Based on the identities of many of the men I saw gathered in Umir’s walled circle, the quality of much of the opposition, that he was good was a given.
“Umir,” I said quietly, “forget the appetizer. This man wants his dessert.”
The tanzeer glared at me. “Your places!”
For me, it was a matter of taking three strides to the edge of Alric’s circle. I waited. Musa, opposite, crossed the circle, set his sword beside Alric’s, then paced back to take up his position. There were perhaps four inches between our respective heights, and he was long-legged. The race would be of equals.
He also had hands boasting all four fingers.
I raised mine. Displayed them palm out. Let Musa and everyone else take a good look. “Surely,” I said, “it will not take long to kill me. How can any man lacking two fingers hope to defeat the best of the best?”
It infuriated Umir, who clearly did not want his rebellious dessert ruining the moment. There was only one way to end it. “Dance,” he said.
FOURTEEN
I DUG the balls of my feet into sand and thrust myself forward, crossing over Alric’s line into the circle. Three strides and I reached the center, snatching up Alric’s sword.
I let momentum carry me forward into a somersault that took me out of immediate danger as Musa reached for his own weapon. I spun as I came up at the edge of the circle, blade at the ready, and blocked the first slashing blow. The clash of steel rang through the inner circle encompassed by Umir’s wall.
Block. Block. Block and block. Musa was fast with his sword, disengaging and returning immediately to try new angles the moment I halted his blade. As with Khashi, I let him take the offense, judging foot placement, balance, strength, agility, blade speed. He had learned well, no question.
I was already at the edge of the circle because I had put myself there. One step, and I would be outside. But I knew better than to expect that would stop the dance; I was meant to die, and I was no longer honored among my peers. Musa would follow and continue the fight with no risk to his reputation, because I was, well, me. Still, I wanted this to be a true dance at least in my own mind, so that if I died, or if I won, no one could accuse me of cheating.
Well, they could. But I’d know better.
Musa brought more weight to bear, trying to push me beyond the line Alric had drawn. I dug in one foot and stopped the motion with a braced leg, then trapped his blade, held it, let him have a taste of my own weight as I pushed against him. Back, back, and back.
We were now once more in the very center of the circle. I yanked my blade free as Musa cursed, and slashed beneath his. Tip kissed flesh. A thin line of blood sprang up against the skin above his left knee.
My turn for offense, his to defend. And he did so admirably, blocking my blows as I had blocked his. When we broke and backed away panting, considering other methods to find a way through respective guards, we circled like wary street cats on the stalk, waiting for the most opportune moment to attack.
The first series of engagements was completed; neither of us had won. In Julah, Khashi had been dead by now. In fights too many to count, I had won by now. I suspected it had been the same for Musa.
Usually, the first moments of any match are spent testing the opponent’s skill. A sword-dance is, in most cases, a dance, an exhibition of ability and artistry in pursuit of victory. But there were certainly dances where defeating the opponent was all that mattered, not how it looked. Musa and I had both chosen the latter, hoping to surprise the other, and neither of us had succeeded. Now the dance would shift into the testing phase as we teased one another’s skills and signature movements out into the daylight, hoping to create openings we might exploit.
I saw Musa’s eyes flick down to my hands wrapped around Alric’s leather-strapped grip. There was no hiding the missing fingers. He was likely somewhat surprised I had matched so well against him initially in view of the disability. I wasn’t, but only because I had worked like hoolies to overcome the problem, and I knew what to expect of my grip. An opponent didn’t.
Musa lunged. I met his blade with my own and realized at once what he meant to do. Instead of movements aimed at my body in hopes of breaking my guard, he now went for the sword itself. Whether he drew blood didn’t matter; the point was to disarm me. And that he judged a simple enough matter. I wasn’t so certain he was wrong.
There was no finesse, merely strength and tenacity. Musa banged at my blade again and again, smashing steel against steel. From above, from below; from either side. The angle he applied changed with every blow, so that I constantly had to alter my grip upon leather wrappings or risk having the weapon knocked out of my hands. Then Musa could kill me at his leisure. I was at a distinct disadvantage, since not only did I have to concentrate on hanging onto my sword, but I also had to remember to block any body blow he might attempt without warning.
Which in fact he did attempt, and indeed without warning; I managed to turn most of the impetus aside, but the point of his blade still nicked me along the ribs. It was no more noticeable a wound than the shallow slice I’d put in the flesh of his lower thigh. The most damage either of us had managed to inflict was to our wind; both of us were panting heavily, noisily sucking air to the bottom of our lungs.
Now I went at him. Musa blocked each blow, and with each block he threw in a slight twisting of his blade. It wasn’t enough to place him in danger of losing contact with or control of the steel, which would give the advantage to me, but it did continue forcing me to shift my grip each time. At some point he expected my mutilated hands to betray me. It wouldn’t require much; merely a subtle change in pressure on the hilt, a weakening of my grip, that he could exploit.
The rhythm of the dance had changed. We no longer held our places in the center of the circle or kept ourselves to one specific area a step or two away from that center point; now we used the entire circle. We smashed steel against steel; hammered at one another; locked up blades and quillons; spun, ducked, or leaped away, using the time apart to recover breath. Sweat ran down my face, tickled along my ribs and spine. Musa’s dark hair dripped as he shook it back, sending droplets flying. Bare feet had scuffed the neatly raked sand into an ocean of foot-formed hummocks. I didn’t doubt we’d blotted out in places the line Alric had drawn, but it didn’t matter. Everyone knew where the boundary lay.
Musa’s strategy was sound. The stumps of my fingers ached, and the edges of my palms felt abraded from the continuous movement of flesh against leather wrappings. So far the specialized strength training of my forearms had aided me, and what I’d learned from the fight against Khashi, but Musa was clever enough to find a way around such things. All it required was time.
I was aware the sun had moved in the sky. My body told me we had been at this longer than likely anyone had expected, including Musa and me. But Umir ought to be happy.
We stood at opposite edges of the circle, facing one another. Chests heaved, throats spasmed, breath ran ragged. A half-smile twitched briefly at his mouth. I saw it, met it with raised brows. In that moment we acknowledged one another as something more than mere opponents. We were also equals. He likely had never met one since attaining this level of skill, unless he’d faced Abbu. I didn’t doubt Abbu could defeat him; though acknowledging that meant admitting the possibility that Abbu was better than I. We neither of us knew, having never finished a dance.
Then Musa came at me, running, and the moment was banished. My sword met his, screeching. Teeth bared, he jerked his sword back and swung it down and under, going for my legs. I dropped to one knee, trapped his sword, pushed it up, then shoved him back with the power of my parry.
Musa staggered backward, retaining his balance with effort. He had expected to have me with that maneuver. Now he was angry. Equality no longer mattered.
“Old man,” he said, “I will outlast you!”
Possibly he could. But I merely got up from the sand, laughing, and gestured him to come ahead.
He
did. And in that moment I was aware of the vision I’d experienced in my room before the dance: me free of the stone spire to soar over the valley, to look down upon the man who met the woman in the circle. The vision overlay reality as Musa came on. I saw him, and I saw myself as the man in the circle in the Stone Forest, facing Del. The man with four fingers in place of three.
The priest-mages had taught me discipline was the key.
And conviction.
That the choice, the power, was mine. To make, and to use.
Something in me broke loose, answering. It—no, I—was swept up and up, high overhead, looking down upon the circle as I had before. Looking down upon a man, down upon myself, as I had before, and my opponent. But this time, in this circle, the opponent was not Del.
Two men, one young, one older, met within three circles: one of smooth, white-painted adobe; the second a blade-thin etching in white sand; and the third, the circle drawn in their own minds.
The younger man charged. The older met him, his smile a grimace, a rictus of effort. Muscles knotted beneath the browned flesh of both bodies, tendons stood up in ridges from neck to shoulder. Sweat bathed them, running like rivers in the hollows of straining flesh. Hands gripped hilts: four fingers, two thumbs on each.
On each.
The older welcomed the younger, challenging every fiber of his strength, every whisper of finesse, every skill and pattern he had ever learned. Challenging his belief in himself. Challenging his certainty of the older man’s defeat. And the older challenged as well his own inner fear that he was unable because he was no longer whole. In the valley, in the circle, in the shadow of stone spires, he had been whole.
And was again.
“Now,” the older man roared.
Back, and back, and back. Blow after blow after blow, the older drove the younger across the circle, forced him to stagger back, and back and back; shoved him over the line; smashed him down into the sand as the onlookers moved out of the way. The younger lay on his back, red-faced and gasping, sword blade in one hand feathered with sand. The older placed a callused foot upon the flat of the blade and stepped down. Hard.
Vision faded. Detachment dissipated. I blinked. Shook sweat away from my eyes. Was, abruptly, myself again, here in Umir’s circle.
I was aware of silence. No one even breathed.
The tip of my own blade lingered at Musa’s throat, pinning him with promise. I took my left hand off the grip and looked at it. Counted three fingers.
Three, and one stub.
There had been four on the hilt. I was certain of it. Four fingers and one thumb on each hand.
How in hoolies?—never mind. Time for that later.
I bent then, breathing hard, reaching down as I shifted my left foot. I pulled Musa’s sword up from the sand, then flung it away hard to clang against the opposite wall. I flicked a glance out of the corner of my eye and saw what I had expected: Alric stood just behind Umir.
“Alric,” I said between inhalations, “take that sword Umir’s servant is holding.”
The big Northerner did so and quietly moved forward to place it across Umir’s throat. “Anything else?”
“Yes. Escort Umir into the house and have him give you a book.”
Alric blinked. “A book?”
I smiled as I watched the color spill out of Umir’s face. “It’s called the Book of Udre-Natha. Umir places great value on it. I’m going to hold it hostage.” I glanced briefly down at Musa, still lying beneath my sword. His breath was audible, chest heaving. “In the meantime, Umir will also have our horses readied—packed with food, water, grain and, of course, the book—and waiting for us in the front courtyard.” Now I slid a glance over the assembled sword-dancers, swallowed, and raised my voice. “It was promised to me if I won: no one would challenge me inside Umir’s domain. Right, Umir?” No answer. “Umir, if you ever expect to get your book back—”
“Yes,” he said sharply. “I did agree. I will honor that agreement.”.
“And I think no one here will argue over the results of this dance.” I glanced down. A thin line of blood trickled across Musa’s neck, mingling with sweat. “Will they?”
Musa said nothing. Neither did anyone else.
I drew in a breath. “I made a choice that day when I stepped out of Sabra’s circle and declared elaii-ali-ma. We all of us make choices. Some are good, some bad, some are right, some wrong. And we all pay the price. I accept that I am dishonored, that I have no place among you. I made the choice. And I make another now: to let this man live.”
I backed away, taking my sword with me. Musa remained sprawled in the sand a moment longer, then hitched himself up onto his elbows.
“Why?” he rasped.
I smiled. “Some day, when you meet yourself in the circle—and you will, because we all do—you’ll know.”
I turned away. Musa’s sword lay against the opposite wall, well out of reach. Though I meant what I’d said, I wasn’t entirely stupid; you don’t leave a loser’s weapon close at hand.
Of course, I had reckoned without the insanity of irrational pride.
I heard him move and knew, even as I spun. Musa was up on his feet again, charging at me. Time slowed as he came: I saw the ripple of a tic in his cheek, the strain of tension reforming his facial muscles.
Oh no. No.
He came on. Despite the fact that he lacked a sword, and I did not.
Stop now. Save yourself…
But he did not. He gathered himself. Took that fatal leap. Committed himself. So I committed as well. I ran him through with my blade.
There was no triumph. I felt hollow. Empty. “You had the world,” I told him, meaning it.
Musa’s world—and his legs—collapsed. He knelt in the sand, choking on blood. I withdrew the blade sheathed in his chest. Blood ran down steel and pearled in white sand.
I was aware of movement. I looked up, lifting the sword; saw men stirring. But no one spoke to protest. Musa had effectively killed himself, though I had been the man holding the blade.
Alric, escorting our friendly host, came out of the house again. “Everything’s ready.”
I nodded. I cast a glance at the waiting sword-dancers. I couldn’t help but smile at the irony. “I expect I’ll see some of you again,” I said, “but not for a few days or so. Until then, why not avail yourself of Umir’s hospitality? Since none of you won his offer of lifetime employment, you might as well enjoy it while you can.”
I heard at my feet, from the kneeling man, an expulsion of breath. Musa seemed to fold in upon himself, upper body collapsing upon the lower. The sweat-drenched hair fell forward as his head lolled upon his neck.
A waste. A waste of pure talent, barely matched skill. Banished by pride even greater, and thus presented to death—like dessert on a plate.
The body fell.
I turned then and walked away. Alric let go of Umir. We swapped swords with practiced lateral tosses, then ducked into the shadowed coolness of Umir’s house.
“Nicely done,” Alric commented.
“I thought so.”
“Do you think they’ll wait until you’re out of Umir’s domain?”
I led him through the front door into the courtyard. “Not on your life.” Well. Not on mine, at any rate.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
I headed for the gelding, waiting patiently with his reins in the hands of one of Umir’s grooms. A harness was attached to the pommel; I shoved the sword home in the sheath. “I am going to Julah. Aren’t you going back to Lena and the girls?”
“Eventually. Right now I thought I’d ride with a friend who’s in trouble.”
“Big of you, Alric.” I grabbed reins and swung up.
He grinned as he mounted his own horse. “I thought so.”
I sank heels into the gelding. Together, at a gallop, the Northerner and I departed Umir’s courtyard.
FIFTEEN
SOME DISTANCE from Umir’s house Alric and I fell into th
e walk-trot-lope combination that transported us as far and as fast as possible without ruining the horses. I discovered the white gelding, for all he was a ridiculous mount for the desert, was indeed a comfortable ride in all his gaits. Too bad he needed black paint and fringe to make it practical. And just now he lacked both after his sojourn at Umir’s; fortunately it was nearing sundown as we approached the big oasis a day’s ride from Julah.
The oasis was a popular stopover for travelers, and thus five different routes met here. There were palm trees aplenty, plus water plants around the edges of the small artesian spring that had, over time and with human help, been widened into a pool. Desert folk honor such places by treating oases as sanctuary. Animals and humans are watered, then everyone retreats to their own patch of soil and sand to pass the night without fear of attack. Since it was early summer, more people were on the roads. The oasis was crowded.
Alric and I dismounted, led the horses to the pool, let them drink enough to cool their throats, then pulled them away and commenced the struggle of man against thirsty horse. Trouble was, they’d get sick if they drank too much too fast when they were hot. Alric and I walked them a bit as dusk approached, then led them to water again. We filled canvas horse buckets, gulped a few mouthfuls for ourselves, then made our wandering way, trailing tired horses, through the cluster of tiny campsites to find our own, settling finally for a single unclaimed palm tree on the outskirts. There we unsaddled, spent some time rubbing the horses down, then pegged them out—and carried botas back to the pool to tend our own thirst in earnest.
Kneeling at the water’s edge, I sluiced my head and face, then squirted the contents of a bota down my bare torso, front and back. Once I’d refilled the waterskin, I released a gusty exhalation of relief.
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