But what if he picked up the bottle and threw it at the same time he made the fleche? His opponent would have to duck, and this might throw him off his balance.
He stopped when he got opposite the wine bottle. He looked at it for a second while de Bergerac waited. Then, his left hand opened, and he sighed.
The Frenchman smiled, and he bowed a little.
“My compliments, monsieur. I was hoping that you would not succumb to temptation and try something dishonorable. This is a matter to be settled with the blade alone.
“I salute you for understanding this. And I salute you as the greatest duelist I’ve ever met, and I’ve met many of the best. It is so sad, so very sad, and utterly regrettable that this, the most magnificent of all duels, unsurpassed anywhere or anytime, should be seen by only us. What a pity! No, it is not a pity. It is a tragedy, a great loss to the world!”
Burton noted that the fellow’s speech was slightly slurred. That was to be expected. But was the wily Frenchman exaggerating the effects of the alcohol to make Burton overconfident?
“I agree with you in principle,” Burton said, “and I thank you for your compliments. I also must say that you’re the greatest swordsman I’ve ever met. However, monsieur, you spoke a little while ago about my long-windedness. I believe that, though you may be my equal in swordplay, you are my superior in gabbiness.”
The Frenchman smiled. “I am as facile with my tongue as with my sword. I gave as much pleasure to the reader of my books and the hearer of my voice as to the spectator of my fencing. I forgot that you are a reticent Anglo-Saxon, monsieur. So I will let my blade speak for me from now on.”
“I’ll bet you do,” Burton said. “En garde!”
Their epees clashed again in thrust, in parry, in riposte, in counterriposte. But each had perfect defense in keeping the proper distance, in the timing, in the calculation, in the decision, and in coordination.
Burton could feel the poisons of fatigue and booze and knew that they must be slowing him down and affecting his judgment. But certainly they were working with equal or greater effect on his foe.
And then, as Burton parried a thrust toward his left upper arm and riposted with his point at de Bergerac’s belly, he saw something coming in the doorway by the grand staircase. He leaped far backward and shouted, “Stop!”
De Bergerac saw that Burton was looking past him. He jumped backward to be far enough away from Burton if he were trying to trick him. And he saw the water flowing in a thin layer through the doorway.
He said, breathing hard, “So! The boat has sunk to our deck, Monsieur Burton. We do not have long. We must make an end to this very quickly.”
Burton felt very tired. His breathing was harsh. His ribs felt as if knives were pricking them.
He advanced on the Frenchman, intending to make a running glide. But it was de Bergerac who did so. He exploded, seeming to have summoned from somewhere in his narrow body a burst of energy. Perhaps he had spotted finally a weakness in Burton’s defense. Or he thought he had. Or he believed that he was the faster now that weariness had slowed his opponent more than it had him.
Whatever his reasons, he miscalculated. Or he may have performed perfectly. But Burton suddenly knew, by de Bergerac’s body language, certain subtle muscular actions, a slight squinching of the eyes, what the Frenchman intended to do. He knew because he had been ready to do the same, and he’d had to suppress his body language, the signals, which would tell his foe his next move.
De Bergerac came at him in the running glide, a sliding thrust along the opponent’s blade with a slight pressure. It was sometimes used to surprise and might have succeeded if Burton had not been ready, had not, in a sense, been looking into a mirror of himself preparing for the same maneuver.
The successful flash required surprise, speed, and mastery over the opponent’s weapon. D/e Bergerac had the speed, but the surprise was missing, and so he lost the mastery.
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201