Part 23 (2/2)
”Ah,” she said. ”I wasn't certain you'd let me have another match since you won the first. Luck can't be with you all the time.”
”Luck, she says!” He appealed to the interested spectators who'd begun gathering in the courtyard at his first bellow. Then he turned back to Aralorn. ”Skill it was, and right well you know it, small one.”
”Big people have farther to fall,” she retorted. ”Let me get my staves, and I'll meet you there.” She'd tire her body, then see if she could piece together some way to save her father, Nevyn, and Wolf. Because, with Nevyn as the enemy, Wolf was still at risk.
TWELVE.
Falhart was waiting for Aralorn when she got to the practice grounds. He'd stripped down to his trousers, which was gutsy of him, if not too smart. A leather s.h.i.+rt was fair protection against bruises-and the cold for that matter.
s.h.i.+rtless, he appeared even larger than he did clothed, and if that flesh was tinged blue from the weather, it didn't detract from the whole. From the looks of him, he trained as hard as any new recruit, for there wasn't a spare bit of flesh anywhere.
If she'd been the kind of person who was easily intimidated, she'd have been getting nervous. As it was, she looked around but didn't see his wife or any other reason for the display-though there was a fair-sized crowd beginning to gather.
Aralorn generally preferred to keep as much clothing on as possible when fighting someone who didn't know her; the less anyone saw of her muscles, the more they underrated her abilities-not that she expected Falhart to underestimate her. Perhaps he fought stripped down to intimidate his opponent. If she were as large as he, she might try that tack, but she wouldn't expect it to be too effective against a small woman who was used to fighting musclebound men.
”Let you win once, and you get visions of invulnerability,” she mourned, gesturing toward his discarded clothing. ”Just think of the bruises you'll carry tomorrow.”
”You talk pretty big for a little thing who got beaten soundly yesterday,” he returned, working his big staff in a pattern that made it blur and sing.
His weapon was impressive: He was using his war staff rather than the practice one he'd had yesterday. It was half a foot taller than he was and as big around as he could comfortably hold-Aralorn doubted she could close her hand around it. It was stained almost black and shod with polished steel that caught the light as he made it dance. She shook her head at him-there were easier ways to warm up.
Watching the gathering crowd, Aralorn grinned at the looks of awe her brother was receiving from the young men. Obviously, he didn't put on a display like this every day.
In comparison, she knew that she made a pitiful showing. She'd picked the same single staff she'd fought with yesterday: Her staff looked like a child's toy in comparison to Falhart's. She set it aside as she warmed up, stretching her muscles but not using them appreciably.
She could hear active betting in the crowd, which meant that someone expected her to win, which surprised her given Hart's show of force.
”Got those five coppers handy?” she asked, as a way of announcing she was ready to fight. ”I don't accept credit.”
”I've got them,” said Correy, pus.h.i.+ng his way to the fore of the crowd and stepping over the low barrier that defined the ring. ”Can't even buy a night's stay in a decent inn for that, Aralorn. Are you sure you don't want to up the bet?”
She shook her head. ”I never bet more than ten-and then only if it is a bet I'm certain to win. Any more than that, and I might miss it. I'm just a poor mercenary, not heir to a landed n.o.ble like some people I know. And, Correy, anyone who spends five coppers for a night at the inn better be paying for more than room and board, or else he's getting rooked. Falhart, are you through wasting your strength yet?”
He looked at Correy, who nodded.
Which was odd-unless she tied it in with Falhart's bare chest and the active betting. ”It's not kind to sucker people who can't afford it, Correy,” she said softly.
”I'm not taking more than they can afford-Father pays his men well.” He turned his back to the crowd so he wouldn't be overheard. ”Besides, Hart's not throwing the fight. He just told me that he'd be surprised if you let him win twice in a row.”
”He owes me a gold for fighting without my s.h.i.+rt,” murmured Hart. ”I get that win or lose.”
Aralorn grinned at him, ”Does your wife know you take your s.h.i.+rt off for money?”
”Just don't tell Irrenna,” he pleaded-only half joking.
”Oh-ho,” she crowed. ”This sounds like blackmail material.”
Hart rolled his eyes, ”Can we get on with this? It's blasted cold out here.”
Aralorn straightened and shook her shoulders out. ”Fine. I'll add a little black to your blue skin.”
Correy stepped out of the ring, leaving it to the combatants.
The secret of fighting against a man using a tree was never to be where he thought you were going to be. Her staff could turn his, but if she was stupid enough to try to block his directly, it would snap.
For the first few minutes, they fought silently, trying to take each other by surprise before it turned into an endurance contest. Falhart had to move more bulk around than Aralorn, but she had to move hers faster because of the length of his reach, so they were both breathing heavily when they backed off.
”There's a story I once heard,” she said, pacing around the ring without taking her eye off him, ”about a thief-taker who worked for the king of Southwood several generations back. His name was Anslow.”
”Never heard of him,” grunted Falhart, moving at her in a rush. She dove under his blow, tucked her stick neatly between his knees, and twisted. He fell to the ground, rolling, and she jumped lightly back out of his reach. ”Don't try that move on me again,” he warned. ”Twice is pus.h.i.+ng it.”
She shrugged, grinning. ”Some moves bear repeating, if only for entertainment value. That's the trouble with your being so large-it's too much fun to watch you fall.”
They circled warily for a moment. Without the protection of a s.h.i.+rt, Falhart was more cautious than he'd been the day before. ”Why don't you continue with your story?”
Aralorn nodded, walking backward as he stalked her. ”Anslow solved crimes that had stumped many before him, winning a reputation as the best of his kind. There are stories of cases he solved with nothing but a bit of thread or a single footprint.”
Falhart closed, taking a swing at her middle. Aralorn didn't even pause in her story as she avoided the blow. ”He was a legend in his own time, and lawbreakers walked in fear of his shadow. But there was one criminal who did not fear him.”
”Stay put, you runt,” he snapped, as she dodged past him, catching him a glancing hit on his ribs.
”Point,” she crowed. ”This criminal was a killer who chose women for victims.”
”I can see his-point,” muttered Falhart as he caught her squarely in the back, knocking the breath out of her.
Chivalrously, he stepped back and waited for her to breathe again. It took her a moment before she came to her feet.
”Allyn's toadflax, Hart, that's going to hurt tomorrow.”
He grinned, showing not the least hint of remorse. ”That's the point of the whole thing.”
”Right,” she said dryly, though she couldn't help smiling.
This was fun fun. She hadn't been able to really cut loose since her last good sparring partner had been killed. If you didn't trust the skills of your opponent, you couldn't use your best moves against him unless you wanted to kill him. With a wild yell, she launched an attack designed to do nothing more than tire Falhart out.
”You were telling me about the thief-taker,” he said, matching her blow for blow and adding a few moves of his own to show her she wasn't in control of the fight.
”Ah,” she said, slipping nimbly out of the path of his quarterstaff. ”So I was. The killer took his prey only once a year, on the first day of spring. He laid his victims out in some public place in the dark of the night. As the years pa.s.sed, the killer taunted Anslow, sending him notes and clues that did the thief-taker no good.”
While he was extended in a thrust that she'd turned aside, she slipped the end of her staff sideways and hit him squarely in the breastbone, where it left a bruise to match the one on his ribs. ”Two.”
He growled and circled. She stuck her tongue out at him; he made a face.
”The night before the killer would take his fifteenth victim,” she continued, ”Anslow took every note the killer had sent him and set them before him, trying to find a pattern. He thought it was someone he knew, for the notes contained a few private references-things that only Anslow should have known.”
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