Leaving

"Daedalus, come out, it has been a while since we have had the chance to test ourselves," I said after arriving at his home.

"Haha, Atredies, although you got your contributions, think not that you can defeat me. Let us get the others and have a little spar."

"Those were my thoughts exactly, haha."

Daedalus pick up his weapons and we invited the others to spar with us. We got Helios and Hector to agree immediately, but Zopyros didn't want to at first, but with persuasion, he came with us. We are not sure how to get Leonidas to come with us, but we decide to try anyway.

Getting to his home, the guards told us that he already left early in the morning to the campgrounds. We should have known, there is non more dedicated than him. We all rush to the campgrounds to see him practicing his position shifting and opponent control, with his sword and shield.

"Leonidas, are you up for a spar for old time's sake?" I asked him.

"Since when were you so interested in sparring, Atredies?" he asked me, knowing that I usually never initiate such things.

"Come now, we have all had the chance to polish our skills, so it is time to see the difference. Did you not say, you need to know how each warrior fights, to know where to put them in a formation?" I retorted, to which he just nods.

We group ourselves in twos, with Leonidas and Helios, Hector and I, and finally Zopyros and Daedalus. Before we start, I go to the weapons rack and pick out a 3-meter long spear, as I feel the weapon in my hand, I develop a connection with all parts of it, knowing how it will move, its stress points, how flexible it is, and it's center of gravity.

Facing Hector, I know he is very fast with his sword attacks, so I need to keep him from coming in close to me or I am done.

"Come!" I said taking a lower stance

My spear is pointed towards Hector, as he rushes in, I pierce out with my spear. He dodges towards my left, almost completely into my blind side, taking half a step back he is now in my view with a slash coming up at me. I rotate my spear, bringing the blunt side up, hitting his hand and diverting that slash, only for me to see another coming in the opposite direction.

Taking another step back it misses me, my spear already spinning I grab the blunt side sharply, forcing the spear to vibrate as I slash down. Hector steps back with a lower stance, I know he is coming in for another attack, and yes, he does this time to my right slashing down. I block it with my spear while taking a step back and stopping, he also stops.

"Atredies, you called for this spar give it all you have got," he said to me

Looking at him, I mummer "Silence". My vision goes gray, my body tightens up ready to kill. It is the same feeling I had during the ambush of the Athenians. I find that my body already responds to what I perceive I want it to do, but if I don't control how, it will go overboard.

"Ready yourself Hector, I am coming," I said to him

"Good!" he replied taking his stance

I stab at him with my spear, using only one hand this time to extend my reach, which catches him off guard. He steps to the side dodging it and stepping forward to me, I respond by stepping out while bringing the spear down for a slash. He spins out of the way in the opposite direction of the slash.

I step in grabbing the midpoint of the spear and sweeping towards his legs, spinning the spear a little to avoid the edge from injuring him, I hit his legs causing him to lose balance and he falls. I stab down at him on the ground, to which he responds by rolling towards me and bringing his word towards my belly. I was caught off guard by that but I use the butt of my spear to hit his wrist, diverting the stab, and bringing down my spearhead to his throat.

"I yield," he said exasperated

"My fault for asking for your best I guess, but I would not have it any other way," he concludes

"You have learned to shift your balance while at sea, but you do not have that skill mastered completely yet!" I said to him

We both know it but wouldn't say it, if he had attacked more from my blind side, the result would not have been this fast. Although the fight lasted less than a minute, we could still feel some strain. Fighting those that are at your level always makes you put more concentration and energy into every move you make.

We move to the side to watch the other bouts as we chatted about our experiences in this war. The rest were able to finish up a little later with Leonidas winning by a very small margin over Helios, and Daedalus winning over Zopyrus by baiting his bigger swings and attacking his legs.

Switching partners, we continue the spar with Leonidas beating me by attacking my blind spot and Daedalus drawing with me. I was able to beat Helios because my spear could move around his shield, while I fought Zopyrus to a standstill, it couldn't be helped, he and I are almost the same height at 6ft 10" and 6ft 7", so I couldn't go for the legs as much.

"My brothers, I would soon be leaving Sparta to roam the world," I said after we were done with the sparing.

"Why" X5

"With one eye gone, I need to find a way to improve myself so that I don't lose to you guys! haha"

They understood, that although I didn't lose all the battles I fought, they all avoided going for my blind side apart from Leonidas. The chances of me winning against them as I am now is low. We all get some drinks made merry and talked about other mundane things before we called it a night ad left.

A month passed by before my weapon was finally ready. I must say the blacksmith did a great job, I feel like Guan Yu when I hold this weapon. There is nothing left for me to do in this city, telling my parents and my friends my plan is to leave tomorrow, and they all supported me in their own way wishing me the best.

The next day at dawn my parents and my friends are with me at the gates of Sparta, there to see me off on my journey to lands unknown.

'This is going to be fun!'