In hindsight, the advice to keep moving should have been obvious, but Tal had a somewhat simplified concept of what 'defense' meant. If he didn't have a shield: dodge. If he did have a shield: block. Combining the two was...
Okay, yeah, he should probably do that.
"Yessir," Tal mumbled, a scowl of concentration wrinkling his nose as he worked on synergizing the muscle memory of his footwork with the new weight and balance of the shield. Feet passed lightly over the snow as he backed away from Deimos at an angle--
Or thought he was. Deimos stepped in with another swing and suddenly the distance was closed again. Tal twisted, instinctively crossing the spear behind the shield to provide more bracing and backpedaling even as the sword thunked into the defensive formation. He somehow managed to keep his balance as he let the momentum of the strike push him to the side rather than trying to resist it - and this time he kept moving, circling around the General and moving a little ways back to give himself more time to react.
Okay, yeah, he should probably do that.
"Yessir," Tal mumbled, a scowl of concentration wrinkling his nose as he worked on synergizing the muscle memory of his footwork with the new weight and balance of the shield. Feet passed lightly over the snow as he backed away from Deimos at an angle--
Or thought he was. Deimos stepped in with another swing and suddenly the distance was closed again. Tal twisted, instinctively crossing the spear behind the shield to provide more bracing and backpedaling even as the sword thunked into the defensive formation. He somehow managed to keep his balance as he let the momentum of the strike push him to the side rather than trying to resist it - and this time he kept moving, circling around the General and moving a little ways back to give himself more time to react.
