Now I was almost toe to toe with Epson. I was the target of his blades, just as much as my lac. He would cut me if he could.
I was reassured by the sight of Thrym’s blades. His long reach meant that although I was in front of him, the tips of his blades were alongside my own.
Eventually he proved more than a match for the opposition. The first of Epson’s lacs went down during the seventh minute of the bout, and endoff was quickly called on the other two.
I bowed to my defeated opponent, and he bowed back as the gallery above erupted in cheers and applause. Then Epson accepted the ritual cut without flinching.
We left the arena together, the appreciation from the gallery still loud. I even heard a couple of girls shout my name. Palm would be watching for sure, and he wouldn’t like that!
Once we’d passed through the min door, Epson rested his arm across my shoulder. Away from the scrutiny of the gallery, his mouth twitched in pain from the cut. But then he gave me a smile.
‘That will be my last contest, Leif,’ he told me. ‘It’s becoming too much for my old bones, so I intend to set myself up as an artificer and train others. But it was an honour to be defeated by you. I never got to faceyour father in the arena – when he fought, I was still a novice with a lot to learn – but I think it’s fitting that my final contest should be against his son. I wish you every success!’
‘Thanks for those kind words,’ I told him. ‘I’d like to ask you something. I was told that my father worked for the Trader and even crossed the Barrier with him. Did you ever meet him then, in those later years? Didhe ever tell you anything about that?’
Epson nodded. ‘I saw him a couple of times at the Sea Gate. I remember thinking there was sadness in his eyes. He walked with a limp so that might have been its cause. He was friendly but didn’t say much and Ididn’t feel able to question him about his experiences. You don’t ask the Trader questions about crossing the Barrier and what is beyond it and I felt the same applied to your father. But it’s a strange thing. Somethingthat nobody knows the answer to. How is it possible to cross the Barrier and keep your sanity? The Trader and your father managed to do it.’
‘He seemed happy enough when I was young,’ I told Epson. ‘But there were times when he became silent and would stare into space as if pondering something that he didn’t want to talk about. When he did that mymother would sit close to him and put her arms around him. Then she’d whisper into his ears until he began to smile again.’
Epson laughed. ‘That’s what the love of a good woman can do, Leif!’
I went up to the gallery to watch the remaining contests. As I took my seat, Tyron patted me on the back. Turning to receive the congratulations of Ada, Deinon and Kwin, I noticed that people were staring at me.
I knew that it wasn’t just because of my victory over Epson. Tyron had been slowly leaking the information that I was the son of Math. By now, everybody would know.
Later we walked back through the city streets. Kwin was talking to Ada, Deinon and her father. I was dawdling a few paces behind, playing over and over in my mind the steps that had brought us victory.
Suddenly Kwin dropped back to fall into step beside me. ‘You were good tonight, Leif,’ she said with a smile.
‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘I was really nervous. Did it show?’
‘Not at all,’ she replied, shaking her head.
We’d nearly reached Tyron’s house when she put her hand on my arm and brought me to a halt. ‘It’s a pity about the door,’ she said softly.
‘Which door?’ I wondered what she meant. I was slow on the uptake, but suddenly I remembered. ‘You mean the door between your room and ours.’
‘What other door would I mean!’ Kwin said with a laugh that caused her father to glance back at us suspiciously. ‘I miss our late-night walks. Let’s do it again. We can manage without the door. Meet me in the yardtomorrow night. Let’s make it half an hour after supper.’
‘I’ll look forward to it – as long as there’s no stick-fighting!’ I joked.
Kwin was waiting for me in the yard, as we’d agreed. She wore a tight purple dress with small black leather buttons down the front. It had long sleeves that came down almost to the end of her thumbs. With a shock, Irealized that it was the dress she’d worn when we’d first visited the Wheel together. She looked good in it. Without doubt she was the best-looking girl in the whole of Midgard.
Her hair wasn’t pinned back. She wore it as she had that night – loose, the left side far shorter. Her scar gleamed in the light from the three-quarter moon. But I noticed that she hadn’t painted her lips.
‘Are we going to the Wheel?’ I asked with a smile.
‘Where else would we go?’ Then, without another word, she set off through the city streets at a furious pace.
We entered the Wheel and headed straight down the long corridor I remembered from our previous visit. Kwin led the way past the first lounge – the one where women were not allowed – without even a glancetowards it.
Soon we were in the second lounge where Kwin had bought and drunk two glasses of red wine; the lounge where I had proved so disappointing.
I remembered what she’d said: I expected someone who’d be fun. I like boys who take risks. Boys who keep to the rules are boring!
The bar was just as I remembered it – no windows, low lights, with a low roof like that of a cellar. But this time it was quiet and nobody was dancing. There were no drums, nobody jumping off tables, just a fewcouples sitting together, some holding hands.
‘I’ll get the drinks,’ Kwin said, setting off towards the bar before I could object.
To my surprise, she came back carrying two glasses of iced water.
‘You’re not drinking wine tonight?’ I asked.
‘I need to keep fit. I’m in training!’ she said with a grin.
‘Training for what?’
‘Arena 13, of course.’ She took a sip from her glass.
I didn’t reply. If I reminded her that females weren’t allowed to fight there, she would only get angry. So I held my tongue and sipped my own water. It was cold and delicious.
‘It will happen, you know,’ she said, meeting my eyes. ‘Next year I will be fighting there.’
I smiled at her. ‘I really wish you could, Kwin. I know that’s what you want most of all.’
‘Most of all? You’d be surprised at what I want most of all. But Ada has had an idea to get me fighting in the Trig. We’ve worked out a plan. You see, when we destroy Hob, things will change. The old order willbreak down and the Wheel Directorate will be forced to listen to Ada. Then—’ Kwin suddenly broke off and shook her head. ‘I can see my words are falling on deaf ears.’
‘No, Kwin, I am listening. What’s your plan?’
‘You’ll just have to wait and see. Women are about to get a voice in this city.’
We lapsed into silence. I’d made Kwin angry, but it wasn’t my fault. She was just banging her head against the wall. Surely she would never achieve her dream. It was so unfair, I thought. She was as good as I was.She could dance behind Thrym just as well.
I tried to change the subject. ‘You’re not wearing your lip-paint tonight,’ I said. ‘I’ve never seen you out after dark without it.’
‘I didn’t want to risk getting it on your collar,’ she said. ‘If my father saw it, he wouldn’t like it. It’s best to keep things just between us two.’
Then Kwin leaned forward, and very softly pressed her lips against mine.
We walked back through the streets holding hands. The feelings that I’d tried to keep deep inside me had been released. It felt unreal, like a dream. I was floating on air – but there was something I had to ask.
‘What about Jon? Are you sure it’s over?’ I asked Kwin. I remembered how they’d walked close together when we protested in the Commonality.
‘Why do you have to spoil things?’ she said angrily.
‘I’m not trying to spoil things. I’m just asking
.’
‘Look, if I was still with Jon, I wouldn’t be holding your hand now. I told you at the end of last season that Jon and I were no longer seeing each other. We worked together to stage the protest, that’s all. I’m with younow, Leif. That’s if you want me.’
‘I want you,’ I replied.
When we entered the house through the side door, we got a shock. Tyron was standing there, staring at us with folded arms and hard, unfriendly eyes.
‘Get to bed, Kwin,’ he said. ‘I’ll talk to you in the morning.’
At first I thought she was about to refuse, but then she nodded and, without a backward glance, went up the stairs.
‘I know my daughter’s soft on you – that foolish gleam in her eye is unmistakable. But don’t flatter yourself that it’s your handsome face,’ Tyron told me. ‘It’s because you fought her with sticks and beat her. It’sbecause you treat her as an equal, not like any girl with a pretty face. But mark my words – you’ll only ever be good friends!’
I felt my face heat up with anger. The words slipped out before I could bite them back. ‘So why am I not good enough for your daughter? Is it because I’m half Genthai?’
Tyron glared at me, but answered quietly, an indication of his inner fury. ‘It’s nothing to do with you being of Genthai stock. I’ve not a racist bone in my body – you’re making a big mistake to even think of such athing. You’re not husband material because you are almost certain to die young. You’ve got a death-wish as far as Hob is concerned. You’d happily die in the arena in order to get your revenge.’
‘I’ve no death-wish,’ I told him. ‘Don’t you think I can beat Hob? Don’t you believe that we’re going to win? What was all this training and preparation for? Have we just been wasting our time?’
‘Aye, I think you do have a fair chance of victory, fighting behind that lac, but I’m not sure about what happens next. A lot of things could go wrong. I’ve gone along with Ada’s plan, but I’m starting to think that myway was better after all. I shouldn’t have let that woman manipulate me. She’s too clever by half. I’m not convinced that we will manage to destroy Hob completely; if we don’t, you’ll have to fight him again and again.You’ll be following in your father’s footsteps. Look, Leif, I have one widowed daughter who’ll mourn for the rest of her life. She has a child to bring up without the help of a father. I don’t want Kwin to suffer the samefate. Now do you understand?’
The anger left me and I lowered my head, unable to meet his eyes. He was just being a good father. Though it didn’t change my relationship with Kwin.
‘I understand how you feel,’ I answered.
‘Do you now?’ said Tyron, shaking his head. ‘Get to bed, boy. One day I hope you’ll live to have daughters of your own. Then you’ll know how I feel.’
I went upstairs, thinking over what he’d said. I remembered the threat Hob had made when he asked Whom do you love? I was probably putting Kwin in danger. Tyron didn’t know about my second encounter withHob. He had a right to be worried. Things were even worse than he thought.
Hob had to be destroyed as soon as possible.
A SPECIAL WAVE
Never for a moment did I think of defeat. I had Gunter, I had Nym, and my feet were swifter than thought.
The Testimony of Math
My next bout was against a young fighter called Korst who’d just completed his three years’ training and was tipped to do well as a fully-fledged combatant in Arena 13. Tyron thought he would give me a real test.
He gave me more than that: he gave me a scare.
Because of my partnership with Thrym, I suppose I’d become overconfident. The contest had moved into the second stage and we were both fighting in front of our lacs. I was aware of Thrym’s blades fending off theenemy as we pressed the tri-glad hard. I was attacking Korst, when I slightly over-extended myself. I lost my balance and found myself on all fours. I looked up to see blades arcing downwards.
My blood ran cold. I remembered how Hob had sliced downwards to sever the head from Tallus’s body – surely this would now be my fate.
But Thrym stood astride me and drove them back, giving me time to clamber to my feet. After that I was more cautious. I won, but it took me almost twenty minutes. It was a proper workout.
Exactly one week later I was scheduled to fight again. Only light training was scheduled that day, so at noon I went for a run with Deinon, taking the route that Kern had usually followed; it made several circuits of theWheel, and then back up the hill to Tyron’s house.
I noticed a lot of guards about. They were in patrols of six, strutting around the Wheel, giving me hostile glances as we passed. I suspected it might have been worse, but we were running in our training vests with thewolf logo front and back, which marked us out as part of Tyron’s stable.
Then, near the main gate, I saw someone I recognized. It was Jon.
He waved us over. ‘Congratulations on your win the other night, Leif,’ he said with a grin. ‘You looked really good. I was seriously impressed.’
I smiled back at him. It was easy to feel friendly towards him now that he wasn’t with Kwin.
‘Why are there so many of the Protector’s Guard around?’ Deinon asked, wiping the sweat off his forehead with the hem of his vest.
‘Don’t tell me you haven’t heard what’s happened . . .’
We both shook out heads.
‘You spend too much time holed up in Tyron’s house – you’d be better off with the rest of the lads based in the Wheel. You’ve not heard about the weird stuff in the Medie?’
‘The Medie?’ asked Deinon, screwing up his face in puzzlement. ‘What’s that?’
‘It’s a small river that flows out of the Genthai lands,’ I informed him.
‘Yes, and it meets the sea not far north of the Sea Gate,’ Jon continued. ‘Bodies were seen floating along it and out into the sea – hundreds of them. They say the river was the colour of blood. Dozens washed up on themudflats of the estuary. Most of them are wolves – or pieces of wolf. But here’s the really weird thing. Some had human bodies but the heads of wolves. Their throats had been cut and their noses slit to reveal the bone!’
‘You’re making that up, right?’ laughed Deinon. ‘That’s crazy.’
‘It’s the truth,’ Jon insisted, and he wasn’t smiling. ‘The Protector’s Guard have been there. They’ve collected the bodies and burned them in case they spread disease. Now they’re on high alert. They’ve called up thereservists.’
‘What? Do they think the killers are coming here?’ asked Deinon incredulously.
‘Nobody knows, but they aren’t taking any chances.’
But I knew, and my blood ran cold. It was the Genthai. They’d hunted down the werewights, killed them and then thrown their bodies into the river. The time of waiting was over. Now they were truly on a warfooting. But why had they slit the noses of the human-shaped selves of the werewights? Was it just some sort of savage revenge for years of being culled by those creatures? Or did it serve some other purpose?
Did the Protector and his Guard know that the Genthai had done this? I wondered. Did they fear an attack was imminent? Was that why they were out in force?
As we ran back up the hill, Deinon suddenly put his arm on my shoulder to bring me to a halt. ‘Remember what Tallus told us he’d found in the forest?’
I nodded. ‘The skeleton of a human with a wolf’s skull attached . . .’
‘So it wasn’t a clever hoax. That skeleton was for real! I wonder who slaughtered these others and threw them into the river?’
I said nothing. I’d promised Konnit to keep their secrets. As we made our way back to Tyron’s house, my head was spinning with the news. I was probably the only person in the city who knew what those bodiesmeant. And now the Genthai sought not just to remove the Protector. They wanted to attack the djinn beyond the Barrier.
My bout was scheduled for late in the evening, so I had joined Kwin, Tyron, Deinon and Ada in the gallery, waiti
ng for the first contest to begin.
Suddenly every torch and candle flickered and went out and the air grew icy. Screams filled the darkness.
A second later the light returned – to reveal the usual panic of people fleeing up the aisles.
This was what I had been waiting for: Hob had arrived at the Wheel to issue a challenge.
‘Relax and let them get clear,’ Tyron said as the light momentarily failed again.
Kwin reached across to squeeze my hand, and I saw Tyron glance down, though he said nothing.
Brid, Wode and their men would already be in position down in the Commonality, ready to ascend into the Wheel. This precaution had been taken each time I was scheduled to fight.
I glanced up at the exits. The last of the fleeing spectators were disappearing from view. About a hundred remained in the gallery: aficionados, combatants who weren’t due to fight tonight, along with their families.And, of course, there were the touts, no doubt eager to sell their red tickets.
As I got to my feet, Tyron patted me on the back. ‘Our thoughts are with you, boy. Just keep a cool head and you’ll win all right.’
Then Ada leaned across and gave me a hug. ‘Stamp, then spit!’ she said with a brief smile. Then her face hardened. ‘Then kill him for Tal and Kern. Kill him for your father and mother – for all the poor souls he’smurdered and tortured. You can do it, Leif. I’ve cost one poor man his life. I haven’t made that mistake a second time. Thrym will do the job, and you are the best partner he could have!’
I wanted to give Kwin a hug too, but didn’t like to in front of her father. Her eyes were brimming with tears, so I left quickly, choking with emotion.
Down in the green room, I waited with the other eighteen Arena 13 min contestants due to fight that night. The air was filled with tension. Nobody spoke. My mouth was dry.
I’d raised the question of what to do if I wasn’t selected. Surely I should simply demand the right of combat with Hob, I’d said. Nobody would stand in my way. They knew that I was Math’s son and would understandthat I needed to avenge his death. Besides, surely nobody else would want to fight Hob.