“Crazy bastard,” Royce muttered.

  It was a lame duck insult, he knew. There was no chance of that merchant heir doing something like this unless he knew he’d get away with it, was there? Sure, they’d probably run you out of the knighthood for a stunt like this, but if you never planned on joining them to begin with, what did it matter?

  “Smart, though,” Emrick commented. “Makes a big statement, too: if I’ll do this in a Runic Knight battle, think what I’ll do to you in business. Something like that. Some of the gnomes back home would love it.”

  Royce grimaced. “That supposed to be an endorsement?”

  The dwarf shrugged. “I’d probably still home be back home if it was.”

  ---

  It was important to keep moving, crucial to, but Richard was suddenly frozen. What knight or squire wouldn’t be in this situation? It was like expecting an artist to stroll past a master painting on the road.

  He’d known Roland Oxwald and his school would be participating in the Royale, of course, and had even watched the noble climb into his Runic Knight, but hadn’t paid it much mind. He didn’t have the money or pedigree for that kind of teaching, and anyway, there were plenty of veterans at the castle. What lessons could some trussed up noble give that Sir Leonard couldn’t? As he watched Roland fight, Richard felt he’d realized the answer: the kind of lessons you taught someone who’d barely needed to learn in the first place.

  His knight was alone in this clearing and he was outnumbered two to one, but however that had happened it barely seemed like a handicap to Roland. He wielded two swords, something Richard had been warned away from over using one and a shield; there were just too many things that could go wrong. It wasn’t impossible to use a sword as protection, but you’d need to be almost perfect.

  If the Oxwald heir had been told that, he had decided to rise to the challenge. His twin blades, slim but sharp-looking, practically flew through the air at the knights flanking him. The two were completely out of their depth: no matter how they moved or what opening seemed to appear, Roland’s blades swung in to cut them off, all while he stayed on the offensive. It was like they weren’t fighting a person to start with.

  He’d arrived just in time to witness the end of the duel. The Runic Knight to his rear faltered just a moment, and Roland struck like a hungry wolf. One of his swords cut deep into the other knight’s leg, damaging its connection to the gem and making it partly dead-weight. Before the rider could recover from the sudden lurch, Roland brought both his blades around on their knight’s head like a pair of shears.

  The other knight struck while he was turned away - and didn’t even get the honor of landing one blow. Roland’s lanky, thin knight whirled around like a top the moment their head was near, somehow aiming for the perfect spot to remove it in a single slash. Both fallen knights were warped out without a single scratch on their foe to show for it.

  If Richard were the one holding his sword, he might have dropped it by now. What in the hell was anyone supposed to do against that!? It was a custom Runic Knight, fair enough, but that couldn’t magic talent out of nowhere, and with the way Roland moved it he’d still probably be a terror in a common Lanval.

  Discretion was still the better part of valor. Richard moved away - only for his Lanval’s foot to trod on a fallen branch. Roland’s knight looked up, right at him.

  His knight was fast, but probably not agile enough to chase him through these trees. That was assuming a noble felt like giving that kind of pursuit to a commoner, too. He’d probably be perfectly with the knowledge he had spooked one off.

  Which was why Richard moved the Lanval out from within the trees and walked straight toward him. Discretion was one thing, but he’d be damned if some local toff was going to think a Leonhold knight ran away from him. Even if no-one was seeing this, he’d still remember it.

  If Roland thought this was brave, he didn’t show it in any way beyond sending his knight rushing toward him. With it too late to back out, Richard took a breath and focused. It was fast enough there was no point trying to catch it, but he could still stop it. As Roland’s Runic Knight came near and swung, Richard leaned the Lanval back and thrust out its shield.

  The thing hit harder than you’d expect from something with its frame, but not enough to get through a good shield. That was only half of what you needed to keep your eye on, though: he barely managed to get his sword in the way of Richard’s second one, deflecting its momentum away. Then, like Albert had taught him, he swept the shield out to knock aside the other sword before lunging forward with a stab.

  It didn’t work, as Roland’s knight was nimble enough to dodge backward. That was the next-best thing for Richard, though. If you could stop him, that proved he wasn’t invincible.

  Next came actually wounding him.

  ---

  “Charging that one alone after he clobbered two guys takes guts,” Emrick said with a whistle. He’d taken a few swigs of the flask, but this was human alcohol and he was a dwarf, so it would take two or three more containers of this size before he felt much of anything. It was the only real downside to getting away from the mountain. You just couldn't get the right ingredients to make your own, either.

  “Or just not thinking,” he added.

  Next to him, Royce sniffed. “You’ve been here years and you still can’t muster up a bit of patriotism for our kingdom’s knights? Typical foreigner.”

  “Please yourself,” Emrick said, not unpleasantly. “In all those years you lot on the streets have done more to keep me safe than any of those knights. When’s the last time you actually saw them have to fight anything?”

  “Proves they do a good job,” Royce muttered. He was staring at the duel now himself: the castle knight was doing a fair job, but even to a layman like him it was obviously taking all it could to defend itself. Any time it looked like it might get a blow in return, the fancier one darted away.

  “I’ll be riding in a Lanval they’re loaning me, the kind always guarding the city’s front gate. If you see one that impresses you, it’ll probably be me.”

  Emrick shrugged. “That’s a fallacy, y’know,” he said mildly. “Like claiming a new brace guarantees there’s no cave-ins when there’s ten others in the shaft.”

  That didn’t get a rise out of him, so Emrick let it lie. He really was concentrating on the duel. Maybe he’d bet on Roland to lose early? He always did like long-shots.

  Not that the one Emrick had bet on was any less, at least on paper. But, he added to himself with a little smile, not every long-shot had a witch helping them, did they? A pay-out of fifty times sure sounded like enough to make them even for services rendered.

  ---

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Richard grunted in his seat as he managed to get Roland’s knight into a second deadlock the same way as the first. This wasn’t going badly, but it was obvious he wasn’t making any headway. He must have made a good account of himself by now, hadn’t he…but the Lanval did have a few tricks up its sleeve, too.

  As his index finger moved over a trigger on the controls of one arm, Richard froze in his seat as he saw something creeping over the edge of his shield. It was ice, clear and thick even in this spring weather. Well, if he had a custom knight, a more powerful Runic Gem went without saying, didn’t it?

  It had crept out from Roland’s sword, and was now covering most of the Lanval’s shield. That stopped what he’d been about to try, but more importantly - his gaze flicked to his sword, which had ice starting to spread on it too - if either of his arms got frozen he was dead meat. Forget attacking, he had to retreat.

  That meant doing something risky. Gripping the controls for the left arm, Richard twisted it hard, then shoved with as much force as he could. The Lanval’s shield wasn’t held on by straps, but clamped onto its arm, and if need be those clamps could be disengaged.

  Nimble as it was, even Roland’s knight had to break off when something as solid as a shield came flying at him, especially with the extra weight he’d added. It nearly struck his knight dead in the face before he managed to deflect it aside with both his swords. That left his helm open for one crucial moment-

  Richard should have felt frustrated when the knight still managed to dodge, but adrenaline somehow wasn’t allowing that. He was really keeping up with one of the most important people in the country in a fight. How could he not be happy?

  As Roland’s Runic Knight paused, the squire noticed it hadn’t escaped completely, either: his sword had left a slight cut on the pointed helm. The noble seemed to have noticed it, too. Richard grinned. Getting a wound from a common knight was probably the last thing a noble would expect.

  The Oxwald heir gave his swords a quick spin as he resumed a fighting stance. Then, suddenly, his knight’s head turned off to the side. “Hmph. Typical.”

  Some kind of bluff to make him look away, Richard thought, until Roland turned and quickly took off into the trees. “H-Hey,” he shouted through the Lanval, “we’re not done here! What are you, yellow!?”

  Roland ignored him. Richard growled to himself, before turning to fetch his shield. That let him see exactly why the noble had beat a retreat.

  The trees of the forest were tall, and had taken Clive’s fire like they were coated with oil. The result was practically a wall of fire creeping onward as long as there was fuel. For someone who’d lived on the plains his whole life, it was like a sight out of a nightmare.

  Richard snatched up his shield, replacing it on the arm as quickly as he could, before fleeing too. This may have been a clearing, but grass could almost as easily as trees, and if a fire like that surrounded you you’d be a sitting duck. If someone set it off on purpose, they were either very confident or not very bright. Fire wasn’t your friend, not by a long-shot.

  ---

  Everything in the world had some kind of opposite, it was just the nature of things. The earth had the sky, the rich had the poor, humans had non-humans. And of course, fire had water.

  Shouldering one out of the way, a competitor barged out of the trees ahead of the blaze roaring behind him. As a flash of blue appeared before him, he realized he’d made it to the lake. He was-

  He may not have been a good person, but as the unlucky Runic Knight’s head sailed off Rani had to admit, he knew what he was doing. Animals always panicked around fire, but they’d known plenty of human pilots who weren’t much better. For some people a catastrophe like that was enough to make them forget every other danger on a battlefield. And of course, the fact they were waiting near the lake helped too.

  “One of Roland’s lads, I think,” Clive said happily as the knight vanished. “They get taught all the rules about fighting there, which is all well and good until the book gets thrown out.”

  There seemed to be a lull in anyone leaving now. “Some people would call that ruthless,” Rani remarked. “Is this how you approach everything?”

  Clive hefted his knight’s hammer up on its shoulders. “Of course!” he said with pride. “Everything’s more fun when you play to win. Fact of life.”

  He paused, lifting one metal finger. Above the sound of the crackling fire, there were footfalls coming near. Clive adopted the batter’s stance again.

  Rani saw it before the merchant did, so it was fortunate it wasn’t an attack. Springing up at the edge of the trees appeared a solid wall of ice, as sheer as some mountain-sides they’d seen in winter. Clive halted his swing, but the ice was already beginning to crack on its own.

  When it burst, the wall became a storm of daggers that could easily have torn a lightly-armored unit to shreds. Even Clive took a defensive pose, holding up an arm to shield any vitals - as well as Rani’s Vanguard, which had quickly slid in behind his knight. Not the most elegant method, but given Clive was paying they doubted he’d mind.

  Striding out from the trees came a customized Runic Knight that looked like the opposite of Clive’s, lanky and wielding two blades. “Ah, Roland!” Clive said pleasantly. “I was beginning to think I wouldn’t run into you at all today!”

  “And why would I be that fortunate?” Roland asked, spinning the swords. “I was expecting you to do something like this, and when it happened I was sure you’d be somewhere safe from harm.”

  “Well, you’ve found me!” Clive declared, planting the shaft of his hammer in the dirt. “Found us, I should say,” he added, indicating Rani. “Shame you seem to have lost your lads: this would have been a fine teachable moment.”

  Roland didn’t even look over at the Vanguard, which Rani was glad for. That said, this was a lot of talking and not much fighting, wasn’t it? Maybe it was the local style.

  “Needing numbers to beat someone like you would shame House Oxwell,” Roland spat. “Besides, I should say the same: when you truly need them, almost your whole band of thugs has vanished.”

  Clive chuckled. “Oh, I don’t know about need. But if you’re so confident, you may as well smite us both now, no?”

  In answer, Roland shifted into a stance. Clive put his hammer on his shoulder. He didn’t give any order to Rani, but they’d seen him fight enough that they already had a vague idea of where to go from here.

  Roland rushed forward into a charge, and just as it looked, his knight had been built for speed. It crossed the distance between them in a moment, slashing out another wave of ice shards as it did. He was going for Clive’s knight, and after a moment to judge where he was aiming, Rani slid around behind the merchant to cut him off.

  As he came near, Clive wound up a heavy swing, one that shattered the ice and would compact the knight that had sent it. Rani readied for a lunge, and as Roland ducked under the blow they dove forward. Damaging one of its legs would leave it easy pickings.

  Clive’s hammer passed overhead the other knight - and then kept going, the merchant following through the swing and aiming right for the Vanguard.

  A direct hit would crush the suit’s head like a can and probably break a few bones with the vibration, Rani thought in a detached way. When attacks like this came near, thinking of them matter-of-factly had always helped. You had an immediate problem, and getting out of it was your one priority.

  Even with the lake nearby, there was still enough space to dodge backward. But, Rani noted without much surprise, here came Roland’s knight to attack in the moment of lag when they landed. It was a precise stab, one that could split the Vanguard’s head if it landed.

  Rani flung one arm in the way. A choice between losing a limb or failing the mission entirely was an easy one, even when your life wasn’t on the line. They expected the limb to have a hole blown clean through it, which was a problem, but an acceptable one.

  It didn’t happen, as once again, the gem powering the Vanguard acted on its own. Flowing across the arm appeared a sheet of wind, roaring outward. It didn’t halt Roland’s lunge, and his sword pierced a hole in the armor, but it did slow him down enough he retreated cautiously.

  Rani checked the arm’s movement: from what Emrick had told them, if the ley-lines between gems were disrupted it could leave you dragging a frozen limb. It seemed fine for now, but they weren’t exactly the best judge. They didn’t have much time to check, either.

  “I take it I’m fired, then?” they said to Clive through the Vanguard’s speakers. He and Roland had lined up beside each-other, though not too close.

  “Well, technically I only hired you for today, and your job was to help me win,” Clive said cheerfully as his knight spun its hammer. It was the kind of cheerful that could only come from someone who had you right where he wanted you. “Which you can do by lying down for us right here. Unless your actual employer would mind?”

  He probably had no clue just who Rani was working for, but he was still basically right. “Was it going to both of you that tipped things off?” they asked.

  “You did look sharp to me, and I had a feeling,” the merchant said humbly. “One courier to Oxwell later and we put two-and-two together. I’m sure you were counting on us hating each-other so much we didn’t speak, eh?”

  There wasn’t much point trying to lie any further. “No,” Rani said bluntly, “I was half-counting on that. My employer wants you both to lose, and this was the best way to make sure you’d both come after me.”

  Clive actually laughed. Next to him, Roland spun his knight’s swords angrily. “You’re more arrogant than you looked. You honestly think you can fight both of us at once in that decrepit knight?”

  Rani locked eyes with the two of them. There was only one appropriate answer. “Absolutely.”