Hansen twitched his gauntlet. His arc touched Taddeusz’ and cut it, breaking the circuit.
The warchief switched hands. Hansen slashed. Taddeusz’ AI shifted power from attack to defense, but his armor’s scarlet and gilt burned away in a line from wrist to shoulder.
Hansen let his opponent back a step uncertainly.
“Taddeusz,” he said. “You see that I don’t need to fear you. Let’s stop this now.”
Taddeusz lunged forward. The arc fanning from Hansen’s gauntlet absorbed the thrust before it touched his golden armor. Hansen twisted his hand and overloaded the weapon close to the warchief’s gauntlet.
“Taddeusz!” he shouted. “I haven’t touched your daughter. I swear it on my honor!”
He’d’ve sworn he hadn’t touched Unn, Acca, or anybody at all if he’d thought it would prevent an unnecessary killing. But even the truth was useless here. . . .
Taddeusz stepped in, his arc flickering from one gauntlet to the other as the warchief searched for an opening with the skill of long practice and natural talent. Hansen shifted his own broad arc, reading Taddeusz’ power shifts to block each threat before it occurred.
Golsingh wore tights and a black velvet doublet as he watched expressionlessly from the sidelines. Unn and Krita stood to either side of him. Malcolm and Maharg were to Krita’s left.
The air was bright and warm, so only a few of the spectators were wrapped in furs.
Taddeusz attempted a furious overhead cut. Hansen caught the stroke and held it, stepping closer while power draining to Taddeusz’ weapon froze the warchief’s armor.
Hansen’s left gauntlet spat a second arc. He thrust surgically, aiming for Taddeusz’ ankle. Paint blistered.
The warchief’s weapon went dead as his battlesuit overloaded. Hansen stepped back and let Taddeusz fall on his face in the mud.
“Listen to me!” Hansen said. “I don’t want to kill you. Stop this nonsense, take your armor off, and let’s discuss the good of the kingdom.”
Taddeusz rolled to his back. Balled dirt stripped from his red and gold armor as his suit powered up again.
The black scars on the warchief’s arm and ankle were a reminder of how badly he was overmatched. Hansen let him rise.
“There’ll be no good in this kingdom so long as you live,” Taddeusz said. He turned the palm of his right hand toward Hansen.
Hansen brushed his opponent’s gauntlet with a low-amplitude arc from his own suit. Taddeusz’ bolt was deafening even through the battlesuit, but the touch of Hansen’s weapon steered the charge into the ground. Mud, burned to brick and shattered, blew in all directions.
“Taddeusz!” Hansen shouted. He was sweating despite anything his battlesuit’s flawless climate control could do. “Don’t make me kill—”
The warchief’s armor shuddered and gleamed as he reset it again. It was a fine suit, a royal suit. It recovered quickly.
“—you!”
“You’re a coward and no man at all!” Taddeusz shouted. “I’m going to kill—”
Hansen’s arc slashed at Taddeusz’ neck. The red and gold battlesuit resisted in a momentary blaze of blue fire.
Sparks of blazing metal replaced the electrical discharge, white droplets that pattered onto the ground where they raised puffs of steam.
Taddeusz’ helmet fell. For a moment the headless battlesuit remained upright. Then it too fell.
Hansen turned to Golsingh. “M-m . . . ,” he said.
His voice caught. Somehow during the fighting he’d bloodied his nose.
“My king,” he said. “Lord Golsingh. I regret . . . I regret . . .”
Golsingh nodded. Unn was cold-faced, but the scarf in her hands was twisted into a silken rope.
“I regret the death of your foster father,” Hansen continued with sudden assurance. “If you permit me, I’ll pay you the blood debt in the best way possible.”
He took a deep breath. “Make me your warchief in Taddeusz’ place, and I’ll lay the kingdom at your feet!”
Golsingh nodded. “Yes, Lord Hansen,” he said.
He looked around the circle of spectators with eyes as hard as Hansen’s own before adding, “And there will be none, I think, to deny the appointment.”
Chapter Twenty-six
North was the Matrix. His mind flowed through the shattered pathways like melt-water dancing down the rocks of a cataract. He was all the knowledge in his universe, and it was freezing him.