Forest Kingdom Trilogy 2 - Blood and Honor

more fun that way. Make room.'
    He didn't raise his voice, but the courtiers around them fell back to form a wide circle. Heather tugged urgently at Jordan's arm, and he reluctantly allowed her to pull him away from Gawaine to join the edge of the crowd. The courtiers watched eagerly as Sutton and Gawaine took up their stances opposite each other.
    Where the hell's the Regent? thought Jordan angrily. If he was here, he could stop this.
    Except this was a duel, and therefore sacrosanct, above and beyond the law. The Regent couldn't stop it now. Nobody could. The two men began to slowly circle each other.
    Don't let him get you angry, Jordan said silently to Gawaine. He wants you to get mad at him and wear yourself out pressing the attack. Keep your cool, and make him do most of the work.
    Sutton's sword swept out suddenly in a vicious blow at Gawaine's throat. The knight parried the blow easily with the flat of his axe and then had to guard himself again as Sutton cut at him a second time without pausing. The two men stamped and shuffled back and forth, feinting and thrusting and parrying, feeling out each other's strengths and weaknesses, and watching all the time for that momentary gap in the defence that would allow a killing stroke. The clash of steel on steel echoed loudly in the silent Court, underlined by the scuffing of boots on the polished floor and the quiet grunting of effort from the two men.
    Sutton thrust lithely at Gawaine's gut. The knight slapped the blow aside, and then swept his axe back in
    a sideways cut that sliced through Sutton's jerkin and left behind a thick red line of blood to mark its passing. Sutton grinned coldly, and his blade llashed out in a cut Gawaine couldn't quite parry in time.
    The t ip of the blade scored a razor-thin line just above Gawaine's left eyebrow. Blood ran down past his eye, but he didn't waste time t rying to brush it away. The two men fought on, neither yielding an inch.
    Jordan began to wonder what he would do if Gawaine lost. I le felt disloyal even thinking about it, but he had to be Kalistic. Gawaine was holding his own for the moment, but he was a great deal older than his opponent, and he just didn't have ilie stamina to maintain his attack for much longer. Tower Rouge was a long time ago. Sooner or later he'd start to slow >lown, and then Dark John Sutton would kill him. Sutton was i be best. Everyone knew that.
    Even as he thought that, the two men locked their weapons together and struggled face to face. Gawaine was already gasping for breath after his exertions, and Sutton smiled as he slowly began to force Gawaine's arm back against him. The knight struggled to hold his ground against the increasing pressure, his arms trembling with effort, but inch by inch Sutton's greater strength won out. And then Gawaine spat directly into Sutton's face. Sutton jerked back, startled, and in that moment when he was off balance, Gawaine brought his knee up sharply into Sutton's groin. The duellist's face screwed up with pain, and shocked tears ran down his cheeks as he fought for breath. He tried to lash out at Gawaine, but his swordarm wouldn't respond quickly enough. Gawaine ducked easily inside the blow and slammed his axe into Sutton's side. The axehead buried itself between Sutton's ribs, and the impact drove the duellist to one knee. Gawaine jerked the axe free, and it came loose with an ugly sucking sound. Blood flew on the air. Sutton tried to lift his sword, and couldn't. Gawaine raised his axe. Sutton tried to say something, and then Gawaine brought the axe swinging down, again and again and again. For a few moments the Court was full of the sound of butchery, of steel cleaving meat. Gawaine finally stepped back, and looked at the still and bloody figure on the floor before them.
    'You shouldn't have threatened my Emma,' he said softly. He looked round at the herald. 'Clean this mess up.'
    The herald nodded quickly, and gestured to two nearby servants. The Court slowly resumed its buzz of conversation, its voice respectfully hushed, at least at first. Gawaine wiped his axe clean with a piece of rag, and then sheathed it again. He moved back to rejoin Jordan and Heather. His sleeves were covered in blood, most of it Sutton's. Heather smiled broadly at him, and leant forward to kiss him quickly on the cheek. Jordan nodded to him respectfully.
    'That was . . . very impressive, Gawaine.'
    'It wasn't difficult, Sire. He was a duellist, and I'm a soldier. He never