Drifters

Inti's Watcher

The duel was going to be held on the moon, in the same arena as the tournament. Sophie ran to the transport room, eager to be back in the low gravity.

She'd tried to convince Peter to come, but he said he preferred to watch from his room. After that, it didn't surprise her that not many people were gathered in the transport room. Innoka and Chimeg were there, of course, along with Ebba and Asani. Then all the Seabirds, the Stars, and a handful of others.

Sophie walked over to Rani, saying hello to the people she knew. They barely had time to start a conversation when the room was filled with a blue glow, and she landed on the moon.

Sophie couldn't help giggling as the gravity lessened. For some reason feeling lighter gave her energy. She wanted to run back and forth and leap as high as she could into the air.

Instead, she linked arms with Rani and they bounced to the seating area.

This time, the seats across from them were empty. It was strange, seeing so many empty chairs where there'd been hundreds of people last time. There was an almost echoing silence that Sophie wanted to fill.

On the left side of the arena was now a clock, counting down. It said there were nine minutes left.

Rani poked her side. "Hey, want to see who can jump the highest here?"

Sophie giggled. "Of course I do!"

Far Side of the Moon

"It'll be over too fast," Louis said. "You forget this isn't life or death, it's entertainment."

Marie sighed, putting her pistols away. "How long would you like the fight to last?"

"As long as possible."

She looked at Razan, an eyebrow raised.

He bowed slightly. "Ideally, I'll be able to stab Antoni several times before the fight is over."

"So should we just play with Mateo until Razan's fight is over?" Marie asked.

"Not necessarily; we can take turns," Louis said. "Pass him back and forth like a ball. When Mateo bails, we'll pass Antoni between the three of us."

"What if either of them have ranged weapons?" Razan asked.

Louis grinned. "Ebba told me to not worry about that."

"If she did something to cheat-"

Louis cut Razan off. "No, good heavens no, she never cheats. I'd guess flattery or disguised insults."

"Even if they have some sort of rifle, I'm not overly concerned about them," Marie said. "I doubt either of those men are perfect shots."

A raven appeared between them. "Two minutes. Please head to the gate."

They all agreed, turning to walk down the corridor. Louis took Marie's hand.

"I wish Antoni had convinced a dozen more people to join him," he said cheerfully. That would have been a true battle."

"What are the worst odds you've faced in a duel?" Razan asked.

"That would have been… nine to one. Ebba and I against everyone left on the ship during Carnival. We were banned from going that year for- unimportant reasons, and had to do something to entertain ourselves. Ebba offered anything anyone wanted to whoever managed to bail her."

"Unimportant reasons?" Marie asked sweetly.

"Certain rules were broken," Louis said with a shrug, then beamed. "It's a shame you died in mid-March, and not a few months earlier; I can't wait to take you to Venice, my love. Best party on the planet."

They got to the gate just as Nop announced thirty seconds.

Marie let go of his hand to ready her weapons. Razan adjusted his swords, and Louis unsheathed his long daggers.

The gate slammed down, and they strolled into the arena.

Razan pulled out his swords, glaring across the dusty grey rock to Antoni. Antoni, holding a long, curve-bladed spear, glared back.

They stalked towards each other, watching for any sudden movements. Razan was careful to keep his breathing steady, his steps calm, as his opponent drew closer.

Finally Antoni darted forwards, slashing down with his weapon. Razan dodged, turning slightly and trying to get too close for the spear to be a threat. Antoni stepped back, using the curved tip of his spear to hook Razan's sleeve. Razan whacked it away with an elbow, striking at Antoni with his katana.

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With a well-practiced flourish, Antoni spun the spear around to knock the sword off-course. Razan quickly pulled his katana aside and stepped around Antoni, trying to stab him with his wakizashi. Moving quickly, Antoni jumped back and thrust his spear at Razan's abdomed. Razan took half a step back, then a full step in, swinging his swords almost wildly. They were blocked, as expected, but Antoni had to adjust his grip on the spear to do so.

Taking advantage of the poor grip, Razan pressed in, forcing an opening to slice Antoni's side. The man cursed, swinging his spear like a club. Razan ducked under it, and took advantage of his position by stabbing Antoni in the leg.

Antoni cursed again, moving several steps back.

Razan allowed it, starting to enjoy himself.

Marie was impressed with how well Mateo fought. She'd never paid particular attention to him, even if his group had placed second in the tournament. His weapons of choice were a billy club and a rapier. The sword was keeping Louis' daggers away, and the length of wood was blocking every strike from Marie's cutlass. They were pressing him back, and soon he'd be against one of the big stone blocks, but for the moment Mateo's ability to defend himself was earning her respect.

Louis stopped, taking a step back. "We need to switch sides," he told Marie. "He's too good like this."

"Agreed," she said, not taking her eyes off the Mexican.

Mateo smiled pathetically. "No, it's fine, you don't have to."

"Terribly sorry, but I would like to win before Sunday, so something must change here," Louis said with a shrug.

Mateo tried to take advantage of the brief opening by lunging at him. Marie stepped in, knocking the thin sword down with her cutlass, and Louis scooted into her old place.

Now faced with weapons they could win against, the fighting resumed.

Mateo still fought expertly, never letting his guard down. All his focus was on defending, though; he was given no opportunity to attack.

Marie put her focus on disarming him, rather than causing harm. If she could catch the thin blade in a notch on her cutlass, she knew how to apply pressure and take it out of his hand. Mateo seemed to realize what she was doing, only allowing their blades to touch long enough to avoid giving her an opening.

Next to her, Louis was also trying to disarm him, but by attacking his hand and wrist. If Mateo dropped the club, he'd be defenseless.

Finally Marie caught the rapier with her cutlass. She pressed down and twisted, trapping the thin blade against hers. Pulling back, she took a step sideways, bending the steel.

Mateo tried yanking it back, but Marie was prepared for that. Next he tried rattling it away from her, which did work.

She allowed her cutlass to release the smaller sword, then as he stared at its new shape, she stepped in and sliced his arm open. Mateo hissed, stepping back to grab the wound with his other hand, and Louis stabbed him in the shoulder.

Unable to react quickly enough, Mateo found Louis' second dagger pressed to his throat.

"Surrender," Marie ordered, pulling out a pistol and aiming it at his face.

"As you command," Mateo said, pulling out his bail device as Louis backed away.

They watched him vanish, then Marie turned to Louis.

"You had a full four seconds there when his attention was completely on me."

"Entertainment, my love," Louis said, cleaning his blades. "It was better to let you have your moment than end the fight four seconds sooner."

Marie shook her head, turning to see how the other fight was going. She reminded herself that these battles weren't meant to be serious.

Louis put his daggers away, watching Razan and Antoni. "Should we intervene there? They look like they're having fun."

"Let's get closer, at least," she said. "Just in case our help is needed."

Razan was bleeding heavily from several places. This wasn't ideal, but seeing Antoni also bleeding heavily made it all worth it.

Antoni swung his weapon, its weight obviously starting to tire him. Razan blocked it with one sword and slashed his arm with the other. They traded a few more futile strikes, nothing connecting to flesh, and then stepped away from each other.

Antoni was poked in the spine by Marie's cutlass. He spun, snarling, and failed to hit her with his spear.

Razan was now facing Antoni's back. He stepped in, slicing the man hard across the shoulderblade.

Antoni spun again, starting to foam at the mouth. He kept an eye on Marie as he swung at Razan, which meant his back was to Louis.

Louis picked a pebble off the ground and threw it at Antoni's head. It bounced off. Outraged, Antoni spun to attack Louis.

Which meant he wasn't facing Razan or Marie any more.

"This is too easy," Marie said, making Antoni round on her. She casually blocked the spear, looking at Louis. "Love, would you mind leaving this one to Razan and I? Three against one is pathetic."

"Of course not," Louis said, stepping back and taking a seat on the ground.

Antoni glared, stomping towards him. "Don't make a mockery of me!"

"Too late," Razan said, slashing him across the back with both swords.

He roared, spinning and stabbing at Razan's chest. Razan wasn't quick enough, and felt the blade hit one of his cracked ribs. He yelped, stumbling back while Marie moved in to dig her cutlass into one of Antoni's open wounds.

Razan wasn't sure what happened next; pain blossoming out from his chest clouded his vision. When he got his breath back, Marie had her hand on the spear just below the blade, and they were fighting over it. Razan poked Antoni in the calf with his katana, and the man's grip on his weapon loosened. Marie yanked it away, tossing it smoothly over her shoulder.

Antoni stared at her. "That- That's not fair!" he shouted. "You cheater! You're not supposed to do that! This isn't how this was supposed to go!"

Razan moved up behind him and crossed his blades over Antoni's throat. "Please, tell us how it was supposed to go."

"You were supposed to fight me alone! I could win against just you, you stupid-" He continued on, insulting Razan's looks, country, profession, morality, and general intelligence.

Razan very much wanted to cut his head off, but Marie stopped him with a raised eyebrow.

And then Antoni's tirade turned to her. He got out precisely two insults before she punched his face in. There was a wonderful crunch as her knuckles broke his nose, and he slid unconscious to the ground. Razan pulled his swords away so no accidental damage could be done.

"Beautiful," Louis cheered, getting to his feet. "Absolutely beautiful."

Marie smirked, then winced, shaking her hand out.

"Why didn't you do that sooner?" Razan asked, kneeling down to use Antoni's shirt to clean his blades. He may or may not have accidentally stabbed Antoni again while doing so.

"Entertainment," she answered, watching Louis.

Louis took her hand, smiling. "Now that that's settled beyond a shadow of a doubt: Marie, my love, my true soulmate, will you marry me?" He pulled something out of his pocket and held it out to her on his open palm.

Marie stared at it. "Whe- Who- Why-" She broke down laughing.

Louis smirked, changing to hold it out between two fingers. To Razan it very much looked like a human tooth.

"You are an idiot," Marie told Louis, taking the tooth. "Yes, I will marry you."