giving him any opening this time, however, and moved the sword spear in a series of quick thrusts, the wood sliding in his forward hand, so that Beirly had to dodge every direction to avoid getting a foot of metal in his gut.
Beirly seemed to realize that if this kept going, he would dramatically lose the fight. In a short burst of speed, he closed the distance, sliding his sword against the staff, keeping Hammon from putting the blade into play. But Hammon didn’t hesitate or panic, he simply raised the staff above his shoulders, forcing Beirly’s sword up as well. Beirly had time to give a wordless protest before Hammon brought his knee up and rammed it into Beirly’s chest, forcing him backward.
Losing his balance entirely, Beirly stumbled and collapsed onto his back, sword falling from his loosened grip. Hammon lost no time in putting the edge of the sword spear against the redhead’s throat.
In good humor, Beirly spread his hands in surrender. “You won that bout, friend.”
Hammon grinned at him. “You almost got me, though. A little faster, and I wouldn’t have been able to stop you.”
“Ha!” Beirly didn’t believe that for one second.
Grin widening, Hammon retracted the weapon before leaning forward, offering Beirly a hand up. Beirly took it and came easily to his feet.
Siobhan watched this scene with open satisfaction. Yes, Hammon had the skills to defend himself and then some. She needn’t worry about that in the future. She clapped her hands together. With that settled, they might as well go in—
“Me next!” Wolf said with unabashed excitement.
She stared at him in horror. “What? Why?”
“I haven’t faced a sword spear user in quite some time,” he responded as if the answer was obvious. “A man gets rusty if he’s always sparring with the same opponents.”
“Pull the other leg, man!” Beirly responded, amused. “You spar with the whole city!”
“They’re still the same opponents,” Wolf argued, already drawing the shield from his back. “Besides, I want to see if he knows how to get past a shield.”
“You can hold a shield and fight?” Hammon asked, tone not condescending, but honestly intrigued.
“Of course,” Wolf assured him. Turning sideways, he demonstrated for the other man. “Beirly made it so that I can lock the hand in place. See? Once I have the fingers through the handle, I use the thumb here to latch the others in position. It won’t release until I pull this lever here.”
“Ingenious,” Hammon breathed, leaning in closer for a better look. “Beirly, have you considered selling this design? Actually marketing it? I know you’d only be able to make limbs for people able to afford them, but I still think you’d make a pretty kor from it.”
“Now that is a good business proposition.” Beirly stroked his beard as he thought about it. “What do you think, Sylvie? You think you can help me sell it if I make it?”
“Beirly,” the brunette drawled, “I can sell your beard to apes if I’ve a mind to. The reason I didn’t suggest it before is it’s hard to market something you have to custom make for people. I saw how much time you’ve invested in Wolf’s arm, making it so that it fits him just right.”
“There’s a drawback, alright.” Beirly frowned in thought, still tugging at his beard. “But in the beginning, it was all trial and error. I bet I can do it faster now, not fumble as much.”
“Debate this over dinner,” Wolf suggested, clearly not interested in business deals when there was new blood to spar with.
Hammon good-naturedly raised his weapon again, ready to take on the next opponent.
Siobhan leaned back against the wall with a sigh. Well, if it truly did start to get out of hand, she’d send Tran in to break it up.
ӜӜӜ
In an unusual turn of events, Siobhan was not the first down to breakfast the next morning. She came downstairs to find that Hammon, Grae, and Beirly had beaten her there, with half-consumed plates in front of them.
“—was actually for my sake that the guild was formed,” Grae explained to an attentive Hammon. “You see, I studied under a master Pathmaker in Widstoe—that’s our hometown—and became a master there myself. But once I had the ranking, I discovered that most of the people in the city still went to my master for work. He’d been doing it for over twenty years, so I guess people were just used to dealing with him. But that didn’t leave a lot of customers for