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Mattheas urged by Hudson Greathouse through the drizzling rain toward the brown stone carriage-house, where illumination showed at the s He doubted he&039;d been allowed to slu-tired and heavy-liht of Greathouse&039;s lantern through the open doorway, finding hiht e circle

Greathouse closed the door and, to Matthew&039;s unease, dropped the bolt across it There was no carriage in the place, but a set of steps led up to a second level and whatarea Greathouse set the la on a wallhook, and it was then that Matthe the glint of yellow light on the grips and handguards of four swords in scabbards also resting horizontally on hooks That wasn&039;t all of thewith the swords were two pistols, three daggers, and-of all things-an oversized slingshot

"Mrs Herrald tellsabout swords or pistols Correcti"

"Yes sir I meancorrect" Matthew had been about to yawn before he&039;d seen the weapons, but noas as fully awake as a healthy jolt of fear could make a person

"You&039;ve never held a sword, theni"

"No Well" He had briefly picked up a sword in a gaol cell in Fount Royal, but it was et rid of it than use it and so he didn&039;t think that incident counted forboyI was running with a gang at the harbor Not a real gang, I mean But justyou knowboys Orphans, like I was"

"There&039;s a point to thisi"

"Yes sir We used to fight each other with sticks and pretend they were swords You know Mock wars"

"Ever kill anyone with a pretend swordi" Greathouse approached hier still, if just in Matthew&039;s sensibility, as his shadoas thrown across the wall

"No sir"

"Ever kill anyone with anythingi"

"No sir"

"Can you fighti Use your fistsi"

"I&039; tied since then"

"You should have kept that part of yourself" Greathouse stopped before him and sized him up froht, the hty and dismissive It occurred to Matthew that either Greathouse had tremendous recuperative abilities over the effects of alcohol or he could si

"You&039;re spindly," Greathouse said, and began to walk in a circle around him "You look weak as water and pale as a ht and worki"

"My work ispredo people these days They sit on their mental and call it work Well, you think you&039;re so smart, don&039;t youi So clever at chess I think you&039;ve let yourself go to rot You&039;re et that scar on your headi Fall down and hit it on a daot it in a fight with a bear"

Greathouse stopped his circling

"If I et your scari"

Greathouse paused Then at last he said, "Broken teacup Thrown by my third wife"

"Oh"

"You don&039;t ask the questions," the man snarled "I ask the questions, do you understandi"

"Yes sir"

Greathouse continued his circling, around and around Then he stopped directly in front of Matthew "If you want to see a scar, take a gander at this" He unbuttoned his ruffled shirt and displayed a truly ugly brown scar that began just beneath the left collarbone and crossed to the center of the chest "Dagger strike, fifth of March, 1677 He was going for ht his wrist in time an assassin, dressed in ht shoulder to show a dark purple crater "Musket ball, twenty-second of June, 1684 Knocked my arm out of the socket I was lucky there, no bones broken The ball went through the wo in front of led his body so Matthew could see a third gruesoht side "Ninth of October, 1686 That&039;s what a rapier can do to you, even when it doesn&039;t bear a cutting edge The bastard swung instead of lunged I did suffer two ribs broken on that one Spent a month laid up, almost lost ently, as if in reverence "I can foretell rain by three days" He shrugged his shirt back into place and buttoned it once more, his expression now more pleased than petulant

Matthew had to ask, "Is that what I have to look forward toi"

Instantly Greathouse pressed a finger against Matthew&039;s chest so hard Matthew thought he was about to receive his first battle-mark "Not," Greathouse said, "if you&039;re smart Not if you&039;re lucky and not if you let , but Greathouse seely read his hting four uard, so yes I can be a competent instructor anyway, he had no rhythood luck for hiot s all over the alley floor I gave another one a cut to the face that went through one cheek and out the other and then they all ran for their lives"

"Did you spare thenarled knuckles, which Matthew noted also were marked with numerous small scars "I followed the blood and tracked the wounded one down a thrust to the throat and he was finished It was a dark night, though Only that saved the other two, though I suppose ht have slowed me a step" abruptly he walked to the armory and chose tords He unsheathed both, turned one, and offered Matthew the grip "Take it Thrust at me"

"Siri"

"Take the rapier and thrust atUnbalanced, it felt to hi to ed the sword back and forth, watching the light glint and jump from its surface It seeet where he intended it

"You&039;re holding it like a baby with a rattle," Greathouse said "Take a ht now, just thrust at me"

"How do I standi"

"Don&039;t worry about the stance yet Come on, do as I say"

"I don&039;t feel comfortable with this Do you have one that&039;s not so heavyi" already Matthew could feel thea swordshtest of the bunch, moonbeam Just hold the sword out, then Bend your elbow a little all right Tight grip Tighter Drop your shoulder Not your arht his sword around and hit Matthew&039;s flat-to-flat with a ringing sound and, though not with ht to the skull "Just get a feel for it," Greathouse said, as he brought his sword around on the other side and struck again He continued froe-house sounded like a belfry "The rapier has two parts, the blade and the hilt Of the hilt there is the porip, and the guard The parts of the blade are the strong-the forte near the grip-and the weak, which would be the feeble near the point" The tords continued to sound out their steel music "always block-or parry-a strike or thrust at the forte, you see as I&039; here If you try to parry a blow at the feeble, you likely will either lose your weapon or have it broken Or you&039;ll be run through The rapier is not fashioned for cutting strikes, though of course you&039;ve seen it can cut with enough force behind it It&039;s h your target You&039;re weakening your grip, hold it steady Noe shall get you accustomed to the feel of the weapon, and then we&039;ll e stretch, distance , binding, time and-"

"I think I have this under control," Matthew interrupted, though his forearlad you think so," said Greathouse, who instantly brought his rapier around with a little le and suddenly Matthew&039;s fingers shot open as if his hand had been hornet-stung and the sword fleay like one of Increase Mather&039;s corip," Matthew said, as he tried to shake the sting out of his hand

"You never had a grip I told you to keep that thuht where you stand"

Matthew obeyed Greathouse said, "Make your body thin as if it isn&039;t thin enough, but at least that&039;s to your advantage Show only your right side Keep your feet in line with me Not so far apart Now they&039;re too close You want to have optimum pohen you thrust, but keep your feet not too close or your balance will be unsteady all right, that&039;s much better" He walked in a slow circle just beyond the lanterns "Keep your sword pointed outward, don&039;t let it slope down unless your opponent is three inches tall Very well, sink down as if you&039;re about to sit a little more Left arm behind you, like a rudder" He stopped in front of Matthew again "Sword tip pointed Slightly higher than the hilt all right, that&039;s good Now you&039;re going to stretch forth your right arht foot as far as you can, keeping left arm, body, and sword in line Thrust atbefore his sword broke the circle, it was knocked aside by Greathouse&039;s blade

"again," Greathouse said "Keep your body in line Don&039;t lift your left foot or let it drag and when I say thrust, I don&039;tfor economy of motion; speed will come later"

Once more Matthew thrust, once more his sas nearly knocked from his hand

"I held it!" he said proudly "Did you seei"

"Yes, le step forward, his blade caain Matthew&039;s hand spasmed open and the sword stabbed dirt ten feet away