by K. J. Parker
‘So what should I do now?’ Poldarn asked plaintively. ‘Should I back off and let them beat me?’
Eyvind shook his head. ‘Not if you want to come out of this alive,’ he replied. ‘For better or worse you’ve turned this into a real contest – also, you’ve shown them you’re unnaturally good at anything to do with weapons and fighting. You can bet that they’ll all be wanting to be the one to teach you a lesson, so you’d better watch yourself. Bloody hell,’ he added, sighing deeply, ‘you couldn’t have made a worse mess of it if you’d tried. If you want my opinion, the only thing you can do is make absolutely sure you win; it’ll be a sort of statement of intent that you mean to be – well, a different sort of head of house, leading from the front, the strong man, that sort of thing. It’s not what they’re used to, but at least they’ll be able to understand what you’re trying to do, instead of just standing there wondering why the hell you’re beating shit out of your friends.’
‘All right,’ Poldarn replied. ‘I’ll give it a try – at least, that’s assuming I can. What’s left?’
‘Single-stick and the home game,’ Eyvind replied.
Poldarn shook his head. ‘I don’t know what that means,’ he said.
Eyvind muttered something under his breath. ‘Fine,’ he said. ‘Look, single-stick is like sword-fighting, but instead of a sword you’ve got a wooden rod, thick as your thumb, and the object is to land a blow that draws blood – just a little, mind, so for crying out loud don’t go killing anybody. No hitting below the waist, no thrusting, and if the other man says “Hold”, you stop. You got that?’
‘I think so,’ Poldarn replied. ‘Put like that, it doesn’t sound a bit like real swordfighting. I suppose you’re all terribly good at it and practise all the time?’
Eyvind nodded. ‘It’s a very popular game,’ he replied. ‘Why do you think it’s saved till the end of the show? Well, almost the end. And you’re right, it’s not in the least like real fighting with swords, it’s all in the wrist and fingers. Oh God,’ he added, glancing over his shoulder, ‘they’re ready for you. Just try and remember, this isn’t a battle – don’t go raving mad.’
‘Right.’
‘And make bloody sure you win,’ Eyvind added, as Poldarn dragged himself unwillingly to his feet, ‘or else they’ll flay you alive. Got that?’
Poldarn’s ankle was a little better, but he was painfully aware that he was limping, dragging his feet, and that anything like proper footwork was out of the question. A pity, that, because his instincts told him that mock swordfighting with bits of stick was probably more about footwork than anything else. As for Eyvind’s parting advice, it seemed to boil down to beat them to a pulp but don’t hurt anybody. And that, as Asburn would say, was all there was to it.
Piece of cake.
In the event, it came surprisingly easily to him, probably because his movements were so limited. As a result he was effectively limited to a solid but hostile defence; block three times, then counter just enough to drive his opponents back out of his space, his circle. (Now that was a familiar concept, something Poldarn knew he’d known a lot about once upon a time; he could remember having committed it to memory, but he couldn’t remember it now.) Since there was no need for a proper attack, for moves that would give him scope to swing his arm hard and fast enough to slice meat and smash bone, there was nothing to be gained from taking the offensive; smart, stinging little backfoot ripostes, elegantly timed, were more likely to achieve the desired effect than big scything cuts and wraps, even if he’d been in any fit state to attempt them. Furthermore, his opponents were working on a new and to them unfamiliar agenda; they were more interested in hurting him than they were in winning, in a discipline where the techniques for causing real injury and those designed to produce formal victory were not only different but largely incompatible. The result was that they ended up fighting like they were expecting him to fight, while he quite effectively reinvented the gentle art of single-stick and performed it both elegantly and effectively. Accordingly he won all seven bouts quickly and without inflicting any damage beyond the required slight graze. Crazy, Poldarn thought; they’re trying to be me and I’m succeeding at being them, making a rather better job of it than they are.
‘How am I doing?’ he muttered furtively to Eyvind, after the last challenger had retired in search of spider’s web and a dock leaf. ‘Look, I didn’t kill anybody.’
‘Not bad,’ Eyvind replied, though he was clearly not happy about something. ‘Where the hell did you learn single-stick like that?’
‘I was just asking myself the same question,’ Poldarn admitted. ‘Maybe I was good at it when I was a kid, before I went away.’
But Eyvind shook his head. ‘You didn’t learn any of that stuff round here,’ he replied. ‘I’ve been fighting sticks since I was five, and I know every move in the game. Never saw anything like it in my life.’
‘Oh,’ Poldarn said. ‘Then I guess I was just making it up as I went along.’
‘Don’t buy that, either,’ Eyvind grumbled. ‘You’ve obviously done this before, but Polden only knows where. Must’ve been over there, in the Empire. It’s like a completely different game, only it works for how we do it, too. I figure you must’ve been pretty serious about it, though. Some of those moves looked like they took a lot of practice to get right.’
‘I wouldn’t know,’ Poldarn replied. ‘Look, when you feel like it, I can teach them to you if you like.’
‘Thanks,’ Eyvind replied, ‘but I’d rather not. I don’t think folks would take kindly to stuff like that.’ He was frowning slightly, like a religious man who thinks he’s just heard a blasphemy but can’t quite work out what it was. ‘I wouldn’t go around pulling any more stunts like that if I were you, either. People can be very funny about things like that.’
Poldarn shrugged. ‘Well, all right,’ he said. ‘Actually, I can’t say the game appeals to me very much. Anything where you’re likely to get hit isn’t really my idea of a good time.’
That didn’t seem to carry much weight with Eyvind, who looked away and changed the subject.
‘The last event shouldn’t be a problem,’ he said. ‘There isn’t really much scope for hurting anybody in the home game, unless you happen to let go of the stick. Make sure you dry your hands before you start. In fact, rubbing a bit of sawdust on your palms might be an idea.’
‘I meant to ask you about that,’ Poldarn interrupted. ‘This home game. What is it, exactly?’
Maybe Eyvind sighed a little, or maybe it was just Poldarn’s imagination. ‘Oh, it’s quite simple. You and the other man stand facing each other, and you’re both wearing a sash – any bit of old cloth, really – with a wooden sword stuck through it. It’s supposed to be a proper carved job, but we generally just use a bit of old roofing lath, something like that. Anyhow, the game is to see who can draw the fastest; there’s a referee watching in case it’s not immediately obvious, but usually you can tell. It’s called the home game because it used to be really popular back in the old country, apparently, before we left the Empire and came here. Sound familiar?’
Poldarn didn’t reply straight away. ‘No,’ he said, ‘but it sounds to me a bit like the swordmonks.’
‘Same sort of thing,’ Eyvind said. ‘That’s probably where it came from originally. Anyway, it ought to be perfectly harmless. Just don’t go mad, you don’t have to win this one. And make sure the stick doesn’t slip, like I told you. All right?’
Poldarn nodded. ‘I should be able to manage that.’
For the first time since the games began, Eyvind smiled at him. ‘Be particularly careful,’ he said, ‘when it’s you against me. I can’t speak for the others, of course, but if you let go the stick and it smacks me in the face, I’ll break both your arms.’
‘Well, of course,’ Poldarn said. ‘Look, are you sure you’re all right to take part, with your hands all burnt like that?’
Eyvind laughed. ‘Listen,’ he said, ‘I may not
be good at much, but there’s nobody in these parts who can touch me at the home game, even if I’ve got both hands tied behind my back. Not that I’m trying to put you off or anything,’ he added innocently, ‘just thought you ought to know that, is all.’
‘We’ll see about that,’ Poldarn replied, grinning. ‘You know, I won’t be sorry when all this is over. I feel like I’ve just had a barn fall on me.’
‘Really?’ Eyvind said. ‘Is that because of the fighting and stuff, or did you have a rough night?’
Poldarn sighed. ‘If only,’ he said. ‘There, I think that means they’re ready. Do I need to get something to use as a sash?’
He needn’t have worried about that; Rannwey had one ready for him, a real sash rather than a strip of old sacking, with two silk tassels and a cord strap for a scabbard. Not made locally, that’s for sure, he thought as he tied it on, I wonder how old it is? He was also given a proper wooden sword, remarkably similar in weight and feel to the steel version he’d been issued with during his time with Falx Roisin. It felt uncomfortably natural riding at his waist; he felt exposed by it, as if it was a dirty mark on a white shirt.
As Poldarn settled himself for the first bout, he thought about what Eyvind had said. No need to win this event in the interests of self-preservation; and it’d probably be smart to lose anyhow, so as not to leave the spectators with an impression of him as ferociously competitive. Anything like that, he felt sure, was probably frowned on in this community, and he’d done enough damage already on that score. Accordingly, he resolved to make a conscious effort to lose, assuming he wasn’t hopelessly outclassed anyway.
Colsceg was the referee. Poldarn was expecting him to say something or give a signal for the start, but apparently that wasn’t how the game worked, because his opponent drew quite unexpectedly, while Colsceg was busy talking to someone on the edge of the group. Even so, he’d have had trouble at all beating the draw, if he hadn’t made a conscious effort not to. It felt quite extraordinary to miss the beat like that, and his hand shook so much he was sure that the spectators must have seen.
(Besides, he told himself, even if they hadn’t been watching his hands, they’d surely noticed him shake all over, as his instincts tried their very best to override the conscious decision he’d made, like a dog pulling hard against its chain as a cat or a rabbit goes by. But, if they saw, nobody hissed or threw anything, so he could at least assure himself, without being rudely contradicted, that he’d managed to get away with it. Just as well they couldn’t read his mind, though; otherwise he’d be wasting his time trying to deceive them.)
Poldarn managed to lose seven bouts. Once he’d got the hang of it, he found it relatively simple, mainly because his opponents were so slow and obvious about it that they didn’t register in his mind as a threat. He was relieved to see that the eighth competitor was Eyvind, with his bandaged hands. Losing convincingly to someone who had to have his sash tied for him would be something of a challenge, but he reckoned he could handle it; after all, it looked as though he’d have plenty of time.
‘Remember,’ Eyvind hissed at him as they walked into the middle together, ‘don’t go raving mad. You’re doing all right.’
‘Thanks,’ Poldarn replied. ‘At least it’s nearly over.’
Eyvind too had a proper sash, presumably his own – interesting, that he’d brought it with him from home, along with a finely carved oak dummy sword; presumably he practised every day, to keep his hand in, even when he was away from home. ‘Leave it to me,’ Eyvind added, as they reached the centre of the ring. ‘You won’t have to fake it, just follow me. All right?’
Poldarn nodded, and took a step back. Eyvind took a moment to settle himself: three deep breaths while he adjusted the position of the sword in the sash, blade uppermost, handle diagonally across his body. No scabbard, of course, for a wooden foil, so he hooked his left thumb in the cloth and gently gripped the sword through it, simulating the scabbard’s grip on the blade. Poldarn found it rather fascinating to watch; there was always something rather fine about a skilled practitioner of any art going about his business, and Eyvind’s calm, solemn preparations were the antithesis of Poldarn’s own experiences in sword-drawing – everything so deliberate, so carefully controlled. He made a mental note to ask Eyvind to run through his routine some time when his hands were better. As he watched, he almost believed he could see a circle in the air around his friend, fitting neatly into the circle of the fenced-off ring and the surrounding crowd of spectators, like ripples in a pool after a stone had been thrown in. Each circle, it seemed to him, bore on the circle next to it, so that disturbing one would disturb them all, as the ripples spread out. Where the circles ended, of course, he had no idea.
Then Eyvind drew. He was quick; extraordinarily so, there was almost nothing to see, only a palpable physical shock as his own circle was broken into—
(– And he was suddenly in a different place, though still inside the concentric rings; he was standing on the white sand of an arena ringed by raked stone benches, on which sat hundreds of men in the black robes of the sword-monks, all watching him and someone else, although which of them was which he couldn’t quite make out. It was as if the rings spread out between them, as if he was looking through the ripples at his own reflection in the water just as it broke up, ruined by the sudden violence of the draw. He knew – he remembered– that the other man’s name was Monach, that they were best friends, and that the swords in their hands were the finest grade watered steel, and sharp—)
The shock of contact brought Poldarn out of the memory. The first thing he saw was that real-but-imaginary circle, his circle, but once more whole; then the tip of his wooden sword, held out (arms straight, elbows locked) in the rest position, to which it must return after the draw and the cut have been completed. He looked past it and saw Eyvind stretched out on the ground, lying on his face with his arms under his body. At first Poldarn thought Eyvind was dead, but then he realised that he was remembering somebody else who’d lain exactly that way, at some unspecified point in the past. Eyvind wasn’t dead, because he was twitching slightly and groaning softly. There was blood on the bevelled side of his foil.
Damn, Poldarn thought; and then, Serves him right for being so quick. It was all Eyvind’s fault, he had no doubts on that score. His draw had been a hostile act, regardless of the intentions behind it, and an act is an act, speaking for itself. Poldarn realised that he was going through the closing moves of the drill – flicking the blood off his blade with a quick snap of the wrists, then sliding the sword back into the sash, resetting the sear for the next draw, whenever it came. Meanwhile, both households were staring at him in complete silence, and nobody was moving. What’s the matter? Poldarn thought. Haven’t you ever seen a swordfight before?
Chapter Sixteen
Two of the Colscegsford men – Poldarn couldn’t remember their names – carried Eyvind into the house, while some of the women fussed round with basins of water and bandages. The rest of the crowd melted away, leaving Poldarn in sole possession of the field.
It was, of course, the worst possible thing he could have done in the circumstances; after ostentatiously losing seven bouts, to club down the one man who’d come up with a respectably quick draw, who also happened to be his benefactor and closest friend. (Yes, he told himself, but I couldn’t help it, I wasn’t even there, I was somewhere else back in the Empire, twenty years ago.) Besides, it was only foils. The last time – but the memory disintegrated as he touched it, like a dandelion clock or the ashes of a burnt page. Probably just as well.
At least the party seemed to be over. Men and women from both households were crossing backwards and forwards across the yard, busy with jobs Poldarn hadn’t realised needed doing. Some of them were hefting timbers in a purposeful manner, some of them had tools for cutting and tools for digging – it was like watching ants, he decided, obviously they were all doing something necessary for the general good but no human being could ever understand
what or why. He’d hoped that it’d all be different when it was his house, that he’d somehow be able to get a grip on it all, learn the mysteries from the very beginning, but apparently that wasn’t going to happen; he’d missed some small but crucial element and now it was too late, the story had already become too complicated for him to follow. The hell with it, he thought, if they need me they can come and find me. He headed for the house without having any clear idea of what he could find to do when he got there.
He passed Elja in the doorway, but apparently she was too busy to stop and talk, though she smiled at him as they passed each other, in a perfunctory way. Inside, once he’d got used to the darkness, he saw Eyvind lying on a pile of blankets. He’d forgotten all about him for a while.
‘How are you feeling?’ Poldarn asked, kneeling beside him. Eyvind didn’t move, but he said, ‘Go away.’
‘I’m sorry. Did I wake you up?’
‘No. I just don’t want to talk to you right now, that’s all.’
‘Oh.’ Poldarn stayed where he was, mostly because he had nowhere else to go. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I’m really sorry about what happened. It was an accident—’
‘No, it wasn’t,’ Eyvind said. There was a broad, messy cut running diagonally from his right eyebrow up to his hairline; someone had gummed it up with spider’s web to stop the bleeding, but nuggets of caked blood glittered in the strands like jewels. ‘God only knows what you thought you were doing, but it wasn’t an accident.’
‘No, you’re right,’ Poldarn said. ‘What I meant was, I didn’t do it on purpose, not consciously. One minute you were standing there fiddling with your sash, and then – I think I remembered something from when I was in the Bohec valley, something to do with fighting a duel in a ring with a load of sword-monks watching me. And then you were lying there, and I was so stunned I couldn’t think what to do.’