“You didn’t practice this morning,” Kaye said to Aien when they left the house.

  “Things might turn ugly, you know.”

  He gestured forward, where Loho was pacing ahead of them. Since three men had issued the challenge, it seemed that it would be dishonorable to bring more along. Hogog had voiced his concern, but Kaye had to go, as the debt was being paid to her.

  Last night, when Aien and Gima arrived from the fair and heard of the challenge, both of them disapproved of it. Gima must have seen or at least heard about Loho’s duels several times, his and of other Headhunters, but that did not stop her from giving him a warm embrace, both st night — after which Kaye could hear them in the other room — and before they left.

  Aien had simply stared at all of them, with the slightest shake of his head. He didn’t need any words to communicate how he felt. Kaye was putting them in danger by allowing Loho to accept it, and though she tried to keep herself from imagining what would happen if he lost, she trusted their chances on the road better than Gima’s chances with three backstabbing Headhunters who held a grudge against her husband.

  And if things do turn ugly, we run. She also trusted her capacity to flee and shoot, but not her ability to stand and fight. If the three Headhunter’s from Loho’s former cn were half the warrior he was…

  A gentle tap on her shoulder. She turned to Aien.

  “You look very troubled,” he said.

  “I don’t like any of this. If something happens to him, Gima will bme me, and she will be right.”

  “It’s not your fault that they can’t refuse it. From what you’ve said they had this grudge before we even met Loho.”

  “I don’t know how you stay so calm.”

  “Is that how I look?”

  Kaye took a good look at Aien. He had an edge of seriousness to his composure, but that was how he always seemed. Cautious, at most.

  “Yes?” Kaye said.

  “Maybe you’re just too honest.”

  I lied to my parents for fifteen years.

  “I understand what you mean, but I wouldn’t call it honesty. It’s simply caring. Loho… we saw what Loho is capable of, but he’s still a man. I’d rather not ruin anyone’s lives if I don’t have to.”

  Aien nodded, but said nothing else. Whether he had nothing else to say or didn’t want to argue, Kaye didn’t know.

  They approached the Temple of Death soon after. The building was raised in front of a rge square, which was already crowded despite the early hour. Before they slept, Loho had said that not only would one of them be waiting there, but that it would be Cozo.

  He was right. They found the man sitting halfway up the steps to the temple. He stood up, stepping closer just as confidently as he had seemed on the previous night, despite being alone.

  Saying nothing, he gestured with his head and moved past them.

  “I’d rather not,” Loho said.

  Cozo, a few steps below them by now, turned. His expression was unreadable beneath the jade mask.

  “We are here. Draw your swords and let’s be done with it,” Loho said.

  “Udar asked for the honor of killing you four times. Hisha denied it.”

  “I’m seeing neither of them here, unless they happen to be hiding in the crowd. Have you forgotten what happened the st time you tried to surprise me?”

  What are you doing, Loho? Kaye gnced at Aien. Their eyes met, but she found no answer there.

  “Draw your sword if you would like, Loho. I will turn my back, and you can decide what your honor dictates.”

  Cozo turned away.

  Loho drew his bde.

  Aien assumed a lower stance, seemingly ready to fight already.

  Saying nothing, without even turning to acknowledge it, Cozo continued down the steps. People on the crowd were noticing, pointing, moving farther away.

  “I shall be waiting here!” Loho shouted and sat on the step he had been standing on, sword in hand.

  Hearing that, Cozo stopped for a moment, but resumed walking soon after.

  “What are you pnning?” Aien asked.

  “Watch and learn, boy.”

  Aien snorted and sat down himself.

  Kaye, still standing, looked around. The moment of panic in the crowd had passed, but they all knew what a Headhunter had to do after drawing their sword. Since Loho was waiting, that meant that Cozo would collect the others. Hisha had been the one to voice the right, so what would have happened if Cozo had been provoked into the fight? From what little she knew about them, Kaye thought that Loho’s pn would have succeeded if it had been Udar in his pce. The man was younger and eager.

  You’re using the crowd, like you did st time. If they are the backstabbers you think they are, then you’re pnning on making a show of it so they…

  No, that didn’t add up. The three Headhunters had approached his house, stated their desire for revenge and left. They could just as easily follow Loho around, wait for a moment to surprise him, perhaps even when he left the city, to leave no witnesses behind. They adhered to the Headhunter’s honor rules just as much as Loho did.

  Loho doesn’t want to fight Hisha? The question sent a shiver through Kaye’s spine.

  It took conscious effort to keep her hand from approaching the dagger on her hip.

  Kaye sat down a few steps farther up than Aien. Loho was a commanding presence in the middle of a lower step, so much so that no one entered or left the temple from that side as they waited.

  No one, except the three Headhunters.

  Kaye paid closer attention to Hisha. Like all Headhunters, his clothing was simple and stained. Nothing in the way of armor, not even leather, since that would sap their strength in the heat of the desert. He stopped to remove his shirt, handed it to Udar, which left him with nothing more than brown trousers, moccasins, a jade skull, his sword and a dagger at his hip.

  Loho stood up, arms wide, double-edged sword in one hand as he descended the stairwell, one step after another.

  Are you calm, or hesitant?

  Kaye and Aien stayed where they were. Below, the two Headhunters were approaching, with Cozo and Udar being the only ones brave enough to stand around. The crowd had moved back, leaving behind a semi-circle of vacant space.

  Hisha drew his sword with calm. A rge, single-edged scimitar, the bde thicker than most swords with a hilt that seemed overly long.

  On this day of days, the Goddess of Death licks her lips, Kaye remembered the words. Behind her, she knew that the statue of Irina was watching.

  They circled each other, Hisha’s sword pointing up, Loho’s edged one forward.

  Loho feinted first. Hisha answered with nothing but a slight tilt to his posture. They continued drawing a circle, both always on the opposite side of it.

  This is completely different. Kaye had seen what Loho was capable of, but didn’t know his standing among the Headhunters.

  Then a feint turned into an attack, and Loho was stepping forward, aiming a thrust at his opponent’s hand.

  Hisha parried, batting the sword aside and stepping forward, bringing his own in a ssh. Loho stepped away from the first, but more were coming. His posture low, Hisha pursued, sshing from one side to the other then back again. Like a tide, each flowed into one another.

  But Hisha did not overstep. After four tries he retreated, assuming his previous neutral stance.

  Loho approached again, but stayed farther away than before, raising his sword to almost touch Hisha’s.

  How would I deal with it? Kaye found herself wondering. It was not as if the rger sword was impossible to approach, but a single good ssh would be enough to incapacitate her.

  Again and again, Loho spped the tip of his bde against Hisha’s, seemingly waiting for a moment where it diverted too far so he could try something.

  Being on even ground wasn’t helping. Kaye wasn’t a Headhunter, she had no reason to ever pursue a duel, but what would happen if she couldn’t stay away from someone like Hisha?

  Without any advantages he could exploit, Loho had to fight on even ground, there was no choice but to engage with the rger bde, and whatever he knew about Hisha’s prowess was keeping him cautious.

  It was barely a thrust. Hisha stopped moving for a moment, and simply pushed his bde forward the moment Loho’s touched it. As Loho retreated, Hisha seemed to fall forward, his posture gone as the weight of the sword pulled him. He had to stretch his leg far forward to regain bance, and then traced a long arc with his sword, left to right, aiming to catch Loho where he was approaching.

  Sword raised to meet the ssh, Loho crouched the moment before it hit. The strike swept past where his head had been standing a moment ago.

  Hisha was momentarily exposed on one side, and Loho dashed to catch the opportunity, bringing his sword down towards an arm as Hisha attempted to regain his posture. Bde touched skin, and the other seemed to retreat in an instant, a savage backsh that sent Loho back. The crowd gasped.

  Kaye leaned forward, not understanding. Loho had his back toward her, and it had obscured what happened. One moment Hisha’s guard was wide open, the next he seemed to somehow have caught up with Loho.

  As both Headhunters kept their distance, Kaye repyed their movements in her head. Was it simple strength? Loho was more precise a swordsman than his bulk hinted at, could Hisha simply be stronger than he seemed?

  When the two warriors inverted sides, Loho had a wound on his abdomen.

  The ssh had caught him above the navel, and a thin line of blood was dripping down. Loho had managed to reel back in the st instant. Kaye hadn’t even noticed, but it had to have happened, otherwise his guts would be spilling out by now.

  Hisha had been dealt the lightest of cuts to his forearm, not even deep enough to affect his capacity to wield the sword, but it was clear who would have been the winner had both committed to a single strike.

  How much of it was intentional? Had Hisha baited Loho? What did it even take to trust that he could pull his sword back in time? Whatever it was, it had worked, almost lethally so.

  When Loho raised his sword to touch Hisha’s, the tter approached, taking the offensive.

  Kaye understood it eventually. Hisha allowed the weight of the sword’s tip to pull his body at specific moments; in others, he’d throw his body to one side and the sword to the other so that both forces would accelerate one another. The precision necessary for that was astounding, and the confidence unshakeable. It was not as if any of those attacks would end it, not unless Loho took it head-on, but they always kept the shorter sword from approaching.

  Forced to a defensive position, Loho did little but parry and evade. Bdes met only to push one another away, metal cnging against metal.

  When she had released Loho, Kaye had seen him change something about the way he fought in every duel, always adapting to a new opponent, and though he accumuted far more wounds, what was happening in front of her eyes now felt more dangerous.

  Hisha took the offensive more than once, but never for too long. When Loho tried to stand close and look for an opening, it never came. When he forced a series of parries, every opening was too dangerous to lunge forward. When he fell on the defensive, Hisha always retreated of his own accord, never allowing to tire himself out.

  This is going nowhere. Both Headhunters had the stamina of a horse, so it seemed. Kaye expected Hisha to tire himself out first, and perhaps that was why he chased the offensive often, to force Loho to continuously flee and match his reserves.

  After a series of feints, Loho sshed against Hisha’s sword. The strength behind the blow brought the heavier sword leaning to the side, and Loho, instead of repeating his past mistake, followed it up with another strike.

  Hisha managed to retreat half a step. Loho was leaning forward when Hisha’s sword almost touched the ground, twisted, the edge side pointing up. He had let go of the long handle with a hand.

  Hisha brought his free hand down on the pommel, pushing up close to the guard with the other one.

  The sword came up like a lever, trailing blood, sending it high. Loho staggered back, gncing at the vertical cut in his torso in the spam of a heartbeat before resuming the attack.

  That ssh would never have killed. Loho seemed to have realized it at the same moment, bringing his sword from one side to the other again.

  Something fell on the ground behind them. A fsh of green.

  When Loho sshed for the next time, once again being blocked, his face was exposed. Hisha’s trick had reached just close enough to Loho’s face as to throw the mask off.

  Loho unched a series of sshes, violent and rageful. Hisha blocked one after the other, but he was having trouble retreating, Loho was always too close. Blood spttered to the ground with every step he took.

  He’s not just mad, he’s losing blood and he’s tired. The fight went on for too long.

  Then Loho stopped. A mere instant, a breath caught, and Hisha’s sword, having been left angled in the air after the st block, changed course, coming down upon Loho’s shoulder.

  Who pulled ahead with a burst of movement, catching the downward ssh on his own shoulder before it could build too much momentum. The bde bit into flesh and stopped.

  Loho slipped and fell face-first on the ground, unarmed.

  In one way, out the other, Loho’s sword was left behind, driven through Hisha’s chest even Loho fell.

  Hisha moved, pointing the projecting sword another way. The strength left his body in a breath, and Hisha colpsed to the ground, scimitar still in hand.

  Loho shuffled on the ground, pushing himself up with shaking arms.

  Among the dead silent crowd, Loho wavered to Hisha’s side, blood trailing behind him. He grasped Hisha’s hair with one hand and the mask with another.

  When Loho turned, his face was obscured by jade. He collected his own blood from his wounds, clenched his fists and he bellowed until he couldn’t stand anymore and colpsed once again, barely managing to keep himself from hitting the ground with a blood-soaked hand.