Righteous Anger (Okal Rel Saga #2)

3.4: The Duel

A dashing Nesak prince was waiting for them in the courtyard of the Sarn Away House. They came across him chatting with a knot of admirers. He extracted himself from his fans when he spotted his quarry and bounded over to introduce himself.

"Zrenyl Nersal?" he asked Zrenyl, offering an arm to grasp. "I am Prince Corin of Family Sarn, your Uncle Kene's son."

Zrenyl took the offered arm of friendship with hesitance. "Ack rel," he said, in a wary tone.

"Ack rel," Corin agreed. "May the dead be proud."

Hill looked excited. Zer Hen looked worried, which, together with the celebrity attention Corin was receiving in the courtyard, suggested he was well known as a swordsman.

"I am afraid," Corin said, "that you and Horth have been invited to a sporting melee by four of the K'isk's relatives. I took the liberty of telling them I would deliver their challenge card."

Corin produced it with a flourish and handed it to Zrenyl, who scanned it quickly before letting Hill take it from his hand.

"Enard Ko," Hill read, looking paler. "That's bad."

"What's a sporting melee?" Zrenyl wanted to know. "Is it some kind of tournament like the Pan-Demish games on Gelion?"

"I am afraid that ours have rather more fatalities," said Corin. He was dressed in a layered, mauve cloak with a complex knot of tied scarves at this throat, but apart from his dandified clothing, Corin reminded Horth strongly of Kene in the way he conducted himself with quiet courage and an understated confidence.

"Shall we eat while we discuss it?" asked Prince Corin with a nod towards the dining area on the lip of the courtyard.

Hill exclaimed, too loudly, "Yes, sure!" He was still visibly shaken by the challenge card, but seemed equally determined to impress its bearer.

Once the men had settled around the table, a trio of women attached to the Away House came to wait upon them.

"Not too much wine," Corin warned the others when that was delivered. "Not if you fight tomorrow."

"Tomorrow seems a bit rushed," said Zer Hen.

Corin shrugged.

The woman who brought the wine settled on a garden seat nearby and was soon joined by two of the women who had danced the night before. Emboldened by the women's example, other guests began to drift in and coalesce around the table to hear more about the proposed melee.

The thickening audience had a pronounced effect on Hill's and Zrenyl's behavior. Hill made efforts to repress his nervousness, and Zrenyl tried not to seem stupid when he didn't know how things worked on SanHome. He tended to accept Corin's lead wherever possible.

Corin spent most of the meal telling them about the four men who had issued the challenge.

"They seem to fight a lot of duels," Zrenyl observed, awkwardly, in a pause.

Corin nodded. "Enard Ko and his team are the K'isk's main sweepers in the capital."

Horth knew what sweepers meant in a space war. They were members of an avsha's hand who ran interference whenever the avsha — who was usually the stronger flier — was going for a prime target.

"Melees are typically fought in fours," Corin explained to Zrenyl, "but they are really between the two principals, in this case: Enard and Zrenyl."

"Why?" Horth interjected, like a sword thrust. What was being proposed sounded dangerous. He didn't understand why Hill and Zrenyl seemed so willing to entertain the idea.