The False Prince

Sage flees, leaving Conner, Roden, and Tobias at the table. Just outside the dining room, he runs into Mott who is guarding the doors. Mott, rather than hitting Sage into submission as a penalty for trying to escape, instructs Sage to come with him. Sage follows him outside to a stone courtyard lit with torches. The courtyard walls are covered in decorative swords. Mott tells Sage to choose whichever sword he wants. Sage “reache[s] for one with a medium-sized blade with a wide fuller grooved down the length. The hilt [is] wrapped in brown leather, and a circle of deep rubies [is] set in the pommel” (64). The sword immediately falls to the ground because it is so heavy and Sage is unprepared to hold that much weight.

Mott asks Sage what his training is with a sword, and Sage replies it is likely not enough to make him a worthy opponent against someone with the fighting skills of Mott. Mott shows Sage how to hold his sword in “first position,” where a fighter begins “any basic attack” (65). Mott takes a wooden sword from the wall and says he is going to test Sage on his fighting knowledge.