The Preposterous Tale of Sir Edmund The Courageous

Chapter 4 The Duel of King Goldskull

Then back to the gate Sir Edmund strode with purpose, hailing loudly the guard "I Sir Edmund the Courageous have a proposal!"

"Had enough with threats, eh?" The guard answered in his slow and creaky voice.

"Do not taunt me villain!" Sir Edmund replied "However I have considered the options I have decided to propose a duel with your King for the princess, Not the cage, you may keep that, but if I win you will release the princess."

"And why should we accept this?" The guard asked "Did I not tell you to leave least I set you with hounds?"

"I do not fear dogs." Sir Edmund said "Now take this message to your king: 'Sir Edmund the Courageous of Zanlar hereby challenges the King of the Dead Lands to a duel, the prize being the woman whom you have wrongfully inprisioned.'"

"The King has heard it!" Came a new voice, higher and less dry.

"King Goldskull!" The guard said, his cracked voice ringing with surprise.

"Yes, Gusaal, and I should say that your job is not to argue with visitors at the door." The new voice, evidentially King Goldskull, said "And to you Sir Edmund, I accept your challenge! Though I require an additional stake!"

"Fair!" Sir Edmund answered "What is your requirement?"

"If you lose both you and the woman shall forfeit your lives and your bones shall be extracted from you. If any consciousness remains to you you shall watch as our bonekeepers remove your princess' skeletal system out from inside her as she screams in terror and dies, knowing that the same shall be done to you." The king replied.

"If that is your desire." Sir Edmund replied, on the outside he put up a show of bravado, keeping his voice measured and his back straight, but on the inside he quivered.

"Then meet me tomorrow at noon in the glade! Bring a judge if you have one, but little will I worry if you have naught! If you distrust me so and have no companion then that is thy own fault!" Goldskull said.

"I will be ready!" Sir Edmund called back as he hurried to rejoin his four-legged namesake.

The next day dawned and Sir Edmund awoke wondering where exactly the glade Goldskull had spoken of was for all the people of the city were converging to a single location that could only be assumed to be where the duel was to be held. And indeed when Sir Edmund followed one of the skeletons to this gathering place he saw a great rectangle of ropes and stakes had been set up three by eight yards. At one end of the enclosure stood a skeleton clad in black armor trimmed with gold and on his head was a helm shaped as a crown, Goldskull it was in his might and glory.

Behind him and outside the ring the cage with Maira had been brought and beside it stood a small table with various tools of horrific uses if Sir Edmund should loose.

As Sir Edmund approached the ring Goldskull called out to him "Ah! It is Sir Edmund the Courageous! How bold of you to make an appearance, it would have been quite a shame if you had forsaken this appointment! Allow me to introduce you to Faquien, she will be the witness for me this morning," and he gestured to a skeleton pale even in contrast to the others, wearing a long plum colored skirt pulled tight around her pelvis and a cavalier hat adorned with no plume for no bird there was to bear it prior. Her face smiled in the eerily grim way that human skulls do and her bony arms were crossed in front of her bare ribs. She nodded a halting acknowledgment to the knight.

"But now," Goldskull continued "Have you no judge? Or am I to believe that your horse shall be your witness?"

"You are," Sir Edmund said "for indeed he is."

A murmur of astonishment went through the crowd like the feint rustle of wind through trees but Goldskull laughed.

"Very well!" He said "An equestrian is a fine tool when preventing men from attempted bamboozlement! Though you my friend have nothing to fear from me. Now get into the ring with me and we shall dance a deadly dance!"

At noon Sir Edmund climbed into the enclosure and took his position with one foot pointing to Goldskull's side of the ring and the other facing the audience.

"We are here for a duel, either to the death or surrender, over the fate of the woman, Princess Maria of Zanlar, to be killed or set free!" Faquien called and Maria fainted inside the bone cage.

"You may now draw your swords" Faquien then said and the duel began. Both contestants drew their swords with a ringing swipe and took a quick half-step closer to each other. Goldskull made the first move, lunging forward and swiping at Sir Edmund from a distance, he over reached however and his sword passed several inches from the knight's chest.

Then Sir Edmund approached, holding up his shield to fend of blows as he advanced, but Goldskull also had a shield and when Sir Edmund drew near he slammed it against Sir Edmund's and thrust it to the side while making a quick slash with his sword at Sir Edmund's open torso, but Sir Edmund parried the blow and sent the tip of Goldskull's sword into the dust. Goldskull jumped back and prepared for a third swing but Sir Edmund was faster and swept his sword in a sidestroke that Goldskull barely managed to block with his shield before making a jab at Sir Edmund again.

The blow went foul however and Sir Edmund appeared to have the upper ground for the time being as he backed Goldskull closer to the fence with a series of quick little strikes. But Goldskull managed to slip around to the left and made a slash at Sir Edmund's hand bearing the shield before the knight had time to turn around. The swing missed by inch and bounced off Sir Edmund's armored gauntlet instead, out of shock Sir Edmund dropped his shield and quickly turned to face Goldskull's new orientation. He made a hurried swipe at Goldskull which missed it mark phenomenally and Goldskull backed around so that now he was on Sir Edmund's side of the ring.

Then Goldskull lunged forward, intending to drive Sir Edmund back up against the fence but Sir Edmund parried and managed to drive Goldskull back a few feet. By now it was clear to Goldskull that Sir Edmund was winning, but Goldskull made a quick attack at Sir Edmund's unprotected left side, forcing him to jump to the side and allowed Goldskull to drive him against the side of the fence. Sir Edmund tried to regain his footing but with no shield his defense was lacking and Goldskull brought a blow down hard on Sir Edmund's shoulder.

After that Sir Edmund managed to slip away and grab his shield back from the ground before Goldskull was upon him again, but Sir Edmund managed to gain the offensive side and landed a blow on Goldskull's collarbone, the bone splintered but the sword did not go all the way through it and Sir Edmund was send a few steps back as Goldskull thrust him away.

"My bones are not easy to break." Goldskull said, taking a quick moment to regather himself. Using this time Sir Edmund again leapt forward and struck his shoulder, slicing right between his scapula and humerus, severing whatever magical link there was the arm fell to the ground in a heap of finger and arm bones piled randomly atop the Deadlandish rounded shield. Goldskull shot a deadly look at Sir Edmund but did not faulted, with his one remaining arm he swung his long sword at the knight and struck the top brim of his shield. The sword stuck and when Goldskull tried to pull it away Sir Edmund found his shield being ripped out of his hands again and tossed mercilessly to the ground behind Goldskull where it smote the dirt and lay there.

Sir Edmund stepped back, his foot landing in a hole in the dirt as he felt the sharp snap of pain that comes with spraining an ankle. He felt the hand that Goldskull's sword had struck throbbing in ignored pain and a quick glance at the sky told him that this duel had been goin for much longer than he had thought, the sun had drifted lazily along down and was now about half way between four and five and was quickly approaching evening. Sir Edmund gulped down his anxiety and prepared for another go when he heard a loud roar.

All the attention suddenly turned in the direction that the sound came from and were startled to see a large dragon, though admittedly much smaller than Krakk, sitting on his huge haunches behind the bone cage, tapping his claws impatiently on the roof of the cage.

When everyone had pointed their eyes or eye sockets in his direction he opened his large mouth and said in a bored voice "Finally, I thought you were too caught up in your silly flashing sword game to pay a real threat any attention."