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And this? Oh, the treachery! Once again! In and out!" As he sprang backward he
toppled a marble urn which broke into shards on the flagstones.
Tatzel called out: "Well struck, Alvicx! With your awful rump you have
destroyed your victim!"
Her friends looked away and into the sky with that faint smile which served
Ska in the place of laughter.
Sir Kel, the seneschal, observing the damage, notified Imboden, who instructed
Cyprian. In due course Aillas was sent to remove the broken urn. He rolled a
small barrow out upon the terrace, loaded aboard the marble shards, then swept
up the dirt with a broom and a pan.
Alvicx once again engaged the hurlo-thrumbo with more energy than ever, and so
tripped over the barrow, to fall among the shards and dirt. Aillas had gone
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down upon his knees to sweep up the last of the dirt. Alvicx jumped erect and
kicked Aillas on the buttocks.
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For a second Aillas remained rigid, then restraint dissolved.
Rising to his feet he shoved Alvicx into the hurlo-thrumbo, which caused the
padded arm to swing about and deal its usual blow upon the side of Alvicx's
face.
Alvicx flourished his sword in a circle. "Villain!" He thrust at
Aillas, who ducked back and seized a sword from the table. He fended off
Alvicx's second thrust, then countered with such ferocity that Alvicx was
forced back across the terrace. The situation was unprecedented; how could a
Skaling outmatch the superb and skillful Alvicx? Across the terrace they
moved, Alvicx trying to attack but constantly put on the defensive by his
opponent's skill. He lunged; Aillas flicked aside his blade and backed Alvicx
over the balustrade with the point of his sword pressing against Alvicx's
throat.
"If this were the battlefield I could have killed you easily,"
spoke Aillas in a voice tense with passion. "Be grateful that now
I only trifle with you."
Aillas drew back the sword, replaced it on the table. He looked around the
group and his eyes met those of the Lady Tatzel. For a moment their gazes
remained in contact, then Aillas turned away and, righting the barrow, once
again began to load it with pieces of the marble.
Alvicx watched brooding from across the terrace. He made his decision and
signaled to a Ska guard. "Take this cur out behind the stable and kill him."
From a balcony overlooking the terrace Duke Luhalcx spoke. "That command, Lord
Alvicx, does you no credit, and shames both the honor of our house and the
justice of our race. I suggest that you rescind it."
Alvicx stared up at his father. Slowly he turned and spoke in a wooden voice:
"Guards, ignore my order."
He bowed to his sister and their various guests, who had stood by
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- - - - Vance uses many footnotes in this volume in frozen-faced fascination;
then he marched from the terrace.
Aillas returned to the barrow, finished loading the shards, while
Lady Tatzel and her friends conducted a muted conversation, watching him from
the corner of their eyes. Aillas paid them no heed. He swept the last of the
soil from the flagstones, then wheeled the barrow away.
Cyprian communicated his opinion of the affair with a single sad-
eyed grimace of reproach, and at supper sat pointedly alone, with his face
turned to the door.
Yane spoke to Aillas in low tones. "Is it true that you stabbed
Alvicx with his own sword?"
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"Not at all! I fenced with him a moment or two; I touched him with my point.
It was no great affair."
"Not for you. For Alvicx it is shame, and so you will suffer."
"In what way?"
Yane laughed. "He hasn't yet made up his mind."
Chapter 23
THE MAIN HALL AT CASTLE SANK extended from a formal parlor at the western end
to a retiring room for visiting ladies at the east.
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