I guided us delicately out of his cold space as an amused Bludgeon witnessed it all with crossed arms and hoofs kicking the gore from his iron shoes. Relieved to see the centaur not advancing, I continued for the spiral staircase when Kat alerted me with a sudden squeeze of my shoulder. 'What is it samurai?'
He nudged toward master Bludgeon, who now aimed a sword at my head. 'Over
On my gooey location, I considered all the options when suddenly, Kat left me. An intrigued Bludgeon and I surveyed his hobbling walk, expecting the old samurai to collapse at any moment. He did not. Kat settled himself gingerly at a sword rack in the corner of the room, a rack containing a dozen blades. Then, with a sheen of steel, he removed two swords from the rack and returned, grimacing, back to my side.
'He's too good Kat,' I whispered as he passed me a sword. 'We can't defeat him — especially with you in this shape.'
Kat heard my words and, as if unaware of his condition, he examined his ruined body with a repulsed expression. Nevertheless, no matter what shape he was in, he was still Kat, and the legend wrapped his fingers around the sword hilt, swirled the blade twice in the air and said, 'I will not fall.'
'I'm going to enjoy this,' said Bludgeon, grinning as he ran a finger down his own steel. 'Oh, how I am going to enjoy this!'
'Avoid the hind legs,' Kat warned me. 'And try… keep up.'
I was now being given the chance to kill Bludgeon, to fulfil my most coveted fantasy; but the thought of living it out left me utterly cold. I just wanted to see the back of this dreadful place, to feel the air and be moving again. The wind, the sleet, and snow came savagely through the huge hole, echoing how this war would play out.
'The Kat and the mouse,' sneered Bludgeon, passing his sword back and forth to each hand. 'Are you ready for your final exercise, speck?'
Kat and I crouched low, taking steps from one another. We moved to Bludgeon’s flanks, but our tactics didn't appear to concern the centaur. “Which one will I kill first?” he said.
A problem we three fighters would have to deal with was the vat of mucus we fought in. It was a quagmire making swift movements impossible. I assumed this was already an advantage for Kat and me, since Bludgeon had more hoofs and weight holding him in it. It would, hopefully, equal the playing field. We sized each other up with twitching eyes, wet faces and flexing muscles, before all hell broke loose.
Bludgeon attacked — lunging at me with a meaty shoulder charge that put me onto my ass; and immediately, his sword came down to cut me in half.
CLANG!
His blow interrupted by Kat’s protecting sword. I sucked back my sense and cut my weapon upward, successfully slashing Bludgeon's hairy chest. The centaur cried out and darted back.
'Cut me?' he said, examining the bleeding tear close to his heart. 'The weasel cut me?'
The thrill of striking Bludgeon 'the master of all things', empowered me with a crazy, overzealous confidence. 'More where that came from!' I yelled. 'Pain is a warning master — warnings can be ignored!'
Bludgeon sprang at us with a vengeful roar. Kat and I blocked and countered, countered and blocked, but our opponent frugally slapped our attempts away as if mere child's play.
Already the pace was too fast for me, the gale making it seem somehow faster, and even more dangerous. I realized now that theory was one thing… and practice quite another. My lack of experience told as I received a slash down the left side of my arm, causing the sword to twirl out of my grip and across the room. I fell wounded, whilst the samurai continued to protect me from a ruthless Bludgeon.
'Pay attention!' stormed Kat as I crawled through slime for my weapon; all the time hearing the
As far as I could tell, Kat had the upper hand in every exchange. Despite the bruises and blood-loss, he was superior in all areas, and so forced the centaur back and back again. The longer the fight lasted, the stronger in stature Kat seemed to become. The sword his medicine, the legendary killer in him was returning, a giant growing before Bludgeon. The centaur knew it too, and an expression of concern swept over his face for the first time: did he finally consider defeat?
I collected my sword, stood from the sludge, and watching the blur of Kat and Bludgeon, I rejoined the tangle. Breaking away from the fight, Bludgeon found the sword rack, filled his free hand with another blade then returned with a primal scream, forcing us toward the gaping hole in his mountain.
The closer our heels approached that massive window, the more the peaks seemed to suck at our bodies like a vacuum. Bludgeon cheered, and then yelled some inaudible curse before throwing one of his swords at my head; I swerved to avoid it but the blade took a piece from my ear. Blood squirted from the side of my head and I cried in agony. Stumbling, the sucking hole suddenly picked me up by the legs. Kat reached back immediately and snatched me with one arm, fending Bludgeon off with the other.
I hung onto Kat's wrist for dear life while my legs dangled toward a vortex of white peaks and valleys. Hoping to send us both to oblivion, the centaur tensed his face and attempted to force Kat back; but characteristically obstinate, the samurai remained stretched apart on his spot, defending me and protecting himself.
Kat too, then growled monstrously, and with a dislocating pop of his shoulder, he threw me like old clothes at Bludgeon. The master swat me like a bug into the pools of dragon mucus, then giggled at Kat's insane ingenuity, “You mad bastard, Kat!”
Once safe from the sucking wind and Bludgeon's sword, Kat popped his shoulder back into place with a profound shriek. Not allowing him another moment to recover, Bludgeon galloped back into swordplay.
Meanwhile, I snatched a fresh sword from the rack and felt a rush of adrenaline consume me. Completely disregarding Kat's warning, I positioned myself behind the centaur; but before I could raise my weapon for any strike at the horse's coat, I received the full blow of two hind hoofs into my chest, booting all oxygen from my lungs and the sword, yet again, out of my hand.
I lay stupefied against the sleeping dragon's tail as a magnificent Kat continued his highly skilled battle with Bludgeon. Sparks of steel followed each intense sword smash. Kat like a phoenix, pressing, compelling the king backward and up the wonky spiral staircase. There they swung and swiped from higher and lower positions, never once landing a telling blow.
Kat could concentrate on his foe's blade and arms, but not his hoofs; and so Bludgeon sat back on his hind legs and began wildly kicking his front shoes, eventually striking Kat and sending him backward over the railing.
Hearing the samurai land in the gunk, Bludgeon chortled his way down the twirling steps to finish him off. Upon reaching the bottom, Kat was not flat on his face as expected — he was not there at all — there was only me and my amateur attack, an attack Bludgeon blocked with ease. I now faced Bludgeon's might alone. Mind only on defence, defence, and defence!
'Too advanced for the speck!' he exclaimed, laughing. 'Too advanced!'
Bludgeon was enjoying his personal moment; the teacher playing with student, nicking small cuts to my cheek, neck, wherever he fancied. I simply could not keep up. I was actually doing well to remain alive at this point. Bludgeon even had the audacity to yawn during our skirmish; and when ready to conclude this final exercise, Kat appeared to save me yet again.
Balancing like his namesake on the spiral staircase, Kat leapt off the railing and landed with a grunt on Bludgeon's back. The centaur stumbled forward and coughed as the samurai secured both his arms around the king's throat. Chocking now but still on all fours, Bludgeon lashed out, finding it extremely difficult to bounce this nimble fighter from his back and fend me off at the same time.
The centaur became enraged, a crazy desperate horse, stamping, bouncing and roaring almighty; but he was only expending more air and energy — his face glowing purple now, his muscles burning weaker and weaker…
Kat locked his arms tighter still, further sealing Bludgeon's windpipe. The fight was not over however so I concentrated — I kept up swordplay and scored another strike down Bludgeon's inner thigh. He cried out and fell to one knee, and Kat continued throttling until the master at last relinquished his sword, and then toppled like a great beanstalk to the floor.
I kicked the blade from Bludgeon's reach as Kat climbed off the panting mammoth's back. Both of us then stood, side by side, exhausted in victory and united in hatred for the defeated king.
'There's your head Kat,' I wheezed. 'Take it. Just… take it.'
Kat examined my disgraced master with contempt as he raised his sword overhead, but instead of bringing it
