“I don’t care what kind of house he's in, calling uncle a bull will just enrage him,” she said coldly. “And I don’t need your help. Don’t try to be something you’re not suited to.”
Clearly, something had been lost in the translation, and just as clearly she thought I was the type to stand by while my woman was insulted and walked all over. I mean, I wouldn’t have cared that she got what she had coming to her if everyone hadn’t already known I was stuck with this Protector gig. As it was, I had to stand up for myself or they would all look down on me and in this case, standing up for myself meant standing up for her.
“Something I'm not suited to? Like what? Like someone who would ride to the rescue on a damaged pirate ship with nothing more than a handful of volunteers, just to save a bunch of ungrateful natives I’d never met before and, for all I knew, had already been eaten by the Bugs,” I snapped. “I guess I’m just stupid that way.”
Her icy veneer cracked a bit and she lowered her voice. “Don’t try to pretend you were on some mercy mission. You rescued us ‘natives’ from that Hell Ship for one reason and one reason only. Me. You knew the Land Bride of Argos was inside it and you decided…” she hissed.
I cut her off. “Space-rot,” I snarled, “Listen lady, I didn’t know who was on that ship when I went in there to save people, and I didn’t know who you were when I first saw you,” she opened her mouth to give me her disbelieving best, so I stamped my foot hard enough to crack stone. That shut her up for once.
“For that matter, I still don’t know exactly who or what you are. I’d certainly never heard of a place called Argos until today. I was under the impression you knew, or could at least get me an audience with one of the local leaders. Not that you were the niece, or daughter or whatever of the ruling couple.” My voice was low and hard, and I had to work to fight the impulse to grind my teeth with every word.
She opened her mouth and then slowly closed it. A light bulb seemed to go off behind that stiff face of hers. What that bulb might be I neither knew, nor right at the moment cared.
“If it’s alright with you, my wife, I need to start getting ready to fight. It sounds like your Uncle is already set to tear my head off,” I said, glancing through the crowd at the still fuming Warlord. “Unless you want me to level your mother’s citadel from orbit instead?” I looked at her expectantly.
She scowled. Clearly she did not find this a very funny idea. Which is good, because I don't know if I really meant it as a joke. See our communication skills were growing by leaps and bounds already.
“Nykator will probably send someone else against you first,” she said, turning away.
Several minutes later, she became a prophetess. It seemed a younger warrior wanted the satisfaction of facing me in Trial by Combat. Uncle Nykator, being the fair and just individual he was, recognized the right of the young hero who had recently recovered the long lost dark blade to fight me first.
They thought the odds were stacked against me. I figured with my armor and weapon advantage, things tilted the other way. Which totally ignored my ace in the hole. The power weapons carried by my men. I gave them orders to use them the moment I went down. Cousin Cordelia's other lesson was in the forefront of my mind at this particular time: never fight fair.
Nikomedes Minos was the man I was to meet. For all the big deal everyone was making him out to be, he was in the same metal armor as the rest of the common warriors. No pebbled armor for him.
Akantha turned, holding the sword by the scabbard and she presented the hilt of Bandersnatch to me. “Unleash your fury, Protector,” she said, her words more a rehearsed phrase than meaningful.
I pulled the accursed blade free and stepped towards my opponent. The way I saw it, everything was on track for a quick victory, soon to be followed up by a clean sweep of the boards for the visiting team.
Then Nikomedes Minos pulled out the newly renamed Minos Sword and everything went straight to Hades.
The sword in his hand didn’t vibrate, but other than that it looked like the bigger, badder brother of Bandersnatch. Dark metal with crystals glittering in its depths, it could have been the twin of my sword except that while mine was nearly five feet long, his was over six and a half and much thicker in the middle. Even its hilt looked more intimidating than mine.
Great. The home team, expecting resistance, had thrown a ringer into the game at the last moment. Apparently they weren't interested in fighting fair, either.
There was a moment of mutual shock while myself, my opponent and the crowd took in the fact that there were two of these mythical dark blades in play. Not just one, as we had all previously believed.
“Die, scar-face,” shouted Nikomedes, breaking the moment by jumping forward. His sword was raised high for a lethal, game-ending blow.
Not waiting to find out whether his sword just looked tough or if it really had the stuff like all these natives seemed to believe, I went for every advantage and twisted the pommel to activate my vibro-blade and brought the blade up to block.
A regular sword coming down on Bandersnatch with that kind of power behind it, while it was in vibration mode would have been cleanly severed. Certainly anything these natives would be able to manufacture by hand locally should be destroyed.
That it didn’t break said something. That this native actually knocked my sword out of position, forcing me to recover, said something else. Mostly about how strong this guy was, I decided.
I was used to thinking of myself as fast. Back when I was taking sword lessons with my cousins, I had always had an edge in the speed department. This guy was faster. Not a lot, but enough that when you combined the fact that my form was a little awkward in this power armor, it put me on the defensive. When you added that he was both faster and wielding the bigger heavier sword…
Let’s just say the visiting team took a few blows that would have finished the game if I had come to the match wearing the same armor as my opponent. As it was, superior armor carried me through until I caught my balance.
I tried to counter attack with a straight lunge but was sent reeling, back on the defense after a series of over handed blows issued from the big Norseman. My head was obviously my main area of weakness. It was an area I had to protect, and Nikomedes was apparently no idiot. He knew this as well as I did.
Now, I might have been a little bit rusty. As I staggered around the ring, I quickly came to the realization that I was in big trouble. I was used to having a speed advantage over my opponents, but that clearly wasn't the case here. If I could just bring the extra power from the suit servos into play for something other than defense, I might still be able to end this thing easily enough.
Nikomedes faked high and went for a blow to the back of my leg that would have hamstrung an opponent in the types of armor these natives were used to dealing with. I only had a split second to make a decision. Going with my gut, I jumped. It was time these natives saw what a suit like this was really capable of.
I easily cleared the three and half feet necessary to go over the Minos Sword.
Expecting resistance, Nikomedes was thrown off balance when his sword passed through empty air. It didn’t matter how much genetic engineering was in your bloodline, inertia couldn’t be overcome in an instant. It didn’t matter how strong or how fast you were, with a big blade like that you were going to be out of position, even if only for an instant.
Whether Nikomedes could have recovered if given that instant, I don’t know because I chose not to give him a chance to find out. Bringing Bandersnatch around at waist level, I forced the native champion to scramble just to block the blow.
Now the power of my suit came into play for offense, and I happily turned the tables.
Nikomedes was good, I have to give him that. Unfortunately, while I was in this power-armor, I was better. I had the advantage and I used it ruthlessly. I drove forward with a series of short slashes and thrusts designed to keep my opponent off-balance more than anything else. The native
warrior was obviously not used to fighting on the defensive, and it was all he could do to keep his posture under my relentless, pressing attack. All I wanted was to get one opening to end this thing quickly and cleanly.
The need to keep on the offensive was almost my undoing. I was so concerned that if Nikomedes got back on offense that the advantages of my power- armor would be minimized, that as soon as I saw my opening I launched a powerful blow aimed at ending the fight. It would seem that I overextended.
Nikomedes countered by sidestepping and spinning the Minos Sword around impossibly fast for a decapitating blow. I had less than a split second to realize the danger. With no other choice, I released Bandersnatch and brought my arms up. Even with a humongous blade like the Minos Sword, the native warrior was too fast and I barely managed to get one armored wrist between us.
Crippling pain exploded through my hand as my arm was knocked out of the way. Although the Minos Sword was deflected away from my neck, the flat of the blade glanced off my head. I suppose I should be clear, and say that even a glancing blow from a sword as large as the one my opponent wielded was potentially devastating.
Red and white pain exploded through my senses and I staggered. The next thing I knew, I was on my knees. Blindly, I reached for my opponent. Waving my arms in front of myself, I felt something. My left hand wouldn’t close, so I fell forward grabbing desperately with my right hand.
For a moment, I thought I failed and was a dead man. Then he felt resistance, and I used my momentum to pull sideways. Maybe we would both overbalance and fall over.
However, neither of us went down. Blindly, I raised my left hand and was rewarded by the sound of metal on metal. My vision started to clear and I saw that I had managed to drag my opponent down with me, and although neither of us had fallen to the floor, we were both on our knees.
“I don’t know what she sees in you that she doesn’t in me,” snarled Nikomedes. “You’re nothing but a stupid brown monkey,” he roared.
I was surprised that he even knew what a monkey was, let alone would choose to insult me by comparing me to such a thing. It's not like monkeys were high on the list of species imported to new worlds.
I was still befuddled and considering his words when he lunged up at me.
I belatedly tried for a better grip, but it was too late. He’d caught me wool gathering in the middle of what was turning into a fight to the death. The top of his head crashed into my face. I think he must have been aiming for my jaw, but hit me in the cheek bone instead.
White fire and a cracking sensation knocked me flat on my back. Dazed from the twin hammer blows to my head in quick succession, I just lay there, too stunned to move.
I heard a voice in my ear I didn’t like and sensed a presence looming over me. I didn’t know where I was. For a moment, I was back on the Bug ship, pinned down under the weight of Bugs and unable to move. That I might have been on my back instead of my front didn’t occur to me.
Hearing a native voice and now fully believing I was back on the Bug ship, I was certain Akantha had come over with Bandersnatch to finish me off. Meanwhile, my men stood by and idiotically applauded. Where was the blaster fire I had explicitly ordered them to open up with, anyways?
Pathetically, I raised my foot and kicked at her. I tried again and then again. If I was going down, then I was taking the primary author if my fall with me. When I felt something connect, it gave me new energy to roll so I could get up to my feet.
Something clanged against my back several times and I had trouble getting my feet under me, but I just chalked it down to my dazed status. I turned around and saw a figure on the floor with a bent leg and a sword in their hand.
I don’t know when I realized it was Nikomedes on the floor instead of Akantha. It must have been about the same time I realized her native voice was coming from somewhere behind me instead of from the ground. Sometime around the second kick, I think.
I do remember being surprised that his sword left these long gashes in the armor over my legs. These dark power swords of theirs were impressive.
Realizing my danger I stopped kicking him in the side and stomped on his sword hand instead.
“Who’s the monkey now, pretty-boy,” I asked him as I leaned down to pick up the sword. Even though I couldn’t understanding a word he said (I must have lost my ear piece somewhere along the way, or maybe it was damaged) my mechanical translator relayed my words into their native speech just fine.
I was using my left hand, so I only got the Minos Sword a few feet off the ground before it slid through my fingers and fell back down to the floor. There wasn't pain in my hand so much as a simple inability to use it correctly. Worried that my opponent might pick it up again to use against me, I kicked it away.
Then I went over and used my foot to help get Bandersnatch part of the way up, so I didn’t have to lean over so far. I used my right hand this time, to make sure the sword would stay put. After securing the blade, I walked over to Akantha.
By now I recognized the word stupid in her native language. She’d said it to me enough that I could understand that word, even though nothing else translated.
My mind was filled with cotton and I was walking on air. I felt like you do when you have a really bad flu. Nothing hurts very much if you stay still, but if you try to move, everything becomes bone weary and you walk careful just to keep your balance.
She kept buzzing around in my ear until I said irritably. “I can’t understand you. Go away, my translator broke.”
She went away for a merciful instant in time while I just stood, there but of course, she had to come back.
This time she had Gants and his translator so she could tell me what an idiot I was. While Gants worked on turning my mechanical back to translate their words to me as well as me to mine to them, I’m sure I just stood there looking stupid.
“You have to beg forgiveness of my Uncle and back out of the fight,” she was saying when I tuned back in. It probably took me awhile to refocus on her because of what she was saying, more than anything. Selective hearing loss on some unconscious level, just like with a pair of paternal grandparents on my father’s side. Great-grandpa’s hearing was bad and he had deliberately chosen not to get it fixed. I suspected this was so he could ignore my grandmother while she was prattling on. Although it was amazing how he could pick up everything she was saying if he wanted to pay attention. For her part, she seemed to like the fact that if he heard her and took offense, she could always use his partial deafness in her defense and ask him what he’d thought he’d heard.
I realized I was wool gathering once again and shook my head at Akantha.
“I can stay here with them while you go back to your ship. Everything will be fine,” she said.
“No,” I shouted, everything would not be fine. Fifty thousand Prometheans would be homeless. I didn’t have time to return to the ship. Environmental systems were breaking down even as we spoke. It was now or never.
“I won’t let you kill yourself,” she said firmly. “Not over some misunderstanding.”
I looked at her blankly, not processing her last statement.
“What misunderstanding,” I asked. “Your Uncle is an abusive killer and needs to be taken down a notch,” I paused and chuckled, “must run in the family,” I chuckled again. What can I say? I was still walking on air from all the head blows.
She looked at me in irritation but let the family comment pass for the moment. “After we talked, I asked Gants about it and he told me everything,” she said the waited to see my response.
I didn’t see how he could know everything. But in my addled state it all somehow made sense, “He did,” I said, “Okay, good, I guess. Then you know why this has to be done.”
She stared at me. Something here wasn’t going according to whatever script she’d already written in her head. Maybe she expected me to make some kind of romantic gesture? I was lost.
“He said how surprised he was you’d given me a swor
d instead of a ring as is traditional on your world,” she said irritably. “He was happy, but when I said offering a sword was traditional for my people, he said how it was good I had let you know the right thing to give me. Because no one from your world had ever been to our system before.”
“Uhh,” I said, like all men everywhere whose woman wants to press him for details on an already settled issue. Demanding to hear it directly from you, even when she already knows or strongly suspects that this knowledge will only make her deeply unhappy when she learns the exact details. Naturally, I suspected this unhappiness would transfer directly back over to me, and thus was hesitant to try to apply finesse to a situation like this without all my wits about me.
“Well,” she pressed. I had been trying to turn slowly away from her as if in a worse condition than I really was but she wasn’t going to let me off that easily.
“Well, what,” I asked, faking surprise and failing totally. You really shouldn’t try to fake emotions when you aren’t at your best.
Admiral Who? (A Spineward Sectors Novel:) Page 35