[Flashback] Trial and Repeat (Izlude)

[Waheed]

509, Spring 43, 13th bell 9th Chime. Outside the walls of Syliras


Spring was a beautiful season, no doubt about that. It was an important season for Syliras as most of the Citizens busy themselves working on the farms to grow enough food for the city. It’s the time were the men and women work extra hard to gain a bountiful harvest for the summer season, so as to survive the heat of summer ‘Can’t work proper on an empty stomach and a cooking sun in the summer’ Thought Waheed, spending his free hours just outside the city walls. With him a wooden curved blade akin to his scimitar and a wooden shield, a size similar to his steel on. Three times a week he spent a few hours training with his blade, usually within the safety of his apartment ‘But a change of pace is always good’ To train in one place would have gotten repetitive after all, inside of an apartment would have been double that.

To train in the open air on such a beautiful day made being outside the City’s walls comforting really, he still had this feeling of being safe and as he was training his skill with the curved blade he felt, it added comfort that he would be a little step closer to his past. The curved wooden weapon was far lighter than his Scimitar, but he primarily used his steel blade on the wooden post in his home. With the wooden blade he could get used to the techniques he learned from a book, with his scimitar he could get used to the weight and force he had to put in each blow but had to be cautious not to hurt himself.

Strapping his wooden shield to his arm and grabbed his wooden blade with a relaxed grip, he took a battle position. With a Scimitar it was more slicing rather than stabbing than swords like the long or short swords. It was also a single edged weapon, which meant he couldn’t use the blade to swing the back of the blade to kill. With a few basic swings Waheed had to make sure not to swing too wide as to not give too big an opening, but rather quick small swings as minimize. Each cut had to be quick and deadly, they had be precise. Thrusts were effective as well, although not quite as effective as blade whose tips were more effective for such an act, the scimitar could still pierce through flesh just as well.

Waheed swung his wooden blade, a quick basic slice that would be aimed at an opponent’s abdomen, then another quick slice in the opposite direction and lastly raised his shield, but he wasn’t used to a shield on his left arm. Although he trained with a shield quite a few times, it was still too few and was a foreign presence. If he had an instructor he would lament that his timing with the shield was slow, that if his first attacks failed his opponent would have had no trouble killing him. It wasn’t that slow, but still quite poor. He practiced the technique time again, hoping to get it right.

[Izlude]

Amongst the chirping of lively birds and soothing gusts of warm wind, Izlude walked at a relaxed pace by the side of his patron Knight Ser William Manser who was currently carrying on about the significance of gods over men, and why serving the former was of a great priority. Despite the repeating instances of such conversations during his weekly walks with William, Izlude listened attentively and respectfully, making sure to nod on occasion less his Knight become irritated. “So you see Izlude, men themselves are flawed. Take into account a King.” Izlude interjected as he boded over the question. “A king who is loved by his people and is just Ser? Or a King who is corrupt?” “It’s besides the point Izlude. Let’s say he’s a just King, loved by his people and who has spent many prominent years on the throne.” Izlude nodded while his sultry eyes stared downwards, painting a picture in his head of William’s proposal. “Yet he has a tough choice to make. At an audience, it is revealed to him that one of his citizens has been murdered and it is requested of him to enact vengeance on the murderer. The murderer though has a family, perhaps a daughter or son and only killed because the victim stole food from his home. The victim however needed to feed his family.” William’s piercing blue orbs peered downwards at Izlude from atop his horse. “So then my dear Squire, how is the King to act?” The hoofed footfall of William’s horse would suddenly pause as he halted his steed and dismounted slowly. Izlude, after taking a moment to think, answered his Knight’s question to the best of his abilities. “Well, I don’t really know. The thief was clearly unlawful in stealing…Yet, he needed to feed his family. Perhaps the one he stole from also did however…” William, satisfied at Izlude’s puzzled outlook smiled. “This is exactly why the minds of men are not fit to truly rule. Gods I believe have a far-sight that we cannot understand. This is why I chose to serve Sylir.” “But Sylir is dead my Lord. How can a dead God think? And if truly a God, how can he die?” William’s oceanic eyes narrowed inwards towards Izlude’s youthful face as he pressed his lips together and chuckled. “You’re a smart boy. However, Sylir lives on through Windoak, as do his ideals… Also, immortality does not grant Godhood Izlude.” His voice faded outwards while he caught the visage of young man, not far off practicing with what appeared to be a wooden scimitar. “There you go Izlude, a training partner for today.” Izlude turned his head and looked over at the stranger and then back to William. “Ser, you’d have me spar?” “Indeed. I planned to spar with you myself, but maybe instead of verbal teaching you could use some hands on experience.” Reaching into a sack of equipment seated behind him, William tossed a wooden longsword to the ground, and shortly after, a wooden shield. Wordlessly, Izlude bent down and picked them up, situating the mock shield to his left hand, and gripping the sword in his right. “Excuse me boy!” Ser William called out to the nearby man. “I bet you 5 gold that my Squire can best you in battle. How do you answer!?” With a facial expression of uncertainty, Izlude sighed and walked forward a bit, guided by a gentle push of William’s hand at his back. "Ser, what was the correct answer? What did the King decide?" With a shrug, William pushed Izlude forward a bit more. "I don't know, that's my point. Now hush and focus yourself."

[Waheed]

Hearing the voice calling him, Waheed turned to a see a knight and his squire ‘Oh dear, did I do something wrong?’ A baseless fear, if he had done something wrong the knight would be pointing his sword at him about now, ordering him to come quietly….or else, Instead he had betted him that he can’t beat his squire in a duel. Waheed was not shock per se, but rather puzzled ‘Why would he have a squire battle an inept man such as myself? No doubt he has more training than I?’ Waheed thought, but in truth this was an opportunity, instead of fighting the wind or a wooden post to practice techniques, he’d apply what he learned against the Squire, perhaps even learning a thing or two as well even if he did lose.

With a nod he said ‘I need no coin ser, for me this is a learning experience. I’d be honored to duel your squire’ He looked at the squire, the boy, or man seemed to meet his age. His height seemed shorter than the Syliran Benshira, who stood at 6 feet. The Man’s training arms were similar to Waheeds, but a longsword in his sword arm rather than the curved blade Waheed gripped in his own arm. His opponent seemed to have a look of uncertainty similar to Waheed’s own ‘this would be my first spar’ He thought; the first time always brought either one of two things, excitement and nervousness. What he felt was nervousness, but he had tried to set it aside. He looked at the Knight with a question in mind and spoke “Excuse me Ser, but as this is a spar, how would you like to go about it? Er… is there any rules to follow?’

[Izlude]

Izlude inhaled a deep breath of apprehension, turned to look at Ser William once more and then back towards his adversary. “Well….” The leather of his gloves tightened around the wooden hilt of his faux sword; it was lightweight, blunt and weathered, not unlike the shield he wielded in his offhand. “Since little harm can come from wooden swords and we both are warriors in training…I suppose anything goes.” With a self-directed nod, Izlude raised his shield upwards, level to his midsection. “Goodluck and have at thee.” Perched behind his young knight atop his steed, Ser William smiled and directed the horse backwards a bit to give both of the boys room. Sparring with others was familiar to him and often he had fought with the other Squires within Stormhold Castle. To this day he had a nasty loss streak and naturally it had affected his confidence. Unknown to him however, it was due to Ser William’s tendency to pick higher-level opponents for his young Squire to face. Strife and hardship, In Ser William’s eyes, always bred the best combatants. Sparring no time, Izlude would grit the ivory surface of his teeth together and step forward with his shield raised in a defensive position. His mind worked quickly, subconsciously running over sword and shield based techniques he had learned in the past. Circling his foe, he locked his irises to the boy’s face and narrowed his eyebrows before dashing inwards. Nearing his opponent, he quickly reared back on his right leg and hurled his momentum, pushing his shield forward with an alarming amount of force and attempting to topple his quarry off-balance or even knock him downwards. Following up with his quickly executed bashing maneuver, he’d swing his wooden sword downwards in a tightly executed half circle aimed at the back of his calves before once again fortifying his position and raising his shield upwards once again, protection his midsection.

[Waheed]

‘All things go…..’ The only rule of this mock battle ‘That’s how a real battle goes’ A battle with one’s life on the life rarely had any ‘rules’ the only condition for victory was to not die. As the squire took up his own battle position, Waheed took his own. He raised his shield in front of him and his wooden scimitar overhead, the tip of the weapon pointing at his foe with the edge facing the sky. One leg was placed in the back with the other forward, a basic stance with a firm footing.

As the squire Circled around him Waheed kept himself facing the squire each time, moving around himself each time. A trickle of sweat moved down his forehead and as the sweat dropped to the ground from his chin it seemed to act like a beacon that the battle had begun. The squire bashed his shield into his own, Waheed was barely able to keep his footing from such a blow but maintained balance, the squire was quick, however, as he quickly swung his blade at Waheed’s legs, an attempt to strike at his calves. Catching this he jumped back to avoid the strike, and preformed a thrust with his scimitar, the curved feature of the blade would allow him to possibly bypass the shield and possibly nick the squire’s shoulder before he would knock it away. If that did not work he’d simply keep moving, , using agility to his advantage rather than relying on his inexperience with the shield ‘He knows how to block with his shield better than I, a shield will do me little good’ If the attack fails he would attempt to dodge to his left or right when the squire retaliates, getting to his sides and preparing a quick slice at his foe’s arms.

[Izlude]

Izlude watched as his shield effectively made contact with his partners own, toppled him off balance, but ultimately failed to create an entry point for a strike. The wooden edge of his dilapidated training-blade ceased to meet its target and instead met open air, brushing over the viridian grass beneath them. Behind him, Ser William shook his head in disappointment while Izlude attempted to re-fortify his footing. As his opponent would counter with a quick thrust forward, Izlude, utilizing his combat training would twist his right half back and thrust his shield forward towards the left of Waheed’s sword bearing hand. If successful, it’d cause his arm to be thrown awry to his left and leave the right side of his body exposed. Afterwards, Izlude would strike forcefully towards his midsection, blade aimed at the fleshy area beneath his ribcage and above his pelvic bone, atop his kidneys. “Izlude!” A look of satisfaction upon the Squire’s face was sapped away momentarily as Ser William spoke behind him with a bellowing voice. He maintained his combat-ready posture however and kept his eyes fixated on his opponent. “What Ser!?” “You’ve been hit, the point of his blade connected with your shoulder!” “But Ser, I didn’t feel it!” All the while Izlude kept his shield rose defensively, backing away and around Waheed, paying close attention to his movement pattern. “You didn’t feel it because it’s made of wood you fool! If it had been steel, you would have most certainly felt it.” Ser William cleared his throat. “Boy! You have one point; I am tallying it to five… Izlude, keep focused.” Sneering, Izlude nodded quickly, his solemn gaze lowered towards Waheed and his knuckles white against the hilt of his false sword. For now he’d wait for Waheed to make a move, playing the defender, something he had found he excelled at in the past.

[Waheed]

‘Oh dear’ Waheed thought as his was pushed away, his thrust barely nicking the Squire’s shoulder. His right side was exposed and if it weren’t for the knight he’d certainly get ‘killed’ Instead he chastised his squire for failing to notice his shoulder had been nicked ‘I wouldn’t want to imagine what would happened if he had been using actual blades’ He thought as h sighed in relief, looking at the knight he nodded ‘One out of five, I need four more then’ Gulping slightly, He took up the same position this time except now he was the one doing the circling while his foe stood put.

The Squire looked disgruntled and Waheed couldn’t help but feel even more nervous ‘I suppose getting chastised by his mentor is something to feel frustrated about. This time he quickly got up close to his foe, lunging his shield forward to lock with his foes, aiming to have his Scimitar touch the squire’s right leg and pull the blade as he jumped back for a slice. If that didn’t work he’d revert to a defensive position and keep his eyes on his opponent

[Izlude]

As Waheed would lunge forward, Izlude would backpedal on his feet, opting to not lock shields with his quarry and instead keep a small berth between them, allowing him to effectively evade the downward strike of Waheed’s scimitar. On reaction in response to his opponents lowered posture, Izlude would grit his teeth, raise his arm upwards and then drop it downwards, blade aimed towards the back of his opponent’s skull. Not an overly powerful strike due to the nature of a training exercise, if connected it would be enough to sting and daze him at the very least yet was not forceful enough to render him unconscious by any means. Subsequently after his counter-attack and in a single motion, Izlude would raise his right knee upwards in an attempt to strike his opponents face with the solid bone of his kneecap. Given Waheed’s lowered posture due to his low strike, the distance between the man’s face and Izlude’s limb was short, allowing the attack to be quick and precise. Usually he’d be hesitant to perform such a maneuver, but he was sick of losing and sick of disappointing his patron Knight. It felt dirty, striking the way he did, yet Ser William at his rear nodded in approval. As the Knight would tell his Squire in the past, what is a bloody nose or two during a training exercise? Injury of some shape or form was to be expected and if Izlude disagreed, then he’d soon find himself losing every battle he entered. Besides, it was nothing compared to the danger of a real fight. With adrenaline coursing through his veins, the young Squire would take a step backwards and away from Waheed once again, changing his stance a bit and lowering the pinnacle point of his blade towards the ground, keeping his body facing inwards towards Waheed’s, allowing him to more effectively evade a possible attack than if he was directly in front of his opponent.

[Waheed]

‘BY YAHAL’ he shouted mentally as he felt a sharp pain on the back of his head, the Squire successfully hit the back of his head and although it’s just a wooden blade that still stung. It didn’t end there as the squire struck his knee against Waheed’s nose as his postured was lowered even further ‘BY GODS’ again he mental shouted as he fell backwards laying on the ground and grasping his nose, blood dripping from it ‘Oh he was angry alright’ He thought as sat uup and looked at the squire, a frustrated look now decorating his own face, He’d complain but he remembered the golden rule ‘Anything goes’ this wasn’t just a ‘sword’ fight, this a blood battle. Standing up he gripped his blade and raised his shield ‘Yahal, grant me focus….I’ll need it’ He silently prayed as he focused on the Squire, with both strikes it would be two to Waheed’s one, tables have turned now and Waheed was on the losing side.

Deciding that as of the moment he’d gain no use of the shield, he removed it from his arm and dropped it to the ground, letting his left hand grasp the blades pommel as his blade was lowered to his side. He focused his sight on the Squire, a feeling of anger flowing through him ‘Next point is mine’ He thought as he quickly moved closer to his foe, swinging his blade upward across the foes torso, if that didn’t work he’d push him back with his foot against the squires shield and go for another thrust. If it did work he’d slam into him with his shoulder and push him to the ground.

[Izlude]

“Izlude! Two points!” Ser William shouted in the background, his voice saturated with appreciation of his Squire’s effective attack. It was the first successful strike Izlude had landed in a long time, dating back to the very first sparring exercises he had done. He was learning. The thick crimson color of Waheed’s blood was satisfying to say the least and fueled him further, his heart hastening in pace as he awaited adversary’s next move. Then, catching a fleeting glimpse of Waheed advancing forward, Izlude instinctively raised his shield, warding off the initial swipe of the scimitar. It’d bat off the wooden shield with a resounding crack that echoed throughout the landscape. Yet afterwards as Waheed’s sole pushed at his shield, Izlude would stumble backwards with broken defense, allowing enough time for Waheed’s blade to thrust at his midsection, knocking the air out of him. “Ungh.” Then, before he could react, he was tackled to the ground. “Boy! One Point!” As expected Ser William shouted in response to the successful hit of Waheed’s scimitar. Izlude would spare no time and after being tackled, he’d bat the edge of his wooden shield towards the side of Waheed’s head and throw his weight to his right, attempting to topple him over after the reactionary strike with his wooden shield. He figured that although Waheed had more maneuverability after dropping his shield, it wouldn’t matter while on the ground and the best option would be to take this opportunity and go on the offensive with his shield, since their proximity was so close. If Waheed was toppled over as planned, Izlude would attempt to stand and regain his footing, and if not, he’d simply ball his fist tightly around the hilt of his blade and bludgeon the side of his head with the weapons pommel.