by Ian J Miller
Kazyn stood over the groggy opponent, and offered him the opportunity to concede or be beaten until he did. He conceded. Again the crowd applauded.
Kazyn turned to face his third opponent. He waited until the applause had died down, a gesture that Kazyn acknowledged was unnecessary. It was a gesture that was considered polite in that it let a partway victor bask fully in what he had earned, and hence it was rarely seen in such contests. When he entered, Kazyn in turn allowed him to acknowledge the crowd. The opponent then came towards him, a little more circumspectly. He made a thrust that Kazyn easily blocked, then another then another, each of which was blocked. Then he feinted. Kazyn did not pick it, he went for the block, and in turn received a blow to his left leg. A second blow came, but Kazyn blocked it. He thrust, and when this was blocked, he in turn feinted, then struck his opponent before stepping back.
The crowd now gave some genuine applause. Kazyn closed, made a blow that was blocked, and in turn blocked a thrust. Kazyn thrust forward again and made to strike, when his opponent stepped back, held up an open palm, and seemed to yell something like "Behind!" Meanwhile a terrible roar had broken out from the audience.
Kazyn sensed the problem, pulled the blow back, stepped to his left and turned. He was not quite quick enough. His second opponent had grasped one of his poles, and had charged forward. A searing pain went through his right arm, and he struggled to hold his pole. A second blow was coming. He stepped back, only too fully aware that he was opening his side to the third opponent, and blocked with a sideways blow that sent the opponent's pole sideways. With all his strength he brought his pole up and hit the opponent on the shoulder, but with the pain in his shoulder, his strength was clearly down.
At this point, it did not matter. Two referees had jumped into the square and they now grasped the angry Ranhyn around the shoulders, and dragged him away. To concede, then strike from behind during the further contest was one of the lowest acts of dishonour possible in this society.
Kazyn now turned to face his third opponent, who had stood as far away as he could, until the dishonourable interruption could be dealt with. He now stepped forward, pole up. Kazyn's arm was now becoming somewhat numb, and it was not moving properly. He was only too well aware that this situation was going to get worse, so this had to be finished as quickly as possible. He could in principle plead with the referees for a delay, but while this would be granted, it would not do him very much good in terms of his standing in society, and in any case, his arm was more likely to freeze than to recover.
He stepped forward, and thrust. This was blocked. He tried a feint, and another strike, but it was blocked. This opponent, unfortunately, seemed to have some idea of what was required. There was only one thing for it. He had to offer his opponent such a delicious morsel that he could not resist opening up, but at the same time, he had to be able to recover, and do real damage. He circled, made some feints, but his opponent made no offensive move whatsoever, and when he made another strike, it was blocked. The arm was stiffening.
In a last ditch attempt, he lunged forward, appeared to trip, struck at the legs, the strike was blocked, and he fell to his left, opening up an undefended right arm. He had to survive the blow, hope it did not come at the head, and thrust up with the point of his pole at the jaw. A long shot, but his only one. His opponent blocked the leg thrust, then stepped back, and permitted Kazyn to regain his feet.
Kazyn faced him, then said, "You are not striking."
"It does me no honour to strike someone who cannot fight properly through being so dishonourably fouled."
"You cannot win without striking."
"That is a problem," his opponent acknowledged, "but equally, I shall not concede. I do not intend to let you pluck me."
"I never intended to call you a mammal," Kazyn said. "It was a simile, to . . ."
"I am not offended."
"Then there is no point in continuing this," Kazyn pointed out. "I am not offended, you are not offended, and you will not strike."
"You may leave with honour," his opponent said.
"Thank you," Kazyn said, "however I should point out that if I do, I fully intend to pluck that . . ." He stopped, and pointed at the holding zone.
"If you don't, I will," his opponent said. "This contest has dishonoured me."
"No, it has not," Kazyn said. "Your refusal to take advantage means no dishonour is placed on you, and I state you may leave with full honour."
"Thank you," his opponent said. He threw his pole to one side, and added, "I accept your offer."
"As do I," Kazyn said, and threw his pole aside. A general round of applause broke out. "Further," Kazyn added, "in recognition of your honour, I offer the exchange of a feather." With that, he stepped forward and knelt.
His opponent stepped forward, and turned towards the stands. "Before these witnesses, I accept and am honoured." He leaned over, selected a prime green/blue feather, and pulled, then raised the feather in the air, and stated, "By the taking of this feather, I pledge my friendship and support to Kuyrill Kazyn." He then stepped back and knelt.
"I don't even know your name," Kazyn whispered.
"Seppet Tes," came the whispered reply.
Kazyn now stepped before Tes and turned towards the audience. "Before these witnesses I accept the offer, and am honoured by it." He leaned over and selected an especially iridescent blue feather and pulled it free. "By the taking of this feather, I pledge my friendship and support to Seppet Tes." He then stepped back, and offered his left hand as assistance in rising.
He then turned and walked towards the holding zone, and stood before his first opponent. "I did not accuse you of being a mammal," Kazyn said slowly. He knew he would be judged on what happened next. He had to be firm, he had to follow tradition, but he had to be fair, and if he was to be generous, this was the time. "All I did was accuse you of making excuses after the game, which was not an insult, and I think is quite demonstrable. There was no honour at stake, until your friend beside you made it so. I believe that you entered this to support your hot-headed friend, and while I shall take a clutch of feathers, if you take off your top, I shall take those that are normally hidden."
His opponent looked up, then made the formal bow of acknowledgement, and removed the top then knelt in the approved way. Kazyn grasped a handful of feathers in his left hand, and pulled. This would hurt, he knew, and while his opponent flinched visibly, he remained silent. Kazyn held up the feathers, and announced to the crowd, "With these, honour is restored." The crowd applauded, and the opponent stood up, bowed to Kazyn, then replaced his top.
Kazyn then stood before the second opponent, who snarled back at him. "You!" he roared, "have no honour." The crowd roared their support and encouragement, and calls for a full plucking began to gather intensity. Tes then stepped forward, and spat on his erstwhile companion, and said, "You have dishonoured me, and I support whatever happens next." To Kazyn's surprise, the first opponent then requested the right to speak. He stood before this wretched snarling form, and said loudly, "You have also dishonoured me. Had I not been defeated, I would have taken joy in plucking you," and with that he spat. The second opponent lunged out and attempted to bite, but the first opponent had stepped back, out of range.
Kazyn then announced, "Even now you show no vestige of honour. You must be fully stripped, held and muzzled." This was one of the most insulting things he could do at this moment, but the crowd was with him, and roared support. "Then you must be fully plucked and singed." As he crowd roared further support, he turned to Tes, and said, "If you wish, I would be honoured if you would take one side, and," he added, nodding towards the first opponent, "give him the chance to recover some honour."
"We shall share that side," Tes nodded.
Kazyn then stepped forward and grasped the first clutch of feathers and pulled. They were firm, but they came. Then the other two also began pulling. The roars of pain began as the feathers were gradually pulled, those over the face being
particularly painful to remove. Eventually the back was simply downy skin, and the yowling body was turned over and the plucking recommenced. Finally, an induction-powered heater, a cylinder approximately a quarter of a meter long, a centimeter radius, and with a two-handed handle, was brought forward and handed to Kazyn, who turned it on, and held it just above the unfortunate Ranhyn.
"The rules of singeing are simple," Kazyn said. "If you lie still, I may not touch you, and if I do, this stops. But if you are adjudged to squirm or struggle, I may burn you until you stop. Of course you may now begin to wish that I had full control of both arms," he added, and the crowd, who were hearing everything on speaker, yelled support.
Those holding let go of the arms, and the unfortunate Ranhyn had to lie still as the white-hot heater passed across his skin, searing the remaining down, and leading to the characteristic burning smell. Once the front, back, and limbs had been properly singed, Kazyn turned off the heater, and in the characteristic fashion, turned his back on his victim, and after inviting Tes to accompany him, he began walking towards the exit.
When he entered the dressing room area, two medics quickly approached, and suggested he get the arm examined. Two minutes later he was shown an image of his bones, with a fracture clearly visible. With a fatalistic nod, Kazyn put his arm into the repairer, and eventually withdrew it with another fatalistic nod. The bones, and soft tissue such as nerves, and blood vessels, were neatly reconnected and the worst of the internal bleeding was corrected, however this had been done at the cost of removing a significant amount of flesh. He would have a weak and sore arm for several days. He was a little irritated: he should have gone to a hospital where they had better equipment, although he remembered that hospitals usually considered this type of injury 'self-inflicted', and they tended not to be of much help. After all, from their point of view, he had voluntarily entered what was essentially a highly primitive contest.
"You'll survive!"
Kazyn looked around to see Tes chuckling at his arm flexing.
"The sporting repair equipment is known to be less than superb," Tes added, "however sportsmen use this as an excuse to indulge in extra large amounts of fresh protein."
"Good idea," Kazyn nodded. "Perhaps you'd like to join me?" When Tes seemed undecided, Kazyn added the tempter, "I brought back some rodents from Earth," he grinned. "They call them rats. They breed like mad, and we've genetically modified them so they're as big as a tailball. They're really juicy."
"You had a permit to bring them in?" Tes queried, with a grin that showed he suspected there was no permit.
"One signed by Tenzat Kuyrill Tallyn himself," Kazyn grinned back.
"And of course he knew there would be rats there," Tes pointed out.
"As a matter of fact, he did," Kazyn shrugged. "Much earlier in his life he had actually made a landing on Earth. It nearly caused a lot of trouble, actually."
"Oh?"
"His ship was detected by Earth, and while they'd had lots of reports of unidentified flying objects, most of them were dismissed as the imaginings of nutters," Kazyn explained, "but this time two independent observers managed to get readings that corroborated each other, eventually. Field and frequency readings. The media made a big thing about proving the existence of extraterrestrials."
"So what happened?"
"The Ulsian outpost made a very clear statement that they regarded this as voiding Ranhyn rights under the treaty, and unless Ranh declared for complete freedom and non-violation of Earth, there would be trouble."
"Oh dear! The Ulsians and their one observational ship were going to wipe out Ranh? More likely they were going to be wiped out."
"The strategic situation was a lot more complicated than that," Kazyn gave a superior smile, "but back to the point. Would you like to try rats?"
"I think I'd very much like to try rats."
Chapter 8
"Well," Hadell remarked, as Kazyn sat down with a drink and a self-satisfied expression, "bearing in mind the risk you took, and bearing in mind what could have happened, I guess we can say you came out of that much better than you deserved."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Kazyn frowned. Just as he had been congratulating himself for getting out of a very tricky situation, his mother had to start criticizing.
"You do know to whom you've just offered rats?"
"Seppet Tes," Kazyn said in a puzzled tone, then added with slightly more concern, "At least that's who he said he was."
"Oh, I'm sure he knew his own name. The point is, do you have any idea what that might mean?"
"There's an important Seppet?" Kazyn guessed.
"Oh, very good! Have you heard of Seppet Zakryn?"
"He's important?"
"He's Tes' uncle," Hadell explained, then added when the blank look became blanker, "He's Tenzat of the Military Curia."
"Oh!"
"Indeed, Oh! I don't suppose it has occurred to you that plucking the nephew of the head of the Ranhynn military might just conceivably have been a bad move?"
"Yes, but I didn't."
"If it hadn't been for that other clod, someone was going to get plucked. I don't suppose it occurs to you that if that someone was you, it wouldn't have been much of an improvement."
"No, but I didn't, so nothing's lost."
"Actually," Hadell shrugged, "quite a bit's been gained. Seppet Zakryn has invited you for dinner, at your convenience."
"I suppose that's good," Kazyn said.
"It is good," Hadell nodded. "Apparently Tes told him about the giant rats, and he can't wait to try them."
"Have we got enough?" Kazyn asked, now with real concern in his voice. This invitation could not be declined without severely damaging his own prospects, but running out of rats was also an outcome to be avoided at all costs.
"I have put the meal off for a week," Hadell said. "By that time, the females will be pregnant, and we can cull most of the last batch of males. But don't invite anybody else for rats. We need much more time to build up stocks."
Kazyn recognized the criticism in his mother's voice; she was not a happy Ranhyn. The fact was, as Tes had insinuated, the legality of this particular import was at best questionable, and the reserve stocks were not very large. His mother had taken a few risks effectively smuggling them in, and she would be less than impressed by finding their existence divulged to a Tenzat. Still, if he wanted to get to a high position, he had to take risks. His mother would recognize that only too well, for she had taken them too when young, but she would not want to be associated with such risks at this time of her life. He had to be a bit more careful, or at least give the impression to her that he was going to be careful.
* * *
"Still no invitation to go down," Lucilla pointed out.
"Yes, I think it's time to stir the pot a little," Gaius agreed.
"It might be better not to," Natasha said slowly. "I've had a request from Kazyn not to do anything until he gets back to me."
"Any reason?" Gaius queried.
"None given," Natasha said, "although he said that he was meeting somebody important and it would be better if we waited."
"He's either regrowing feathers, or he's organizing an escort of tailball players," Lucilla offered sarcastically.
"Perhaps," Natasha replied, "but I would vote for giving him his time."
"Reason?" Gaius asked.
"In the first place, we lose nothing," Natasha replied. "The request has been made, and seems to be being ignored, however we are not going away, and in diplomatic terms, there is a certain level of embarrassment being generated down there. The second reason is that in the absence of reason to the contrary, we should trust Kazyn. He's the only ally we have."
"The latter point may not be correct," Lucilla pointed out. "From his point of view, you are an alien, and the dislike of mammals runs deep. I believe he will be looking after his own interests first and foremost."
"The first point is definitely wrong," Gaius added. "In Ranhynn
society, the embarrassment to us, in their eyes, would arise from our sitting around for too long, because that makes us look weak. The longer they can delay our descent, the stronger they look."
"Perhaps," Natasha said, then she turned towards Lucilla and said, "I agree he will put his own interests foremost, but he knows we shall identify him as an expected ally when we land, so he cannot dissociate himself from us. He would lose honour if he did that."
"Not necessarily," Gaius corrected her. "It depends. Treachery for a good strategic reason is not frowned on in Ranhynn society, and it can be applauded. But we can play him so that he has to take a public position early, in which case it would stand."
"So what do we do?" Lucilla asked softly.
"We go along with Natasha," Gaius shrugged. "Her trust in Kazyn may be misplaced, but then again, maybe she's right. We don't lose too much by giving our feathered friend a little more time, and there is one further point. If we protest, the protest has to work. We lose a lot of face if we lodge a forceful protest, then end up staying here doing nothing."