The Need to Protect

“Teach me how to fight.” Cassardis says, standing in the doorway of what looked to be a large training room. 

Silver had stopped what he was doing, dagger in hand as he turned in the direction of the unfamiliar voice. He wasn’t surprised that so many people had come to him as of late, wanting to learn how to defend themselves after everything that happened last month.

“Alright, grab a weapon and I’ll teach you.” Silver replied, gesturing at the multiple walls stockpiled with every conventional weapon imaginable. 

Cassardis nodded, making his way over and grabbing two daggers before returning to Silver. “Alright, what do I have to do first?” He asks, closely examining the daggers in his hands. 

“Have you fought with a dagger before? Because if you haven’t, I would suggest only using one for now. You’ll have to get used to the weight in your hand before you even begin using two at once.” Silver says, holding his hand out for the second dagger.

“No, I haven’t. This will be my first time.” Cassardis replied, handing the second dagger to Silver. “What do you mean by the weight in my hand?” He asked, curiously. 

“Well, every weapon has a specific weight to them and daggers are no different. They’re a bit heavier than say… a cooking knife but still do the same amount of damage depending on the strength of the swing when you go to stab someone.” Silver explained, stepping back and patting the dummy he was standing in front of.

“Here, let me show you. Try stabbing this dummy and make sure you put as much strength behind it as possible while still holding the dagger the way you are right now.” Silver says, watching Cassardis closely.

Cassardis looked at the dagger in his hand then at the training dummy in front of him, quickly stabbing the dummy’s chest before pulling the weapon back out and turning towards Silver. 

“So, tell me what it felt like when you stabbed the dummy.” Silver says, walking over and inspecting the hole, pushing his fingers into it to see how deep the dagger went.

“It felt heavy. I had to grip the end of it pretty tight when I stabbed it. It made my wrist hurt a bit and felt like it was pressing against my palm. It also didn’t feel like it was strong enough to do much damage.” Cassardis replied, watching Silver closely.

“That’s because you’re holding the dagger wrong. If you really want to hurt someone, you hold the dagger like this.” Silver says, walking over and showing Cassardis how to hold it correctly and telling him how to adjust the weight distribution evenly so he wouldn’t place too much pressure on his wrist.

“There, now try again but go for the sides this time. I’m teaching you self defense rather than normal combat. Sure the heart is an option but self defense is aiming for non-lethal weak spots, not the lethal ones. Despite some wounds potentially being fatal to whoever you’re defending yourself from.” Silver says, stepping back after patting the side of the dummy.

“Right. Self defense only…” Cassardis says, sighing heavily. ‘Hopefully I’ll never have to use it but it’s good to know just in case. Besides, how else am I supposed to protect Sariel if I don’t know how to fight?’ He thought, following Silver’s instruction and thrust the dagger into the dummy’s side.

“Good, now let’s try with a physical target.” Silver says, beckoning Cassardis to follow him towards the middle of the room. “I’m going to teach you a few techniques then I want you to use them to defend yourself against my attacks. Sounds fair?” He says, carefully tossing the dagger in the air then carefully catching it in his hand.

Cassardis raised his eyebrow, “Are you sure I’m ready for that?” He asks, looking at how confident Silver was as he stood there, impressed that he caught the dagger by the handle after every toss. 

“Learning by doing is the best way to learn how to use any kind of weapon since it helps with muscle memory. I’m sure you’ll do fine. If you do anything wrong I’ll correct you, simple as that. Besides, you seem to be a quick learner.” Silver says, standing in front of Cassardis. “We’ll start with the breakaway. Here, grab my wrist.” He instructed, arm raised.

Cassardis stared at Silver for a moment, before reaching out and quickly grabbing his wrist, only for Silver to twist it a certain way and break out of the hold, aimiing his dagger at Cassardis’ side. 

“Now you try. Hold your wrist up like this and copy what I just did.” Silver instructed, grabbing Cassardis’ wrist.

Cassardis nodded, following Silver’s instructions and twisting his own wrist the same way Silver did, breaking out of the grab and aiming his dagger at Silver’s side.

“Good, again. The same thing but faster.” Silver says, as he and Cassardis took turns grabbing the other’s wrist and breaking out of it, aiming their daggers at each other’s sides a few more times before stopping and switching to another technique. 

For a few more hours, Silver and Cassardis practiced multiple different self defense techniques with the dagger, Silver even added to it by helping Cassardis learn how to use his claws for extra effectiveness against any possible would-be attacker. 

A few minutes before the end of the day, Silver asked Cassardis to spar with him so he could try and combine all the techniques he was taught, which was a big success. By the time they were done, the two men were exhausted.

“Looks like I was right about you being a quick learner. Good job today.” Silver complimented, grabbing Cassardis’ forearm as he shook his hand. 

Cassardis chuckled, “Thanks, I learned alot from you today, Silver. You’re a pretty good teacher.” He commented, pushing himself off the ground and stretching.

 “Can I come back tomorrow so we can practice some more?” Cassardis asked, making his way over to the weapon wall.

“Sure, I don’t have any plans for tomorrow. You can keep that dagger, by the way. I have plenty of spares.” Silver replied, standing up and stretching himself. 

“Are you sure?” Cassardis asks, looking the dagger over. To be fair, Silver did have a lot of weapons on hand to choose from in there. 

“Yeah, be my guest and take it home with you. There should be a sheath in one of the drawers.” Silver said, pointing to the drawer under the weapons rack.

Cassardis opened the drawer and pulled out a simple, black, leather sheath and stuck the dagger inside of it before slipping it into his pants pocket. 

“Thanks Silver, I’ll see you tomorrow. Take care of yourself.” Cassardis said, making his way out of the building.