Swordslength

By way of testing the courage of the surrounding manhood, Tomaso made a feinting stomp with one foot, as one does in fence, and the forty men jumped back a swordslength.

Minch’s bodyguard strode up to Dun Lidjun, his sandals slipping on the loose stones—that is, after all, why the road outside the entrance is gravelly—stopping insolently close to Dun Lidjun, less than a swordslength away. […] With Dun Lidjun within a swordslength of Arefai, brute force would fail.

Another attack swept them together before they clashed then whirled away again to the safety of two swordslengths.