The Patchwork Knight (Chapter 4)
The first snow was beginning to fall, and that meant that my training just became harder. The trees were going to get harder to cut down, and the ground was going to be slick with ice and snow. It had been three months since my father started training me, and he increased my tree cutting. I not only had to cut the tree for the forge, but I now had to cut another tree for warming the hut. The hut is small, so we didn’t need that much wood, but my father insisted that I cut it down, and give the remaining wood to others in the village that couldn’t cut their own wood. I did it all without hesitation, because when I was done, I could head back into the forest and practice with my sword. I got rather adapt at felling trees, and hauling them up to the mountainside. What used to take a couple of hours, now only took a fraction of the time. I was able to get two trees downed,chopped, and into kindling for firewood before the first light of the sun. I had to carry a lantern with me, but it was worth it so that I could swing that heavy beat up sword around.
One morning I noticed my father watching me as I slashed and stabbed with my sword. I was doing everything that I saw those boys do in the arena, the only exception, is that I used a sapling tree for a partner. Even though the sword was blunted, it would put large ruts in the sides of the small tree. After some time, my father slowly walked up to me.
“You’re not too bad there lad. I see that you remembered what you saw at the arena, but there is a problem. you have the moves, but you have no understanding behind them. Today you learn some of that understanding.”
He then took the sword from my hand and started to twirl it in front of him and behind his back. I had never seen anything like it. I instantly wanted to do that.
“Impressive huh lad?”
“Yes papa. Where did you learn how to do that?”
“I learned it when I spent my time in the Blind War. When we weren’t marching or fighting, we were training. The captain of my legion was widely known for his ability with a sword, and he wanted to make sure that anyone under him was nearly as good as he was. He would drill us first thing in the morning, after lunch, and then before hitting our nighttime slumber. I’m going to show you the drills he taught us. It’s one thing to attack a poor defenseless sapling, but another to fight a man. That is why you have to have an understanding for the move and why you are doing it. My Captain created a series of movements that were replicating a duel of sorts. The art of the sword isn’t always about attack, defense is a large part of it.”
“I thought a shield was for defense.”
“It is, but what happens if you lose your shield?”
I’d never thought about that, what would happen if I lost my shield. I just took for granted that I would always have a shield if I had a sword. I didn’t have a shield though, and my father only brought it up one time previously.
“I can see by the look on your face, that you are just starting to see something you never thought about. Yes boy, you can lose your shield, and the reason I haven’t given you one yet, is because I want you to know how to handle yourself with a sword and not need a shield.”
Not need a shield. This just became very exciting. What kind of swordsman didn’t need a shield? I guess I was going to find out.
“I’m only going to show you the first three moves, and I want you to practice them every day until I decide that you are ready for three more moves. Watch carefully.”
My father began with the sword in his right hand down at his side. In one quick fluid movement, he lunged forward with his left leg, and swung the sword in a reverse arc across his waist then bring it up and straight down in front of him with the sword held point up.
“That is the first movement. Did you see what I did, or do you need to see it again?”
“I saw it.”
“Here, take the sword and do that movement for me.”
I took the sword and held it point down at my side. I lunged with my left foot and began to swing the sword across my waist, and then the momentum of the sword and the slippery ground sent me sprawling. My father burst in to laughter.
“I’ll tell you something lad. That is exactly what I did the first time I tried that movement. The only difference is, that I didn’t have slippery ground as an excuse. I learned it in the middle of the summer when the rainy season was far from arriving. Give it another try, but think of what you do when you drag those trees up the mountainside and how you keep your footing.”
I slowly picked myself up, and wiped the snow off my pants. I stood upright again with the sword pointed at the ground, and I thought about how I had to use light but firm footsteps when I carried the trees through the forest and up the mountain. I lunged forward again, swinging the sword across my waist, arcing it up and then down to rest chest level with the point up.
“Good lad. You got that much faster than I did. Do that five more times and then we will get on to the second movement.”
I happily obliged. I felt more confident with each time I did it, and I could see a faint smile on my father’s face. After the fifth time, I handed the sword back to my father and patiently waited for the next movement. He quickly did the first move again, and when he stopped he turned and told me to watch closely. He lunged forward again and flung the sword point forward in a stabbing type of motion.
“Do you have it? I know that it looks simple, but trust me, it’s not as easy as it looks.”
I told him that I had it and took the sword from him. I went through the first movement again, and when it was time for the next movement, I stopped, took a deep breath and concentrated on what my father did. I lunged forward again and swung the sword down to stab forward. The weight of the sword took it straight into the ground and my left leg slide past it as my right leg stayed far behind me.
“I told you that it wasn’t as easy as it looked. Let me show you again, and this time I’ll explain it to you.”
He took the sword back and got in the final position of the first movement. He told me that the movement with my feet was a slight hop. You pushed with the right foot as you glided forward with the left. As you did all that, you snapped your wrist forward to flick the sword tip forward, to create that stab forward.
“Your biggest mistake was that you tried to slash the sword forward. There will be a time for that, but not in this movement.”
He handed the sword back to me and I tried again. I went through the first movement again, then I did a hop forward, when my feet hit the hard slippery ground I went sprawling again.
“There there lad, not a bad second attempt. When you do your hop, you still have to do it one foot at a time. You always want to have your plant foot on the ground as long as you can before you commit to that lunge. Start with the left foot first, as you pick it up, push with the right to spring yourself forward. Your right foot should barely leave the ground so that it is ready to plant when you stop advancing.”
He showed me the footwork several times before handing the sword back to me. I once again went through the first movement, and arrived before the lunge. I did as he said, and my feet firmly planted, but I forgot to do anything with the sword. I tried again, and this time flicked the sword, but when I did I ended up throwing it a few feet in front of me.
“Keep a loose but firm grip on the handle. If you grip too tight, the sword won’t react, too loose, and the sword does what it did there. I want you to think of the sword as a stick. Instead of trying to thrust through something, I want you to think of taking a stick and tapping someone on the nose with it.”
I began to see what he was doing. It wasn’t a big powerful motion, it was simple and elegant. It was a small motion, not a big one. I ran through the first movement again. I sprang forward and flicked my wrist pointing the sword forward.
“That is perfect boy. Do that whole thing 5 times now, and then the next move will be yours.”
I did the two movements 5 times and it felt better and better each time I did it. I began to feel the weight of the sword as something that I could use as opposed to something that was just there.
“Excellent boy. Alright, ready for the final movement of the day?”
“Yes papa, I’m ready.” Of course I was ready, this was more fun that chopping down trees and fighting a sapling.
He went through the first two movements again, and then once again told me to watch carefully. Form the position of the sword pointing forward, he took a step back and brought his sword hand in and then back out in a circular motion with the sword point down, and then bringing the sword from his right to his left side, heflipping the sword straight up, and back across his body, as he took another step back.
“Do you have it lad?”
I shook my head emphatically. Although I saw it clearly, I had no idea what he did. I needed to see it again and try to slow it down in my mind. He did the final movement once again, and I watched intently. I saw that on the first movement he only brought his left leg back towards him, and then on the second motion, he did the hop step in reverse.
“What about now, do you think you got it.”
“Yes papa. I think I do.” I took the sword from him and slowly readied myself. I went through the first two movements, with no trouble. I paused and thought about what I had just seen my father do. I brought the sword in towards me as I brought my left leg back towards my right. I brought my hand up and across my body with the sword point down, then I whipped the sword upright and began the hop step back as I brought the sword back across my body point up. I did it. I got it on the first try.
“Boy, you do have the makings of a swordsman in you. It took me nearly a whole afternoon to land that last part of that. Now, I have a question for you. Can you tell me what the other person was doing during those movements you just did?”
I hadn’t a clue what someone else would have been doing during all of that. “No papa.”
“I didn’t expect you too, but as my Captain always said, ‘it never hurts to ask’. You have to imagine that you are fighting someone else when doing these drills. The first part of that movement, you are lunging forward and blocking an attack and readying your sword for what comes next. The second move is to test your opponents readiness. You do a flicking stab to see if he is acutely aware of your presence.”
“Didn’t he just try to stab me? You said I blocked didn’t you?”
“Indeed I did lad. When I say you want to see his awareness, what you are really looking for is how quickly he reacts to such a move. If he gets out of the way fast, then you got a tough opponent. If he gets stabbed in the nose, then you probably don’t have to do much else. That is what the next part of the movement is about. In this case, he got out of the way of your stab, and quickly tries to stab you back. The first attack is going for your stomach and that is why you block with the sword down. That is a low block. It will cover your chest to your knees, if you do it right. The second is a block up. After the low stab he goes for your head. If you do that block right, it will cover your chest to your head. All of that together is known as the first move.”
“That whole thing is the first move?” I was stunned, that was quite a bit for one move.
“I want you to practice that for the rest of the day. After today, you will do that drill before you cut your first tree 10 times. After your second tree, I want you to do it 20 times, and after you’ve gotten both trees up and settled, I want you to do it another 70 times. That is 100 times in all, and I want you to do it in that precise order. Don’t try to get it all done before you fell the first tree. You may get good at the movement that way, but there is no challenge in it, and you won’t get out of it what I want you to. How are you supposed to do it now?”
“10 times before the first tree, 20 times after the second tree, and then 70 more times after I have the trees up the mountainside and cut and stacked.”
“Good, I’ll be checking in on you from time to time, to see just how your progress is going. When I feel you are ready, I’ll show you the next movement in the drill. Off you go now, finish up doing that for the rest of the day.”
I practiced that movement until the sun was peaking over the tree line. I was exhausted as I walked back to the house for dinner, but it was a good exhaustion. It was exhaustion from accomplishment.
For Chapter 5 Follow the link below.
