by Billy Wong
Charlene looked momentarily unsettled by her aura of confidence, but shook it off. "And you would accept the terms I laid out? Fine then! I'll demonstrate to you that the amateurish skills of a vagrant monster hunter are no match for those of the Lyonesse family."
"So the matches are going to be delayed for this?" Ty asked.
Patrick replied, "It's not like they can happen while the indignant lady is taking up the ring. So just sit back and enjoy watching Mouse kick her out of it."
Meg hopped over the ropes that formed one side of the ring filling up most of the stage. The girls stepped within two paces of each other in the center, Charlene's features stern while Meg's remained serene. "The style passed down through the Lyonesse bloodline is that of the dancing gale," Charlene said, "swift, powerful and unrelenting!"
The scarred warrior known as the Diamond Fang drew her sword. "Show me."
Charlene jabbed her spear three times in quick succession at Meg, who leaned and swayed aside from the high attacks. She attempted a stab of her own, but Charlene parried and then spun the shaft in her hands. Her crossbar caught Meg's blade and threatened to rip it from her grip, but the savvy veteran just retained her hold and pulled it back. The noble girl's eyes narrowed to recognize her advantage. She pursued, Meg giving ground before her pokes. Backed near the ropes, Meg tried to circle out. Her opponent rotated towards her after a missed stab, sending the pointed end of her crossbar at her head. She rolled in the direction of the spear under it, came up looking to counter. But the pole already whipped back the other way. Forced to block, Meg was sent several steps back with a flustered expression. Charlene grinned. She continued to chase Meg around the ring, twisting every which way to utilize the spear in horizontal strikes almost as often as she thrust.
"Holy crap she's fast!" Ty said.
Rupert wasn't sure if he could keep up with her himself, but pointed out, "It isn't just the pure speed. All that twirling makes it difficult to follow her body's movements, and thus anticipate her next attack. Couple that with how effortless it seems for her to vary the level of her blows, and it's easy to see why Meg would be put on the defensive." Just as he finished that sentence, Meg started to duck her head while the spear flashed at her legs. Would she actually lose? Following the apparent mistake, however, she jumped high into the air in a backward flip and landed to stand balanced upon the ring ropes. Charlene stared at her.
"You have some moves," Meg mused. "So do I."
Charlene rushed after her, swinging her crossbar down like it was a pick. Meg leapt away towards an adjacent side of the ring while the pole hit the top rope and bounced upward. She used her feet to rebound off the ropes, launching herself blade first at Charlene. The latter gasped, regained her guard in the nick of time to defend but was thrown back by the impact. "Quit playing at being a human ball you midget, stand your ground and fight!"
"Oh, you did not just call me that. Plus there are shorter girls here than me, and you're hardly a big man or towering giantess yourself to talk."
"I'm still big enough to crush you like a bug!"
Meg smirked. "Maybe... maybe if I decided to foolishly 'stand my ground.'"
"Should I take that to mean you won't listen? Then I'll just cut down your stupid ropes myself!" She turned to the nearest set of ropes and swung her spear down, slicing through them with the edge of her spearhead though with a noticeable effort as it wasn't designed for that. Meg didn't take it in stride, darting at Charlene's exposed side. It proved to be a trap as Charlene turned the spear and its butt shot forward to meet Meg. She dodged enough to avert being hit in the throat, but took it to the shoulder instead and winced. Charlene's followup swipe missed, yet she seized the opportunity while Meg backpedaled to spin away and cut down another side of the ring. "No more goofy bouncing," she taunted with only two sets of ropes left standing opposite one another. "Now face your defeat like a woman."
Meg snorted and walked towards her. Her spear flicked out, but Meg deflected the jabs and continued her advance. For a moment Charlene made to back up, then increased the volume of her attacks instead. The two girls exchanged powerful blows, metal ringing loudly against metal. Meg's visage looked more and more strained to go toe to toe with Charlene's larger, heavier weapon using her short sword. Charlene knocked her blade upward with a swat using the lower part of her shaft, caught Meg under the chin with a jumping knee and drove her reeling back. Meg hit the ropes behind her, tottered forward and almost fell. Lips turning up in a grin, Charlene swept the pole at Meg's temple. Her head dipped under it while she stumbled clumsily into Charlene—then she grabbed an arm and tossed the surprised noble through the air. Charlene flipped head over heels in a high arc across the stage, but landed on her feet. She turned around and stared in confusion to find no trace of Meg.
"Diamond Meteor!" Meg shouted, and Charlene looked up to behold her plummeting down. She had leapt onto the ropes right after throwing her foe, and used them as a trampoline to fly high. Charlene brought her spear up to defend, but not quite fast enough. Meg's little fist passed over it and connected with her cheek so hard, her body made a crater in the wood floor as she was smashed down into it. Meg landed in a crouch over her, then stood.
"Not a bad finish," Patrick remarked. "But you struggled quite a bit for a vet fighting some kid."
She gazed down at the Lyonesse girl, unconscious with one hand twitching slightly sticking out of the hole. "She has some real talent."
"I could tell, I'm not blind. Though I also question if you were going all out."
"Well, of course I wouldn't go all out against some kid as you said, I hardly want to kill her." That made Rupert wonder how much of her or even Patrick's ability they had truly seen, as this environment was ill suited to pushing the limits of folks like them. "Think I still overdid it a tad since she's out like a light. Hopefully she'll stick to her word and not try to interfere with us after she wakes up."
"In any case," Peggy said, "since you let her destroy the ring, I guess the actual tourney fights will be postponed another time."
"I would say just to put up new ropes, but no way around it with that hole in the stage. Hope it won't discourage other faculty from allowing us use of their rooms."
"I'd say it's pretty likely to at least discourage them," Ty replied. "But you sure brought the entertainment factor, boss." As if on cue, clapping started around the chamber, then filled it.
Meg waved at everyone, smiling. "Thank you all! While I apologize for only giving you a single fight in lieu of the ten promised, I hope the one was good enough that you'll consider giving us another chance." The cheers in response appeared to bode well.
After Charlene was taken to the infirmary and the spectators and most club members left, Rupert asked, "By the way, was that one-shot a special technique of yours?"
"Other than added momentum from the falling extra height, no, it was just a regular punch. I was fully prepared to keep fighting after it, but Charlene seemingly has a bit of a glass jaw."
"But you had a name for it," Elliot said. "Do a lot of your moves have names, even those which aren't special?"
"That punch doesn't even have a name normally, I just gave it one because it seems appropriate for a school setting."
Rupert gave her a curious look. "What gave you the idea that naming moves and being in school go together?"
"Some books I read where magically powered warriors, sort of like Julianna only our age or younger, battle monsters and evil warriors while going to school. And they all cry out the names of their attacks a lot."
"What kind of books are those? I never heard of any like that."
Peggy chuckled. "Ones I shared with her—picture books in a style copied from some discovered from an ancient civilization, which they called magnas or something like that."
He gazed back and forth between the two freakishly strong small girls. "I didn't know you talked that much."
Meg draped an arm over Peggy's shoulders with a big grin. "Why wouldn't we
? Like you even said, we go well together, Meg and Peg." She poked the girl's nose. "Bit desperate of you to go behind my back to ask Rupert for an invitation to our meetings though, when I told you we didn't need more help."
"This connection does make sense given somebody yelling 'Gate to Peg-atory!' before. At least we probably won't have to worry too much about you butting heads if you've secretly been friends for a while."
"Oh, it wasn't meant to be a secret, boys just don't seem to pay much attention to when girls interact with other girls."
Patrick rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that sure explains it."
"Hey now, no need to drip so much sarcasm. And, I already surpassed Peg's naming ability don't you think?"
"With a move being named Gate to Peg-atory, that isn't saying much."
In response, Rupert nodded his agreement and Peggy pouted. "What are you guys saying, I think it's a nice name..."
"For a girl as awesome as you," Meg said hugging her closer, "any name is perfectly okay."
"Her strength, personality or whatever you find awesome doesn't change that name being lame," Elliot said. "Even I can tell as much."
"Well, fine! I'll come up with a new name, and it'll be better than Meg's Diamond Meteor or anything you men think of!"
Meg blinked at her. "How did I get lumped in with them? I just said my name was better not that yours was bad..."
#
The morning after her fateful duel with Meg, Charlene didn't show up for class. Rupert worried she was hurt worse than they'd realized, and asked Peggy about her status. "I don't know," she replied. "Charlene doesn't stay in the girls' dorm anymore, since she was moved elsewhere on request a long time ago, so I have no idea how she is."
"Oh, I didn't know that. Guess being a named noble has its perks—hope she's all right though, not least of all because I don't want Meg to get in trouble."
"I haven't heard any rumors she was badly injured, so she's probably just resting up or too embarrassed to show herself for now."
The next day, it relieved him to see Charlene again with a huge bruise covering one side of her face, though she remained quieter than usual through their early classes and avoided looking in his direction. It wasn't as if he had beaten her down, but perhaps she feared he would mock her being a friend of Meg. When they were dismissed to lunch, he tensed to realize she walked close behind him. What did she intend, she couldn't think to attack him in retribution out in the open could she? If only he'd already received his new axe... but he hadn't yet, and would be forced to defend himself with the knife if it came to it. Hate as he did to admit it, he might have to count on outside intervention given such a disadvantage in weaponry.
Just as she got within spear's reach and he prepared to do what he could, she spoke. It took him off guard to find her voice soft, lacking the energy and zeal it usually had. "Can I talk to you?"
He had an urge to tell her off, but the surprise of hearing her sound vulnerable blunted his edge. "About what?" he asked flatly.
"I... I want to help you catch the killer."
Rupert did a double take. "Well, if this isn't a complete turnabout."
Her tone regained some of its typical fire. "Don't think I'm conceding that I was wrong! I was in the right to oppose your frivolous competition, and you're still asking for trouble by continuing it. But since I did lose shamefully to your midget friend, I have to honor my word. So if I can't stop you, I'd like to at least aid in preventing the murderer from harming anyone else."
"I assume you must've heard about us trying to investigate this. Why offer your assistance to us though, and not the proper authorities if you want to stop the killings? We're less equipped for this than the guards, and haven't been able to make much progress."
"Obviously you are, being mere students." Even when offering help, she could be rather condescending. "I doubt Ravensgrave would take me seriously or be inclined to act on rumors among kids if I approached her with this, though. So as fellow members of my generation, I had hoped you and your friends would be more open to it."
He could see her reasoning, that other youths wouldn't be as likely to dismiss somebody for being young. "Why come to me though, and not speak with Meg directly? She's the big boss, the student council president and leader of our clubs."
"I... my pride isn't quite ready to be requesting something from her just yet. Besides, you're kind of like me." At his frown, she elaborated. "It's not that wild a thought. While I've had plenty of superficial friends, as a high ranking noble I've been raised to keep some distance between my heart and any associates. Not that this is wrong either, but... I just thought you might understand it a bit."
"I do. I guess the walls you were taught to put up can't be too much different from the ones I learned to. How can you help us, though?"
"I have connections to some of the upper class students, and could possibly get them to divulge information or whisperings others don't know about. So will you tell Meg, and see what she thinks of what I propose?"
He sighed. "I will, but no guarantees on what happens after."
"Thank you. I'm sincerely grateful to you for this, no matter how it turns out."
Maybe she wasn't as bad as he'd thought up until now. It perplexed him how all these girls suddenly hovered around him though, when getting chummy with such had been the furthest thing from his mind when he arrived at school. Was it because of Meg? Perhaps she should've been born male, with a gift for drawing warrior girls to himself. But upon reflection, that wouldn't really fit unless he himself had also been a girl. He supposed it was just his own strange luck that led him to be entwined with this trio of female fighters, and he might as well make the best of it.
Chapter 8
After hearing about Charlene's proposal from Rupert, Meg said, "It's not like I could stop her from investigating on her own anyway, so we might as well put her information to use if she's willing to share. Still, I'd like to talk to her first to get a hint of whether she's sincere."
Rupert arranged for the girls to meet privately after dinner. "What prompted such a change of heart," Meg asked upon hearing the noble step onto the rooftop behind her as she looked out over school grounds, "going from opposing us so strongly to offering help?"
Charlene walked beside her and replied quietly, "I didn't approve of what you did, but at the same time could see where you were coming from and understand your points. When there's a disagreement and it isn't clear who is wrong, my family has a tradition of settling it through trial by combat. We aren't used to losing though, but when we do we accept it."
"You needn't feel too ashamed. A lot of people have lost to Diamond Fang Meg who weren't expecting it. I come from a warrior family as well, though I've spent more time proving I belong than defending my name. I'm also the runt of the litter, hence why I picked up the habit of trying to disguise my lack of height."
Amusement showed in the girl's eyes. "I noticed you standing on things before, but never thought about it enough to realize why. So you with all your strength and confidence are still insecure about something."
"I think just about everybody is."
"Anyway, regardless of how I view you carrying on this tournament, I don't want to see any more of our schoolmates die and believe you don't either. Thus I'll do what I can to help find the killer."
Meg nodded. "If you'll pass along any info that might be relevant, I thank you in advance."
"There's one other thing. Would you mind if I practiced with you sometimes? I know I have flaws in my defense in part from my trainers not pushing me hard enough, and think sparring with an opponent like you could help rectify them."
"I figured you had another motive aside from altruism! Helping you improve might not be beneficial to me since we could go back to being enemies." She paused briefly, then smiled. "But since I enjoy my rivals posing a challenge, I'll be happy to. When we do fight again, let's see who has improved more!" They shook hands, though Charlene did so a mite hesitantly with an awkward smil
e, and Meg looked forward to beginning their relationship over anew.
#
A few days later, Rupert received his new snap-on axe head from Peggy. Instead of feigning injury and using a cane like she had suggested, he carried around a simple cudgel which he explained when asked as being for self defense with a killer on the loose. If he found himself in a situation where lethal force was warranted, its blunt tip would readily serve as a place to mount his axe head.
They finally managed to hold all ten scheduled matches on the next tourney date, and the participants were set for the quarterfinals. On one hand some of the existing audience seemed unimpressed by the fighting after seeing the unplanned higher level match between Charlene and Meg, but on the other hand the buzz from their fight attracted many newcomers so that they had a packed crowd again. Charlene watched peacefully now, even cheering for a fighter now and then who she might know or just appealed to her with their style.
Afterward, to Rupert's surprise, she stayed to help clean up with him, Meg, Patrick, Peggy, Elliot and Ty. "I didn't expect a noble girl to be up for down and dirty work," he said.
"Bit too much of a generalization, don't you think? It's not as if I'm physically frail, not having the strongest chin aside. Besides, if I want help from your friend, I know I ought to give back in return."
She was already giving back by sharing the rumors in her circle, but he appreciated that she took it a step farther instead of just doing the minimum she could. After packing up their supplies, they parted ways. But as Rupert headed down the hall chatting with Meg and Patrick after everyone else had left, they heard running footsteps behind them. They turned to see Charlene round the corner. "I'm glad you three are still around! I think I caught the murderer."