'It's nothing,' said Onica, still trying to pull away. 'He didn't do anything. Not when mama hit him.'
'You hit him?' said Hatch to Talanta, still not knowing who the him in question might have been.
'Oh, she hit him all right,' said Polk the Cash, thus bringing himself to Hatch's attention.
'How did you get in here?' said Hatch to the moneylender.
'As your guest, of course,' said Polk. 'Thank you. I'm glad to be here. If not here, I might be with my house. It's ashes, Hatch. They burnt it. Can you believe it? They have burnt down my house.'
As the story of the mounting disorder in Dalar ken Halvar began to emerge in disordered statements, in stammering blurts, in broken recollections of panic and fear, Hatch saw the Lady Iro Murasaki – entering Forum Three at the stagger. He broke away from Polk the Cash and went to her assistance.
'Stand aside!' said Hatch sharply, dismissing a couple of Combat Cadets who sought the pleasure of aiding the lady.
Hatch himself took the Lady Iro Murasaki by the arm and led her to a seat. She sat, dressed in the disarray of a refugee. She had been struck near the eye, perhaps by a stone; there were tatters of blood on her cheek. She too was pungent with smoke.
'Are you all right?' said Hatch.
'I – I think so,' said Murasaki. Then: 'The city, it – it's – half of Scuffling Road is burning.'
Amidst a great confusion of questioning and babbling, some details began to emerge. A mob had stormed the Frangoni rock. Some of the Frangoni had stayed to fight, using Temple Isherzan as the bastion of their defenses. Oboro Bakendra, Hatch's elder brother, was leading the defense of the temple. Others, including Talanta and Onica, had fled.
For her part, the Lady Iro Murasaki had fled from her house when the Yara invaded Cap Gargle and began to loot and burn the fine houses on that miniature mountain.
'It was difficult,' said Murasaki. 'The city – there's gangs, mobs, burning – but there was nobody at the lockway.'
'Of course not,' said Hatch. 'There's nothing worth looting there. Not now.'
'But there were some Free Corps people,' said Murasaki. 'Some of them – Asodo, I've heard that some of them are waiting there to kill you.'
'I wouldn't be surprised,' said Hatch.
Then he disengaged himself from the Lady Iro Murasaki, because Paraban Senk was calling Forum Three to order. The Teacher of Control was about to announce the results of the adjudication of the fight between Asodo Hatch and Lupus Lon Oliver.
Hatch seated himself.
Then Senk gave his decision.
'The situation is simple,' said Senk. 'Asodo Hatch ejected from his singlefighter. That war machine then blew itself up.
Lupus Lon Oliver's singlefighter was close to the explosion. It was destroyed. Lupus died instantly. Hatch was mortally injured, but nevertheless lasted for a little longer, thereby outsurviving his opponent. The military value of such outsurvival in this particular instance was doubtless zero. Nevertheless, Hatch displayed resource, initiative, ingenuity and daring. He was thinking along the right lines, whereas there is no evidence to suggest that Lon Oliver was thinking at all. Accordingly, I confirm the partial point awarded to Asodo Hatch. His score: 0.0000057 of a point. Lon Oliver's score: nothing. Combatants should now proceed to the combat bays for the second round of this competition.'
'The second round!' said Hatch.
'Do you wish to participate in the second round or not?' said Senk. 'You have the option of dropping out. If you wish. Victory will then of course be automatically awarded to Lupus Lon Oliver.'
'Forget I spoke,' said Hatch. 'Of course I'll fight.'
Then, in obedience to the dictates of the Combat College, Asodo Hatch and Lupus Lon Oliver proceeded to the combat bays and entered the world of the illusion tanks.
Hatch could only stay in the Combat College if he won the instructorship. If he lost his battles with Lupus then he would be forced to leave with his guests, and then he would die outside the lockway as surely as an outclassed gladiator dies in the Grand Arena of the City of Sun.
When Hatch entered the combat bay, he made sure that the door sealed itself before he sat in the initiation seat.
'You have more visitors,' said Senk, as Hatch seated himself.
'Visitors?' said Hatch.
'Some beggars.'
'Where are they?' said Hatch, wondering if someone from the outside world had sent a message to him by such a medium.
'They are being washed,' said Paraban Senk. 'Do you wish to talk with them? I can delay combat.'
Hatch gave it but a moment's consideration, then:
'No. No. I will fight now.'
'Your combat assignment, then. Singlefighters again. Over the jungles of Iridian Two. You will access the combat scenario to find your fighter stabilized in the upper realms of the jungle canopy. Heavy interference prevails to the extent that all your instruments are dead. Your opponent of course is in an identical predicament, but when interference ends you will be able to seek him out. The scenario starts with the singlefighters not less than ten and not more than fifty luzacs distant from each other.'
'When does interference end?' said Hatch.
'Shortly. Are you ready?'
'Yes,' said Hatch.
'Then,' said Senk, 'let combat begin.'
Chapter Twenty-One
As the Combat College had the misfortune to be designed during a great Age of Euphemism, when 'training for war' had become 'studying defense', its designers were constrained by public relations experts who vetoed anything which spoke too clearly of blood and bone, of raw flesh screaming and eyeless mutilation.
Consequently the College lacks facilities to train its students in blade battle or unarmed combat. Traditionalists lament this deficiency, claiming – and the Teacher of Control has ofttimes indicated its agreement with the claims – that personal combat skills are a valuable adjunct to the development of selfconfidence, even if they have precious little relevance to the conduct of transcosmic warfare.
But of course the Combat Cadets of Cap Foz Para Lash come from Dalar ken Halvar, a city landmarked most notably by the Grand Arena. In the City of the Season there is no shortage of blade schools, and likewise no shortage of opportunity to get bruised or cut. Hence those Startroopers who graduate in Dalar ken Halvar are closely acquainted with the intimacies of death, and thus superior to those graduated elsewhere – which implies that we will have a substantial career edge if and when the Chasm Gates are renewed and our rightful destiny granted unto us. – from An Essay on Destiny by Glas Glas Nak, preceptor of the Graduate College on the Heights of Learning.
The Days of Wrath:
When men flew living blades
And startled thunder from the skies – Swashed through the cities to leave the burning dead Awash in molten gold and liquid lead.
So he was in the singlefighter with the jungle green around him and the sky a moody gray above. All ship tell- tales were registering nonsense, their functions jumbled by the interference generated by a low-grade probability storm, that storm itself a typical aftermath of a battle involving heavy use of the Weapons Major of the Nexus.
So Hatch had time to think, to plan and to act – for, equally lost in the probability storm, Lupus Lon Oliver had no way to seek out Hatch. But soon the probability storm would settle, the instrumentation would function again, and Lupus would come hunting for his rival.
