39th of Saun, Arc 718
“What’s that?“ Devin asked, furrowed his brow in irritation and pointed at the long, shiny and silver objects that Aidan was holding in his hands. The young man grinned all over his face and informed him, “Swords for our training sessions so that we can spar. I thought that you might appreciate that.”
“Well, I can see that”, Devin remarked and rolled his eyes. “And I’d very much like to spar with you. Hitting training dummies is getting boring very quickly. Why are the blades rounded though?” he wanted to know and eyed the blades in question with suspicion.
“Because I’d rather not hurt you or kill you by accident”, Aidan replied dryly. “That’s always a risk, especially when you are just learning to fight. I know how using a sword like that makes you feel, especially when you already own such a masterful blade”, he said and pointed at the sword at Devin’s belt. “But trust me, it’s for the best. Besides, nobody is watching us. I won’t tell that we are using practice weapons if you don’t. So, what do you say? Would you like to spar with me?”
Devin looked at him for a moment, considering him, and then he quickly undid his sword belt and dropped because he didn’t want his weapon to get in the way and grabbed one of Aidan’s swords instead – and advanced without a warning because he didn’t want to give the other man a chance to prepare himself for his attack and, possibly, gain an advantage over him. He liked Aidan, but he wanted to win nevertheless. He struck with as much strength as he could muster up, aiming for the other man’s torso.
Aidan grinned at him, stepped to the side and forward and struck diagonally downwards. Immediately afterwards, he executed an attack of his own, aiming for Devin’s upper body before he raised a hand, signaling for the thief to stop fighting for a moment. “The first thing that you need to do is to move out of the way of your opponent’s attack”, he explained. “You also need to make sure that every defense of yours is immediately followed by an attack. Simply parrying is not enough. Your opponent won’t give up just because their attack failed but attack again and again until you are completely exhausted at which point you will, most likely, lose.”
“Now I will attack you”, he proclaimed and added, “Keep in mind what I just told you!”
Having said that, he raised his sword and struck straight down at Devin’s head. The thief quickly moved out of the way of the oncoming attack and raised his sword to intercept Aidan’s, feeling like quite an accomplished swordsman as he heard the sound of metal striking metal. He didn’t have a lot of time to savour that moment of success though. Aidan immediately moved backwards, lowered his blade and aimed for Devin’s legs instead – at which point the thief decided to quickly jump back only to find that Aidan was following him!
He decided to copy Aidan’s previous attack, aiming for his head, mostly because he couldn’t come up with anything else in the hurry. Aidan did of course manage to parry, and a moment later he suddenly extended his sword arm towards Devin. His blade pointed straight at the thief, effectively keeping him from advancing any further. Devin looked at it, frowning hard before he looked at Aidan who looked back. at him expectantly. Finally, the thief struck downwards – only to suddenly find Aidan’s sword pointing straight at his throat. He expected his friend to laugh triumphantly, and tell him how much he still sucked, but instead the young scholar simply lowered his sword and remarked,
“That was quite good!”
“Well, I can see that”, Devin remarked and rolled his eyes. “And I’d very much like to spar with you. Hitting training dummies is getting boring very quickly. Why are the blades rounded though?” he wanted to know and eyed the blades in question with suspicion.
“Because I’d rather not hurt you or kill you by accident”, Aidan replied dryly. “That’s always a risk, especially when you are just learning to fight. I know how using a sword like that makes you feel, especially when you already own such a masterful blade”, he said and pointed at the sword at Devin’s belt. “But trust me, it’s for the best. Besides, nobody is watching us. I won’t tell that we are using practice weapons if you don’t. So, what do you say? Would you like to spar with me?”
Devin looked at him for a moment, considering him, and then he quickly undid his sword belt and dropped because he didn’t want his weapon to get in the way and grabbed one of Aidan’s swords instead – and advanced without a warning because he didn’t want to give the other man a chance to prepare himself for his attack and, possibly, gain an advantage over him. He liked Aidan, but he wanted to win nevertheless. He struck with as much strength as he could muster up, aiming for the other man’s torso.
Aidan grinned at him, stepped to the side and forward and struck diagonally downwards. Immediately afterwards, he executed an attack of his own, aiming for Devin’s upper body before he raised a hand, signaling for the thief to stop fighting for a moment. “The first thing that you need to do is to move out of the way of your opponent’s attack”, he explained. “You also need to make sure that every defense of yours is immediately followed by an attack. Simply parrying is not enough. Your opponent won’t give up just because their attack failed but attack again and again until you are completely exhausted at which point you will, most likely, lose.”
“Now I will attack you”, he proclaimed and added, “Keep in mind what I just told you!”
Having said that, he raised his sword and struck straight down at Devin’s head. The thief quickly moved out of the way of the oncoming attack and raised his sword to intercept Aidan’s, feeling like quite an accomplished swordsman as he heard the sound of metal striking metal. He didn’t have a lot of time to savour that moment of success though. Aidan immediately moved backwards, lowered his blade and aimed for Devin’s legs instead – at which point the thief decided to quickly jump back only to find that Aidan was following him!
He decided to copy Aidan’s previous attack, aiming for his head, mostly because he couldn’t come up with anything else in the hurry. Aidan did of course manage to parry, and a moment later he suddenly extended his sword arm towards Devin. His blade pointed straight at the thief, effectively keeping him from advancing any further. Devin looked at it, frowning hard before he looked at Aidan who looked back. at him expectantly. Finally, the thief struck downwards – only to suddenly find Aidan’s sword pointing straight at his throat. He expected his friend to laugh triumphantly, and tell him how much he still sucked, but instead the young scholar simply lowered his sword and remarked,
“That was quite good!”
