by Robin Roseau
"Thank you, Aren," I said.
"I'm not like your sister," she said. "I don't offer casually, Beria. But I'm offering to you."
"Then I am doubly touched," I said. "Thank you. I suspect I will take you up on it once or twice this week."
"As often as you require," she said. "Make us proud, Beria."
* * * *
Maya posted the first round of matches prior to breakfast. With seventy combatants, there were a lot of matches. Not every village had sent two or there would have been a hundred competitors. She had organized the training field into five distinct areas along one side of the field. She scheduled the fights for every fifteen minutes, so a warrior could judge when she would be required to compete. We didn't have a town clock like the one in many of the towns of Morehama, but Amazons could estimate the time, and I learned later Maya had organized the companions to announce the time and the beginnings of matches.
I was scheduled to fight third at ring two. My opponent was an older warrior from Three Fish, a village or two south of Northglen. Ping would be the referee. Nori and Omie stood beside me while I reviewed the pending matches.
"Who are you going to watch?"
I listed them. Nori asked about a few others.
"I know what they fight like," I said.
As the time drew close, Malora strode onto the field. She crossed to the center of the training circle and bellowed, "Fellow Amazons!" It took only another moment or two before we all drew quiet. "The first matches are about to begin. Good luck, everyone." And then she stepped away, moving to the first ring. I saw Ping at ring two, Ralla at three, Vorine at four and Clara at five.
"You're not a referee?" I asked Omie.
"You're stuck with me. Who are we watching first?" I drew Omie towards Vorine's ring.
Maya stepped forth, standing near ring three. "The first matches are about to begin," she yelled. "Warriors, you should be at your ring."
From up and down the field, I heard companions repeating the instructions. There was little excuse for any warrior to miss her match.
The first matches were short, with none of the bouts lasting the entire fifteen minutes. I learned little about the woman I was watching, as her opponent was severely outclassed. At the end, I turned to Omie, "well, that wasn't educational."
"We spent the last two weeks determining the initial matchups," she said quietly. "We made sure that none of the most likely top contenders will face each other too soon. We would hate to see someone really good knocked out in the first day or two. Don't get cocky, but your fight isn't going to last even that long."
"She's a good warrior," I said. "I've trained with her a few times."
"She caves under pressure," Omie said. "You can go in with one sword."
I was almost as deadly with one sword as with two, and I nodded understanding.
The second matches went as quickly as the first, and the two I watched, standing between Malora's and Ping's circles, were both quite uneven.
Omie was carrying a practice sword and she handed it to me as the time for my match drew close.
"You're only carrying one?"
"Why give anything away?" she asked. "When it's time for you to use two, I'll have two."
I grinned. "You're doing the job I used to do for you."
"Like it, do you?"
"Yeah."
"Need a companion?"
"Naw, I'm fine. Maybe after."
"Maya is right there, and I saw both Aren and Lia a few minutes ago. Your daughters are helping Maya, so they're here, too."
I was about to step into the ring when suddenly I was surrounded by my family. Lia pulled me into her arms, and her hair was down. It had been up earlier.
"I'm fine," I whispered.
"I don't care, Beria," she said. "You will not be fine. You will be perfect. Do you hear me? Now let me make those voices go away. I'll be waiting right here for you."
And so I ran my hands through her hair, kissed her, and let her soothe me. Then Maya announced the third matches, and I stepped away from Lia.
Annalise and Joelle both hugged me, too, briefly, and I gave them both quick kisses.
I stepped into the ring and greeted Ping. A moment later, my opponent joined me. I transferred my sword to my off hand and stepped forward, clasping hands with her.
"Old and young," she said. "I may have a trick or two left for you, Chief Beria."
"If you show them to me, I shall strive to learn from you, Jalane. I feel blessed for my first match to be with someone so honored."
She smiled and bowed slightly. I returned the bow, and we stepped back.
Ping stepped between us. "That is what I like to see," she said. She was carrying a staff. "If I call hold, you will both freeze and back away. You may defend yourself from a late strike, but if you lash out, you better be prepared to take a swing from my staff."
I smiled at her and nodded understanding.
"Don't think I'm too old to do it, either," she said. "I am the judge of all points. If you call one against yourself, I may agree with you, I may not. Questions?"
"No, Ping," with both said. Ping lifted the staff so its end stayed between us, checked that we were both ready, then backed away and said, "Fight."
Omie had been right. It was not a difficult fight. Jalane fought poorly; she had done better when I had trained with her. She did have a trick or two, but they were tricks Nori had taught me years ago. She wasn't a poor fighter. Against another opponent she might have been considered, "Good". But she fought about as well as Glorana or Frida fight alone. In the end, I won the bout five to nothing. Jalane was panting heavily at the end and thanked me for the bout.
Omie took the practice sword from me, and I received hugs from my family. "My big strong warrior," Lia whispered in my ear. "We have to go help some more."
Omie and I watched the other fights. There were fix or six warriors I thought were particular threats. Jalad was one of them. She preferred to fight with a staff and she had no care for the damage she did with it. She was big and powerful, and I thought she was a bully.
"Do you know her?" Omie asked.
"Yes," I said. "Jalad. She's from Knotty Pine. She's not well-liked."
"I'd like to let your sister go swimming with her," Omie said.
I laughed. It could be particularly humiliating for a warrior to go swimming with Maya. Not that she was mean, but anyone who sees her fight comes away with one impression, so to get beat so thoroughly by her was hard to take. Not that she beat everyone when she went swimming, but even when she didn't win, she gave a good showing.
For another fight, Omie said, "She looks confident."
"She should be," I replied. "That's Tenda."
"That's Tenda? She's my size."
"I know. From her reputation, you would expect her six feet tall and built like an ox. She's small and fast and doesn't have a single bad habit. She's also very sweet. I like her. She'll do well and should make the later rounds, but it will depend."
"On what?"
"She's fragile. She hates fighting against a staff. If she gets placed against Jalad, she may accept a forfeit. But if there are any team events, don't bet against her. She has a few big, strong friends who are good enough to act as a shield, and then she's deadly."
Two matches later, we stood between Vorine and Clara's rings. In Vorine's ring on the left was Lilith. "You'll like this," I told Omie. "She's a wrestler."
"Wrestling doesn't usually involve a staff against a sword," Omie said.
"Just watch."
Lilith won her fight five to two. She won all her points in a very similar fashion, using her staff to hold off her opponent until she could step inside the sword range and perform a wrestling move of some sort. She threw her opponent over her hip, applied various submission holds, and otherwise wrestled her opponent into submission.
"She's good," Omie said. She grinned. "Do you think she'd wrestle later?"
"She'd be overjoyed if you asked," I said. "
Omie, don't let anyone bet on you."
"Seriously?"
"Yep. Probably the best opponent you've faced in a long time."
She frowned at me. "I live in Queen's Town, Beria."
"Which is why I made that claim very, very quietly."
In Clara's ring was Haldara. "What about her?" Omie asked. Haldara was a big woman, and she stepped into the ring with a sword that was as long as Omie was tall.
"What the hell is that?" Omie asked.
"You should see her in a demon fight. She's a joy to watch. I've never seen her fight all out with that thing though." She had a real sword for demon fights and a practice sword to match it. She was strong enough to fight with it one handed, but she nearly always fought two handed with it.
She didn't fight with much style. Instead, she basically beat her opponent into submission. The poor woman didn't have a clue how to defend against such an overpowering attack.
"She seems to lack finesse," Omie said with a grin.
"Yeah. I wanted to see."
"She sort of fights like it's a staff."
"Yeah. I'll treat it like a staff fight."
Omie pursed her lips. "She's not a threat."
"No. I wasn't sure. But I want to keep an eye on her. She may have more than one style, but I don't think so."
There were a few other warriors I thought were good, and I was sure there were a few fights I should have seen.
Finally the last matches from the first round were finished. Malora thanked everyone for a good morning of matches. "We now have a few hours off. I believe Maya has a fun event for the companions immediately after lunch, but you'll need to check the board for details. The next matches are scheduled for two this afternoon. We'll post the matches as quickly as we can. Thank you everyone!"
Maya found me five minutes later. "Will you help officiate a water event for the companions?"
I laughed. "As long as I won't be late for my next match."
"There's time," she said. "I have to help Malora set up the next matches, but we have a secret system. It shouldn't take long."
* * * *
My second opponent was better than my first. I didn't know much about her. She almost scored a point, a short slice across my bicep, but we both separated and she called it a scratch. Clara agreed, and the match ended five-zero.
Afterwards we stepped out of the ring together. "It was borderline," I said.
She shrugged. "It was a joy to cross swords with you, Chief Beria."
I didn't get to see Jalad or Tenda, but I watched Haldara beat down her opponent, and Lilith won through her wrestling moves. I hadn't figured out what to do about her yet.
By the end of the day, Maya posted the results. Of the seventy competitors, seventeen had been eliminated. Seventeen were still undefeated. The rest had won an event and lost an event. We would start round three on the second day with 53 competitors.
* * * *
"Maya, may I meddle? Where are you totaling the results?" I had won my third match, an easy fight, after watching Jalad beat down yet another opponent.
"Our hut," she said. "Beria, we can't play favorites."
"I'm not about to ask you to. Much."
"All right," she said. Together we walked to her hut finding Malora and Nori already waiting.
"She can't be here," Malora said immediately.
"I would like to know how you are making the matches."
"Beria, you can't be here."
"Are you manipulating the results to keep me from the best fighters?"
"No." She sighed. "All right, this is what we did. We ranked each player, one to seventy, best to worst. Clearly, we guessed, but we think we're close. For the first round, we pitted the top half against the bottom half. So you had an easy fight for the first round. Half of you had an easy fight, half had a very difficult fight. There were a few surprises, but not many."
"All right."
"For the second round, we kept the same rankings, but we first split by win record. Then we did the bottom half against the bottom half, the top half against the top half. But you still had a fairly easy fight. You're opponent for that fight is ranked approximately twenty or so."
I nodded.
"The fight this morning we did top half against bottom half again."
"My fight yesterday afternoon was harder," I admitted. "And what is your plan for this afternoon?"
"Top half against top half."
"Put me against Jalad. I'm tired of her beating her opponents down."
"Beria, we're keeping you away from her for now. For each half, we divide it in half again. The top person in the top quarter fights the top person in the second quarter."
"Queen Malora," I said, "I would appreciate it if my next opponent was Jalad."
She sighed. "Go away, Beria."
* * * *
I checked the board after lunch. I was to fight Jalad. There were thirty-two remaining competitors. Twelve of us were undefeated. Using five rings yesterday we'd had seven matches per ring. I saw we were dropping to four rings with four matches in each ring.
I found Maya. "Thank you."
"Malora wasn't happy but Nori pointed out you were going to fight Jalad sooner or later. She's worried you'll get hurt."
"Haldara is a threat in that regard, too," I said. "I'll be fine."
"The doubles water tournament is this afternoon after the matches. Please?"
I laughed. "It's not limited to companions?"
"Nope. Please, Beria."
"Are we going to win?"
"I doubt it. We'll be in the top three. There's a two deer skin entry fee with the skins divided amongst the top three teams."
"Are you going to get enough competitors to be worth it?"
She smiled. "Seventeen teams signed up."
"So we'd make eighteen?"
"Um."
I laughed. "Already signed us up?"
"I did it as Maya and partner. If you won't do it, I'll ask someone else."
I laughed. "I'd love to, Maya. Got your half of the entry fee?"
"I was hoping you'd spot me."
"Are you sure I brought skins?"
"Funny."
* * * *
My fight with Jalad was scheduled for the final set of fights. I watched Tenda, Lilith and Haldara win their matches. So far I'd been fighting with one sword, but I stepped into the ring with two swords. There had been a few other competitors with two swords, but none of them had been that good. I thought this would be the first time Jalad had faced two swords wielded by one woman.
Jalad, of course, brought her staff to a sword fight.
We were in Malora's ring for this fight, and she deliberately delayed the start of our fight until the fights on either side of us finished. Jalad and I studied each other carefully.
I'd been watching her. There were a few moves she over-extended, usually when she thought she had a point blow. I wasn't sure if I could use that or not, but she left herself open for a counterstrike if I could move fast enough.
On the other hand, she liked to use her size and strength to press her opponent around the ring, and it wasn't a large ring.
"I'm sorry," Malora said. "Let's have a clean fight. You are both undefeated, and I wouldn't want either of you disabled before your next fights."
"Don't worry about me," Jalad said. "I won't get hurt."
I really didn't like this woman.
"Ready, fight!" Malora called out.
Jalad immediately came after me, her staff fast. I retreated from her, deflecting her swings a few times and returning sword slashes whenever she left an opening, and a few times she hadn't to see what she would do.
She was actually pretty good against two swords, but she wasn't good enough to win. I wasn't even trying that hard, and I slid a sword along her arm.
"Scratch," I said, backing away.
Malora frowned. "Continue," she said. It wasn't a scratch. If I'd been holding steel, I would have opened her to the bone.
&nb
sp; Jalad came after me twice as hard. Then I gave her a clear opening and she swung for it, but I was waiting for it and caught her staff with both my swords, barely blocking the swing.
And then I snapped out a sidekick right into her ribs. Jalad pulled back, rubbing her ribs, and Malora called, "Hold!"
"No point," Jalad said. She glared at me. "What was that?"
"If I were left rubbing my ribs from your staff, it would have been a point," I said. I knew I'd kicked her hard enough to leave a bruise. It was probably her first bruise of the event. I didn't particularly care if Malora counted it as a point. I was giving Jalad a taste of her own medicine.
"I'm sorry, " Malora said. "I must confer." She raised her voice. "Nori!"
"Here," Nori said, stepping forward. "I saw it." She stepped between Jalad and me. Malora and Nori talked quietly for a minute or two, then Nori left the circle.
"Chief Beria, a staff can crack ribs. I do not believe your kick can. We pull our strikes to avoid causing real damage. We will not count hand-to-hand strikes to the body as a point unless your opponent falls from the strike. No point."
Jalad grinned at me and lifted her staff.
"Yes, Queen Malora," I said.
"Still no points. Fight."
For the next two minutes, Jalad pursued me, swinging rapidly with her staff. I deflected some, dodged others, and reached out with my swords from time to time. If I'd been carrying steel, she would have had a half dozen minor cuts but none that were worth a point. But finally she swung so hard that when I blocked with both swords, she powered right through my block and struck my ribs hard enough to bruise.
"Hold!" Malora called. "Point to Jalad."
Jalad got the next point as well, but then early during the third point, I ducked under a particularly brutal swing then came up with a solid punch to her bicep, then I withdrew, drawing the entire length of the sword along her arm.
Point to Beria, and I suppressed a grin as Jalad shook out her arm. The real score, as far as I was concerned, two bruises to two bruises.
Jalad glared at me.
I got the next two points. My second point was almost the same as the first in almost the exact same place, but I slammed my off sword down across her arm as well. My third point involved the hilt of my sword slammed into her back, not hard enough to cause real damage, but hard enough to hurt.
