Read Beyond The Shadows for Free Online Page B

it!” Garuwashi said. Ceur’caelestos went sharp once more and they began.
    Kylar was aware of Feir. The second-echelon Blade Master was seated cross-legged on the ground now, jaw slack. The man was
     muttering to himself, “Gabel’s Game to Many Waters to Three Mountain Castles—good, good—to Heron’s Hunt to—was that Praavel’s
     Defense? Goramond’s Dive to—what the hell? I’ve never—Yrmi’s Bout, good gods, some variation on Two Tigers? Harani Bulls to
     . . .”
    The fight accelerated, but Kylar felt a calm. He was, he realized, smiling. Madness! Yet it was so, and Garuwashi’s thin lips were drawn up in a little smirk of their own. There was beauty here, something
     precious and rare. Every man wished he could fight. Few could, and only one in a hundred years fought this well. Kylar had
     never thought to see another master on a par with Durzo Blint, but Lantano Garuwashi might even be better than Durzo, a little
     faster, his reach a little longer.
    Kylar dove behind a sapling a second before Garuwashi sheared it in two. As Garuwashi pushed aside the falling tree, Kylar
     thought. He only had one thing Lantano Garuwashi didn’t. Well, aside from invisibility.
    ~Oh, don’t use that! It wouldn’t be fair!~
    What Lantano Garuwashi didn’t have was years of fighting against someone better than he was. Kylar was studying Garuwashi’s
     style in a way Garuwashi had never needed study anyone’s. It was straightforward. Garuwashi basically depended on his superior
     speed, strength, reach, technique, and flexibility to win. And—there!
    Kylar went through half of Lord Umber’s Glut and then modified it, twisting the last parry so Ceur’caelestos missed his cheek
     by a breath. His own sword gashed Garuwashi’s shoulder—but Garuwashi’s counter was already coming. Kylar threw up an arm and
     instinctively brought the ka’kari up along the ridge.
    White light blazed and threw thousands of sparks, as if Kylar’s arm were an enormous flint and Ceur’caelestos steel. Kylar’s
     arm burned.
    The warriors staggered back and Kylar knew that if Garuwashi had put any more force into that counter, it would have destroyed
     the ka’kari.
    ~Please . . .  please don’t ever do that again.~
    “Who taught you that?” Garuwashi demanded, his face bright red.
    “I . . .” Kylar stopped, confused. His left arm was throbbing, bleeding where Ceur’caelestos had scraped it.
    “He means the combination, Kylar,” Feir said, his eyes wide. “That move’s called Garuwashi’s Turn. No one else is fast enough
     to do it.”
    Kylar fell back into a ready stance, not in fear now, but futility. He’d thrown his best at Garuwashi and barely scratched
     him. “No one taught me,” he said. “It just seemed right.”
    The anger dropped from Lantano Garuwashi’s face in an instant. This was a man, Kylar saw, of sudden passions, unpredictable,
     intense, dangerous. Garuwashi drew a white handkerchief and reverently wiped Ceur’caelestos clean of Kylar’s blood. He sheathed
     the Blade of Heaven.
    “I will not kill you today, doen-Kylar, peace rest with your blade. In ten years, you will be full in your prime. Let us meet
     then in Aenu and fight before the royal court. Masters such as we deserve to fight with minstrels and maidens and lesser masters
     in attendance. Should you win, you may have all that is mine, including the holy blade. Should I win, at least you will have
     had ten years of life and glory, yes? It will be an event anticipated for a decade and retold for a thousand.”
    In ten years Kylar would indeed be in his prime, and what Garuwashi wasn’t saying was that he would be past his own. Garuwashi
     would then be what, forty-five? Perhaps his speed and Kylar’s would be equal then. He would still have his reach, and both
     would have a lot more experience, but that was the more precious coin to Kylar. Would the Wolf care if Kylar waited ten years?
     Hell, if Kylar didn’t get himself