The second duel, a more formal affair, was worse. Having been accused of cowardice by relying on unfairly superior American firearms, Harry had chosen a different weapon. Another American one, true, but hardly something that could be labeled unfair—a very large knife which he called a "Bowie knife." He had even grandly allowed his opponent to retain his rapier.
The choice had obviated his opponent's greater skill with swordsmanship. Harry had had no intention of trying to match him. He'd simply managed to avoid the first lunge and grappled with his opponent, Bowie knife against main gauche. Thereafter, fighting with knives at close quarters, those qualities which Harry possessed in abundance—great athletic ability and an outlook sanguine enough to be the envy of any Mongol khan—had come to the fore. The end result had been thoroughly fatal and incredibly messy.
Are you freaking kidding me? Some American, with no formal fight training, took on a man with a bowie knife and won? Especially as the guy who he fought would most likely have spent a lifetime practicing it? But wait, it gets worse. The men he was fighting was using a rapier and a parrying dagger. How could you get inside it, especially with no shield? And with no training in swordfighting?
But to top it off, apparently the guy is a love god as well.
Yeah, right.Now that he was in the presence of the cardinal, Mazarini suppressed his sigh. Hopefully, Harry Lefferts would be gone from Paris and on his way back to Grantville before the very wealthy and very belligerent Fasciotti brothers—all five of them—discovered that their sister had been dishonored and came to Paris from Rome to seek satisfaction. There would be no duels, dealing with the Fasciotti. Hiring assassins came as naturally to them as hiring servants. All the more so since the sister in question was not complaining about the episode herself. Awkward, that.
First chapter and I already feel the urge for whiskey. Bad omen, that.Oh, and we got Mazzarin admiring the civilians of Grantville for beating back the croats. So little space, so much wanking.
Again, a good chapter about Richelieu and Mazarin destroyed by Ameriwank.
Chapter two - Assassination attempt on Mazarin, who swears "Motherfucker".
Chapter four - Is Harry Lefferts the newest Mary Sue? Everybody likes him, he is awesome, great at political minds and deadly with a knife. Mark stearns 1.2?
Also:
If Bohemia was so little and insignificant, doesn't that make Wallenstein the man with the greatest Napoleon complex ever, especially regarding what went on in the Wallenstein Gambit.Granted, since Wallenstein's recent rebellion, Bohemia had become something of a bright spot. But little Bohemia was scarcely going to do more than dent the CPE's need for foreign trade.
Chapter 5 - bad german alert. It looks like Flint forgot that the pipe is female in German.
Chapter 6 - apparently there is still enough meat around that barbecues are still common. Really, what? Also, suddenly Mike Stearns acknowledges that there are many spies in Grantville. Sadly, they must have been the most incompetent spies ever for the Americans still pull off things that any decent spy network should have scuttled. Oh, and the new dollar signs. The horror.
Frank could live with an eight-point buck as the central symbol on the one-dollar bill, hands kneading dough for a five-dollar bill and a loaf of bread for a ten-dollar bill, even if he thought the puns were pretty outrageous. But, even for his dad, putting Johnny Cash on the twenty-dollar bill was going over the edge.