Chapter 298: Four Bodies

The semifinalists could request recordings of their opponents’ earlier rounds. Ren went to the hall as soon as the viewing surfaces were available and asked for Mara Delhouse’s quarterfinal.

An attendant started it from the first signal. A Lord Ren didn’t recognize stood a few feet away, watching the four entrants leave their staging area.

"They took the middle and made me come to them."

Ren glanced at him.

"I was in her group," the man said. "Slow, though."

On the surface, Mara’s squad crossed toward its first station. Two entrants were broad and low, with overlapping plates shielding their fronts. As one turned, the plates shifted across each other, keeping most of the body behind them covered. Her sheet listed both at five points, assigned to hold.

The two four-point strikers stood taller, their long forelimbs reaching past the holders. One holder led, a striker followed behind each shoulder, and the second holder brought up the rear.

They crossed the open ground at a steady walk. The opposing squad reached its own first station sooner, then sent a pair across to interrupt Mara’s count.

Her lead holder met them where the approach narrowed. The second moved closer behind, leaving the strikers room to reach either side of the plated front. When the attackers tried to separate, one found the bank too steep to pass without climbing. It turned back toward the narrow approach.

A striker reached past the lead holder and caught its extended arm. The opponent pulled free and swung back, but the striker was already withdrawing. Beside it, the holder stepped across the exposed flank and took the return blow on its plates.

The striker came forward again before the attacker had recovered its stance.

Ren watched the pair retreat. Mara’s station count resumed, and her four held their positions until the next station opened.

The Lord beside him left before the recording ended. Ren stayed through the remaining approaches, noting when the rear holder came forward and how little room the strikers needed to withdraw. The formation traveled slowly enough to outpace across open ground, but an opponent within reach had much less time to get clear.

He marked the final exchange for another look, then went to the boards.

— • —

The semifinal’s full rules had been posted beneath the map.

At the final signal, the squad holding more of the three marked objectives uncontested would win. Both squads inside a boundary made it contested, scoring for neither. An empty boundary was neutral, regardless of who had occupied it earlier.

If they held an equal number, total uncontested occupation time across the round decided the result. If that was also equal, play continued under the same conditions until one squad held more objectives at a scoring mark. There would be no reset or reinforcements.

Regulated Lord communication remained available. Ren could send instructions through the plate, but no energy, equipment or treatment could enter from him once play began.

He checked the detailed terrain sheet next. Depths and widths were marked throughout the water loop between the west pool and east landing, including the narrowest turn. Both lower boundaries contained dry ground where Mara’s entrants could stand; having water inside them would not make them safe to hold.

The central passage gave the upper marker a short route to either lower point. The outer land paths were longer and passed through folds in the ground. Ren followed the contours with a finger. From above, Mara would see the approaches close to the lower boundaries, but parts of the outside paths would be hidden from the junction.

Mara stood at the next board with a copy of the map. She was marking the distance between the central passage and the east landing when Ren looked over.

She glanced up, then returned to her sheet.

Ren checked the water measurements once more, folded his copy and went home.

— • —

The event’s clearance for Keep had arrived while he was at the hall. The examination and treatment record had been accepted; Ren could include it in his declaration.

Wake waited in the deep channel beside the gate cove’s rock shelf. The lead whale had come around from the pod, and the craftsperson had brought the repaired cradle down from the landing.

Ren set his papers aside and helped lift the frame into place. Wake remained afloat alongside the shelf while the Glassfire checked the seat against the curve of its back.

"A little farther forward."

Ren shifted it where the craftsperson indicated. They tried the position before fastening anything, then moved it back slightly until the padding rested evenly beneath the support.

The straps followed. The craftsperson checked each worn section and kept the buckles clear of Wake’s skin while Ren steadied the frame.

Wake held beside the rock through the fitting. Ren’s palm rested on the frame as the last strap was secured, with the pod waiting beyond the mouth of the cove. When the craftsperson stepped back, he lifted his hand and gave Wake room to move.

"One slow turn. Keep it empty first."

Wake swam out from the shelf and turned through the deeper water. The cradle stayed upright as its back rolled beneath the straps, and the seat was still dry when it returned.

Eira brought Keep from the flat stone. Ren held the support while she settled it into the padding and checked the repaired attachment.

"No pressure on the edge," she said.

He ran a finger beneath the nearest strap, then had Wake repeat the turn with Keep mounted. Eira watched from the shelf and examined the seat again when it came back. The attachment hadn’t shifted against the padding.

They finished with the approach to the unlit gate and a return to the unloading point. Wake had room beneath its body throughout, though Ren kept it in the deeper channel for the turn. At the shelf, he and Eira lifted Keep clear while the craftsperson held the cradle steady.

The fitting and unloading worked. Ren compared the cove’s narrow turn with the dimensions on the arena sheet; the published pool and landing allowed the room Wake needed, and the connecting loop was deep enough along its full length.

He left the craftsperson checking the straps after the test and called Vesper over to the map.

— • —

Ren spread it on the flat stone, with Eira beside Vesper and Tarin watching from the water. Bolt waited near the bank.

"The two lower points are the priority," Ren said. "Wake can move between them through this loop. Take the top early if we can, but leave before Mara closes the outside route."

He showed Vesper the central passage and described the exchange he had watched.

"Her formation takes its time crossing open ground. At contact, the holders cover the strikers as they pull back, and they’re ready to advance again almost immediately. Don’t wait for them to reach you before starting down."

Vesper traced the outer path from the upper boundary.

"Eira and I go up with Mistwhisker. We leave by this side when they commit to the approach."

"Yes. The lower points matter more than keeping that view."

"Wake at west?"

"With Keep. Tarin starts there too; Bolt takes east. The loop stays available for support."

Vesper turned toward the two waiting in the water and demonstrated the withdrawal signals. An arm extended toward the outside path meant the land group was coming down. A raised arm, held overhead, called for pickup at the bank.

"Bolt watches the east bank," she said. "Tarin, watch for us leaving the top, and keep sight of the bank on your side. If either of you sees the pickup signal, pass it to Wake."

She tapped the marked water beside the landing.

"We’ll wait where Wake can reach us. Nobody jumps in hoping to be collected."

Ren checked the pickup places against the depths before agreeing. They ran through both signals once, with Tarin and Bolt showing where they would move in response.

"Keep stays mounted," he said afterward. "If we need to move it, Wake carries it."

Vesper nodded and took a copy of the map while Ren completed the declaration.

Wake, six. Vesper with Mistwhisker, three. Tarin, three. Keep, Eira and Bolt, two each.

Eighteen points. Ward had already fought in the arena; this would be Wake’s first round.

— • —

When Ren returned to the hall, he submitted the declaration and waited for it to be checked. Mara’s was posted beside his shortly afterward.

She had kept all four entrants: the two five-point holders and the two four-point strikers. He expected them to concentrate again, though the sheet gave him no starting positions.

At the viewing surface, he asked the attendant to return to the final exchange of her quarterfinal.

This time he watched the ground behind the retreating striker. The opposing pair had pressed it back from the approach, forcing its holder to turn. For a moment there seemed to be space between the plated front and the second holder.

Then the striker withdrew through it. The lead holder stepped across, the rear one advanced, and the four closed that space while the attackers were still following.

Ren slowed the recording to measure the striker’s withdrawal against its own body length. He noted where the holders planted their feet, then watched the same movement at its original speed.

The striker had barely cleared the holder’s shoulder before all four were moving forward again.