Free Inheritance by Simon Brown Page A

as hot as he had in the open arena. He nodded to Dejanus, his opponent in this session of real weapon fencing. Lynan enjoyed his practice sessions against the Life Guard; the man was as fast as a whip, and Lynan was already two points down.
    “Ready, your Highness?”
    In reply, Lynan pulled down his visor. Dejanus did the same. Kumul, standing on the sideline, called “Start!” Lynan flicked his blade against that of Dejanus, who brought his own weapon across to defend his body. Before the Life Guard could react, Lynan swept the blade underneath and over, and lunged. His sword point sank into the padding over Dejanus’ chest.
    “Wound!” Kumul shouted. “That’s two counts for the prince, three for Dejanus.” The pair separated. “Start!” Kumul said.
    Lynan tried the same maneuver, but Dejanus foiled it simply by stepping back as he brought his sword across. Lynan lunged, but his point was short of the target by a finger’s length. His opponent overreached, Dejanus quickly took one step forward and lunged in return. Lynan knew he was in trouble halfway through his attack, and brought his sword down and perpendicular to the line of his body, catching Dejanus’ thrust just in time. He brought his sword up, forcing Dejanus’ weapon across from his right to his left and lunged a second time. Dejanus parried easily by copying Lynan’s tactic, and the two blades slid against each other. Both men stood erect and each retreated a step, their weapons held out in guard, their tips touching ever so lightly. Lynan tapped, Dejanus held steady. Dejanus feinted to Lynan’s right, but the prince moved his sword only enough to parry it. They carefully watched each other’s eyes, not the weapons. Lynan smiled slightly, Dejanus responded. Lynan stamped his foot, lunged, but kept his blade in guard. Dejanus hastily retreated a step and parried the strike that never came. Lynan used his back leg to send him into a second lunge and this time sent his point in to the padding over Dejanus’ heart.
    “Kill!” Kumul shouted.
    Dejanus slung his sword under his arm so its hilt was showing to the prince. “Excellent point, your Highness.”
    “Don’t feed his pride,” Kumul said lightly, but he, too, had been impressed by the maneuver. It was not one he had taught the prince.
    Dejanus laughed and held out his left hand. Lynan took it and thanked him for the exercise. “You are at the point now when you could take on the constable himself.”
    Lynan blushed. Coming from such an experienced swordsman as Dejanus, it was high praise indeed.
    “That would be an interesting bout,” said Ager, entering the stalls. The crookback, who was now a captain in the Royal Guards and spent his days training the troops, often watched the young royals at their own training, which was still personally supervised by Kumul. He paid special attention to Lynan.
    “Even more interesting would be a bout between you and the prince,” Kumul said to Ager.
    “Now that would be something to see!” Dejanus declared. He had trained several times with Ager and had learned to respect the crookback’s fighting skills. Since joining the Royal Guards, he had seemed to grow in stature. Partly that was due to the better diet combined with the real exercise he now enjoyed while training recruits, the latter something the crookback would have found impossible before Usharna had worked her magic on his wounds. Mostly, though, it was his renewed pride that most changed him and his appearance. His hair was close-cropped to a gray fuzz and his manner had become more confident. Ager Parmer was a new man.
    “I’m willing to try my hand against the captain,” Lynan said, eager to show off his skills to Ager.
    Ager glanced at Kumul, who nodded back. “Very well. But my choice of weapons.”
    “Of course,” Lynan agreed readily, confident after his win against Dejanus.
    Ager went to a basket of blades standing in one corner. He withdrew a short sword and hefted it