Chapter 16 - Of Stealth and Combat
 
Christofert listened attentively to Odysseus.  He was quite interested
in finding out what Odysseus might be able to teach him to help him on
his adventure.
 
"First of all" began Odysseus "you need to learn to be more stealthy.
You have done remarkably well, but you have been in some pretty tight
places.  A bit more stealth and maneuverability would keep you out of a
lot of trouble.  And preventing a problem is much better than solving
the problem.  When that fails, I might be able to help you with your
fighting."
 
Odysseus spent quite awhile talking with Christofert about stealth.  When
he needed to demonstrate something, he would row very hard for a few
minutes to get far upstream.  He then could ship the oars for a few
minutes to demonstrate.  The first thing that he taught Christofert was
about playing dead.  Soon he had Christofert looking like the deadest
ferret ever.  Unfortunately, Christofert kept falling asleep while he was
playing dead.
 
The second lesson concerned concealment.  He showed his ferret pupil how
to seem to disappear, and then how to seem to reappear somewhere
completely different.  Soon, Christofert would be sitting on the opposite
bench talking with Odysseus, then would suddenly disappear and then
reappear behind Odysseus.  Christofert thought this was entirely too much
fun.
 
The next lesson was about climbing.  Odysseus was impressed with
Christofert's climbing onboard the Pinta, but he had some other pointers
to help him get up other obstacles.  Odysseus held two boards close
together and taught Christofert how to walk up one board, while his back
was pressed against the second, even though there was nothing for him to
grab on to.
 
Finally, Odysseus moved on to fighting.
 
"Now Christofert, if you can control your opponent's head, you can
control his body."  He reached out and grabbed Christofert by the scruff
of his neck and gently twisted his wrist.  Christofert immediately found
himself rolled onto his back.
 
"Now quickly Christofert, continue to roll in that direction and you can
break out of my lock." Christofert continued the roll and found himself
back on his feet.  He was even able to grab the back of Odysseus's wrist,
gently of course.  He tried to roll over to flip Odysseus, but found that
the size difference was too great.  Odysseus pointed out that larger
opponents usually had weak points.  He told Christofert that usually the
inside point where a limb bends is especially tender.  "It won't cripple
a large opponent," continued Odysseus, "but it sure does hurt and
surprise.  Why don't you take a nap now, and when you are rested, I'll
take you across the river and you can continue your journey."
 
(to be continued)
 
            Bryan P. Coffey - Boston, MA
      Weasel Warriors - Albi, Esef, Merri, and Mint
        http://www.gis.net/~bpcoffey/furball.html
[Posted in FML issue 2832]