THE BEGINNING:CHAPTER XXVII:FIRST DEFEAT

An assembly of young trainees sat down on the sandy slab of the inner courtyard of a an ancient temple once occupied by monks, in two groups at either side of a circular arena where two fighters were waiting for the command to begin a fierce duel for them to display their physical combat skills to their master whose decision will determine if they would be promoted to the next level and to be allowed to train along with the senior acolytes whose presence wasn't felt during the early hours of the day ever since they went on their usual morning drill to the farthest mountain sides which usually last for a long time before Azgaz will redirect their march back to the hideout. The opponents were grossly apprehensive waiting patiently for the order to kick start the duel which they had long trained hard for from the moment they were recruited as new set of junior acolytes while the other comrades watch expectantly to see how they performed in order to fully understand what to do once it gets to their scheduled turn next month according to the rotational date of the duel fixed by the Magistrum leaving the random selection of the opponents entirely in the hands of the advocates especially the second advocate who stood peering at the two opponents he had personally handpicked to partake in the battle to get promoted to the next rank as a reward for the winner except for the loser who will have no other choice than to wait till the next date which the lose might be picked yet again to go up against another fighter in accordance with the one of the strict rules put in place by the elders.
Melizar looked patiently at Bella whose stance in the combat arena wasn't in its proper place compared to that of Pennant who stretched forth his wooden stick away from his crouched body while shifting his right leg backwards in a combative manner of getting himself fully prepared to thrust his opponent down once he hears the order to begin the delayed duel.
Melizar was not quite sure if he had made a good decision selecting Bella for the duel since her observed performances in training in the past eleven years hasn't been up to the standard of a true acolyte as perceived by most of her comrades including the other advocates who see her as feeble and very much unfit to become an acolyte as well as her efforts in training that hasn't fully met the advance skills of a Bantu warrior which has cast a lot of late night concerns on his invisible wrinkles which was slowly encroaching on his face for a long time now.
He saw mild drops of sweats dribbling down from her lowhair, falling down her forehead on her face, trickling down to her neck before descending to her brown tunic which didn't fully cover her lanky legs while holding the wooden stick forward with her hands, in a weak defense against the offensive stance of the mismatched fellow who greatly outmatched her in terms of brute strength and fighting skills.
The combatants were getting weary under the warm but heated sunlight, still waiting for the order to begin in spite of the distractive murmuring amongst the spectators who were flinching perplexed glances at their Master feeling anxious to know what the cause for the unnecessary delay and if the duel would actually take place or not but a quick look at Mavdon standing on near a heighten parapet in a distance above the ground, watching the delayed match brought the second advocate back fr memorylane to the present.
"Fight!", Melizar shouted abruptly catching one of the opponent off guard which gave the first advantage to the antagonist to deliver the first attack on his opposition but failed to leave any fatal hit since the female fighter luckily evade the painful edge of the long stick before getting herself fully ready for a counterattack and thrust her wooden weapon forward to hit his back which landed the first blow of the match leaving the other proponents to cheer wildly in her support especially the females in their group who felt excited after their colleague gain the upper hand in the battle for now which might fall back to whoever delivers the next blow for the second time.
Mavdon peered at the ongoing duel with keen interest eagerly waiting to see the outcome of the fight as well as Tezmon, who stood beside quietly watching the contest as the two fighters kept trying to bring the other using skillful attack especially Bella whose techniques in defending herself from every blow turned out quite spectacular than what Melizar had expected enthralling the others with her ability to prevent Pennant from gaining the upper hand which was in none of their favor for now until a swift but superficial blow from the edge of the wooden, caught Pennant on the shoulder, compelling him to withdraw two steps away from her and paced around looking for the weak spot of his opponent which he aimed at without success as his harmless weapon was once again blocked by another defense move Bella made to prevent his wooden staff from hitting her back. She tried to take the opportunity to strike his lower abdomen but he dodged it with ease and shifted to the other side of circular arena in other to get enough space to relay another attack on the opposition while Bella took on the offensive against him attempting to strike his lower groin which almost caught him hard when he acrobatically evade being terrible hit by the wood and luckily landed beside her vulnerable spot before hitting her back with the wood compelling her to stumble forward in pain but she recovered soon enough to retailiate with a backward strike on his chest, pushing him back with the even blow and faced her opponent once again, panting heavily as she tried to be take caution not to let the young boy get the better of her if she tries to bring him down using the frail advance moves she had learnt during their training.