Labu stood in the courtyard, flanked by a male and female Qihin warrior. They displayed their Wild marks openly, with holes cut in their tunics to reveal the strange patterns on their backs. The woman wore a serrated sword on her belt, and the man carried a trident. The fins on either side of their necks flared as I approached, and I figured neither of them were happy to see me.
I was surprised to see the prince because it hadn’t felt like much time had passed while I’d been with the king, but it had probably been almost 12 hours.
“Prince Labu,” I said as I remembered to bow my head. I wasn’t especially fond of such customs, but given how much of a hair-trigger Labu seemed to be, it was best to follow them. “An honor to see you again. I hope your trip to the guild house was productive.”
“Enough of your posturing,” Labu said. “You disgraced me in front of my father. Honor must be restored.”
I shrugged. “What do you have in mind?”
“You will fight me.”
I rolled my eyes. “I saved you from one beating earlier. Are you really so excited to get another one so soon?
“We’ll see who takes the beating when I face you in a fair fight.”
“Is that why you brought these two?” I pointed at his friends. “A fair fight?”
“I don’t need help to gut you, outsider!” Labu snarled as the fins on his head rose. “They’re just here as witnesses.”
“Fine.” I unbuckled my sword belt. “How do you want to do this? Practice swords? Magical mayhem? Good old fashioned fisticuffs?”
“We will duel in the traditional Qihin style. No magic. No enhancements. Just our skill with weapons.”
“So, what, first to three hits? Or are we going full tilt, beat the other guy into submission?”
“There is only one outcome that can satisfy honor. We will fight to the death.”
I opened my mouth, closed it, opened it again. “You’re kidding. Your city was just attacked by monsters, the clan lands are being torn apart by a feud with the guild, and now, you want us to spill each other’s blood? Don’t you think that there’s been enough death already?”
“Are you too cowardly to face me? Too weak without your magic and your women to protect you?”
“Maybe I’m just too smart to get drawn into this sort of bullshit.”
“Maybe you have no honor and feel no need to defend it.”
That one finally stung.
“I have as much honor as anyone here,” I said as I drew my sword. “And if this is the only way you’ll believe it, then let’s get to it. But remember; you forced my hand.”
I knew I couldn’t kill a prince in his own city without serious punishment, but I could, at least, give him a few cuts to take him down a notch.
Labu sneered and raised his barbed spear. “Still trying to escape. But I won’t let you shirk your debt to me.”
He strode into the center of the courtyard, and I followed. His friends held back and watched us from the bottom of the stairs, as promised.
We stood on a patch of dry ground amid the pools littering the courtyard. The sun shone from a cloudless sky and set a gleam over the water and the steel of our weapons. The pink coral of the statues glimmered a blood-red in the brightness of the afternoon.
We circled each other, weapons raised, and watched for openings. I was tired from the previous fighting and my exhaustive meditation in the throne room. My muscles ached from the action, and the food I’d been given wasn’t nearly enough to make up for the lack of sleep.
Labu, on the other hand, looked healed and well-rested. He moved swiftly and surely around me as he twirled his spear in his hands. If the events of the last 24 hours had taken a toll, then it didn’t show. Even his eyes, the same dark blue as his sister’s, gleamed with a bright and energetic light.
Labu thrust his spear at me to test my defences. I parried, counter-attacked, and tested him in return. His movements were similar to those of Kumi’s graceful and flowing style born from the water.
Labu easily blocked my next attack and stayed on the move. The prince circled around me and constantly spun his spear. Every so often, he feinted. The motion emerged naturally from his other movements and gave little warning of their approach. None of them were a real attack yet, just attempts to draw me out and test my capabilities.
I stayed on the defensive, determined not to be drawn out. I didn’t have the energy to play the aggressor in this fight, and if I was honest, I wasn’t keen to injure Labu. A little humiliation would have done this guy some good, but this was his show, not mine.
He darted in and struck assertively. I turned his spear aside, blocked a second strike that followed, and then made a low cut. My aim was to catch him in the leg and stop the fight early. He jumped over my sword and turned that movement into an attack as his spear lanced down toward my chest. I sprung back as one of the barbs of his weapon tore through my tunic. His spear whipped around as he landed, but I knocked it aside and returned to my defensive stance.
Labu bounced on his feet as he jabbed his spear left and right. He forced me to back off one way and then the other. One of my feet slid out from under me down the shallow bank into one of the pools, and I threw my arms out to regain my balance.
In that instant, Labu leaped forward and struck hard with his spear. I jumped back and landed in the middle of the pool as water sprayed around me. The water wasn’t deep, but it had been stirred up by my landing, and I couldn’t make out what was underfoot. It
