The Great Game

by O. J. Lowe

  In the arms of a loving woman and just a few matches from winning the biggest tournament in the five kingdoms. Things felt pretty good right now.

  Chapter Forty-Eight. Press Release.

  “You know, I’m in complete disagreement with that statement. Traditions became tradition for a reason. Because they seemed like a good idea at the time, enough to keep repeating them over. In this day, if they didn’t work, we’d be rid of them. Yes, we still do the photo ceremony, it’s a vital part of the tournament. As much as the bouts and the stadia and everything else that makes this what it is. We’ve been asked whether it’s worth carrying on with it before. And I can say unequivocally, yes. Yes, it is. That’s the way it has been and that is the way it will continue to be. President Ritellia believes that and I do too.”

  Raul de Blanco, ICCC Master of Ceremonies, on whether the photo ceremony is relevant anymore.

  The eighteenth day of Summerpeak.

  “And that is the last of the bouts to be drawn here on the Billy Noddle and Trevor Carson show live from the Quin-C, Carcaradis Island. So just to recap, the last twelve of the Competitive Centenary Calling Challenge Cup have just been drawn for their bouts. And we have some interesting ties here, wouldn’t you say Trevor?”

  “Absolutely Billy. Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing Katherine Sommer facing Harry Devine. It’s the favourite versus the plucky underdog and I think young Devine might have a chance here. He might be able to do what nobody else has so far and knock the lovely Ms Sommer off her perch.”

  “Though, David Wilsin versus Nicholas Roper seems like it might be a top bout as well. That’s the one I’m looking forward to.”

  “Yeah I’d say that’s the other plum tie. I mean don’t get me wrong, everyone here is pretty good. You don’t reach this point unless you have something about you, I know it’s a cliché but it’s the truth as well. You can’t coast on luck alone. Don’t get me wrong, Bill, sometimes it feels like you need a bit of luck, sometimes something goes your way that you didn’t expect but you also need skill and you need talent. There’s no duffers here that’s for sure.”

  “Trevor, who do you expect to go through here to the quarter final because there’s some pretty hard to pick bouts here.”

  “Like I said, I think Devine has a chance against Sommer. Not saying that he will. But I think he has a chance. Perhaps better than Peter Jacobs did in the last round. Jacobs tried to take her at her own game and he failed miserably. Devine, I think is cannier than doing that. If he heeds what’s gone before and doesn’t play to his opponent’s strengths while at the same time, imposing his own strategy on her, it could pay dividends. Roper versus Wilsin, yeah I’d say this is a lot less clear cut.”

  “Roper has experience and power. What does David Wilsin bring to the tournament? What sets him apart from those who’ve fallen before now?”

  “Wilsin is an excellent tactician, Billy. He sees paths to victory, he judges them all and then takes the most efficient. I think he might be the ablest tactician left in the tournament. I think Wade Wallerington could do it well but maybe not quite as well as this guy. Roper against him is much more of a reactionary. He doesn’t think as much about what his opponent might do as react to what they do go on to do. He has fantastic reactions, he has an ability to plan on the fly and it’s gotten him far. But I think there’s a point where that just might not be enough. This is the one I genuinely do not want to call. It could go either way, I think. They’re as good as each other, I can’t pick them, everyone makes Roper the favourite slightly but their records aren’t as vastly different as you might think.”

  “On Roper, let’s move to the third bout. Theobald Jameson, conqueror of Roper’s fiancé, Sharon Arventino, lest we not forget the fireworks that took place in that bout. He’s facing the last regional competitor in Nwando Eliki. Eliki has become a bit of the darling of the Vazaran kingdom because of his performances in this tournament, wouldn’t you say?”

  “You know what, Billy? I think I would say that; I don’t like you putting words in my mouth but he has surpassed expectations. Every Quin-C we get someone like that, we get someone who wouldn’t have had a prayer before the start of the tournament, in theory anyway, and they do better than expected. This tournament, I’d say we’ve had quite a few to be fair. Jameson himself, Devine, Scott Taylor, they’re also all first timers and they’ve done well to get this far. It makes things interesting.”

  “Trevor, do you think it detracts from the tournament that some bigger names have gone out, the likes of Arventino and Wallerington and even the likes of say, Steven Silver, they’ve gone out but instead we’ve got Devine, Jameson and Taylor?”

  “Well yesterday’s champions ultimately become just that. Yesterday. I don’t want to say that their achievements have been diminished but just because they’re notorious doesn’t mean they have a gods-given right to just walk into the latter stages of this competition. You earn what you get here, if they haven’t made it, then it’s because there was someone better and there’s no shame in that. You lose to someone better, I’ve always thought that. You show up, think it’s going to be easy and don’t give your best, that’s something to be ashamed of. But these new callers have something that maybe the older, experienced callers don’t have, Billy.”

  “What’s that?”

  “A lack of fear. Burning desire to prove themselves. Youthful exuberance. We can all remember what it’s like to be that age, can’t we? You think you know it all and you want to show the world that you do. Well fortunately for these young men and women, they can do that. Far from these newcomers getting here, I’d say the likes of Kayleigh Chambers and Reginald Tendolini getting here is more of a surprise, despite what their odds say. I can’t see them winning it. They’ve already beaten their previous best performances at this tournament, they’ll probably never get to this point again. Younger callers are getting better and better.”

  “We’ve gone a little off subject here, back to Jameson versus Eliki. Who do you think will win this one, Trevor?”

  “Eliki carries the hopes of Vazara on his shoulders. He wants so badly to win for them but I think that’s a weight that nobody should have to bear. Being the last pure Vazaran in the competition, for want of a better term, he’s the favourite of the crowds on the mainland. Very top Vazaran callers are becoming rarer and rarer, nobody knows why, it seems that the best ones are usually half Vazaran, half some other kingdom and they don’t like that…

  Well look at Scott Taylor in that regard. Only half-Vazaran by birth, never set foot in the kingdom before this if I’m right. Back to the question, for the third attempt, Eliki has done well to get to this part. It’s not his first tournament, it’s his first time at this point though and let’s not detract from his achievements for he has done well. But I think that he will run out of time here. Jameson is only going to get better. He’s changed his style as the tournament has come along, he started off all power and intensity and he stormed out the group stage that way. He’s done well to make it this far, I think he will make it through this round and into the quarter final, I’m not sure he’ll be able to go much further than that. Depends who he gets in the next round, should he make it. A good draw, he could hit the semis.

  Plus, I hear he’s been training with Anne Sullivan and that’s only going to help him. It’s a radical new idea, so many callers insist on doing it on their own without asking for help. The idea of asking for help from a more experienced caller is not something that’s done often but I think you can see signs of temperance in his fights now. He couldn’t keep going like he did in the group stage, not at that intensity, somebody would have figured him out eventually and he’d have burnt out. Now, he’s a much more rounded fighter. I’ll say it again, there are going to be Vazarans throwing things at their radios but I can’t see Eliki beating him. But wouldn’t that be like spirit calling as a sport. Jameson beats one of the favourites, someone you wouldn’t expect him to beat and then does exactly t
he opposite. It’s a funny old game sometimes.”

  “Trevor, rest your vocal cords a moment, we’ll have a quick break and then we’ll talk about the last three bouts. Kayleigh Chambers versus Lucy Tait, Rei Renderson versus Reginald Tendolini and Yvette Martial versus Scott Taylor.”

  “Talk to me about Chambers versus Tait. What can we expect from this bout, do you think?”

  “Well it’s two fighters from Premesoir facing off against each other, so there’s the local rivalry thing, as much as you can get that in a kingdom spanning more than half a million miles wide. Tait, I like, I’m going to be honest, there’s something about her. She has good decision-making skills under fire and you can’t have enough of that in this. Chambers, I’d say probably has more raw power but I think this one might be slightly harder to call than some of the others. I mean, well none of them are going to be easy to call, I’d say five out of the six bouts could go either way.”

  “Who’s the sixth, Trevor?”

  “I wouldn’t like to say. This sport has a horrible way of rebounding on you when you least expect it. I think Tait to win this one between her and Chambers. Narrowly. Won’t be pretty. But she SHOULD do it.”

  “Okay, how about Rei Renderson and Reginald Tendolini? Who’s going to be the winner of this one? You’ve already spoken about Tendolini, saying you’re surprised he’s made it this far in the tournament.”

  “Well Billy, that’s no indictment against the man, he has made it this far but I think there’s better callers who have gone out. Then again, shocks are the fruit of competition and he has made it this far so therefore he has a chance of winning it. I’d say again that there are better callers still left in, so it’s a small chance but even a small chance is better than no chance. He needs four good bouts and he’s into the final. Four good performances, maybe the opponent is a little under par and he’s done it. And I think he has a chance against Rei Renderson, the sole Burykian left in the competition. Like Eliki, she’s holding the hopes of her kingdom on her shoulders but I think she might go out here. That pressure can crack even a tough caller. I wouldn’t describe Renderson as a top competitor even on her best day. I honestly can’t see, and I’m willing to be proved wrong on this, I honestly can’t see either of these two troubling some of the other competitors in the tournament.”

  “Okay so one last bout to preview, talk to me of Martial versus Taylor, Trevor.”

  “Billy, Billy, Billy. Every tournament has someone who comes out of nowhere and takes it by storm. Someone who wins the hearts and minds of those who see them. Scott Taylor was selected at random, via a wildcard choice. Before this tournament, he hadn’t competed in a bout for nearly two months, he’d taken some time out. He’s never won a major tournament and so far, he’s competed admirably at the biggest of them all. His victory over Steven Silver, particularly that final round was perhaps the most comprehensively in-control performance I’ve ever seen between two spirits not just here but anywhere. In that bout, he didn’t just react, he pro-acted. You watch it in slow motion, he’s acting before the attack even comes, showing great anticipatory skills. Those are a double-edged sword; I do have to say. You can’t keep doing that. Its good when it comes off, it’s disastrous when it fails. Because you can’t predict every attack every time and sooner or later it will cost you dearly. He didn’t do it versus Weronika Saarth in the last round, he didn’t need to. There might have been a few sticky moments for him but he looked in control for the whole bout, barring that long moment when he did nothing, confusing everyone.”

  “Can Martial beat him?”

  “She can. But I think she’ll have to perform way past what we’ve seen from her so far. I think she has a tough tie here; I mean there are no easy bouts at this level but she’s experienced enough to know that the rawness from a caller like Taylor at this point can be as much help as hindrance. That lack of fear can carry you through. Don’t get me wrong, I like Yvette Martial as a caller a lot, she has a lot of redeeming qualities, decent tactically, no slouch in the strength department and she has good judgement skills. She’ll need all of them. Before the tournament, if you’d said this would be a bout in the last twelve, then you’d have made her the favourite. Here and now, it’s too close to call. If they both fight at their best, which is what we’d all hope to see, I can’t split them.”

  “What are Scott Taylor’s strengths?”

  “Well, I’ve studied him in a couple of bouts this tournament and the best I can say about him is he’s stubborn. He doesn’t seem to know when to give up. You wouldn’t look at his spirits, except maybe his dragon and his leaf lizard and say that there’s anything especially powerful or extraordinary there. I think that’s part of his strategy. He tries to get opponents to underestimate him and the further he goes in this tournament, the less likely it is to work.”

  “What about that ghost?”

  “I think the thing we need to point about that, Billy, is that he broke no rules. It might be interfering with the spirit of the sport but I like what he did. Using something he hadn’t even bent entirely to his will, it could have gone so wrong for him but it came off. He backed himself and he kicked Saarth out of the tournament. Even if he does go out, I think he has a bright future in the sport to come out of this promising start. To be fair, a lot of the first timers to this tournament can say the same. In five years’ time, what chance that Taylor, Jameson and Devine will be in this situation again? All three of them are probably going to get better and better and that’s just for this experience.”

  “Who do you fancy for the tournament, Trevor?”

  “What, the whole thing?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Erm… Wow. Very tough to call. Very. I don’t know. It’s the hardest three words to say in punditry but there’s so many variables to come into play, it could go so many ways, I can’t say for sure. I have a good feeling about Katherine Sommer if she gets past Devine. I think she could lift the trophy.”

  “And today we have that oldest of time honoured traditions. The Photo Ceremony.”

  “Yeah, it’s an event for the bigwigs, isn’t it? I’m sure there’s other things the callers would rather be doing today, I know I was back in the day but sometimes you have to suck it up and take the rough with the smooth.”

  This was something, Nick had to admit to himself, which was slowly turning into farce now. There wasn’t any need for it and it felt like it became a little more outdated and unnecessary every time they did it. He’d been alive for five Quin-C tournaments, four of which he was old enough to remember and it had felt like it was something special seeing it when he was younger. Now, being embroiled in the middle of it, he could see that the magic was greatly exaggerated.

  Every time, they did it. They got the last twelve competitors left in the tournament and put them together in a room with the head of the ICCC and the head of state of the region the tournament was taking place in and got them to have a big commemorative photo together. Being this close to Ronald Ritellia was starting to grate, the porcine president was holding court in one corner of the big room with his entourage. Interestingly, the Falcon was nowhere to be seen, Tommy Jerome conspicuous by his absence. He found himself hung close to David Wilsin, both taking in the room. First time he’d seen him for a while and he looked a little different than before, like something was troubling him.

  “Want to talk about it?” he asked. “You seem troubled by something.”

  “It’s classified,” Wilsin said automatically. “It’s that sort of troubling.”

  Nick nodded. “An internal issue?” He was still on leave but he knew enough of what was going on to be interested. Okocha had sent him out a mission report of the whole hospital-under-siege operation on the sly, and he’d read through it. It made for troubling reading and it might explain his friend’s mood. Especially since Wilsin had been one of the operatives involved in putting it down.

  “A confusing one. Look, maybe I’ll talk later. I don’t know how much you kn
ow. It’s a whole mess.”

  He shut up as Lucy Tait wandered over, a slender blond caller in her mid-twenties wearing a red dress. Instead he turned his attention to her and gave her a grin.

  “Ms Tait. Or might I call you Lucy.”

  She shrugged. “Most people do, Mr Wilsin. Mr Roper.”

  “You ready for your bout?” Nick asked. He didn’t feel much like any sort of small talk beyond that.

  Lucy nodded. “I think I can beat her. I’m going all the way.”

  “Well good luck with that,” Wilsin said. “Long as you don’t come up against me, I won’t have to disillusion you of that notion.” He grinned at her. “But even if I do, it’s nothing personal. Only business.”

  “That’s funny. You two are facing each other and yet you’re still being pally. How come? Shouldn’t you be like trying to secretly stab the other in the back.”

  “I wouldn’t stab him in the back,” Nick said absentmindedly. “He’d get it across the throat.” He winked first at Tait, then at Wilsin he made a throat-slitting gesture. Tait looked a little taken aback, he hid the smirk. “Joking, of course.”

  “It’s all fun until someone loses an eye,” Wilsin said. “Or most of their skin. Look, it’s serious but we’re not going to worry about it until the day of the bout. Then it’s every man for himself. Until then, I’m just going to keep an eye on my food and drink in case he slips something in it.”

  “And I’m just going to hang around until he gives me more ideas like that,” Nick said, glancing around the room at the other competitors. Kitti Sommer was chatting to Nwando Eliki and Yvette Martial, Scott Taylor and Harry Devine exchanging words with Kayleigh Chambers, Rei Renderson and Reginald Tendolini. Only Theobald Jameson stood alone, back to the wall at the rear of the room, a little moody. “It’s quite remarkable really, isn’t it? First there were two hundred and now there are twelve. It’s brutal when you think about it.”