James Enge - Blood of Ambrose

"None came forward-" Urdhven began, but stopped as the dwarf tapped his chest modestly. "Very well," he conceded. "Daen, bring another chair. But it is a mere point of honor, Wyrtheorn, since there will be no combat here today. Your champion has forfeited."

"The Lady Ambrosia's champion," the dwarf corrected him gently, as he sat down on the King's right hand. "But, with respect, that word is not yours to say. The King is the judge of this combat, and he may grant my request if he chooses."

The Protector turned his masklike golden face on the King, who found he could not speak. He knew what his uncle wanted him to say. He knew what the dwarf wanted him to say. He knew what his Grandmother would want him to say. But he didn't know what to say. There was no rule to go by, no ceremony to tell him whose wishes he must obey.

The silence grew long. It spread from the royal box to the crowd on either side. A quiet fell on the dusty enclosure. In it, all heard the dim cry of a horn sounding to the east.

The horn sounded from the dead lands masking the broken city in the east. It grew louder as they listened. It ceased for a moment; when it returned it was louder yet. Soon, looking east, they could see the source of the call: an armed man on horseback appeared at the crest of a gray hill, the horn raised to his lips. The ululating call was unfamiliar to everyone in the enclosure. But it rang with defiance.

The armed rider disappeared, plunging down the slope of the hill to be hidden by another. Presently he topped that one and could be seen more clearly. The horse was a powerful black stallion; the rider's armor was black chain mail; a long black lance with pennons was slung beside him. A black cloth covered his shield, but as he rode onto the plain where the enclosure stood, he threw the horn away and shook the cloth loose from the shield. Blazing out from a black field, the device was a white hawk in flight over a branch of flowering thorn-the arms of Ambrosius.

"I withdraw my request, Your Majesty," Wyrtheorn said with relief he did not even attempt to hide. "Ambrosia's champion is here."

Urdhven turned to him, his face a golden mask of fury. "If he uses sorcery he will die. It was not for nothing I brought my army here! He will die and she will die and you, too, will die, little man."

"I am not a man," the dwarf replied. "Further, what is your army to Morlock or to me? Had we chosen to steal Ambrosia by night, or in the open day, you could have done nothing to stop us. But we desire that Ambrosia again be able to walk the streets of her city-"

"It is not her city."

"It is her city. It exists because she created it. She has spent her life defending it. Her children have gone on to conquer half a world. The palace she designed and built justly wears her great ancestor's name. If Ambrosia is to enter it again, the lies about her must be crushed; she must be acquitted in law. Therefore, Morlock will use no magic. I tell you, he needs none to best any living man with the sword."

The Protector laughed derisively.

The armed rider was now approaching the enclosure fence. He did not slacken his speed but bent forward, as if he were talking to his charger. It cried out and cleared the fence in a magnificent leap, landing in the center of the field.

A shout of admiration went up from the watching crowd, quickly stifled as they remembered the soldiers watching them. The armed rider, neglecting the traditional salute to the sovereign, lifted his left hand in greeting toward the prisoner. She did not move or change her expression in any way, but her eyes were on him.

Now the Red Knight moved forward in the lists and, setting his spear to rest, spurred his horse to charge. The black knight was hardly able to unsheathe his lance before the other was upon him, so he lashed out with the spear in a hasty but powerful parry, knocking aside the Red Knight's lance. The Red Knight thundered past, and the black knight roused his steed to a canter, riding to the opposite end of the lists.

"Your champion does not stand on ceremony," Wyrth remarked to the Urdhven.

"Sir Hlosian Bekh is the champion of the Crown," the Protector replied stiffly.

"Ah. Well, at least you stand on ceremony."

The Protector smiled his leonine smile. "Ceremony is very well," he conceded, "but they"-he gestured at the crowd-"will not be won by ceremonies, or kept by laws. They are only impressed by victory, by power."

"You know," the dwarf replied, "I disagree with you. When Morlock wins-

"That is not possible."

"Then this is simply a ceremony, not a trial. Or is that what you've been telling me?"

The Protector's silent smile was ominous.

Now both knights had repositioned themselves at opposing ends of the lists. The heralds' trumpets sounded three times, the call to attack. Then both champions charged into the narrow field, their spears at rest. As they drove toward each other the Red Knight's lance swung back and its point struck full on the white device of the black shield. But the Red Knight's spear shattered like glass and the black knight rode past unshaken.

No one dared cheer. But the silence grew as dense as the clouds of dust rising to obscure the noon-bright air.

"A good shield is worth its weight in spears," Wyrth remarked cheerfully to the King, who smiled doubtfully.

The delay between passes was greater this time, as the Red Knight needed a new spear. Finally the trumpets sounded again; the combatants thundered again into the lists, their armor gleaming dimly through the descending mist of dust.

Spear-points wavered in the air, then one struck home. The Red Knight's spear hit the black knight just under the helmet, a killing blow, throwing Ambrosia's champion from the saddle. He struck the dusty ground, his armor singing like the cymbals of Winterfeast, and he lay there.

The tension in the crowd perceptibly relaxed. There were mutters of relief and sighs that were unmistakably disappointed. Ambrosia's champion had fallen as so many of theirs had fallen, so many of their kinsmen, sacrifices to the prowess of the Red Knight.

Ambrosia's iron-gray gaze was as impassive as ever, and still fixed on the fallen knight.

Wyrth's gaze followed Ambrosia's, and he laughed aloud. The black knight was moving. "The old fool was right!" he muttered.

Meeting the King's astonished eye, he explained, "You see, Your Majesty, Morlock insisted on making his own armor for the combat. That's why he was late for the trial. I said it was a waste of time, and they'd be stringing his sister's guts across the gateposts of the city before he got here. He got this look on his face-you've probably seen Ambrosia wear it-and we did things his way. It probably saved his neck just now."

"Dead or defeated, it does not matter," the Protector said, rising. "The combat is over."

"Your champion doesn't think so," the dwarf retorted. "Look!"

The Red Knight had turned to contemplate his dead opponent. Seeing the black knight alive seemed to drive him to fury, and he turned his horse about to charge down on the dismounted knight. Only by rolling to the side of the lists did the black knight avoid being trod under the hooves of the Red Knight's horse.

A rumble of discontent, even contempt, arose from the crowd.

"This is not the game, as it was handed down from days of yore," the dwarf remarked, "is it? Why, if a combatant tried a trick like that back in the Vraidish homelands, north of the Blackthorns, the Judge of the Combat would have his head on the spot."

"We are not in the Vraidish homelands," replied the Protector, sitting down again.

"Evidently not. Here he comes again."

The Red Knight indeed had turned his horse and was charging down the lists again, intent on trampling his opponent. The crowd watched in stony silence; even the Protector seemed ill at ease.