Chapter 426: The Corner

The next exchanges stayed close to the block. Maddox tried to crowd the spear; Jin gave him an angle, then recovered its reach as he stepped around the stone. His forearm throbbed with every contact.

Above them, Flicker contested the kestrel’s approaches without following it far. Once it got through, and Jin had to duck behind the corner while Maddox gained a pace. Flicker turned across its return and forced it away before it could make him retreat again.

She needed this finished too.

Jin noticed Maddox changing his grip when he followed him around the corner. The sword stayed compact, ready to catch the spear as Jin moved inward. If Jin kept backing away, the next step would put Maddox inside its reach.

Then let him start that step.

The monitor was coming back toward the gap. Glitch stood angled across it, with timber protecting one flank. Jin sent a short warning through the bond: hold this approach for a breath, then give ground.

Flicker climbed to meet the kestrel’s next pass. Jin backed toward the block’s corner, letting his spear point dip as his rear foot found the clear sand beyond it.

Maddox stepped in. His sword came toward the shaft near Jin’s forward hand, intending to knock the guard aside and close.

Jin used Crosswind Turn on his backward movement, bending it sharply around the corner and toward the outside of the sword arm.

His hip protested. He caught his new footing before trying to push.

The spear shaft crossed the blade close to its guard. Jin brought the contact down against the stone edge, using the block to check the blade while he moved the longer shaft across it.

Maddox tried to recover the sword. The awkward angle opened his grip; rather than wrench his wrist against the trapped blade, he released it and stepped back.

The weapon struck the sand beside the block.

Jin followed, keeping the padded point between Maddox and his sword. Maddox moved toward the open eastern side, trying to gain enough room for his kestrel to come through.

Jin stepped across that route and checked his upper arm with the shaft. Maddox turned away from the contact, but the turn brought the block against his other shoulder. Jin recovered the point before he could come around it.

A heavy scrape sounded behind them. Glitch had met the monitor’s approach and was already yielding, using the narrow gap to delay its turn. Flicker crossed the kestrel’s return path above the corner, making it climb instead of reaching its tamer.

Jin held his position. His arms shook, but the spear remained steady enough.

Maddox looked toward the dropped sword, then shifted once more to test the space beside Jin. The point moved with him. He stopped.

"Yield."

Jin withdrew immediately. The whistle sounded, and he called both beasts clear.

Glitch backed from the gap, letting the monitor pass. Flicker broke off and landed on the wall with her beak open.

Maddox retrieved his sword. For a moment he looked at the mark it had left against the stone.

"I thought you were giving me the corner again," he said.

"I nearly did."

Maddox nodded, disappointed and breathless, then went to his beasts.

Jin went straight to Glitch. The drake was standing squarely, but his head hung low and his sides worked with each breath. He leaned against Jin’s palm when Jin touched his neck.

"It’s finished. You can rest."

Glitch lowered himself carefully. Flicker came to settle beside his foreleg, too tired to climb onto his crest.

Verrick arrived with the clinic team and knelt to examine him.

"How long?"

"A few seconds. Then I stopped it. His movement changed straightaway."

"It would." Verrick listened, checked again, and called for the cart rather than making Glitch walk. "Monitoring bay. We’ll keep him through tomorrow and see how the readings settle. No strenuous work for at least a week."

Jin nodded. Stopping had limited what he’d asked of Glitch; it hadn’t made it free.

He stayed beside the cart as they left. At the tunnel, he looked up once and found his family standing by the rail. Elsa was waving, but his mother’s eyes followed the cart.

He lifted his free hand so she could see him, then turned back to Glitch.

The clinic bay smelled of salve and wet straw. Jin sat beside Glitch’s stall with a cold wrap around his forearm, watching the reader fastened against the drake’s chest plate.

The readings had settled. Verrick had explained them twice. Jin still looked whenever the little line changed.

Flicker slept on a low perch in the next stall, her sore wing supported. Her card prescribed rest and no flight for three days. Jin’s listed bruising, fatigue and a mild hip strain that made turning uncomfortable.

At ten to two, Verrick came to the door.

"He’s sleeping. I’ll be here. Go and watch your friend."

"You’ll tell me if anything changes?"

"Yes."

Jin stood slowly. He had checked that he could get back from the north gate in a minute, which was probably something he should stop checking.

Elsa had saved him a seat beside the family. She hugged him, felt him stiffen and immediately loosened her arms.

"Sorry. Is Glitch—"

"Sleeping. They’re watching him. I’ll tell you properly after."

Arthur squeezed his uninjured shoulder. Elena looked toward the clinic tunnel before turning to the arena with him.

Sela Morrow stood opposite Lucian, her short practice sword held loosely. Both she and her Middle-Gold Stonearm Gibbon were Rank 2, 4-Star. The gibbon crouched beside her, its long grey arms resting on the sand.

Ashdown checked the competitors and repeated the restrictions. Between bouts, attendants had moved the blocks to a second set of marked positions near the northern boundary. Three metres separated their north faces from the line. Jin measured that space with his eyes until the whistle pulled his attention away.

Kite rose. The gibbon watched her while Lucian and Morrow circled, testing the distance with brief weapon contacts.

Morrow’s first serious feint drew him immediately. Her shoulder dropped, the sword came forward, and Lucian used Stormstep to escape left.

The gibbon had begun moving before him.

Two lateral bounds put its long arm across his finishing position. Lucian stopped facing the fight, but there was no room to bring the stave around before the reaching hand arrived.

Kite cut across the gibbon’s approach, close enough to make it turn its head. It reached for her instead. She climbed clear as Lucian scrambled back, losing several paces of useful ground.

Jin’s fingers tightened on the rail. He knew that escape. He had practised against it.

So did she.

Lucian reset his grip. Morrow followed, allowing the gibbon to settle just outside his reach again.

This time he took an ordinary step sideways. The gibbon shifted with him. He stopped, came forward half a pace, then withdrew before their weapons met.

It looked awkward for a while. Twice Morrow advanced when he hesitated, making him give up ground anyway. But he was watching the gibbon now, and he stopped offering it the same destination.

Kite approached from its outer side. It reached to intercept her, then checked itself when she rose again. Lucian moved during that hesitation, making Morrow bring her sword across.

Their weapons met. He tried to recover the stave, and it dragged in his hands as her binding talent caught through the contact.

Morrow stepped in. Lucian yielded with the pull, turned the stave along her blade and freed it before the gibbon could reach him. He got out, but the sword clipped his padded upper arm on the way.

Jin winced. The talent didn’t need to hold him long.