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Post by ivory on May 24, 2009 11:37:17 GMT -5
"So, do you still want to do some sparring?"
He blinked, confused at her words. "Wha? Huh? Oh, yeah. Uh-huh."
He quickly snapped himself back into the present before turning to Katrina. He started to rise and then noticed her own sporting bruises.
"Uh-are you sure? I mean-" He swallowed his words, unsure if he should've questioned her, she being higher in rank than he. But it quickly faded as his mother's words rang once again in his mind, reminding him that caring for a lady completely outweighed something so minor as questioning a higher rank.
And so he blowed on, albeit a little shyly. "I-I mean, meant, that well, you're covered in bruises and had just fought Dougal. And even though he has a couple thousand bruises he still managed to cover you in them too because he's really good like that. You know he fought off a thousand Wargals by himself and shot the very Heavens of God?" He was talking fast now, hurrying to say it before he could think to regret it. "SoIjustthoughtthatmaybeyouwantedtorestforawhile. Imean,Iknowthatyoupromisedmeandall, actually,youaskedmeandIagreed,butthatprobablymeansthesametoyou. Itwouldtome,butthat'sbesidethepoint. You'rehurt."
He inhaled deeply to regain his breath and turned desperately to Henry. "Henrycanfightme. Iwouldn'tmind. You'dprobablybeatmeinsecondsanyways. ThiswayIcanactuallyhaveachance. WhatdoyousayHenry?" He winced as he remembered he should be asking Katrina instead of Henry.
"Imean,ifthat'sokaywithyouSirKatrina?" he asked as he turned back around to face her.
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Post by Brandwyn on May 24, 2009 13:06:08 GMT -5
Katrina had a hard time keeping a straight face as Adrian said Dougal had fought off a thousand Wargals. She pressed her lips together to keep from laughing, but couldn't help a couple of twitches at the corners of her mouth. By the end of his nervous rush of words she had managed to school her face into a look of controlled concern.
She refrained from glancing at Dougal, knowing she would burst out laughing if she did and instead studied Adrian with a straight face.
"Well, I am not hurt that badly, just a couple bruises, however," and she looked over at Henry who was looking up at her, hiding his smile from Adrian behind Dougal's back as he finished binding Dougal's ribs. "Lord knows Henry could sure use the practice!" Her lips twitched again and she firmly clamped down on them.
"Thanks, Sir." Henry said dryly and gave her a sarcastic look. Katrina smiled sweetly at him as if she had no idea what he meant. Henry turned back to Adrian, none too sure he wouldn’t end up with his own set of bruises. The man was very young, but he was a knight and Henry wasn't. He had followed the path of the common soldier rather than the one to knighthood, never wanting to be a knight until recently - after he had met Katrina. He would likely get his butt kicked around. He nodded his head to Adrian. "All right, Sir, if that is what you would prefer. Just be prepared to get interrupted by Sir Katrina here. She loves to stop fights and correct you." He got in a small jibe, it wasn't much, but it made him feel a bit better.
Henry finished up with Dougal, "better?" He stood up and moved into the open area, drawing his long sword. "Ok, I guess I am ready." He really did not like being the center of attention like this, but he managed to put that discomfort aside and focused his attention on his opponent. He had no idea what to expect from the young knight, having never seen him fight before.
Katrina sat back and pulled her bruise bags out of the hot water and tossed Dougal's in as she watched the sparing match unfold, critiquing both fighters so she could instruct them in the hopes of improving their skill.
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Post by ivory on May 24, 2009 13:53:10 GMT -5
"All right, Sir, if that is what you would prefer. Just be prepared to get interrupted by Sir Katrina here. She loves to stop fights and correct you."
Adrian very nearly sighed in relief at Henry’s words.
“That’sokay,” he hurried on, “I’dratherprefertolearnanyways. SirHenryLionheartofCaraway,” he winced as he said it and then forced himself to slow down, remembering all too clearly his lessons on correctly saying his old mentor’s title. “Sir Henry Lionheart of Caraway always said that there’s no use in practicing if you don’t learn at least one thing while you’re doing it.”
He followed Henry into the open area, gaining confidence with each step. His harsh training as a squire had granted him speed, flexibility, and strength – all thanks to his mentor of crazy ideas. Unlike most knights Adrian had known, Sir Henry Lionheart of Caraway hadn’t believed in routine training. Instead, he fully believed that sparring with knights far above your skill was the best way to learn. A good whacking across the body taught the student okay, but a couple thousand whacks across the body helped get the point across a whole let better. So he’d braved the disfiguring of his entire body to learn the skill of his master.
He took his stance, one foot forward, the other behind and slightly to the left. His knees bent, he unsheathed his sword with his right hand, holding it out at an upward angle in front of him. Once he thought Henry was ready, he attacked, swinging his sword in a downward stroke on his opponent’s left side.
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Post by Brandwyn on May 24, 2009 14:26:09 GMT -5
Henry watched Adrian take his stance and draw his sword and then looked at Adrian's hand, forgetting Katrina's instruction to watch the eyes so that you could tell when and sometimes where the attack was going. He was a hair slow in blocking the blow, because of it and was only able to deflect the blade and side step to the right to avoid getting hit. He was sure there was a frown on Katrina's face, but he didn't chance looking at her. His eyes snapped up to Adrian's, lesson learned.
He was able to counter, though, with a back swing to Adrian's right side that was an extension of his blocking Adrian's first attack. It was not a very flashy attack, but he tried to put some decent force behind the blade, knowing he could pull it if Adrian didn't block it.
He watched Adrian's eyes now, to try and determine what the young knight was going to try next.
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Post by ivory on May 24, 2009 15:25:12 GMT -5
As soon as his blade crashed across his opponent's he pulled it back to ready another strike, but Henry managed to attack first. Adrian swiveled the hilt in his hand, bringing his blade to point downwards as he did so. He swung it to the right to block the attack and putting more strength into it, he brought it up in a half circle.
He felt the first surge of adrenaline as the fight truly began and smiled within the folds of his mind, though was careful to keep his face expression-free – another lesson learned from Sir Henry Lionheart of Caraway. His ex-mentor, thank God, had decided to up it a notch whenever he grinned during combat, saying that he shouldn’t get prideful. But of course, he believed more in actions than words so had whacked him hard every time he did so. Adrian looked fast not to smile during combat.
As soon as he completed the move, he slid the point of his sword down the side of Henry’s and he moved his hilt to the left as it came up. He shoved out to the right, hoping to put enough force behind it to force Henry’s blade far out to the left, which would also make his opponent turn with his blade. Then he’d be able to take a quick step to the left, putting himself slightly behind him, and bring his blade across Henry’s side/back. But as this was only practice, he’d turn the blade so the flat side slid across Henry’s torso.
And if he’d underestimated the quantity of power he needed and Henry’s blade didn’t go wide enough, he’d take a few steps back to regain his guard.
But if for some reason he hadn’t applied nearly enough pressure and Henry’s blade hardly moved, then he’d rewrap his sword around Henry’s as if he was moving in reverse – bringing his point back up as his hilt dropped. He’d shove with triple force then to make sure that Henry’s blade went back across his own body before swinging the flat of his blade across his stomach, which would then be open to his steel.
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Post by Brandwyn on May 24, 2009 17:04:28 GMT -5
Henry felt Adrian block his blow and try to push his sword out to the left. He wasn't as good at it as Katrina was, but maybe he could pull off a spin since he was being pushed around to the left anyway. He let Adrian push his right arm around to the left and spun along with it, trying to keep his blade on Adrian's so he would not be able to hit him in the back as he spun around.
He had to be fast if he was going to avoid a blow to his back or right side, but he knew he wasn't as fast as Katrina. She didn't like him trying these kinds of stunts except when practicing with her and he had a feeling he was going to hear about it later.
He felt the tip of his blade slip free of Adrian's just as he had his back fully to the knight and knew he was not spinning quite fast enough. He lifted his arm and tried to put the tip of the sword down behind his back in an attempt to block the blow he knew was coming.
It didn't work quite right and he felt the flat of Adrian's blade slam into his lower back a bit to the right side as the tip of his own sword was knocked out of the way. Henry grunted from the blow and finished spinning around, taking a step back to put a bit of distance between him and Adrian. He was now facing the knight again, but Adrian was going to have to step forward to attack. Henry crouched in a defensive position, deciding not to press the attack so he had time to recover from the pain in his kidney. He once again waited for Adrian to attack, but this time he watched Adrian's eyes closely.
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Katrina watched her man-at-arms and the young knight intently and frowned at Henry's first mistake of not watching for when and where Adrian was going to attack. She frowned some more when Henry tried to spin and got a smack on his backside for his efforts. Well, that was one way for him to learn to move faster.
She noticed Henry was playing a defensive game right now and wondered if he was just feeling out Adrian, or if he was falling into that trap. She waited to see if he would turn it around and put Adrian on the defensive. Henry could be waiting for the right opportunity to do that.
She almost absentmindedly handed Dougal is hot bruise bags without taking her eyes off the fight, holding one of her bags to her bruised cheek, the other one was back in the water again.
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Post by ivory on May 24, 2009 17:48:06 GMT -5
Adrian noticed Henry’s gaze locked on his and he almost grinned. He’d tried the same thing when he was first starting out as a squire, but had quickly learned not to when Sir Henry Lionheart of Caraway kept using it against him. He’d flick his eyes to the right and as soon as Adrian moved to block an attack he thought was coming, Sir Henry Lionheart of Caraway would attack on his left. But though he’d gained a great many whelps for those mistakes, he hadn’t learned to change his habit until after a week. Then he learned to watch the torso. The eyes, Sir Henry Lionheart of Caraway had told him, could deceive you, but the torso never lied. It commanded the body and if you moved with it you were usually good.
The keyword Adrian learned a month later was ‘usually’. After he’d programmed watching the shoulders into his habits, Sir Henry Lionheart of Caraway changed it yet again. His left shoulder would twitch as it was about ready to move and Adrian would follow to block it, and then he’d grit his teeth in pain as a booted foot rammed into his shin. He’d fall to the ground with the force and get a hard rap on the shoulder for it. Over time, a long time, he learned to never focus on only one part of the body. He’d even tried to use this knowledge against his mentor and though he managed to trick him a few times, the counterattack was always more harsh when he did. He’d learned then that his mentor was a sore loser and so had quit trying to trick him.
He thought to try it now though since Henry, just Henry – man did he like the sound of that, was looking at his eyes. He lunged forward, sword coming up as if to block an overhand cut, figuring that it'd put Henry off guard enough for him to do what he wanted.
He flicked his eyes to Henry’s right shoulder and turned his sword slightly as if to smack the point against Henry’s shoulder. What he really was going to do was as Henry started to block the point of his sword, he’d spin around to the right and come up behind him again to hit him in the back of his right shoulder with the handle of his sword. There was a pressure point there and he figured he’d be able to numb the arm long enough to move in and finish him off. That was, if he found it. He’d never been good at spotting them on other people though he’d been hit there more than enough times to know where it was on his own anatomy. He figured he had a six, maybe seven percent chance of actually hitting the one on Henry’s – man he really loved saying just that – body.
Unless of course, Henry wasn’t fooled. Then he’d well, crap, he thought just as Henry started to move. In his enthusiasm he’d placed himself in a half-bad situation and when fighting with his ex-mentor, he’d found half-bad situations were just as bad as whole-bad situations. He only hoped Henry wasn’t fast and he could jump back before he got hurt.
Scratch that, he was too off-balanced to jump back far enough the way he was. His best chance was to drop straight to the floor and try to take him off guard. He’d roll to the right, hopefully quickly enough to not get hit. He didn’t know how fast Henry was, but he’d spent long hours rolling around from the ground to his feet during his time as a squire. Actually, he’d spent more time rolling on the ground than he had to his feet because when Sir Henry Lionheart of Caraway hit, he hit bloody hard.
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Dougal
Apprentice Messenger
Posts: 597
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Post by Dougal on May 25, 2009 5:09:20 GMT -5
"It would never do to leave this contest hanging over our heads when we go into battle. But I think I am going to take tomorrow off. It is not often I get a vacation."
Dougal grinned at Katrina and gave her a gentle ribbing back.
"I'm up for it. That's if you're recovered from the head but by then, of course."
Raising his arms so that Henry could begin binding his ribs, Dougal was tempted to make a comment that Greer would only just be able to hear about how Henry was much better than the help he normally received but thought the better of it, seeing as Greer would probably be the one administering first aid when Dougal next decided to get beaten up. Yeah, it probably would be a good idea to keep his mouth shut.
A quick glance over at Adrian told Dougal that his body was suitably scarred to impress the youngster. How many new stories would come from this? Dougal reckoned about a dozen variations on the one that Adrian would come up with, or the one that he told Adrian, within a month. Of course, there would be two dozen version of the incident with Katrina by next Wednesday, so things didn't quite even out. Even so, if the SWC were ever officially acknowledged, it would be good to have a reputation that the gods themselves couldn't match. Who knew, maybe an official announcement would actually scare the enemy into submission? Ah, who was he trying to kid?
As Dougal watched, Katrina offered to spar with Adrian, who appeared somewhat flustered. Adrian obviously wasn't used to being around people with a high rank, not that either he or Katrina were really of that high a rank in comparison to Adrian, and Adrian was probably also being chivalrous towards Katrina while not actually wanting to look like he was doing that in case it offended her. Dougal wouldn't call Katrina a man, but he wouldn't call her a lady either. She could handle herself in fight despite her bruises.
"Better?"
"Yeah, thanks for that."
Dougal watched as Henry went into the open area and began to spar with Adrian. It was obvious that Adrian was equal or better than Henry, but neither of them were in Dougal or Katrina's class. Adrian tried to fling Henry's sword aside and Henry tried to turn that into a spin. It didn't quite turn out the right way, but Dougal could tell that Henry hadn't expected it to go off without a hitch. Maybe he should give Henry a lesson on how to fight without using the fancy stuff, because he was starting to like Henry and knew that Henry would give his life for Katrina the second she was threatened. He wasn't sure what their current relationship status was, but he decided that he owed it to Katrina to ensure that Henry had a chance at surviving when he did something stupid.
When Katrina handed him the hot bruise bags, Dougal held one bag to his left eye and then put the other one on his right cheek. Luckily Henry hadn't knocked any teeth out, but that didn't stop the bruise from hurting. The headache kicked up another notch as he watched Adrian go on the offensive once more and he wondered if Greer had anything, other than beer, that is, for a headache. He'd have to check once the fight was over.
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Post by Brandwyn on May 25, 2009 6:33:19 GMT -5
Henry watched Adrian and saw his eyes narrow just before he raised his arms as if to block an overhead shot that Henry wasn't throwing. Henry ignored that, knowing it was a ruse and then he saw Adrian's eye flick to Henry's shoulder and he prepared to block, but waited to see what Adrian's shoulder was doing.
Henry started to move to block a stab at his shoulder, but then noticed Adrian plant one foot as if to spin around him. Henry turned with Adrian, keeping them face-to-face and used the hilt of his sword to protect his shoulder, just in case Adrian really did throw the shot there. Since that blow never came, Henry decided to press his momentum and twisted the tip of his sword around to strike Adrian across the left side of his head with the flat of the blade and then, if that was successful, he would use the ricochet momentum to do an immediate and fast side chop into Adrian's hip. Henry had not thrown a double blow yet and hoped that would surprise Adrian.
Henry was thinking furiously on how to beat Adrian and figured that Adrian was better than he was and it would only be a matter of time before Henry was lying on the deck with a sword at his throat, but you never know. Sometimes strange things happen that tip the battle in a different direction than expected, so he didn't give up.
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Dougal grinned at Katrina and gave her a gentle ribbing back.
"I'm up for it. That's if you're recovered from the head but by then, of course."
Katrina took her eyes off the fight for a moment and gave Dougal a sideways look as she picked up the bruise bag and put it back on her forehead. "I don't believe I will be." She grinned back.
She wondered if it might be fun to let him think she wasn't going to spar tomorrow and then just attack him out of the blue, just to test his reflexes. She had a feeling he used that tactic on his own men often. Of course if she did that, then it would leave herself open to have to be on her guard constantly for the rest of the voyage and she wasn't sure she wanted to have to do that. The idea of a vacation had some definite appeal.
Katrina turned her attention back to the fight and nodded in approval as Henry failed to fall for Adrian's obvious set-up and then he pressed his own attack in return. "Ahh, good, he is going on the offensive now." She murmured softly. "Thought he forgot everything for a moment there." She said it only loud enough for Dougal and Shamus to hear.
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Shamus listened to the easy banter between Dougal and Katrina after their match and was a bit surprised that they were acting like old friends after what he had heard had happened yesterday. The reports couldn't be wrong, there were too many people saying nearly the same thing, even though some stories seemed a bit exaggerated, the basic kernel of truth was the same. Not to mention the bruises on both of them told the story as well.
Shamus jumped up on a barrel to sit and watched Henry and Adrian sparring. The fight seemed a bit slow and anti-climatic after the previous match and Shamus wondered just where he would fall in the mix. Perhaps he should do some sparring too, but then he thought better of it. So far only Katrina, Henry and Dougal had seen him fight at all and they had all been busy with their own bandits so he hoped they still didn't have much sense of his skill level. He preferred to keep them guessing about him as long as he could.
This line of thought brought back his directive from their King. "Uh, Katrina, we are going to need to go over some stuff at some point before we land in Gallica if you are going to be prepared to lead the Scotti into battle."
Katrina nodded, still watching the fight. "I know." She said, "but not before this match is over and we analyze what they are doing wrong and right." Katrina didn't want to think about leading the Scotti army just yet.
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Post by ivory on May 25, 2009 11:06:56 GMT -5
Oh well, Adrian thought with a sigh as Henry didn't fall for the feign. And then he inwardly winced as Henry decided to press into an attack. He moved the hilt of his blade up as he swung his sword to the left to block the attack to his head. The swords rang true and he almost grinned. He would have most definitely, but the second attack came quicker than he was expecting.
He cursed his expectations as he took the blow to his hip good naturally, scowling only at himself. Sir Henry Lionheart of Caraway would’ve surely lectured him for a good hour about not underestimating your opponent and since he didn’t really believe in words, he’d punish him most thoroughly.
Adrian took a quick step in the opposite direction of the blow, swinging his sword once again in the upright position. It stayed there for less than a split second before arching toward Henry's left shoulder. He'd drop it at the last second if Henry decided to block, aiming for his side instead. But if he didn't, he'd let it finish its course. And if he decided to use that speed he'd used just before and block his 'real' attack, he'd try to use force to press Henry's own blade against him.
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Post by Brandwyn on May 25, 2009 15:14:21 GMT -5
Henry landed a decent blow to Adrian's hip, but it didn't slow him down any. Adrian launched an attack at Henry's shoulder and Henry moved to block it. At the last second Adrian's sword shifted to Henry's side and slipped inside Henry's guard. The flat of the sword landed a stinging blow and Henry grunted in pain.
Henry spun away from the blow to his right and tried to strike Adrian on the left shoulder as he tried to spin around behind the Knight and get some more room to maneuver. He was getting boxed in and didn't want to get pushed up onto the crates or the railing. Henry didn't hold out much hope of getting past Adrian though. He was quickly becoming aware of being in a bad predicament and would have to come up with something to get out of it if he wanted to win this match.
So far nothing was springing to mind. He was playing a largely defensive game and that normally was a strategy for loosing.
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Post by ivory on May 25, 2009 15:35:25 GMT -5
Adrian swiveled his sword upside down as he swiftly moved from attacking to defending, bringing it diagonally across his body to block the blow to his shoulder. As Henry moved to spin around him, Adrian quickly stepped to block him off, using the momentum of the sword block to swing his blade over his head and aim for Henry's neck.
It was a risk he knew and would never have tried it in actual combat, nor when sparring with his ex-mentor or when his ex-mentor was watching, but figured he might as well try it. He'd been curious about this certain move and wanted to see how well it worked. It left his complete body open, but he figured with enough momentum he'd be able to finish it before his opponent attacked. And how this was just practice, he figured even if it didn't work, he wouldn't be killed and his curiosity for it would be sated.
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Post by Brandwyn on May 25, 2009 20:37:17 GMT -5
"Damn!" Henry muttered as Adrian cut him off. Henry almost missed blocking the blow aimed at his neck as he was forced to stop spinning when Adrian blocked his move to get around the Knight. Henry felt that Adrian had almost the speed Katrina did, but it was somewhat easier because Henry didn't have to worry so much about getting hit with Adrian's other hand like he did when he fought Katrina. Course Katrina always fought down closer to his level too and Adrian didn't seem to be holding back - much. He was a bit, Henry was sure, but Henry was quite impressed enough with Adrian's skill and didn't care to have the knight step up to his full ability.
All of this flashed before his mind in the brief instant when his sword blocked Adrian's attempted blow to his neck. Henry wished he had his shield. He could have blocked with that and taken advantage of the fact Adrian left his body wide open. A sudden thought flitted into Henry's mind as Adrian's sword pressed the flat of Henry's blade back towards his own neck. Henry drew his dagger with his left hand and tried to slash at Adrian's side, but he didn't think it would reach because Adrian's arm was longer than his own and Adrian was pressing him back with both swords pressed on Henry's neck.
Henry felt himself being pushed backwards and to the side and struggled to maintain his balance. He was in trouble and knew it. With just a bit of effort, Adrian would be able to topple Henry to the ground - if he noticed how off-balance Henry was becoming. Henry tried to push back against the sword at his throat, but found that Adrian had strength and mass on him. Things were not looking too good, Henry thought.
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Post by ivory on May 26, 2009 14:12:26 GMT -5
Adrian repeated Henry's word as a knife arched across his stomach. It tore only the outerlayer of his clothes, but it was enough to cause his heart to speed up. He kept his excelerated beat hidden though as he seemingly ignored it - though his mind was thanking God a thousand times that he had a longer read and at the same time, cursing himself for not thinking about the bloody knife.
Conclusion reached: NEVER try that in actual combat.
Another conlusion: he was too open.
He pulled his blade back though inwardly wincing as he did it, acutely aware of Henry's lack of balance at the current moment. Thinking he'd still be able to press it if he attacked at exactly the same place a few dozen times, using his strength as he did so, he swung his blade back toward his opponent's neck. He wouldn't go over seven tries though, knowing that to waste his energy would be a giant mistake.
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Post by Brandwyn on May 26, 2009 20:21:25 GMT -5
Henry felt his dagger snag a bit of clothing, but in spite of it not doing any damage, it seemed to have made Adrian pull back and regroup. The pressure left the side of his neck and he was able to spring backwards a step and regain his balance just as Adrian threw another blow to his neck the same as the last blow.
Henry was a bit surprised that Adrian hadn't pressed his advantage and just gone ahead and tipped him over backwards. Maybe the threat of Henry's dagger had made a difference. Regardless, he wasn't about to get stuck with the same blow. As Adrian slashed his sword at Henry's neck. Henry dropped into a crouch and threw up the tip of his sword against Adrian's and deflected the blow over his head.
Since he was already halfway there, he decided to do a somersault and rolled past Adrian on Adrian's right side just after he finished deflecting the blow. He rolled clear and sprang back up on his feet to face Adrian. He was going to try launching an immediate attack At Adrian's right side, or if he was lucky, at Adrian's back if he failed to turn around in time.
Henry gathered himself and prepared to attack.
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