Evil for Evil
Chapter One
"The way to a man's heart," Valens quoted, drawing the rapier from
its scabbard, "is proverbially through his stomach, but if you want
to get into his brain, I recommend the eye socket."
He moved his right arm into the third guard, concentrated for a
moment on the small gold ring that hung by a thread from the center
rafter of the stable, frowned and relaxed. Lifting the sword again,
he tapped the ring gently on its side, setting it swinging like a
pendulum. As it reached the upper limit of its swing and hung for a
fraction of a second in the air, he moved fluently into the lunge.
The tip of the rapier passed exactly through the middle of the ring
without touching the sides. Valens grinned and stepped back. Not
bad, he congratulated himself, after seven years of not practicing;
and his poor ignorant student wasn't to know that he'd cheated.
"There you go," he said, handing Vaatzes the rapier. "Now you try."
Vaatzes wasn't to know it was cheating; but Valens knew. The
exercise he'd just demonstrated wasn't the one he'd so grudgingly
learned, in this same stable, as a boy of fifteen. The correct form
was ... read full excerpt from Evil for Evil ebook
