Elletra had always known, in some manner, that Hawkeye was a natural swordsman. There was a balletic grace to his gait, a blend of balance and power in every step.

He ended the initial exchange, launching an overhand chop that Dieter parried high, and the pair pushed away and separated. Neither man was breathing heavily yet.

They didn’t stay apart long, however. Before Dieter was finished moving backwards, Hawkeye was a flash of forward motion in a fencer’s lunge (but no-one fences with a longsword, she wondered), which Dieter blocked in a neat cross-parry. Hawkeye recovered into a spin and launched a follow-up attack in a downwards slashing motion, and Elletra looked a little deeper into the fight.

Dieter was toying with him. Hawkeye was the best she’d ever seen, but his elder brother wasn’t even bothered. He held his ground, blade whirling and snapping about him without needing to change his footing at all.