Stranger Spirits

FIGHT! [Chapter Seven Part Two]

"No!" He cried out as I laughed. Atticus came by with some freshly caught game. Alfred stood up and took the game from Atticus. "How about you two relax while I prepare lunch?"

"Sounds good to me." Atticus chuckled. "Vaughn, want to go for a walk with me? You should really move some more."

"Okay," Grabbing my walking stick I helped myself back onto my feet. "Lead the way, chosen one!" With that we walked away from the fire and past the wagon. I casually looked over to see that the messed up wheel had been repaired. It looked quite shabby but we only had another day's worth of travel.

We followed down the road till it was just him, I, and the expansive plains of grass surrounding ourselves.

"Vaughn." I turned to Atticus to see my staff get wacked out of my hand and felt the palm of Atticus's hand slam hard against my chest. Staggering I tried catching my breath when Atticus hooked his foot behind my leg and savagely yanked it forward causing me to fall backward. He picked up my walking stick and flipped it into place so the jagged end that I use to stab the ground was almost touching my neck. If I gulped hard I'd probably feel the point graze against my skin.

"ATTICUS!" I shouted at him. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm teaching you how to fight. We begin training today." He said never lowering the staff from my direction and tossing it aside.

"Well, next time you can just tell me!" I huffed. "How was I supposed to know?"

He shook his head. "The thieves that attacked us never told us that they were coming. I'm not going to teach you how to duel. I'm going to teach you how to handle combat. Do you understand the difference?"

"I mean, aren't they they same thing?"

Atticus moved the staff away from my neck and pierced the ground. "They're not." He dusted his hands off and helped me up. "In a duel, both opponents will know who they're fighting against. They will know when the confrontation begins and ends. What I will be teaching you is the opposite. You will learn how to fight anyone. You're not going to underestimate anyone and you'll know when the battle has been won. Other people will not fight with honor. They will use tricks to catch you off guard and they're willing to fight dirty."

"Atticus," I placed my hand on my waist still catching my breath. "I have NO experience fighting. I mean, to hunt sure but animals are not like us humans. I need you to start with the essential basics."

Atticus crossed his arms across his chest. "You were never taught to fight?" He cocked his head sideways.

"No, so I need you to go easy on me-for now!"

There was a slight pause as Atticus looked at me. "Hit me."

"Excuse me?"

"I want you to hit me. As hard as you possibly can. I need to know where to start."

"What if I hurt you?" We both stared at each other and both started laughing hard. Bellowing in laughter I swiped an imaginary tear from my eye. "I'm serious though!" I placed my hand on my stomach.

"I'll handle anything you throw at me."

So if I threw my body at you, you'd handle it? The dirty thought rushed into my mind and I blushed madly. "Alright," I bunched my right hand into a fist. "Here goes nothing!" I rushed at Atticus and tried to punch him on the check but he redirected my fist. Falling past him he caught me by the other hand and yanked me towards him.

Back pressed against him and my left arm clipped behind my back he brought two fingers to my neck. "If this was an actual fight I would have slit your neck." Atticus made his point by dragging his fingers along my neck.

He let me go and I moved away from him. "What do you think you did wrong?"

"Fight against someone stronger than me?"

He chuckled and shook his head. "No, what really got you was that you lost your footing." Atticus moved over to grab my walking stick from the ground and pointed it at my foot. "You need to first focus on your leg work. See how I was able to so easily push you around? You were leaning too far into the punch and lost your footing. Above all else, you'll need to learn how to keep your balance. That is how you'll learn to effectively navigate combat and defend yourself." He tapped my legs making me spread them. Spread them a little bit further apart and make sure you balance on your toes."

"Wouldn't that not help me? I should ground myself with my heels."

"Fine," Atticus moved closer to me. "Put your weight on your heels." I did as he asked and then he shoved me backward causing me to fall on my ass. "See, I pushed you lightly and you were easily knocked off." That was light? I rubbed my chest in discomfort. "Now get back up. You need to perfect your stance. With enough effort I was finally able to get some solid footing.

"Now we're going to work on your form for punching. There are four main types of punches." He put the walking stick down and stood before me. He threw out a punch before offering lots of space so I was able to see his form. "That's a jab. There's also the hook, cross, and the uppercut." He took a moment to demonstrate each one a few times."

"Your turn.Don't forget to stay in your stance." I awkwardly began to throw punches as he walked around me. "Vaughn, don't focus on me. Focus on your target."

I looked forward to look at nothing. "I don't have a target to focus on."

"Don't forget your stance."

"I'm working on it."

"Is that the best you got though? It doesn't look like your punch would hurt."

"Atticus!" I turned to face him. "This is literally my first time throwing punches! Can you just go easy on me for a second?"

"No, the world won't so I won't." He said matter of factly.

"Well, I can't learn from your current approach so you need to fix it!" I crossed my arms defensively.

After a couple of moments Atticus sighed. "Fine," He moved behind me I tried turning around to see him but he kept moving along with me. "I'm going to guide you through the motions. That way you can feel the proper movements." I stopped moving and he came up behind me. I tensed up as his hands glided down my arms to grasp my wrists.

"Now get into position." I returned to the base stance that I was taught. He tapped his foot against mine and I adjusted as he saw fit. "Alright, so this is how you've been punching." He moved my arm the way that I've been doing so. "There are a couple of things wrong with this." He wiggled my other arm. "This arm isn't protecting you. If your punch is dodged you would have left an opening and gotten hurt."

He took his left hand off of my wrist and rested it on my hip. Thankfully my skin was covered cause he would have otherwise felt the goosebumps growing on my skin. My blood began to pump so hard I almost missed what he way saying. "-you're doing wrong is not using your hips in the swing." He demonstrated another average punch. "Now feel this." He guided my hip and arm and I could actually feel the difference. "By using your hips you're putting your body weight into the punch. THAT'S what's going to take your opponent down." He took his right hand away from my arm and rested it on my hip as well. "Alright, practice putting your hips into it."

I definitely felt heat radiating from my cheeks. Atticus's hands are on my hips. It felt so much more real than in my dreams. His body is so close to mine too. I could just lean back a little if I wanted to and feel more of him against me.

"Good job." His breath hit behind my ear causing goosebumps to grow. I swiftly turned to face him scratching behind my ear so he wouldn't have seen how my body reacted.

"Umm, I think this is a good point to stop for the day. Let's head back to Alfred and eat." I shuffled in front of him hoping he didn't see how excited my body had gotten from his touch.

"Sounds good to me." Atticus came to my side handing me back my walking stick. We eventually got back to Alfred and sat on either side of him enjoying our food.