Chapter Nine
The gargoyle sat perched above the small arena like a silent sentinel frozen at its task. Nearly half again as tall as a man and chiseled from dark grey stone, its twisted mouth gaped open in a violent scream while its spiked tail coiled thrice about its legs. It held its wings folded back behind its torso while a set of four massive arms adorned its chest—one pair crossed before, the other extended in fists above its head to emphasize its howl of rage.
“Be careful of that thing,” Coragan said, suppressing a smile.
Galladrin’s hand stopped short just before reaching the stony taloned toes on the ledge above his head. “What do you mean? It’s only a statue,” he said.
“A wizard’s statue,” Coragan reminded him. “I actually saw one of those animate before ... It’s not a pretty sight.”
“Animate? You mean come alive?” Galladrin swallowed nervously. His hand froze in the air, mere inches from the statue’s foot.
“Yeah. Several years ago, a wizard by the name of Arsis hired me to find a master thief who had marked him for death. We were discussing my pay when an assassin broke into the room—big mistake. The statue—actually it looked a lot like that one ... may have had an extra set of wings though—anyway, the statue nearly ripped the man in half. One of the most disturbing things I’ve ever seen; never trusted a statue since, especially not one in a wizard’s den.”
“Well, perhaps we should leave this one alone,” Galladrin said withdrawing his hand. He did not notice the small twist of a smile that shimmered across the bounty hunter’s features. “I wouldn’t want to disturb it.”
“Probably a good idea,” Coragan said, gripping the wooden practice sword with both hands, “Shall we get under way, then?”
“Certainly,” Galladrin drew his own practice blade.
They were in one of the guild’s sparring arenas, set aside for the training of the guards. They had been given spare rooms to sleep in after staying up long hours in the night recording the inventory of the tower debris. Despite the fact that both men were educated in the arts of writing, neither considered himself an accomplished scribe. As a result, they had stayed awake far beyond the setting of first Silgaren and then even Neerie before finally completing the task and returning to their guest rooms to get some sleep. Now, after a refreshing sleep in one of the most comfortable beds he had ever used, Coragan found himself squared off with the rogue in a late morning duel.
Coragan made a quick feint to the left, but drew himself up short before committing. “So Galladrin ...” he said, “got any ideas on the fire so far?”
“Come, come, Coragan,” Galladrin replied donning his arrogant swordsman’s air and circling to the bounty hunter’s right. “Have at me with that blade of yours. Don’t try such a novice diversion.”
“If you insist,” Coragan said, grinning, then moving in to attack. He swung twice, one low strike to the knees followed by a second upward swing to Galladrin’s head. Galladrin, however, deflected both blows with cat-like ease, and Coragan felt a sharp jab of pain as the rogue’s wooden sword struck him in the ribs.
The rogue stuck out his tongue and made a childish face. “You’re dead.”
Coragan rubbed his side. “That hurt!”
“Really, Coragan. Did you expect to spar and not get hit?”
“Fine. Let’s see how you like it.” Coragan drove in with a swing and a thrust.
The agile rogue parried one and danced nimbly aside from the other. “Alas, poor Coragan, it seems I cannot empathize with your pain.” Galladrin smiled, then snapped in two quick strikes of his own.
Wood clapped on wood as Coragan parried the first of the blows, but then the bounty hunter yelped in pain as Galladrin’s wooden blade smacked down on his wrist. Surprised, Coragan watched his own blade drop to the floor.
“Handless and disarmed,” Galladrin said. “You really ought to be a little more careful.”
“Yeah, yeah, oh sagely one,” Coragan said, leaning down to recover his weapon. Then with a surprising suddenness, the bounty hunter dove to the ground, rolled forward and swung his blade at Galladrin’s legs. The nimble rogue leaped up and the bounty hunter’s sword whished through empty air. Coragan tried to recover with a backswing, but the rogue blocked the blow and the bounty hunter felt yet again the gentle nudge of a wooden blade, this time against his neck.
“You know,” Galladrin said, “a sword master of mine once told me I should never leave the ground. Now, despite how fancy that nice little roll looked, I’m inclined to agree with him, seeing as you have just been decapitated.”
“You would definitely be one for the crossbow,” Coragan said, as he regained his feet.
“Excuse me?” Galladrin asked.
“If I had to bring you in,” Coragan explained, “I’d use my crossbow. It comes in handy on those rare occasions, like today, when I’m faced with a swordsman of superior skill.”
“Oh, really?” Galladrin again asked, smiling smugly.
“Yeah, there was this one time when I had to bring in a man accused of stealing the Red Eyes of Jakaran from a temple in Pallernia. He didn’t even have a weapon and he was beating the tar out of me ... you know, one of those weaponless fighters.”
“What did you do?”
“I shot him in the leg,” Coragan said. “You’d be surprised how a crossbow bolt to the hip can take the fight out of a man.”
“Oh,” Galladrin said, rubbing his own hip. “Just thinking about that makes me cringe.”
“I do what is necessary,” Coragan said.
“Sure, I bet that man was forever in your debt,” Galladrin said.
“Actually, we parted on pretty good terms,” Coragan replied. “After getting him under control I took him to a healer because he was bleeding so badly. They fixed him up so he could stand trial and it turned out he was found innocent. Someone else had stolen the gems.”
“Really?” Galladrin asked with an innocent grin. “Did they ever find out who?”
“No,” Coragan answered. “They set me on the wrong chase in the first place, so the trail was cold and I didn’t have too many clues. Actually, I’d kind of like to meet the man. The robbery was a remarkable feat in itself, and besides that he was one of the few people who ever eluded me.”
“I’m sure he’d be honored at your praise,” Galladrin said, smiling and barely repressing a chuckle. “Assuming, of course, it was a he and not a she.”
“True,” Coragan conceded.
“Well, enough of this reverie,” Galladrin said. “Shall we dance some more?”
“Yeah, but let’s change things a bit,” Coragan said. “Let’s add the daggers.”
“You’re losing with one weapon,” Galladrin said. “Do you expect to fare better with two?”
“Maybe. There’s a couple things that weaponless fighter showed me that I’d like to try on you.”
“Really? This ought to be interesting. I’ll make it more so and just fight with my sword. Come now, get your blade and let’s have at it.”
Coragan walked over and picked up one of the small wooden daggers on the floor. He flipped it around once in his hand then strode back toward the rogue, lifting his sword. “Are you ready?”
“Always,” Galladrin answered.
Without waiting for further invitation Coragan moved in and attacked. He lashed out with not one, but both weapons. The sword in his right hand slashed toward Galladrin’s head while his left hand thrust the dagger at Galladrin’s stomach. It was a risky move, a full commitment to attack but that was Coragan’s way and he had yet found the opponent who could handle it.
Galladrin parried the sword at his face with ease, but then yelped in surprise as the point of the dagger poked him in his belly.
“Care for a disembowelment, rogue?” Coragan said, smiling.
Galladrin backed away with a look of caution in his eyes. “That was pretty nice.”
Coragan feinted once with the sword then struck again, the sword thrusting at Galladrin’s
stomach and the dagger snaking toward his eyes.
Galladrin let out a startled cry of dismay as he contorted to avoid both blows. The dagger passed dangerously close to his face and the rogue stumbled, landing heavily on the sword.
“Hey,” Galladrin said, as he regained his feet. “No points to the face, remember? I’d kind of like to keep my eyes.”
Coragan reddened. “Oh, yeah. Sorry.”
“Just try to remember,” Galladrin said, scrambling to his feet. “You know that’s a real nice move. How can you defend against that?”
“If you know it’s coming, you just get out of the way and hack the man down,” Coragan said. “If he misses he’s really exposed. If you don’t know its coming ... you better have some serious reflexes and hopefully a second weapon of your own.”
“Think you could teach me?”
“Sure, but not today. It’s getting a little late, and we should probably go get Borak and see Regecon. I never had the chance to talk to him about tracking Arcalian last night. I’d kind of like to do that now.”
“Well, then ... ‘til next time,” Galladrin said, and bowed.
Drasmyr (Prequel: From the Ashes of Ruin) Page 12