“I don’t … I don’t understand,” Alfredo said.
Feeling like an idiot, the Cyclops stepped before Alfredo and saluted him as D’Arbignal had taught her. She stayed immobile, waiting for Alfredo to return the salute.
“You … you can’t be serious!”
D’Arbignal produced another ruby and placed it on the ground separated from the others. “Is this serious enough?”
Alfredo laughed. “My reputation is worth more than a few gems. It’ll take more than that to get me to hurt a woman, even one as ugly as her.”
“Fine, five rubies then.” He produced the fifth ruby.
Alfredo put his hands on his hips. “You don’t understand, D’Arbignal. There is no number of gems you can give me that will convince me to duel … that.”
“Fair enough,” D’Arbignal said. He sheathed his orange rapier and placed it next to the gems. “How about that?”
“D’Arbignal, no!” cried the Cyclops.
He grinned at her and winked, his eyes manic.
There was that gleam of avarice in Alfredo’s eyes again. He smiled grimly.
“I accept your offer. What do you want of me in return, if somehow the freak wins?”
“Two things,” D’Arbignal said. “First, that you treat Maria with respect from now on.”
“And the other?”
“That you teach her to fence until she is as good as you or better.”
“Done!” Alfredo said, laughing. “I would have offered anything, because it’s a fool’s bet. Thank you for the rapier, D’Arbignal.”
D’Arbignal bowed with a flourish. “My pleasure. It’s yours for the taking. Now all you have to do is earn it.”
Rage filled Alfredo’s eyes once more as he turned to face the Cyclops and returned her salute. He adopted his fighting stance. She assumed hers.
“To first blood?” D’Arbignal suggested.
“To first blood,” Alfredo agreed.
The Cyclops nodded. “To first blood.”
Chapter 32
“By the time he’ll be fighting you, he’ll be exhausted,” D’Arbignal had said during one of their private training sessions by the creek. “He’ll be exhausted, enraged, and contemptuous.”
“But how do you know?” the Cyclops had said.
“It’s what I do best,” D’Arbignal had replied with a grin. “He’ll want to end the duel very quickly, to regain face with the audience, and to make you look as inept as possible. But don’t worry: we have a plan!”
“We do?” she had said, not convinced.
Now she was in her fighting stance, trying to match as closely as possible what D’Arbignal had told her. Her legs were already fatigued, and sweat dripped from her forehead, causing some of her makeup to run into her eye, stinging.
She held the rapier in her right hand, point drooping ever-so-slightly too low. She gripped the hilt too loosely, as D’Arbignal had instructed.
“You wouldn’t be able to survive a straight skill-on-skill duel with Alfredo,” D’Arbignal had said. “So we’ll bait a trap.”
She looked in Alfredo’s eyes and saw contempt and fury in them. She also saw that he was smirking, as though he thought himself particularly clever.
It seemed to be the right time according to what D’Arbignal had taught her, so she lunged at Alfredo.
Exactly as D’Arbignal had predicted, Alfredo sidestepped, and then his rapier darted for her sword hand. He had told her that the low point and the weak grip would be too enticing for Alfredo and that he would try to humiliate her with a disarm.
The point of his rapier started to circle her wrist, but she began to circle her blade in the same direction, and she leapt forward, and slashed his thigh.
She quickly retreated out of Alfredo’s striking range.
“First blood!” she cried, pointing at his thigh. “First blood!”
“Why, you little bitch!” Alfredo shouted. “I’ll cut you from—”
D’Arbignal tsked at him.
“Remember the wager, Alfredo. You agreed to the terms in front of all these wonderful people!” D’Arbignal spread his arms as if to encompass the audience “You wouldn’t want to dishonor yourself by reneging, would you?”
The crowd responded with a barrage of cheers and boos. Cheers for D’Arbignal and boos for Alfredo’s disgraceful behavior.
“As a wise man once told me,” D’Arbignal added with a wink, “there’s no shame in losing to a better fencer.”
For a moment, it seemed that Alfredo would choke to death on his own anger. But after a moment, he bowed politely.
“Well played, Cyclops,” he said.
“Well played, Maria,” D’Arbignal corrected.
Alfredo turned a little redder, but said, “Well played, Maria.”
Chapter 33
D’Arbignal had one last surprise for everyone gathered. He indicated Marco and proclaimed, “As per the terms of our own wager, the ownership of this circus has now passed to me.”
Despondent, Marco nodded his agreement.
“It’s yours,” he said. “May it bring you more luck than it’s brought me.”
“Thank you,” D’Arbignal said. “And in return, I am giving it to Maria.”
“What?” Marco said, looking as though he had been betrayed.
“What?” Alfredo said. His own expression was one of a man whose world had just been turned upside-down.
“What?” Maria said, adding to the chorus.
“It’s your circus now, Maria,” D’Arbignal said with a small bow and flourish. “I’m sure you will run it well.”
“Don’t you want it?”
“I?” D’Arbignal said. “I wouldn’t know what to do with a circus. Besides, I’ve got to get moving. Can’t stay here too long; think of all the trouble I’d be missing out elsewhere!”
Maria’s eye teared up. “You won’t stay?” She didn’t add, with me?
“No, I’m afraid I can’t.” D’Arbignal smiled gently. “To be honest, I only stayed as long I did because of you.”
“Me? But I —” She choked it back, but then thought, why not? “I love you.”
D’Arbignal took her hand and kissed it, and the finality of the gesture made her cry.
“Thank you, Maria. And a wonderful love it is. Now find someone who deserves that love. Whoever he is, he’ll be a very lucky man.”
He swept up the pile of rubies and placed them in her trembling hand. “Operating expenses,” he said.
He picked up his rapier, tucked it into the leather frog on his belt, and headed for one of the tent’s exits.
“By the way,” he called back to her, “if you need more dresses like the one I gave you, there’s a seamstress in Cerendahl you should see. Her name is Shara; tell her D’Arbignal sent you.”
With that, he saluted her once, bowed, and was gone …
… leaving her with nothing but her rapier. Her rapier, her circus, her rubies, and her future. And for the first time in a long time, the future looked like it might be a hospitable place to visit.
Pahula nodded approvingly as D’Arbignal departed.
“See?” she said, putting her arm around Maria. “It’s like I told you: he’s a very nice men.”
Acknowledgements
Oh heavens, I’ve written another book! I don’t know what’s the matter with me, but I hold you, the reader, partially to blame. If it weren’t for your enthusiastic support of my stories, I’d never work up the energy to write a single word. You guys sustain me, and I’m not talking financially.
As always, I need to start with a huge thank you to Kate, my girlfriend, my support network, my sounding board, and as always, my Intended Reader. Every word you read here had to make it past her first. (So, um, I guess if you don’t like it, that makes it partially her fault, right?)
Next, I have to thank my editor Barb Caffrey and my cover artist Carol Phillips. Barb takes my mediocre prose and makes it punchy. Carol takes my abstract ideas and turns them into beau
tiful covers!
Next up are again the holy trinity of authors Chris Boucher (Doctor Who, Blake’s 7), R. A. Salvatore (the bestselling Drizzt Do'Urden series), and Steve Hamilton (the Alex McKnight series and The Lock Artist). I continue to learn from you every day through your examples. What meager talent I’ve managed to develop is largely a tribute to the lessons you’ve taught me.
Then of course there are my wonderful beta-readers, including (but not limited to): Trin Denise, Connie Jasperson, Becky Kyle, Sabrina Malone, Art Pugach, K. R. Schulteis, Dana Sieders, Ryk Spoor, and Valerie Ward. Thank you so much for all your suggestions, and for putting up with so many typos!
I have to thank Ryk Spoor a second time for those great gaming sessions back in the early ninteties. Not only did they give rise to the character of D’Arbignal, but they were just a hell of a lot of fun!
I continue to feel honored and humbled by the support the late Daniel Copeland gave me, and it is to him I've dedicated this book. Dan was one of the kindest, bravest, and most up-beat people I've ever met. I'm sorry you had to leave this world so soon, Dan, but I am eternally grateful for having had the opportunity to know you. This world needs more people like you.
And of course, I thank Kate first and last because my world begins and ends with her. Thanks for sticking with me, Kate. I know it’s not easy putting up with an aspiring writer! (Don’t tell Kate, but I would have dumped me years ago…)
About The Author
photo: Wai Ng
JEFFREY GETZIN graduated from Clark University, where he won the Loring Holmes and Ruth Dodd Drama Contest for an original one-act play. He earned a master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Pittsburgh. Jeffrey currently develops software for Google in New York City, and lives in New Jersey with his long-time girlfriend Kate and a seemingly infinite number of cats.
Jeffrey is a lifelong practitioner of various martial arts, and currently holds a purple belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu under Renzo Gracie black belt Jamie Cruz and has trained in Muay Thai under legendary fighter Kaensak Sor Ploenjit. He has competed in table tennis at the national level. Jeffrey is an avid film and home theater buff. Also, his mother says he is very handsome.
If you enjoyed this book, please try Jeffrey's other books Shara and the Haunted Village and Prince of Bryanae.
For more information, visit www.jeffreygetzin.com.
The Bryanae Series
by Jeffrey Getzin
Prince of Bryanae
Shara and the Haunted Village
A Lesson for the Cyclops
King of Bryanae (coming soon)
The Greatest Swordsman in the World (coming soon)
A Lesson for the Cyclops Page 8
