The Warrior Monk of Memon

“Step aside monk, this does not concern you.” Longshank said in strained little voice, his sword was out, the steel gleaming in the afternoon sun, his breath was even, his stance was easy.
The monk had the look common to men of his order, a slightly bored indifferent look, he was relaxed and calm, his eyes looked half close but Longshank wasn’t deceived by it, he’d seen Menomite monks kill a man without losing their indifference.
The object of Longshank’s ire cowered behind the monk, the lad was from the Riverlands, a young punk, who should Longshank have his way would never grow older. He’d impregnated his only daughter and ran away, his retribution was just.
Toldo knew death when he saw it, Tosfl’s father was going to kill him, he’d seen that look on other men’s faces in other lands, it was a duty he’d perform for honor so that men will say, this is what happens when you take from a man what you have not paid for. Toldo glanced upwards at the monk’s head from behind and prayed to every god that will listen that he should protect him.
The monk understood what the situation was and decided to try and broker peace and a compromise, “You have been done a great wrong, might I suggest you accept some recompense and have the youth serve…”
While the monk yet spoke, Longshank attacked, rushing forward quickly and bringing up his sword to deliver a downward chop, Toldo screamed.
Toldo was not proud of it but when Longshank attacked he had screamed himself hoarse and expected the monk to be cleaved into two halves, to his credit he had never seen a monk fight, although like every boy from the Riverlands he had heard tales of their prowess, they were men who were raised from childhood to worship their god and to learn the many ways of killing, they forswore property and familial attachments and were most commonly used as independent roaming judges in disputes.
What Toldo saw in that moment made him truly understand why monks are revered, when Longshank charged, most other men would have back pedalled and inadvertently tripped over the crouching Toldo, the monk was no ordinary man however and charged forward instead, dropping his shoulder and twisting his body to slam his left shoulder into Longshank’s midriff, the move had been executed so quickly and precisely that Toldo only remembered seeing the man lying on the ground, his hurt and embarrassment written clearly on his face, his sword in the monk’s hand and the now familiar look of bored indifference on the monk’s face.
The monk cleared his throat, took a deep breath and said “as I was saying before you interrupted me, I think you have been done a great disservice and it is only fair that the boy work out his debt to you, if you accept this you are free to go”. Longshank looked up and sputtered “and if I don’t accept this?”, The monk shrugged and said “Then I’ll give you your sword back and draw mine.”
