Smallsword

1796, Alta California: For fourteen-year-old Roberto, there is only one way out of the agony of Latin studies under the priest at Mission San Marco: he must gain enough skill with the smallsword to win the mission fencing tournament against full grown soldiers.

 

Roberto is a hot-headed brawler who would rather spend his time wrestling with his Chumash Indian friends than studying. But his Chumash friend, Joaquin, loves books and wants to be a priest. When Roberto goes too far and attacks the priest who is teaching him, he finds out the hard way that the man was formerly a conquistador and knows how to fight. They make a pact: Father Inocencio will train Roberto to fight with the light but deadly smallsword, and the boy will apply himself to school. The priest trains Roberto for the mission tournament, but the boy fails to follow his teacher’s advice and loses. What neither Roberto nor Joaquin realizes is that the mission’s lieutenant is hatching a plot with a slave trader that will change everything. When the slavers raid the Chumash village, the fate of the Indians rests with Roberto and Joaquin. Now Roberto must use his smallsword not just for sport, but in life or death combat.