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Scarlet laughed, slapped his shoulder, and shook hi circle "What is this I see, no armor, no braces? Am I to spar with you or a dareatly noticeable"

"I trust you will not steal the heart from my chest" Phillipe removed his jacket and rolled up his sleeves "After all, it is not Italian"

"Lucky for you," Scarlet said, more soberly

"A poor jest, Will" Phillipe tied his hair back with a strip of leather "How fares your e" The seneschal sighed as he pulled on his belt and buckled it "Per as he does not run out of arrows"

Phillipe scanned the long, barricaded corridor of the lists, but saw no unfamiliar faces "The Saracens do not train, then"

"They are heathens, not idiots" Scarlet waited until Phillipe stood ready, and then stepped into the circle and drew his sword, bringing it up before his face in a foruard, Navarre"

Phillipe so often trained with Cyprien, who favored fighting with tords, that it took him one round to adjust his balance and blocks Soathered around in a loose circle to observe and shout their encourage, then?" Will asked as he thrust his blade at Phillipe’s ribs Steel clanged as their swords clashed together and Phillipe forced him back a step "It must be your pretty face that bespells them, my friend, for it cannot be these ham-handed techniques"

"Step outside the circle by one hair’s width," Phillipe told hi had its rhythms and levels, as did a familiar opponent Scarlet tended to disdain the custoht, but he would switch directions without warning and liked to follow a feint with a lethally swift thrust Phillipe kneas a fraction slower than Locksley’s seneschal, but he hadto make them Had they been huave theitimate duels betell-matched Kyn could last for five or six hours

"If you intend to lurk instead of fight," Scarlet said testily, "I have bows to string and arrows to fletch"

Phillipe started to reply, and then jerked his head to one side to avoid losing an ear His counterthrust came more from instinct than intention, and his sword pierced Scarlet’s wrist, the steel tip exiting his forearm halfway to his elbow

"Damn me" Phillipe yanked his blade out of the otherthe sword in the dirt With a grimace, Scarlet did the same "Did I crack the bone?"

"No, but your steel bestowed a cold kiss upon it" Scarlet stepped out of the circle and accepted a length of white linen fro "Your responses are twice as fast as they were the last tiularly"

"Four or five nights a week since summer," Phillipe adh lord, but no I think he battles more inner demons"

"A familiar ailment" Scarlet neur to spar withmy master"

Reassured that he had not seriously harmed his friend, Phillipe accompanied him to the benches By the tierly flexing his fingers For a while they watched the other seneschal duel, wrestle, and fight bare-handed

Scarlet hooted as an Irishman disarmed two Spaniards with one sweep of his blade "God’s teeth, but that was handy"

"I’ve fought him He’s clever but reckless," Phillipe said As if to confirer quickly defeated the Irish first in the pas d’armes with the blade?"

"If I do not take on all corinned "Jayr"

Phillipe tried to rele co but the joust"

"We could goad her into it," Scarlet suggested "When I see her next I will challenge her When she refuses, I will mention that her back has turned a lovely shade of yellow, and you may remark that it conceals her lack of spine"

Phillipe knew that his friend did not speak seriously, and was as fond of Jayr as was hishiht you did not wish to spar with damsels"

Scarlet scoffed out some air "Jayr eats dahed "She also keeps the Realht as a Prussian’s ti her a jardin of her own"

The thought of a wo as suzerain seemed a bit ludicrous to Phillipe "No one would accept her rule"

"You’ve seen her wield a blade" When Phillipe shrugged, Scarlet added, "You’ve never sparred with her, have you? You should It is an education in humility"