“Which sound much like my times. Are people that far removed in your world from armor and swords?”

“Let me put it this way. No one carries a sword on Earth.”

Ser Dalius looked dismayed.

“What do you all use for battle, then? Against monsters?”

“We don’t have any. The worst we have are…bears. Or other people. That’s still a large problem, but it’s just not swords and armor.”

“Remarkable.”

He shook his head. Then he moved his hands on the hilt, spacing them apart, one near the pommel, the other near the hilt.

“As I said, this isn’t a traditional sword technique. But it’s, er, fun. [Knights] would trade these tricks along with actual battle techniques in our spare time. I only learned this one. It’s called the ‘Dervish’s Whirl’. If I fail, please don’t laugh.”

“I won’t.”

He glanced at her suspiciously, but Cara gave him an encouraging smile. She knew all about performance anxiety and failure on the stage. Mind you—laughter and heckling was better than apologetic clapping. Way better.

She expected it to be a silly trick, especially in how Ser Dalius built it up. He took a breath, again, unnecessary, and then the greatsword rotated in his hands.

He was far enough away from Cara, but she took a step back as she saw the huge sword perform a vertical 360 in the air. He twirled it around his left side, changing his grip, and whirled it up around his right side, then down.

“That’s impressive!”

It took a lot of control, not to mention bravery to swing a sword so close to your own skin. Cara supposed Ser Dalius being a ghost took away from a bit of the danger. As would armor. Even so—

“This isn’t the trick. I’m not even up to speed. Wait.”

Ser Dalius grunted, his face a mask of concentration. Cara blinked.

“Up to…?”

The sword’s whirling arc sped up. She stared as the slowly rotating blade became a blur, the edge too fast to trace. She backed up further. Now, it was whirling across his body in a hypnotic pattern. Left side, right side, up, down, up—

It was fast. Alarmingly so. Then he started doing it one-handed.

With a greatsword. At this point, Cara realized that if Ser Dalius let go, there was no telling where the sword would go. She wavered, then watched.

Ten seconds, twenty…after thirty at full-speed, Ser Dalius stopped. Not because he was tired, but rather because he seemed acutely embarrassed. He looked around, jumping slightly at the applause.

“Well done!”

Cara smiled as she lauded him. Ser Dalius regarded her suspiciously, but she was laughing with delight and applauding.

“That was incredible!”

“It was just a trick.”

He murmured, but his ghostly cheeks became slightly more opaque. He feigned wiping at his brow.