Guardians Of The Flame - The Sleeping Dragon Part 18

Karl turned to see Ohlmin grinning at him, from a playing area only a few yards away. "Nicely done," Ohlmin called out. "But you're up against me, now. Care to concede, or don't you believe in accepting fate?"

Easya"he's just trying to bait you. to get you angry. Possibly that was how the smaller man had won all of his matches without working up a sweat? He certainly didn't look st.u.r.dy enough to wear his opponents down. Could he be that good? "No," Karl said, forcing himself not to pant. He drew himself up straight, not moving from his spot. No need to show Ohlmin how badly he'd limp. "Why don't you come over here and persuade me, little man?"

A slave ran up with a dirty cloth; Karl s.n.a.t.c.hed it to scrub at his knee, making-sure that he rubbed more of the oily tar on it. Best to try to hide from Ohlmin just how much the battered joint was swelling.

Karl dropped the rag to the sand. "I don't see you moving. Maybe you're not so good with that stick after all."

Anger creased the other's dark face for a moment. "I wouldn't, if I were you." Superior smile back in place, Ohlmin walked over to Karl's playing area, taking up a position at the far corner of the square.

"Wouldn't what?" Karl moved back a step, wincing at the pain shooting through his leg. As it kept swelling, the pain got worse.

d.a.m.n.

"Wouldn't make it personal." Ohlmin's face grew somber; he shook his head slowly. "The last one to make it a personal thing, well, he's chained to a mill in Sciforth." He pinched his nostrils with the fingers of his free hand. "By the nose." Ohlmin dropped his hand and smiled. "After I beat him on the field." He stretched out his tar-covered wooden sword, the point almost touching Karl's chest. "So don't make it personal."

Karl pushed the point away with his own sword. "Justa""

Ohlmin slashed at Karl's right knee. Fiery pain shot through it, and Karl's leg buckled beneath him. He fell to the sand.

"Foul!" Khoralt shouted, running up. "That is a foul!"

Ohlmin eyed him slyly, while Karl struggled back to his feel, his knee burning as though it were on fire.

"My apologies." Ohlmin gave a quick bow. "I thought I had heard your command to begin."

Khoralt hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and pointed toward the exit. The crowd responded with a wave of hissing and shouting. The elf crossed his arms across his chest. "As I was about to say"a"he gave Karl a sheepish half-smile, probably the only apology Karl would geta""I am tempted to disqualify you. But that would be too harsh, since you made only a simple mistake," he added quickly. "Instead, your penalty will be that it will take three hits for you to win, Ohlmin; your opponent will need but the usual two."

Karl opened his mouth to protest, then shut it. It wouldn't do any good. The crowd wanted to see the final match, and the elf wasn't going to deny the crowd. So let's try to buy a bit of time, give my knee a chance to stop throbbing. "I'll need a little time, to wipe this mark off.''

Khoralt shook his head sadly. "No, we must let the match go on. We will remember that there is a false mark on your leggings." He backed out of the square. "Prepare to fight."

Karl flexed his knee. If he didn't put too much weight on it, it would support him. Probably.

"And... fight!"

Ohlmin smiled, and moved in.

In the first few seconds of the match, Karl saw that he was hopelessly outcla.s.seda"and would have been even if his knee weren't swollen. Ohlmin's weaving sword deflected Karl's swings effortlessly, and forced him back, backa"if Karl hadn't backed into one of the poles marking the playing area, he would have stumbled out of the square.

The tip of Ohlmin's sword slithered in and drew a light line across Karl's chest; Karl batted the sword out of the way, slasheda"

Stepping back, Ohlmin parried easily. "Try again, big man." He spat. "I have time."

Khoralt called out: "One point for Ohlmin, none for the challenger. Both require two to win."

Ohlmin paused for a moment. Karl lunged; Ohlmin dodged to one side.

I can't beat him. I'm good with a sword, but he's faster and better.

But d.a.m.ned if I'm going to let him walk all over me.

Ohlmin moved in. "Give up. You're not good enough; n.o.body is." He launched an attack that brought the two of them together, corps--corps. Karl tried to push him back, but the smaller man was stronger than he looked.

With a sneer, Ohlmin spat in Karl's face, then whirled away. "I'd be more frightened of a novice than I am of you. A novice might get in a lucky shot," he sneered. "You won't."

"Shut up and fight." Although the other was right; a novice might throw his sword or something, or accidentally bounce Ohlmin out of thea"

Got it! Karl threw his sword at the smaller man, flipping it end over end.

Ohlmin stepped smoothly to one side. The sword bounced off a pole and out of the playing area. "And that isa""

Karl lunged at him barehanded, receiving a wicked slash to the temple before he was able to fasten his left hand on Ohlmin's sword arm, just at the wrist.

Karl squeezed. Ohlmin screamed.

Bones crackled beneath his palm; Karl seized the front of Ohlmin's tunic with his free hand and lifted him off the ground, anda"

"a"two points for Ohlmin, nonea""

a"wobbling on his good leg, Karl raised the twitching form of the other man above his head and threw him as far as he could, out of the playing area. Ohlmin landed with a thump and a strangled moan.

Khoralt smiled at Karl. "Ohlmin is disqualified, for leaving the playing area. The winner of the swords compet.i.tion isa"what is your name?"

Karl stood up straight. "My name is Cullinane. Karl Cullinane."

"The winner of the swords compet.i.tion is Karl Cullinane." The elf leaned over. ''And if you want some advice, Karl Cullinane, I would suggest you get yourself and your winnings out of Pandathaway."

Karl smiled. "Just what I had in mind."

Whistling to himself, Ahira bounded up the stairs to their suite in the Inn of Quiet Repose, his battleaxe strapped to his chest, and a leather sack well weighted down with gold slung over his shoulder. Between his winnings, Karl's winnings, and what Doria and Hakim would have from having bet on them, it wouldn't be a problem to equip themselves right. And with a bit of luck, the others would soon be through the Gate, and home.

As he pushed through the curtains and into the common room of the suite, he saw Hakim, Aristobulus, and Doria sitting on the rug, coins, jewels, and finger-size bars of gold bullion scattered in front of them.

"Where are the other two?"

Hakim shrugged, a strangely sheepish smile creasing his face. "Karl hasn't gotten back yet, and Andrea's still in the Library, working on her spell." He looked from the wizard to the cleric, then shook his head.

Aristobulus nodded; Doria frowned, then snorted.

What was this? From the looks pa.s.sing between the three, it seemed as though they were sharing some private joke. "Want to let me in on it?"

Aristobulus considered it for a moment. "I might as well. I didn't go into this last night; I wanted to recheck my calculations first." He pursed his lips, rubbing withered fingers against his temples. "Unless I'm sadly mistaken, the Gate Between Worlds won't work quite the way Deighton thoughta"thinks it does."

"It's not going to get us home?" Ahira almost staggered. You mean that all this has been for nothing?

"No, noa"not that. It's just that magic doesn't work the same way in... our native universe. A Gate on this side won't create a... doorway between worlds, but more of a trapdoor. We can go througha"belongingness will bring us back therea"but we can't get back here through it."

For Ahira, that was no problem. He flexed his shoulders and tensed his thigh musclesa"going back to being James Michael Finnegan was something that had no appeal, be it permanent or temporary.

But for the wizard, it was different. And if Aristobulus couldn't get back, he wouldn't go to the Gatea"no, better: If Aristobulus didn't think that he could get back to this side, with spell books, he wouldn't go.

"I wouldn't worry about it," Ahira said, unfastening his axe, then seating himself with the other three. He cupped a pile of gemstones in his hands, then let the rubies, opals, and round-cut diamonds trickle through his fingers and bounce on the rug.

Responsibilities, responsibilitiesa"we never would have translated across, if it weren't for me. None of the others wanted it as badly. Not even Aristobulus. I've got to get Hakim, Karl, Doria, and Andrea home. "Deighton sent us all across once; I'm sure we can persuade him to do the same for you. With spell books."

"Persuade? Even though it won't help him any? I don't remember you having so persuasive a manner about you, back on the other side." The wizard snorted. "And you hardly had the physiquea""

"I have," Hakim said. "Maybe I'm not quite as strong back home as Karl is here, but..."

"You'll help?" The wizard looked hopefully at Hakim.

"I promise." The thief smiled. "If he doesn't send you backa"fully equippeda"then I'll break a finger at a time until he does. And in the meantime, you'll keep your mouth shut in front of Ka""

"What is going on?" Ahira spread his hands. "I thought you two had settled that, back on the Pride."

"Not that." Hakim picked up a diamond that was almost the size of his eye, and held it up to the light. "This one has a small flaw, dammit." He dropped it, and smiled. "But we still have enough, what with yours and Karl's winnings, anda""

"And your winnings, betting on usa"we should be able to outfit ourselves more than well enough. Matter of fact, I want the two of you to take some of this gold, go out, and pick up all the healing draughts you can. We just maya""

"Not quite winnings,'" Doria interrupted, holding up three gold bars and a small leather sack. "This is what we won by betting on you. We got good oddsa"it averaged out to be about eighty to one."

"And the rest from betting on Karl? What were they, a hundred to one?"

"Two hundred." Hakim shook his head. "Everybody thought that Ohlmin was such a sure winner that you couldn't even bet on hima"the little b.u.g.g.e.r's won every single time he's entered. So..."

"So?"

"So I didn't bet on Karl. I thought it'd be just throwing money away, dammit." Hakim threw up his hands. "And you saw what he had to go through to win that compet.i.tiona"he was sweating, and limping, anda""

"So how did you?a"you didn't."'

Hakim smiled sheepishly. "Actually, I did. I spent most of the morning and a good part of the afternoon picking pockets. Lots of money in Pandathaway."

Ahira sighed. If Karl found out that he'd worked that hard to win, but the others hadn't had enough faith in him to bet on him at those odds... "He'll break your neck."

"Only if one of you tells."

"We won't. But if it happens to slip out..."

Hakim nodded. "I'd better work on my sprinting."

Ahira shook his head. "No, make that long-distance running." He stood, "Well, let's get to ita"I want us to outfit ourselves and be out of Pandathaway by sundown. Doriaa"you, Hakim, and I are going shopping; Ari, you wait here for the other two."

Out of Pandathaway by sundowna"that had a nice ring to it. Then up the road through the Aershtyl Mountains, pa.s.s through Aeryk, skirt the edge of the Waste to Bremon.

And the Gate. And no more responsibilities for the rest. No more worries about the others getting themselves killed.

He sighed.

Hakim nodded knowingly. "It's hard on you, isn't it, m'friend?"

"At best."

PART FOUR:.

Bremon.

CHAPTER TWELVE:.

The Waste of Elrood.

A heap of broken images, where the sun beats.

And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief.

And the dry stone no water. Only There is shadow under this red rock, (Come in under the shadow of this red rock).

And I will show you something different from either Your shadow at morning striding behind you Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you; I will show you fear in a handful of dust.

a"T.S. Eliot.

Ahira called a halt at midmorning, easing himself painfully out of his fore-and-aft peaked saddle, then turning the horses and his pony loose under a spreading elm. He squatted on the ground, rubbing at his aching thighs. Someday, I'd like to get my hands on whoever invented the horse. For five minutes, that's all. Just five minutes.

"Ahira?" Hakim called out, from his perch on the bench of the flatbed wagon. "You want me to turn these critters loose, too?" He jerked his thumb at the two scraggly mules. .h.i.tched to the wagon.

Ahira shook his head. "No. I'm tired enough of fighting them back into harness every morning. Set the brake, twist on the hobbles, and slip their bitsa"you can feed and water them where they are."

Climbing down from his gray mare's saddle, Aristobulus shook his head. "You wouldn't have so much trouble with them," he said, "if we had decent harnesses. Those stupid straps half-chokea"''

"Enough." Ahira waved the wizard to silence. Granted, the strap harnesses they had bought in Pandathaway weren't nearly as good as even medieval horsecollars. Given, under Ari's directiona"or, more accurately, Lou Riccetti's directiona"putting together an efficient horsecollar was a trivial feat of design and engineering, buta"

a"But do I have to put up with his constant whining about it? "No," he said, "we're not going to turn the mules loose. They might run off again, and we don't want to waste the time chasing after them." Maybe Hakim got along well with the two snorting creaturesa"Ahira chuckled; even mules got along with hima"but there was no sense in taking chances.

Not when you didn't have to. Take the caravan behind them, for example. In the twenty days it had taken them to get from Pandathaway to Aeryk, and the week since they had stopped overnight in Aeryk to finish outfitting themselves and stock up on food and water, the caravan hadn't been more than a couple of days behind; Ahira could see them moving, even at night.

They could be reasonable people; quite possibly it would be in both parties' interests to travel together as long as they were headed in the same direction. Buta"

Ahira sighed, seating himself on a gnarled root. He propped his back against the tree's rough bark. a"But that was only probably, only possibly. Best not to take chances. Best to keep a distance.