AEONS: THE GODS ARE DAMNED

Chapter 18

The castle walls shook as huge fireballs was launched at it by the attacking orcs; the King of Sivseria sat with the medallion twirling in his hand as he was deep in thought.
The cries of men was heard as dragons flew over, pouring down flames of hellish intensity on soldiers.
One of the top councilmen spoke, breaking the silence, “Mine Lord, Is’t time?”
“If ‘t be true we did lie-to the medallion, we risk a lot of things” another councilman said
“At least ’twill save us” the first councilman said
“And clepe forth moo mythical beasts into our realm” the second councilman retorted
“We hast nay choice” the King said breaking the argument, he rose from his throne and walked to the balcony of the castle hall, the councilmen quickly followed.
Spanned in front of them was death; men ran, women died, children…
The king raised the medallion in front of him and chanted the spell on its circumference.  “Tahei bah Hashrott, ch’ao’b ch’ah, ravzah ch’eo g’esbun, bicit tur ch’ah”, the wind froze in place, light shown through the medallion; out of the clouds, horses and chariots appeared on the clouds, a legion of soldiers appeared on black horses and black chariots with fiery eyes and a sword of fire. In a huge roar of war¸ the legion rode out of the sky, they joined the battle and the tides of war turned to the Sivs favor.
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He was dumped in the snow again; he thought he would have gotten used to this by now but he hasn’t. The guards had kidnapped him again.
“You know I thought you would have gotten used to this by now” Ralnor said as the gag and sack was discarded.
“Believe me, I thought so too” Chase said as he dusted his trousers.
“Today you learn the basis of swordsmanship” he said throwing a stick on the snow, “pick it up” Chase picked it up.
“Seriously, a stick?”
Ralnor only ignored him, “Swordsmanship is the art of killing with a sword, or more precisely, surviving with a sword. Over the centuries, many styles and techniques have been created and perfected. Mobility is a good strategy to employ. Shift your weight in such a way that it’s concentrated on the balls of your feet, which gives you the advantage to move to either side at a moment’s notice, there are 8 basic attacks and 8 defenses. Two attacks are not used in free fighting – the head and the thrust. The aim when training with me is to use all attacks.”
“That’s comfortable” Chase said sarcastically
“…When using a sword, the way you stand, move and hold your weapon is vital in determining how much control you have, how fast you can move and how soon you will tire. You should stand with feet shoulder width apart, leading foot slightly forward; it’s the same as hand holding sword or shield if you have one. You should be relaxed and…springy, on the balls of your feet with knees slightly bent” he positions Chase, “…this position should be easy to hold and keeps your center of gravity low and central”
“Are we teaching physics now?”
“Just hold the stance; holding the sword is not like holding a practice stick in training, the aim of a practice stick is to keep a vice-like grip on the sword hilt. But just for perfection and the less time we have, I say you don’t.”
“Why?”
“…this leads to messy movements and will tire you out. Grip is principally with the thumb and first two fingers. Your remaining fingers should be curled loosely around the hilt. Now hold your sword like this” he places Chase’s hand and feet, “…hold your sword slightly out in a shoulder parry or on guard position. You wrist should be relaxed and in line with your forearm; adjust the angle of your arm and joints until you feel the weight of the weapon being taken by your shoulder and possibly triceps”
“Why?” Chase asked and Ralnor sighed
“Because they are big muscles that will keep working for a long time before tiring…” he stood beside Chase, “…Now cut down or forward with the sword” Chase did it but Ralnor repositioned him, "Do not wave your arm and move the entire blade, use a small movement from the elbow or shoulder to move the center of gravity of the sword” he moves Chase’s hand, “…Here, just before the blade meets the hilt, now the sword will move in a nice, straight line; to stop the sword, just snap your third and fourth fingers onto the grip.” He moved Chase for him to try it; Chase swings it effectively, “…you will notice that your elbow will reflectively lock as you do this, making a very effective brake. In a real fight, the swordsman would from this position use the full strength of his arm to drive the blade into his target. But we stop here for now.”
Chase nods, and he continues, “…Stopping the sword moving as it hits your opponent is called ‘pulling’ the blow and prevents them from getting hurt. Pulling a blow is an important element of re-enactment combat. It should be possible to swing in fast and pull the blow sufficiently that it will not hurt an unarmored target. Try it”
Chase swings the sword but Ralnor stops the sword with his hand, shocking Chase, “You didn’t pull, the pulling process can be assisted by good footwork, the leading foot should hit the ground just before or as the blow is landed. This ensures the weight of your body is not behind the blow. Pulling blows is also a safety device for when things go wrong”
“Like?”
“Like the target moving the when you least expect, you should aim to make contact with your opponent on an area that is nicely padded with muscle”
“For a lasting damage” Chase said, Ralnor picks a sword
“Yes, So, we have the head attack, it is vertically downwards on the head. This blow stops at least a foot from the head.” He shows Chase by striking an erected dummy. “The shoulder attacks come in from above at an angle of about 45 degrees” he swung at the dummy, “the downwards strike make it less likely that these blows will bounce or deflected upwards into the face. It is preferable to aim for the upper arm, rather than the collarbone, for this attack.” He shows Chase before moving to another move, “the gut attacks can be angled down or horizontal, the leg attacks can be angled down or horizontal…but usually angled down. The thrust however should be angled across the target’s body. The aim is to strike not the point but with the edge of the blade near the tip. Now a thrust with the point has considerable penetrating power even with a blunt tip, like your training stick”
After hours of training, he got the hang of it and Ralnor showed him defensive techniques against attacks.