Chapter 31: [31] No Such Thing as a Fair Fight
Hardy’s sword cleaved downward like a falling guillotine. The polished steel caught the morning light, casting fractured rainbows across the cobblestones as it descended toward Pierre’s skull.
Pierre didn’t retreat. He stepped forward and to the left, his pipe rising at a sharp angle. Metal rang against metal as the pipe caught the sword’s edge, deflecting the blade’s trajectory just enough to send it whistling past his right ear. The force of the deflection sent vibrations up both their arms, but Pierre was already moving.
Pierre’s left foot pivoted. His body rotated, slipping inside Hardy’s guard. The captain’s eyes widened. He’d braced for a clash of steel. Instead, his target simply wasn’t there.
Pierre’s pipe whipped horizontally toward Hardy’s ribs. The captain twisted backward, sucking in his gut as the rusted metal swept inches from his naval uniform. Hardy’s prosthetic leg snicked against the cobblestones as he adjusted his stance, the metallic sound sharp in the sudden silence.
"Stand still!" Hardy snarled, bringing his sword around in a vicious horizontal slash.
Pierre ducked low, the blade singing over his red hair. He rolled forward between Hardy’s legs, coming up behind the captain with his pipe already in motion. Hardy spun to face him, but the turn forced weight onto his prosthetic. Pierre caught the slight wince, the microscopic hesitation.
There.
The pipe struck out like a viper, targeting the junction where flesh met metal. Hardy jerked his leg back, but the movement threw him off balance. Pierre pressed the advantage, launching a series of quick jabs with the pipe—high, low, middle—each one forcing Hardy to shift his weight, to pivot, to rely on that mechanical limb.
"You fight like a coward!" Hardy roared, swinging his sword in wide arcs. "Face me properly!"
The blade missed Pierre by inches as he swayed backward, spine bending like a reed in wind. Hardy’s follow-up thrust came fast, but Pierre was already spinning away, forcing the captain to turn again, to plant that prosthetic foot on uneven stone.