Once they are equipped he salutes and begins testing his opponent's skill.
Wayford is the larger of the two men, but the Earl is more sure-footed and swift. To compensate for that Sir Persidius adopts a cautious guard and avoids excessive movement. He circles in half-steps so as to never cross his legs and keeps his blade pointed forward to use the speed of the thrust to his advantage.
Sir Roderick's stance is less poised to play to his own abilities. He knows he can move in and out of distance more easily and so he comes with a trailing guard to conceal his strikes.
They open cautiously and at first Roderick takes the advantage but before his sword finds its target Persidius binds their blades and deflects the Earl's strike away with his shield. In the gap left as he recovers Persidius drives his sword forward in a hard thrust. Were their swords sharp such a blow would have drawn blood through maille let alone a gambeson. But Roderick proves agile and holds his stance.
Both knights circle each other again and come back to contact with a rapid exchange that sees Persidius crack his waster down on his lord's helm in a staggering blow that narrowly avoids breaking the man's nose due only to his shield's rim rising barely in time. Yet Roderick keeps his feet.
Persidius changes his tactics for the third exchange. He continues to attack from the outside but instead of pressing in toward the center he thrusts at the limbs to unbalance the Earl. It works, and Roderick spills to the hard, December ground.
Roderick easily regains his feet while Persidius backs away to give him space. Once more they salute and re-engage.
What follows is three more exchanges that chip away at the practice shields and send tremors through both men's arms. But in each of them Persidius is the clear victor and his liege never manages to break through his expert defense. On the first Persidius continues his attack at the edges but fails to score again with it and after the second exchange fails to even stagger the Earl he returns to his stronger stance and waits.
At the point Roderick becomes impatient and with his sword high he attacks only to find his knight stepping aside and sending a hard blow into his hip. With his center unsteady he stumbles forward and falls once more to the ground.
Caius Persidius Pacilus has bested Roderick ap Robyn. The young knight then turns his sword over and kneels with its point in the ground.
CarrieVS wrote:Stats for nerds