NOVEL FROG Chapter 727 – Every Coin has Two Faces
“Any fool who takes a healer for easy prey is one that is likely to suffer greatly in their near future.” - Saying attributed to Engel Goerenbrandt, famed to be the greatest healer to have originated from Knallzog in the nation’s history.
“Ow, ow, ow, all right, I give!” said the burly orc with a rather baffled expression on his face, one that appeared as if he had not understood what exactly happened to him.
Aideen was calmly standing one step to the side and behind the young orc, having twisted both of his arms behind his back in positions where the orc’s joints were stressed by his own weight. Any attempt made by the young orc to free himself would have only intensified the pain to his joints until Aideen let go of him, which she did after hearing his admission of loss.
“I do not get it,” admitted the orc with a rather humbled tone of voice as he straightened himself after Aideen released him. The young orc stood easily a head and a half taller than her and noticeable broader and bulkier all over as well, so it was far from a stretch to expect him to be superior to her when it came to physical qualities like strength and speed. “Grand shaman says you are great healer, but you fight better than our great warriors.”
“Well, Miro did not lie to you on that, Kole,” replied Aideen to the young orc, who was one of Radu’s – the present Chieftain of the Bloodfangs – nephews and amongst the best of the young warriors of the clan as a whole. He had been curious when he saw Aideen sparring bare-handed with Celia and asked for a bout, with predictable results. “I am better when it comes to healing.”
“That said, do not mistake that for a sign of weakness,” she added as Kole started a new round of sparring with a tentative strike she lightly deflected with an open palm. The young orc adopted a low stance with his feet spread wide, his left hand set before him with an open palm like a shield while his right hand was balled into a fist and kept behind his torso, as if a spear waiting to strike. “All too often, those good at healing are also amongst the best when it comes to hurting and killing.”
“I still do not understand, Everlasting One,” stated the young orc as he tried to circle to her left, as from her stance Aideen had made it obvious that she was right-handed. Of course, he only made it a couple of steps before she suddenly shifted her stance, feinted a quick strike with her right hand, and landed a surprise blow with her left hand to his ribs. She had not hit him that hard, just hard enough that he would be feeling it for the rest of the day but leaving no permanent damage.
“If you learn on how to heal people, you will inevitably also learn various things about what makes a person function to begin with,” explained Aideen as she swayed slightly and avoided a fierce strike from Kole’s fist. At the same time, she leaned in under his extended arm and slammed her left fist against his side once more, this time following it with a second strike from her right fist, straight into his solar plexus. “If you know how something functions, you also know how to make it no longer function. If you learn even more, you would end up being familiar with the weakest and most vulnerable spots where even a little bit of force could do plenty of harm.”
“If you know how to make something, you also know how to break that very thing,” Aideen concluded as she stepped in closer and elbowed Kole in the armpit, preventing his arm from completing the strike it was making, followed by a jab towards the base of his throat. Aideen had extended one of her fingers halfway out of the fist she made and jabbed the hollow of his throat when she struck, sending the young orc falling back while coughing profusely, both hands clasped around his throat.
Kole was clearly rather flummoxed by his experience fighting Aideen. Young orcs like him regularly fought each other until they were a mass of bruises, and he was particularly confident in his stamina and endurance. Yet with a mere four strikes Aideen had rendered him into a gasping, panting wheeze where he struggled to draw in a breath.
His insides felt as if they were on fire even as he tried to breathe as deep as he could, his limbs feeling weak and unresponsive, and even the slightest twitch of his body made him feel a searing pain that radiated from the side of his torso, right where Aideen’s first two blows landed, he realized all too late to do anything about.
“Hit the exact right spots and you’d get better results than just randomly hitting wherever you can reach,” stated Aideen confidently as she watched the baffled and suffering young orc before her. “Strike someone in the liver, for example, and you will leave them feeling breathless, which is about what you’re experiencing right this moment.”
“On the other hand, a direct hit to the Solar Plexus, right about here,” added Aideen as she pointed at the location with one hand. “Would knock the wind out of most anyone’s sail. Combine the two together and you’d really kill off anyone’s momentum right on the spot, as you’ll likely agree. Must be feeling like you have no breath in your lungs but unable to inhale more, don’t you?” she noted. “If you further stimulate that breathless suffocating feeling by hitting them in the hollow of their throat, most people would probably just drop. Really surprised you stayed standing, to be honest.”
“Actually, even my disciples can pull off this much with ease at this point, I’m pretty sure. How about you fight another round against her after you catch your breath?”
