Von

Von was not thinking of his upcoming match. It was not that his confidence was such that he believed that he could not lose, only that there were more pressing matters in the moment. The two of them were alone in that tent before his match and Talla’s gaze had been aimed at the ground since the events at Green Hall. There were many questions he would have asked her about his opponent, were he given the chance, but this was not the moment. Her silence betrayed her feelings of hurt, and her curled fist betrayed her anger.

When she finally spoke, Von was ready to listen. “They always warned us against leaving Bosque. We were only encouraged to leave on official business. It’s part of the reason I became interested in swordsmanship, to be frank. There is no law forbidding it—not as though they would have the manpower to enforce it—but you are shamed for doing so if you leave without Elder approval. Sometimes you will return to find you lost some privileges, that your house was damaged slightly…and that you are the target of mockery.” Talla’s shoulders slumped and she shook her head. “They used to tell us that elves that went outside Bosque were foolish creatures. That the world was poison to our minds, that it twisted us. At a time I believed it. Now, I…”

She could not bring herself to finish, and Von placed a firm hand on her shoulder from behind. “You will have your chance to obtain that title by sunset today, my fair lady. Second son I might be, but a Redgrave is not to allow injustice to befall a lady such as yourself.” He tightened his grip. “I will win this match. I swear it.”

Talla reached for his hand but did not turn around to meet his eyes. She nodded slowly. “My lord, my fear is not that the title might escape my grasp.” She regarded her own hands as if seeing them for the first time. “My fear is that these fingers of mine might not want to reach for it anymore. To hold such a title, to champion people who treat me such, is that what my heart desires?”

“I do not know your heart nor do I profess to know better.” Von chose his next words carefully. “Only you can choose your path. I cannot help you in making that choice, but I can help in ensuring that there is one.”

“Aye, my lord, you will.” She paused and gripped his hand tightly. “Don’t worry about me. I will be fine. It is not as though the Elders represent all of Bosque. May the Chain and the Fire watch over you. Ah,” Talla turned around in a quick realization, “You do not follow the Master Gods—my apologies.”

Von shook his head. “It is no trouble, my lady. My mother is from the Ironlands and I have grown up hearing stories about them. I may not believe in your gods, but your well-wishes are enough.”

He smiled and had nearly exited the tent when she called out to him. “Von,” she said. When we use each other’s names, we are an envoy and a lord no longer—for that moment, if nothing else. He turned around and waited anxiously, regarding the troubled elf as if seeing her for the first time.

“Yes, Talla?”

“Do as lords do and kill that pretender to my title,” she said, smiling. “If I may be so bold—I ask this of you not as the envoy of Bosque and not as a guest of Stormkeep. I ask this as your friend, if I can presume your friendship.”

Von considered his answer. I want her to know I mean it. “Though those five years elude me, the eighteen before then haunt me still. I was not a person of many friends and no one convinced me to leave the castle before, until you came along.” Though he knew his smile would still be described as sullen by some, he attempted at showing one anyhow. “You can presume my friendship until the end of this short human life, my lady.”

He had not told her but he had planned on giving her an additional gift with this duel. Moments before, he had negotiated an additional term with the Elders—he bet a sizable amount of gold against information. If I win, they have to tell me which of the Elders kept Talla away for the title. All of them were complicit in some fashion, but having them give up a name would likely allow Talla to gain some measure of retribution.

Talla

The Redgrave wool she wore attracted looks but she expected as much. The Evertree warmed the city enough to make her uncomfortable beneath the coat, but Talla meant to watch the duel with it for a reason. Let there be no doubt as to who I favor as the winner. Not many had come to watch the duel and she was not surprised by it. The Elders had likely not told anyone about it and chose the smallest arena for a reason, secluded from the rest of the city by thick branches and abandoned houses.

Kai glared at her coat, but said nothing when she sat beside him, only grunting and returning his glance to the arena where the two swordsmen warmed up.

“Von of Redgrave and his master are cowards,” Kai said.

Talla turned quickly to look at him. “What do you mean?”

“His rapier is much longer than when he fought me.” The elf gestured with his head at them. “Back then he used his technique and speed to mount a wall of attacks. Bleed me slowly. Rapiers come in all sorts of sizes, some are nearly mirrors of a smallsword. That large rapier suggests to me that Redgrave still hasn’t recovered his speed and technique from before he lost his memories.”

He was right but Talla said nothing. They knew equal amounts of swordsmanship but Kai had more experience fencing against Von specifically. He went on as if Talla had acknowledged his theory. “Even smaller rapiers can parry large blades like longswords. It is closer to leverage than size, and a large rapier can rival a longsword in weight.”

But not in balance. Thrusting swords have their weight focused on their hilt to deliver faster thrusts while longswords will have heavier blades themselves. But Talla did not want to elaborate aloud.

“Using a larger rapier like that is helpful because it facilitates keeping your opponent at range…but it will slow you down. Redgrave must not be as strong as he once was. Useless.” He grunted at first, then he flashed a grin. “It is good to know he is weakening. I have revisited the crystal of our match many times since.”

He still dreams of a rematch, Talla thought. But that day will never come. Not with his injuries. The thought hurt her. Kai was her best and oldest friend still, even if at times he could test her nerves. Knowing that his mind spiraled downward was a concern. “Rei is a good swordsman,” Talla said, finally speaking up for the first time. “But I believe that Von will win.”

“Rei,” Kai muttered, “has my Heartbeat. The Elders stole it from me when I was unconscious…said the ancestral Heartbeat needed to go for someone who can fence.” He grunted. “I suppose he can keep it for now.”

Talla nodded. She had informed Von as much beforehand. “The Valor Heartbeat…”

It was the same Heartbeat had used to fight Von a long time ago. The Forbidden Heartbeat that Bosque kept hidden in its treasury. Its effect was deceptively simple: it stoked the flames of ambition in one’s heart. Every wound would cause them to feel more ambitious, to be more devoured by their desires. Soon enough that resulted in them disregarding safety, going for attacks that they knew were too dangerous, even if it meant their own deaths.

It was a horrifying Heartbeat that attacked the mind of its target.

The intensity of each strike would depend on the target as well as the tuning. Worst of all, its effect would grow stronger with each strike. “How did Rei tune it?” Talla muttered.

Kai shook his head. “I do not know. The fool seems to think he doesn’t need my permission to tune my Heartbeat the way I want it to. Idiot doesn’t understand it at all…that Heartbeat is a bad matchup here.”

Von

“I bear no dislike for you, Von of Redgrave,” Rei of Bosque said, falling into position and drawing his rapier—a blade of similar size as Von’s. “But you understand that honor demands an elf is the one to slay Vandyr.”

Von stepped forward and also fell into position. “I understand it. Honor is also why I rise to this challenge, noble opponent.”

They nodded at each other and both thundered, “Begin!”

It was a curious arena to fight in. Mostly even solid ground, though there were occasional dips where your foot would sink deeper into the otherwise hard soil than you meant for it to. This would allow for greater speed than Von had used in his duel against Ardente, but it also meant the same for his opponent.

Valor Heartbeat versus my Winter Heartbeat. Von had tuned his ability to its lowest as usual, requiring only one hit for an effect that lasted one second. What would Rei have gone with? That would likely depend on the specifics of how the Heartbeat worked, and Talla herself seemed sort of vague on the details. Considering the Elders’ actions earlier, it would not surprise me if they kept secrets from her. If the effect lasted a single second, then this sudden dark ambition in his heart would not be of concern, and thus his opponent would have likely tuned it for a higher duration. But if the effect truly became stronger with every move, as Talla suspected…

He drew a deep breath. Regardless, the first step is the same.

Von advanced toward his opponent. He brought his front foot forward first, landed it carefully, then brought his back foot beneath his hip and bent his knees. His opponent did not react. Regardless of the tuning of their Heartbeats, whoever scored the first hit would hold a large advantage over the other, and with both wielding similar swords this would be a careful approach.

Drawing first blood is a complicated matter.

The safest choice is to defend and engage in a counterattack, but if your opponent refuses to attack as well you two are driven to a standstill until one’s nerves or guard breaks first. This is a complicated setup and hardly ideal to deal with.

“Really not planning on attacking first, are you?” Von muttered.

From across him, Rei grinned and said, “Of course not. Are you?”

“Duels of endurance often come down to maturity as a swordsman,” Master Cycle said. “And experience. Don’t try them...not right now, anyhow. I know it seems counterproductive given the style you are aiming for, but trust me on this one. Defending against an attacker and defending against a defender are two different things.”

“Should I avoid them at any costs, then?” Von asked. “Since my experience level is so low?”

“Don’t run away from them…recklessly escaping could just make you an easy target. But do try not to let it be dragged to that level. Even a weaker swordsman than you would probably beat you there, just like how you beat Ardente. Remember, the weaker swordsman doesn’t always lose. It’s about—”

“Probabilities. Right.”

Master Cycle nodded. “To put it simply, the longer a stalemate goes on for, the more likely it is that one side is going to make a mistake. That’s just statistics. If both of you have a certain chance of making a mistake per minute, and the moment stretches for a few minutes, whoever has the greatest margin of error is gonna fuck up first, get it kid? And even though you are improving a lot, you are still sort of new to this.” Master Cycle held up a finger. “But! If you can make them attack while you defend…then the god of probabilities is going to favor you.”

“But what do I do if my opponent refuses to attack me?”

His Master appeared very pleased about his upcoming answer.

“Yes,” Von said calmly, “I am.”

He advanced forward quickly and straightened his back leg to explode into a lunge forward, arm extended forward. The attack missed, having come from slightly too far, but Rei retreated backward just the same. This was by design. Von knew he was just outside his range for a lunge to the arm to land, but by the same token he was also slightly too far to be hit. He is afraid of my attack. He’s going to retreat. Good.

Von moved his sword arm—his right arm—to his right, and angled his wrist inward. This was an angled approach that lost him some range, but could get around his opponent’s sword guard and aim at his wrist. It was very difficult to hit such a small target, but the hand and wrist were the closest targets to any attack in a duel between swordsmen and as such it had to be respected.

Truthfully, Von was still not very adept at hitting such a small target, but that was irrelevant. It doesn’t matter if I can hit your hand or not…because you can’t afford to find out. You have to defend as if my attack would land. Rei had doubtlessly heard of Von’s Heartbeat in detail from Kai, and he knew even a single wound from the Lord of Stormkeep could snowball into a shift in momentum.

Like slipping down a snowy mountain, Von thought, a wave of confidence swelling up inside him, that is what dueling me should feel like. Make one mistake, I will draw two more out of you. Make two, and I will draw out four. All I need is one opening…and you know that. So you are going to let that fear guide your steel.

And Von was going to guide that fear.

Rei was going to be afraid of his attacks, and this would drive him even further into defense. That was exactly what Von wanted. Rei would be looking for the chance to counterattack, but Von would not give it to him. His attacks would all fall short on purpose, as attacking from out of range meant that neither could he connect but neither could Rei counter—at least not without committing to an attack. To close that distance in a counter, Rei would need to step forward after Von missed, and this would be a disastrous move if Von had actually attacked from inside the right range for once.

And here, Von attacked from the right range. Had Rei not retreated as he had before, he would have been hit. Of course, the man had been stepping out of range out of caution all this time, so there was no chance this lunge would have connected, much like the others. But that was just as well.

Von’s attacks hadn’t been meant to draw out blood, but rather to draw out sanity.

“Imagine you are the defender,” said Master Cycle. “You are dodging every attack, but you cannot counter them because most of them come from out of range. Worst of all, you see the occasional attack that is from inside your actual range, meaning a reckless counter is going to end in your death. Sure, you know that your opponent is tiring themselves out, but so are you—not just physically, but mentally too. It is taxing to worry about if the next attack will be another false-range attack or if it will be true.

“Now, as your nerves start to crack, you start to wonder—what if I make a mistake and can’t properly avoid the next move? Fencing is just about probabilities, after all. Anything can happen in a duel. So you start to let fear guide you. You start to wonder if you can punish their move, finish the fight quickly. But you tell yourself, ‘No, that would be reckless. He hasn’t been giving me enough opportunities to think that.’ And then, suddenly…your opponent starts giving you those opportunities. What do you think will happen then, Von?

“If you cannot break their defense, break their minds.”

Von took a large step forward and stopped just inside Rei’s change…and did not attack. Instead, he smiled at Rei’s shocked expression and retreated. If he had attacked just now, I couldn’t have escaped, Von thought. And he knows that too. But he thinks that was a one-off, a taunt, something he won’t see again. That’s exactly why—

Von stepped forward once more, once more making himself a target, and stepped backward to safety. He noticed the look of frustration in Rei’s face. Good…get frustrated. Von had not changed his style at all. He was still a defensive fencer at heart. However, defense required the ability to make attacks your opponent feared.

Lobo had taught him that. I will take that loss and become stronger for it, Von thought, roaring in his heart. Now—!

Von stepped forward aggressively and noticed Rei’s sword pointing forward in a stop-hit, and that the elf had taken a smaller step to stay within range. You fell for it. With your arm extended like that—!

Extended arms have less strength behind them, but also less maneuverability. Von took advantage of this to execute the move Master Cycle had taught him, the bind. To bind a blade means to get the tip of your own sword around theirs in such an angle that by pushing your attack forward their blade is not only pushed out of the way but also locked out of movement due to simple physics and leverage. To wit: Vons’ blade approached Rei’s from underneath, spinning the tip clockwise until it was at a roughly one o’clock position—perhaps more or less rotation would have been better—so that by pushing forward his opponent could not block the attack.

That was the theory, anyhow.

In practice, Von’s bind was not perfect.

A perfect bind needs to use the proper parts of the sword. The part closest to the hilt, the forte, is firmer and stronger than the part near the tip, the foible. Thus, a bind usually occurs by using forte-to-foible, or at least forte to the halfway point. Von’s blade unfortunately caught his opponent’s in a forte-to-forte approach, meaning that despite the advanced leverage, it became less of an elegant attack and more of a power struggle. Both swordsmen rushed to each other, now standing close enough their heads were nearly pressed against each other, and both swords locked in a struggle to their side. If I had been Von of the Past, I would have executed that perfectly, Von grimaced, but I am still learning. It was painful to know what the right move was but to still fail at executing it.

“I will see you in the finals,” Lobo said.

A jolt of determination rushed to him. Still locked in that position, Von turned his hips and shot his hand forward in a punch as Lobo had done to him. I am still learning, Von grinned. With every loss, every move used against me… He punched him again. I AM GETTING STRONGER! Another punch.

“S—shit,” Rei muttered. “I have to—”

“VON!” Talla shouted from the stands.

Immense pain ran through his left shoulder and Von found himself hastily planting his left foot against Rei’s stomach to separate the fencers with a kick and move away from the man. This intense pain he had only felt once before—he had been wounded. But how? Von thought, his vision tunneled into the fight. His blade was locked outside, and to my right. It couldn’t have hit my shoulder.

It was then that he saw it. Rei stood across from him, breathing heavily and hunched over from the punches to his stomach, sword in his right hand…and a bloody dagger in his left.

“Honorless coward!” Von cried out in pain. “You dare bring a dagger to a single rapier contest?”

“The Elders said that as the duel was hastily agreed to, exact terms weren’t set.” Rei did not appear happy with this. The terms were not explicitly stated, but had been strongly implied—to the point that breaking them was a severe breach of honor. Hardly anyone states the point formally, because they would be seen as craven for hiding a weapon in their pocket at the start of a duel. “I meant to defeat you with a single rapier, but you forced my hand. You have my apologies and my respect, Von of Redgrave, for driving me this far. It is plain to see why you managed to defeat Kai.”

Don’t—mock me. Von’s fury was stronger than his pain. How dare you? “Craven bastard,” Von cursed, “you shame your kind by using such strategies as their champion!”

“It would shame them more to lose,” Rei replied, gritting his teeth. “Thus…forgive me, Von of Redgrave. But one must do as their duty commands them. Heed my call, Valor Heartbeat!” His eyes widened. “Show me the elusive human’s greed!”

Von’s own heart started to race. Is this a bluff? Does he really only need one hit to trigger? Or is he just pretending to call it forth so that I hesitate and question my own feelings? Unlike Von’s Winter or Ardente’s Flaming, emotional Heartbeats like Rei’s were nearly invisible to everyone—including their target. This could be a bluff.

But then, if it was one, why did Von feel so inclined to throw away his safety right now? Why did he want to drive his sword through the other man and watch him fall to the ground? Why was he so furious?

Not too long ago, Von had been a very mild man. Serious when he needed to, but more likely to stay inside his room and read books in solitude if he could. His most intense emotions would come when reading about the adventures of others, not when experiencing his own. Even now, when interaction with people like Master Cycle and Talla had pushed him towards a more assertive direction, he was hardly a very explosive person. I like to read. I like to enjoy the stars. To swim in the river during those brief days of summer. To enjoy the hot springs. He was not the person he felt like right then. This wasn’t right. The Heartbeat is taking effect already. My ambitions…my desires…they are taking over. Reducing my self-preservation. I cannot be hit again. My mind must rule the heart, not the other way around. Pain intensified, and he felt another impulsive jolt to attack. No…no…he’s a defensive fencer. Don’t do that!

He drew a deep breath. No point in getting upset…let’s focus. This was going to be difficult.

It wasn’t just the fact that the enemy had drawn a surprise weapon, but rather that the dagger amplified the rapier’s effectiveness many times over. In a binding situation, even if your blade was controlled, it could be used as an additional parry tool or as something to use in close ranges like that. Usually, the strategy for this is to counterattack them…but if Rei is a defensive fencer and he already got the first hit, there is no way I can just sit back defensively and counter him. Especially not when he had already suffered the first beat of Valor, and had started to lose his ability to hold back his emotions. No, he would need another strategy. But what—

Insane thoughts came to him. Thoughts that never would have occurred to him were it not for the influence of the Heartbeat, he was sure. I cannot feel bad about this, Von considered, for these mad thoughts came from this man’s ability. This strengthened his resolve.

“Have your dagger if you would like,” Von declared dismissively, “have ten if you’d like, craven! They will do you no good. Watch me carefully!”

End of Chapter 10,

"If you cannot break their defense, break their minds."