The Heroes

it.
    Gorst whipped his steel across on the backhand, saw movement at the limit of his vision, changed the angle of his swing and let it go wide, roaring, opening his shoulder, hit a Carl in the side of the helmet so hard he was ripped off his feet and pitched upside down into a tangle of spears. Gorst snapped back, bringing the steel scything over, but the Northman rolled away as nimbly as a squirrel and came up ready even as Gorst’s sword sent up a spray of dirty water beside them.
    Gorst found he was smiling as they faced each other again, the battle a sodden nightmare around them.
When did I last live like this? Have I ever?
His heart was pumping fire, his skin singing as the rain trickled down it.
All the disappointments, the embarrassments, the failures are nothing now.
Every detail standing out like a flame in the blackness, every moment lasting an age, every tiniest movement of him or his opponent a story of its own.
There is only win or die.
The Northman smiled back as Gorst shook the ruined shield from his arm and into the mud, and nodded.
And we recognise each other, and understand each other, and meet as equals. As brothers.
There was respect, but there would be no mercy. The slightest hesitation on either side would be an insult to the skill of the other. So Gorst nodded back, but before he was done he was already springing forward.
    The Northman caught the sword on his but Gorst still had his free hand, shrieking as he swung it, gloved fist thudding into bare ribs, the Northman twisted grunting sideways. Gorst aimed another lashing punch at his face but he jerked away, the pommel of the great sword shot out of nowhere and Gorst only just wrenched his chin back far enough, the lump of metal missing his nose by a whisker. He looked up to see the Northman leaping at him, sword raised high and already coming down. Gorst forced his aching legs to spring one more time, notched steel gripped in both hands, and caught the long blade with his own. Metal screeched, that grey edge biting into his Calvez-made steel and, with impossible keenness, peeling a bright shaving from the blade.
    Gorst was sent sliding back by the force of it, the huge sword held just short of his face, his crossed eyes fixed on the rain-dewed edge. He got purchase as his heels hit a corpse and brought the two of them to a wobbling halt. He tried to kick the Northman’s leg away but he blocked it with his knee, lurching closer, only getting them further tangled. They gasped and spat in each other’s faces, locked together, blades scraping and squealing as they shifted their balance one way or another, twisted their grips one way or another, jerked with one muscle or another, both searching desperately for some tiniest advantage, neither one able to find it.
    The perfect moment.
Gorst knew nothing about this man, not even his name.
But we are still bound closer than lovers, because we share this one sublime splinter of time.
Facing each other.
And facing death, the ever-present third in our little party.
Knowing it might all be over in a bloody instant.
Victory and defeat, glory and oblivion, in absolute balance.
    The perfect moment.
And though he strained with every sinew to bring it to an end, Gorst wished it would go on for ever.
And we will join the stones, two more Heroes to add to the circle, frozen in conflict, and the grass will grow up around us, a monument to the glory of war, to the dignity of single combat, an eternal meeting of champions on the noble field of-—
    ‘Oh,’ said the Northman. The pressure released. The blades slid apart. He stumbled back through the rain, blinking at Gorst, and then down, mouth hanging stupidly open. He still held the great sword in one hand, its point dragging through the mud and leaving a watery groove behind. With the other he reached up and gently touched the spear stuck through his chest, the blood already running down the shaft.
    ‘Wasn’t expecting that,’ he said. Then he dropped like a stone.
    Gorst stood, frowning down. It felt like a while, but probably it was only an instant. No telling from where the spear had come.
It is a battle. There is no shortage of them.
He heaved out a misty sigh.
Ah, well. The dance goes on.
The old man who had killed Jalenhorm was floundering in the muck just a step and a sword-swing away.
    He took the step, raising his notched steel.
    Then his head exploded with light.
    *
    Beck saw it all happen, through the straining bodies, barged and battered from