"Come at me brat!"
[With pleasure]
My feet erupt in a flurry of footwork,
An attempt to replicate Mark's footwork - meshed with chaotic and instinctive steps.
In a gamble to throw him off.
His brows furrow in confusion- my confidence surges.
Closing in, I slide,
My aim? - his archilles tendon.
[Fuck!]
Just when I had commited to the attack, I catch a faint curl of his lips.
A trap!
And I had fallen for it, face first
My eyes track the silhouette of his flying boot.
Muscles tense, moving out of the way
Urgh!
I'm a tad slow, his boot connects.
A grunt of pain escapes my lips, as I clamp down on my jaws, fighting the urge to squirm
"Nice try kid!" Cap'n Harlan chuckles, almost too gleeful
"Using moves I teach aganist me? Plain stupid!"
Shrugging the pain away, I close in for a second attack.
He sees through it, I feint and retreat, circling back.
"Scared much?"
I snicker at his obvious taunt- nice try but I aint that foolish.
Discerning my hesitation he decides to go on the offense.
I lie in wait, digging my toes into the loose dirt.
[Closer, closer, Now!]
I crouch under his overhead punch- slightly grazing me,
But I had him where I wanted.
Shik!
My toes rise, sending dirt and sand flying into his eyes.
On the same beat, I lunge swinging my daggers at his chest, or rather, attempted to.
His knee jerks upward.
I won't be able to dodge, I brace for impact making a semi- dodging, semi- attack manuever.
My weirdly long limbs come to my rescue- for a second time today.
As I feel resistance aganist my sudden thrust,
I grin,
Only for it to collapse as I feel the painful bite of his knee aganist my sternum.
My figure is flung across the air, pitifully crashing into the training dummies.
The crash landing, coupled with the knee blow to my sternum leaves me squirming in pain.
Takes me quite a long while to get my wits back.
"Had enough?" Harlan mocks
"Uh huh." I respond, biting down on my teeth- supressing a painful yelp.
Content with the work of his hands, or rather, his knee
Cap'n Harlan turns nodding to his students.
He stops his preening and turns back to face me
"Nice trick by the way, unorthodox...but clever."
He praises.
I nod in agreement, attempting to supress the pain tearing through my figure -terribly falling short.
Getting lost within my throbbing body, Harlan proceeds to instruct the recruits- giving me time to recover.
A while later he returns.
He laughs at my pitiful state- as if he wasn't the one who reduced me to such!
"Don't fret son, such is the path of a warrior." he intones,
~suddenly becoming serious~
"Your mindset and approach to combat is commendable, be proud of it." He remarks, carrying on
"You are growing so much already!"
~Slightly slumps his shoulders~
"And it is now that I regretably realise that my techniques are not compatible with your path!"
He proceeds to give me a lecture on the contrast and contradictions of my approach to combat compared to his.
He says that he wouldn't want me to change my path to fit his liking, his exact words:
"Your path is yours, and yours alone to follow...nobody should dictate how you ought to progress."
The advice was for me to follow my insticts as they will never lead me astray.
And to buid a solid foundation .
[what does he think I'm doing here? That I love torture? Heh!]
Notheless, he assures me that I am welcomed to train with the recruits, earn real and live combat experience.
Claiming he'll forge my body- make it a lethal weapon.
I shudder taken aback- his vow to 'forge' me to the warrior I am destined to become- I can't imagine what he has in store.
Regretably, the profound and heartfelt lecture comes to an end.
The recruits huddle up around the bread basket I had delivered, munching bread- recovering after a long and ardous hours of training.
That's how long our convesation had lasted.
And to think I haven't gotten some training today, nevetheless, I regret nothing.
Such profound lessons never come easy- and I could always put in more time for training.
My hand grabs the empty bread basket, ready to leave, following the end of the training session and dispersing recruits,.
Only for Captain Harlan to call me back.
"I might have a task for you , if you are upto it." He says
Thinking for a moment I respond
"Its dependent on the nature of the said task", I intone, sagely
He laughs at my 'antics', letting out an exhale
"Nothing complex, Just a delivery- call it, urhmm ... a courier mission."
~Gives him a look~
He sighs,
"I need a letter delivered to the Winterhold keep."
He proceeda to explain the intricacies of the task and gives a detailed description of my destination- even handing out a map.
I discover that the destination is a two- day's travel on foot, half that on Ashva.
Convinced and content, I agree, but not before-
"Whats in it for me?"
"Aside from training you free of charge?" He responds, his brows furrowing
"Aha! ha! I'm messing with you, son."
"I have a journal, from my days of adventure, it used to belong to a ranger friend of mine."
He proceeds to tell me about the journal, showing me a glimpse of its contents.
I am convinced that it will serve me well, even if it will just offer some insight into the path I follow.
"And some coin of course," he finishes.
~ takes out a coin pouch, throws it out~
Chik!
The coins clink, landing into my outstretched palm
"Half the payment now, the rest upon your return."
Thirthy Orens!
Immediately mentally plan its use
Fifteen to hire an Ashva from the stables,
Five for travel supplies, the rest is for me.
The captain takes out a parchment, scribbles and stamps
I watch closely
"Show this to the stable hand, he'll give you an Ashva for your travels."
[Sweet! Lesser expenditures]
To be frank, I am pleased.
To seal our deal, he hands me a sealed letter.
I give him a knowing nod- carefully tucking it into the breast pockets of my cloak.
"At the crack of dawn." He commands.
Walking off, I nod.
"As you command."