Wham!
A pained breath exploded out of Zhanna’s mouth as she slammed into the ground.
Before she could even draw one more tortured breath, a boot against her side
flipped her over to roll again and again until she crashed against a rock.
Despite the pain in her side, the young woman erupted explosively from the
ground, shoving off with one hand, while holding a small shield in the other.
She was off balance, and out of position as she scrambled to her feet. Gasping
for breath, she wrenched her body around to watch the man that was coming after
her.
All that could be seen of him were his narrowed eyes over
the top of his shield. The rest of his face was concealed behind the shield and
his other hand steady on his sword. As he advanced,
Zhanna was aware that he was staring at her intently, watching her eyes and aware of her
shoulders. An expert swordsman watching for the indicators of potential
movement. Feeling like a trapped mouse, Zhanna twitched her body to the left
attempting to feint him into a misstep. It didn’t work.
She froze with indecision for a second. WHAM!
Her vision spangled with lights as she was caught from the
rear by another assailant. Dammit! She had lost situational awareness. Now her
shoulder hurt on top of everything else! <<
I’ve got to stop thinking in the middle of a battle,>> she thought
just before another blow on her shield almost wrenched it out of her arm.
She was on the defensive, pinned between two opponents. What
was she going to do!?
<<Move it, girl! >>
The urgency of the yell in her head caused Zhanna to make a
dash for position. She chose in a split
second and ran, not through the inviting opening between the two men but up the
rocks and over. Coming just a split second too late behind her, the young witch
heard the sword crashing down onto the rocks.
“Shit!” The roar of an outraged fighter split the air in a
snarl of sound.
Zhanna managed a soft chortle as she gasped for air. She
crawled and scrambled up the rest of the rocks, finding a position where her
back was protected, and where her
opponents could not come at her from all sides. Just for this one second, she
had the freedom to take a deep breath. That respite was not destined to last
for long.
The two men that were attacking her approached her from
different directions. They were about 100° apart and the angle was just wide
enough so that she couldn’t defend against, or even watch, both of them at the
same time. A small quiet part of her,
tucked far back in her mind, could appreciate the skill in which they were
conducting the attack. The rest of her that was sweaty, aching, and would have
bruises from head to toe tomorrow, didn’t find it impressive at all.
The two men seemed to glide across the loose rocks toward
her. Surefooted, well-balanced, they made her feel like a gawky child. Telling
herself to focus, the witch set her stance and waited.
Her opponents advanced to within 10 feet of her. Staring at
her intently for a few seconds, the taller of the two men straightened up and
pulled his helm off. It was Stefan, looking oddly pleased.
“Not bad at all,” he said. “Your footwork could use a lot of
improvement, but you’re getting better at not thinking in the middle of the
fight. We almost had you, but you
recovered well and got yourself into a defensible position.”
The second man chimed in, “That roll and scramble actually were really good moves. I was waiting for you
to take the opening, which would’ve left you open to attacks on both sides. You
are definitely starting to develop instincts in a fight.”
“Thank you, Mikhail. I knew that if it were that easy looking you would’ve had
something nasty waiting for me. I just couldn’t think clearly of what else to
do so I thought I’d get out from the middle of the two of you.”
Stefan responded, “That’s exactly what battle instinct is,
Zhanna. Operating on your training and feelings is far faster than trying to
think your way through something in a life or death situation.”
“I know, but it still
was very hard not to try to use magic in any of this.”
Mikhail gave a short laugh, and answered her, “The point of
this was to teach you how to fight when your magic is worn out. Magic users are
very susceptible to exhaustion. When that happens, you have to fall back on
your other skills and if you don’t have strong skills in actual weapons use you
will be at a significant disadvantage.”
“I understand that and appreciate you guys drilling me on
this. The only thing that I would change is…”
“What? What would you change?”
“I wouldn’t have you enjoy beating me with your swords so much.”
Can't wait!
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