Whatever vagary of chance it had been, the Usurper realised his opportunity and charged. The King turned just in time to meet the full force of the attack and they crashed into each other with the sickening thud of the heavily armed warriors they were. Grappling with each other, they rose to their full heights each struggling to find the advantage and all the while seeking that shift of weight to throw the other to the ground.
Each possessed the weaponry to slash and tear their opponent. Each could strike a deadly blow at any time but neither also dared risk their own full capacity in the effort to spill the other's blood. This was a fight for dominion, and all the better if won without injury. It was not to the death for any wounding could well mean the death of both.
The old man looked on in awe as the King pushed back against the younger and seemingly stronger challenger. Back and forth they strove against each other with the ground beneath them being torn and trampled in turn by their manoeuvres. In their roiling rage they tumbled and were nearly upon him as they sought every move of body and limb to remain upright and gain the upper hand. They were now no more than a dozen paces away from the forest edge and he could smell the reek of their duel.
Around him the lush forest hung silent as if every tree and shrub hung on every roar and cry and yet still shrouded the old man from the fury of the struggle. They were too close and he could not afford to be a casualty of this battle. He moved as carefully as he could amid the shadows and half light and drew himself hidden from the worst of the battle behind the nearest towering oilleaf tree.
The ground here was thick with its carpet of leaves but also that tangle of bark and branch which the oilleaf was renowned for as it shed these as well as leaf all year round. The old man gained his new position and turned back to the terrible tumult now not twenty paces from him.
The Usurper appeared to gain the dominant stance and twisted back and forth attempting to lure the King into a lunge that would throw him off balance. The King rolled across the twisting body of the Usurper and brought his full weight to bear in the opposite direction.
The old man, Master Stillness Desert of the Temple of the Mothers Heart, recognised some of his own martial combat techniques in the way the King moved. Obviously Desert's Master had observed some such combat as this during his life, and developed the style he had taught Desert after determining what was most effective.
Desert recognised the roll away as an opponent thrusts, then the roll back over the thrust, to move an enemy off their balance as they try to recover. Desert knew the King would be wrestling the Usurper instinctively without any recourse to thought, while he'd had to train for hours under his Masters wilting glare to learn how to keep an opponent reacting and not to give them time to initiate an attack.
Desert watched the King prepare to finish the Usurper!
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Motherheart Dragon Priest
ऐतिहासिक साहित्यTwo Empires, one enemy. The Holy Roman Empire rules Europe and the Mediterranean, and is under attack by the Mongols from the east. The Soong Empire rules Cathay and holds south east asia in tribute, and is under attack by the Mongols from the north...
