Tournament of Kings

Chapter Twenty-Two: The Duel of Honor

William and Varsus returned to the stand to cheer crowds. As they did, Varsus looked pained and fell to one knee on the stairs. William kneeled and helped him up. He probably meant it kindly, but his armor made his concern look threatening.

"Varsus, are you alright?" asked William. The rasping voice made his question seem mocking and sarcastic.

"Yes," said Varsus. "You've advanced in skill since last we met. I remember you used to hate sword practice." He smiled for the first time since Relma had seen him.

"I still do," admitted William. "I just work at it anyway." He approached Saphra somewhat coldly. Relma half expected him to strike her, but he did nothing. He merely nodded in apology as Saphra arose to meet him. "I fear that the enchantments on your scarf were broken, milady."

Wait, so was he going to pretend as though she hadn't done anything wrong? Why did he act this way with Saphra but treat Estela with open contempt?

Saphra took the scarf and looked over its broken halves. "Hmm, I suppose I'll have to fix this up. But, first, I'll have to pray to Rioletta for help."

"Rioletta?" asked Relma in surprise.

"The Goddess of Weaving," said Saphra. "Queen of Fate and, if you believe the legends, Dark Elves. She gave mortal races stitches and threads. So you must go to her whenever you enchant anything made by threads.

"And she always asks a price. Some prices are easy to fulfill. Some are hard."

"I thought she was the Goddess of Spiders," said Relma.

"No, spiders are merely her symbol," said Saphra.

"But what do spiders have to do with weaving?" asked Relma.

There was dead silence. Saphra looked at her flatly. Relma shifted and had the feeling she had said something ridiculous. Spiders wove webs. "Oh, right, that was a foolish question."

"May I ask why you didn't tell me the nature of that scarf?" asked William.

"For my own amusement, of course," said Saphra. "And to force the match to be interesting. Also, when I made the scarf, the price was that I gave it to the first person in skull armor I ran into. "Meaning that all my labor was more or less for nothing. Thank you very much, Varsus."

"I make no apology," said Varsus. "Your enchantment nearly killed me."

"I'm terribly sorry about that," said Saphra. "But breaking a contract with Rioletta is never a good idea. She tends to be... vindictive."

"Why would Rioletta demand something like that?" asked William.

"Aside from her own amusement?" asked Saphra. "Rioletta tends to the threads of fate. She can predict futures, which is a direct match for even Laevian.

"She probably believed that me giving this scarf to you at this point would result in a chain of events. One that would turn to her benefit."

"You might have told me about the nature of the scarf," said William.

"Your right," said Saphra. "I might have."

William opened his mouth. But then Davian spoke out. "Attention!

"Steward Benarus has commanded that the next match will occur tomorrow at noon."

Relma remembered that she was going to have to fight Fayn. And that whoever won, someone she knew, would end up hanging. So now she had another day. She sighed in relief. "Thank Elranor. Where has Aunt Pan been during all of this anyway?"

"I believe she was tending to some of the wounded from the smaller tournaments," said William. "There was an accident."

True to William's words, Relma found Aunt Pan healing the sick in one of the pavilions. She was channeling energy into a rune that emanated a soothing light. Relma had seen her do this before. However, she had a different technique from William.