Kings of the North - Elizabeth Moon [215]
Sure enough, Siger came over and watched critically. “Get that elbow right straight out, m’lord. You’ve another thumb width of reach that way … and your foot’s not at the right angle.”
Kieri moved his foot, straightened his elbow—a tight muscle in his forearm twinged—and finally Siger agreed he was stretched enough to begin practice.
“You lads, move aside,” Carlion said. “By your leave, Sir King, I’d let them stay … Siger and I intend to work you hard this afternoon.”
“I’d welcome it,” Kieri said. He strapped on a banda, put on his gloves, and picked up a practice blade.
“The audience or the work?” Carlion asked.
“Both,” Kieri said, with a quick grin for the audience.
“The middle range to warm up,” Carlion said. The two armsmasters were already there; the moment Kieri stepped up to that division of the salle, they came at him from two sides. Kieri retreated along the line of the low ledge; they advanced, trying to press as he parried stroke after stroke—but as he neared the corner, they could not both find room to close.
Worries about the invasion disappeared, and he relaxed into the immediate moment, letting his years of practice take over, ignoring the gasps of the lads who were watching as his heel met one unstable stone that tipped beneath him. Along the side wall, then two quick strides—catching a flurry of blows on his blade—diagonally away from it. Carlion was caught behind Siger for a long moment, and could not reach him. Kieri tried to maneuver Siger so he kept blocking Carlion, but Carlion had too much space to move and too much sense to stay where he was. Still, he had a solid touch on Siger by the time Carlion was at him on the side again. Siger stood back, acknowledging a blow that would have put him out of the fight if it had been real. He would reenter the fray, Kieri knew, after a certain number of blows, as Carlion’s reinforcement.
Best finish quickly, if he could. Kieri shortened his blade, coming in fast to parry Carlion’s attack then make his own—a blow with the shortened blade, a leg-trap with one leg, and finally, when Carlion fell, a touch with the pommel to Carlion’s neck.
“Yield,” Carlion said.
“Accept,” Kieri said. Instinct made him roll aside, just as Siger swung at his back from behind; the blow hit Carlion instead, though Siger pulled it.
“Hold,” Carlion said, and Siger grounded his blade. Kieri and Carlion got up, both breathing heavily. Carlion grinned at him. “You are not so out of practice as I thought, Sir King. It’s going to be annoying in a few years—you half-elves do not slow with age in your fifties or sixties or seventies, and we human armsmasters do. With you, I realize how much I’m relying on experience and tricks instead of bladework … and you have grown stronger and faster since you came.”
“Indeed you have,” Siger put in. “But then, though you worked daily last year back in Tsaia, you had no such salle nor as many to work with.”
“Or the constant attention of two such armsmasters,” Kieri said. “Now, sirs, if you’re ready—”
“Sir King!” That from Sarol, at the door. “A courier’s come!”
Kieri shook his head. “No, I must go. Damn the Pargunese!” He turned, leapt lightly over the low barrier between the middle and low sections, stripped off his banda, and handed it and the practice blade to one of the other Squires. He belted on his own sword and hurried into the palace.
Garris met him in the main passage. “He’s in my office, with a pot of sib and some food. I thought you’d rather meet him in privacy—”
“Yes, indeed. Who is it?”
“Not a Squire—a Halveric soldier who rode straight through from Talgan. Says his name’s Beldan.”
Kieri felt a cold chill down his spine. “Garris, are you sure?”
“He’s got a Halveric uniform on, Halveric-style sword. Why?”
“Stay close,” Kieri said to his Squires. And to Garris, “Talgan knows that any message he sends will be taken on by a King’s Squire at the first relay station. That’s what we agreed.”
“But he has the message pouch—and he said it was a special hand-to-hand only—”
When they came to Garris’s office, the door was open and the