The novice was skilled, even if his block was too open.
"Close your block." Altair advised as he lightly jabbed the student's ribs with the tip of his blade. The hot desert sun beat cruelly down in the peak of midday. Even though his assassin robes were heavy for this sort of weather, Altair left them on, more as a symbol of rank than anything else.
"No, that won't work." A voice stated judgmentally from behind the now master assassin. Altair turned to face the speaker, a one armed man. A djellaba was draped around his shoulders, the left sleeve was pinned up to remove the awkwardness of a sleeve flapping around.
"If he brings his parry any closer it makes it difficult to gain a quick counter."
Altair sneered." If you are so confident in this, why not demonstrate?"
"Gladly." Malik smirked and drew the short sword sheathed at his hip. It was obvious the blade hadn't been used in a while, made clear by the absence of notches and scores from where other blades would have struck it. He dropped into an aloof stance, feet shoulder width apart, body angled slightly to the side, blade angled in a straight horizontal line. Altair nodded to the novice, and the pupil scurried off before attacking Malik in a similar fashion of how he was practicing with the novice, except that he increased the momentum behind the blade drastically. The one armed assassin's blade flashed silver in the searing sunlight, slapping away Altair's own and resting at his throat.
"You were saying?" He cocked his head to the side, questioningly.
"This proves nothing. Again." Once again, Malik's tip was resting just barely pricking the skin of Altair's neck.
"Again." He growled through gritted teeth. The two swords flashed again, but as Malik's knocked aside his own, he applied his own force to the strike and trapped the short sword in his guard. With a quick forward jerk, his blade rested this time at Malik's throat.
"What do you say now, Malik?"
"I say that you underestimate me." He rotated his blade underneath Altair's, beating it away from his neck and aiming a slash at his opponent's abdomen. The master assassin parried the slash swiftly then fell into a tight block.
"You see, Altair," he slashed at his wrists, grazing the skin lightly,"such a tight block reduces your mobility."
Altair sighed, relaxing and sheathing the blade in its scabbard. He bowed respectfully to Malik who returned the gesture.
"I guess you are right." Altair conceded.
Malik chuckled. "I guess even the master can learn something from the novices."