here can take out you and your sword quite easily,”
Elloria answered with an overwhelming confidence “Come on, attack me”
Rog hesitated for a quick
second and then moved in for the strike, quickly, Ella moved her left leg back
and shifted her body weight to her left side as she raised the stick upwards to
the right with what would be the blade end pointing diagonally down at her
friend.
The sword hit the stick began
to slide downwards away from the princess's body.
“Normally, the blade should
run off the end and allow me to twist and strike like so” the princess said as
she demonstrated slowly what would be a fatal blow if used on the battle field
“But seeing as how I have a stick it doesn't show that, but I work with what I
have.
Basically, all you need to do
is shift your weight to the opposite side of an attacker, so if I attack from
the right, you parry from the left.
Once you've shifted your
weight, raise your weapon to that side and point it towards your opponent, but
tilt your weapon slightly, this should create a gutter like motion and the
attackers weapon will slide allowing you to strike, practice it and when you're
ready, we'll try it for real”
Imm’arog recalled the
princess's hand and body movements and slowly began to copy them until he felt
confident enough to add speed to his motions.
Feeling confident enough
after several minutes of practice, he raised his weapon and smiled at Elloria
who stood in a stance quite different to what he was expecting, she had her
legs positioned properly but her wooden sword replacement was held out in
front, after a cheeky grin from seeing Rog’s baffled expression, she raised her
arms into the position she had previously taught him and instantly went for the
strike.
Thinking fast, Imm’arog moved
his body weight to the left and raised the blade, Elloria’s faux weapon struck
the sword and instantly slid off from her own momentum.
“Very good” Elloria said as
she composed herself “Now the block, this is easy, I'm going to go for an
overhead strike, your job is to simply raise the sword and block my attack,
ok?”
Nervously the goblin nodded
his head and the two friends took their stances for battle.
Without any word of warning,
Ella swung her arms in a counter-clockwise motion and the brought the stick
over her head, instinctively Imm’arog raised the sword horizontally upwards and
met the stick.
“Good” the princess beamed as
she kept the stick planted firmly on the steel blade “But how's your instinct
and speed?”
Suddenly Elloria raised her
hands and smashed the stick against the sword once more before diving round to
Imm’arogs left side with lighting fast speed.
Confused, Rog barely brought
the sword down to meet the stick before she moved again and went for his right
shoulder, trying to block out all senses, the goblin swung the sword up and
once again felt the stick strike it before Elloria circled around him with a
jump and went to hit him in the back of the head.
Rog circled round to his
right and raised the sword upwards to block the stick that was merely inches
away from his face.
“Good work” Ella said as she
relaxed her chipped weapon and patted Rog on the shoulder “Next, the
counter-attack”
“Can we take a break please?”
Rog asked as he tried to regain his breath after moving so quickly.
“No” the princess replied
coldly “We've two more lessons left with two hand defense, then you can rest.
The counter-attack is simple,
I'm going to go for another overhead strike, block it, and move to kick or knee
me, got it?”
“I think so” Rog answered as
he watched Ella get into position, quickly he followed and watched as she swung
the sword around to go for the overhead strike, like before, Rog raised his
weapon and the second it he did, he kicked the princess in the stomach, sending
her back a few steps in slight pain.
“Ella, I'm sorry I…” he
began, but before he could finish, the princess spoke up.
“No, that's what I wanted,
when the enemy reels back, your sword is in perfect position to be brought down
into their neck.
It works the same for all
blocks and counters, or you could be daring with a side block and punch the
opponent, staggering him so you can get in a good lunge or swipe. Now we'll
move onto the side step.
The side step is the easiest
of all, but the least practical, when I go to hit you, side step out of the way
and go for either a punch, kick or pommel bash to the head” she explained as
she readied herself once more.
Imm’arog took position and
Ella attacked instantly and he moved out of the way with ease before bringing
the swords pommel within inches of the princess's skull.
“Good, that's it, now you can
rest for five minutes, after the rest I'll show you one handed fighting with a
shield, once you get the hang of it you can easily duel-wield swords, though I
don't recommend it for novices, same for fighting with speed defense like the
sidestep.”
Imm’arog sat down looking
rather pleased with himself and took out his water skin, drinking from it
heavily as his friend detailed the second part of his impromptu training.
“What will follow next is the
low sweep, high sweep and block sweep followed by a parry to a shield strike
and a shield strike to a lunge.
What you have to remember
about this form of fighting is that your arms will now move separately instead
of as one, a lot of soldiers that were trained with this don't really like it
because of the extra work involved in separating the two arms, but when you
really master it, you find that they do in fact work in tandem with each other.
And a common mistake that you
should look for is that people who fight like this normally attack from their
arms at their side, I don't, I keep my arm ready, as you've seen.
This is because it takes a
second to raise your arm and in that second, you could already be dead,” she
explained with great enthusiasm.
“Which style do you prefer?”
Rog asked as he passed the water skin to his well-taught friend.
“Neither” she replied before
taking a drink “Both seem to be too rigid and when you fight, even in training,
the flow of a fight is quite different so it pays to use both as well as
tactics you craft yourself from personal experience”
“You should actually be an
instructor,” the goblin joked as the princess handed the water back to him.
“I've actually thought about
it, but I don't think my father would ever allow it, monarchy training the
army” she replied perkily “So, you ready for the next step?
“As ready as I'll ever be”
“Good”
Elloria pushed her riding
hood from out of the shields leather straps and affixed them around Rogs left
arm, one strap tightened in the grip of his palm and the other around his
forearm.
“Right, get your feet in the
battle stance” the princess commanded, the goblin did as she said and stood
awkwardly in the position she had taught to him.
Carefully Ella circled around
to the back of her friend and raised his shielded arm so that it was held out
in front of him yet covering his chest and twisted his body so that his left
was slightly more forward, finally she positioned his arm so the blade was
pointing upwards behind him as he held it above his head.
“Right, first the high sweep.
The technique is similar to
the downward slash, only this time, you'll sweep across instead of downwards as
you strike with your right and as move your feet, move your shield to your
left”
Imm’arog instantaneously
tried the maneuver the way Elloria had told him and felt pleased with himself
after she applauded his actions.
“Right, I want you to try it
again, only this time, I want you to pull back into the start position so your
shield and right foot should flow along with the sweep and quickly into
defense”
Rog nodded and performed the
action once more as instructed, stepping forward as he horizontally swung the
blade and shifted the shield, only this time he pulled back his foot and
re-positioned his shield as he returned his arm to be poised to strike once
more.
“That's absolutely perfect
Rog, just perfect, just remember that if it comes to it, the return to form can
be used as another sweep with the sword if need, but it can be risky so try and
assess the situation first as it can be awkward” the princess beamed “Next, the
low sweep, and this can be quite awkward so watch me and be careful” she
advised as she took hold of her battle stick.
Elloria quickly took her
stance with her arm up as if she were holding onto a shield and raised her arm,
Rog watched closely as she lunged forwards onto her right foot as usual while
moving her shield, but know her legs went into a crouching motion as she swung
her weapon at shin height before stepping back into her originally stance in
one swift and fluid motion.
Nervously the goblin agreed
and readied himself into the starting position and took a deep breath as he
tried to remember the motions.
“Don't think about it too
much” The princess advised with clarity “Clear your mind and let your body flow
like water”
Rog took the princesses words
to heart and thought about what she said as he lunged forward with his right
leg.
The shield on his wrist moved
out of the way and to his side as he brought the sword slicing through the air
diagonally until it quickly leveled out and swiped across.
With grace and speed, the
goblin brought the sword back to his head and the shield round to cover his
chest, as he stood upright once again.
“The block sweep is next,
this can be quite tough to learn as you need an attacker to help, but if
something should go wrong, I, as the attacker can end up badly hurt or even
dead.
It requires you to block an
opponents attack with the shield and use the shield to direct their weapon away
while you go for a sweep or strike, its entirely up to you.”
Imm’arog shook his head in
understanding and maintained his stance while Elloria prepared hers with her
stick
“Remember, just move my
weapon away, and go to strike, but don't actually hit me” she advised with a
nervous laugh.
As soon as they were both
ready, Elloria brought the stick down over her head to try and hit her friend,
Rog brought the shield up and batted Ella’s makeshift sword away and motioned
to go in for the sweep to her gut while she was defenseless but stopped as soon
as his arm jerked to go forward.
“Way to scare me,” Ella
laughed as Imm’arog lowered his weapon “but good job.
“Now, the parry to a shield
strike, this is difficult as it only works against an opponent attacking with
their left.
Basically all you have to do
is catch their sword with yours and direct it away from you then hit with the
shield, but timing must be almost perfect otherwise your better off blocking”
Elloria changed her weapon
hand and shifted her weight to her left to accommodate her friends training and
waited for the simple nod to signify when he was ready.
Once the princess saw the
motion, she swung the stick down hard at Rog who immediately caught it with his
sword and brushed it to one side before going for a shield strike and stopping
just inches away from the princess's face as she reeled.
As Elloria regained her
composure she threw the stick away as far as she could as she picked up her
riding hood.
“Right, the last thing I'm
going to teach you is the shield strike and lunge, all it requires you to do,
when you get an opening, hit the opponent with the shield and follow through
with a lunging stab of the sword, try it” she explained as she began putting
her cloak back on.
Imm’arog followed the
princess's instructions and moved forwards whilst swinging the shield out and
to his side and quickly followed by thrusting the tip of the sword outwards and
then reverting back into the defensive ready stance.
“Brilliant Rog, just
brilliant, you've learned in the space of an hour what some can't even grasp in
a month!” she said with a smile as she congratulated her friend and re-claimed
her items.
Carefully she placed the
sword back in the sheath before slackening the straps of the shield and
carefully slotting it onto her back.
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