Bringing a knife to a gun fight
As far as I knew, it started when Ries said Scandi's specially crafted apple liqueur tasted the way he'd always imagined the way the pig's slop bucket tasted, at least during apple season in the fall, when it was always full of plenty of peelings. Then Scandi said, you'd know, wouldn't you, you poxy pig farmer, maybe if you'd wash more often you wouldn't still smell like a hog. Then Ries said he'd rather smell like one than like an over-perfumed city sot, and I heard for the first time the edge of real anger in his words. This is an actual fight, I thought, not just sharp-tongued banter between friends.
I looked across the wooden table at Dai. He had a wrinkle between his eyes that was deep enough to hold napkins, practically.
"What's wrong?" I asked him, quietly, as the others' quarrel grew loud enough to fill the pub. The other patrons, mostly students like ourselves, looked over in interest.
"It's nothing," said Dai, not meeting my eyes. "Just... you were away between Hilary and Trinity terms. They had a bit of a... dispute. I thought they'd made it up, but the bad feeling is still there.
"I can see that," I said. "What was it about?"
Dai pinched his lower lip between his thumb and fingers, like he always does when he's upset.
"I can't say," he said at last.
"Dai!"
He met my eyes at last.
"No, Ellamari, I really can't say," he said. "Quotidian binding."
"They put you under geas not to tell? Dai!" I pushed up my sleeves. "I can break that, though."
Dai shook his head vigorously. I stopped with the words of the spell on my lips. I certainly couldn't break it without his consent. What in the name of time had happened while I was at home for hols? I looked at my friends. We'd been constant companions since First Year, ever since taking Professor Globan's class on alembics. That was where Shandi had discovered his love of distilling spirits. We'd drunk and argued and sung and laughed and even ocassionally studied our way through the two and a half intervening years.
Ries was the leader of our little group, with curling dark hair and clear thoughts. He made plans and put them into action. Shandi kept us laughing, handsome, fair haired and disorganized unless it had to do with dress or distillation, his two passions. I was our musician, a dab hand on the lute if I do say so myself, and I knew I looked well enough with my red hair falling down my shoulders like a nymph in a painting. And then there was Dai. Dai was slender and shy and poor, unlike the rest of us. He was at the University on scholarship. Somehow he smoothed ruffled feathers and soothed bruised egos. He was the glue that held us together.
But not even Dai could fix things tonight. I listened in puzzlement and distress as Ries and Shandi yelled at each other.
"I demand satisfaction, you whey-faced cur!" thundered Ries.
"You shall have it, you leperous great tit!" shrilled Scandi.
Their words hung in the air. The publican, who had been hustling over to break up the pair before it came to fisticuffs, paused in midstride.
A duel. Everyone in the Duck and Dandy had heard the challenge, heard it accepted. The silence was abruptly broken by a dozen voices, all tangled together. Scandi and Ries stood frozen, facing each other for a moment more.
"Dawn, at the Wishing Tree. Dai to be my second, Ellamari to be yours," Ries ground out, before turning on his heel and stalking out into the street.
I looked at Dai in horror, seeing my own feelings reflected on his face. A duel is a serious matter, a matter of honour and a challenge given so publicly could never be backed down from. I flapped my hand at him and he came out of his slumped posture and ran out the door after Ries.
I looked at Scandi.
"What in the seventh airy hell was that all about?" I said, suddenly furious. "What were you thinking? Were you thinking at all?"
Scandi refused to meet my gaze. He sat down, straightened his dapper suit.
"Oh, Ellamari," he said, in almost his usual cheerful way, "it will have to be blades."
"What?"
"The duel. I'm quite good with a sword, you know. Although, um. I'll need you to go round to my flat to fetch my blade, in case Ries is there."
Scandi and Ries were roommates. Was this an overblown dispute about whose turn it was to do the dishes? I watched in disbelief as Scandi crooked his finger to summon another drink.
"Fine," I spat. "You sit here and drink yourself into a stupor. Maybe when I have to fight Ries in your place you'll tell me what the blazes this is all about."
"Oh, Ellamari," he said. "Faint heart never won, well, and all that."
"Fine," I said, standing. "Don't tell me. I'm going."
I trotted through the dark streets, coming to the familiar corner. I sprinted up the stairs and knocked on the heavy door. Dai opened it.
"Ries is writing his will," he said, as I slipped past him into the untidy chamber.
"Good grief," I said. "It isn't going to be just to first touch with the blade?"
Dai stared at me.
"Ries says it has to be pistols," he said.
"Oh!" I threw up my hands. "Scandi sent me here to get his sword. And I thought, well, maybe that's alright, just a pink and honour will be satisfied and we can all get down to doing our alectromancy homework. The Widow keeps a rooster out back..."
"Ask to predict the outcome of this riduclous fight, then," burst out Dai.
I jabbed him with a finger.
"Aha! You do think it's ridiculous. I could break the quotidian binding easy enough, you know, whether you want me to or not. I just don't want to leave you with a monster headache and ringing in your ears, because I don't like hurting my friends, for some reason." I moved a pot off a chair and flung myself down. "You're sure you won't consent?"
Dai shook his head. I sighed.
"What are we going to do?" I said.
In the end, I fetched Scandi's sword. We walked through the empty streets, our footsteps echoing in the pre-dawn silence. Surely most of the student quarter knew about the duel by now, but we were left alone. A duel is strictly a private matter.
We met under the Wishing Tree, on the edge of the Commons. The new leaves looked very green against the reddish light on the sky's horizon. The boys looked very young to me, suddenly. They'd got Marcus as a referee. He had a solemn look on his face that made me want to slap it right off.
"What is the weapon of choice?" he said.
"Pistols," said Ries, at the exact same time that Scandi said swords. They glared at each other. Marcus went over to discuss the matter. I walked over to Dai, who was watching with an even more worried look on his face. I slipped my hand into his.
"It'll be okay," I said. "I think we've got those blood coagulating spells we were working on down pat."
The question of whether it was a knife fight or a gun fight raged on, until Scandi looked up, let out a roar and raced over to where Dai and I were standing. Ries was right behind him.
"What is this?" Ries said.
"What?" I said, bewhildered.
"This!" He waved his hand at me. "This, this, touching!"
I looked down at where Dai's hand and mine were still linked. His hand was warm and dry and square, not large but strong despite that.
"You're supposed to choose between us!" Scandi put in.
"I... what?" I blinked as realization dawned. "This isn't about me, is it? Oh, no! It is, isn't it? About which of you... You daft beggars! You know it's always been Dai!"
"It has?" said Ries.
"It has?" said Scandi.
"It has?" said Dai.
I looked up at him then, suddenly afraid of what I might see. But the worry lines were gone, his lips curving into the smile than transforms him into the most handsome man in the city. Or so I've always thought. And then those lips were touching mine, at last, at last, at last. Somewhere over my shoulder I heard Scandi say, let's call that the first touch, shall we, Ries, my friend?
I looked across the wooden table at Dai. He had a wrinkle between his eyes that was deep enough to hold napkins, practically.
"What's wrong?" I asked him, quietly, as the others' quarrel grew loud enough to fill the pub. The other patrons, mostly students like ourselves, looked over in interest.
"It's nothing," said Dai, not meeting my eyes. "Just... you were away between Hilary and Trinity terms. They had a bit of a... dispute. I thought they'd made it up, but the bad feeling is still there.
"I can see that," I said. "What was it about?"
Dai pinched his lower lip between his thumb and fingers, like he always does when he's upset.
"I can't say," he said at last.
"Dai!"
He met my eyes at last.
"No, Ellamari, I really can't say," he said. "Quotidian binding."
"They put you under geas not to tell? Dai!" I pushed up my sleeves. "I can break that, though."
Dai shook his head vigorously. I stopped with the words of the spell on my lips. I certainly couldn't break it without his consent. What in the name of time had happened while I was at home for hols? I looked at my friends. We'd been constant companions since First Year, ever since taking Professor Globan's class on alembics. That was where Shandi had discovered his love of distilling spirits. We'd drunk and argued and sung and laughed and even ocassionally studied our way through the two and a half intervening years.
Ries was the leader of our little group, with curling dark hair and clear thoughts. He made plans and put them into action. Shandi kept us laughing, handsome, fair haired and disorganized unless it had to do with dress or distillation, his two passions. I was our musician, a dab hand on the lute if I do say so myself, and I knew I looked well enough with my red hair falling down my shoulders like a nymph in a painting. And then there was Dai. Dai was slender and shy and poor, unlike the rest of us. He was at the University on scholarship. Somehow he smoothed ruffled feathers and soothed bruised egos. He was the glue that held us together.
But not even Dai could fix things tonight. I listened in puzzlement and distress as Ries and Shandi yelled at each other.
"I demand satisfaction, you whey-faced cur!" thundered Ries.
"You shall have it, you leperous great tit!" shrilled Scandi.
Their words hung in the air. The publican, who had been hustling over to break up the pair before it came to fisticuffs, paused in midstride.
A duel. Everyone in the Duck and Dandy had heard the challenge, heard it accepted. The silence was abruptly broken by a dozen voices, all tangled together. Scandi and Ries stood frozen, facing each other for a moment more.
"Dawn, at the Wishing Tree. Dai to be my second, Ellamari to be yours," Ries ground out, before turning on his heel and stalking out into the street.
I looked at Dai in horror, seeing my own feelings reflected on his face. A duel is a serious matter, a matter of honour and a challenge given so publicly could never be backed down from. I flapped my hand at him and he came out of his slumped posture and ran out the door after Ries.
I looked at Scandi.
"What in the seventh airy hell was that all about?" I said, suddenly furious. "What were you thinking? Were you thinking at all?"
Scandi refused to meet my gaze. He sat down, straightened his dapper suit.
"Oh, Ellamari," he said, in almost his usual cheerful way, "it will have to be blades."
"What?"
"The duel. I'm quite good with a sword, you know. Although, um. I'll need you to go round to my flat to fetch my blade, in case Ries is there."
Scandi and Ries were roommates. Was this an overblown dispute about whose turn it was to do the dishes? I watched in disbelief as Scandi crooked his finger to summon another drink.
"Fine," I spat. "You sit here and drink yourself into a stupor. Maybe when I have to fight Ries in your place you'll tell me what the blazes this is all about."
"Oh, Ellamari," he said. "Faint heart never won, well, and all that."
"Fine," I said, standing. "Don't tell me. I'm going."
I trotted through the dark streets, coming to the familiar corner. I sprinted up the stairs and knocked on the heavy door. Dai opened it.
"Ries is writing his will," he said, as I slipped past him into the untidy chamber.
"Good grief," I said. "It isn't going to be just to first touch with the blade?"
Dai stared at me.
"Ries says it has to be pistols," he said.
"Oh!" I threw up my hands. "Scandi sent me here to get his sword. And I thought, well, maybe that's alright, just a pink and honour will be satisfied and we can all get down to doing our alectromancy homework. The Widow keeps a rooster out back..."
"Ask to predict the outcome of this riduclous fight, then," burst out Dai.
I jabbed him with a finger.
"Aha! You do think it's ridiculous. I could break the quotidian binding easy enough, you know, whether you want me to or not. I just don't want to leave you with a monster headache and ringing in your ears, because I don't like hurting my friends, for some reason." I moved a pot off a chair and flung myself down. "You're sure you won't consent?"
Dai shook his head. I sighed.
"What are we going to do?" I said.
In the end, I fetched Scandi's sword. We walked through the empty streets, our footsteps echoing in the pre-dawn silence. Surely most of the student quarter knew about the duel by now, but we were left alone. A duel is strictly a private matter.
We met under the Wishing Tree, on the edge of the Commons. The new leaves looked very green against the reddish light on the sky's horizon. The boys looked very young to me, suddenly. They'd got Marcus as a referee. He had a solemn look on his face that made me want to slap it right off.
"What is the weapon of choice?" he said.
"Pistols," said Ries, at the exact same time that Scandi said swords. They glared at each other. Marcus went over to discuss the matter. I walked over to Dai, who was watching with an even more worried look on his face. I slipped my hand into his.
"It'll be okay," I said. "I think we've got those blood coagulating spells we were working on down pat."
The question of whether it was a knife fight or a gun fight raged on, until Scandi looked up, let out a roar and raced over to where Dai and I were standing. Ries was right behind him.
"What is this?" Ries said.
"What?" I said, bewhildered.
"This!" He waved his hand at me. "This, this, touching!"
I looked down at where Dai's hand and mine were still linked. His hand was warm and dry and square, not large but strong despite that.
"You're supposed to choose between us!" Scandi put in.
"I... what?" I blinked as realization dawned. "This isn't about me, is it? Oh, no! It is, isn't it? About which of you... You daft beggars! You know it's always been Dai!"
"It has?" said Ries.
"It has?" said Scandi.
"It has?" said Dai.
I looked up at him then, suddenly afraid of what I might see. But the worry lines were gone, his lips curving into the smile than transforms him into the most handsome man in the city. Or so I've always thought. And then those lips were touching mine, at last, at last, at last. Somewhere over my shoulder I heard Scandi say, let's call that the first touch, shall we, Ries, my friend?