What does this mean?

[Matt_West]

Hello, I am a student hunting an answer to the meaning of a fencing term.

I am wanting to know what a riposte in tertio means. The best thing I can figure, is a riposte after the third parry.

Please send me an E-Mail to tell me what the above phrase is. Thanks for you time!

Artalos@aol.com

[swordsen]

riposting in someone's third line would be my guess.
Otherwise it is probably a sure sign of the apocolypse.

[neevel]

Lemme guess--

Your reading 'The Fencing Master', right?

In that case, what's probably meant is that the riposte is directed to the outside high-line (the quadrant relative to the weapon hand that is above the level of the blade and more towards the back when in a guard stance)-- most typically aiming at the leading shoulder or pectoral. Assuming Perez-Reverte and/or the translator was using the classic French school enumeration, that line would be defended either by parry 6 or parry 3 (the difference between the two being supination or pronation of the hand). It's common to just use the number of the parry you'd use to deflect the attack to describe where it's threatening, so if he preferred 3 to cover that line he'd just refer to it as "being threatened in 3".

-Dave