AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Enzo returned the greeting in kind. “Pray forgive the late hour of my summons. I wouldn’t call for you now were it not an urgent matter.”
“So I’ve heard,” said Maestra Rovigatti. “You’re to duel Maestro Nascimbene in a fortnight.”
Fiore supposed the whole city must even now be buzzing with rumors.
“From what we’ve gathered,” said Carlotta, “Nascimbene has not taken up fencing either as a sincere vocation or a fashionable hobby.”
Fiore noted she made no mention of who she meant by “we.”
“Which means if he is trained at all, he will only know what he can learn between the challenge and the duel itself,” Enzo concluded.
“Encouraging to hear,” said Fiore.
Enzo smiled. “With his inexperience against my practice, it ought to be over quick.”
Fiore found Enzo’s confidence more thrilling than otherwise. “Have you ever killed before?”
“Not in a duel,” Enzo admitted. “But not for lack of trying, either.”
“If I may offer an opinion, your grace.”
Both Fiore and Enzo turned sharp to Maestra Rovigatti, who had just spoken.
“I would not consider Nascimbene’s lack of training as an advantage for you,” she continued.
Enzo stared at her. “Your reasoning?”
“You were trained in fighting from the moment you were old enough to hold a sword,” said Maestra Rovigatti. “Would I err if I assumed you have always fought either maestri or those of your own rank, trained up in the same way? You’ve never fought an untrained opponent?”
“You would not err in that assumption,” Enzo admitted.
“Nascimbene has not your experience,” Maestra Rovigatti continued. “He knows you. He knows your reputation in swordplay. He is already panicking. He will not have ceased panicking by the hour of your appointed meeting. Whatever training they may give him in a mere fortnight, he will forget the moment your blade is in your hand. He will make foolish moves—stupid moves—moves no one else would ever make, moves you cannot possibly predict, and because you cannot predict them, some of them will hit, and one of them may very likely kill you.”
Fiore had never considered that. And judging by Enzo’s contemplative expression, he hadn’t considered that before, either. But he seemed willing to listen to her expertise, which to Fiore’s mind put him on better footing than many other more confident men.
“How would you advise me to proceed?” Enzo asked her.
“I would advise you not to proceed at all,” Maestra Rovigatti told him. “But in the event you do not follow that advice, I would recommend finding a practice opponent who is equally as unskilled as Nascimbene.”
“One without any experience whatsoever,” Enzo concluded.
“Or with only a modicum of training,” Maestra Rovigatti added.
“Do you know anyone who might suit such a purpose?” Enzo asked.
Maestra Rovigatti’s gaze slid over to where Fiore stood.
Enzo’s eyes flew wide.
Fiore’s heart soared.
“You did profess a desire to learn, signore,” Maestra Rovigatti reminded him.
Fiore grinned. “So I did.”
Enzo glanced between them with increasing alarm.
“Shall we begin on the morrow?” Maestra Rovigatti enquired, turning to Enzo again.
