The Days of Glory

by Brian Stableford

  “I hope that tins move will not result in more bloodshed than is absolutely necessary. But I am afraid. I would dearly love to see this quarrel settled as soon as is possible.

  “For this reason, I issue a challenge to the Beast Lord Daniel Skywolf of Sula to meet me in single combat, here and now, with seconds and a judge to see that there is no breach of the code on this occasion.”

  “I wish to discuss what you have said with the council before Lord Skywolf gives his answer,” said Eagleheart quickly, before Skywolf could formulate an answer. “Would you leave us for a few minutes, Lord Blackstar?”

  Blackstar looked at him suspiciously, then nodded and turned away. Mindmyth followed him.

  “This offer of Blackstar’s is highly unfair,” said Mark Chaos. “Daniel Skywolf has already been through one exhausting duel and a full scale battle. This whole thing seems to me something of a subterfuge to replace Starbird with his brother, who is a great deal more skilled as a fighter. He presents himself as one trying to atone for a breach of the code, but in fact all he wants to do is fight his brother’s battle, his brother already having lost it.” “I’ll fight him!” declared Skywolf. “I’m not afraid.”

  “He is a far better man than Starbird,” said Jade Keyrie of Vulgan.

  “There is no obligation upon you to fight this man,” said Eagleheart. “Indeed, I do not think it would be in your interests to do so. It would appear to be condoning the action Blackstar took in landing the Human ships. If we accept his challenge, we may seem to be accepting his reasons.”

  “His reasons are weak. His story does not sound very convincing.” This last from Cain Rayshade.

  “We cannot let him issue a challenge and not answer him,” protested Judson Deathdancer.

  “On the contrary,” said Eagleheart. “We cannot allow Sky wolf to fight this duel.”

  “Then let someone else accept the challenge!”

  There was a brief silence.

  “That is better,” admitted Chaos. “We do not lose face, but we do not admit the relevance of his challenge to the immediate quarrel between Starbird and Skywolf, or to the duel which he interrupted. But who is going to fight him?”

  There was a deeper silence.

  “There is only one man who could fight Blackstar and win,” said Shellblade of Chalcys, “and that is Richard Stormwind.”

  Eagleheart glared at him. “Those words are not welcome, Lord Shellblade,” he snapped.

  Daniel Skywolf stepped forward. “I will fight him!” he shouted, his face red. “There is no need for all this.”

  “No,” said Eagleheart. “Someone else.” He looked around, but no one was in a hurry to volunteer.

  “I’ll do it,” said Judson Deathdancer finally. “After Storm-wind, there is no one better than I. It should be my job.”

  “No,” said Robert Hornwing. “I agree that there is none better than you are, but you were wounded in the battle. It must be me who fights Blackstar. The high gravity does not bother me any more than it bothers you”—that was not strictly true—“and I sustained no injury in the battle. I have the best chance of beating Blackstar. I will fight him.”

  Eagleheart nodded, satisfied. “I thank you, Lord Horn-wing.”

  Cain Rayshade had already gone to fetch the waiting Blackstar.

  The combatants agreed on the terms of the fight. There would be no weapons, and they would fight to a submission. Hornwing was a good wrestler, and he was wary of Blackstar’s reputation with any kind of weapon. Black-star agreed readily enough both to fighting Hornwing instead of Skywolf, and to the terms.

  He had hoped to fight Skywolf and kill him, thus disposing of the Beasts’ major grievance, and probably end the war, but he had not really expected that Skywolf would fight him. He was certain, however, that he could achieve something—if only making a good impression on anyone likely to follow Stormwind’s example—by defeating Horn-wing.

  Blackstar and Hornwing, with Mindmyth and Death-dancer as seconds and Jade Keyrie as adjudicator, walked some distance from the Beast camp to a bare, exposed hillside. The Beast army watched from some way off.

  The Human army were also gathering, on another hill which commanded a view of the slope.

  Even further away, high above them on a mountain ridge, too tiny to be seen by the eyes of mere men, stood two of Heljanita’s toys, their silver skins glinting in the sunlight.

  MINDMYTH

  John Mindmyth has no real relevance to this story, as far as it goes, but he is to play a crucial part in the war in good time. In addition, he illustrates a valid point.

  When the House of Stars is finally threatened with extinction, and Chaos and Deathdancer invade the city to prepare the way for an actual invasion, John Mindinyth conspires with them to allow the Beasts access into the city, and to help in overcoming Starflare’s last defenses.

  He is a self-centered and spiteful man, with memories of a privileged position and dreams of a better one. He is quite unable to see the falseness of his picture of the world, or understand what Chaos persuades him to do. He does not understand the Beasts, but much less does he understand the Humans.

  He betrays the House of Stars—he thinks—because he believes Starcastle to be unclean and unfit to be the representative of the Human race.

  He is a tall man, with a friendly manner, and black skin.

  MAN TO MAN.

  They stripped to the waist and stood facing one another. Blackstar was taller by an inch, and the mat of brown hair on his chest made him much the more impressive. His hair was the same color as his eyes, but his skin was pale and not tanned. Hornwing’s skin was even paler, almost pure white, with none of the dryness or ugly blue patterning of subcutaneous blood vessels that would normally give white skin a repulsive aspect. His hair was pale blond, and that on his chest was short and hardly visible.

  But as Hornwing moved forward, it was obvious that the Beast had a grace and suppleness that the gravity had taken away from his opponent. Blackstar was slower and less sure of himself.

  Blackstar circled warily, undecided whether to use his fists or try his strength in a clinch. Hornwing’s reputation as a wrestler was not unknown to him, but it was difficult to see how the smaller man could outdo him in a matter of strength. To play safe, he half clenched his fists, and decided to hit Hornwing several times before he closed with him.

  Hornwing crouched lower than Blackstar, and held his hands relaxed, waiting for the Human to make the first move.

  As Blackstar lunged and his left arm licked out, Hornwing grabbed for it and twisted. But Blackstar had feinted and the fist was no longer there. Hornwing slid sinuously away from the threatening right hand. Blackstar moved after him rapidly, arms poised for another blow, but Hornwing moved too easily, and was never there to be hit.

  Blackstar feinted again with his left hand, and this time it was his foot that made the real move, trying to trip Hornwing . The Beast let the hand alone and dived for the leg. Blackstar’s right fist hit him in the shoulder, but he had the Human’s right ankle in his own hands, and he pulled it outwards. Blackstar kicked with the trapped foot as he went over backwards, but failed to dislodge Hornwing . As soon as his body hit the ground, though, he swung his other foot in a short sweep which Hornwing failed to block completely, and the Beast lost his grip.

  It was Hornwing’s turn to attack now, and he moved quickly while Blackstar was still on his back. Blackstar made as if to roll out of the way, then changed his mind and countered Hornwing’s dive with a scissored kick. One foot caught Hornwing heavily in the chest, but it was insufficient. The Beast was on top of him for a fraction of a second, then brought a knee up hard into his belly and was away again. Blackstar could not catch him, and wisely diverted all his attention to standing up again before Hornwing followed up.

  Hornwing checked his hopeful forward move, slipped back into his crouch and smiled. He had tested the ability of his opponent and was satisfied. Blackstar resumed his circling, and the fight be
gan again.

  Hornwing was a very patient fighter. He never made any attempt to inflict lasting damage on an opponent until the opponent was weak enough to be damaged with relative impunity. He concentrated now on hitting Blackstar while the other man was achieving as little as possible. Often, when Blackstar was fast enough, there was an extensive lapse of time between blows, but Blackstar was never afforded any real chance to use his strength in retaliation. Whenever he hit Hornwing , the Beast was completely prepared for the blow and was able to ride it easily.

  Conversely, Hornwing was not hurting the Human as much as he hoped, or even as much as he guessed. Black-star was not only a man of great strength, but one of infinite capacity for taking punishment. He did not tire easily, even in the high gravity. Hornwing did not gain nearly as much advantage from the gravity as Deathdancer would have, but he felt a good deal more comfortable than the Human. The fact that he was feeling the pace made him think that the Human must be a good deal worse off, but in fact he was wrong. As far as Blackstar was concerned, the weight problem would not become acute until he was very tired. The disorientation of his reflexes caused by the gravity was a much more serious problem, but time would improve that as it sapped his strength. So neither man had yet thrown himself wholeheartedly into the battle.

  The watching armies were silent. They knew that they were only watching the prelude. They were saving their applause for the real fight.

  It was Hornwing , slightly overconfident, who decided that it was time to step up the tempo. He had overestimated the punishment he had handed out, and had misjudged Blackstar’s ability slightly. Blackstar had sensed the Beast’s mistake, and had slowed deliberately to encourage Horn-wing’s error of judgment. The Human had decided that his best chance lay in his cleverness rather than in his strength.

  Blackstar continually feinted with Iris left hand without getting any chance to use his right with effect, and not daring to risk any play with his feet after the last unsuccessful attempt. So the left hand was always slightly vulnerable if Hornwing could move fast enough.

  As Blackstar came forward a little more hurriedly than usual, Hornwing lingered a little in his retreat and moved like lightning to seize the Human and throw him smoothly over his back, to land sprawling. Blackstar, surprised in spite of his scheme, rolled slowly away and took a vicious sliced kick across the throat. The Human thrust himself backwards curling slightly, and then uncurled slowly as he staggered with exaggerated unsteadiness to his feet. His belly was exposed like a target and Hornwing launched himself head first like a spear.

  Blackstar lost his sluggishness and moved with the arrogant rapidity of a man who has anticipated his opponent’s move and knows exactly what to do. Hornwing ’s ducked head met a fist driven like a hammer. Had the Beast’s head been lifted a little, the blow might easily have broken his neck as it bent the skull back against the spinal column. As it was, he took a tremendous jar and all but lost his consciousness. By pure reflex he scrambled to his feet and evaded Blackstar’s follow-up. As Hornwing moved away, the taller man’s reach enabled him to hit the blond man twice, with comforting solidity, in the face. Hornwing rocked, but now it was Blackstar’s turn to underestimate the Beast, and Hornwing recovered fast enough to grab the driving fist on its third trip and execute another perfect throw. This time Hornwing settled for a stranglehold as a follow-up, to hold Blackstar while he recovered Iris composure and rested a while.

  But he was given little chance to recover his composure. Blackstar’s strength came into its own. He broke Hornwing’s stranglehold with difficulty, getting to his feet in the process, and slowly lifted the blond man high above his head. It was a supreme effort—Hornwing weighed a good deal more than normal—but he got the Beast up to the full extent of his arms, and then crashed him down with all the force he could muster.

  Hornwing rode the fall as best he could, but he was severely shaken and badly hurt.

  He rolled away from Blackstar again, but his slowness was not in the least feigned. He knew that he could not escape Blackstar by means of sheer speed any more. He would have to stand and fight.

  As Blackstar came in—a little too quickly, a little too boldly—Hornwing snapped a straight, deadly kick at the inside of his knee. The point of his boot dug in deep behind the patella and Blackstar’s right leg simply gave way beneath him. Hornwing did not try to backpedal to gain time; he leapt straight in to the attack. His shins brushed Blackstar’s hands out of the way and his two hands, fingers knitted, came down three times, slashing across Blackstar’s eyes.

  The bigger man tensed and threw him off. Hornwing landed badly, but made every effort to regain Iris feet as quickly as possible.

  Both men lurched to their feet. Blackstar could hardly stand, Hornwing was dazed and moved drunkenly. The slowness with which both men came together was a parody of their former speed.

  Hornwing wasted no time. He gathered himself for a powerful kick at Blackstar’s crotch, to settle the fight for one and all. He was just fast enough…the kick landed. But in order to deliver it, he had lunged too far inside Blackstar’s reach. Even as his boot connected, Blackstar’s two hands chopped inwards convulsively. They hit Hornwing at the same time, each beside a kidney, driving deep into the abdomen.

  As pain flooded Blackstar’s body and he began to fold up, reflex carried his forehead forward to collide with crushing impact with the bridge of Hornwing’s nose. Hornwing dropped to the ground, blood seeping from his mouth and flooding from his nose. He was unconscious. Blackstar was still conscious, but in no condition to take any advantage from the fact. He was curled up in a fetal position, tears and sweat streaming down his face.

  The Beast forces were howling with delight. The Humans were less willing to commit themselves, but many of them were shouting wildly as well. Deathdancer and Mindmyth moved forward, uncertain, and Jade Keyrie, satisfied that the fight could not possibly be continued, declared a draw. Deathdancer and Mindmyth shook hands and raised the gripped hands to display them to the watching armies.

  Then they bent to attend to the fighters. The distant crowds began to move off, and a doctor ran up the slope from where the Beasts had been standing.

  Heljanita’s toys turned away too, satisfied that everything was as Heljanita wanted it to be.

  CONVERSATION

  Blackstar and Hornwing recovered slowly, with the aid of Mindmyth, Deathdancer, Keyrie, and the doctor.

  When they were both conscious again, and able to speak, if not to walk, Blackstar said: “I made a mistake.”

  “So did I, unfortunately,” replied Hornwing , with an attempted laugh. Deathdancer had the blond man’s head cradled in his mighty hands and was trying to stop the blood which still leaked from Hornwing’s nose.

  “Yes,” said Blackstar, a little more seriously. “I wish it had been Skywolf. It would have been better for both our sides, I think.”

  “He wanted to fight. Eagleheart wouldn’t let him. It’s more Eagleheart’s war these clays than it is Skywolfs. Sky-wolf does what he’s told. I suppose we all do.”

  Blackstar shook his head. “It’s his war now. He can say what happens and how. We can’t back out because he bends the rules after we’ve broken them. The chance of a quick settlement has been lost. But what does he want to do with the war, now it’s his to command?”

  “I’m never quite sure,” gasped Hornwing , twisting temporarily from Deathdancer’s grip in order to sit up. “His words are always changing a little. They are resounding words, and they make sense. He’s filled us with an identity we never knew before, and that’s good. But sometimes I wonder where it’s all going to lead us. Stormwind was afraid of where things were going, and he withdrew. I don’t condone what he did, but some of the things he said about Eagleheart might be true.

  “Eagleheart sees far more in the war than any of us did to start with. He claims that it stands for a good deal more than the honor of Skywolf: it has come to be the representative of all the Beast nations, and the war
it fights belongs to us all.”

  “I know what you mean,” said Blackstar. “Some of the Humans are beginning to think of race against race rather than man against man. It’s the whole idea of an army. A warfleet cannot fight for one man and one alone. The whole idea is ridiculous. There are bound to be other causes which become attached to it, other quarrels.

  “But it must not build up into a full-scale confrontation between our races. You see that, don’t you? It must not get out of hand.”

  Hornwing nodded his agreement. “There’s no question of that. Stormwind said something of the sort, but there has never been any suggestion that that might happen. No matter how seriously the Beasts become involved with the war, it is still a matter of honor. There is no question of it ever getting out of hand.”

  “Are you sure of that?”

  “If Eagleheart is responsible for one single action which is not defensible as a matter of honor, he will have me to contend with as well as Stormwind—and Deathdancer too.” Deathdancer nodded his acceptance of the statement. “Nevertheless, this man Eagleheart’ might be dangerous.” “I don’t think so. He has his faults, but he is a good-enough man. Mark Chaos is more difficult to understand, but Chaos has no real power, and no men to command.”

  “He has a clever tongue,” said Deathdancer drily.