2.29.2-Cat

I still remembered the first time I’d ever seen Black and Captain fight, when I’d still been fresh out Laure and wet behind the ears. Captain had moved like lightning and hit like an avalanche, but my teacher had still won the spar. And he’d won never moving quicker than at a walking pace, letting his positioning and footwork carry the battle for him. I wasn’t quite there yet, but that kind of fighting was not beyond me either. Especially against opponents still more mindless than mindful. There was a slight gap between the two devils, for they’d come at different angles. At the last moment I lowered my body and took a single step forward, letting the monsters pass me by and run into each other.

I smiled darkly as they spun into a tangle of limbs and shrill screams, pivoting to face them again. I let them rise without contest, knowing every moment I bought was allowing the Gallowborne to clear out more of the others.

“Lesson the first,” I informed them. “The most important parts of fighting are distance and footwork. Let’s try that again.”

When they came for me the second time, after extricating themselves, they were warier. They did not charge – one tried to catch my sword while the other tried to slip behind my back.  I sidestepped the grasping limb and claimed a trickle of my Name, just enough power to cover the edge of my sword and allow it to cut clean through the devil’s flesh and wrist bone when I brought it down. Without missing a beat, I caught the maggot-spilling appendage and threw it in the stride of the devil charging at my back, taking another measured step right out of its way as it tripped and collided with its brethren. Down again they went, in a tangle of limbs.

“Lesson the second,” I said. “I am not a swordswoman. Swordsmanship is the ‘tame sport they teach noble children’, or so I’ve been told. What I learned was to kill well and quickly, while giving as few openings as possible.”

...

Well, I thought as they charged like angry bulls the moment they got to their feet, taunting works on devils. That’s good to know. I did not move, because moving out of fear was wasteful. I did not strike, for striking without purpose was meaningless. I breathed out calmly and watched them come closer with every moment, gauging the distances. The first one’s fist grazed my shoulder as my sword curved, cleanly lopping off the devil’s head. I spun to let the other one pass me by, reaching for my Name one last time. The shadow spear burst out and tore through its head before it took a fourth stride past me. A heartbeat passed, then the two corpses fell.  I brushed a few maggots off my shoulder.

“Lesson the third,” I spoke to the dead. “Callow is under my protection. Tread its ground at your own peril.”

- Book 2, Chapter 29: Stand