The demon’s blade arced past Haakon, another swing that came up short. He knows his range, so why is he pulling back? The next swing was low, but still short. Haakon only had to slide his left foot back a span to be out of range. He wants me to close the distance. The feints were meant to lull Haakon into thinking he no longer needed to flee the flashing blade.
Haakon slid his left foot forward as he raised his sword—point high, edge toward the incoming pole-arm. His stomach tightened, a warm ball of force coalescing in his body. He kept his eyes locked on the demon’s wild mask; he didn’t need to watch the blade coming. The sunlight shining off it would blind him anyway. He knew where it was going to be.
If his opponent was wielding a sword, he was in position for a good crossing of the blades, but against the glaive, such a position was a mistake. He couldn’t stop a full swing with that guard. If he was a full step closer, he wouldn’t even be able to deflect it; the blow would come right through his defense and bite deep into his head or neck.
But he wasn’t that close. As the blades struck each other, he relaxed his grip, yielding to the demon’s attack. The momentum imparted to his sword allowed him to twist his wrists and flick his blade forward toward the demon’s head.
Haakon’s sword point fell short of its target, and the demon, having read the measure correctly, did nothing to stop Haakon’s strike. He pulled his blade back and, with a twist of his body, brought it around again in another sweep.
The demon’s motion brought him incrementally closer to Haakon. As the pole-arm flashed toward him, Haakon took one more step, jerking his sword up so that the blade smacked against the palm of his left hand.
You never withdraw when you’ve broken the bind. Taran had drilled them relentlessly. A warrior doesn’t flee from a fight. He closes to finish it. Had Haakon been fighting one of his fellow Brethren, they would not have withdrawn their blade from the first contact. They would not have given him the opportunity to go to half sword.
He braced his sword in both hands and took the demon’s swing. The shock of the blow traveled down his arms, but Haakon let it go. The energy ran through his chest and legs until it left his body through his right heel.
He felt the difference—wood against metal. His blade against the shaft of the pole-arm. Inside his range.
Haakon brought the pommel of his sword down. Much like running his hand along a flat wall, he could feel the demon’s weapon plainly against his sword blade. Using the wooden shaft of the pole-arm as an axis, he performed a complicated finishing technique: levering his weapon so that the hilt could hook around his opponent’s hands, tangling the other’s weapon, and snapping the point of his sword forward with his left hand.
The demon pulled his head back, avoiding Haakon’s sword point, but all that accomplished was to give Haakon enough room to line up perfectly for a short thrust.
The demon fled from the unexpected thrust with an almost dainty back step and twirl. He had to let go of his pole with one hand in order to extricate himself from Haakon’s hilt, and as he retreated, the pole-arm dragged behind him, a long tail flapping against the dirt.
For a second, the demon’s back was turned to Haakon. Desperately, he shifted his hands to a two-handed grip and let loose with the sort of flailing strike one expected from a boy when he first picked up a sword. If it connected, he told himself, pride wouldn’t matter.
Remember the first rule: do not die.
The swing missed, and as Haakon recovered for another attack, the demon pivoted and snapped his pole-arm back up.
Sword and blade connected. They stared at one another: Haakon, with his sword half extended toward his opponent; the demon, crouching as if he were making ready to spring. The pole-arm was pointed up, its blade scraping against the crossguard of Haakon’s sword.
In the moment where they sized each other up, Haakon became aware of the shouts coming from the audience. By now, he realized, the rabble who lined the arena had seen enough to handicap the opponents, choose up sides, and lay wagers. They were cheering accordingly, and some were calling out, “Che-val-ier! Che-val-ier!” Had he not been so distracted, he’d have enjoyed a laugh over the idea that he, a monk descended from Nordic fishermen, had been mistaken for a knight of the Crusades.
The remainder screamed out, “Zug! Zug! Zug!”
The skull-maker wanted blood, wanted to feel bones and flesh separating before its shiny blade. It pulled at Zug, and he had to follow its desire.