honor and whatever, getting him mixed up in our business like this. Then I couldn’t think about it anymore because the fighting had started and there wasn’t room for any thinking. I lunged forward while the poor bastard on the other end of my sword began defending himself in the cornered way that meant the fight was over before it had even really started. He knew it, and I knew it, but every man has the right to be stubborn.
I’d fought against Lord Temur in the training grounds. Shit, I’d even dueled with the bastion-damned Ke-Han Emperor himself, and both those fights had given me more than enough experience when it came to the Ke-Han style of man-to-man combat. The only thing the guard had over me was speed, which I was used to after the Emperor had turned out to be some kind of demon. The only thing you had to worry about when you were slower than the other guy was that when you hit him, you really had to connect.
Fortunately, connecting was kind of my specialty.
I hit him the next time he blocked high, throwing my weight in with the strike against his chest and sending him flying. In a neat kind of trick I couldn’t have planned even if I’d tried, he stumbled back into the next man heading toward us, blue sleeves tied back and cold duty in his eyes. I felt something knock into me from behind and realized none too soon that it was Temur, fending off an advance from yet another guard no doubt drawn there by all my noise-making.
We were in for it now. It had been a long time since I’d fought with anyone back-to-back.
“At least we know we’re in the right place,” I grunted, slamming the hilt end of my sword into some poor bastard’s face. It cracked in an ugly way that meant I’d probably got his nose, and I jerked my hand away quick before the blood started to spurt.
Temur gave a short laugh like maybe he thought I was crazy, or maybe he just enjoyed that stuff as much as I did and it was finally putting some humor into him. I almost wished I could’ve taken a break from my own fighting just to watch him and see if he looked any different now that we’d got some trouble started.
Unfortunately for both of us, the Ke-Han were stubborn if they were anything, and just then they seemed particularly stubborn about making sure I had no time for breathing, let alone sightseeing.
I blocked high with my sword, and punched another man in the gut. He doubled over with a groan; I helped him with my boot.
“Are you looking forward to becoming a hero, General Alcibiades?”
Of all the times to develop a sense of humor, I thought, wheeling around to catch another guard’s sword with my own blade. I only just did, and the way my arm ached with the impact let me know I’d caught it wrong and at too awkward an angle. It couldn’t be helped. The light there was dimmer than in other areas of the palace—because who wanted to waste lanterns on a bunch of prisoners and their guards, no doubt—and if Temur hadn’t been at my back, I’d have been worried about striking out at him too. Besides, they had all those mirrors helping them out. For all I knew, they were predicting my every move.
“If we make it out of this alive,” I told him, “I expect people to be rioting at plays about us.”
Temur laughed in his brisk, polite way, just to humor me, before I heard the thump of a body hitting the floor. We made a good team, me and the warlord, which was something I’d never have expected in a hundred years.
“I had no idea you were such a fan of the theatre,” he said, and because I was listening and not paying attention, I didn’t notice the guard I’d punched getting up.
He charged straight at me that time with a yell of his own, the movement so sharp and unexpected that I only just stepped to one side in time. Pain flared hot in my arm, followed by a warm wetness against my sleeve that meant I’d only just dodged being skewered on someone’s sword like a fried dumpling.
Being grateful for small miracles meant that I had to be glad it was only my left arm. I shook it out and swung my sword up into