Now that I have given you my recommendations, I would like
to provide an example from my current project. As a bit of exposition, this was
caused by the vice-captain of the Temporal Guard (Maeru) taking out his
frustration on one of the training members. As a result, the captain (Arynna)
decides to let him fight her in the hopes of teaching him a lesson. I apologize
in advance for its length, but it gets the job done. Without further ado, here
it is:
Maeru shivered and backed up a step, and she took a broad
stride forward until her face was inches from him. Arynna’s height allowed her
to have a slightly higher gaze, and she used that to her advantage. “If you
want to fight so badly, then you will fight me.” She motioned and one of the
guards threw her a staff. One of the others led the injured boy out of the
ring, and she moved into the ready stance. She saw a small flare of frustration
in his expression, and then he too moved into the stance.
They circled one another as they had done in countless
drills, and she used her staff to block his attacks, flipping it from side to
side in a dance that flowed from one defense into another. Watching the pattern
of his movements, she looked for openings as she began to exchange attacks. She
moved swiftly from block to strike and back to block, her hands only shifting
their weight on the weapon in her hands. She noticed that every few attacks he
would leave his side open, and she knew that he was reading her movements for
any weak blocks or openings.
He hit her knuckles with one of his attacks, and she stepped
back to avoid the following move, twirling so that she came to his flank. Her
staff connected with is ribs, and he stumbled but managed to block her next
attack. He growled and began to increase the speed of his attacks, his
frustration beginning to break through. She blocked and parried each of his
attacks, focusing on finding a way to disarm him. When she saw her chance, she
deftly flipped her staff between his hands and broke through his thumbs,
sending his staff twirling to land on the other side of the field. She quickly
twisted the staff so that the other side hit him and sent him stumbling back
before sweeping his legs from under him and planting the end of the staff into
the base of his throat.
Looking up at her, Maeru almost gulped at the coldness of
her expression. She revealed small fangs as she spoke to him, and he gulped,
wondering what animal’s form she could assume. “Do not ever take out your frustration at me or my orders on one of the
guards again, or you will be permanently banished from the guards and from the
lands of the royal palace.” She narrowed her gaze at him, “Do I make myself
clear?”
“Yes, mistress,” he stuttered. The end of the staff was
removed and she turned away to walk back to the watching guards.
No comments:
Post a Comment