After their introduction and induction at the Musketeers barracks at the Hotel de Treville, the heroes are taking a few days to settle in to their new routine.
News travels around that Maitre St. Pierre, and several of his assistants and top fencers, are invited to perform a fencing demonstration at a garden party to be hold by the Viscount de Bouvard (one of his pupils). The assistants and fencers have not yet been chosen by M. St. Pierre, and he has made it understood that there is to be a trial within his Salle to determine who will go.
Another piece of related news also makes its way through the grapevine: Signor Sapristi, head of Fraternity di Giganti, and rival of M. St. Pierre, petitioned to be the Viscount's fencing master, and volunteered to perform a demonstration to rival M. St. Pierre's. He was refused by the Viscount and suffered a loss of face.
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| Hotel de Treville |
Our heroes, who have also recruited a new hanger-on in the form of Andre, a 7y old boy who was caught trying to pickpocket Jean, discuss the possibility to join as adversaries for St. Pierre's students. He gladly accepts them and tries them against a number of his students, to create interesting match-ups.
On the day itself, they marvel at the gathering of their social superiors, while enjoying the good food and drinks. Both Henri and Gerard are able to give the best of themselves, winning against St Pierre's students. Jean's opponent is a slovenly dressed Musketeer, Roger Dupin, who is wearing most of the food on his livery, bragging loudly about his prowess and insulting Jean prior to the fight. Once steel is drawn however, he seems to be pretty much able to defend himself, turning the demonstration in a memorable bit o swashbuckling that immensely entertains the gathered nobility, although he only just is able to defeat Jean.
As the grand finale, Maitre St Pierre challenges the Viscount, allowing him to hit the fencing master twice prior to winning the fight.
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After the Viscount's garden party, the rivalry between Fraternity Ste. -Didier and Fraternity di Giganti turns to open hostility. Signor Sapristi's students, famous for their black surcoats and bad manners, start to harass the pupils of M. St. Pierre. A few duels will result, involving the deaths of two of the members of Fraternity Ste. -Didier, and the injury of three more.
In response to the violence caused by Fraternity di Giganti, M.St. Pierre will fly into a rage. Attempting to provoke Signor Sapristi into a duel, he will denounce him in public as a 'cowardly foreign dog'. Our heroes gladly deliver the challenge, only to be met with silence after slapping the short Italian in the face. Our heroes are followed by men in black surcoats but when pressed, their pursuers turn and run.
The day M. St. Pierre's insult of Signor Sapristi, Jean is scheduled for a private lesson M. St. Pierre in the early afternoon. Upon arriving at the Salle d'Armes Sainte-Didier, they find the Fraternity quiet and deserted - not a rare occurrence in the early afternoon, when usually only M. St. Pierre is present for private lessons.
The entrance alcove leads to the fencing hall, the large chamber used for practice, group exercises and tournaments. The walls are lined with carefully spaced racks of masks and assorted blunt weapons. The wall opposite the entrance is covered entirely by mirrored glass, to allow students to observe their own form (this is a rare luxury, mirrored glass was very expensive and delicate in the 17th Century). To one side of the hall stand two clever mannequins. These are fencing dummies designed to spin and jab a foil at an opponent, when struck (this exercise is used to quicken parry reactions). On the floor in the centre of the hall is an elaborate circle diagram in the Spanish style, to teach students footwork and distance. A stairway near the entrance leads to the top floor.
On the top floor, they pass through an elaborate hallway, decorated with crossed swords on the walls. A door on the side of the hallway gives access to the dressing room, where gentlemen may change from their normal clothes into various protective jackets, vests, and plastrons for their lessons, or for practice with each other. A side room provides hangers and hooks for cloaks and coats. In another side room various fencing equipment and gear is stored.
The upstairs hall leads to a small annex and a waiting parlour, where students may prepare for their lessons by reading from a wide variety of fencing books and documents in Spanish, Italian and French, collected by M. St. Pierre. This library includes a full collection of the works of the famous master, Sainte-Didier, for whom the Fraternity is named.
They find that the master does not respond to their calls. The doors to his private quarters are locked, and there is no sound from within. There will be no answer to their pounding on the door. Henri, cleverly noticing the key is on the inside of the door, lets it drop onto a piece of parchment and draws it underneath the door.
Inside, they find the private lesson chamber empty. It is a simple room, decorated with wood panelling, and with a large segmented mirror (similar to the one downstairs) on the west wall. There is only one apparent door, besides the entrance. This door leads to M. St. Pierre's office. It has been locked with the same key as the door from the annex. Inside the office is a modest desk and the records for the Fraternity.
Henri notices a scrap of black cloth caught between two panels of the glass. After a short search, they discover the opening device. By pushing one of the other panels, a secret door opens upon a small staircase leading down. Behind the secret door, the staircase leads to a narrow, dusty, secret passageway. Signs of a scuffle and fight are apparent on the floor here. In the middle of the passage is a small pool of blood, and a broken sword-tip.
The door at the end of the passage opens onto an alley by the side of the Salle d'Armes, near the entrance to a small chapel.
When they look for witnesses, they find a mendicant seller of holy water on the steps of the chapel. After knocking a bit of money out of their pockets, he tells them that he saw, around noon, two men in black surcoats from the direction of the alley beside the Salle d'Armes. One of them was badly wounded in the chest, and the other was helping him. They asked the seller of holy water where they might find a surgeon, and he directed them to a nearby physician.
Arriving at the surgeons house, they find the wounded man still there. The wounded man is, indeed, a minor student of Signor Sapristi. He was wounded badly in the chest by M. St. Pierre in the struggle. The wounded man refuses to speak, clearly he is more worried about Sapristi's reaction if it would be found out that he talked.
The group takes him back to the Hotel de Treville, and hand their prisoner over to Roger Dupin. Clearly the student of Maitre St Pierre has very little qualms to use violence to find out what has happened to his mentor, and after a short period of prodding into the prisoners wounds, they find out that the four students of Sapristi surprised M. St. Pierre alone in his Salle and chased him through the secret door to the passage, where they overpowered him. After dropping the wounded man off at the physician's, the other kidnappers continued on to the barracks of the 2nd Company of the Italian Regiment, outside of Paris. Signor Sapristi, he says, saved the life of the Captain of the 2nd Company years ago, and is calling in the debt.
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