226. The Fair Helene
Amy decides to try distracting the fencer with conversation. Maybe this will open up an opportunity for a well-struck blow.
“You fight well, good sir! By what name might I call you?”
“And you, madam, are a credit to your sex! You fight as well as any woman I have ever known, save one. You may call me Guy, Guy de LaGrange!”
Amy continues crossing swords with Guy as she tries to maneuver the conversation toward something she can use. “And what maiden, pray tell, fights better than I?”
“Alas!” responds Guy, “She was my own true love! The fair lady Helene. We fought one another to a stalemate, and decided then and there that we were the perfect match for one another. But on the day we were to be wed she disappeared, leaving behind only a rose to remember her by. Since that day the rose has withered and blackened, and with it my heart.”
The swordsman is skilled enough at his craft, or Amy is unskilled enough at fencing, that he is able to go on about his love life without breaking his stride. Amy is just about backed into a corner, a large suit of armor looming behind her. Suddenly Amy is struck by a nasty thought. Perhaps she could seduce this swordsman into letting her by? She has the underwear for it back in the main hallway. But Amy isn’t really that sort of girl; maybe she should keep fighting and see where the duel leads?