The Sharp End of The Curve (Valerius)

by **Konrad Venger** on April 16th, 2016, 8:52 pm

He's getting the sense of it, t'be sure.

Konrad was hardly a seasoned instructor, but even he could tell when the man opposite him was showing signs of improvement. Or if not that, then understand where that improvement would come from.

Valerius was striking high, low, left, right, thrusting, cutting, keeping it flexible and not just aping Konrad anymore, but fighting with his own mind. A handful of curious pedestrians muttered or gawped as they passed by the strange scene, but the world had shrunk to the two of them, the two flashing blades and the cobbles they stepped on. Konrad kept his mind in the same place.

"Good," he growled as a thrust at his stomach was parried away, his "student" starting to move faster as the weight of the gladius became more familiar to him. "Y'strike where y'can, and where y'know is weakest. Don't matter 'bout lookin' good, fightin' with honor or any a' that shyke. All that matters is that ya win."

Valerius kept moving, absorbing the words but now slowing his blow, striking at his right, low at his leg-

-Konrad's sword sweeping low to block it, then immediately to his right to stop the next one aiming for his chest-

Time to wake you up ag-

Then the Peacock beat him to the punch. Literally.

Konrad grunted as the blow smacked into his stomach, no armor to lessen the thump of knuckles against his flesh. He took a step back, as much in surprise as any kind of pain, and when he looked at Valerius again, there was a flash of red, raw murder in his eyes he couldn't hold back.

It took a breath and few ticks of circling before the feeling went away. That age-old imperative to butcher any man who laid a hand on him. It had been years since his sparring and training at the Proving Grounds, where the Sun's Birth instructors had battered him bloody on more than one occasion. But then, he'd been a student, the lowest of the low, and paying for their wisdom. Now the situation was reversed and this foppish petch had the balls to-

No. This is the point, remember? That he get better. Besides, if he thinks he isn't, why would he ever come back to you?

Konrad stepped back, out of range, rubbing his stomach and slowly, with some minor pain, the scowl of vengeance drained out of his face... and a smirk replaced it.

"Very good," he said, straightening up and leaving no sign Valerius had even touched him. "Yer learning. But that's not-"

Konrad lunged in mid-sentence, an old and dirty Sunberth trick. With his last word barely past his lips, his lead foot slid to the side and he hacked at Valerius' flank. A mite faster than before, taking advantage of the surprise he hoped to catch the Ravokian in. If the man blocked then Konrad would shove forwards, both of their blades screeching and scraping against each other in the space between them as they were almost pressed together-

-close enough for Konrad's left leg to stamp on the man's foot-

-and his free hand to push him onto his back.

If all went to plan, Valerius would find himself blinking up at the scarred Sunberthian. See him toss level his kopis at the man as he laid there, fat, curved end seeming huge so close to his face.

"Man on the ground is easy meat," Konrad would say, still smirking but injecting the killing knowledge that Valerius had paid for into his words. "If y'can get him there, do it. Few quick whacks while he'd gettin' his breath, an' the fight's over."

Then the sellsword would step back, let the Ravokian pick himself up... and point to the hitching post, now scored with a multitude of fresh, white marks where their blades had hewn away at it.

"Practice until I say not to," he said in the tones of a man used to being obeyed, wandering back to the horse trough and wetting his face. "Then we'll see if y'can do the same t'me..."

by **Valerius Nitrozian** on April 18th, 2016, 2:20 pm

Valerius did not notice that there were people watching, and if he had seen them he would not have cared. All that mattered was Konrad with the kukri in his hand now and the fact that he wanted to impress him, that he wanted to do more than just wave his sword around like a fool. Considering Konrad’s personality, the word “good” was probably one of the greatest compliments he would ever give, but Valerius barely acknowledged it as he was still focused on the weapon in his hand and his opponent. He had not expected his final move to be successful, not when Konrad was so much taller and more experienced than him, so he allowed himself a moment of triumph, not more than a tick when his fist connected with the man’s stomach before he continued to circle his opponent.

He had noticed the murderous look in Konrad’s eyes, but decided that it could be ignored for now. If Konrad maimed him or stabbed him, he wouldn’t get any more money from him, and despite everything Konrad Venger was not the kind of man that could resist the shimmer of golden mizas. As Konrad told him that he was learning, he was distracted for a moment though. For a moment he let his guard down as he waited for the other man to finish his sentence. As a consequence he found himself at a serious disadvantage as Konrad attacked him instead and came closer and closer until they were almost pressed together which did not exactly make the Sunberthian’s body odor more pleasant.

It happened much too quickly for Valerius to react. He had barely registered that the Sunberthian had stepped on his foot before he found himself lying on the ground. His back hurt, and his foot hurt, but he still didn’t complain or give any hint that his pride had been wounded. Even as Konrad brought his weapon close to his face he did not say anything, but blinked and inhaled sharply, the only signs that his current situation did not please him at all. He was aware that he had made a mistake, that he had allowed himself to be distracted.

Konrad didn’t help him up which Valerius definitely appreciated as he didn’t want to touch the other man’s hand. He was not sure where it had been before they had met – probably somewhere that he didn’t want to even think about. He took another deep breath and quickly rose to his feet again, brushing the dirt off his clothes as he did so. His back was somewhat sore, and there was a somewhat dull throbbing in his foot – his boots had been expensive, but they were not very thick – but he was otherwise unharmed.

By now he was familiar enough with Konrad’s teaching methods that he did lower his sword entirely even as the man spoke, but held it in a way that would allow him to react should the Sunberthian have planned another surprise for him. “I’ll try to get my opponent on the ground then”, he remarked. He didn’t say anything as Konrad spoke about Valerius doing the same to him, but merely met the man’s gaze for a moment before he walked over to the hitching post that was already in rather bad shape once more.

Out of the corner of his eye he registered that Konrad dunked his head into the horse trough again and made a face, barely noticeably. He’d rather sweat than stick his head where the mouth of a horse had likely been moments before. In the future he’d bring a bottle of water though, he decided. He felt just a little bit warm. There was nothing that could be done about that now though, so he did the only thing he could do, considering the situation.

He assumed his stance again, the way Konrad had taught him, with his knees slightly bent and raised his sword. Before he started attacking the pole again, he cast one final glance at the Sunberthian. He tried to imagine that his target was a human this time to make things more interesting, a Syliran knight maybe, noble and arrogant, or his own dear sister who had always looked at him so condescendingly when they had still lived in the same house in Ravok, his cousin Trevinus, such a proud man with his two marks of Chaon and a sword in his hand, the same age as him and yet so much more powerful.

In a real fight, he knew, he would not stand a chance against Trevinus who had joined the Black Sun at only twelve years of age and been marked shortly afterwards – he was a realist – but under the current circumstances thinking of his family and the things he would do to them helped him focus. He remembered what he did everything for, why he was in Kenash now, why he put up with the likes of Konrad Venger and the dynasty brats that he taught, so that he would become more than Trevinus could ever hope to be.

He raised his sword high and aimed for Trevinus’ neck before he abruptly lowered it and thrust it into the soft skin of his stomach. He imagined that Trevinus would try to defend himself now and quickly raised his sword to block an incoming attack. Next came a diagonal slash from the upper left to the lower right and then another low attack so that his knees would give way, and Trevinus would helplessly kneel in the dirt in front of him, begging for mercy, as it should be, as Trevinus’ younger brother Treanus looked on in fear.

He repeated the moves, slash, cut, thrust and then another block until Konrad told him to stop. His heart was beating even faster now, and despite his thin shirt he could feel sweat running down his body – as the day progressed, it seemed to get warmer - but he did not pause for even one second. He would only pause if Konrad told him to do so, although he was not sure whether such words would ever come out of the Sunberthian’s mouth.

by **Konrad Venger** on April 19th, 2016, 6:03 am

A feint, now? Boy's definitely learning.

Konrad had to be taught that word, of course, by those who'd been instructed for years in all the terms and minutiae of combat. Feint, riposte, parry, thrust, counter-riposte... a bewildering array of words for actions he knew in the first place. Mostly through bloody experience. Now he was starting to understand why they were essential.

Can't teach it if you can't talk about it.

He wiped the water from his face and swore it was already steaming as it streamed down his face. Gods, but the mornings were unbearable in this city. He was grateful for water sticky from horse saliva, as long as it was in the rough approximation of cold. It cooled him enough to watch, anyway. And observe.

Konrad cocked his head to the side as Valerius executed another series of blows, even defending an imaginary opponent... and that alone got him thinking.

Wonder who he's fighting.

He stood up and circled the man mutilating a perfectly good hitching post, and saw there was more going on that just a man battering a piece of wood. He could tell that from the baring of his teeth, the way his eyes seemed to gloss a little as he struck and blocked. As if he was seeing something else, beyond the real and present.

Konrad snorted softly. Know that feeling, boy.

"Stop!"

He barked out the world when he was satisfied his student - gods, am I really using that word? - was good and tired. Sweat soaked his shirt, ran in rivers down his back and front. Every breath was a ragged pant that heaved into his chest than caved it in with an exhale. But his grip was good, and his eyes were bright.

"Yer not always going to be fresh to the fight," Konrad said, as if by explanation, tossing his hat onto a hay bale and baring his head to the world. "Oft times yeh'll be tired, mebbe even wounded. Just woke up, drunk, sozzled on petch-all else. Point bein'?"

His kopis followed the hat, and Konrad reached behind his back... and drew his kukri instead. It was almost a miniature twin of the sword he'd just abandoned: nearly a foot-and-a-half long, most of that being the same inverted curved blade that the kopis had. Konrad tossed it from hand to hand, getting a feel of it again like he always did.

Not strictly necessary, but old habits were hard to break. He'd had that blade for nearly twenty years, and he didn't like getting rusty with it's use.

Ain't just training for you, lad.

"An' it won't always be sword to sword, either. Now, get in yer stance."

Konrad waited maybe a tick, then lunged.

Easy, easy... the same mantra and before. This wasn't mortal combat, it was practice. He hacked and thrust and let the boy block him... though, he noted with some pride, the "need" part was optional. Valerius was moving faster, smoother, his sparring and drill with the post honing his strikes and blocks. After a few of those Konrad broke away, the two men circling each other.

"An' the man yer facin'? Won't be waitin' for you to get into a stance, or ready yerself. Ain't no rules when it's yer life on the wager, mate. Don't forget that-"

Again he lunged, hacking with the kukri low, drawing Valerius' blade low. He'd fought with the blade before against longer weapons, and always it was a struggle. Shorter reach meant a lot in a brawl, and he knew Valerius was smart enough to take advantage of that. So he struck to darting blows, hacking left and right at his limbs, keeping his arms moving, tiring him out. He had the heavier weapon, after all.

But he had to keep it interesting, and keep it as real as he could. That meant the Sunberth Smiler.

Whenever Konrad got the opening, he'd block his blade with one hand, then reach out with his other, grabbing a handful of the Ravokian's shirt and jerking him forwards-

-as his head lowered-

-butting his head into Valerius'.

That was a harder punch to pull; mainly because it wasn't a punch. But Konrad didn't put his back into it, swinging his upper body into the headbutt so it could crunch bone and cartilage. He struck with his forehead, too, not the harder crown of his skull. He knew what damage that could do, and by not using it...

Petch, always see sodding stars when you do it wrong.

As black quasars and red nebulae paraded before his eyes, Konrad backed up hurriedly, just in case the Red Mist had Valerius retaliating a little too hard. He shook it of quickly, years of Sunberth brawling hardening him up nicely enough. Valerius would probably take a little longer, and once he was seeing straight again, Konrad would enlighten him.

"Dunno shyke about how t'order these lessons, but that'n would be right up there." He tapped his crown, partially hidden behind a curtain of lank, dirty-blonde hair. "You get close enough and there's no hat on either of ya, smash yer crown into his nose. Bastard'll see stars and his walkin'll go to shite, too. Easy meat for youse t'finish him off. Called it the 'Sunberth Smile' back 'ome."

The Sunberthian grinned as he put his hands to his face... and traced the tips of his index fingers just under his nose, heading out towards his ears, in a too-high smile. The image was obvious, but what the "smiling" would not be lips but blood spatter from the nose.

"Come at me, boy," he said, stressing the word, goading Valerius on. Finishing strong was always a fine way to end a lesson, and he wanted the Peacock to end on a high note. Aye, bastard'll be more likely to come back. "See if youse can knock me down."

by **Valerius Nitrozian** on April 22nd, 2016, 7:25 am

Valerius stopped abruptly as Konrad told him so and lowered his sword slightly. His “teacher” thought that it had been enough. Who would have expected that again? He had to admit, he was somewhat exhausted. He’d put a lot of effort in his fight against the imaginary Trevinus and didn’t seem to be able to get enough air into his lungs even as he tried to breathe through his mouth. After a few moments it got better though, at least enough that he could breathe normally again. Sitting down temporarily looked somewhat tempting, but he would not do that, not in front of that man, not yet.

“I’ve never woken up drunk”, he remarked. Unlike certain people he could control himself, in most situations at least. He never drank more than a glass of wine and never used drugs. They clouded your mind, they made you weak, and he was a man that relied on his intelligence and on the clarity of his thoughts to survive, quite unlike Konrad and Three Eyes. “Still, thank you for the advice, Mister Venger.” He was not sure what the point of Konrad taking his hat off and drawing his other weapon might be, apart from the fact that he was hot and wanted to use a different weapon, but the man would probably reveal it soon – almost too soon as Konrad lunged at him the moment he had stopped talking.

He was better prepared than before though and didn’t allow himself to get distracted again. He got in his stance again and blocked Konrad’s attack as well as his next one and the one after that. The sword didn’t feel quite as foreign in his hand anymore, and he didn’t feel quite as much as if he were stumbling around like a fool anymore. It began to feel slightly heavy in his hand though. They’d been practicing for a while now, and it was showing. In the end Konrad got the upper hand again as Valerius, being the realist that he was, had expected. What he had not expected though was that the man would just grab his shirt after he had blocked his attack. Being kicked he could understand, but what was the point …

He didn’t have time to finish the thought as Konrad pulled him forward. His eyesight seemed to fail for a moment as Konrad’s forehead connected with his. A multitude of strange lights seemed to dance in front of him, like some twisted sort of stars. He felt dizzy, but after a moment the dizziness gave way to rage. He stepped forward and pointed his sword at his opponent, ready to retaliate, but Konrad seemed to already have anticipated that and moved back. He decided not to follow him like some kind of fool that was blinded by his anger, but instead took a deep breath to calm down again and looked at his “teacher”, blinking a bit as he did so.

Konrad’s form was somewhat blurred – which did wonders for his appearance, to be honest. After a few moments he could unfortunately see the man in all his glorious ugliness again though. Since there was nothing that could be done about that right now, he concentrated on what the man said rather than on what he looked like. He also resisted the urge to touch his forehead to see if a bump would develop. There was nothing that could be done about any potential bumps right now either.

“Is that why you usually wear a hat then, Mister Venger?” he asked, somewhat sarcastically. He’d thought the man wore a hat so that he didn’t have to wash his hair, but could just cover it, but of course that made more sense – to some extent at least. Maybe he’d buy a hat as well eventually. It would look so much better on him than it did on Konrad who’d probably been wearing his hat for the past twenty years and had never cleaned it once. Honestly, he was surprised that the thing hadn’t become permanently attached to Konrad’s head!

“I see”, he remarked as Konrad explained why the “Sunberth Smile” was called such. “I wasn’t aware that you had a sense of humor.” He didn’t react at all as Konrad called him a “boy”. It would be a waste of time and energy. Besides, he’d expected a better insult from the man. Konrad seemed to already be losing his touch which was unfortunate since a part – a miniscule part – of him had been enjoying the man’s company. While he was not a boy anymore, he was still quite young compared to the Sunberthian who, judging by the state of his teeth and his skin, was somewhere in his fourties – at least.

He allowed himself a moment to relax and consider the situation in hand. Konrad was in much better shape than he was. He had not been kicked, stepped on and thrown to the ground, and his head seemed to be much thicker as well, but Valerius had a slightly longer weapon, and he might be a bit more nimble than the man from Sunberth. He assumed his stance again, with his legs spread apart. He tried to keep the soles of his feet on the ground to lend greater strength to his attacks for the most part and maintain his balance better. He’d learned a few things from Konrad, including how easy it was to throw a man off his feet, and he didn’t want that to happen again. His back was still a little sore.

He also tried not to stretch his arm out as far as it would go as he had the feeling that that would hinder his ability to parry Konrad’s counter attacks, but rather extended his sword. His first attack seemed to be a diagonal slash, from Konrad’s left shoulder to his right hip, but he changed the direction of his sword in mid-attack and aimed for his chest instead. The next attack was aimed at the man’s right upper arm, followed by an attack towards the left side of his gut, executed horizontally rather than angled this time and an attack at his knees. He continued in that fashion for a while, varying his attacks, never aiming his sword at the same part of Konrad’s body twice in a row while he attempted to block any attacks on Konrad’s part.

The ultimate aim was to confuse the man a little, to keep him guessing so that he would eventually get close enough to reach him with his free hand and his feet, to step on his foot or kick him, to throw him off balance. Konrad was much taller and heavier than him and thus such a feat would be harder to accomplish, if not nearly impossible, but if he fell, he would probably fall hard due to his much greater weight.

OOCThis post felt somewhat awkward. I hope it isn’t too bad!

by **Konrad Venger** on April 22nd, 2016, 6:58 pm

OOCDon't fret it, mate. Sparring threads, any threads where you have to take into account and give allowances to the movements of other PCs, are always a little clunky in their execution. You'll get the hang of them. ;-)

Every teacher was proud when their student showed improvement; new as he was to the trade, Konrad felt an ember of the same feeling. When Valerius came at him for the last time, between the parries and blocks, he could see he'd learned much, and more importantly, he was using it.

Not over-reaching. Keeping his feet moving. Trying to wear me down, not just lunging in. Ah, and-

Another flat horizontal blow to his kidneys stopped just before impact, as his kukri was moving to block it, and Konrad had to leap back to avoid Valerius' real attack: a short, precise thrust that would have opened up his stomach.

-learning to feint, too.

As the spar stretched to chimes, Konrad realized with a faint uneasy feeling that this was not as easy as it should have been for him. Valerius really was putting everything into practice, lashing out with fists and feet whenever Konrad tried to move on his unarmed side, or sliding away from his grasp whenever he tried some dirty pool of his own. After another fruitless exchange of gladius and kukri, Konrad ground his teeth and came to a familiar, unwelcome realization.

Either way, you're getting hurt. So just get on with it.

Konrad went on the offensive. His kukri slashed diagonally, banging against Valerius' gladius or swiping through thin air when he avoided them. He backhanded a slash that Valerius barely avoided, followed it up with a kick that drove the man further back-

-drawing back the kukri again-

Valerius seized his chance. His boot kicked out and caught Konrad below the kneecap, sending a shock of pain followed by sheer, unnatural numbness rattling through him. He crashed down to one knee and his kukri hit the ground along with his open palm.

A shadow fell across him. Valerius was planning to deliver his killing blow or accept his surrender... or just kick him onto his back, knocking more stuffing out of him, just to be sure. That's what Konrad would have taught him, at least.

Konrad risked a glance up and if the younger man relaxed his stance for even a tick, he'd seize his moment and lunge forward from his working leg onto a low tackle aimed at Valerius' stomach, bringing them both down to the ground. Valerius' kick was good, but Konrad an old hand at surviving brawls and batterings: a tap to the leg wouldn't put him out of action.

Once Konrad had them both on the ground, himself on top, one hand would pin Valerius' sword hand to the ground while the other-

-snapped to his boot and pulled the double-bladed dagger he kept there. One of his two emergency weapons, and he wasn't about to show Peacock his other one. Instead the Ravokian would find his hand pinned and the dagger at his throat, with Konrad's face staring down and his voice snarling over some seriously, heinously bad breath.

"Last lesson fer today, boy. Yer enemy's done when he'd dead, not down. Even with his hands empty an' his leg petched, he's dangerous. Don't lower yer guard until he's bleedin' out."

He wait a few ticks for Valerius to absorb the lesson - and his own, painful experience of it - before standing back up... and offering Valerius his hand.

by **Valerius Nitrozian** on April 24th, 2016, 4:11 am

He had the man where he wanted him to be, kneeling on the ground in front of him. But his stamina had been wearing thin, and he paused for a moment as he looked at the Sunberthian and took a deep breath. He wanted to point his sword and Konrad and tell him that he’d better surrender, but Konrad lunged at him again, and a moment later they were both on the ground, with Konrad on top of him. For the second time that morning Valerius found himself lying there helplessly while another man pointed a weapon at him.

This time he could not entirely keep himself from looking surprised and vaguely shocked, no matter how hard he tried to appear indifferent. The terrible stench that emanated from Konrad’s mouth was almost as bad as his current predicament though. A part of him was surprised that the man even still had a few teeth left. Judging by his bad breath, he never cleaned them! "I understand", he replied with clenched teeth for opening his mouth too wide or breathing in too much would without a doubt have made him cough.

"I’ll be sure to deliver the killing blow next time rather than just waiting for my opponent to surrender." He looked at the offered hand for a moment before he took it and allowed Konrad to help it up. Despite the fact that the man probably did things that he didn’t even want to think about, as he had concluded before, not accepting his help was simply unacceptable. Konrad would think less of him if he refused to touch him.

For a moment he just stood there, sword in hand – he would only sheathe it once they parted ways – and considered the man that stood next to him, absorbing the lesson he had been taught today. Finally, he remarked, "That was quite interesting and enlightening, Mister Venger. My old teacher would never have taught me such things. He would have frowned on using one’s free hand and one’s legs in a fight."

The tone of his voice was not indifferent or slightly condescending now. He didn’t sound arrogant either, but there was real respect, despite – or maybe because of – the fact that he would have been killed at least twice, had that been a fight to the death. Konrad Venger, he decided, would be a valuable ally to have in Kenash, and he hoped they’d never be on opposite sides in a conflict.

by **J'Ak** on August 20th, 2017, 8:58 am

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