The Duelist

by Eric Vall

  The people at the table pretended to focus on their food, but I could feel the sudden interest from everyone present after Mec asked his question.

  I had a feeling a lot hinged on where I took the conversation from here.

  Shit. I hated being put on the spot. I took a millisecond to compose myself and tried to refresh my memory on all the things Jenner told me before I got here, but at some point, I just had to go with my instincts.

  “It was the most impressive thing I’ve ever seen,” I said honestly, and I must have said it in a way that confirmed everyone’s suspicions given how some side whispers erupted around the head table.

  “You have nothing like the Bhraya where you come from, Traveler?” The lizard-man on the ram-lord’s right stabbed his forked tongue into his goblet so he could noisily lap up more wine.

  I remembered from Jenner’s crash politics course that this guy was an ambassador with a fifth-rank status. I tried to recall what his name was. Sk-something.

  “I’ve seen an eclipse before, but nothing like that,” I said and then tried not to gag as the lizard ambassador then distended his jaw and swallowed a whole rack of ribs right in front of me. The way the lump slid down his gullet made me a little nauseated, so I reached for my goblet of water.

  “Wait, Alex,” Zoie said as she grabbed my wrist before I could take a sip. “It is not drinkable until we use the tithe stones.”

  “Tithe stones?” I asked and then cautiously took a sniff of what I thought was harmless water. It was faint, but I could smell a briny scent with something that smelled a little like sulfur underneath. I had no doubt if I took a swig before Zoie stopped me, I would be choking on a mouthful of salt.

  “So, the rumors were true,” Shale-Lea said with a flash of interest in her emerald colored eyes. “Everyone knows to purify the water first before drinking.”

  Asher Mec chuckled good-naturedly and pushed a silver bowl of dull gray stones in my direction.

  I looked to Zoie for help, and she demonstrated by dropping one of the plain stones into my water goblet. The water fizzed and popped almost like a crisp 7-Up, and when it was done, she held it up to me.

  Everyone at the table leaned in as I brought the goblet back to my mouth, and they watched me with earnest faces like I was some bizarre little zoo animal. I peeked inside the cup, but then I realized the tithe stone had dissolved, so I took a sip, and this time the water was fresh and clean.

  “I guess it’s pretty obvious how much I still need to learn about Aventoll,” I chuckled and reached for something that looked like a turkey leg from the platter in front of me.

  The condescending aristocrats around the table laughed, and Lord Mec’s parakeet-wife even gave me a belittling round of applause, but at least I was more amusing than offensive, so I called it a win.

  “I remember when I was old enough to witness my first Bhraya,” Mec’s wife said as she leaned forward with wide dark eyes framed by more of those decorative silver ink tattoos. “My vision was spotted for days afterwards. Was your eclipse where you come from just as bright?”

  “Actually, where I’m from, it’s the moon that eclipses the sun, so it makes things darker instead of brighter,” I said.

  “Darker… what a chilling thought,” Shale-Lea mused as she shook out her beautiful flaming red hair and delicately cut up her own smaller portion of meat.

  God damn, how’d a beautiful woman like her end up married to such an asshole?

  I guessed she didn’t have much choice in the matter. In this world, women were practically just property.

  “You know what’s chilling?” the lizard-man interjected. “The Demon Tide.”

  “Oh, Asher Sskern,” Mec sighed and shook his head at the man on his right, and then he clapped the man on his shoulder and shoved another leg of beast in his direction. “Can we give it a rest? It’s a holiday, after all, you uptight snake.”

  The lizard ambassador suddenly stabbed a ceremonial looking dagger through the carcass in front of him.

  “Over seventy years, Gavlain!” Sskern boomed, and the table grew quiet. “The Moon has not turned bloody in over seventy years. My armories are at full capacity, and I am in negotiations with the Varthan Lord about mobilizing. We need to take precautions in case there is another scourge from the sea.”

  “Enough, already,” Asher Ren finally joined in with a bored look in his copper eagle-eyes as he took another liberal swallow of wine. Then he set the goblet down with a pointed clink. “There will not be another Demon Tide. Everyone needs to calm down and stop shedding doom and gloom. A few demons is not a Tide.”

  “But what happens when there is a Tide?” Sskern pressed.

  “Then we will draft the No-Ranks to fight them while the rest of us lead the herald hunt,” Ren said as he tossed his stupid pony-tail with a shrug of his head.

  “Wait, No-Ranks?” I asked with a frown. “To my knowledge, it is the Duelists’ responsibility to fight the demons. Why do you need No-Ranks?”

  “So we don’t die fighting meaningless scourge-mites when there is a herald to kill that will close the portal, of course,” Ren spat. “Anyone who has Aventollian blood knows this.”

  “The Duelists are given divine dominion so they can provide for the people of Aventoll,” the Lord Asher said as he topped off my goblet. “Surely, you have something like this where you are from, Traveler. Do you let your lords fight in your infantries?”

  “Fair point,” I said when I couldn’t imagine the president of the United States fighting in a war, and I took a small sip of wine. “But where I’m from, we don’t have demons, and to my knowledge, nobody is given a supernatural ability from a Goddess to destroy monsters.”

  “And yet, you have been blessed by our Mercedes,” the parakeet-woman chirped and changed the subject. “That must mean something, right, Gavlain?”

  “I should think so, Breeta, my sweet,” the horned-man said and kissed a silver-inked swirl on the back of her pale green hand.

  “What’s more, I have never heard accounts of a Traveler receiving the Bhraya blessing,” the scaly bald ambassador jumped in, and he leaned forward so he could eyeball me with his green reptilian eyes. “Is it true that when you ashed the herald demon it exploded?”

  “It’s true,” Zoie said before I could answer, and she sat up straight and proud like a true aristocrat. “He saved my life as well as the Lord Asher’s messenger boy.”

  “Forgive me, Lady Zoie,” Ren said as his brown feathers twitched, and the bridge of his nose wrinkled when he used her respected title. “I find it hard to believe a seasoned Varthan warrior such as yourself needed to be saved, especially by someone so inept and foreign to our ways.”

  “I speak the truth,” Zoie insisted in her usual calm voice, but I could tell there was a little edge behind her words that gave away how angry she was on my behalf. “If you don’t believe me, then you may hear the eye-witness account from Rylan Daal.”

  “Oh, yes, I’m sure the messenger boy didn’t exaggerate at all,” the sarcastic eagle-man said with a flippant wave of his hand. “This is the same boy who also claims he saw a Sacred Fish in the lake only three days ago. What nonsense!”

  The table broke out into chuckles and patronizing murmurs.

  “It’s true, the boy is taken with the old stories and flights of fancy,” the ram-lord’s wife, Breeta, said as she preened the green feathers on her cheeks.

  “Well, if it’s a question of credibility, perhaps Alex should show the core he harvested from the herald demon,” Zoie said above the light chatter.

  The entire table plummeted into silence.

  My wife looked steadily at Ren, arched a defiant eyebrow, and then tipped her head to Mec. “Only if it pleases milord, of course.”

  “Don’t you think you’ve insulted the Asher Lord enough for one evening? Now, you want to flaunt--” The eagle-man started before he was cut off by Lord Mec’s raised palm.

  “No harm done by it, Bala,” he rumbled in his deep
baritone. “I admit, I, too, have given in to the rumors like the rest of the island. At first, I was just as shocked as all of you at seeing Asher Brightwood’s Stone. Such an aggressive display made me curious enough to invite him to dine with us. That bold conviction is probably what made it possible for him to vaporize the herald, and it is what makes a good Asher. So, go on, Alex Brightwood, give us a show and set the record straight!”

  “Hear, hear, I, too, would like to see the herald core,” the lizard-man said and took a large bite of meat from the carcass still impaled on his shiny dagger.

  “Oh, yes, me, too!” Breeta warbled in her songbird voice and clapped her hands.

  I stared a little wide-eyed at the people around the table and then at Zoie.

  She must be on board with Jenner’s idea of me not pulling any punches, or trying to hide the nature of my unexplained power. Her blue eyes were cool and steady as I realized just then how much I trusted her, so without any more hesitation, I pulled the ruby red demon core out from my pocket and rolled with it.

  Everyone except for Ren gasped in awe and delight, and I held the gem up so they could all admire its crimson sheen.

  “Forgive me, Asher Brightwood, but might I see your Duelist Stone up close?” Sskern asked as both eyebrows rose up his scaly bald head.

  I looked around the table once more for any sign that this might be less than kosher, but again, everyone including the Asher Lord was waiting expectantly, so I returned the herald core to my pocket and pulled out the Stone around my neck.

  Just like Asher Mec’s, the light was growing dimmer the farther the comet traveled away from this world.

  “Which Duelist possessed this Stone prior to you, Asher Brightwood?” the lizard-man asked as he reached for my Stone and held it up between the claws of his thumb and forefinger.

  “Asher Dagmar,” I said.

  Sskern dropped the Duelist Stone, and it fell back against my chest. “Dagmar was a third-rank? That is very impressive for a No-Rank Traveler to defeat a Duelist three ranks ahead during his first Duel. In fact, I don’t recall ever hearing of such a thing. You must be a mighty warrior where you are from.”

  “Dagmar was hardly a third-rank,” Ren scoffed, and his words sounded a little slurred together as he refilled his goblet yet again. “Everyone on Nata Isle knows Dagmar overpowered Old Asher Kel just to gain the title. Before he killed Old Kel, Dagmar was just a rank one with a gambling problem.”

  I looked down at the three fish and the shield on my Stone’s face, and then I sneaked a peek at Asher Mec’s. He only had one fish, and it seemed strange that I would be higher than him when I already knew he was a rank six. There must be more to this system than Jenner had time to explain.

  “Sorry if this is rude, but may I ask what rank you are, Milord?” I asked Mec as if I didn’t know. “It’s probably safe to say you are a bit higher than a rank three like me, but you only have one fish on your Duelist Stone.”

  “You would be correct to assume that, Brightwood!” Mec barked out another loud laugh, and the rest of the table followed along with their own chuckling. He then removed his own Stone from around his neck and held it up for me to see. “I have one fish, but look at the symbol in the middle of my amulet.”

  “It’s a star instead of a shield,” I said when I noticed the subtle difference between our two amulets.

  “Correct,” the Asher Lord said as he put the Duelist Stone back around his thick shaggy neck. “For every five Duels you win, the symbol on the Stone will change its shape. The shield is the first shape for ranks one through five, and then a star for ranks six through ten, and so on. I can’t remember all the shapes just now, but it’s elementary learning all, well, most, Aventollians are taught.”

  “And the fish keep count by a value of one,” I completed, and the ram-lord nodded.

  “The star represents five successful Duels plus the one, which gives me the noble rank of six.” Asher Mec tapped his Stone with pride and popped a piece of fruit that looked like a grape into his mouth with a grin. “This Stone also comes from a long and proud legacy of Mecs, and I’ve been called to uphold the sixth-rank as is my family’s Blood Rite.”

  “If a Duelist can only be by either Mercedes blessing, or by inheriting the status in a Duel, how does bloodline work when you can only inherit a Stone by killing an Asher?” I asked.

  “How do you think?” the ram-lord returned with a dark grin. “It is considered the Asher way to voluntarily sacrifice himself in a Duel in order to pass along his status to his heirs when he becomes too old. I fought my father just like he fought his before me, and my first-born son will challenge me when my time comes.”

  “Wow,” I breathed as my mind buzzed with the new information. I wanted to ask him more about this interesting hierarchy within the Duelists, but before I could, the lit braziers around the banquet hall dimmed dramatically, and all sounds hushed.

  Then the musicians began to play a low tune full of anticipation and mystery like the soundtrack of Final Fantasy VII. Several palace servants ran out into the center of the hall and wheeled away the statue of the Goddess, and then Lord Asher Mec rose to his feet.

  “My people!” the ram-lord thundered, and the crowd clapped and whistled. “This year I’ve chosen twenty-four beautiful Ladies for Blue Night’s ceremonial Fish Dance! May they all please the Goddess with their worshipful display, and deliver us a prosperous year to come.”

  The people around the hall pounded their feet against the stones like a marching band drum-roll, and several Ladies in blue dresses with silver ink drawings rose from their seats.

  All of the Ladies at the VIP table were among the ones standing, Zoie included.

  “What’s going on?” I managed to ask her over the noise of rumbling feet.

  Zoie didn’t say anything, but she held my gaze with a mischievous glimmer. Her indigo eyes sparkled similar to the way they did just before we played tag through the manor, and I had a feeling she was keeping a little secret from me that was about to pay off.

  “At first, there was darkness,” Asher Mec intoned, and the music and lights died at the same time. The moonlight through the windows was the only thing that illuminated the space, and I could see Mec stretch his arms out to the sides. “And then there was light!”

  He brought his hands together in a single thunderclap of sound that ignited a frenzy of activity.

  All at once, the braziers flared that same icy blue as the comet and threw eerie shadows all over the hall.

  With their flowing sapphire gowns and vivid silver tattoos, the Ladies flooded out into the middle of the floor, and the minstrels began playing their instruments at a fast and exciting tempo.

  My mouth hung open in amazement as the women danced around in a massive coordinated effort of awesome athletic acrobatics and smoking hot seduction. Some of them twirled batons lit on fire, while others gyrated against each other in twos and threes. Some did fantastic displays with various weapons and even faced off in brief choreographed battles. Others used silken ropes that dropped from the ceiling to fly through the air, and they would occasionally catch each other mid-flight like a flying trapeze act.

  Basically, the banquet hall turned into fucking Cirque du Solei right before me.

  I tried to spot Zoie in the crowd, but the whole thing was a feast for the eyes, and I almost didn’t know where to look.

  A beautiful operatic singing suddenly rang out through the hall, and I recognized Asher Ren’s wife, Shale-Lea, as the owner of the angelic voice. She was lifted up onto the shoulders of four other women as she poured her heart out in a mournful song. She wore a magnificent silver headpiece that reminded me of a weeping willow, and her blue sapphire stone blazed brightly.

  I couldn’t understand what Shale-Lea was saying, but her singing was haunting and beautiful the way stained glass and old cathedrals are.

  When the instruments finally picked up their pace, I spotted Zoie as she did a handless cartwheel and rolled to the ground.
Then she rose to her hands and knees, and her eyes locked with mine. She slow-crawled across the floor with her back arched prettily and her tail curved up behind her, and I was frozen in place by the sudden heat in her eyes. She slinked toward me, swayed her full hips, and then rolled over onto her back and leapt up to her feet like a badass cat-girl version of Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft.

  When she was back on her feet, she suddenly had what looked like a small silver pair of sai in each hand. She twirled and juggled them, and she kept eye contact with me the entire time until I felt every blood cell in my body smolder with desire. I tried to discreetly adjust myself in my leather pants, but the smirk on Zoie’s face told me I wasn’t discreet enough before she back-flipped away.

  Finally, Shale-Lea’s singing revved up into an exciting finale, and all the women in the center linked hands and danced in a circle around her.

  I lost sight of Zoie again, but the theatrics distracted me from how close I was to running out there and throwing her over my shoulder like some deranged caveman, so maybe that was a good thing.

  With one last crescendo, Shale-Lea’s voice soared up to the rafters, and the musicians played their last epic chord.

  “To the Goddess’ mercy!” the Lord Asher shouted when the music ended, and everyone jumped to their feet in a standing ovation.

  I beat my palms together and cheered just as enthusiastically as everyone else, and the blood was roaring in my ears and making me hot in all the wrong places. Or maybe they were all the right ones.

  When the lights turned up to their normal golden brightness, Zoie replaced her mini sai to wherever they’d magically came from, and my wife made a bee-line for me as the minstrels started up with their previously festive music.

  “Come, my husband.” She grabbed my hands and pulled me out onto the impromptu dance floor along with all the other lords and ladies who were doing the same.

  Just when the tempo of the music really started to pick up, Zoie dragged me to the center and placed my hands on her hips while she threaded her fingers through the hair at the back of my neck. Our bodies moved as one to the beat of flutes and tambourines, and I pulled Zoie into me so we were flush up against one another from shoulder to hip.