Freddy raised his eyebrows at Hew\'s snide comment about no-one beating him but he didn\'t say anything. He had an inkling that the prince was right, for he\'d done remarkably well during his first tournament foray the summer before, but all the boy\'s opponents had made their own decisions on the matter, it hadn\'t been influenced by anyone else.
Seeing Hew grab a flail, Freddy chose a mace, anticipating he\'d be able to get Hew\'s chain wrapped around his handle so he could disarm the boy at some point - until then, he\'d need a hefty shield and so he grabbed a kite shield from the appropriate storage place. He frowned at Hew\'s choice of shield but said nothing, believing this lesson would mostly be about him striking that shield in its crossbar so that it caused Hew\'s arm to vibrate with pain and him to drop it. He needed to build up a shield arm.
Once they\'d chosen their equipment, the pair walked out to the fighting area. It had been so long since there was any training done, there was actually a light covering of grass amongst the dirt. Freddy knew it would be gone by the end of the training session. After a brief warm up, the two of them shaped up to each other and then began the steady trading of blows. Freddy wasn\'t as lithe at dodging out of the reach of Hew\'s flail, but he was experienced enough with his shield to be able to take repeated blows upon his shield. By the same token, Hew was incredibly light on his feet and could avoid Freddy\'s advances, but one good blow was likely to undo him.
Freddy saw his opportunity about twenty minutes in. They\'d been dancing about each other and were beginning to breathe harder now, sweat glistening on their brows as they stared intently at their opponent, trying to judge moves (the captain was secretly impressed that Hew did know the flail and was happy there didn\'t need to be too much instruction, for it felt like they were bonding more). Hew made a swing with his weapon that was slightly too high and Freddy shoved his shield into the blow, hoping the spiked ball would grab into the wood a little. That was when he would smack his mace hard against Hew\'s shield arm, before ripping his weapon upward, catching the flail\'s chain and swinging wide, hopefully disarming the boy in the process.
Of course, Hew might have other plans, he was a resourceful boy, but Freddy could see his victory clearly in his mind\'s eye. The flail landed against his shield and he attempted to follow through immediately.
