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can, since he obviously lacks a body. Just as Chosa does, which is why he
wants you."
I grunted. "I'll reserve an opinion."
Del didn't answer. She just lowered her sword, stabbed it down into sand to
sheathe it briefly, then stripped out of the burnous. She dropped it onto her
harness into folds of Southron sunset, then pulled the sword out of the sand
and stepped across the line.
Now two of us were bound. Me by wards and sword; Del by honor and oaths.
Barefoot, both of us, as was proper. I wore dhoti and necklet, Del wore
Northern tunic. And each of us had a sword.
I stood up. Pulled Samiel free of sheath and tossed the harness aside. Turned
to face Delilah.
"The last time we did this, both of us nearly died."
Del smiled a little. "We were young and foolish then."
"I'd like to get older and wiser. But you may not give me a chance."
Del's voice was soft. "No more delays, Tiger. We came to discharge your
jivatma.
Let us purify the blade, so it may be free of taint."
"And me," I muttered.
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"And you," she agreed.
I took two steps away, turned. "Then let's get it done!" I snapped, and
brought Samiel into position without benefit of preparation.
It was an ugly beginning, lacking elegance or power.
We each of us tested the other, tapping blades, then disengaging; sliding
steel across steel, then snatching respective blades away before the intimacy
increased. It was slow, disjointed, amateurish; nothing of what we knew, save
both of us were afraid.
We dug divots in the sand, kicking showerlets of glittering crystal. Blades
clashed, fell away;
tapped again for a brief moment before wrists turned them aside. Then Del,
muttering something, began to sing a song.
I stiffened. "Wait--"
But Del didn't.
Hoolies, if she keys her sword ... oh, bascha--don't do that. Because then the
dance will be real...
and I don't want it to be--I don't want to relive Staal-Ysta--
Del sang very softly. Silver blade took on the faint glow of palest
salmon-silver.
Steel chimed, then screeched apart. I felt her pattern tighten; the increased
power in the turn of
wrists. Saw the tracery left in the air; an afterglow of jivatma forged and
blessed in Northern rituals as binding as those I knew: the oaths of Alimat.
"Dance," Del hissed. "Come on, Chosa--
dance--
"
"Tiger," I said. "Tiger."
"Dance, Chosa. Or can't you?"
I snapped my blade against hers, felt the power in her counter, jerked mine
away again. "Do you want to summon him?"
A faint trace of sweat sheened her face. "Come out and dance, Chosa. Or have
you no power to do it? No skill to guide the sword? No grace to create the
patterns?"
"He's not a sword-dancer, he's a sorcerer
--"
"Sorcerers can dance. Chosa Dei remakes. Can't he remake himself in your
image? Can't he use your body as his? Can't he dance against a woman?"
"Hoolies, bashcha-- " I hop-skipped, ducked a pattern, came up and caught
blade with blade.
Steel screamed. I broke her pattern easily, practically throwing her sword
back at her from the force of my riposte. "What are you trying to do?"
"Dance," she said. "Just--dance. But I don't think Chosa can."
And Del began to sing again, coloring her blade.
Vision blurred. Overlaid with my own present memory was one of a past time. Of
a sorcerer blasting sorcerer with power of such magnitude it could remake
mountains.
Inside me, Chosa laughed.
"Don't do this!" I shouted.
Delilah's song increased. And Chosa, in me, heard it.
"Don't, bascha--" I choked, recognizing familiar cramps. Sweat ran down my
chest to dampen the top of the dhoti. "Don't do this to me--don't make me do
this--"
Her pattern grew intricate, tying up my own, then sliding out of the knot. I
trapped her, twisted, banged the blades apart.
They met again almost at once, clanging within the chimney. If this was what
she wanted--
Inside me, Chosa took notice.
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Boreal glowed salmon-silver. With every knot and swoop, Del smeared color in
the air. A glowing afterimage of runes and blade and power.
I was irritated. I hadn't wanted this dance. Hadn't wanted this confrontation.
I had not even thought about it, because each time I began to I recalled the
dance on Staal-Ysta, when Del and
I had been matched through trickery and deceit. We each of us had danced then
using every bit of skill, because so much--
too much
--was at stake. In the end, the dance had won, because so many years of
training can thwart even the strongest of wills. You just dance, because you
have to. Because the body won't let you stop, and pride won't let you give up.
We danced, Delilah and I. Teased one another with steel, flicking tips at
noses and throats to promise we could do better, knowing we didn't dare. This
was not a dance to the death, not as it
had been for Abbu and me, but a dance to the ending, when Chosa would be
defeated and the sword would be purified.
We sweated. Cursed. Danced. Taunted one another. Bit lips and spat blood. Dug
deeper divots in crystalline sand, bracing muscled thighs and hips to
translate power into arms. I exerted physical strength into the finesse of her
patterns, beating her back with sheer power, until she darted in with
quickness and grace and teased me into openings she was more than prepared to
exploit.
Del slammed blade into blade, scraping edge against Northern runes. In the
chimney, the noise was deafening, echoes increased fourfold.
I caught the blade with my own, twisting, and wrenched the steel apart,
hissing invective at her for bringing us to this pass. I had long ago given up
wondering, even a little, which of us was better. It simply didn't matter. Of
course we said it did, merely to tease one another, but I knew in my heart of
hearts we neither of us knew.
Del came at me, singing. Northern steel flashed in chimneyed sunlight,
throwing slashes against ribbed walls. Clustered crystals of sand and ice
glittered in cracks and crannies. The sun gazed down upon us, benificent
arbiter.
Steelsong filled the chimney, spiraling upward along smokerock ribs. We
hammered at one another, knowing each blow would be caught, and turned, and
blunted. Because neither of us wanted to die. We simply wanted an ending: Del, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]