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Morrolan said,  Zerika.
The Dragaeran s mouth twitched.  A Phoenix, he said.  And a special
case.
 Nevertheless, we re here.
 You may have to bring your case to the Lords of Judgment.
 That, said Morrolan,  is what we came to do.
 And you will be required to prove yourselves.
 Of course, said Morrolan.
 Say what? said I.
He turned a sneer toward me.  You will be required to face and defeat
champions of 
 This has got to be a joke, I said.
 Shut up, Vlad, said Morrolan.
I shook my head.  Why? Can you give me one good reason for making
us fight our way to the Lords of Judgment, just so they can destroy us
for being here?
The stranger said,  We are of the House of the Dragon. We fight
because we enjoy it. He gave me a nasty smile, turned, and walked
away.
Morrolan and I looked at each other. He shrugged and I almost belted
him. We looked around again, and we were surrounded by
Dragonlords. I counted twelve of them. One of them took a step
forward and said,  E Baritt, and drew her sword.
Morrolan said,  E Drien, and drew his. They saluted.
I backed away a step and said,  Are you sure we can touch them, and
they us?
 Yes, said Morrolan as he faced his opponent.  It wouldn t be fair
otherwise.
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r r
 Oh. Of course. How silly of me.
They came within a few steps of each other, and Morrolan s opponent
looked at the sword and licked her lips nervously.
 Don t worry, said Morrolan.  It does what I tell it to.
The other nodded and took a sort of guard position, her left hand in
front holding the dagger. Morrolan drew a dagger and matched her.
He struck first with his sword, and she blocked it. She tried to strike
with her dagger for his stomach, but he slipped around the blow and,
pushing her off balance with his sword, struck her soundly in the
chest with his dagger.
She bled. Morrolan stepped back and saluted.
After a moment I said to Morrolan,  Am I next, or are you doing all of
them?
One of the waiting Dragonlords said,  You re next, whiskers, as he
stepped out, drew his sword, and faced me.
 Fine, I said, whipped out a throwing knife from my cloak, and threw
it into his throat.
 Vlad! called Morrolan.
 I ve covered mine, I said, watching the guy writhe on the ground
about six feet from Morrolan s victim. There came the sound of blades
being drawn. Loiosh took off toward someone as I drew my rapier. It
occurred to me that I might have committed some sort of social
blunder.
Morrolan cursed and I heard the sound of steel on steel. Then there
were two of them right in front of me. I feinted cuts toward their eyes,
flick flick, spun to get a look at what was behind me, spun back, and
threw three shuriken into the nearest stomach. Another Dragonlord
almost took my head off, but then I sliced up his right arm bad enough
that he couldn t hold his sword. He actually threatened me briefly
with his dagger after that, which threat ended when my point took
him cleanly through the chest, and that was it for the other one.
I had another throwing knife in my left hand by then, this one taken
from the back of my collar. I used it to slow down the one nearest me,
then charged another and veered off into a feint just outside of his
sword range. His attack missed, then Loiosh flew into his face, then I
cut open his chest and throat with my rapier.
I caught a glimpse of something moving, so I took a step to the side
and lunged at it, then wondered if I were about to skewer Morrolan.
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r r
But no, I skewered someone else instead, and was past him before he
hit the ground. I got a glimpse of Morrolan fighting like a madman,
then Loiosh screamed into my mind and I ducked and rolled as a
sword passed over my head.
I came up, faced my enemy, feinted twice, then cut open her throat.
Morrolan was dueling with a pair of them, and I thought about
helping him, but then someone else was coming at me, and I don t
remember how I dispatched him but I must have because I wasn t
hurt.
I looked around for more targets but there weren t any; just the
injured dead and the dead dead, so to speak. I wondered what
happened to those who died here when they were already dead, as
well as those who died here when they were alive.
Morrolan was glaring at me. I ignored him. I cleaned my rapier and
sheathed it, trying to recover my breath. Loiosh returned to my
shoulder, and I picked up my own belligerence reflected in his mind.
Morrolan started to say something and I said,  Drop dead, asshole.
You may think this multiple duel business is some sort of cute game,
but I don t care to be tested. They wanted to kill me. They didn t
manage. That s the end of it.
His face went white and he took a step toward me.  You never learn,
do you? He raised his sword until it was pointed at me.
I held my hand out.  Killing a man who isn t even holding a weapon?
That would hardly be honorable, would it?
He glared at me a moment longer, then spat on the ground.  Let s go,
he said.
I left my various weapons in whatever bodies they happened to have
taken up residence and followed him farther into the land of the dead.
I hoped the rest of the dead we met would be more peaceful.
There are times, I guess, when you have to trust somebody. I would
have chosen Kiera, but I didn t know where she was. So I gave Kragar
some money and had him purchase, discreetly, a stiletto with a seven-
inch blade. It took him an afternoon, and he didn t ask any questions.
I tested the balance and decided I liked it. I spent an hour in my flat
sharpening the point. I shouldn t have taken an hour, but I was used
to sharpening edges for vegetables or meat, not sharpening points for
bodies. It s a different skill. After sharpening it, I decided to put a coat
of dull black paint on the blade and, after some thought, on the hilt,
too. I left the actual edge of the blade unpainted.
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r r
When I was done it was already evening. I went back to Gruff s and
positioned Loiosh in the window of the place. I took up a position
around the corner and waited.
 Well, Loiosh? Is he there?
 Ummm ... yeah. I see him, boss.
 Is he with his friend?
 Yeah. And a couple of others.
 Are you sure you re out of sight?
 Don t worry about it, boss.
 Okay. We ll wait, then.
I went over my plan, such as it was, a couple of times in my head, then
settled back to do some serious waiting. I amused myself by thinking
up fragments of bad poetry for a while, which put me in mind of an
Eastern girl named Sheila whom I d gone out with for a few months a
year before. She was from South Adrilankha, where most humans
live, and I guess she was attracted to me because I had money and
seemed tough. I suppose I am tough, come to think of it.
Anyway, she was good for me, even though it didn t last long. She
wanted to be rich, and classy, and she was an argumentative bitch. I [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]