Off Balance

Writers: Estelle, Paula
Date Posted: 23rd September 2019

Characters: Lorican, G'ran
Description: G'ran teaches Lorican some self-defence
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 11, day 18 of Turn 9
Notes: Mentioned: Lusilk (not by name)

Lorican focused on the dragonrider who stood before him, their eyes
locked, trying to anticipate the moment when he would make his attack.
His heart pounded, his back was damp with sweat and his shoulder ached,
but he forced himself to concentrate. Suddenly, the man lunged forward,
bringing the knife in his hand down towards the smith's chest. Trying to
remember what he'd been taught, Lorican raised his arms to block the
attack, then slid a hand up to grab the man's elbow and wrench it behind
his back.

Except G'ran suddenly twisted his body to the direction Lorican was
trying to bend his arm, therefore freeing himself. His wooden practise
knife poked the smith's ribs beneath the arm. "Good block but you need
to work on getting me into a elbow lock," G'ran commented. "Always
expect a counter. For every move, there's a counter-move."

Lorican smiled ruefully, realising he'd been 'killed' yet again. To tell
the truth, he wasn't sure what he would do if he did manage to
successfully catch an attacker that way, other than call for help, but
he did at least want to keep the knife away from him. "All right. What
should I do to stop you getting away like that?"

"You have to follow my movement. Here," G'ran handed him the practice
knife, "I'll show you. Do as I just did."

Lorican looked at it doubtfully. Even though it was only made of wood,
it still didn't feel right to try to stab a dragonrider with it. He told
himself he was definitely not going to succeed - that was the point of
the exercise - and raised it, then brought it down towards G'ran's upper
body.

G'ran blocked it precisely as Lorican had earlier. "Now, instead of
fighting the block, turn with it," he instructed.

The smith hesitated, then turned as he'd been told. It felt a little
awkward at first, but then he could feel that he was starting to get free.

Then G'ran started to follow his movement, tightening his hold again.
"See what I'm doing," he put his leg between Lorican's, making him
lose balance.

Lorican stumbled and nearly fell, giving G'ran the opportunity to pull
the arm holding the knife in a firm grip behind his back. "Oh - I see."
He rubbed his arm as the dragonrider released him, grateful it hadn't
been the injured one. "Can I try it again?"

"Sure," G'ran nodded.

He handed back the knife and readied himself for the attack. **Follow
his movement.** Concentrating, he blocked the knife as before, then
grasped the man's arm and did his best to turn with the bronzerider,
keeping himself out of the reach of the wooden blade.

"Good, now try to get me out of balance. Sudden bow forward might to
the trick," G'ran instructed.

"Right." Lorican leaned forward as G'ran had recommended, still watching
the knife. They were both already slightly off balance from the turn,
and he pushed a little too hard, nearly losing his own footing. "Sorry!"

Only G'ran's quick reflexes kept him from collapsing over the smith.
"Well, getting squished under your attacker isn't the best tactic. But
you did got me off balance."

Lorican laughed. "That's something, anyway. I think I need to practice
that one more. It's like in my craft, you don't have to swing the hammer
with all your strength to get the result you want."

"That's correct, it's all about balance, keeping yours and getting the
opponent off from his. Strength is secondary."

That was not as comforting as Lorican might have hoped. Clearly, the
woman who'd attacked him knew it, too. As far as he could tell, his main
- and only - advantage over her was that he was the stronger.

"Is there any way I can use strength to help me?" he asked. "All these
hours in the smithy have to be useful for something."

"Yes, but first you need the get into a position where that strength
serves you best. For example, if you managed to get me pinned to the
ground, I'm might have hard time getting out of there," G'ran replied.
He was no way small man himself. He was around average height but had
solid muscles.

Lorican looked at the bronzerider. He wasn't so sure about that himself,
even supposing he could ever get the other man into that position in the
first place. They were similar in height and build, the muscle the smith
had built up through Turns of practising his craft matched by those
developed by handling firestone sacks, but Lorican had no illusions
about his chances against a trained guard. "Well, I'll just have to keep
working on it until I can do that."

"It takes time to learn this," G'ran did his best to sound encouraging.
"Now, let me show you couple of wrestling moves where your strength is
an advantage."

"Right." Lorican dusted off his hands and watched intently as G'ran
started to demonstrate the moves. He might not have time; he'd no idea
where the woman was, or if she knew he had survived the fire. But if he
worked hard, he might gain another advantage over her: surprise. She
wouldn't expect him to have had any training. Perhaps there was a way he
could use that.

Last updated on the October 14th 2019

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Off Balance