It was Theo!

And, gods love him, he was bristling!

“Hey there, Theodore,” I waved, not quite able to keep the relief I felt from my voice. “This is a pleasant surprise. How are things?”

“They're well,” he said, tearing his eyes away from Redforne and looking up at me for the first time. He squinted slightly, as if surprised. “Goodness! What are you doing up there? And don't say 'just hanging around', or I shall have to climb up there and beat you.”

Damn. So much for my first answer.

“Nothing, really. Relaxing, enjoying the view. I really should be cleaning, though,” I said, making a small production of whisking dust and small pebbles off the ledge. “With all the torches I burn in here, the stonework can get pretty sooty, and-”

“Lord Theodore Haundsing,” Redforne smiled, his voice full of good cheer. “Oh, I had hoped that it was you. Of all the Lords I suspected to be working with this walking dead man, you were the one I wished it to be most of all. Of all the many surprises that have happened this day, I do have to say that this is one of the more pleasant.”

“Really? How special,” drawled Theo.

“Indeed. If I may say, it is quite an honor you're about to do me. Unless you were about to suggest we do something ridiculously boring, like talk things over,” Redforne said, still grinning.

“Wouldn't think of it,” said Theo, rolling his neck. “Not the talky sort.”

“Rules?”

“Let's not bother – you don't strike me as the type to adhere to gentlemanly agreements.”

“Ah,” said Redforne sarcastically, briefly placing his palm on his chest. “You wound me, sir.”

“Yeah, that's sort of the plan actually.” Theo drew his sword with a distinct lack of flourish and inspected its length, still standing a good twelve feet away from the young Lord he was speaking with. “I'll give you a moment to wipe some of that white goop off of yourself, clean up, perhaps look a little less like someone who's been intimate with a street clown.”

I noticed that while Theo was speaking his left arm remained at his side, perfectly still. He wasn't drawing attention to it, but he wasn't using it either, thumb hooked casually at the top of his sword belt. I had forgotten that his arm had been cut badly in the Circles just yesterday ... and hadn't he said he wouldn't be doing anything with it for a month or so?

Maybe I had no right to be relieved, him showing up like this. Who was the better swordsman, after all? I had no clue.

“Theo,” I called down, realizing I should actually be doing something. “Be careful of the puddle on the floor there. Poison, extremely strong.”

“Noted,” he called back, eyes briefly darting to the puddle I'd referred to.

“Also,” I called out, “I stomped on his left hand a while ago – it's probably still really sore.”

Theo frowned, and appeared about to say something.

“Oh, and another thing,” I said, scooting over to the side of the precipice, preparing to slide forward and lower myself, “he seemed to favor the ribs on his right as he got up just now. Rather nasty fall ... he's probably a little tender on his whole-”

“Vincent,” Theo said, in his best I'm-being-patient voice, “I know you're trying to help, but please let me handle this. Details like that are just as likely to put me at a disadvantage when discussed openly. I'll explain exactly why in about five years or so, once you've reached a certain level of expertise. Also, stay up there where you are, I don't want you coming down here just yet.”

I stopped lowering myself before committing to anything particularly acrobatic, pulling myself once more atop the stony ledge. I looked down at my friend, puzzled.

“Okay, why not exactly? It's not like this kid's gone out of his way to be fair, what with breaking into my own keep to ambush me.”

“Pffft, to hell with fair,” Theo said, twirling his longsword a couple of times. “We've just never practiced two-on-one before, and it's actually quite hard to coordinate moves in a useful way. Plus, he might do something drastic, even with me here, just to get you.”

“Well,” Redforne tsk'ed, shaking his head in mock disappointment as he finished wiping the worst of the mess from his tunic, “It appears that you're not the brainless, bloodthirsty barbarian type I'd figured you for.”

“Oh, don't you worry about that.” Theo's face lit up in a frightfully wicked grin. “I've been known to enjoy a cup of blood or two. By the by, how's Lord Leventale faring?”

“He's in pain, obviously,” Redforne shrugged, as if such matters were of no consequence. He slowly drew the blade at his hip while reaching down to recover his other sword from the floor. “I don't think his smile is ever going to be the same though, not after the job you did on his chin. Still, we'll see what kind of smile he's capable of later this evening once he learns of your rather violent death.”

“Gee. I've never been threatened before. Now I'm all worried,” Theo said, blandly. Finishing one last mighty stretch, he turned to the left and presented Redforne his right side, sword angled down slightly with his palm towards the floor, left arm held slightly behind him for balance around belt-level.

Theo hadn't so much as drawn his off-hand blade yet, I noted uneasily.

“Shall we?” Redforne asked, taking up his now familiar guard position.

“Lets,” Theo said, looking unconcerned as ever.

They both stood motionless for several seconds. My breath caught in my chest as I watched them, afraid to move for fear of disturbing the silent contest of wills or triggering some premature violent explosion between them.

Redforne was first to break the stillness. Nearly silently, he leapt forward with his two swords raised above his head, his entire body suggesting sudden violent mayhem ... and then just as quickly he leapt back to where he'd begun.

I don't think Theo so much as blinked.

Chuckling lightly to himself, Redforne assumed a much less dramatic pose and began to side-step, circling to his left while keeping both swords before him, watching Theo carefully. His eyes were bright, and his excitement was unmistakeable.

Theo began to circle as well, simply having to step forward while turning slowly, presenting only his side.

And then it began in earnest.

I wasn't even sure I caught everything happening between them, even as I watched. I mean, I know what I think I saw, but I'm sure that some moves were so outside of my comprehension that I can only describe how it looked from my vantage point, perhaps doing the sheer artistry of the deadly contest a gross injustice.

Redforne struck quickly, bounding towards Theo and bringing one sword around in a wide arc while simultaneously beginning a second tremendous swing with the other, vaguely reminiscent to how I'd seen him attack Ismir in the Circles.

Theo, rather than bothering to parry the swords fully, simply shifted his own massive one-handed blade to deflect Redforne's savage downward-angled blows ever so slightly, allowing them to miss him entirely. He repeated this time and time again, barely modifying his stance, effortlessly allowing the ribbons of deadly steel to slide off his blade or simply whoosh by him.

Pressing forward like a wildcat, Redforne continued to turn and leap and slash at his opponent, constantly whirling and spinning, silver arcs of light dancing dangerously before him. Both swords moved far faster than my eye was capable of registering. He was perpetually in motion, dark curls bouncing around his face as he spun and leapt from one position to the next, always attacking or otherwise sending his deadly blades forward one after the other, relentlessly.

Each attack was expertly deflected, and it looked like Theo was barely even working. Every time I expected the clang of metal on metal to assault my ears, I instead heard the 'wshhhing!' of one blade sliding down another, barely seeming to touch at all.

Redforne's attacks got wilder and heavier, becoming more desperate looking, his mighty overhand swings streaking towards his opponent again and again. The young Lord began to look the slightest bit clumsy, as if desperate to break through Theo's simple and effective defense with a display of brute force.

And then Theo broke from his calm defensive stance, half-spinning into a turn to face Redforne mid-swing. His left hand drew the shortsword from his belt, and he shifted as if about to leap forward.

I'm not entirely sure how, given Theo's foot position and momentum at the time, but instead of leaping towards Redforne, he leapt backwards and away from him.

I didn't even have time to question the wisdom of his strange move. Even as my brain was trying to make sense of it, I saw Redforne's off-hand blade scythe purposefully through the space Theo's head had occupied a split second before. Even with how far he'd leapt, the point missed Theo's face by mere inches.

Gulp.

“Cute,” Theodore sniffed, sounding unimpressed. He casually walked back to where he'd been standing mere moments before, sword lowered back in place, once again presenting only his side.

Redforne gave an amused half-shrug in reply, face still radiating cocky amusement.

“You gonna do more than throw cute tricks at me all night, or do you want to maybe give up now before you get hurt?”

The look of amusement fell from Redforne's face, and was replaced by an ugly sneer.

“Yeah, I'll just use the best move I know on the first pass,” Redforne said, snidely. “What a novel idea.”

“Just trying to talk you out of forcing me to commit infanticide is all. You catch your breath a bit, junior ... I'll wait.”

Redforne glared at him, and attacked anew a fraction of a second later.

The next several passes were slight variations of the first, if breathtaking skill wrapped in a dance of death could be so lightly dismissed by such a description.

Both would step away from each other and pause after expending about half a minute's worth of effort, testing each other out. Theo was still calmly deflecting everything that Redforne was throwing at him, but Redforne didn't appear to be getting frustrated or upset. Each studied the other warily between flurries of activity, as if lost in peaceful contemplation.

During one pass Theo became very animated after Redforne's third swing, parrying the blows fully instead of gently deflecting them. He advanced a step, and then another, launching several powerfully vicious attacks of his own. Redforne was forced to retreat about a half dozen steps before they disengaged. Theo calmly took a few steps back as well, chuckling loudly enough to be heard.

Redforne scowled, assumed his guard position once more, and just as quickly they were back at it.

Just as it was starting to look like the two swordsmen would fight each other to a standstill, Redforne shifted his body slightly, took two tentative steps backwards and froze for the briefest moment.

And then, in a manner nearly identical to how he'd done it in the Circles that afternoon, his left hand sent his sword sailing high into the air. An instant later he rushed Theo, armed with a single sword.

Theo whipped his sword above his head sharply, knocking the flying blade out of the air and sending it to a nearby corner of the room where it landed with a clatter. His off-hand sword moved swiftly to fend off the attack being mounted by Redforne with the blade he still possessed.

Redforne all but ignored his airborne weapon this time. With both hands on the pommel of the gleaming sword he still held, the curly-haired youth gave a small battle-cry as he brought it down sharply, striking Theo's defensively positioned shortsword with such force that it made my teeth ache just to hear it.

Theo gave an exclamation of pain.

Instantly, his strike finished, Redforne dove to the floor rolling towards his fallen sword, narrowly avoiding a devastating follow-up swing from Theo. A few tumbling, acrobatic leaps later and Redforne was on his feet, crouching in the corner of the room. Carefully watching the other swordsman, the young Lord's empty hand quested along the stone floor for the sword that Theo had batted out of the air.

The attack hadn't made it past Theo's defenses, but it hadn't been intended to. It was an attack that was directed at the sword itself, and the arm holding it.

Redforne probably saw the same thing I did – Theo had the clenched jaw and pallor of someone in extreme pain. Small beads of sweat were beginning to form on his forehead and upper lip. He'd been forced to block a two-handed swing entirely with his injured left, and even though he tried not to acknowledge the injury, it was obvious to anyone who knew what to look for that he was hurt.

As if for added emphasis, a thin line of blood began to trickle down towards his elbow from underneath the high sleeve of his shirt. If the wound he received at the hands of Leventale had required stitches yesterday, he'd no doubt torn them.

As Theo tried to project a relaxed lack of concern, taking up a guard position once more, Redforne gave him an arch little smirk from across the room.

“Yeah,” Redforne laughed. “Thought so.”

He all but flew at Theo, both swords flashing before him.

Theo attempted to continue presenting only his side, but Redforne's new strategy made that all but impossible now. The black-garbed Lord constantly shifted and turned, moving around the larger swordsman to change the position of his attack.

Gone were the fancy spinning moves, the large forceful arcs that Theo had been deflecting up to that point. These were precise strokes, lunges, and some sword movements that I didn't even recognize ... all of which seemed designed to force Theo's arms to work much harder than they had up to that point.

Maybe I was the only person in all of Harael who could have detected the subtle changes in my friend's expression and poise, but I knew. Even as Theo projected the same stoic calm he'd shown at the beginning of the fight, I knew...

Theo was worried.

He was not even attempting to mount any sort of offense, and had a look of intense concentration as he parried or deflected these new attacks from Redforne. The sweat from effort and pain was clearly standing out on his face now, and I could see the slightest hint of a wince every time I saw him use his left arm.

I sat there high up on the wall, watching helplessly and cursing my impotence.

And then once again, Redforne made a calculated retreat back-wards before sending his off-hand blade up into the air, rushing at Theo a moment later.

Gods, but I was getting tired of seeing him do that.

As he had the time before, Theo made as if to bat it out of the air and away from him. This time, Redforne's approach was much different than before. Both of Redforne's hands were gripping his remaining sword, but with the blade point extending before him like a lance.

There was a clang as Theo sent the airborne sword sailing away once more, twisting sideways as he did so to avoid the oncoming spear-like attack. Then, after a quick cut at Redforne's knees, he practically threw himself atop the young Lord in an effort to tie him up. If even partially successful, he could maneuver Redforne away from his fallen sword, which meant that Theo would suddenly possess a distinct advantage, injury or no.

Redforne moved to embrace the oncoming attack, and once more slid around the space Theo occupied in that serpentine manner of his, somehow ending up behind him. I watched as the point of Redforne's remaining sword snaked around Theo's shoulder, gleaming at his throat a mere eye-blink later.

Theo's longsword slid upwards from his chest and purposefully wedged itself into the nearly non-existent space between his neck and Redforne's own razor-sharp steel. An instant later, Theo's biceps were straining to push the gleaming sword edge away from his neck, a feat that it appeared he was more than capable of performing, despite his injured left arm. Redforne's blade slowly yielded to Theo's superior strength.

And then it yielded far too quickly.

Practically letting go of his blade, Redforne allowed Theo's own muscles to propel his arms and longsword forward due to the unexpected lack of resistance. Redforne's left hand had snuck to Theo's back in order to assist my friend's sudden momentum, and he shifted his own stance in a confident, practiced manner.

Theo's legs connected solidly with the younger swordsman's outstretched limbs, tripping him and causing Theo to lurch forward unsteadily, his feet parting company with the ground below them.

And as Theo was in the air, falling, I saw Redforne leap atop of him, positioning his own body directly over the falling form of my friend, his knees protruding below him.

Theo slammed into the floor, already in the process of rolling away so he might put some distance between them.

Redforne's knees, driven by the weight of the rest of his body, connected with Theo's head. There was a sharp crack.

The two individuals collapsed in a tangle, and it was Redforne who recovered first. He hopped back up just high enough to allow himself to fall, extending his elbow in the same way he’d done with his knees. His back obscured my view of Theo's upper body, but I could hear the dull thud of impact as Redforne's elbow connected with its target.

A second time he raised himself up high enough to bring his elbow down upon Theo's head with a sickening thud. And again.

“Theo!” I cried.

Barely hesitating and not sparing me a glance, Redforne took his single sword and raised it over his head, still sprawled atop Theo's struggling form, further obscuring him from view.

He brought the pommel of the sword down swiftly, like a steel battering ram. I heard rather than saw the solid, gleaming metal smack against Theo's temple.

Theodore's right hand released its grip, and his sword clattered apologetically as it fell a half-inch onto the floor.