Lost (23 page)

SOME NOTES ON SWORDCRAFT
BY
ROWAN FORESTAL

(learned from Kerrn, captain of the Dawn Palace guards)

Swordcrafting is the art of fighting with the sword.

Though swordcrafting is an art, it is not for dueling and not for show. It is for fighting. If you are not prepared to fight, then you should not take up swordcrafting.

The four elements of swordcrafting are distance, perception, timing, and technique.

Quickness can defeat strength.

Cleverness can defeat strength.

Strategy is one thing. Tactics are something else.

SOME TERMS

EIGHTS
High parries.

KEEP YOUR GUARD UP
The sword is a defensive weapon as well as an offensive one; every defensive move and every offensive move comes from a basic position of readiness.

PARRY
A defensive move; a block; moving your opponent’s blade aside with your own.
Three notes on parries:
One, parry
with the flat of the blade, not the edge. Two, parry to deflect your opponent’s blade, not chop it in half. Three, the best parry is the beginning of an attack (see
riposte
).

PELL
A training post made of wood; a target.

QUARTERS
Low parries.

RIPOSTE
An attack made immediately after a parry.

SALLE
A training room.

STOP-THRUST
An attack made into the opponent’s forward motion.

WASTER
A wooden practice weapon; a practice sword.

My editors, Antonia Markiet and Melanie Donovan, and my agent, Caitlin Blasdell. And the HarperCollins team: publisher Susan Katz, associate editor Greg Ferguson, associate editor Alyson Day, editorial director Phoebe Yeh, copy editor Kathryn Silsand, designer Sasha Illingworth, artist Antonio Javier Caparo, publicist Cindy Hamilton, sales reps (the ones I’ve met so far) John Zeck, Sue Farr, and Rick Starke.

To my first readers and dear friends: Jenn Reese, Heather Shaw, Greg van Eekhout, Steph Burgis, and Chance Morrison.

To my twin, Sandra McDonald. And to Haddayr Copley-Woods.

To the Dragons of the Corn, the best critique group in eastern Iowa: Lisa Bradley, Rachel Swirsky, Cassie Krahe, and Deb Coates.

To the Blue Heaven crew: Charlie Finlay, Bill Shunn, Paolo Bacigalupi, Holly McDowell, Heather Shaw, Rae Dawn Carson, Toby Buckell, Paul Melko, Ian Tregillis. But I don’t thank the tick.

To Maud and Theo.

Most of all, to John, the best husband in the world, and still a very decent critiquer.

Jacket art © 2009 by Antonio Javier Caparo

Jacket design by Sasha Illingworth