The Duelist

by Eric Vall

  I nodded to myself and took extra care to tuck the ruby into the new pair of soft leather pants. When I was done, I signaled that Jenner could turn back around.

  “How do I look?” I fiddled with the pauldron buckles over my chest, and Jenner climbed up onto a little stool so he could help me with one of the twisted straps.

  “Like a true Asher,” he commented as he adjusted the belt around my waist to fit properly.

  “How is this going to help me blend in, though?” I asked, and I looked down at the belt and brushed my fingers over the shield logo worked into the fine leather.

  “Another good question,” he said with another thin smile. “Simply put, we aren’t trying to get you to blend in. Instead, we are going to take the aggressive approach outwardly, while being strategic inwardly. Do you understand?”

  “I think so,” I mused. “In chess, there’s a move called the Queen’s Raid that allows you to win in four moves. It’s bold, but it distracts your opponent from the fact you are setting up for the kill before the game has barely started. I know the theory behind it, but again, I suck at chess.”

  “You might have to teach me this game sometime,” Jenner said and hopped off the stool. “Our strategy is similar. We aren’t going to hide the fact you are a Traveler, or downplay your deserved Asher status. Be bold, but don’t reveal anything that can possibly be used against you. Be confident but not arrogant. Listen more than you speak, remember what you hear, and when in doubt, just let Ms. Zoie speak for you. As long as you don’t insult anyone or act like a fool, you should be fine, but be on your guard. There are ways a Duelist can manipulate you into a Duel. They will try to get you to ‘offend’ them by making off-color comments toward you. Be as calm as the sea, and they will fear you more. And if they fear you, they won’t issue a challenge.”

  “Okay,” I muttered and tried not to think about all the ways I could fuck this up tonight as I followed Jenner back down to the entrance hall.

  “Oh, one more thing,” he said as he faced me, and he grabbed my arm bracers to make sure he had my attention. “Be sure to keep your glowing Duelist Stone out of sight until the eclipse. It’s considered a slight on the Lord Asher’s honor for anyone to display their stone other than the Lord Asher before Bhraya passes.”

  “Check,” I said and stuffed the Stone under my tunic.

  “Jeeenner,” Arvid rumbled. “Ryylaan--”

  “Hi, Asher Brightwood!” Rylan said as he popped out from behind Arvid’s big frame. “I get to be your driver tonight, isn’t that amazing?”

  “Hey, Rylan,” I greeted and smiled at his excitement. “Arvid, where is Zoie?”

  Arvid only raised his big clawed hand and pointed.

  I followed his line of sight to the main staircase behind me, and I felt my heart stutter inside my chest.

  Zoie descended the steps wearing a sapphire blue dress that complimented her beautiful eyes and the colors of my own ensemble. Her skirt was slit on both ends all the way from hip to ankle and revealed miles of those legs that drove me wild. Her muscular midriff was exposed and decorated with silver patterns that reminded me of tribal tattoos, and the tattoos continued up under the top half of the dress in an intriguing way that made me want to follow the marks and see where they led.

  Preferably with my tongue.

  The silver ink was decorative enough, especially when it swirled over the tops of her breasts and down her exposed shoulders, so she didn’t need much jewelry. The only accessories she wore were a simple silver circlet on her head, a matching silver belt, and silver cuffs on her ankles that showed off her delicate bare feet.

  “Hi,” I whispered when she was in front of me. “You look amazing.”

  “Thank you,” Zoie said with the slightest of pleased smiles. “You do as well.”

  “What’s that for?” I asked when I finally noticed she held a short sword and scabbard in her hands.

  “For you,” she replied and expertly affixed it to my armored belt. “Just in case.”

  “What about you?” I wondered and rested my hand comfortably on the pommel. This felt a lot better than that other sword.

  “I’m already armed,” Zoie said.

  “Wha--where?” I asked and scanned the form fitting dress.

  She just arched an eyebrow.

  “Now, now, Mr. Alex,” Jenner said as he ushered us toward the door. “How boring would it be if we had the answers to all of life’s mysteries, hm?”

  Rylan ran ahead of us and opened the door to the carriage waiting out front. Instead of the ox-roach poracks, this carriage was pulled by a pair of giant silver caterpillar creatures with six legs and feathery antennae, and they would have been really creepy if they didn’t have four big teddy bear eyes and fluffy fur that made them look oddly cuddly.

  I helped Zoie up into the cab with a hand and looked back at Jenner.

  “Thank you for all of your help,” I said and held out my hand.

  “Stay sharp,” Jenner cautioned as he and I gripped forearms. “Remember the Raid of Queens.”

  “Queen’s Raid, got it,” I said and climbed up into the cab along with Zoie.

  The ride up to the palace was quiet as I tried to process everything I’d learned from Zoie and Jenner. My head felt like I’d spent the day at cram school studying for finals, and I could feel an ache beginning to form around my eyes.

  “You’re thinking too hard,” Zoie murmured, and her skillful fingers came up to massage the back of my neck.

  “I just don’t want to fuck anything up,” I admitted as the headache eased almost immediately.

  “You will be fine,” Zoie said. “And I will be there to help if you up-fuck anything.”

  I couldn’t help but smile at her misuse of “fuck.” It was crazy endearing, so I didn’t have the heart to correct her.

  Instead, I breathed a sigh of relief and laced her fingers with mine.

  The carriage eventually slowed down, and I poked my head out of the window to see where we were. Then my eyes bulged out of my head as the gorgeous palace loomed above us, every bit as fairy tale-like as Disney’s Magical Kingdom.

  There was a line of other carriages in front of ours, and they each wound their way up to the palace steps. Crowds of people lined the stairs, and they waited for the VIPs to arrive like some weird medieval red-carpet event.

  What made it even more intimidating was I could see the ram-lord, Gavlain Mec, standing at the top.

  The Asher Lord’s Stone was out and on display around his neck, and it glowed with Bhraya’s cool blue light. The lords and ladies all bowed deeply to him in respect before entering, and he received every subject with a nod and a smile.

  Our carriage finally pulled up, and Rylan jumped down from the driver’s seat so he could open the door.

  “Presenting: Asher Alex Brightwood, and Lady Zoie of Vartha!” Rylan announced, and I stepped out to the cheers of the crowd with Zoie on my arm.

  I nodded at Rylan and walked with Zoie up the steps, but right before we got to the top, Zoie suddenly hissed in pain as she turned her ankle. She lost her footing, and on reflex, I grabbed her so she wouldn’t fall.

  The action caused us to skid down a couple steps as I tried to catch our balance.

  “Are you okay?” I asked Zoie and held her away from me to check her over.

  Zoie gasped and looked down at my chest, and I followed her eye-line.

  My Duelist Stone had popped out from under my shirt and was glowing a merry pulsing blue.

  Just as vibrant as Asher Mec’s.

  Oh, yeah, didn’t Jenner say something Majorly Important about Not Doing Exactly That?

  Shit.

  Chapter 6

  The gathered crowd burst out into hushed whispers as I clutched my Stone and tried to smother its light.

  Asher Mec walked closer to the steps, and the sound of his polished armored suit was the only thing that could be heard. The excited chatter died down as he stopped a few paces away with an unreadable exp
ression on his noble face.

  There was a tension in the air as everyone seemed to be waiting to see what I would do next, and I could feel my neck heating up as numerous eyes crawled all over me.

  My knee-jerk reaction was to stuff it back under my tunic so I wouldn’t offend the ram-lord any further, but then Jenner’s advice played in my head.

  Queen’s Raid. Confidence, not arrogance.

  I removed my hand and let the Stone shine.

  More gasps and titters rippled through the spectators, and I tried my best to ignore them as I held my arm out for Zoie to take. She gazed at me with a slightly wild look in her eyes, but she didn’t say anything as she looped her arm through mine.

  “Trust me,” I whispered and helped her up the last few steps.

  I faced the ram-lord, and Zoie and I bowed to him at the waist.

  “Thank you for your invitation, Lord Asher,” I said and ignored the Stone hanging around my neck. “I’m honored as well as humbled.”

  Asher Mec’s bronze-colored eyes seemed to sparkle with mirth even though his expression was as regal as ever.

  “Is your woman alright?” he inquired.

  “I am well, Lord Asher,” Zoie responded with a gracious dip of her head. “Just a slight misstep.”

  “Please,” Asher Mec said and gestured with his hand toward the entrance. “Enjoy some verna berry wine out on the terrace. When the feast starts, I would like to offer you and your wife a seat at my table.”

  “It would be my pleasure, Lord Asher,” I said as I bowed again.

  “Asher Brightwood.” The ram-lord nodded, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

  Then Zoie and I followed the procession into the palace before anything else could go wrong.

  “I am sorry, Alex,” Zoie whispered to me as we were all ushered through the grand entrance hall by palace escorts wearing black and silver tunics.

  When we made it out onto a sprawling garden balcony, I pulled Zoie over by a giant urn overflowing with fragrant white flowers.

  “Don’t apologize,” I said when we finally had a little more privacy. “What happened?”

  “I stepped on something on the stairs,” she explained.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  “I’m fine,” she said, but I noticed how she stood in a way that seemed like she was favoring her right foot.

  I didn’t get a chance to call her out on it, though, because a moment later a man who had a brown crest of feathers, a brown ponytail, and sharp eagle eyes, sauntered up to me with a striking woman on his arm.

  Something about the man was familiar, but I couldn’t quite place from where.

  “That was quite an entrance,” the eagle-man said as he glanced pointedly down at my Duelist Stone. He then tapped his chest where a small lump was hidden under his fine silver robes and raised his eyebrows.

  I made a show of looking down at my Stone and then around at the other party goers as if it was just now occurring to me I was doing something wrong.

  “You must forgive me if I stepped out of line.” I tucked the Stone back under my tunic and then extended my hand. “Alex Brightwood.”

  “We’ve met before,” the eagle-man said as he gripped my forearm. “I lent you the use of my carriage, but we were never properly introduced. I’m Asher Bala Ren, and this is my wife Shale-Lea.”

  The woman at Asher Ren’s side was one of the most beautiful of the bird-natives I’d seen on Nata Isle so far, with long champagne colored feathers that sprouted along her crest and around her emerald green eyes. Her long scarlet hair flowed down to her waist and was shot through with streaks of gold, and the whole effect reminded me of a gorgeous phoenix.

  Like the rest of the aristocrats present, she was dressed in her finest blue gown that showed off her hourglass waist and pushed her bust up to its full and luscious potential. She was also ornately decorated with a combination of precious silver and swirling ink tattoos on any visible skin.

  But the most impressive thing of her ensemble by far was the large sapphire that rested in a circlet at the center of her forehead.

  “Asher Brightwood, Lady Zoie,” Shale-Lea greeted in a harp-like voice and dipped her head.

  “Lady Shale-Lea,” Zoie returned, and I copied the slight bow she gave to the phoenix-woman.

  A waiter-type person passed with a silver tray of goblets, and Asher Ren stopped him.

  “Have you been to Nata Isle before?” Ren asked as he handed out a goblet to each of us and then shooed away the waiter. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around.”

  I took a sip of the sweet wine and considered how to answer. Jenner’s voice in my head reminded me how much of a shit liar I was, so I didn’t think it was wise to pretend.

  “I’m not from Aventoll,” I decided on, and I didn’t give Ren any more or less than that.

  I could tell my answer frustrated him because the bridge of his nose wrinkled as if he smelled something unpleasant in the air despite being surrounded by flowers.

  “Interesting,” Ren mused and pinned me with his sharp copper eyes. “It’s been many seasons since someone like you has appeared on Aventoll.”

  “Has it?” I asked with an innocent expression, and Ren smiled a serrated smile.

  “Well, since you are new here, let me offer you some advice.” Ren leaned in closer so he could dispense his pearls of wisdom. “There is a pecking order you would be wise to follow. Even if a person greets you with a smile, they are waiting around the next corner ready to stick a knife into your back.”

  Before I could answer, Rylan came out of nowhere and interrupted our conversation with a deep bow.

  “Begging your pardon, Ashers, Ladies,” he murmured respectively, “but I think you lost your ring on the stairs, Asher Ren.”

  Rylan fumbled with a gold signet ring he pulled out of his pocket, but before he could hand it to Asher Ren, he accidentally dropped it in his nervousness.

  The ring hit the ground, and a metallic click sounded as a hidden spike suddenly jutted up through the ring’s face. The innocent signet now looked like a very short but lethal dagger, and I frowned as my eyes met Ren’s.

  “I’m sorry, sir!” Rylan bent and scooped up the dagger-ring. “I didn’t--”

  Asher Ren snatched the ring back, slipped it onto his middle finger, and twisted the face like a dial so the spike was hidden once more.

  “My, my, how clumsy of me,” he said, and his eyes were flat and cold like a shark’s as he stared first at me and then at Zoie. “It would be a shame if someone had the misfortune to step on this unaware.”

  I looked to where Zoie was still letting her left leg take most of her weight, and my head shot back up to glare at Ren.

  Zoie squeezed my bicep, and her fingernails dug in just a little in warning.

  “Bala,” Shale-Lea intervened as she placed a delicate hand on her husband’s wrist, “I think I see Ambassador Sskern of Terr over by the fountain. Didn’t you have something you wanted to discuss with him?”

  “Ah, yes,” Asher Ren said as the courteous smile returned to his face. “Enjoy the evening’s events. I’m sure we will run into one another before the Blue Night is out.”

  I narrowed my eyes but gave another respectful nod. “I’m sure we will.”

  “Come along, Shale-Lea,” Ren said, and Zoie and I watched them float through the crowd toward the grand fountain in the center of the terrace.

  “Asher Brightwood,” Rylan said.

  “Rylan?” I answered as I turned to him.

  “I have to tell you something,” he whispered with a worried expression and shifted on his feet.

  I could tell it was important, but he was fearful to share it, so I led us all over to a somewhat secluded spot behind a statue of a Sacred Fish. Then I lowered Zoie onto the small stone bench placed against the palace wall.

  “What is it, Rylan?” I asked as I knelt down and tried to examine Zoie’s foot.

  Her long gown hid her bare feet for the most part, but when
I moved the fabric back from her toes, I saw just how much the dress concealed.

  “Zoie,” I gasped when I saw the dried blood all over the top of her foot.

  “I’m fine,” she said and tried to cover up again with her gown, but the damage was already done.

  “That’s not fine,” I insisted as I inspected the cut that sliced up from her inner arch and over the top of her foot in an angry red semi-circle.

  Zoie clenched her hand into a fist and thumped her knee in frustration. “I’m sorry, Alex.”

  “Asher Brightwood?” Rylan said again, and for a moment I’d almost forgotten he was there.

  “Call me Alex, Rylan,” I sighed as I pulled Zoie’s foot into my lap, and even though I was trying to be careful, she still hissed in pain.

  “I think Asher Ren left his signet ring on the stairs on purpose,” Rylan whispered all in one breath, and then he looked around with big eyes in case he could be overheard.

  “How do you know?” I asked him as I stopped my task and pinned Rylan with a stare. I already had my suspicions about the prissy asshole, but I wanted proof.

  “Asher Ren and the Lady Shale-Lea arrived in the carriage before us, and I saw him drop something on his way up, and I thought it was just his ordinary ring that he always seals his envelopes with, but it’s not, Asher Alex, it’s not!” Rylan machine-gun fired all of this as patches of scarlet anxiety flushed his cheeks.

  “Calm down and take a breath, Ry,” I ordered, and the sandy-haired boy gasped as he visibly tried to calm himself down. “Alright, continue.”

  “Asher Ren’s signet ring is actually a family ring,” he said in a much more measured pace. “Family rings like that are common heirlooms passed down to the firstborn heir, so in case they were kidnapped or something, they were always armed.”

  “Go on,” I urged him.

  “The rings are special because they can never be removed by force or accident,” Rylan said and lowered his voice even more. “They can only be removed at will by the wearer, so it couldn’t have fallen off unless he purposefully dropped it for Zoie to step on.”

  “You think it was meant specifically for Zoie?” I asked as I looked between the two of them. “Why?”