fandomhigh | Basic Sword Skills [Thursday, Period Three]

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fencing

Basic Sword Skills [Thursday, Period Three]

Max had reviewed the class roster and was oddly relieved that he didn't have any repeat students. It saved him the time it would take to break a bunch of bad habits. Because while Slacking had been a relatively relaxed class, even though he took the subject seriously, Max had a very different approach to teaching the blade. The relatively small class size was also likely to give him more time to spend one-on-one with his students, and he was hoping that turned out to be more of an advantage than not.

As the students arrived at the Danger Shop ~~where they had handwavily been told to meet~~ the first thing they were likely to notice was the ridiculously extensive collection of blades. Max apparently had everything from Swiss stilettos to Japanese naganaki to Javanese kris. The second thing they might notice was that their instructor was wearing Roman-style legionary armor. A steel breastplate, a studded leather armored skirt, and steel greaves and bracers. He also had a short sword strapped to his waist. Max didn't wait for any stragglers, as soon as class was scheduled to begin he started.

"All right, listen up!" he barked. "You are here because you wanted to learn about swords, someone else wanted you to learn about swords, or the universe itself conspired to make you learn about swords. I don't care what your reasons are because regardless you're going to learn about swords." He looked around to see if anyone had any problems with that. And if they did he planned to ignore them. "All sorts of people draw distinctions between swords and other weapons in all sorts of places, but for the purposes of this course we will consider a sword to be any hand weapon which is a blade for more than half its length." He nodded at the rack to illustrate.

"We've only got seven weeks and there's a lot for you to learn, so we're going to get straight into it. Each of you will step up to the front and select a weapon, or two if you prefer. You will then explain to the class why you selected the one you did. There is no wrong reason to select a blade. If it looks pretty, that's fine. If it feels good in your hand, that's fine. If you're familiar with it already, that's fine. Once you've made your selection we'll do a quick practice match in which you'll, hopefully, learn some of the strengths and weaknesses of your selected weapon."

His eyes narrowed suddenly. "The safety systems here will not allow any injuries today, but don't even think about using that as an excuse to be sloppy. Treat every potential hit as a real one, and don't take a strike just because it won't leave you bleeding."

"You!" Max snapped as he pointed to a random student. "You're first!"

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"I like it," Karla replied coolly, not particularly phased by his tone. He reminded her of her mother's old Master of the Guard, actually. "It's just a little bigger than my hunting knife, so it doesn't feel quite so foreign as some of the longer, heavier blades. It sits well in my hand and I doubt I'll strain or pull anything wielding it."

"Good reasons, all." Max reached down and slowly drew his blade. "Hold it like I'm about to attack you."

"Ooookay," Karla said, breathing slowly and trying to remember how Morton used to hold his sword. She lifted it in front of her, much the same way she'd hold her knife in the drills Leto was teaching her.

She had I've never actually held a real sword before written all over her; though mostly in her stance, her grip, her posture, and whatever the hell it was that she was doing with her sword.

Max gave her a couple of seconds to find a decent stance, but when she didn't he simply flicked his own blade out. It didn't look like he was exerting all that much effort, but Max was a big man and he could deliver plenty of force without trying.

His blade slammed heavily into hers in an attempt to disarm her with the raw force of his blow.

Karla tried to ready herself for the strike when she saw him moving, but nothing could have prepared her for the crash of his blade on hers. Her sword was wrenched from her grip and her hand stung. She vanished the blade before it could hit the ground--and possibly her toes--or anyone else. "Son of a whore," she cursed, shaking her fingers. "Um, I didn't mean you, sir," she told Max, a bit sheepishly.

It almost looked like Max half-grinned there for a moment, but it was quick enough that it could have just been a trick of the light. "Lesson one with a light blade: they don't have much mass of their own so you have to maintain total control over them. A heavier blade is harder to knock away just because of its own weight."

"Again," he demanded.

Karla called her sword back in and tightened her fingers around it. "Am I allowed to dodge, sir?" she asked as she settled into a stance. This time, rather than faking what she remembered Morton doing, she chose the stance that Leto had taught her in the salle. She was still coming off as a rank amateur, but at least now her weight was distributed a bit more evenly.

"If you can," Max grinned coldly.

Then he executed the same attack. He didn't call on his furies, but the strike was still made with the speed and power of someone Max's size who'd been studying the blade for over half his life. His eyes were narrowed as he watched to see if she'd picked up enough on the previous pass to get out of the way of this one.

"With Cr--?" The rest of what she was going to say was lost in Max's attack. So, no time for dodging; instead, she tilted the blade a bit so he'd be hitting it on an angle instead of directly against it, and held onto the hilt for dear life.

She also managed not to squeal in surprise, which she counted as a win.

Max noted the way she angled the blade, which was a good choice. Of course he didn't bother saying anything. Instead, after deflecting of her blade, he reversed direction and came in from the other side.

Time to see if she could adjust the angle in time. This was actually a place where the extreme angle of her chosen weapon would be to her advantage.

Karla was busy being thrilled that she had held onto the sword. She saw that Max was coming in for another swing and managed to get her sword up, but certainly not angled right.

"That's--" she swallowed the 'not fair!' protest, belatedly remembering the mantra:

Do not argue with the Master of the Guard, for he is probably right and can kick your ass regardless.

"--a good way to learn not to get distracted when someone else is still holding a sword," she finished weakly.

Max nodded in approval at the suppression. Because if she'd actually said 'not fair' he probably would have kicked her feet out from under her.

"A fight isn't over until someone's disarmed or dead." He stepped back slightly. "Now you attack."

She eyed Max critically. He was big, he was strong, he could probably block whatever attack she made by dint of reach alone. She was tempted to use Craft, but decided to use only her physical skills (ha!) until she'd cleared it with him.

Maybe she could convince him to block somewhere she wasn't?

Karla stepped backwards a few paces, then darted forward to attack. She held her sword at chest-height, swinging upwards and to the left. Just at the middle of the sword's arc, she dropped to her knees angling her body to the right. She also pulled up her shields in case she'd miscalculated really, really badly.

Hey, she was appallingly new at this. But she was trying.

Trying was what mattered for the moment, even if she wasn't very good. "A feint is a good choice," Max complimented her as he swept his blade down to intercept hers with bone-crunching force. "But until you learn not to telegraph it's going to be hard to use them effectively."

"Don't let your eyes glance to where you're going, and don't shift your weight to change direction until the very last possible moment."

The impact of his sword on hers was great, but since it was slamming into the blade directly instead of swinging to one side or the other, it meant Karla kept her hold on the blade, even as her fingers went numb.

"Thank you, sir," she said, picking herself up off the floor. She tried not to glow at the compliment; it was one nice thing in an afternoon of failure. "I couldn't think of anything else to do. A frontal attack wasn't going to do me any good; your arms are longer than mine, your sword is longer than mine, and you outweigh me by about half-again as much." She wasn't complaining, simply outlining her reasons for the feint.

"Yes," Max nodded, but his voice was still gruff. "But you tried something you weren't ready for. In a real fight you'd be dead right now."

"If you wanted to show me a better way to do it, I promise I'll pay attention," Karla said with a hint of wryness. "Because whether I'm attacking or blocking you normally, I'm doing something I'm not ready for and would end up dead in a real fight."

Max almost grinned. At least she was attentive.

"In a skill-against-skill match against me, you're dead. Which means you have to do something else. That trick you did earlier where you made the blade disappear for a second, is that easy?"

Karla looked like she'd been slapped. "Wait--are you telling me that this entire time I could have been using Craft?!"

She bit her lip. Must not yell at the Master of the Guard. Must not yell at the Master of the Guard.

"Yes, it's very, very easy. I've been doing it since I was a child," Karla said slowly. "I am quite skilled. May I use Craft, then?"

"Can you use it at home?" Because that's what Max cared about.

"Yes," she said, barely audible, glancing away.

After a breath or two, she cleared her throat and looked back at Max. "Only landens are without Craft," she said, voice stronger. "All members of the Blood use Craft."

"Then you're free to use it." Max leaned forward suddenly. "As long as you don't neglect your basic skills here, feel free to be creative. If I decide you're using your Craft as a crutch, however..."

That was not a very reassuring grin. Karla wasn't the only one who had some powers in reserve.

"I'll be sure to use them," Karla said, trading slightly feral grins, "just as soon as I learn them."

Figuring that she'd need every edge she could get, she began backing up slowly so she could get some additional maneuvering room. "Whenever you say, sir," she said, leaning ever-so-slightly to the right.

Max lifted a critical eyebrow. "You're planning on giving your opponents a chance to prepare themselves?"

Oh, it was going to be like that, was it? Karla didn't really have a problem with it, though.

"No. But I also don't intend on poisoning you. I figure some" her regular shields snapped into place, without any outward indication of their existence "rules applied." She vanished, pulling up a sight shield and also an aural shield so that she couldn't be heard. Then she flung herself further backwards, running up the air behind her and then darting to the left.

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