Rapier Tip of the Month

Here are three responses to an inside thrust:

If the attack is in the low line, near the hand, hilt, or belly:

Make a small retreat as you parry the attack towards your left side, rolling your hand palm down (Secunde). Withdraw the tip slightly so that it is more vertical than your guard position. The tip should be high, and point out and forwards to your left side at about head or shoulders' height. After the parry, launch the riposte by rolling your wrist palm up (Quarte) and dropping the tip into line, while advancing or lunging.
Caveat! Do not parry downwards; parry across. The tip of your blade should not drop below the height of your hilt, otherwise you've parried them into your legs.
Make a counter-attack by rolling the wrist palm up (Quarte), while maintaining your tip in line. Catch his secunde with your prime. Maintaining the engagement, step forward to deliver your point.
Caveat! You must control the opponent's blade as you counter. Maintain the engagement as you step forward. Try to step into the attack as it is developing.

If the attack is in the high line, near the head or shoulders:

Roll your blade under the attacker's blade (Cavere) and parry out towards your right side (in modern terms, counter-parry). Although you will meet secunde to secunde, the momentum of the move will be sufficient to deflect the incoming blade.
Caveat! Use this only against high attacks. Cavering is too slow to use against attacks near the hilt.
Roll your blade under the attacker's blade (Cavere) and counter-attack into the high line with hilt high and palm down (straight Secunde).
Caveat! When you raise the hilt to defend against high attacks, then your opponent can drop the tip and hit you in the low line before you can drop your hilt to defend. The counter-attack must be prompt and committed to prevent this response.