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Old 02-03-2010, 05:00 AM   #709
Legate of Amon Lanc
A Voice That Gainsayeth
 
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Training - Quin and Hilderinc

Upon Coenred's command, the soldiers divided as they stood: usually every man picked the one who stood the nearest, and they would fight, now one-on-one.

Hilderinc looked around himself. There was none of the old Scarburgians nearby, which was a pity, he would have liked to try his skill against one of them. He noticed one of the guards a bit further away, but that one was already engaging Áforglaed. On the other side there was only Fearghall and behind him young Quin.

"So will that be you, Hilderinc?" Fearghall turned to him, calm as usual. "Nice to have the pleasure in the beginning, might save me the trouble to fight anybody else if both of my arms are broken even before we start."

Hilderinc could not resist a smile. He knew that Fearghall was a good warrior, easily his match, but he was one of the few who would make such jokes in front of Hilderinc. After all, many of Athanar's men - all the young ones - had never taken part in any real battle, and so Hilderinc, apart from his reputation of being sort of an outsider, had also the reputation of a battle-hardened veteran. Different people drew different conclusions from that and some of the young ones might have refrained from joking about their battle skill if they truly found themselves lacking it. But Fearghall had always been calm and did not seem to let anything trouble him.

Hilderinc noticed, however, the stark contrast of Fearghall and young Quin next to him. The boy was certainly not shaking, but his nervousness was apparent. Hilderinc tried to recall when he had seen Quin fight hand-to-hand, but suddenly he realised that he probably had not really had the chance to see him fight before. Once again the images of all the young would-be Eorlingas flew through his mind. "Why do we have to fight on foot? We have our horses."

"Excuse me, Fearghall," Hilderinc said and passed around him. The soldier turned around, eyebrow raised.

"What's up, Hilderinc?"

"Next time, Fearghall," he muttered over his shoulder. He waved at another of Athanar's soldiers who stood opposite to Quin. "Go and join Fearghall," he said. "He is waiting for you."

Hilderinc stepped opposite to Quin, with unreadable expression in his face.

"Swords!" yelled Coenred in the back.

Hilderinc drew his blade and took a defensive stance.

Quin stared at Hilderinc, an expresion of loss on his face. He couldn't read the soldier's expression. He never could. Ever since Hilderinc's arrival in Athanar's guard, Quin had felt intimidated by his silent austerity. He had always avoided him, and now he had no choice but to face him and fight him. He gripped his sword hilt.

There was a tense pause between the two of them. Hilderinc did not make a move. Quin clenched his jaw and resolved himself, and then made the first stroke. Hilderinc turned it easily, but did not return a blow. Quin stepped to the right, and Hilderinc followed up by stepping to his right. They slowly circled. Quin wondered why Hilderinc wasn't fighting. Was he studying him? He tried again, attempting to get under his guard with two swift strokes. Hilderinc easily parried both.

"That isn't working," he said, echoing Quin's own thoughts. Suddenly, he leaped forward and lead a strike against Quin's unguarded side, however, the blow was led slowly and the young soldier managed to parry in time. Quin stepped back, a small smile crossing his lips of slim satisfaction, feeling he had accomplished something.

"That's the way you're doing -" Hilderinc breathed, following immediately with the same blow once again. This time, Quin had been even able to anticipate it. What's more, he had noticed that with such a strike, Hilderinc had left himself open to attack. He took advantage of the soldier's lowered guard and after blocking Hilderinc's blow, he turned his blade and brought it down towards his shoulder.

The older soldier managed to parry Quin's strike at the last moment and it was obvious that it took him a great effort. Quin's smile broadened, but Hilderinc's next words shattered his illusion of doing well.

"Don't be so happy. What I just did was the way you have attacked me in the beginning. As you see, with the way you are leading your strikes, you are leaving yourself open to attacks such as the one you just made against me. And in contrary to myself, I am not so sure if you'd have been able to parry them. So, as you see, I could have already hit you three times only because of your own openings."

Quin's smile faded. His eyes burned a little with resentment. Up until now, Hilderinc hadn't proved anything to him. He had barely fought with him. Did he really think Quin was that much below him? His blood rose a little at Hilderinc's condescending tone. "Then do it, don't just talk about it," he said, and re-engaged Hilderinc with real intent, striking towards his left arm.

Young hot blood, Hilderinc thought to himself as he swung his blade in the way of the opponent's strike. The swords rang with a furious clash.

"You are getting serious at least," Hilderinc said aloud. "But you need to think before you strike. I could anticipate your movements, and so parry them." He forced his enemy's sword away from himself.

"But in a big battle, there is no time to study your enemy. You need to learn this, and teach your body to do it by itself."

Suddenly with a swift move, he swung his sword free and attacked back against Quin's unguarded right side. Quin writhed and twisted back, trying to escape the blow and swinging his arm down in a futile attempt to block. He fell back, his side smarting with the blow, but he grit his teeth and did not complain. He took a deep breath and gripped at his sword hilt again. They'd only just begun. How much longer would it be? Hilderinc didn't wait for him to regain his breath. He advanced again, made three more swift strokes, and forced Quin back another step, with another stinging welt across his shoulder.

Quin switched his sword to his left hand and held up his right. "Stop. I'm sorry for my rash words. It is clear that you have the upper hand in this. Will you teach me?"

Hilderinc lowered his arm and watched Quin pensively for a few seconds.

"If you want to learn from me, that is as much as I can do," he said then. "If you truly want to. But it is a good decision to make, to improve oneself."

He fell silent once again for a while. "You can learn as much as you allow me to teach you," he added then.

"Continue!" the commander's voice came from somewhere behind. "We still have some time left to finish this. Nobody stand still, keep practicing!"

Hilderinc again assumed the attack position.

"For start, I will go easier on you, just watch my movements very closely, all right?"

Quin nodded, and prepared himself. He rolled his left shoulder, trying to dissipate the lingering pain from Hilderinc's last hit. This was why he hated hand to hand practice. He wouldn't voice his opinion, though, for the world. They would call him a coward and a weakling. Instead he would learn. He set to the task and watched Hilderinc.

The lesson lasted for what seemed to Quin a long time. Hilderinc permitted him to see a lot and understand what he was doing. He did not permit him to get within his guard even once, whereas he often made a touch somewhere on Quin's body.

Finally, they were called to a stop. Quin waited until Hilderinc had relaxed from his ready postion before he stood upright.

The older soldier nodded at him. "This should give you something for start. How much it gave you you must judge for yourself. There'd still be a long way to go if you wanted to become a good fighter, but you are open to learning, which is the most important thing."

Just as Hilderinc finished his sentence, Coenred's signal called them to get back to their horses. The first practice of the soldiers of Scarburg under the new command was ended.
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