Combat

First of all, I am absolutely blown away by how amazing this game is from the story to the combat. I'm only a few hours into it but oh geeze it's been great so far.

My main question is how on earth do I defeat enemies using a sword and shield. I swear Everytime I fast travel I get attacked by someone in a sword and shield and I die instantly. I'm still just using a sword and my stamina drains SO FAST. I don't know what I'm doing wrong but it's caused me to not use fast travel and just run everywhwre because I'm nervous about getting into a fight now.

Any tips and tricks? What can I do as a beginner to improve my fighting abilities.

Thank you!!