Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
From: aaron@atlantis.uucp
Subject: [DS] Clivia: Challenge Match
Message-ID: <1993Feb12.185330.8532@atlantis.uucp>
Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1993 18:53:30 GMT


Clivia tensed as she cross the street.  The street was a boundary, an
uneasy one, between one territory and another.  And as such, it was
guarded.

She felt the woman behind her before she heard her.  She stepped back,
turned around, and grabbed the outstretched black arm, pulling her attacker
forward.  The other woman's stiletto fell out of her hand, but the woman
herself managed to roll and come up on her feet.

Clivia picked up her opponent's stiletto and tossed it up in the air a few
times, catching it by the hilt each time.  "Hello, Abayomi," she said.

Abayomi's eyes widened.  "Clivia?"  She grinned fleetingly, a sudden flash
of white in her black face.  Then she remembered her surroundings and
whispered, "Come inside."

"Inside" was a small safe-house of the Stiletto gang.  Another black woman,
Abayomi's sister Ife, was inside.  After a short exchange in their own
language, Ife went outside, presumably to take her sister's place on guard.

"So, how've you been?" Abayomi said.  "Redrowen told us you were dead, but
I didn't believe her for a second.  I knew you two had just had some
damnfool fight and you'd stormed off again for a few months.  But now
you're back, and..."  Her smile faded at Clivia's stony expression.  "It's
more than that, isn't it?" she said quietly.

Clivia nodded.  "I'm afraid I'm going to have to challenge her."

"Sweet Ejeoba," Abayomi murmured.  "You remember, don't you?  How you two
were inseparable as kids?  She could always lick you in a fight, but you'd
cry and make up afterwards.  You remember that, Clivia?  And now you walk
in here and say you're going to kill her and take over?"

Clivia turned her face away.  Her whole plan, and support of the gang,
rested on how well her next lie was.  "You don't know the whole story,
Aba," she said.  "You don't know why I left."  She turned back to face her
friend.  "I found out that Redrowen was making deals with Yirma."

Abayomi sucked in her breath.  Many Stiletto members had been prostitutes
at one time or other, and had joined the gang for their own protection. 
Many of them had fled from Yirma's Brothel, or been rescued from there. 
Yirma was by far the worst of the madams in the Low City, keeping most of
her girls strung out on Joystix or worse.

"You hear what happened to Yirma?" Clivia asked.  Abayomi nodded.  "I was
part of that."  That was mostly truth.  Noctu had killed Yirma rather than
keep her around to spill information about the Demon Spiders.  Clivia had
done very little there.  "Listen, Aba.  I need your support.  And Ife's. 
Will you give it to me?"

Slowly Abayomi nodded.  "If Redrowen was making deals with Yirma, then I'm
on your side for whatever you need to do," she said.  "And Ife won't go
against me.  You know that."

Clivia nodded.  That was all she needed.

***

Redrowen was practicing with her sword when Abayomi knocked on her door. 
"Come in," she said.  She didn't sheath her sword.  She didn't know who
would be coming in, and it was better safe than sorry.

"Redrowen," Abayomi said.  "A visitor to see you."

"Who?" Redrowen said, turning and starting to sheath her sword.  Then she
saw.  "Clivia."  She returned her sword to a ready position.  "Why are you
here?"  Not giving her a chance to answer, she turned to Abayomi.  "Why
wasn't this intruder repelled at the boundary?"

"I come to challenge," Clivia said.

Redrowen stared into Clivia's eyes for long seconds.  This woman before her
was one she had once known well, almost better than herself.  But she
didn't know her anymore.  Only traces remained.  Regretfully Redrowen
decided that she couldn't afford mercy.  "Call an assembly," she said.  "We
have a challenge being brought to bear."

***

The assembly was held in the largest courtyard of the Stiletto territory. 
It was impossible to maintain vigil over the boundary in an assembly where
all the members had the right to attend, but that was the risk they ran. 
For a moment it occurred to Redrowen that that was Clivia's real motive--to
distract them and leave them unprepared for an assault--but as a precaution
she had sent out a couple of extra scouts before the assembly.  No enemy
were reported--and that would just have to do.  She had to face Clivia's
challenge or lose by forfeit.

She scanned the faces around her--over a dozen, some of them not yet in
full adulthood.  And not all of them looked to her.  Clivia, at the other
end of the courtyard, had several woman around her as well.  Abayomi and
Ife were no real surprise, though definitely disappointing.  And the others
were all personal friends of Clivia's from before.  None of them knew what
Clivia had become.  They hadn't been as close as Redrowen.  They didn't
know why she had cast Clivia out and told the others she was dead.  Now
Clivia was alive, and Redrowen's credibility and leadership was on the
line.

"I call challenge," Clivia said formally.  She was once more dressed as a
full member of Stiletto, never having been officially expelled.  "I accuse
our leader of heinous traffic with Yirma, who is our enemy."

Redrowen was somewhat taken aback by the formal accusation.  How could
Clivia be so brazen as to accuse her of something so patently false?  But
somehow she knew that Clivia would make her charge stick, manufacturing
evidence if she had to.  Why not?  Yirma was dead, and if Redrowen was dead
too, then only Clivia's word would remain.

After such an accusation, any allegations on Redrowen's part would seem
petty.  Time enough for that after the battle.  "I accept the challenge,"
Redrowen said.

The formalities over, the two opponents stepped forward.  The night was
cold, so they didn't strip down as far as they would have in summer, only
removing a single outer layer.  They took stilettos from their seconds, and
stood as a rope was tied around their wrists, binding them together.  Then
their seconds stepped back and the fight was on.

Clivia made the first move, as always, a surprise jab to try to catch
Redrowen off-guard.  Except that Redrowen knew she would do it, and dodged
easily.  They circled each other, occasionally feinting with their
needle-thin blades.

The stiletto was not a defensive weapon.  It wasn't always an effective
offensive weapon either, since the wound it made was narrow--there were
only a few places where you could land a really disabling blow with it.

It didn't take Redrowen long to realize that during her absence Clivia's
fighting skills had been honed, while Redrowen's had become rusty due to a
relatively peaceful year.  And more than that, Clivia seemed to have
developed an unnatural and unerring instinct for her opponent's location. 
Even when Redrowen ducked inside her opponent's reach and spun her around,
Clivia easily dodged what should have been a fatal blow to the spine.

Stiletto was silent, watching the battle of their leaders.  As Redrowen
tried more and more desperate tactics, the thought was that Redrowen was
perhaps getting too old and losing her will to fight.  Clivia was newer
blood(despite being the same age as Redrowen)and seemed to be more fit.

Finally Redrowen made one desperate move too many.  She had planned a kick
to the abdomen to put Clivia down.  Instead, her foot connected with empty
air and she fell off balance.  She never saw the blow that killed her, just
felt it in her back.  Muscles suddenly deprived of strength, she collapsed
forward and sprawled while consciousness and life quickly faded.

Clivia withdrew her stiletto from Redrowen's back and stepped back while
Redrowen's second checked her pulse.  "She's dead," was the final verdict,
and Clivia held her bloodied blade high as a ragged cheer came from
Stiletto.

This'll show Noctu, she thought.  The Demon Queen supports me and guides
me.  The Demon Queen aids me in battle.  I will prove myself worthy.  Her
blood sang in her ears, and she could feel her hidden Demon Spider tattoo
throbbing in resonance.

Clivia turned to each member of Stiletto in turn, and asked each the same
question.  "Will you support me and follow me?"  Each responded, "yes,"
except for one, who had been Redrowen's closest confidante and lover. 
Clivia stared at her for several minutes.  Kill her, a voice inside her
said.  She is dangerous to us.  But if she showed such cold-bloodedness
this early, she would lose what she had gained so far.  "Go," she said
instead.  If Noctu had told the truth, Demon Spiders would be waiting to
take care of her anyway.  Those were the risks you took when you left the
shelter of a gang.

-- 
---Alfvaen(Eagerly awaiting "October's Baby")
"Clocks don't bring tomorrow--knives don't bring good news."                       ---Bruce Cockburn
Current Album--Def Leppard:Pyromania
Current Read--S.M. Stirling & Shirley Meier:Saber & Shadow