“Then—continue!” Aber backed away.
Once more Ulyanash and I circled. He moved more slowly and cautiously this time. My taking first blood had done a little good—it had unnerved him. I would have to use that to my advantage.
I tried to close, and this time he danced back, slashing hard. He just missed my face; I felt the wind of his blade scarcely a finger's width from my cheek.
Careful, careful. Pressing forward, I worked to the left, making him turn. That seemed to be his weaker side; I noticed a slight hesitation every time I thrust toward his left cheek. Maybe he had a little trouble seeing with his left eye?
Suddenly he pressed a savage attack. He slashed again and again, knife a blur, putting me on the defensive. I parried and evaded as best I could, dodging and retreating in a circle. Our blades whistled. He grunted, and I noticed sweat starting to bead on his chest. Surely he couldn't keep up that frantic pace long—he would exhaust himself.
I waited patiently, backing in a wide circle, letting him press the attack, doing my best to stay clear.
Deliberately letting my foot slip a bit, I leaned to the left. He thought he saw an opening and lunged with a lightning blow. It came faster and lower than I expected, and I had to spin to the side, barely avoid having my belly punctured.
As I'd hoped, he had overextended his reach. I grabbed his right wrist in my left hand and squeezed as hard as I could.
I had crushed men's bones in combat before. Any normal human would have cried out and dropped the knife, hopelessly cripped. But Ulyanash's bones felt like iron. Instead of dropping the knife, he half turned, jerked his arm up—and sent me flying twenty feet high into the air.
The fall probably would have ended the fight—not from any injury I might have sustained, but because he would have been waiting for me on the floor below. A quick knife thrust, and I would have been dead.
Luckily one of the floating stones saved me. I came within a foot of it, grabbed it with my left hand, swung there a second, then pulled myself on board. The dozen men and women standing there pressed back, giving me room.
I turned, knife ready. But Ulyanash didn't follow me.
“Coward!” Ulyanash cried, pointing at me with his knife. “Look how he runs from the fight!”
“You threw him up there,” Aber said. “Give him a chance to get back down.”
“Or,” I said, “you can come up.”
People began stepping off the stone on which I stood. Panting, I waited and thought about the fight so far. Clearly I needed a new strategy. He was stronger and faster than me.
My stone began to drift toward the floor. Ulyanash moved back, giving it room. He smirked. Clearly he thought he had me.
When the stone was two feet off the floor, I hopped down and faced him. He approached me carefully, circling, knife out and ready.
Then, with a triple feint and a blindingly fast thrust, he caught me off balance and cut my chest. It was a shallow wound, little more than a scratch really, but it stung and bled openly. Blood flowed up into my eyes, and I blinked through a red curtain suddenly.
“Wait!” Aber called. “Second blood!”
Wincing, I drew back. Good—I needed a moment's rest. Grinning, Ulyanash moved back a few paces.
“Are you satisfied?” my brother asked Ulyanash.
“No.”
“Are you satisfied?” he asked me.
“No,” I said calmly. I began a slight shapeshift, closing my wound and stopping the blood flow. I noticed Ulyanash staring at my chest. He frowned. Clearly he wasn't used to opponents healing so quickly and effortlessly.
That gave me an idea. Shapeshifting might be a weapon he wasn't used to—if the rules permitted it. Or even if they didn't.
“So be it,” said Aber. “Continue!”
I circled to the left, keeping my guard up, while Ulyanash sprang forward like a wolf scenting blood. I retreated before him, concentrating not on the fight, but on my body, on the change I wanted. Timing, timing, wait—wait—
I saw my opening. He lunged, and I let him catch my right arm with the tip of his knife. It pierced me so fast, I barely felt it, and his body continued on and over me. His left hand caught my right fore-arm so I couldn't counter. I could have driven the blade into his belly or chest otherwise.
I pulled him close, chest to chest.
“Big mistake,” I whispered in his ear.
I saw startled confusion in his eyes.
“What—” he began.
Then the shapeshift I'd already begun took place. My forearm lengthened, extending a foot, driving the blade of my knife up under his chin, into his skull.
His eyes widened. His mouth opened, and I saw steel inside, piercing his tongue as it reached straight through his palate and into his brain. He screamed soundlessly.
Like a tree toppling, he began to fall on top of me. I tried to pull back, but his weight bore me down. I moaned as the knife drove more deeply into my arm.
His shape-shift began to unravel. As he became lighter and smaller, what seemed like a hundred different hands pulled him off me, began helping me up. I let my own forearm return to normal.
A dozen voices were commenting at once:
“Incredible fight—”
“I can't believe you beat Ulyanash—”
“—never seen the like—”
“How did he—”
“Well done,” Aber said, crouching beside me.
Someone handed him a goblet of wine, which he passed to me. I took a deep swallow.
Freda was suddenly at my side.
Freda said, “The knife must come out.”
I glanced down. Its blade was still buried in my arm nearly to the hilt. Tiny drops of blood beaded and rose into the air around it.
“Do it fast,” I said.
“Not here,” she said. She looked around. “Aunt Lanara—I need a quiet place to work.”
“This way,” our aunt said. She had just reached us. Looking concerned, she led the way through the crowd—which parted for her—to the far wall. There, she opened a door to a small sitting room.
“We'll be out as soon as possible,” Aber promised her. “Oberon will be fine.”
“I promised you excitement,” I said, grinning.
“Yes.” She frowned. “But I cannot tolerate such behavior. No more dueling at my parties!”“
I nodded. “I'm sorry. It was forced upon me.”
She ushered us inside, then closed the door on her way out.
“Don't worry,” Aber said, “she loved every minute of it. Her party's going to be the talk of society for the next month. And so are you.”
“Just what I need…” I muttered.
“Sit down,” Freda said.
Finding a small overstuffed cassock, I did so. Aber used the Logrus to fetch bandages, needle and thread, and a small jar, which seemed to have salve of some kind inside.
“This is going to hurt,” Freda said.
“I've had worse,” I told her.
“Oberon,” Aber said. He was trying to distract me, I realized with a smile. “You let him stab you, didn't you?”
“Not something I'd normally do, but…” I gave a little shrug and winced as pain shot the length of my left arm. My fingertips began to tingle with pins and needles.
“Why?” he asked.
“Did you see what happened?” I asked.
“Just that you suddenly closed and stabbed him.”
I chuckled. “There was… a little more to it than that.”
“He did something with magic,” Freda said.
Aber stared at her. “What?”
“I… do not know. I was looking at him through the Logrus as they fought. I thought I might learn something about Ulyanash from it.”
“Did you?” I asked.
“Almost. He was using magic even before you fought. He had a faint red glow all over. Then, when you killed him, you suddenly glowed a brilliant white. I have never seen anything like it before. What did you do?”
“I shape-shifted, too,” I said.
“To what?” Aber demanded.
“I think I'll keep that part to myself,” I said. If no one had seen what I'd done, I didn't want word of it to get out. I might have to use that trick again someday.