Tharsus and the aspirants engage combat

The three stood next to eachother facing the old man, swords ready.

Tharsus intensified the grip on his sword.

The old man had the disadvantage in regards of numbers, but he wasn't outclassed.

They had to work together, even if they didn't knew eachother well.

From the looks of his two allies it seemed that atleast one held a sword before.

He was taking a gaze at both of them and nodded, he would charge while the others would try to flank and surround the old man.

But Tharsus has never done such a thing before, he was a farmer not a fighter.

Tharsus made a step towards his challenge, with the sword in his right hand.

He was about to charge in when the old man suddenly started to sprint towards him, he was fast because he was only wearing a leather harness with linen-trousers.

Tharsus didn't know what to do exactly so he lifted his sword to try a parry.

The movements of the old man were fast despite his age, as he was sprinting towards tharsus he was winding up his right arm for a side blow.

Before Tharsus could do anything one of the aspirants stood between him and the old man, and blocked the attack in an instant.

Tharsus ran towards the both of them in order to stab the old man from the side, he prepared for a thrust.

Lightning fast the old man performed a turn and lifted the parry, he could repell Tharsus thrust as he altered its direction with his sword-tip.

It was just enough time to parry another hit coming from the aspirant.

Tharsus who was standing off balance received a kick in the stomach from the old man as he lifted the parry a second time. The kick made him tumble for a split second, he couldn't react fast enough to evade or parry the hit that was adhered after the kick.

The second aspirant got in position just behind Tharsus, he managed to take the heat off him and parry the blow. The old man was reacting fast and released the parry towards him, he could grab the clothing of the second aspirant and threw him off balance, finishing it with a thrust in the belly, the aspirant was falling backwards onto the soil.

Tharsus attempted a overhead swing, the old man though circled around Tharsus.

What Tharsus didn't see was the first aspirant charging in on them both attempting the same as him. The old man had positioned himself very good, the first aspirant had to abort his charge while Tharsus turned around trying to face the old man.

While the second aspirant was busy getting up, the old man faked a hit onto Tharsus chest, but with a elegant change of stance directed it towards tharsus lower leg.

It was too late, Tharsus already had moved his sword to high, the old man hit his shinbone with full ****.

The swords were out of wood with a core of steel, hits had equal potential as those of a club.

As Tharsus felt a crushing pain from his shinbone he knew it was nothing too serious, he had to back off though.

The first aspirant was engaging from the left side from Tharsus, while the second was coming from the right. Together they tried to overwhelm the defence of the old man.

They bashed and sliced,but the old man had a answer on everything.

But Tharsus spotted a small hole in his defence. The old man always performed a turn to the next opponent as he lifted the parry.

The first aspirant was holding up well against the counters of the old man, but the second got hit a couple of times.

Tharsus got ready for the old man to lift the next parry, but instead of turning the old man performed a hilt-hit on the face of the second aspirant after lifting the parry.

Heavily exhausted the second aspirant tumbled backwards and fell on his butt pushing his bleeding laceration with his left hand.

The old man turned to Tharsus after this, though he was too far away to be directly attacked.

The first aspirant used that moment to charge in anew with another overhead bash which the old man barely blocked.

Tharsus charged determinded on his target.

The old man was sword-to-sword with the first aspirant, this was Tharsus chance to land the deciding hit.