Chương 143: Chapter 142 [Watching The Guard Tournament]

The bracket was posted on a board near the entrance, a crowd already gathered around it. Leo leaned over a couple of people to see it properly.

"Right," Phil said, scanning it.

"So if Shai, Kai, Torren and Ronan all win their matches, we're looking at Shai versus Kai and Torren versus Ronan in the semis."

"Those are both great matches. Tough for the both of us, though," Torren said.

"Father versus daughter," Luka said.

"More or less," Shai said.

"I'd rather fight Ronan than Kai, though."

"Can you beat him?" Leo asked her. Shai laughed.

"I've come close once or twice. But it's unlikely. He's a swordmaster. That title isn't handed out lightly; it takes decades of dedication to earn it. He's forgotten more about fighting than most people will ever learn."

"So that's a no," Phil said.

"That's a probably not," Shai said.

"There's a difference." Leo looked at Torren.

"What about Ronan?" Torren considered it.

"Similar situation, but for different reasons. Ronan is difficult to fight in a way that's hard to explain until you're in front of him. He never comes at you the same way twice, and he always finds a way to land something when you least expect it. Fighting him is like fighting someone with four swords instead of one." He paused.

"It's actually harder for me than fighting Kai."

"Really?" Sam said.

"Kai is a swordmaster. There's a logic to fighting him, even if the execution is nearly impossible. Ronan grew up the smallest fighter in his tribe. His entire style came from learning how to beat people much larger than him. He hasn't lost a fight back home in twenty years." Torren looked at the bracket.

"Fighting Ronan is fighting someone whose whole style was built to beat someone like me." Phil looked between the two of them.

"So you're both probably losing in the semis."

"Probably," Shai said.

"Almost certainly," Torren agreed.

"Brilliant," Phil said.

"I'm looking forward to watching this without having to focus too hard on how to win against everyone in front of me."

"That's true. Being just a spectator is going to be a nice change," Leo said. At the entrance, they split off. Shai turned to the group.

"Good luck," Leo said, and kissed her.

"Ooooooh," the lads said, more or less in unison. Leo grinned and flipped them the finger without looking back. Shai smiled.

"Thank you." She glanced at the others.

"Try not to embarrass yourselves."

"No promises," Phil said. She and Torren headed up toward the fighters' area. Rika led the rest of them down through the crowd to the front rail, the same spot she and Brandon had watched from the day before with Diane and the others. Leo found a seat and looked up. Shai and Torren appeared on the viewing platform a few minutes later. He settled in and waited for it to begin. The early rounds were quick.

Guards from Stonehall and the visiting villages, all of them good enough that the crowd stayed interested, but none of the fights lasted long enough to dwell on. Bredic went out in the second round. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"At least he won his bet on Brandon," Sam said.

"Even if it cost him a family dinner or two." Brandon laughed. Then he noticed Rika looking at him and stopped. The morning moved on. The crowd had opinions about everything and weren't quiet about any of them. A group of kids had claimed the best spot on a nearby wall and were being told to get down by someone who had clearly given up expecting it to work. Nessa went out in the quarters to Kai. Her footwork was good and she got inside his reach once, but he adjusted before she could make it count.

She walked off after the pair bowed to each other. Three-Nil. By the time the semis came around, the bracket had gone exactly as expected. The first match was Torren against Ronan. The size difference was obvious from where Leo was standing. Ronan looked tiny compared to Torren, the maul looking more menacing than normal given his size. Ronan didn't give Torren room to use it.

Every time Torren tried to establish distance, Ronan was already somewhere else, moving in weird patterns, finding angles that looked impossible, getting a strike in and moving before Torren could respond. The first point went to Ronan almost before the crowd had settled. The second wasn't much slower. By the third, it was clear that Torren wasn't losing because he was worse; he was losing because Ronan had spent his entire life learning how to turn his foe's strength into a weakness. Three-Nil.

Ronan walked over and clapped Torren on the arm, still grinning. Phil leaned over to Leo.

"He's terrifying."

"Yeah," Leo said. Torren came back to the rail and stood next to them.

"He's something else," Leo said. Torren nodded.

"I've never found a way around it. Maybe I never will." He didn't seem particularly bothered by that, which was very true to his character. Leo turned to him.

"Nice try, though." Torren smiled.

"Thank you, Leo." The second semi was louder before it even started. Kai and Shai came out of opposite tunnels and the crowd found another level. Leo felt it in the rail under his hands. Everyone in Stonehall knew the story and the noise carried all of it. Shai came close in the first exchange, nearly landing twice before Kai read it and shut it down. He took the point. The second she pressed him harder and the crowd leaned in. Kai took that one too, but it took him longer.

The third point Shai took clean, and the noise that went up was loud enough that Leo felt it in his chest. Kai took the fourth to close it out. Three-One. They stood across from each other for a moment, and then Shai nodded and Kai nodded back. She came back to the rail a few minutes later, and Leo put his arm around her.

"Nice try, babe." Shai looked at him.

"Babe?"

"It's a term of endearment from back home. Love, honey, darling are a few others." She considered it.

"I like it. Thanks, Honey." Leo smiled wide. The final was different from everything that had come before it. Ronan and Kai had fought enough times that the early exchanges looked almost cautious to anyone who didn't know what they were watching. Leo knew enough by now to see it for what it was: two people taking apart each other's gambits before they'd fully formed, every small movement a question and an answer at the same time. The crowd felt it even if they didn't know exactly what it was.

The noise settled into a quiet simmer as they watched the chess-match-like fight unfold. Ronan took the first point off a redirect Leo almost missed. Kai took the next two with a mix of flowing strikes and feints, the combos too fast for even Ronan to redirect. Ronan levelled it at two-all with an acrobatic slash that managed to dodge Kai's attack in mid-air. It got a noise from the crowd that was half appreciation and half disbelief. The fifth point took longer than the previous four combined.

Neither of them was willing to commit to anything that gave the other an opening. Then Kai managed to come out with the win by boxing Ronan into the corner and forcing him to choose between being hit right away or in two moves with the wall at his back. Three-Two. They stood across from each other for a moment, both breathing harder than they'd let on during the fight. Ronan nodded. Kai nodded back. The crowd came back to life. Kai appeared through it a few minutes later.

The group congratulated him, Rika getting there first. Leo caught Ronan just behind him.

"Good fight," Leo said to both of them. Ronan grinned.

"I'll take it next year."

"We'll see," Kai said. The group drifted away from the arena, and then Phil slowed down.

"I'm going to wander off for a bit."

"Why?" Leo said.

"You looking for someone to dance with later?" The others laughed. Phil looked at him.

"Yeah, actually." That stopped the group.

"Seriously?" Luka said.

"Why is that surprising?"

"It's not," Sam said.

"Good idea." Phil looked at Torren.

"You know anyone who might be up for it?" Torren smiled slowly.

"I might be able to help with that. Come on." Sam and Luka fell in behind them. Leo watched them go.

"Right then," Rika said. She looked at Brandon.

"Come on, Brandon. I'll show you the steps before tonight so you don't stand on my feet." Brandon opened his mouth.

"I don't need..." Rika grabbed his arm and walked. Brandon managed one look back at Leo before he disappeared around the corner. The look of a man with absolutely no say in the matter. Leo stood with Shai and watched the street empty out.

"Did Phil plan this?" he said.

"It didn't feel like it," Shai said.

"It was too natural."

"Yeah, true." Shai looked at him.

"You think he'll find someone?" Leo thought about it.

"Yeah. I'm curious to see who he picks in the end."