Weaponry

“Boy, this is tough.” Dave dropped with exhaustion to the ground. He had been fencing with Josh, and the two of them were puffing from the exercise.

Sir Nolen had stood near them, giving either who lagged the flat of his sword on the bottom.

Josh felt that his arms were going to fall off and was relieved when the knight said, “That'll do for now, but I'll be back in twenty minutes for more practice.”

The young men had been practicing for days now. They had struggled with every kind of hand-held medieval weapon imaginable—knife, broadsword, foil, rapier, pike, halberd, and always, of course, the lance on horseback.

Dave and Josh were able to sit on a horse after a fashion but never had shown any talent for jousting. It was Reb who still excelled at this, growing more skilled each day. Wash and Jake floundered around with smaller weapons, never doing any damage to anyone—except that Jake once put a dagger through his own leg.