The man was an aggressive fighter. There was no little dance before the first blow. At first, his style as well as her own choice of weapon caught her off guard. The quick succession of blows was not something she had expected. One hit her one the hand. It rang in her bones but she recovered quickly enough.
She dropped into a defensive mode after this, parrying and evading one blow after another. A jab here and there was added whenever, he came to close or had cost her too much territory. Defence could not last forever but it told her about her opponent and that was valuable.