The Duel

Claude went to the training ground and asked the Academy's swordmaster for a private duel after classes to see what flaws he might have with his swordsmanship. The instructor didn't hold back with Claude and yet Claude managed to get more than a few touches on him. After the practice bouts, he asked the instructor, "Can you tell me what the flaws with my sword are? I can't understand how I only managed to get a sixth-place score on the entrance exam."

The instructor looked him in the eye and said, "Your technique is good, your stamina is good, your strength and speed are good. If you have a flaw it is only that you are still human." He thought for a moment and said, "Those five you are worried about, I wasn't able to even see the strikes they landed on me and they didn't so much as break a sweat. The top sword this year? Lord Guy de Montfort? Just by holding his sword he makes you feel like every single move you make will end in failure. I have never faced a sword that scared me until I stood on the other side of that monster. That is why you are in sixth place. Any other year, we would be talking about you as a prodigy. You just had the miserable luck to come to the Academy the same year that the five greatest swordsmen in the history of Pays Des Abrutis attended."

Claude looked shocked, "He's really that good?"

The instructor nodded and then said, "The worst of the five was so far beyond me that I was embarrassed to be testing them. They use a style of sword similar to your own only more practiced and more fluid. Then they combine that with the speed and strength of two knights." Claude looked skeptical so the instructor said, "If you don't believe me, go find that monster and see if he'll give you some pointers. It'll be the shock that changes your world."

The next two days Claude looked for Lord Montfort but couldn't find him. It seemed that the group of geniuses were all members of the Order of the Rose and avoided the regular student body. Claude heard rumors that the whole group wasn't just amazing with the sword, but they were all peerless beauties. Claude had to know if this was all true so he started to hang around the library that was across from the Order of the Rose dining hall. One day while sitting there pretending to read a book about the history of El Pais De Lotharios he finally saw the group heading to the dining hall. He was mesmerized by the three women and shocked by the two men. It was just like they described, each of them was a peerless beauty, even the men.

Claude ran over and called out, "Lord Montfort! May I have a moment of your time?"

The taller of the two men stopped and turned to look at Claude. His face like the cold steel of a naked blade he said in an emotionless tone, "How can I help you Lord Rouvroy?"

Claude felt a shiver run down his spine, not only did this man who had never met him before know his name, he said as casually as if they were good friends. He cleared his throat and asked, "I was hoping I might have a moment of your time today for a spar, I am trying to sharpen my skills with the..."

He sighed and then interrupted Claude and said, "You want to know what the difference is between your skill with the sword and the top student, I know. It must break your heart to know that your skill only amounted to that much. Very well, I will meet you at the training ground this evening."

Alicia giggled and said, "Good luck Claude." She blew him a kiss and then continued into the dining hall.

Claude stood there in complete disbelief. The woman who knew his name and blew him a kiss was quite possibly the most beautiful woman in the world. He knew it was impossible to have forgotten meeting her which meant that she had taken the time to learn who he was. Another thought crashed into his thick skull, could the five of them already know who every single student in the school was? He knew that his skill with the sword hadn't caught anyone's attention and his poor showing on the other entrance exam was laughable at best. The only way they could casually speak his name like that was if they already knew who every student was, it proved to him that they were not to be provoked.

*****

As Claude walked out to the training ground he felt almost giddy with excitement. Today he was going to face the pinnacle of all swordsmanship in Pays Des Abrutis. Even the swordmaster at the greatest Academy in the Kingdom called him the Kingdom's greatest swordsman. When he arrived at the training ground the five geniuses were there along with an older man and two other shockingly beautiful people, a young tall man and a young woman. He felt more than a little intimidated by all of the beautiful women and ultra-handsome men. Claude wasn't an ugly man but compared to these people he was definitely the ugly one. He cleared his throat and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't know we were supposed to bring an audience."

Doreen snorted and said, "We came to make sure the brat doesn't kill you."

Claude chuckled and then looked from face to face, Diggory gave him a toothy grin and said, "No, we're serious."

Algernon nodded and said, "You really shouldn't have done that with his sister."

Claude started to sweat, he had been with several women, could one of them had been this monster's sister? Guy tossed him a heavy wooden practice sword and asked him, "Would you like to check mine before we begin? I will happily trade with you until you have one to your liking."

Claude started to sweat, maybe this was a test of cunning. If he took the sword in his own hand maybe that was a trick, however, if he took the sword in Montfort's hand, perhaps that was the trick so he asked, "May I see both?"

Claude tossed him the other sword and then Claude looked behind Guy and said, "Wow, just how short can a skirt be?" Guy turned his head to look and then Claude switched the swords and tossed one over to Guy, "Sorry, I was just thinking out loud about something I saw earlier."

Lord Montfort shrugged and then asked, "Are you ready to begin?"

Claude looked confident and then nodded. He never saw Guy move, but suddenly the sword in his hand dropped and a moment later his numb arm began to sting like it had been bitten by a tiger. Claude picked up the wooden sword and said, "Good touch. Again." Once again he dropped his sword only this time his other arm and the arm holding the sword began to sting. Claude was sure that Guy had never moved. He had stood as still as a statue both times. Each time Claude would rise to his feet and say, "Again." He would feel another part of his body sting as if it had been struck along with the hand holding the sword when he was finally unable to pick up his sword, he choked out, "Thank you for the pointers."

Claude felt as if he had been beaten by an entire troop of bandits carrying clubs. All of the people who had come to watch the spar laughed and said things like, "Lord Molester, even I couldn't follow your movements, why were you so hard on poor Claude?"

Lord Montfort just looked back at Claude and said, "You know why, you all know why... And it's Montfort. Are we really going to bring that joke back to life?" He then turned and walked away, an obvious scowl on his overly handsome face.

"It's the past, so it's still fresh." Olivier reminded him.