Soon, as Marthe had also predicted, the Circle was littered with defeated 'Mechs, some of them standing pilotless, some of them metal "corpses" on the ground.
The ranks of contestants were thinning, and Aidan had not yet found Nielo or seen a single Viper. The only thing he saw was the continuing clamor. In his secret library was a book describing an old Terran myth called Hell. In Hell, sinners were placed in rings of punishment. Their movements were desperate and futile. The pandemonium of the Grand Melee made
Aidan think this Circle was like some warrior's ring of Hell.
* * *
In the end, it was Nielo who found Aidan. He landed in front of Aidan, having just performed a spectacular jump of several hundred meters from the edge of the Circle to where Aidan's Summoner was involved in his first really difficult engagement. An Adder had blind-sided his 'Mech, using its small pulse laser to chop away some torso armor.
Aidan did not know what was in the Adder pilot's mind. The 'Mech was only half the tonnage of his Summoner, and its firepower was pathetic, but it came at him with its ER PPC's firing. He stopped it short with a burst from his LB 10-X and would have finished it off if the Viper had not landed between them. With one kick, the Viper knocked the Adder over and turned toward the Summoner. Though Aidan was happy to see the bothersome Adder gone, he did not like to see it eliminated so perfunctorily, so insultingly.
Nielo had apparently also conserved his weapons, for he began to fire his medium pulse lasers at Aidan's Summoner even before the Adder had hit the ground. Aidan felt the impact of what the grid version of his 'Mech on the secondary screen showed as a long gash through the upper torso. He responded with some PPC bursts that came dangerously close to the Viper's cockpit and made Nielo twist his 'Mech's torso sideways, almost as a reflex action.
Aidan saw that the worst tactic at this moment would be to stand in place and trade fire with Nielo. He needed some distance from him, which he would create by engaging his jump jets and leaping. He quickly calculated that Nielo—whose 'Mech had a jump capacity at least a third greater than the Summoner's— would quickly follow. And that, if Aidan responded rapidly enough, might be Nielo's downfall.
Locating his destination point as just inside the Circle to the rear of Nielo and his Viper, a place free of fighting, he initiated the jump. The Summoner lifted over the Viper in a low arc, so that Aidan could get off an intense barrage from his LB 10-X. Coming from above and at an angle, the barrage did little damage, but it prevented Nielo from turning his 'Mech and jumping to pursue. As Aidan landed, he prepared himself for Nielo's arrival.
The other warrior's response was too predictable. He copied Aidan's low-level arc, coming at him like a missile. The time he had bought worked in Aidan's favor. He had calculated that he needed to get the Viper with an SRM round before it could land. Zeroing in on the incoming BattleMech, Aidan fired before his opponent could reach the zenith of his 'Mech's low arc. As he had hoped, the missiles hit the Viper high. It seemed to founder in mid-air, then waver, then seemed to slide back before falling. Beneath it a Kit Fox was firing off missiles at an Ice Ferret, and the Viper fell into the line of fire. There was an explosion at cockpit level, and Aidan knew that Nielo, as well as his 'Mech, was finished. He had not wanted to kill a warrior whose fame had preceded him. Angry, he waded into the Kit Fox's battle and demolished the 'Mech with a fierce fusillade. After it fell, Aidan also destroyed its Ice Ferret foe.
Checking his secondary screen, he saw that his ammo was getting dangerously low, although he still had missiles left.
But his blood was stirred now, and Aidan was ready to take on the rest of the field.
The only catch was that no one was left. Aidan was standing alone near the edge of the Circle of Equals, seeing damaged and destroyed BattleMechs scattered all around the wide area.
He had won, but Aidan did not understand his reaction. Why did he feel no sense of exhilaration?
31
At each ceremony preceding the succeeding contests in the Trial of Bloodright, Aidan could not mistake the hostility of the warriors competing against him. None spoke to him, though some muttered or growled insults under their breath. There was one muscular warrior who looked too big to fit into a normal 'Mech cockpit. His name was Megasa, and he was a Star Commander. The only time he spoke to Aidan, he said, "I hope to draw you somewhere in the competition. If so, I will end your life so that you can no longer stain the glory of Clan Jade Falcon." He walked away without waiting for a response, his thick legs giving him a rather comical gait, as if he had to make a special effort to keep one thigh from scraping away layers of skin from the other.
He asked Marthe about Megasa, but she seemed reluctant to respond. "I judge him to be the most dangerous competitor in this entire Trial of Bloodright. As far as the draw goes, he is in the other half from you. You can only meet him in the final battle. Let us hope some misfortune falls him before that time."
"On the contrary," Aidan said, "I hope to meet him."
Marthe smiled, reminding him of the way she was when they were young together in the sibko. He liked it.
"The more I see of you," she said, "the more I think you should win this Bloodname. Pryde would be an apt name for you. I do not exaggerate when I say you are the most prideful individual I have known."
He shrugged. "Perhaps. But my desire to meet Me-gasa is more than that. If I defeat him, it will remove the taint these warriors believe I would lay on the Bloodname. Anyone else, and they will believe it is merely a matter of fortune, and not my skill. Or even the workings of fate."
"Fate? You have beliefs about fate? That is not like you."
"Not fate in the conventional sense. But sometimes I think there is a kind of fate that is guiding me, maybe all of us."
"A kind of guidance system operating humans?"
"You might say that."
"No, I would not say that. It sounds like nonsense to me. And we have tomorrow to discuss. Your opponent will be? Say the name, Aidan."
"His name is Lopar, and he is a skilled BattleMech pilot."
"Not just skilled. He is so good that at times he seems to be of a piece with his 'Mech, as though they constructed him to sit in its cockpit back at the factory. You could beat him in a head-to-head confrontation, but why bother? You want to make him, and any other opponent, fight you away from their natural element."
As Marthe continued her briefing, Horse came into the small, bare room. While Marthe and Aidan conferred, he sat watching in one of the two remaining chairs. Across the way sat Joanna, nodding in agreement at several pieces of the advice Marthe gave. She had seemed to shudder when Horse walked into the room.
When Marthe was done, she left and Joanna took up Aidan's preparation by testing his physical responses. She tossed him a ball that he had to catch in one hand. He was quick, the ball invariably slapping into his palm. They also performed an intricate exercise with sticks, passing them back and forth in a prearranged but arhythmic order.
At a pause in the exercise, Horse caught Aidan's gaze. "Is it worth it, all this?" he asked. "You definitely need one of these stupid Bloodnames?"
"Yes, Horse, getting a Bloodname is worth it. It is the only way one can hope to have his genes selected for the gene pool."
"The gene pool, the Bloodname, they're just some jewelry to wear. You have already proven yourself as a warrior."
"Shut up, free—" A glance from Aidan told Joanna not to use the ugly word, so she finished it with,"— born. You are a member of Aidan's entourage. You have no right to belittle the Trial of Bloodright. It is an honorable tradition. You are jealous because you cannot participate in it."
Horse shook his head. "Not at all. Even if I were a trueborn, I would not want a Bloodname."
Joanna laughed abruptly. It was her cruel laugh, one that once had struck terror in the hearts and minds of cadets. "You are incompletely named, Horse. They should call you Horse's Tail. If you were trueborn, indeed! You can never know what it means to be tr
ueborn, never know what it means to have a Bloodname, never—"
"And why have you not yet won a Bloodname? Aren't you good enough?"
It was lucky for Horse that Aidan stood between him and Joanna. From the way she started to come at Horse, even a skilled warrior like Horse would have been pushed back through the wall. Aidan stopped her before that could happen.
"You are my advisors, you two," he said. "I need your help, not your squabbling."
"You should get rid of that one, Aidan," Joanna growled. "The kind of advice he gives would put you in your grave."
"Not so, Joanna," Aidan said. "I need to see both sides of the matter. How can I respond instinctively if I am not a realist about everything?"
"I fail to see how his mutterings can assist you in any way. They denigrate the ideal of the Bloodname."
"And that is why Horse is helpful. His point of view lets me keep that ideal in perspective."
"I have no idea what you mean."
"I want this Bloodname so deeply, so thoroughly, that the perspective shows me its worth."
"Well, when it comes to competing for a Bloodname, remember that I have preceded you. I can say that no amount of philosophy ever drew an ounce of an opponent's blood."
Aidan knew how bitter Joanna was that she had not yet succeeded in winning a Bloodname in her house line, but Marthe returned to save him from further discussion.
At the odd look on her face, Aidan asked what was the matter.
Marthe did not answer immediately, as if trying to decide whether to reveal her thoughts. "An oath is being taken among all the competitors for the Bloodname," she said finally.
"I have heard of no such oath."
"That is because it concerns you. The oath condemns your participation in this Trial of Bloodright. Megasa is the one who started it. From what I have heard, the oath states that your opponents will try to kill you rather than just attempt to defeat you. Every competitor has taken the vow."
Aidan merely nodded, his lips pressed tightly together.
"Does this not concern you?" Marthe asked.
"Of course it does. But it comes as no great surprise. It is odd to be so hated, but I will find a way to use this. Anything can be used to advantage in combat."
"Withdraw, Aidan," Horse said quietly.
"No, he cannot," Joanna insisted.
"And I will not," Aidan said. "I failed in my first Trial here on Ironhold. If I fail again, at this Bloodright Trial, then I prefer to die."
A wave of sadness suddenly overcame Marthe. It might even have flickered briefly in her eyes, but the next moment she had her emotions once more totally under control. No one else in the room seemed to have noticed the lapse.
32
The Bloodright coin gave Aidan confidence. Something about the emblem of a jade falcon in flight on one side reminded him of the peregrine that he had raised and hunted with in his boyhood. He had named the peregrine Warhawk, after a mythological falcon in a story that sibparent Glynn so often told and after the massive BattleMech of the same name.
He could not recall precisely the falcon story Glynn had told with her typical dramatic flourishes. He mainly remembered that it ended with the falcon facing another of its kind high in the sky above a mountain peak. The Warhawk of the story had swooped down in a magnificent dive and managed to bite off the other falcon's head in mid-air. Thinking of it now, Aidan thought of how exaggerated were that tale and all the other ones with which Glynn had regaled the children of the sibko. But the stories had excited their imaginations and, as a result, had shaped their lives and values. Had Aidan not heard Glynn's story of Warhawk, he might never have wished to raise his own bird. Nor might he have felt such a fierce need to pursue his own destiny to this moment. It had all led up to this, where he stood fingering a coin showing a falcon like Warhawk as he awaited his chance to win the Bloodname he craved with every fiber of his being.
Although not always in agreement with Joanna, Aidan knew she was right in the argument with Horse about Bloodnames the night before. Being a warrior nourished his life, but winning the Bloodname would nourish his soul. The argument was moot now that the ritual prelude to the contest was about to begin. Joanna and Horse stood beside him as the three of them awaited the summoning by the House Leader.
Aidan wondered if Lopar, his slim opponent standing across the way, was experiencing the same excitement. If so, not a trace of it showed on his face, which displayed only hatred. The glare he gave Aidan was more than just the typical warrior pose, the ritual body language meant to intimidate an opponent. No, this was the real thing, hatred deep and pure.
So you hate, do you, Lopar? Aidan thought. Would you be surprised to know that I do not hate you in return? I would not waste it on a fool like you. Hate me well, then. It will bring you down, for I will be sure to find a way to exploit it.
Risa Pryde stood in the center of the vast chamber where the Bloodright ceremonies took place. She had already orchestrated the ritual for most of the thirty other combatants. Aidan and Lopar were next to last.
Watching the others, Aidan felt a thrill. Since his days in the sibko, he had dreamed of standing in just such a hall, awaiting the chance to win a Bloodname. He had never imagined it would happen like this, under such adverse circumstances, but how could he ever have foreseen that he would live posing as a freebirth, go through a Trial of Refusal to vindicate his trueborn status, and then enter the Bloodname contest with every one of his opponents having taken a secret vow to kill rather than merely defeat him? Even now, the other warriors in the Trial often glanced his way, their expressions ranging from distaste to disgust to utter gall. Well, he thought, I will as eagerly destroy any of you that I meet on any field, so we are even.
Finally Aidan and Lopar were summoned to the central dais, where stood Risa Pryde, surrounded by other members of House Pryde. Before withdrawing, Joanna and Horse each touched him briefly on the shoulder. Aidan walked briskly to the dais, remembering that Joanna had instructed him to show no hesitation at any point in the ceremony, no matter what happened. Marthe was near the end of one row of seated Pryde warriors, but she carefully avoided looking at him directly. None of the other Bloodnamed Prydes knew of her support for him, for Marthe believed she could do more by keeping her activities clandestine.
Risa Pryde wore the ceremonial robe of the Jade Falcon Clan, a striking cloak woven from brilliantly colored feathers. Before the melee she had seemed diminutive, but in full regalia, with the massive cloak sweeping down her back, she seemed taller, more impressive.
Nodding to the two contestants, she announced that she would be the Oathmaster and would represent House Pryde. "Do you concur in this, warriors?"
"Seyla," replied both Aidan and Lopar.
"What happens here, warriors, will bind us all until we shall fall." The words of the ceremony were similar in all the Clans, and Risa Pryde uttered them with deep feeling. Spreading her arms out, she said, "You represent the best of House Pryde and have so proven."
At this, many of the assembled warriors muttered among themselves, despite the rule forbidding anyone but the Oathmaster and the warrior contestants from making a sound. Aidan knew that it was the ritual reference to his being among the best of House Pryde that made them break the ritual silence.
Risa Pryde finished the introductory portion of the ceremony, explaining that the warriors would battle for the right and honor to claim the name of Pryde. Then she turned to Lopar. "You are Lopar and are twenty-five years old. Tell us why you are worthy to fight for the Bloodname of Pryde."
Lopar said proudly that he had earned his nomination by another Pryde warrior through his courage and heroism in several conflicts, including a defense of the Jade Falcon settlement on York in a territorial dispute.
Risa Pryde then turned to Aidan and asked him to verify his worthiness. The muttering began again, but the House Leader silenced the complaining warriors with a hard stare.
"I am not nominated, but come here as the win
ner over more than a hundred combatants in the Grand Melee. As a warrior of the Jade Falcon Clan, I have served well in several assignments. In the Glory Station battle defending the spawn of Kael Pershaw against predation by Clan Wolf, I turned the tide of battle. Against significant odds, I invaded the Clan Wolf camp and destroyed its communications center, thus effectively ending the conflict."
In coaching him for this speech, Joanna had insisted that Aidan not mention his masquerade as a freeborn, nor—as warriors frequently did—any of his achievements in the sibko.
A flash of consternation briefly lit Risa Pryde's eyes, as if she too felt shame at Aidan's participation in the Trial of Bloodright. But she completed the^rest of her speech, which praised the qualifications of the two candidates, then asked them to present the coins that were the tokens of their legitimate right to compete. Aidan noted that she stumbled a bit over the word legitimate, but at least no further grumbles of protest came from the audience. A conelike device rose from the floor of the dais. It was called a gravity funnel, and was used to decide which warrior chose the weapons and which chose the venue.
The Oathmaster demanded a look at the coins, which she examined briefly to verify that the back of each was inscribed with the correct name.
Holding up both coins, she then announced, "These coins will pursue one another in the Well of Decision. This randomness imitates the conditions of battle, which no warrior can control. A worthy warrior must rise above the difficulties and defeat even superior enemies, overcome even apparently overwhelming obstacles. The Trial of Bloodright reflects this chaos of war. One of the bearers of these two coins will emerge as the hunter, who chooses the style of combat. The other will then decide the venue. You both understand this well?"
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