The Gathering

III: Cheap Shot

Jonah couldn't concentrate during Raphael's combat drills, his legs were still shaky from his encounter with the empath. His mind still felt like mush, so he muddled through today's lesson: the basic phalanx maneuver. He hadn't even heard Raphael order "shields up!" in time to react, leaving him sprawled flat on the grass, the jolt of lightning from Raphael's staff coursing through him. 'Maybe that will jumpstart my brain..." thought Jonah, but it did not. Jonah was knocked 'flat on his ass', so eloquently put by As, three more times by Raphael that day.

After the final drill, each cadet was paired with another to spar. Jonah's assigned sparring partner was the girl who had asked Samael if an angel could gather another angel's soul, he finally remembered her name: Muriel! 'Maybe somehow Raphael's lightning knocked that one piece of information loose'. Both he and Muriel were equipped with training swords and shields. They wore their sparring armor, which was essentially the same armor that his superiors wore, only made from the same cheap, dull copper as the training swords and shields instead of bronze, which was much sturdier. They also wore copper helmets that covered the forehead, ears, and backs of their heads.

"Begin!" shouted Raphael, his spear clanging off the ground like a gong for emphasis. Jonah tried his best to concentrate on the sparring, not wanting to be entirely useless today. He got into the appropriate stance; shield in his left hand, positioned at the left breast. Sword in the right hand, crossed in front of the face. Muriel mirrored his position, they stood in a stalemate until one of them decided to make a move; Muriel acted first, she swung her sword from right to left, Jonah managed to block her strike with his shield. He pushed his shield forward and knocked Muriel off balance. Seeing an opening, Jonah swung his sword from the right, Muriel raised her shield and blocked his blade, but her stance had been thrown off earlier so she stumbled backwards. Jonah advanced, swinging his sword again, Muriel grunted as she blocked Jonah's slash with relative ease, then swung her own blade, which collided with Jonah's copper breastplate. Jonah exclaimed, frustrated, not only because the strike hurt, but because he knew that he was not fully invested in this sparring match. Again he tried to shake the cobwebs of other thoughts from his mind and focus solely on Muriel.

Jonah and As made a habit of sparring for fun if they had the time and energy, so he had picked up a few tricks. Muriel took a step towards Jonah, her sword raised, Jonah quickly swung his sword from his left, Muriel gracefully dodged backwards. Jonah then leapt forwards, the tip of his blade thrusting towards her retreat, she managed to swipe his blade away with her shield, but this had clearly taken her by surprise. Jonah smirked. What he lacked in brute physical strength he made up for in quick-footed maneuverability. Jonah stood, morale slightly improved, awaiting Muriel's next move. Muriel furrowed her brow and grunted as she sliced her sword low, aiming for Jonah's shins, as he moved his shield down to block her slash, she thrust her shield forward with her other hand, bashing it into Jonah's face. He fell backwards, managing to catch his fall with his arms on the way down. He tumbled back to his feet and with a broad stroke of his sword forced Muriel back to a safe distance. He felt something wet on his face, wiping it with the back of his hand, he saw that it was blood.

"That was a cheap shot!" Jonah said, wiping more blood from his upper lip as it continued to drip from his nose.

"There aren't any 'cheap shots' in war!" Muriel replied, chuckling to herself. She banged her sword against her shield, taunting Jonah to strike.

Jonah made the first move this time and used his small build and agility to his advantage, almost hopping from side to side taking swipes at Muriel, she managed to block each one with either her shield or her sword, but finally he managed to confuse her enough to nick her breastplate with a well-placed thrust.