'All fights are gambles.'
'And all gamblers need a wager. For what would you risk your life?'
'Unlimited access to Melome,' said Dumarest. 'The end of a certain inconvenience. Money and freedom to travel and medical aid should I need it. The aid to be given without charge.'
'Agreed. And for you.' Shakira turned to Zucco. 'What you have always wanted. The control of the circus of Chen Wei.'
'And me,' said Reiza. 'In any way you want.' Then, to Dumarest, she said, 'Think of that when he's killing you.'
'You're sure he can do that?'
'I'm certain of it.' Her voice was high, triumphant. 'You're a fighter, Earl, but so is Jac. He was a champion before he joined the circus-and he bears no scars!'
Valaban filled his palm with a pungent oil and, as he rubbed it over Dumarest's naked torso, said, 'This is crazy, Earl. I tried to warn you. Why the hell didn't you listen to me?'
'How good is Zucco?'
'You heard Reiza.' Valaban rubbed harder. 'The bitch,' he said bitterly. 'I tried to tell her he was lying but she wouldn't listen. She didn't want to listen. Just like a cat. You think you own one then it up and leaves for someone else. No loyalty. No gratitude.'
'She was upset.'
'Sure, but would a normal woman have acted that way? At least she'd have given you the chance to explain. She didn't even turn a hair when you mentioned Hayter. Did you notice that? It's my guess she's known all along. Maybe that's what attracted her to Zucco-a pair of animals together. Well, to hell with her. Just watch out for yourself.' Valaban scowled at the noise coming from the seats beyond the tunnel. 'Listen to them! They should be in a cage!'
They filled the rows closest to the ring, cramming tight for the sake of a better view. Entrepreneurs abandoning their concessions, grafters, dancers, spielers, shills all able and willing to relinquish a profit for the sake of witnessing a bloody entertainment. And others from the circus proper; roustabouts, artists, clowns, technicians. Their voices droned like a swarm of bees.
Dumarest watched them from the mouth of the tunnel as he wiped his body free of surplus oil. A trace remained on his hands and he stooped to rub them in the sand; oil which would prevent an opponent from getting a hold had no place on fingers needing to grip a hilt. Straightening he heard a shout and saw Zucco step from the mouth of a tunnel opposite.
'Right, Earl,' said Valaban. 'I guess this is it. Go out and gut the bastard!'
A sentiment echoed in a roar as Dumarest stepped into the ring.
One he had heard too often before.
The cry of a beast scenting blood, mindless, unthinking, eager only to witness battle and agony. To see the spurt of crimson, the writhing of lacerated flesh, the screams of the maimed and dying, the final convulsions. To know the euphoria of vicarious combat. To bet and gloat if they won and to curse the vanquished if they lost.
A sound as familiar to Zucco as to himself.
Dumarest knew it as the man came forward, naked aside from shorts, his body bearing the sheen of oil. He ignored the crowd as he trod the sand, smiling, eyes narrowed as he summed up the opposition. And Reiza had told the truths-Zucco bore no scars.
The sign of a novice or of a victor who had never known the ice-burn of a razor's edge. One too fast to be touched, too deft, too cunning. An unmarked champion. A thing so rare as to be almost unknown and Dumarest wondered how Zucco had managed it. Bribes, fixes, special blades which oozed red but did not cut could provide a show and safety for those involved. Things common in booths where men offered to fight all comers for cash or put on spectacles for gaping yokels. But the cognoscenti of the arena would never be so easily deluded-and no man could become a champion without their support.
'You fear.' Zucco halted, facing Dumarest, the space of yards between them. 'I can smell your sweat. Yet the crowd is with you.' His smile turned into a sneer. 'Let them shout- soon they will have cause to regret their mindless braying. As you will have cause to regret your temerity.'
Dumarest made no comment, standing poised on the balls of his feet, ready to move in any direction. Zucco seemed more at ease, relaxed, the knife in his right hand hanging at his side. Ten inches of curved and pointed steel, burnished to a mirror brightness, honed and tempered to cut through bone. An inch longer than Dumarest's own blade but it was one he was accustomed to and this was no time to change.
'Yield,' said Zucco. 'I give you the chance. Throw down your knife and admit defeat. Better to serve than to die and, if you obey, I'll let you have the woman.'
'Does she know that?'
'What she knows or wants is of no importance. Soon I shall be the master. Then-'
He broke off as Dumarest lunged, darting to one side, his blade rising to clash against the one Dumarest thrust toward him. An open attack and an easy feint but the speed at which Zucco acted was illuminating. As was the quick move he made to one side away from a second attack.
'You are impatient, my friend.' His smile held no humor. 'And clumsy, too-your attack had no grace. A tyro would have done as well. I wonder you managed to survive so long.'
'Talk,' sneered Dumarest. He stumbled as he moved to one side, as clumsy as Zucco had said. 'Is that how you win? Bore your opponents to death?'
'No.' Zucco crouched a little, knife held forward like a sword, point slanted upward. 'I cut them, my friend. I slash their veins to make them bleed and their tendons so as to leave them crippled. I blind them and watch as they grope in the dark. I nick their jugulars and hamstring them and, at times, I ruin them as men.' The point dropped, darted toward Dumarest's groin. 'I offered you mercy-now I shall teach you the meaning of pain.'
He came with a flash of steel, metal ringing as Dumarest parried, attacked in turn, his own blade swept aside as Zucco diverted the cut to slash in turn.
An exchange which left Dumarest with blood streaming from a gash on his side and the crowd, roaring, on its feet.
'First blood to me.' Zucco bared his teeth in a smile. 'And a taste of what is to come. Don't delay, my friend. Show your admirers how skilled you are. See? I offer you a target.'
He spread his arms to expose his body, still smiling, light catching the blade he held and turning it into a gleaming star. A man radiating a supreme confidence and Dumarest searched for the reason why.
Zucco was quick, lithe, agile, moving with a dancer's grace. Things essential to any good fighter but not enough on their own to account for his victories. His lack of scars. There had to be something more.
'You're cautious, my friend.' Zucco lowered his arms. 'Too wary to take what was offered. A pity. But why don't you attack?'
A question to match the invitation and Dumarest sensed he was close to the answer. To attack was to precipitate the action, to score if the attack was fast enough and the opponent slow. To force his reaction if neither and so to still retain the advantage. One lost if the party was unexpected and the return unusual. But if both could be predicted?
Dumarest weaved, slowly, edging forward, knife a gleaming sliver in his hand. It turned so as to catch and reflect the light, to catch the eye and to narrow the concentration. Tricks Zucco must know but even so his head moved as he followed the blade. Moved then steadied as Dumarest lunged in a feint, drew back, lunged again, the blade in his hand sweeping up and forward in a thrust which would have opened the other's abdomen had it struck home.
A gamble lost and he felt the lack of resistance, following the lunge with a blur of speed as Zucco struck in turn.
Again the crowd roared at the sight of blood.
'Fast,' said Zucco. 'The fastest I have ever met. Slower and you would be screaming from the pain of a severed kidney.'
Instead the blade had struck low to bathe Dumarest's thigh with a carmine flood.
A wound far less serious than it looked but he played up to it, limping, nursing the leg as he faced the other man, who now seemed too reluctant to attack and, suddenly, Dumarest knew the reason why.
'So you've guessed.' Zucco edged forward, losing his smile. 'Not that it will do you any good. In fact it will add
