Jade War

“Business partnership gone bad,” Cory explained, in response to Anden’s questioning look. “Orim says Yoro cheated him out of ten thousand thalirs. Yoro says he did all the work while Orim was doing the deal with Yoro’s girlfriend behind his back.” Cory unwrapped a sour sweet and popped it into his mouth. He offered another to Anden, who shook his head—he couldn’t understand why anyone liked the taste of those things. “My da was worried about this duel going all the way,” Cory said, in a lowered voice. “It doesn’t happen often, only once in while over really serious things, but it’s a good thing Orim yielded. No one wants the police to come snooping.”

Anden felt stunned by what he’d seen. Not by the duel itself, despite all the odd differences in custom, but ever since his encounter in the park with the crewboy Carson Sunter, he’d been careful to try and learn all the rules in Espenia. “I thought dueling was illegal,” he said.

“Crumb, everything in Espenia is illegal.” Derek laughed. “Even cockfighting.”

Cory patted Anden’s arm in a reassuring manner that surprised Anden and made his face warm a little. “Naw, it’s only that the law is complicated. And more often than not, negotiable.”

“True words from an aspiring lawyer,” Derek said.

“Shun Todorho!” came a shout from the center of the room, where a young man now stood in the place where the clean-bladed duel had happened minutes earlier. “Tod, where are you?” He pointed through the crowd at Anden’s table, then crossed his arms in a posture of mock offense. “I’ve been hearing some talk that your Deflection is better than my Lightness. Care to test that bit of bullshit?”

A round of foot-stomping applause ran through the grudge hall. Cory smacked Tod on the back encouragingly and shouted back at the other man, “He’s only had two drinks, Sammy, you sure you don’t want to wait?” Shun Todo raised his glass and drained the rest of it dramatically, then slammed it down on the table and rose with his hands held up in a show of acquiescence to the crowd’s demands. “Etto Samishun,” Tod growled. “For your arrogance, I offer you… an ass kicking.” More foot stomping and cheers as Tod climbed over the blue rope. In contrast to the sense of deathly seriousness of the preceding duel, the mood in the grudge hall was now jovial; everyone could tell that this contest was benign, the typical sort of social challenge that Kekonese threw down all the time.

The challenger, Sammy, crouched in a posture of exaggerated readiness. Tod, smirking a little, faced the audience and strode around a little with his arms raised to urge them to make more noise, which they did with so much enthusiasm that Anden was reminded of an Espenian sporting event and could not help but think the whole display rather crass and un-Kekonese.

Tod whirled and threw a spear of Deflection at Sammy, who leapt Lightly out of the way with a taunting shout. The Deflection buffeted some of the people nearby, who clutched their drinks and hung on to their tables and chairs. A plate of food went flying. Tod unleashed two more Deflections in quick succession that Sammy was hard-pressed to dodge—he bounded straight over Tod’s head and landed behind him.

Cory whooped and shouted, “Get him, Tod!” Their friend spun and feinted high, then sent out a low, wide Deflection that at last caught the other young man at the knees in midleap and sent him sprawling to the ground. Sammy rolled over and held up his hands, grinning and mock cowering while Tod made a show of pretending to jump on him and finish him off. The people in the hall cheered.

The two Green Bones clapped each other on the shoulders good-naturedly before climbing back over the rope and returning to their tables amid praise. “That was toppers,” Derek said when Tod sat back down, and Cory added, “Mass toppers, crumb.”

Anden nodded along in agreement, though in truth, he hadn’t found the contest to be particularly impressive. The style with which Tod and Sammy employed their jade abilities was different and some of it seemed inefficient. Tod’s Deflection had precision but little power; Sammy’s Lightness was nimble enough, but lacked the speed it might have with more Strength. All in all, it had been at the level of what one might see from year-fives at the Academy.

These were ungenerous thoughts, Anden chided himself. The Green Bones here did not receive a full-time education in the jade disciplines. What little jade they carried, they had to hide at all times. They had to train in secret, in the stuffy basement of a community center instead of the sprawling campus of a school like the Academy. Any pride or status they could claim on account of being green could only be garnered here, within the Kekonese community, on nights like this.