Sergios’ gaze shifted to the High-Lord and his look was pitying. “Lord Demetrios, I am your sworn man, this you well know. I have forsaken friends and . . . and even my loved family in your service. Many of your commands have been distasteful; nonetheless, they were your commands and, God help me, I discharged my orders. But, my lord, only my body is sworn to you … not my soul, my honor.”
Such was his pique at the words that Demetrios forgot everything—time, place . . . and circumstances, as well. He stamped his foot. “Paghl Now you’re talking like that treacherous old fool of a father you had. We’d credited you as a civilized man, a man of intelligence, a realist. Without life, you fool, honor has no value, if it has any, anyway … which we doubt.”
Sergios’ look of pity intensified and his voice, too, became pitying. “Poor my lord. In this, as in so many things, your mind has become twisted. To you, realism is cynicism; intelligence denotes but the word for a constant agreement with you; civilized is your term for a life devoted entirely to debauchery, senseless cruelty, and perversion.
“To you, honor does not have value, for you lack any shred of it and, truly, you know not its meaning. My lord, your poor, sick mind has reversed the order of things; without honor, life has no value. To die here and now, with honor, under this brave lord’s blade, will be a quick and almost painless death. To live, with dishonor as you command me, would be death, too, but a slow and unbearable death.”
His eyes locked again with Pardos’ and he smiled. “I am ready, my lord. You are a far better man than the lord I served. It will be an honor to die under your hand. Let your stroke be hard and true.”
“It will be both, Lord Sergios,” replied Pardos. “I derive no joy from the sufferings of brave men. You are truly a man of honor and all men should give credit to your house. Please, tell me its name, that I and my men may remember it and you in times to come.”
“I have the honor to be the son of Alexandros of Pahpahspolis, formerly Strahteegohs of Strahteegohee of Kehnooryos Ehlahs.”
Lord Pardos’ voice held a gravity bordering upon awe. “Your father was a man of far nobler and purer lineage than those he served. And I had heard that his son still served Basil’s son. When I learned what you are, I should have known who you are, Lord Sergios.
“It is said that blood will tell. Your’s certainly has, and I’ll not bear the guilt of shedding more of the precious stuff. To butcher an unnatural swine is one thing; to murder a valiant man of high and ancient nobility is quite another.”
He withdrew his dagger and stood up. Sergios, too, tried to rise, but fell back, groaning between clenched teeth. With hard face, Pardos strode purposefully toward! Demetrios. At the sight of that bloody dagger’s approach, the High-Lord’s bladder and knees failed him at the same] time. Groveling in a spreading pool of his urine, hffl clasped his be-ringed hands and raised them beseechingly.! “Oh, please . . . pleasel” he blubbered. “Please don’t kill me … we … I … you . . . you can have every-] thing, everything] Here!” Frantically, he stripped off all the rest of his rings, fumbled them into one cupped palm, and extended them in Pardos’ direction.
Coldly furious, the Sea Lord slapped the preferred hand, sending the costly baubles flying in all directions, and started to recommence his advance on his victim, only to find that some weight was impeding his leg. He looked down to find that Sergios’ unwounded right arm was wrapped about his booted ankle.
A wide pool of blood marked the place where the young admiral had lain. And a broad, red trail showed the path along which he had dragged himself. Now that he had turned onto his belly, the jagged rent that one of Pardos’ blows had torn in the gambeson diagonally down from the left shoulder was very obvious. Through this dangerous wound, as well as those in his left arm and his scalp, his life was gradually oozing out. The only color left on his face were the streaks of gore from his head and from the place his teeth had met in his lower lip.