Read Analog Science Fiction And Fact - June 2014 for Free Online Page A

over, and behind his head to settle into a left-handed batter; then took a left passing step backwards, settling the blade on his left arm in a right augur as he turned. Kal blinked, unsure of how to attack, swung an overhand hack that Teo easily parried, then voided the battle space.
    The two circled each other clockwise, swords held one-handed to the side in long-point. Teo waited his chance then dashed across the circle with a wide sweeping cut. Kal blocked it with a cross strike, as expected, but Teo spun about and stood on the high ground with his back to the sun and his sword held in "sky guard" beside his head. Kal faked a rush, but Teo did not strike and the Serp took a step back.
    Each time Kal stepped into Teo's shadow, Teo shifted to put the sun back in his opponent's eyes. He wasted no time feeling sorry for the Serp. Kal had woken up that morning looking for trouble and had no complaints now that he had found it.
    They danced a few more passages, their feet skating as if on water. They would close, exchange three or four blows, then void the battle space. Now and then, voices arose from those watching from the viewing benches, commenting on this stroke or that guard, but Teo paid them no mind. Something more dramatic was needed than the moves they had learned from the yar if they were going to impress the kospathin.
    Teo swung in a horizontal slice and made a complete pirouette throwing a second stroke as he came around. Such moves were dramatic, but dangerous. One should never present one's back to a man with a long sharp sword.
    But Kal had dropped into a three-point, like a runner poised for the signal, and the blade passed harmlessly over his head. He sprang, sword extended in longpoint, and Teo backed out barely in time.
    Finally, Kal said, "Screw this shit," and charged with his sword to the sky. Teo had been waiting for this and took the blow on his aft with a Bull Guard. Kal went hard on the sword and Teo found himself in a bind. He swung Kal's fore out of line and twisted into a cut with the back edge of his sword, drawing first blood.
    This time, Kal did not back off, but swung from the opposite quarter and again put Teo in a bind. This time, Teo reached out and grabbed both swords by the blade at the point where they crossed, pulling hard and prying Rabbit-killer from an astonished Kal's hand. Because they had bound swords at the aft, the blades did not cut through Teo's thick leather gloves.
    Kal dropped to his knee and pulled a quillon dagger from his boot scabbard. He used the crossguard to catch Teo's stroke—and paused.
    For Teodorq had pulled his stroke.
    "So," Kal said. "Ya want it like that?"
    Teo smiled. "There's one song better than the two heroes who meet. Why can't we let them sing it?"
    "You ready to take that chance?"
    In answer, Teo tossed both swords aside and pulled his own dagger from his boot.
    "That's more like it," Kal said with a grin. "This is how two plainsmen fight. Face to face, close quarters." He paused again, then said, "I mean to avenge Chelwy. Blood for blood."
    Teo spread his arms. "He came on me too sudden. He had cast aside his scabbard."
    "Yeah, Chelwy was an obnoxious little twerp, but he was my kid brother. You know how that goes. Did he die well?"
    Teo remembered that Chelwy had died screaming and soiling himself. When he had tried to ambush Teo, he had never imagined himself as the slain. The last look on his face when the knife slid in had been one of vast surprise.
    "He fought well for a man so young," Teo lied. "Had he not pressed me so hard, I might not have had to kill him." In truth it had been Teo's own surprise and anger at being attacked and his own loss of control that had led to the slaying; but there was no point in confusing Kal with such details.
    "He never knew how to listen," Kal said. "Now he ain't listening to anyone anymore." Kal charged suddenly and Teo crouched into a dancer's crouch, spinning on his left leg and scything with his right. Kal