Children Of Myths, Act One: Scotland

A letter from the Captain

"All right, all right. So, imagine this situation" Connor held Artica's little diary in which she had noted all the combat theory Eljin taught her in the past few weeks and shared with her boyfriend. The young man had decided to help her by having the local blacksmith forge him a traditional Highland Basket broadsword for hand-to-hand combat but also had the local hunters teach him how to use a gun, for fighting from distance. He sure did know Crom's Cult had enchanted black ice swords but a shot in the head is still a shot in the head.

"Uh-huh, go on" she said while changing the bandages on her blister-filled hands. Not that she wasn't used to have them after years of working as a farmer.

"You want to give them a quick stun and run away. What do you do"

Artica twirled a lock in between her index and thumb, thinking "I'd aim at the... Eyes?"

"Correct, something else?"

"Uhhh... Face in general. Neck... Genitals for sure and... shins"

Connor thumbed up, nodding vigorously in approval, then held her the diary so she could ask him questions

"Your attacker comes from behind and grabs you, what do you do?"

Connor pondered, tapping his finger on the knees while recalling the words he studied "I would bend down to destabilize my opponent and then use my elbows to try and hit their face... Or I could use my heel to hit the leg"

Artica clicked her tongue with a nod, then they revised the pressure points to weaken and destabilize

"Back points: Skull, back of neck, spine and kidney" she promptly answered a question "Your turn: Leg points?"

"Knee, inner thighs, calves, shins, ankle" Connor remembered them correctly and helped her revise something before she could run into the Fae Realm for her lessons.

"Am... Am I late?" She panted in front of Eljin, who had set up a training dummy for her to practice on, first he interrogated her on what she repeated with Connor earlier, and the Elf was satisfied with the answers, then it was practice time.

"Lower your body, Artica! You must be ready and flexible, if you stay too rigid, they will take advantage of it!"

Artica put the theory into practice by hitting the sensitive points with the axe's blade, it wasn't much different by using big wooden sticks with Connor back home.

"You're making progress, good"

Artica wiped the sweat off her forehead, panting hard for the effort, fighting was still the hardest thing for her. Two weeks may have seemed a long time but in reality, it was nothing compared of all the years of fighting the other Sidhe had to endure.

"Sooner or later, I will make you practice with other soldiers"

His tone showed he was satisfied with her dedication and improvement, but they both knew she wasn't ready for a real fight. She had to develop finer senses, how to listen and detect any sort of movement on the ground and in the air.

"Enough for today, Ariel is waiting for you in the mountains for flight practice"

"Good! Now turn left! Don't go against the wind current, let it carry you!" The Wind Fae chirped from above her head as Artica followed the flock above the trees, they were practicing landing and taking off that day.
"All right, now bend yourself backwards!"
Artica followed the instructions and slowed the flight, descending steadily on a massive tree branch where she sat once landed.

"I didn't fell on my face this time!" The redhead cheered, sitting and dangling her legs down. Ariel, once again, nestled in her hair, puffing up her feathers