A Matter Of Delicacy

The Test

     Outside the footmen had cleared the garden, as if they knew what was about to happen. Even the carriage we had arrived in was gone and I saw the last gardener's foot disappear around the side of the house. All that was left was a gilt wooden chair on the stone porch for the Princess. She sank into it, taking the glass of wine that a lady in waiting offered her and drinking gratefully. I stood there, unsure of what to do. Lady Bruce had slipped back into her tribe of ladies and was now once again the life and soul of the group, mothering the younger ones and gossiping loudly with her compatriots. I was left with no idea how to proceed.
     'Miss Wentworth!' Princess Caroline called me over. I went quickly and bent down to listen to her. 'This is your moment to prove to me that you really are what you say you are, and not some charlatan begging for a home and a salary.' She pointed into the garden and I saw one of the few guards she had standing in the middle of the law. 'Defeat him, and you have a job.'
     I glanced at Lady Bruce, was she serious? Was I really to show off my skills in front of all of these women, like a common street magician playing with balls and cups to prove his gifts to children?
     It was undignified.
     But Lady Bruce only raised an eyebrow. Did she want me to fail?
     Lady Sarah Lynton came up to me and held out my scabbard, retrieved from the carriage. I took it slowly, feeling the trusted worn leather of the pommel and the light balance of the blade that I knew so well.
     Slowly, I made my way down the stone steps onto the lawn and towards the guard. He was a big man, perhaps 6 foot 3, and as stocky as a farm hand. But he was also uncomfortable in his tight red uniform and I could see he avoided putting too much weight on his left leg, as if he had an old wound there. Standing opposite him, I nodded respectfully. He frowned, I guessed it was not every day that he was asked to fight a young woman. I made the decision easy for him, pulling my smallsword slowly free and throwing the scabbard away onto the grass.
     I had always preferred the smallsword to other kinds of sword. It was favoured by the navy as it was easy to handle and small enough to use on a ship. Compared to many other swords used in personal protection it was less eye-catching than many of the foreign swords and worked just as well. If someone found it they would simply think a naval officer had come to visit and had mislaid it, not that there was a twenty-year-old woman training to be a lethal weapon in the next room.
     The guard I was facing slowly backed off and levelled his pike at me.
     I almost laughed, who used pikes anymore? The long spears were reminiscent of Tudor times, and I had never seen one outside a museum. This house was getting stranger and stranger at every moment.
     I stepped back into a fighting stance, bringing my left hand up in a fist to shield my face and to add swing to my right hand, holding my sword level with my shoulder. The fabric of my dress pulled tight against my knee, and I started to regret not wearing my split dress or fighting coat.
The guard lunged at me, jabbing with the pike and I stepped aside quickly, flicking the point of my sword against the shaft and sending it flying off-course. The guard grappled with it, limping on his left leg. While he was disorientated I crouched and kicked at his ankles, making him yell in pain and fall. But he was quicker than I had first realised and was on his feet again by the time I was a safe five meters away. He changed his handle on the pike, grasping it in both hands horizontally instead. A good move; it would be harder to disarm him with a solid base and he could use it to parry my sword. I lunged forward, stabbing at his left hand and my sword bit into the flesh. He winced and brought it around, swinging the pike's sharp end towards my face. I saw it coming out of the corner of my eye and ducked, turning on my heel and kicking out at him. My foot connected with his stomach and he staggered back, winded but still holding the pike tightly. Turning, he faced me side on with the sharp end of the pike close to me. He jabbed, almost scratching at my face but I batted it away with the flat of my blade, using the swing of it to again get close. Bringing my sword close to my face I used my elbow to give his shoulder an extra push to send him off guard again. While he staggered away, I took a running jump and landed solidly on his back. He fell, thudding into the ground and pinning the pike underneath his body. I placed my left knee between his shoulder blades and held my sword against his neck. He struggled slightly, trying to pull his arms out from underneath him but eventually gave up, resting his forehead in the grass.
     I heard clapping from up on the veranda and pulled myself off the guard's back, offering him a hand as he rolled over. He scowled at me and pushed himself to his feet on his own, taking the pike and stalking back to his position where he stood staring into the trees behind me.
I pursed my lips; his pride was hurt that was all, though I could see his leg was paining him again. I made a mental note to ask Lady Bruce about it.
     'Very good Miss Wentworth.' Princess Caroline clapped daintily. 'But sadly, it is not the occasional lone guard you will be up against.'
     I turned and saw a group of four other guards round the corner, each with pikes and one with a small handgun. I sighed; she was not making this easy for me.
     Before they had a chance to properly get into stance, I ran at the one with the handgun, took a flying leap and landed curled over his shoulders, bearing him down into the ground. There was a cry of shock from under my stomach and as I lay over his face, I brought my fist down on his wrist, three times until the handgun jerked away. Pushing myself off him I rolled to avoid a pike jab from another guard, grabbed the gun by the barrel and clubbed the man on the ground with it. His head lolled and he didn't move.
     Another pike sailed through the air towards me. I lifted my hand over my head and caught it, using it to pull myself up into a jump and the momentum gave me more force to hit the second guard with the gun. Unlike the first he didn't go down, only staggered and yanked the pike out of my grip. Another guard used my focus to hit me over the back with his pike. I staggered, the pain a dull ache across my shoulder blades. Taking my sword I turned and slashed through the air, more to get some space to think than to do any real damage. Three guards, all with pikes. How to get rid of the pikes?
     Slowly, I tucked my sword into the belt around my waist. The guards frowned and glanced up at the Princess, who leant forwards, eyes flashing intently.
     Jumping into action I grabbed the end of one pike in each hand and used them to push the guards towards each other, slamming their bodies together. The third came up behind me and I bent forward, kicking my leg out backwards and into his stomach. He stumbled back and dropped the pike.
     I led the two piked guards in a strange dance. They tried to get their pikes off me, but I used their movement against them, pulling the pikes over my head and turning, arms cross over my chest. At this angle I could climb up the body of the third guard, one foot on his knee, one on his shoulder, and flip off him back onto the ground, letting go of the pikes in the air so the guards on the other side fell in a tangle. The other guard had been pushed back by my jump and now I freed my sword and touched the point to his chest. He stared up and me, hands splayed on either side of him and nodded once.
     Leaving him, I knelt on the pile of bodies that was the two other guards. They squirmed and tried to throw me off but a solid foothold on the ground and the added irritant of their pikes twisted in the mix meant they were soon exhausted. One of them growled, 'alright, you demon woman, we understand.'
     I stood off them and turned back to the Princess, wiping the dirt of my blade.
     Princess Caroline finally looked impressed, though the other ladies clumped together and whispered, looking at me out of the corners of their eyes.
     'Sarah,' Princess Caroline stood and nodded to me. 'Show Miss Wentworth the house.'