The Darkness Before the Dawn - By Ryan Hughes Page 0,98

being booed. The crowd cheered for Dochak, an enormous hulk of sun-darkened flesh who stood taller and outweighed even the ten-foot-high tohr-kreen. Surprisingly, instead of the usual club or spear that half-giants generally used for weapons, this one carried a dejada, a throwing weapon that used a long, scooped basket for a sling to propel a variety of projectiles called pelota. He also carried a small shield in his left hand, the projectile-holding one.

The old man pounded his staff on the bench in excitement. He turned to Jedra and said, “Those long arms of his’ll make those peloters fly faster’n a bee-stung zhackal! Half-giants’re clumsy, though, so the tohr-kreen’s got a chance if he’s quick.”

“Oh, he’s quick,” Jedra assured him, but he was thinking, I hope he’s quick enough.

The crier shouted “Go,” and the battle started. Dochak immediately flung a pelota at Kitarak, who easily raised a shield to fend it off. Kitarak flung his kyorkcha at the half-giant, who raised his own shield. He barely clipped the edge of the spinning blade with it, but that was enough to deflect it and send it flying high into the air. The crowd gasped when it looked as if the weapon would land in the stands, but it curved around and spun back to Kitarak’s outstretched hand.

He’s using psionics, too, Jedra said to Kayan.

It looks like he is. They must let him do a little before they come down on him.

Jedra felt himself relax. If Kitarak could use psionics, then the battle was over already. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly while the half-giant threw a wicked, spiked pelota that stuck dead-center in Kitarak’s right-hand shield, and another that veered away under psionic deflection and bounced with a loud crack off the stone wall below the king and the templars.

Kitarak threw the kyorkcha again, and this time it swooped low beneath the half-giant’s shield and sliced deep into his left thigh before spinning around and returning to the tohr-kreen’s hand. Dochak bellowed with rage as blood began to run down his leg. Taking advantage of the wound, Kitarak leaped forward, flicking his upper left hand to slide the gythka out to full extension, and brought it down in a blow that would have taken off the half-giant’s head if he hadn’t managed to shield himself in time. The multibladed hacking end of the polearm thudded into the wood and stuck there. Kitarak tried to wrench it free, but the half-giant reached out and snatched the metal handle before the tohr-kreen could work it loose. With one wrench of his meaty hand the half-giant crumpled the hollow tube and snapped it off, leaving the blade embedded in his shield and leaving Kitarak holding a much-shortened gythka with only the thrusting blade left on the opposite end.

The crowd roared, and Jedra groaned, but Kitarak might have planned it that way all along for all the dismay he showed. He merely whirled the gythka around and lunged past the half-giant’s outstretched arms to stab him in the belly.

Dochak staggered back, limping on his wounded leg, but his vital organs were deeper than Kitarak had managed to penetrate. He hardly bled from the new wound. In fact, he acted as if he barely felt it. He loaded his dejada and flung the projectile in one smooth motion, and this time he connected, striking Kitarak in the upper right shoulder joint. Chips of chitinous exoskeleton sprayed out from the impact, and the pelota careened into the lower stands, striking a slave on the head and dropping him like a limp rag.

“That’s another reason why these are the good seats,” cackled the old man. “We don’t have a row of slaves to stand between us and harm’s way like the nobles do, so we need time to duck.”

Jedra shushed him, his attention riveted on the battle. Kitarak was hurt! His arm had fallen to his side, useless, but he dropped his shield on that side and took the kyorkcha in his lower hand, then flung it at Dochak at the same close range. The spinning blade nicked the half-giant’s neck, and this time blood flowed freely, cascading down over his shoulder and chest.

Kitarak backed off and retrieved the kyorkcha as it completed its circular path. He had to dodge another pelota, but the half-giant’s aim and speed weren’t what they had been at the start, and the projectile hit the sand behind him and bounced to a stop before it even reached the