Kip went to stand by Teia and Cruxer. At their prodding, he explained his conspiracy theory, and then, together, they watched it play out, exactly as he’d foreseen. Balder fought and beat Yugurten, then he fought and beat Tala, and for a moment Kip thought the boy would challenge him-and give him another chance-but instead, sneering, the boy challenged eleven and won.
That eleventh fight took a lot out of Balder, though, and he got smashed against nine. They reordered, and with Balder now at eleventh, Kip was moved down to thirteenth place.
Then Barrel was up. He fought as Kip had expected, too, skipping Aram and taking on fighters who were already out, and then skipping Kip, who spat at his feet. Barrel made it to twelfth, and lost to ninth.
Kip shuffled down to fourteenth. Aram challenged three up from himself, fifteenth, which was Erato. She was already out no matter what, so she conceded without fighting.
All Aram had to do was win one more fight, and if he did, Kip was out. He came up to the bar and looked over the prospects, standing almost directly in front of Kip.
“You coward,” Kip said. “You’re not smart enough to figure this out. Who did it? How much did they pay you to do this?”
A flash of fury came over Aram’s face, quickly smoothed away.
“You cheater,” Kip said. “What did you think, that you’re some modern-day Ayrad? Ayrad didn’t take money for what he did. He didn’t use a team. You’re shit compared to him. You’re going to skip me. Me. The one you were hired to block. You think you’re the best in the class, you think you’re better than Cruxer, but you’re afraid to take me on.”
“I’ve got a lot of fights to win today, Kip. I don’t need to tire myself on unnecessary-”
“So fighting me will tire you out? Thought you were amazing. Didn’t Ayrad fight everyone in the class on his way up? And you won’t even fight one fatty at fourteenth place. You’re a legend all right, Aram. Aram the Unready, we’ll call you. Aram the A-rammed.” Kip had no idea what the latter meant, he just made it up. “Aram the-”
Aram slammed down his token in front of Kip. “I’m going to kill you,” he said. He strode off into the middle of the circle.
Cruxer was at Kip’s side an instant later. “Brilliant, now, Kip, after the back kick, Aram likes to throw a roundhouse punch, either stomach or face. He gets a lot of power into that thing, but if you can sidestep and come in, he’ll be wide open.”
“I’ve seen it,” Kip said. “I’m just not fast enough to take advantage of it.”
“Time!” Trainer Fisk announced. “Come forward.”
“Anything else?” Kip asked Cruxer. “Please.”
“He’s a fast drafter, too,” Cruxer said weakly. “Watch out for that… You’re lucky, though, right, Breaker?”
“Very.”
“Breaker, forward or out!” the trainer shouted.
“That’s something then,” Cruxer said.
“I didn’t say it was good luck.”
Kip turned to walk into the center of the circle. Then he saw the worst thing in the world. A ripple of recognition passed through the assembled Blackguards and trainees as someone came to the front rows to watch. Gavin. Gavin was here. Prism Gavin Guile himself had come to see his son test.
And Kip was about to fail.
Of course he’d come now. Of course he couldn’t have come early enough to see Kip win the earlier fights. To see Kip do clever things. No, he came now, when Kip was out of ideas and out of luck. Just in time for Kip to shame him.
“Are you ill, Breaker?” Trainer Fisk asked.
Oh, and of course the Prism sat next to Commander Ironfist. Might as well let everyone down at once. Beautiful.
“I’m envisioning a great victory,” Kip said.
“You arrogant little shit,” Aram said, sneering.
“I didn’t say it was mine,” Kip said.
“Huh?”
“Not my… victory. Look, jokes don’t work when you have to explain the-Forget it.”
“Are you calling me stupid?” Aram asked.
Um, no, but shoe fits.
“I am going to punish you, Kip.” Aram said it in such a way that he clearly intended using Kip’s birth name to be offensive. Which it wasn’t.
“I think we really don’t understand each other at all,” Kip said.
“Enough!” Trainer Fisk said. “Colors?”
“Green and yellow,” Aram said.
“All colors,” Kip said. No reason to hold back now.
“You’re claiming to be a full-spectrum polychrome, Breaker?” Trainer Fisk asked.
There was a right answer here. “Um. Yes?” Kip asked.
“Bad time to announce that,” Trainer Fisk said.
“What?” Kip asked. He’d thought it was the perfect time to announce it.
“Full-spectrum polychromes have such advantages over normal drafters that the Blackguards long ago established that to test their actual ability to be a Blackguard, they must be limited to share whatever colors their opponent chooses, plus one.”
“What?” Kip said. “So by my saying I could draft more colors, you give me less?”
“Precisely.”
“Well that’s bull-” Kip stopped, barely.
Trainer Fisk arched an eyebrow.
Kip scowled. “That’s very hard to take,” he said. He cleared his throat. “And I don’t think it’s fair.”
“I don’t think it’s fair, the Prism’s bastard says. You little bitch,” Aram said. “You shouldn’t even be here.”
“Aram, I don’t know who bought you off, but I’m going to crush your face,” Kip said. “You’re going to beat me today. No doubt. But I’ll be back.”
“I’m going to hurt you, Kip. I’m going to make you blubber like the fat little piggy you are.”
“Fuck you,” Kip said.
“Breaker,” Trainer Fisk said, “you are right on the line. Say one more word and you lose your extra color.”
“Word,” Kip said.
“Orholam damn you!” Trainer Fisk shouted. He grabbed Kip by his collar, and Kip heard the crowd gasp. “That’s it! You lose your extra color. You know, boy, you have a choice: are you going to be Kip the Lip, the loser who always has the last word, or are you going to be Breaker? I think you’ve made your choice for today. Maybe when you come back in six months you’ll be grown up enough to choose differently.” Trainer Fisk was seething. He turned to the crowd. Why was he so angry? Why was he so hostile suddenly?
Kip the Lip. He’d said Kip the Lip. Where Andross Guile. That would also explain why Trainer Fisk was so angry. He wasn’t angry at Kip; he was angry about Kip. Andross Guile was forcing Trainer Fisk to make it as hard as possible for Kip to pass-forcing Trainer Fisk to betray his oaths. It didn’t matter how. What mattered was that Kip was making what Andross Guile had asked Trainer Fisk to do all too easy. The trainer didn’t even look at Kip now, as he announced, “Kip Guile has claimed to be a full-spectrum polychrome. There hasn’t been one of those in the Blackguard for seventy years. There are rules. We’ve consulted them. Because of their innate advantages, full- spectrum polychromes get to choose only one color in addition to what their opponent chooses. For foul language, Breaker loses that choice. The colors for this bout will be green and yellow.”
Ironfist’s gaze was like a millstone. Kip looked away, and found his father’s. Gavin Guile looked disappointed already.
Damn me. Damn me. Kip the Lip. I played right into his hands. Kip Almost.
That’s who I am. Almost. I almost beat the Threshing, but I gave up. I was almost a hero, but I chose cowardice instead. I almost saved my village. I almost saved Isa. I almost saved Sanson. But I didn’t even almost
