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The whole time, Lucas hadn't once looked up.  He'd not considered the possibility of an aerial ambush.  On the training yard, he'd been shouted at more than once for jumping too much (or jumping [i]at all[/i],) often trying to incorporate his acrobatic prowess into both attack and defence.  Being in the air made your movements and finishing positions predictable.  There was no place for it in the fundamentals of swordplay.  So when the first wave of bandits landed from above, suffice to say the young knight was surprised.

Perhaps, momentary surprise was all the ambushers had managed to achieve though, as their advantage was quickly destroyed by the veteran warriors around the captain.

Lucas stepped towards the centre - thinking to sprint in and help - but his attention was immediately drawn to his left where, from the cover of the trees, more bandits came rushing out, shouting as they charged.  The sudden cacophony of battle surpassed even the loud and rapid pulse of his own heartbeat in his ears, and Lucas was carried away with emotion.

[color=6ecff6]"AAAHHH!!!"[/color]

And with that, he was away, breaking battle lines and charging out of the Iron Rose left flank like a maniac.  Tunnel-vision and single-mindedness.  He had to kill them before they killed him.  No more than ten paces and he made contact in the form of a battleaxe-wielding brute who brought his massive weapon around and high to come crashing down on the knight.  Lucas threw his sword up to block, cross-blade high, angling his blade to guide the axe-head away from himself rather than take on the full power power of the blow.  As steel scraped down steel with a [i]Ring[/i], Lucas spun off his front foot, and just like that he was past his first opponent.

Leaving an enemy behind was certainly not the best idea, but beyond the brute came more bandits and Lucas' attention was drawn further into the fray.  One stupid fool lunged into his attack, but he was clearly not within lunging distance.  Lucas' first lessons in fighting were on the importance of understanding distance.  None of the details came to Lucas in this moment, but instinctively, his lessons manifested themselves as he back-stepped to the right, and countered with his own thrust.  When the tip of his sword pierced the throat of the bandit and he flicked his wrist to deliver his first fatality, time seemed to slow down.  Even in his battlefield rage, the utter horror of a frontrow view of an ugly death all but froze him in stasis, eyes wide as the realisation dawned on him - this was what fighting truly was.  It [i]wasn't[/i] a beautiful dance - like when he watched his superiors spar on the yard.  It [i]wasn't[/i] met with applause - like when winner and loser shook hands in a tourney.

It was awful.  It was disgusting.

The moment seemed to last much longer than it did.  In actual fact, the bandit - clutching his throat and gurgling his last breaths - had barely hit the floor before Lucas' shivering body was forced to turn and meet a screaming attack from another foe.  Ducking the hand axe aiming for his head, he stepped forward, allowing the enemy to skewer himself on Lucas' sword and they both fell to the ground.  Stuck under the dying man, eye to eye, Lucas winced when the bandit choked and coughed blood in his face.

Charging footfalls thundered past him and the din of battle remained constant above it all.  Lucas hauled the body off him with all his strength, then rolled over onto his knees and got to his feet.  The first tug failed to free his sword from the corpse... [color=6ecff6]"Damn it!"[/color] ...and he caught the attention of another bandit.  Second tug; almost free... [color=6ecff6]"Come on!"[/color] ...the bandit swung his sword.  Third tug; freedom!

[i]Ching![/i]

Off balance with poor grip, Lucas was sent tumbling into the dirt, losing his sword in the process.  But he'd somehow managed to block the blow and save his own life.  But now the bandit was stood over him, a maniacal smile on his face as he raised his sword for the killing blow.......