NOVEL FROG Chapter 728 – Lining Up for a Beatdown
“There is a saying that if you beat up the young, the old might come out for revenge, but such sayings don’t apply if you can’t even beat the young to begin with.” - Saying attributed to the Silver Maiden.
Out of Aideen’s group, only three of them could be considered her disciple when it came to the art of healing and medicine, namely Celia, Áine, and Rhys. Celia mostly learned the mundane medicinal and healing practices, while the latter two’s affinities allowed them to learn various techniques and tricks for magical healing, especially Áine, who had the same affinity as Aideen.
Eilonwy and Kino also learned a few basics of the practices from Aideen, but it would be a stretch to call them her disciples on the field. While they were also her disciples when it came to martial skills, that was a different matter, and since she was demonstrating the link between medical knowledge and fighting techniques to the young orcs, only the ones who learned medical skills from her really counted.
Áine and Rhys had sparred with the young orcs a few times in the past weeks they had been living with Clan Bloodfang, though this time they made a point to demonstrate what Aideen said about how medical skills could translate into killing skills as well. Celia on the other hand, had kept a lower profile since the orcs saw her as a senior, since she was present with Aideen during their past visit, so it was the first time the young orcs sparred with her.
Like Aideen, Celia was more limited in physical qualities like speed and strength due to her being human, if one who had maintained a steady training regimen to hone her body for a couple centuries by this point. Where she lacked in brute force or raw speed, however, Celia made up for it with greater control and familiarity with her own form, often in ways that baffled the orcish youths.
She mostly fought by borrowing her opponent’s own power, often pulling and tripping them to make them fall due to their own momentum, combined with precise strikes aimed at vital points, even if she limited herself to incapacitating hits rather than fatal ones. Despite the limitations she imposed upon herself, that made her no less of an opponent.
Another of the young orcs – a good friend of Kole’s – was sent rolling on the grass just then as Celia avoided his punch, grabbed his extended arm, then threw him bodily over her shoulder in one smooth motion. Celia had gotten particularly good at borrowing and redirecting force while fighting since her own weapon required her to use such tricks to swing efficiently.
While it was far from easy to match up with an opponent’s momentum, much less to utilize them for her own benefit, Celia had plenty of time to practice her skills with a master of the art guiding her and plenty of willing sparring partners who were not shy about going all out. All the factors combined to create an environment that proved to be highly effective at honing her skills at such techniques, to the point that she comfortably performed them flawlessly under combat conditions.
Since Aideen was watching by the side Celia had also told the young orcs to not hold back on her behalf, which actually made things easier for her. If they held back she would have less to work with compared with if they struck at full power like they did now.
The young orcs themselves displayed various styles of fighting. Amongst the clans, such fighting styles were often passed down within individual families, and since there were plenty of inter-clan marriages happening over time, it led to each clan typically possessing a large variety of fighting styles as a result, both from ones inherited through marriages and ones that were invented by the mixture of different styles within the families themselves.
Some like what Kole demonstrated were more focused on strikes, at times bearing resemblance to techniques for fighting with weapons or an analog for them. Others were more clearly intended for dealing with other orcs and included a variety of grabs and throws and other grappling techniques. Yet others were simple applications of brute physical force, honed for efficiency and effectiveness.
While some might argue that such “techniques” were often too simplistic and easily countered by a skilled opponent, they represent styles that were not intended to be used when fighting against other people. Rather, they were techniques to be used when one had to fight a wild beast with nothing more than one’s bare hands.
After all, a wild beast is less likely to read one’s movements and adjust their own movements to match. While the younger, less skilled practitioners of such styles tend to be predictable and easily countered, older ones that Aideen fought against had mastered the use of timing and counters to land truly devastating blows that often decided a fight on the spot.
Of course, none of the teenaged orcish youths Celia were throwing around with ease were anywhere near that skilled.
Aideen was curious how a fight between Celia and one of the older masters of the style would have gone. It would definitely be a fight where neither side made any moves for a good while, since both fighting styles preferred to be on the reacting side. They might feint or otherwise bait the opponent to get them to make the first strike, but they would rarely strike first.
While Celia was not limited to that fighting style, it was what she favored after the years, something Aideen understood pretty well. It was in a manner of speaking the polar opposite of how she fought when she used weapons, as her weapon of choice practically forced her to be proactive and remain on the offensive. In a way the completely different styles ended up complementing one another, the two styles working together resulting in a greater value than their sum.
