The ulvan then began circling Garnedell, suddenly leaping to the side and closing with him. Garnedell didn’t even move, simply turning to the side and maintaining an almost perfect stance. The ulvan’s rapid leap put him easily in range of Garnedell and the ulvan’s slash from the right was easily blocked by Garnedell. Garnedell’s reaction was slow, but almost perfectly positioned. His staff came up and blocked the strike even as he slid a leg back in a sweep, keeping the foot on the ground and the swing wide for balance. That was… just… nice one, Garnedell!

Joe let his smile come over his face and Garnedell set his stance once again. The clan boy scrambled backward in surprise. Garnedell remained in stance, prepared. For the next several moments, the clan kid skittishly danced around Garnedell as he tried to close in carefully. The kid was incredibly cautious, leaping forward to try to poke weakly with his thrusts, but Garnedell always retreated a single step while regularly parrying. Soon, Garnedell had the rhythm and Joe let slip a small smile, pride shining through once again as Joe easily caught Garnedell’s shift in stance, the subtle twist of a foot, the clenching of an arm, and the ripple of muscle across the upper shoulders. Go get ‘em, kid! Garnedell punished the kid with a powerful swing from an excellent counter, his staff striking the blade hard enough to force the sword out of range and interrupt the clan kid’s rhythm. Garnedell then whipped his staff back around, pulling the end he’d used to block the sword back into his chest as he leaned forward to slash the left side of his staff hard into the Tougallandar’s temple.

The crowd gasped when the staff hit, the boy stumbling back a couple steps from the strike. Garnedell also immediately retreated, maintaining his stance. Joe allowed Garnedell to retreat to his place before commenting. Mistake… should have pushed in.

“Bit of a mistake there, Garnedell. This was the perfect time to push on in, but I understand you are still understanding your opponent. You’ll need to get faster.”

The crowed hushed at that, several looking over at him, some with disdain, others with a bit of shock. Gwenvair was one that seemed shocked with a hint of worry. Oooh… was that bad? No talking or helping others in a fight? But… hmm… training versus a duel. Do they think this is a duel? That would… yeah… not cool if this is a duel. So…

Tougallandar had stumbled back, but recuperated quickly, which … gotta be his HP, right? That hit should have put him to the ground! So, can I … hmm… ooh… turn it from a duel to a sparring match, so… Joe nodded with the idea and turned to the ulvan.

“Tougallandar. Your weapon is a short sword. Garnedell has a staff. It is much longer. You must push past his reach and get inside it. With other weapons, you will be in a powerful place. Garendell’s staff also has a pretty excellent short reach as well, so this will be a difficult fight for you.”

The crowd had hushed when Joe began speaking then just as quickly and rapidly chattered with one another in whispers. Joe ignored it as he taught the boy. Gwenvair and her mother both stared at him with raised eyebrows and he glanced at them before smiling.

Tougallandar froze, simply staring at him. His moment stretched for quite a while. Garnedell wisely remained in his stance despite how stunned Tougallandar was. The crowd’s whispers died down but quickly began rising again as the fear kept him frozen. Why is he afrai… is he afraid? Why would he be afraid… is he… Joe felt confusion swelling up within him.

“You don’t want my advice? You have no need to take it, Tougallandar. But I wished to only be fair and offer training. This would be a useless training session if advice was not given.”

Tougallandar breathed deeply before offering a deep bow, “Thank you, eccentric.”

Joe frowned, snorting, “Don’t take your eyes off an opponent in the middle of a fight. That is utter foolishness. If you meet an honorable fighter, you gain nothing. If your enemy has not honor, you meet only death.”

Tougallandar jerked up, staring at Joe a bit, then turning to Garnedell, then stuttering back and forth between the two, uncertainty spinning the poor kid out of control. Joe waved a hand.

“Listen to my words, but focus only on your opponent. Never turn from him.”

Tougallandar finally understood at that, and turned back to face Garnedell. The two began once again, Garnedell remaining set and waiting for attacks and Tougallandar dancing around him poorly. Joe allowed this to continue for a bit and just as he was about to offer some more advice to Tougallandar, an older individual in the crowd growled out in frustrated anger.

“Stop being a coward, boy! Strike the whelp down.”

Joe looked towards who had spoken and in that time he looked away, Tougallandar immediately rushed towards Garnedell with a shout. A soft glow erupted from around the ulvan boy and a gasp of surprise and fear at his side had him become a bit worried.

“Infinite thrust!”

Tougallandar’s clumsy movements immediately smoothed out and he performed an almost perfect lunging thrust. Did he just… slide across the ground like some ridiculous video game? What … that’ so not! And please… no… don’t… just… don’t shout your freakin’ attack names! Joe’s fear was almost overwhelmed with a cringing embarrassment that was bone deep, but his concern for Garnedell pushed it aside as he watched with no little worry. His fear had spiked, but Garnedell proved his mettle, leaping back and to the side just as Joe had warned him to. Toulgallandar tried to redirect, turning his thrust slightly, but it seemed he had little control of direction once the kid began his skill and he slid right past Garnedell. Joe winced. Ooh… that’s really going to…

Wham!

… hurt!

Garnedell had slid to the side and when he saw Tougallandar’s skill taking him past him without control, he’d immediately recognized an opportunity. His hands slid down the staff to the very end and Garnedell spun in place, twisting his entire body a full one eighty before bringing his arms around holding his staff like an extra long baseball bat. It slammed right into the back of Tougallandar’s head, smashing the kid forward in an uncontrolled stumble where he collapsed onto the ground, his sword spilling from his hands. Ooh… not… exactly the smartest move, but… where did he learn that one? About as perfect as he could have done it, even it if was a bit dumb… well… the other kid was an idiot, too… so not dumb? But… still dumb.

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“That was pretty stupid, Garnedell. You know the rule!”

“Yes, Master. Never turn my back on the enemy.”

“Yup! So dumb… but… really well done given the situation. I’m still going to tell you it was dumb, but if there was one situation where that might have been OK, then this might be one of those times. Don’t ever do it again!”

“Yes, Master,” Garendell’s reply was firm, but his lips lifted in a soft smile, pride easily seen, if still subdued enough not to be seen as arrogance.

Tougallandar scrambled towards his sword before turning on his back, looking towards Garnedell. His frenzied scrambling slowed when he saw Garnedell was once again awaiting his attack, his stance held. Joe glanced at the two statuses, noticing that Garnedell was still at full health while Tougallandar was about half. Huh… when is it… when do I end it?

“So, when does the fight… should the fight end?” Joe bent down and whispered softly into Gwenvair’s ear.

Gwenvair glanced up at him and replied in his ear, “When their health has failed.”

Zero health? Then… how would they know… so first blood maybe or… Joe pondered for a bit before simply deciding that he would end it when the HP got down towards single digits, or just shy of it. He turned his attention back to the fight, Tougallandar finally standing. He readied himself, but this time, Garnedell did not give him time to prepare. He took a step forward. Tougallandar immediately tensed and then took a step back when Garnedell once again took a step forward, sliding his feet across the ground. He maintained his forward foot, stepping forward in the odd rocking hop fighters often had when they wished to continue keeping their forward foot forward. His front foot slid forward, followed by the rear foot, then the front foot once again.

Tougallandar seemed a bit spooked by Garnedell’s movement, his eyes flickering to Garnedell’s feet then back up at his face. Garnedell continued moving forward. Tougallandar stepped back and soon arrived at the edge of the crowd. He turned to slide around the edge of the crowd continuing to back away but Garnedell pressured him while maintaining his stance excellently. Nice… keep on… ooh!

Garnedell suddenly took a stride forward, bringing his rear foot forward while also bringing down a long reaching angled strike to the head. Not close enough… need another couple inche… Garnedell compensated, bringing the leading hand in slightly closer to get another couple inches on the strike. Not a good idea! If he doesn’t parry, going to over exten… Garnedell brought the staff down hard towards the clan boy’s head. The clanner reacted in panic, raising both hands and his sword up to block the staff coming down. He managed to lift the sword up to block the staff but Garnedell punished the weak block attempt, slamming the blade back down into the kid’s torso. The staff slammed weakly against the ulvan’s head once again.

Garnedell did not stop, taking another stride to close to optimal range and brought the other end of his staff into play and this time punished the ulvan’s sword arm, the strike a strong punishing hit that actually caused Tougallandar to wince from the pain. Joe glanced down at his HP. Still a bit more, should be…

Garnedell soon advanced on Tougallandar in a flood of strikes which left the ulvan boy reacting poorly. The hits were weaker, but came in a flurry, shaving of five to ten HP every couple hits. Tougallandar suddenly raged and began to wildly swing his sword. Joe frowned. That’s… stupid… dangerous… stupid… Joe’s estimation proved itself when Tougallandar struck one of his own legs in his wild swings, further dropping his health. Garnedell received a small slash across his arm but even as the idiot kid swung wildly, Garnedell had already retreated to his longer range.

He began using his staff as a spear, thrusting into the ulvan boy’s torso and head. The damage immediately decreased, but Garnedell began to simply rapid fire his staff into the chest, belly, and face of Tougallandar. This proved much more effective than Joe realized as the kid lost all reason and wildly flung his sword everywhere. Joe frowned. This is peak training? What the fu… Joe cut off his curse with a grimace and flicked his gaze back to the HP. Garnedell had lost a decent chunk with the slash, but he’d already recovered to almost full. Tougallandar continued to plummet in ones and twos until he dropped ten, then seven, five, and finally two before Joe raised his hand with a shout.

“Enough. The fight is done.”

Garnedell immediately retreated, coming to rest but Tougallandar seemed to be lost in a bit of a rage as he continued to swing the sword around him wildly.

“Enough! Tougallandar! It’s done!”

“RAAaaaahhhAAAAR!

“He still has HP! He is not done!”

Joe rounded on the person who’d yelled and noticed it was the clan elder who’d mocked Tougallandar for a coward. Joe let his anger rise.

“His health rests just at empty! He is done.”

Joe turned back to Tougallandar and shouted once again, “Tougallandar! It’s done!”

Despite Joe’s calls, the kid was completely unresponsive and Joe sighed. Taking a moment, he awaited for his sword to swing to an advantageous position before Joe duplicated Garnedell’s movements, albeit with much more grace. Joe slid directly into Tougallandar’s side even as he brought down a hand on the kid’s sword arm before roughly disarming him.

“Enough!”

That seemed to break Tougallandar from his rage and Joe frowned, looking down at the boy, “When I say it is enough, it is enough. Do not continue to…”

Joe froze. The kids terrified! He…

“Hey. Kid. It’s done. You did well enough, but you had no…” Joe trailed off, cutting his comments short. Nope… no need to insult the kid, he’s just…

Joe felt a hand slam down on his shoulder, squeezing him and weakly attempting to turn him. The pull utterly failed, and Joe simply rocked in place. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the overbearing and irritating elder that had shouted before.

“Yes?”

“Your apprentice will forfeit!”

“What?”

“Your apprentice lost.”

Joe laughed, “Were we seeing the same fight?”

The man grimaced, shaking, “You ended the fight early. The fight is forfeit.”

Joe sighed, shaking his head, “The fight ends when HP is lost. Tougallandar is literally only a single HP from permanent harm. I will not have the kid harmed for a simple training session.”

“It is till HP loss!”

Joe sighed and rolled his eyes. So… poke him till he bleeds… could work but… Joe sighed and rolled his eyes. I’m the super duper powerful eccentric… must have done some kind of cool magic trick. He looked to Garnedell. Garnedell then… or would they think I’m trying to trick them into winning or… Then he smiled, turning to Kilniara instead.

“Kilniara. Could you come here?”

She quickly came to his side, although her typically bouncy walk was quite subdued, “Yes, Ma… Joe.”

Joe smiled, “Poke the kid, would you?”

“What?” Kilniara asked with some confusion.

“Poke him. In the arm.”

Kilniara looked at him before nodding slightly and poking him in the arm. Tougallandar winced slightly but did nothing. Joe glanced at the kid’s HP. Still a single point.

“Right. Pick up a grass blade and slide it across his arm, if you would Kilniara?”

Kilniara looked at him as if he was strange but then nodded and plucked a blade of grass from the ground. Joe glanced at it but then shook his head. He bent down and searched the blades of grass before nodding and plucking a firm blade of grass that had a bit of an edge.

“Right. Try to cut him with this blade of grass like a knife. Slide it down his arm.”

Kilniara stared at him, seeming confused, but then did so, sliding the blade of grass down the kid’s arm. Joe watched the last HP flicker away, then after small beads of blood began well up where the grass had slid across his arm. The kid hissed and flinched, pulling his arm away.

“The kid was on his last HP! Enough.”

Joe turned away and left the kid behind, guiding Kilniara and Garnedell to the edge with a nod of his head. Kilniara’s act drawing blood from the kid’s arm drew gasps of surprise and shock from everyone and Joe could only sigh. He ignored it all and walked back towards the house. Gwenvair slid in beside him, very excited, with her mother joining her as well. Zilnek ran to Garnedell’s side and immediately congratulated him, the two of them excitedly reliving the moment. Joe smiled, happy to see the two of them growing as friends. Behind him, the quiet crowd roiled, a dull roar joining the churning of the crowd.

“Well. You don’t do things by half measures, do you, Joe?” the Matriarch stared at him with a subtle smile.