The next morning Rafie and Alizadeh woke Kiram just after dawn. They remained only long enough to wish Kiram good luck and to admire the gold jupon that Kiram’s mother had sent. Kiram slipped it over his clothes. It hung a little loosely, having been fitted to wear over thick leather armor. Still, Rafie looked admiring. “I’ll tell her that you looked handsome in it.”
Alizadeh blessed Kiram’s lotus medallion and warned him to beware of blue jays and befriend any crows he met. Despite the previous days of arguments, Kiram felt a pang of sadness when Rafie released him from a farewell embrace.
“Take care,” Rafie told him.
“Travel safe,” Kiram replied.
Javier had just wandered down stairs into the entry hall, still looking as if he were half-asleep. His black hair tangled around his face and his expression was soft.
Alizadeh waved to Javier and said, “We will meet again.”
Javier simply nodded. Then Rafie and Alizadeh quietly slipped out the door leaving Javier and Kiram alone in the entryway.
“Hungry?” Javier asked.
Kiram nodded.
“Well, let’s see what we can scare up.” Javier started for the dining room. Kiram walked alongside him. “You feel up to today?” Javier asked.
The question worried Kiram slightly. The last day of the tournament was reserved for third year formal dueling, which meant full armor and squires, hence Kiram’s new jupon. He would be out with Javier, carrying his weapons and helping him with his armor.
Kiram knew enough of Cadeleonian culture now to understand that it meant a great deal to stand beside another man in battle. He wanted to be the one beside Javier.
“I’ll be fine,” Kiram said and he was rewarded with a brilliant smile from Javier.
“We’ll be unbeatable,” Javier said.
Kiram grinned. He had no doubt of Javier’s prowess and having won his uncle and Alizadeh over, Kiram’s sense of his own abilities soared. That pride buoyed him through the morning.
Not even Master Ignacio’s scowl could perturb him. He felt almost comfortable among his fellow schoolmates listening to the war master’s stern lecture and smelling the horses all around them.
As they rode to the gold pavilion Kiram recaptured the sense of excitement that he’d felt the first day of the tournament. He smiled at the gathered crowds and bright banners. The warm sun shining over the clear blue sky seemed to reflect his happiness.
“You’re not dosed with more duera, are you?” Nestor asked him.
Kiram laughed, which he knew did nothing to alter Nestor’s impression.
“My uncle has gone home. He decided to let me stay at the academy,” Kiram told him.
Nestor grinned like a mad man. “That’s fabulous! You’re staying! Javier must be thrilled.”
“Why do you say that?” Kiram couldn’t keep from stealing a glance ahead to where Javier rode beside Elezar. Gazing at his lean form the memory of the feel of Javier’s skin beneath his hands and the taste of his skin rushed over him.
Nestor shot Kiram a puzzled look as if he was reassessing Kiram’s intelligence. “He’s terribly fond of you. Haven’t you noticed?”
Kiram used the excuse of scratching Firaj’s cheek to look away from Nestor. Was he and Javier’s relationship really that obvious?
“He takes his responsibility seriously.”
“Oh, now you’re just being coy.” Nestor pushed up his spectacles to itch the thin scratch that ran across the bridge of his nose. “Seriously, Kiram. He likes you. You’re smart and different from most of the men at the academy. Elezar aside, Javier doesn’t give a crap about most of them but he goes out of his way for you. He never would have spent so much time wandering around the fairgrounds with you half out of your brain otherwise. You’re definitely his friend. I think he may be a little fond of me as well, you know, by association.”
“I’m sure he is.”
“Riossa says that only an ass wouldn’t like me.” His pale cheeks turned slightly pink. “But you know she’s a bit biased.”
“Nestor, you charmer.” Kiram smiled at Nestor’s flushed pride.
“She can draw horses pretty well.” Nestor gave Kiram a sly look. “And she kisses really well.”
“But the real question is, are you any good at kissing?” Kiram expected Nestor to be flustered by the question but instead he beamed.
“I’m marvelous!” Nestor sounded so exultant that Kiram laughed. Nestor laughed along with him.
At the pavilion grooms took the horses. Students from both the Yillar and Sagrada Academy gathered in the center of the pavilion. Friends, admirers, family members, and countless onlookers cheered and shouted at them from the surrounding stands. Flowers and ribbons fell in showers. Occasionally perfumed favors and love notes drifted down.
A yellow kerchief pelted Nestor’s head. Both he and Kiram glanced up to see Riossa and her family sitting in the second tier of the stands. Nestor waved to her broadly and Riossa shyly returned his gesture. An older man standing just behind Riossa scowled at him, but Nestor seemed utterly oblivious to his presence.
Before Kiram could comment, Master Ignacio called them to order. The upperclassmen who had been eliminated from the dueling and their underclassmen were sent into the stands to join their families and cheer their classmates.
Kiram bid Nestor a quick farewell, as he and his upperclassman Atreau made for the crowded boxed seats in the third tier of the stands. The Yillar students, too, were divided and the majority sent to cheer and watch while he, Javier and the other combatants retreated to the lowest stands to dress. Grooms handed out bundles of leather armor to the underclassmen, while teams of housemen brought out the heavier metal armor that the upperclassmen would wear.
“Look here, Javier.” Elezar held up his breastplate. A red enamel bull reared across its surface. “I just got it re-enameled so try not to scratch it up while you’re clinging to it and begging for mercy!”
Javier hefted up his black enameled groin piece in response. “Just so you know what to kiss when you want me to stop beating your ass.”
Kiram dressed in his own armor quickly. He winced as he laced a leather guard over his injured forearm. Then, presented with the sight of Javier’s bare back, Kiram utterly forgot his discomfort. Kiram touched his shoulder, feeling the smooth warm skin.
Javier gave him a brief, winning smile and then handed Kiram his chest plate. Kiram expected the chill of the metal but not the sheer weight of it.
“Make sure the buckles are tight. It can’t slip while I’m out there.” Javier’s fingers briefly brushed over Kiram’s hand. Then he dropped his hand and picked up his leather doublet.
“Not to worry,” Kiram told him. “I’ve had lots of practice getting girths good and tight. I could probably even warm your bit if you had one.”
Javier pulled the doublet over his head and then turned to allow Kiram to lace up the leather guard that protected his throat.
After that, the successive layers of Javier’s leather armor, chainmail, and enameled plate armor monopolized Kiram’s attention.
While Kiram knelt, adjusting the fit of Javier’s greaves to his long shins, Scholar Donamillo and Holy Father Habalan arrived with muerate poison. Javier casually held his left hand out to the plump holy father. Scholar Donamillo opened the glass vial of black poison as Holy Father Habalan dragged his silver blade across Javier’s wrist. Kiram felt Javier’s muscles tense when the blade sliced into his flesh but his expression remained unconcerned.
Kiram bowed his head to keep the holy father from seeing his contemptuous sneer. Even so he smelled the tang of the meurate and felt a shudder pass through Javier as it entered his bloodstream.
“Kiram.” Scholar Donamillo handed Kiram a roll of clean bandage. “Bind the wound, but not too tightly.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Scholar Donamillo?” Javier’s voice was low. “Do you know how Enevir Helio is this morning? I’d heard that his leg was broken.”
Kiram reflexively glanced up into the stands where the Helio box stood, conspicuously empty.
“His leg is the worst of his injuries,” Scholar Donamillo replied. “But he’s a strong young man and I expect that he will recover to a great extent within the next few months. Shall I give him your regards?”
Javier shook his head. The Helios were not Hellions, and therefore did not merit much interest. “I was just curious.”
“Yes. Well then. Good luck to both of you.” Scholar Donamillo offered Kiram a smile. Kiram appreciated the words, but wished that they had not come with a dose of acrid black poison. He couldn’t quite bring himself to thank the scholar. Javier, too, remained silent.
Holy Father Habalan and Scholar Donamillo departed as unobtrusively as they had arrived. Kiram wrapped Javier’s wrist. His skin felt icy now. Javier’s mouth was pale and he drew his breath with slow concentration.
Kiram laced Javier’s leather gauntlet over the bandage, his own arm aching in sympathy. Then he helped work Javier’s metal gauntlet up over both. Javier caught his hand briefly in a cold, steel grip. His expression was so drawn that Kiram feared he might collapse. Then Javier released his tight grip. He took up his helmet and pulled it on, hiding his face.
Kiram could hardly make out his dark eyes through the slits of his visor. He was a long expanse of steel and black enamel, like some strange union of mechanism and man.
Most of the other Sagrada students were already armored and standing ready. With the added bulk of enameled steel and chainmail Elezar’s large body had transformed into an immense scarlet fortress. Unlike Javier, Elezar shifted, rolling his shoulders and moving his armor as if its weight meant nothing.
“Kiram, you better get your jupon on.” Javier’s low voice sounded almost hollow from within the armor.
“Sorry.” Kiram quickly pulled the jupon over his head and smoothed the yellow silk out over his byrnie. The Tornesal black sun over his chest matched the one enameled across Javier’s breastplate perfectly. He hefted up Javier’s long sword and his shield the way the other underclassmen held their upperclassmen’s weapons.
High in the stands, trumpeters blew out a sharp melody, announcing Prince Sevanyo. By the time the notes stilled, the entire pavilion had gone quiet. In the shaded comfort of his box seat, Sevanyo rose and raised a hand. The large jewels adorning his fingers flashed. “Chosen sons of Cadeleon’s great academies, stand before me!”
Kiram followed Javier onto the fighting ground. He held his head up high and looked as proud and confident as he could, though, in truth he was concerned for Javier. Between the muerate and the weight of all this armor Kiram wasn’t sure how well Javier would fare. His precise and unusually careful motions were exactly the same as when Kiram had discovered him lying, nearly poisoned to death, in the chapel garden.
In comparison, Elezar seemed comfortable and eager. And across the grounds, Hierro Fueres stood like a golden monument, his breastplate and helmet decorated with white swan motifs. Kiram recognized his squire’s auburn hair and plain face. Ariz Plunado walked with the blank expression of a mannequin, though for a moment Kiram thought he might have caught the flicker of a scowl as the young man caught sight of him. Clearly he had not forgotten their duel.
Once they’d taken their places, Prince Sevanyo continued, “Though you gather today to test your strength against one another, never forget that you are sons of one nation and brothers in arms. Any man you stand against here today you may proudly stand beside tomorrow. Fight with honor and pride, blessed sons of Cadeleon.”
With that the prince returned to his seat and the combatants were assigned their dueling rings. Javier’s first opponent was a Yillar student whose squire kept peering at Kiram as if he’d never seen a Haldiim before. Javier only took his short sword, leaving both his long blade and his shield with Kiram.
“They’re too heavy just now,” Javier whispered when Kiram offered them.
Javier moved with none of his normal grace. His opponent scored several hard strikes against him and twice Javier barely managed to block fatal blows. This emboldened the Yillar student.
“How’d you even get this far, Rauma? Bribed your opponents?” The Yillar student laughed. His squire looked amused.
Kiram wanted to hurl Javier’s shield at the man, but all he could do was watch the Yillar student jab a loose and lazy thrust for Javier’s heart. Javier blocked the blow with a resounding crash of steel and then suddenly charged. Taken off guard, the Yillar student retreated but not quickly enough. Javier drove his blade up with such force that the Yillar student’s visor snapped from its hinge. With a second fast strike Javier knocked the Yillar student to the ground and pounced on top of him. Javier held his blade just inches above the other man’s exposed face. The Yillar student gaped at Javier, white faced with shock.
As the judge raised a blue flag signifying the first Sagrada victory, cheers and hoots rose from the stands. The Yillar student stalked from the ring and Kiram rushed past him to Javier’s side. Javier lifted his visor. Sweat beaded his face but only a little color had returned to his cheeks.
“I’m fine,” Javier said before Kiram could ask. “But it’s a damn oven in this armor and the sun doesn’t look like it’s going to let up.”
He was right. The sun had just risen to the open ceiling of the pavilion and was well below its zenith, but already temperatures were rising inside. In the lower stands, men and women fanned themselves and boys in red jackets hawked cups of cider.
“Get me some water before my next duel,” Javier said.
Kiram wove through the circles of dueling students. Dust and wood shavings hung in the air, as did the pungent smell of sweat. Elezar’s loud roar carried over even the noise of the crowd and the grunts and curses of other, closer combatants. Kiram looked over his shoulder just in time to see Elezar hurl his opponent from the dueling ring.
For a moment, Kiram was too stunned by the sight to do more than stare. He’d witnessed demonstrations of Elezar’s strength during practice, but Kiram had never seen Elezar fighting with unrestrained force. His opponent lay on the ground like a broken toy. Even the judge seemed stunned as he raised the blue Sagrada flag.
Kiram prayed that Javier wouldn’t have to fight Elezar next. He simply was not strong enough. He raced back to Javier’s side with a skin of cool water. Javier drank a little but then his next opponent arrived. Again, Javier went without his shield and only wielded a short sword.
But where he had previously stood still, Javier now prowled. He circled his new opponent slowly and then lunged in with brilliant speed to score a strike before bounding back out of reach. Light flared off the shining surface of his silver armor. Javier took a hit across his shoulder, but landed his own strike directly across the enamel emblem over his opponent’s heart. The enamel shattered and the judge again raised the blue flag again.
Kiram distinctly recognized Fedeles’ joyous crow rising over the cheers and boos from the stands. Javier shoved his visor back and Kiram hurried forward with the water skin. Javier drank, dropped the empty water skin back into Kiram’s hands, and closed his eyes.
“Javier?” Kiram asked.
“I’m good.” Javier remained exactly as he was, eyes closed, arms hanging so limply that Kiram thought he might drop his short sword. After a moment he opened his eyes. “Have you been watching any of the other duels?”
“A little, but mostly just yours.”
“Take a look around for me.” Javier’s tone was stronger than it had been earlier. “Watch Elezar for any injuries. And if you can, keep an eye on Hierro Fueres too.”
A third Yillar student trudged up to Javier’s dueling ring and gave a salute, which Javier returned. The man’s armor was enameled with golden leaves. Kiram made a mental note to learn more about Cadeleonian crests so that next year he could take an educated guess about the occupants of the armor.
“Can you carry your shield yet?” Kiram whispered.
“I can but I don’t think I’m going to need it just yet.” He flipped his visor closed and strode out to the center of the dueling ring. He tossed his short sword from hand to hand as his opponent chose his own sword and shield from his squire.
The judge signaled the start of the duel and immediately Javier attacked. His movements were smooth, and while they seemed a little slow to Kiram they obviously were too fast for Javier’s opponent. Kiram felt assured enough of Javier’s wellbeing to investigate how Elezar and Hierro were faring.
Elezar fought like a battering ram, crumpling shields and shattering blades with the power of his strikes. If he took any injuries he hardly noticed them. His only disadvantage seemed to be the sheer number of times his squire, Ollivar, had to rush to bring him a new blade after he cracked one against his opponent’s defenses.
In the time that both Elezar and Javier fought a single duel, Hierro finished two. The first he won through a simple concession. A Yillar student entered Hierro’s dueling ring, knelt, and allowed Hierro to take the win with a gentle tap of his blade.
Hierro’s second duel was against a Sagrada student. Hierro moved lightly around the Sagrada student, never extending himself into a full attack. Instead, he landed blow after blow on the poorly protected joints of the Sagrada student’s armor. His attacks were glancing but they quickly accumulated. Soon the Sagrada student staggered like a cripple, his knees and elbows having been beaten mercilessly. His long sword drooped in his grip.
Kiram found it agonizing to watch Hierro pick and nick the Sagrada student’s defenses further. It was like watching a cat play with an injured bird. At last when the Sagrada student crumpled to his knees, unable to lift his sword much less his shield, Heirro delivered a single winning blow.
Javier seized his own victory a moment later and he moved now as if he were dancing, making the swift, triumphant thrust look as easy as a bow.
As soon as the judge declared his victory, Javier shoved his visor up from his face and grinned at Kiram. Kiram went to his side. He took Javier’s sword and inspected his armor.
“When you’re fighting Hierro you’re going to have to guard your joints,” Kiram told him. “And Elezar…He’s really strong.”
“Yes, I have noticed that from time to time.” Javier laughed.
“He picked up a man in full armor and threw him out of the dueling ring.”
Javier raised his brows and glanced across the dueling rings to Elezar. “Who knew he was such a grandstander? But even he has to tire out sooner of later. Anything else you can tell me about Hierro?”
“He’s very precise and doesn’t extend himself for a killing strike until he’s worn his opponent down. His defense looked really tight. The other Yillar students are conceding to him, of course, so he’s probably nowhere near as tired as most of the Sagrada students.”
“The usual Yillar strategy.” Javier flipped his visor back down and took his long sword from Kiram. “Keep watching them.”
A new opponent entered Javier’s ring and Kiram hurried out. The next two fights went quickly. Lower ranking students were eliminated and withdrew to the stands, leaving many of the dueling rings empty. Soon, only four undefeated men remained: Hierro and another Yillar student, Elezar and Javier.
Master Ignacio and the Yillar war master called for a parley and met with two judges. Kiram saw them write names onto slips of paper and then hand them over to the judges. A moment later one of the judges approached Javier and bid him to choose from the three pieces of folded paper in his hand. Javier took one, unfolded it, and grimaced.
He read the name aloud. “Elezar Grunito.”
Kiram’s heart sank. Elezar scowled but both Hierro and his fellow Yillar student grinned at each other. Elezar and his squire, Ollivar, walked to Javier’s dueling circle.
“Long sword and shield.” Javier’s left arm trembled slightly as he accepted the heavy shield. Kiram tried not to think of the wound running along Javier’s wrist.
Elezar chose his long sword, which he held in his right hand, and his short blade, wielded by his left. He regarded Javier evenly, then asked, “Sure you’re up to this?”
Despite his joking tone, serious worry showed in his expression. He had to know that Javier had been given muerate poison.
Javier arched a brow. “Well, I might suffer a little guilt after I beat your ass into the ground but I think I’ll be able to deal with it.”
“All right then, Tornesal. No mercy.” Elezar closed his visor. Javier followed suit.
The judge gave his signal and they charged each other. Elezar’s blade smashed into Javier’s shield, embedding into the black sun and driving Javier back several feet. Javier released his shield, letting its weight pull Elezar’s long sword down. He lunged forward, aiming a blow at Elezar’s chest. Elezar blocked with his short sword and then swung his long sword, with Javier’s shield still dangling from it, into Javier’s side. The blow sent Javier stumbling and threw Javier’s shield out across the grounds. Kiram sprinted out to retrieve it. A roar went up from the crowd.
While Elezar and Javier circled and pounded each other with deafening blows, Hierro and his fellow Yillar student flipped a coin. Hierro remained in his dueling circle. The other Yillar student bowed to him graciously and stepped out of it.
“Shield!” Javier shouted and Kiram sprinted into the dueling ring. He thrust the shield up and Javier raised it just in time to block another of Elezar’s resounding blows. Splinters of the shield and Elezar’s blade flashed as they flew through the air and fell to the dirt floor.
This close Kiram could smell both sweat and blood emanating from beneath Javier’s armor.
“Out of the ring!” Javier commanded. Kiram darted away.
A moment later, Elezar hammered his long sword through Javier’s shield, cracking his blade apart as he rended the shield in two. Elezar hurled the broken long sword at Javier and then thrust at him with his short blade. Javier dodged the long sword but barely blocked the thrust of Elezar’s shortsword. Sparks skipped across the both Javier’s and Elezar’s blades as the edges ripped into each other. Kiram and Ollivar raced back to the stands to secure other shields and swords.
Elezar broke blades and cracked shields, but he rarely landed a direct blow to Javier’s head or chest. In his own way Javier fought as relentlessly as Elezar. He drove in again and again, enduring the savage blows, to land swift strikes. He moved fast and struck from behind when he could. They crashed together and when their blades broke, they pounded each other with their armored fists.
Kiram watched with growing horror as the duel dragged on. Dirt and blood streaked their armor. Javier’s left arm hung in a disturbingly lifeless manner. Elezar limped noticeably. And yet neither of them relented.
Hierro and the other Yillar student both looked bored. Their squires brought them water and little bowls of cut fruit. Some people in the stands roared and cheered but many simply stared in silent awe as Javier and Elezar steadily ground each other to exhaustion.
When the end came it was clumsy and brutal. Elezar punched his blade through the left shoulder of Javier’s armor. Javier caught the blade and jerked Elezar forward onto his own cracked short sword. Blood poured from Javier’s shoulder, but his blade drove into Elezar’s breastplate, shattering the enamel bull there.
“Tornesal!” the judge shouted.
Elezar released his blade at once and stumbled back. Javier fell to his knees, curling his hands around his bloody shoulder.
Kiram rushed into the ring and knelt beside him. He reached out to free Javier from his armor but Javier pulled back from him.
“I’ll be fine,” Javier said even before Kiram could ask. “It’s just a scratch.”
“Let me help you back to the stands. Scholar Donamillo should—”
“It’s fine!” Javier growled.
“Javier?” Elezar’s voice was tremulous, almost frightened. He knelt down beside Kiram.
“What?” Javier snapped his visor open with his right hand. Annoyance more than pain showed on his face.
“I didn’t mean to—” Elezar broke off. “I was sure you’d dodge.”
“I know. That’s why I won, you idiot.” Javier rolled his eyes. “For God’s sake pull yourselves together, both of you. We still have to beat those smug Yillar bastards.”
“Right.” Elezar straightened slowly. “We’ll take them down.”
Javier pushed himself up to his feet and Kiram moved to his side, steadying him.
“I’m fine,” Javier said.
“So you’ve said,” Kiram replied. “And I still don’t believe you.”
Javier winced and pulled his head back slightly.
“You see,” Kiram said. “You’re hurt.”
“No, I’m not,” Javier replied. “It was just your medallion. It was flashing right into my eyes.”
“Sorry.” Kiram caught his lotus medallion. As he tucked it into his collar, bright afternoon sunlight reflected off its golden surface and briefly flashed across the dirt.
“Is there anything you need?” Kiram asked.
“Another long sword but not a heavy one. Ask Master Ignacio for a cielyo. Hurry.”
Kiram went and procured the sword, though Master Ignacio gave him an odd look when he asked for it and questioned the wisdom of Javier’s decision more than once before handing the thing over.
The ceilyo’s hilt and pommel were small, delicate and engraved with a curling ivy motif. It weighed less than even a short sword and just carrying it back across the grounds Kiram felt the thin blade flex and bounce with his steps. Elezar would have snapped such a sword in half. But Hierro fought in a much more restrained manner. And looking at Javier, Kiram knew he was too exhausted to wield the weight of a normal long sword. At the same time a short sword wouldn’t offer the range Javier needed to fight a man with Hierro’s reach and speed.
“Cielyo blade.” Kiram handed it to Javier. “Master Ignacio told me to tell you that it’s the only one he brought and you’re a fool if you think it will hold up for long against a real sword.”
“Did he?” Javier didn’t sound surprised. “I suppose he expects me to be dancing around with a broadsword after that match with Elezar.”
“If he does then he’s an ass.” Kiram hated how much Master Ignacio’s opinion seemed to matter to Javier.
“Refreshingly honest as always, Kiram.”
“Well, he is,” Kiram replied but he didn’t go on.
Hierro strolled into Javier’s dueling ring with his squire, Ariz, following silently behind. When Hierro held out his hand Ariz provided him with a long sword. Hierro waved aside the proffered shield.
“You know, Tornesal,” Hierro called to Javier, “there is no shame in accepting second place.”
“Of course there isn’t, cousin,” Javier replied. “If you wish to forfeit to me, I would accept your surrender with the utmost respect.”
Hierro smirked at the response and shook his head.
“Some men can’t be saved from themselves,” Hierro commented.
“No, indeed not,” Javier agreed then he turned to Kiram and spoke quietly. “If I call for my shield, I’ll need it and my short sword right away.”
Kiram nodded, then he and Ariz withdrew from the dueling ring. Across the grounds, Elezar and his Yillar opponent began their duel with a resounding crash of metal. Javier and Hierro, on the other hand, circled each other in silence. Suddenly Javier lunged forward, thrusting in for Hierro’s stomach. Hierro blocked the blow. Javier’s cielyo blade bowed back and Javier suddenly flicked the blade up, making it strike Hierro’s extended arm like a whip.
Hierro jerked back as blood spilled from his slashed palm and wrist. Javier drove after him and for an instant Kiram though he might win the duel in this one attack. Then Hierro took his blade in his left hand and deftly drove Javier back. This time, when Javier flicked the cielyo’s flexible blade, Hierro parried before it could touch him. He blocked four of Javier’s attacks and then scored two hard blows of his own. The cielyo did little to slow Hierro’s heavier sword and Javier was forced to bound back to the edge of the dueling ring to keep Hierro from scoring a deadly blow against him.
Kiram felt a terrible dread, realizing that Hierro was not only better rested than Javier but he was also a master swordsman and apparently ambidextrous. He assailed Javier as precisely as he had his previous opponents, raining blows down against Javier’s elbows, shoulders, and knees. All with his left hand. Blood poured from Javier’s left shoulder.
“Shield!” Javier bellowed.
Kiram leapt forward and then suddenly something caught his foot. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ariz, and then he fell. Javier’s shield and short sword skidded across the ground. Kiram lifted his face from the dirt to see Javier collapse to his knees. Hierro arched over him, sunlight flashed across the edge of his blade.
Kiram gripped his lotus medallion and turned it to catch the bright light, reflecting it at Hierro’s face. He flinched as the light flashed in his eyes and Javier drove his sword into the swan emblazoned over Hierro’s heart.
“Tornesal!” the judge shouted. For an instant Hierro seemed too stunned to move. Then he simply bowed his head to Javier and stepped back from him.
In the stands the crowd leapt to its feet with a mighty roar and the prince’s trumpets sounded loud triumphant notes.
Kiram scrambled to his feet and went to Javier. As he helped Javier get out of his helmet and onto his feet Javier leaned into him, whispering, “You have to be the sneakiest, most brilliant young man it has ever been my pleasure to know.”
Kiram felt as if his chest would burst with pride at Javier’s words.
“You’re welcome,’ Kiram replied.