Staying Alive

Writers: Estelle, Miriah, Paula
Date Posted: 10th August 2019

Characters: Lorican, G'ran, J'ackt
Description: Lorican decides to learn some self-defense from G'ran and J'ackt
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 11, day 15 of Turn 9

J'ackt

After sevendays recovering at the Weyr, Lorican felt at last that his
health was improving. The burns and blisters had finally cleared up,
leaving only faint scars in the worst places, his throat and breathing
were much better, and the knife wound was healing cleanly though it
itched and ached. His shoulder was still sore and he could only do the
least strenuous work in the forge, but he was hopeful that it was
growing stronger as the days passed.

He was walking across the Weyr bowl after a day's work when he saw the
class. At first he thought they might be weyrlings, but as he got closer
he saw that people of all ages were present and not all of them were
dragonriders. Some of them were doing exercises, while others were
practicing with wooden weapons in pairs. It looked like the guard
training he remembered from Garnet Valley. Lorican wondered what
weyrfolk would want with that when they had dragons to protect them, and
then remembered the attack that had prompted him to leave the Weyr the
first time. Perhaps it wasn't a bad idea...

He watched for a while, thoughtful, then picked out the man who seemed
to be in charge and approached him. "Excuse me - bronzerider?"

"Yes?" G'ran turned to look. He had been correcting the position on
one of his pupils. Onlookers were common, especially during outdoor
training, so he was not surprised. More than one had joined his
classes after watching them and deciding they wanted to try it
themselves.

"I was watching your class." Lorican hoped he wasn't intruding, but the
people at the Weyr had been friendly to him so far. "I don't mean to
trouble you, but - I suppose I'm looking for some advice. I'm a
journeyman smith, and I've been attacked by thieves twice in the past
few months. Once on the road, and once in the forge back at the sea hold
where I'm based. Both times, I was lucky to escape with my life."
Unconsciously, he touched the place on his chest where the knife had
struck him. "I'd like to know what to do if it happens again."

"Yes, I can see how that can inspire you to learn some self defence,"
G'ran said. "You're welcome to join my classes," he continued. "I ran
them twice or thrice in a sevenday, depending on how my duties permit
it."

"Thank you. I'm not sure how long I'll be staying here, but anything you
could teach me would help." Lorican watched the students thoughtfully
for a moment. "At the Smith Hall, they told us that if we were stopped
by bandits, we should hand over whatever they asked for and leave
catching them to the guards. That no amount of marks or craft goods are
worth a life. But these ones didn't give me a chance to do that, so..."
He shrugged. "Maybe it's the Pass. They must be getting desperate."

"Unusual," G'ran commented. "Most bandits are happy to get the goods
without fight. But there are people who just enjoy hurting others."

"That's true." He wondered if the woman in the smithy enjoyed what she
did. Sometimes he remembered the gleam in her eyes when she'd set the
smithy afire, her laughter, and thought she must have done, but there
had been a moment when she'd seemed fearful... He must have imagined it.

He shook his head, pushing those memories aside. "Oh, I was injured in
the last attack, and though I'm recovering, I need to be careful. Would
that be a problem?"

"No, it's not a problem. We just have to take it in consideration and
start easy," G'ran replied.

"Sometimes you have to fight when you're hurting." A voice was heard
behind them. J'ackt left a pair of young men with the wooden swords,
approaching the pair after taking interest in their conversation.
Normally, he wouldn't have bothered, but hearing 'bandits' had caught
his ear. "And with bandits, especially holdless ones," he gave a
slight smirk at the private, personal reference, "You need to know
where to strike to do the most damage and get them to leave."

"True, pain is a weapon too, like knife or sword. Normal people can't
function when feeling pain. However, there's no reason to endanger
your recovery. Not angering the healers is also a form of self
defence," G'ran said with a wry grin.

"Yes, I'd like to avoid that, if I can," Lorican agreed. "They seem to
take a dim view of people carelessly undoing their hard work." He looked
at the newcomer in surprise, since he seemed rather young to be teaching
this class, let alone knowing about dealing with bandits. But then, he
reminded himself, he'd been near killed by a woman in drudge's garb. Not
judging by appearances would seem to be a sensible strategy. "So - when
should I start?"

"Do you have anything better to do now?" G'ran asked and gestured
towards his class.

"Well - no, I don't. My work in the forge is done for the day." The
sooner he began, Lorican thought, the more chance he'd have the next
time someone came after him. As the younger man had suggested, he had to
make himself more trouble to kill than it was worth.

"We're not too far along with the class for you to join it. We tend to
be flexible, people come and go as it fits their schedule," G'ran
said.

"I'll work with him G'ran." J'ackt offered, eyeing the other man. "I'm
still on light duty, but I can help him with blade work and a bit of
dirty fighting that he can expect."

"Alright," G'ran replied. "I've seen the tools smith's use, they are
formidable as weapons too. Can you teach him to use them to fight?"

"I'd have to see 'em and feel 'em, but sure, probably could." He eyed
Lorican up and down. "Probably be better too since he'd know how to
handle 'em. Better than blade work. That'd take him quite a bit of
time to be adequate enough to fight someone like me." He gestured to
Lorican with his chin. "G'ran can teach you to fight to a standstill.
Proper honorable fighting, grappling and the like. You fight a
holdless man or a bandit, you better be prepared to either kill him or
completely disable him. You have more to lose than most of we...they
do."

"I wasn't guard long enough to learn anything but the formal
training," G'ran said with a shrug.

"Well, I hope I won't ever have guards coming after me." Lorican spoke
lightly, though he knew that if the truth ever came out, that was a
distinct possibility. He wasn't sure he wanted to kill anyone, either -
indeed, after his last encounter with Jilmon, he half doubted whether he
was capable of it - but he did want to live. He might not have a choice.
"I've got some tools of my own that were salvaged after the last attack.
I suppose we could look at the ones in the smithy, but I'm not sure what
the Mastersmith would think of me using them for weapons practice."

"It's nothing against G'ran's training. He's taught me a thing or two
about disarming without unnecessary injury to someone else." J'ackt
was quick to point out. "You can learn that from him how to do that.
Bring me the tools you normally travel with and we'll work from there
on using them."

"As guard, you're supposed to bring them in alive," G'ran grinned.

The smith smiled in response, though he did wonder how much the woman
knew about what he'd got himself involved in. Handing her over to the
guards might not be sensible, but he preferred it to the alternatives.
"Anything you can teach me to help me stay alive would be most welcome.
Thank you." He glanced back towards the smithy. "I'll go and fetch those
tools, then."

G'ran nodded towards J'ackt. "Between two of us, yes, we can teach you
to stay alive," he said.

***

Last updated on the August 19th 2019

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Staying Alive