On The Road of Growth
After Cato awoke from his much needed sleep, he quickly ushered Cyrus to pack up his things and out the door.
"I did say that I may have made a bit too much noise when I cleared out the undead. Now that I am fully awake, I can guarantee that I went overboard. Let us depart quickly and get a head start on the inevitable offers from some sultan or other on entering their service." Said Cato as he quickly put on his sand cloak, covering his greying hair and obscuring his blue eyes.
The two left out by way of the hidden exit and onto the streets. The time was late in the evening with people already out and about in the road, seemingly more excited than usual. Curious, Cyrus perked his ears and listened in to the wafting conversations that drifted in as he walked.
"Did ya hear bout the heap o' undead remains found a ways off the main southern path. Some were sayin it was a bunch er of the anjems local boys!" Said one uneducated desert dweller in a barely understandable Persae accent.
"I heard I heard, a bunch of newcomers down 'n sold the info for a coin or two before word reached the anjems ears. They were never heard from again, seems to me the story has some merit to it then. Strangest thing was that it was said that they were all either split into two or they were completely pulverize by something, turned into dust leaving large imprints in the sand. Clearly means someone strong is around the oasis, the question is if the damage was sustained before or after they became undead…" speculated and questioned one more educated desert dweller.
Cyrus, being the one who turned them into undead, looked at Cato, being the one who cleaned them up.
"Guess he was not lying when he said he overdid it. Wonder what new spell he was testing out"
Onwards the two went, right out of the oasis town until they reached the northern road continuing their journey once more.
Along the road, well figuratively as they were walking in a desert, the two did naught but study and practice together. Travelling by camel this time instead of foot, Cyrus never stopped thinking to himself that despite the tiredness caused by practicing the sword it was far more preferable than that brought on by walking endlessly in the desert. As the pair did not pack the camels full of supplies, owed to Cato's ability to produce items out of seemingly thing air which Cyrus eventually learned was merely the result of a type of magical equipment, they made good progress day by day leaving plenty of time for practice and eventually study.
Currently, the pair could be seen sparring against one another with wooden swords while the camels rested in the background. Cyrus was focusing all he could on trading blows with Cato, while the latter had enough leeway to lecture the former all the while.
"Not like that Cyrus, we are not barbarians" said Cato while he easily parried and disarmed Cyrus.
"All the fights you have seen until now were mere child's play in terms of swordsmanship. In reality, there are no long fights full of wild swings and exaggerated movement. A real fight between two swordsmen on equal ground will end in a mere few exchanges, fast and deadly. You can swing the sword at me as hard as you want, but a duel is a dance between two. For example, this swordsmanship I am teaching you is the most basic form of the imperial protector's sword that is usually taught to….which profession Cyrus?" asked Cato, making full use of his time.
"Easy, the imperial Legionaries." Replied Cyrus.
"Indeed, the purpose of this style is to be an all-rounder. It features a starting mid guard which allows for the wielder to react to any and all attacks from any direction equally in a defensive manner. The main goal of this is to keep you alive long enough to finish the fight through another method. For mages this means until you can successfully complete a spell and for Legionaries its until one of their brothers comes to their aid.
"Not that a full-fledged legionnaire would ever use this technique though, they utilize far more advanced and deadly…that is beside the point. This style allows you to react to what your enemy does, predict, then act. You are only reacting then acting, forgetting the prediction part entirely."
Cato steps back and motions with his sword in the air. He holds the sword with both hands, placing the sword point facing upwards towards the sky and the blade bent towards his opponent with the grip by his waist.
"If the enemy attacks from high to low, I can easily lift the sword up to block. An amateur will see the attack coming and move to defend, understandable as a sword coming at you fast is a scary thing. The problem with this is if the enemy is competent they will not start out with a killing blow, rather they will test their opponents reaction with a feint perhaps.
"If I quickly flinch and defend upwards, I would leave myself open from a thrust below. Rather, I should keep in mind that any strike could be a feint and reserve enough momentum to match my opponent. The beauty of this style, however, is the amount of motion required for me to move from guarding high to low is very little so I can react to feints far faster than otherwise.
"The downside is that there is very little momentum to any type of offensive attack unless I switch my style" explains Cato as he moves his guard from low, which is a waist level defense, to high.
"Theoretically, utilizing this style correctly will allow you to defend forever. Of course reality factors in things like strength, stamina, and the presence of more than one enemy. For the first two, more training will help you bridge that gap. For the last one, I suggest you either become a master swordsman or learn the art of running while fighting.
"If you do ever find yourself fighting multiple foes, the only way of survival is to constantly corral the enemy like sheep to stay in front of you while slowly backing off. After that? Run." Cato shadows himself pretending to circle multiple invisible enemies, sometimes quickly dashing diagonally backwards then breaking into a run. Cyrus had to suppress a smirk at the sight of the old man fighting his invisible foes.
"Once you have created a certain level of distance, its actually quite hard to catch someone running away with a sword. You can throw it at them, sure, but what if you miss or it doesn't miraculously kill? The running away party could always just turn around and slaughter the now weaponless foes."
Cato then stills, pausing for a moment before adding on, " Of course this only applies to those normal human standards can apply to. I am sure you have almost finished the book on imperial military factions that I gave you a few days ago, do tell me which faction these normal rules of engagement no longer apply to?
"The Legionaries again old man. Do tell me, are they really as strong as the book made them out to be? That even the most normal of them could fight evenly with several well-trained men?" answered and asked Cyrus.
"Indeed boy, indeed. The Legionaries are an old order that got absorbed into the imperial state long ago through diplomacy. They are an odd ancient order that has the badge of honor known as the only outside force that was taken into the state through peaceful means. Not even the mighty empire wanted to go toe to toe with such superhuman warriors. They are masters of all combat, the stoutest defenders and the most crazed attackers." Cato explained while reminiscing.
"I worked with them for years and years. Let me tell you, there is nothing like the feeling of absolute safety when you are being protected by a unit of Legionaries. You have no fear of any spear nor arrow when under their protection…. As a mage it allowed me to focus entirely on my spells when in combat. After I…left the imperial border and split from my retinue it took me awhile to adjust to the fact that I could no longer cast my magic behind a wall of absolute defense any longer."
Cyrus listening attentively, waiting for Cato to finish before asking the question burning in his mind.
"You worked with the Legionaries!? Were they normal members or possibly a veteran honoris?" Fired Cyrus, one after the other.
"Calm down boy. Of course, I worked with them, didn't you read the damned book?" Retorted Cato, breaking his lecturing tone into his normal self for a moment.
"Oh..I gave you my personal one from back in the day didn't I. Listen well, knowledge of the legionaries was made public only after I graduated from my academy. Nowadays its common knowledge that the Legionaries main role in the empire is to safeguard mages as they do their duties, whatever they may be.
"The more important the mage the more skilled the guard is and the higher the numbers, with some high profile mages even earning themselves an entire unit to themselves. I, being the amazing mage that I was, had 4 legionaries as my guard with one even eventually being granted the title of honoris. As you know, only the best of the best of the legionaries are given such a title." Answered Cato with a hint of pride.
Hearing this Cyrus asked, "Wait, an entire unit of legionaries is six, right? You only had four…which means you were not one of those 'High Profile' mages right?"
Cato's pride immediately deflated, his face showing a hint of embarrassment.
"Please, I deserved a whole unit. I, who eventually became a fully-fledged grandmas-…" started Cato aggressively before realizing his slip of the tongue and stopped. Coughing awkwardly he said,
"Oh ah well….There were political reasons involved that I will tell you about when we go over the politics between the factions. Yes yes I know that look, I will tell you about the internal workings of the mages one day as well. I just don't want to twist your worldview in a certain manner or cause you to grow lax with some useless information. I wish to guide you to a path of your choosing after all, not make you into what I want you to be."
Cato then took a stance with his wooden sword once more, beckoning to Cyrus.
"Now, enough distractions. Let us continue the lesson!"
Thus the two continued their practice, for this day and the next several with only small breaks for food and sleep with Cato not even spending the time to set up his usual temperature regulation spell.