Pirate School

Prologue

“On guard.” Todd said, with a calm that bit into Allen that sent a shiver down his sweating spine.  Todd didn’t seem afraid of Allen which made him wary.  He reached down with his left hand and pulled the smaller of the two swords he held on to the right side of his belt.  It felt good in his hand. The balance was good for a wooden blade. The Para cord handle he had made was comfortable and had good grip.  The indentations where his fingers lay were perfectly spaced to give his left hand the assurance that the sword was where it belonged.  It was smaller and a bit lighter than Todd’s sword, but you wouldn’t have guessed by looking at Todd, and the way he gripped it.  It seemed effortless.

“On guard.” Allen echoed, and the contest began.

The air was humid, hot, and sticky. The odor of the combatants and the surrounding personnel was stronger than that of the countryside. Allen had been anticipating an evening shower. He peered up to the darkening sky looking for birds, and wondering what time the bats would come out. The sun had just set, and there was just a hint of yellow that could still be seen from its corona near the horizon while the darkening clouds blanketed the rest of the sky if anybody had been paying any attention, but they didn’t.  All eyes were on the two as the dance began.  Allen had the remnants of the sunshine glowing behind him, but it didn’t make much difference.  And even if it did, Todd would be able to get in to position easy enough to take that small advantage from him.  It hadn’t rained for quite a while, so the dirt had that powdery dust accumulated about it that was just waiting for the smallest suggestion from their footfalls to become airborne.  Allen waited for the first attack to come but it didn’t seem like Todd was ready to give anything up.  Allen wanted to use Todd’s momentum against him like he had his brothers all of them times, but Todd was quite poised. He held the sword out in the same position as before. His elbow bent at a 90-degree angle and his fingers caressing the wooden hilt with his palm up.  His head didn’t seem to bob up and down at all as he moved, and Allen tried to get in with his sword.  Todd easily batted it away and moved his feet without ever bobbing his head.  Allen tried a few pokes and a few slashes, but Todd just moved his hand or wrist ever so slightly and his blade went swinging either outside, or across to the other side.  He whacked a few times with some strength behind his blows just to find it blocked or finding only air.  Todd was toying with him he knew. The onlookers were as silent as the night, but the movements of the cinematographer could be heard in the background.

Allen reached down and pulled his longer, heavier sword from the left side of his belt with his right hand.  If he couldn’t penetrate Todd’s defenses with his short sword, he might be able to sneak one of the swords points in with a 2-pronged attack.  He rolled his 2 wrists around like a sword fighter might in a movie.  It wasn’t effective, but it looked cool.  It was one of the things he did to his brothers to psyche them out.  It didn’t have any effect on Todd.  He brushed his weapons away effortlessly. Then suddenly Allen stabbed in with both blades at the same time.  One high, and one low.  This attack never failed him in the past, but Todd brushed it aside like a true swordsman to Allens surprise. A bewildered look crept across his face but was quickly dismissed. Allen hoped that Todd hadn’t noticed. The dust was rising, and the light was fading from the sky. Neither man seemed to gain ground.

It was far from dark, but the colors continued to change. Allen loved a good sunset, especially when there were dark clouds, but this is one that he would have to see when I watched the footage. He liked it perhaps as much as looking into the eyes of a beautiful woman.  Perhaps even more than that.  Whether this was a good one or not he may never know.  He was caught up in a battle.  Little was at stake, but everything was at stake at the same time. The paracord grips gave Allen a firm grip as he started a flurry of strikes and feints. Todd countered with a series of parrying and dodging, barely moving his arm to intercept. Allen couldn’t seem to get past his single sword, and it began to frustrate him. He had bested his brothers hundreds of times, and they never gave him this much trouble.  Not since he got good anyway.  The clatter of wooden swords on each other, and the murmurings of the crowd were changing to shouts that encouraged and inspired him on. Everybody seemed to want Allen to beat Todd.  Everybody wanted him to beat the bully. He had always been sure that good would win when combatting evil, and he felt spurred on by the crowd. His mind wandered as he wondered if this must be how Rocky Balboa felt. Suddenly, Todd stopped toying with him and started to attack.  The light was fading fast now, and Allen had a hard time seeing through the darkness and gloom, and the sweat that seemed to be pouring into his eyes.  He was able to hold Todd off for the moment, but the flurry of blows from the single weapon were beginning to prove that Todd had some serious skills. At present he could counter everything that he threw at him, but Allens large movements, and dual blades began to cause him to wear down. Even Todd had a look of frustration coming over him, however, and it inspired Allen on. Both had sweat running down their faces, and their entire bodies were slick from perspiration.  Todd’s long hair became seaweed that slapped him in the face when his head would change direction.  Allen’s hair was doing the same thing, but it was too short to get in his eyes. Small droplets formed at the ends, and they were replaced immediately when they fell, or were swung off. He would take a pause periodically to mop the accumulated perspiration from his face with his forearm causing his big bellowing sleeves to get soaked as they worked at clearing the sweat from his face and brow.  One time when he whisked the sweat off his face, Todd nearly took it off with a strike that was so close to his throat that he had to catch his breath. He jerked his head back, and then dove at Todd through the growing dust cloud, but Todd batted them away, and he didn’t find purchase.

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The metal halide lights clicked on, but it would be several minutes before they were up to strength, and it was dark and hard to see. 

“They must be on a sensor.” Allen said absently.  His mind was confused in the heat and his exhaustion. Todd didn’t seem to notice. Their blades danced for several minutes until every eye in the place, and every camera that wasn’t in a fixed location was watching the duel.  Allen began to make some headway as Todd started to show some signs of fatigue.  The thought of actually winning spurred Allen on. The crowd was chanting his name so loudly that he was confident that he would win.  After a few minutes of getting nowhere Allen began to think that Todd wasn’t getting tired but only toying with him. His eyes and tongue were ever informed of the copious amounts of sweat Allen was producing. The sure grip of his good swords was covered with the slippery stuff, and his strength was leaving his shoulders first, and then his arms. This marathon was a contest that Allen couldn’t win, and Todd was a machine. He kept blocking, feinting, and striking with enough force that Allen was about to break.  He thought of what Lincoln had said earlier about not being happy with second place. He redoubled his efforts if that was possible and came at Todd with his last remaining strength in a sort of “do or die” kind of posture with a flurry of blows that did nothing more than stir the stagnant dust and cause the already airborne dust to move in rhythmic patterns. Todd allowed one of Allen’s blades to penetrate his defenses just enough to glance off his shoulder, and again just enough to glance off his waist. Allen’s hope was renewed, but his strength was completely sapped nullifying the small gains. He struck toward Todd with both swords in a thrust to the upper chest.  His feeble last hoorah was deflected as Todd spun and chopped Allen just under his right ear followed by a chop to his left neck, and a thrust to his chest just above his heart.  Allen didn’t have the strength to deflect any of the 3 blows, any one of which would have killed him if the contest was for real. He didn’t even have enough strength to deflect the blow enough to change its direction.  The tip of his long sword fell and swung from his weak grasp in his right hand, and he dropped the short sword all together.  He fell to his knees in the powdery dusty soil as a cloud of the stuff enveloped him coloring him with white that immediately changed to mud on his body as it mixed with his sweat. The metal halide lights were finally in full bloom. Todd was backlit in a dreary metal halide glow of sunbeams as he stood over Allen. The dusty silhouette mocked Allen as he crumpled further. A stream of stringy bloody saliva clung to Allen’s lips as he hung his head, and a dark pool gathered on top of the hydrophobic top layer of the dust.

The crowd was silent. No one knew whether to help, or get back at Todd, or call an ambulance, or what. The strength continued to leave Allen as his features drooped further and further into the dust. The bruise under his ear was so red that it looked like it was bleeding as well but it was just an illusion. Allen coughed and a spray of bloodied saliva hit the ground and stirred it into a short column. Some of the bloody mess hit Todd’s shoes.  More dust took flight when his second cough stirred it. Allen labored to breathe with his body hunched over in this posture. He dropped his other sword and was falling on to his face when Todd caught his fall and hoisted him up. Another cough sprayed Todd with Allens blood and spit. He had given his all, and he was going to have a hard time recovering from his ordeal. Todd’s strength was depleted as well, and he had a hard time helping his nemesis up until Cindy was there to help.  She climbed under his sweaty arm and grabbed his hand so that he couldn’t fall. If he fell, then she would crumple and fall with him. Todd was in no condition to help him on his own anyway, so it was a good thing she was there.  When they moved him a few steps, the medics helped to put him on a gurney and take him to the infirmary to be checked out.