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 Post by Tanda on 09/06/2004 at 16:47:06
This humiliation ignited my determination to learn all they knew of unarmed combat and each day I held my resentment deep within. I practiced until I could not remain standing and as the weeks past, my skill increased. The art of simultaneous attack and defence became instinctive – each punch, poke, strike or slap a defence and every block, deflection or evasion doubling as an attack. And as my confidence in my abilities grew, so too did my arrogance until finally I was better than my teachers were. Then in time, I beat their masters and so on until only the Grand Master stood before me. I endured the monks mental conditioning, survived the physical stress and agony of their training. They made me face my fears and I learned to overcome them. I was unbeatable! As I stood before the Grand Master, I tried to see into the shadowed cowl of his brown robe, but I could not make out his features. There were no pictures of him; no one would describe him to me. It mattered not to me; I would see his face when I defeated him. His voice was soft when he told me of the warriors in the South. Sevlow he called them, warriors without remorse who pillaged the villages of the Southern continent, taking what they wanted and selling the rest to traders, including the humans they captured. He tasked me with rescuing a student of his, who was taken during a mercy run by the monks to bring food to the starving and homeless after a particularly brutal raid by the Sevlow. My fury boiled and barely did I hold it in check. He was not going to fight me. How dare he deny me the ultimate victory! I stormed out of the city without a backward glance. And so began my long and arduous march across the sharp, flinty mountains to reach the Sevlow encampment. It would have been safer to go around, but the range stretched for many miles from east to west and I did not want to spend weeks finding another way; nothing would stop me from reaching my target as soon as possible. I would prove my worth and return to fight the Master, he would not deny me again. I slept little and only when exhaustion threatened to topple me from the treacherous heights. Employing survival techniques learned from the monks of Taeh, I climbed and ran, using speed, strength and endurance, and then as the fifth day dawned of my forced march, I relied on stealth to approach the camp. Pale light fell upon the tents and cooking fires sprawled at the foot of the last mountain. Men moved about in preparation for another day's violence in the forests that stood several miles in the hazy distance – little did they know it would befall them and not the cowering inhabitants of the trees. Surprise, then disbelief, then disorganisation was their downfall. Be first, be fast, be ferocious – this was my mantra. The words ran through my mind as I slaughtered every one of them before the sun began its descent in the sky. Trembling with exhaustion and blood loss from my many wounds, I stood in the centre of their camp surveying my victory. My limbs throbbed and ached and as the blood lust cleared from my eyes I saw the ragged clothes, the thin limbs and pinched faces of my enemy. I gasped through a sob that wrenched my whole body. What had I done? Not a single question had I asked my master about these people, I had wanted to win at all costs, but it had no meaning when I saw their true nature. I limped through their camp, towards the main tent. The material of the makeshift homes old and tattered, covered with the grime of years living in the uncaring wilds of the South. The pots boiled with vegetables, but little meat. Playing back my journey, I recalled there had been few edible creatures roaming the hills. Next to the fires piles of sticks turned out to be crude spears and unstrung bows. They had no swords or daggers, only knives for preparing food. They had not stood a chance against someone like me. Reaching the centre of camp, I pulled aside the flap of the largest tent, which I presumed at first to be the commanders. The smell of death and human excrement was potent. I held my hand over my mouth and ducked inside. My eyes adjusted quickly to the gloom and I saw a body lying chained by the ankles to a stake driven into the ground in the centre. A glance around showed there was nothing else in the tent. I walked to the body and knelt, noting the abuse and the raggedly cut throat. She had been dead for a day or perhaps two. I bowed my head. Grand Master had not said the monk was female and that she was so young, of no more than fourteen years. I tried to breath deeply, to calm myself, but the smell made me gag and I held back the tears through sheer force of will alone. Too late! Again, I was too late. I now had the ability to destroy the giant that killed my mother, but what use was such power to me? Like this girl, she was dead. Such arrogance I had known, such bitterness… And then I knew the darkest recesses of despair. I dragged my weakened body up from the hard ground and staggered out of the horrific remains of the tent and away from the camp. When the sun had set, I was at the edge of the forest but only managed a few steps into its heavy silence before I collapsed onto the soft, fern covered floor. Post by Tanda on 09/06/2004 at 16:52:34
But on the forth night, he did talk and his voice was soft and wavering, but clear. I listened to his words of wisdom and followed his teaching for the weeks that followed. Turning inwards, I focused on the cycles of energy within me, worked towards improving my own energy levels. I learned to focus my energy, to use it to increase the power behind my blows. Then I came to understand and harmonise my own energy with the natural forces in the world around me. The richness of life amazed me, the lyrical birds, the scuffling of small animals, and trees speaking in hushed tones as the wind caressed their leaves. I learned to tame and control my anger, see the value of avoiding battle and destruction. I came to realise in my determination to better my skills as a fighter, I had forgotten why I wanted to fight. When I killed all the Sevlow, I did not know my enemy. Breathing deep of the fragrance of the forest I sank deep into contemplation. Eventually I sank so deep into a meditative state that I felt first hand the handicap such passive and extreme introversion lies upon a warrior. Men came upon us one night, armed and with murderous intent. They were clothed in thick leather armour with the symbol of a wolf's head on their cloaks. I did not know to whom they pledged allegiance. I hesitated, thinking of ways to avoid the fight and tried to talk them down, but that was all it took for their dark skinned leader to close on me. His lithe form moved with a speed I had not seen in any warriors of the Sentria and I stumbled back from his attack, my training with the monks all but forgotten. I almost died that day. The hermit was not so fortunate. I walked through the trees, lost and confused, until Benedict came to me a day later. Blood stained my ragged clothes, my brown shirt and trousers were sodden, and my cloak lost during the battle with the armed men. He held a hand to the side of my head and said, "There is more I will teach you, these hard lessons must be learned to better ones self." It was the most I had ever heard him speak. I nodded dumbly and he led me from the forest and into new Shadows. My journey continued with my uncle teaching me himself for a short time. I began to understand the need for balance between the extremes of passivity and aggression. If I was to develop as a warrior, I needed to achieve a centering of my personality, self-acceptance and self-knowledge. In taming my destructive anger and arrogance, I had gone to the other extreme and this had led to the death of an innocent. Benedict explained that a warrior should neither seek violence, nor shy from it if it becomes necessary to act. Be in control of oneself and be willing to do whatever is necessary to solve the situation, whether through inaction or action. Every day that passes, I feel the swing of the scales slowing and I am closer to inner peace. Perhaps one day I will achieve it. |
