Aahz had insisted I practice this walk. He said it would make me look confident and self-possessed. Now that I was actually appearing before a king, I found I was using the walk, not as a show of arrogance, but to hide the weakness in my legs.
“Well?” the general rumbled, looming before me. “I asked you a question! Where did you get that pike? You’d best answer before I grow angry!”
Something in me snapped. Any fear I felt of the general and his axe evaporated, replaced by a heady glow of strength.
I had discovered on my first visit to the Bazaar at Deva that I didn’t like to be pushed by big, loud Deveels. I discovered now that I also didn’t like it any better when the arrogance came from a big, loud fellow Klahd.
So the big man wanted to throw his weight around, did he?
With a twitch of my mind, I summoned the pike. Without turning to look, I brought it arrowing over my shoulder in a course destined to embed it in the general’s chest.
The general saw it coming and paled. He took an awkward step backward, realized it was too late for flight, and groped madly for his axe.
I stopped the pike three feet from his chest, floating it in front of him with its point leveled at his heart.
“This pike?” I asked casually.
“Ahh …” the general responded, his eyes never leaving the weapon.
“I took this pike from an overly rude soldier. He said he was following orders. Would those orders come from you, by any chance?”
“I … urn. . . .” The general licked his lips. “I issued orders that my men deal with strangers in an expedient fashion. I said nothing about their being less then polite.”