Graustarkia

I motioned to the dungeon door. "Get down there."

There was great lethargy in their compliance. I pressed my sword into the small of de Belsac’s back to hasten him along. He muttered some imprecation in French.

Suddenly there was the clang of metal hitting stone behind us. One of the decrepit old retainers I had seen in the great hall, coming down to fill a wine pitcher, had burst upon this unexpected scene and now stood white-faced and frozen before us, the pitcher at his feet.

His arrival was our undoing. Both Micah and I were distracted by his coming; and in an instant de Belsac and company came at us like leopards. I swung about in time to drop the hussar with a single bullet to the chest; but by then de Belsac was upon me, and my firearm was of no further use.

We grappled ferociously, he and I, like rabid dogs, without rules or mercy. De Belsac’s thumbs sought my eyes; he would verily have gouged them out, I’m sure, had I not toppled him backwards onto the floor with a strategic twist and jerk.

I looked to Micah. He was entwined with Otto Brauer, muscles straining against his opponent’s great bulk. I could not help him, for my moment of respite from de Belsac was brief; the Belgian had picked up a sword and was aiming a blow designed to split my skull in two.

I dodged and tumbled and avoided the blade. From the corner of my eye I saw Micah and Brauer, still locked together, fall through the dungeon door. I heard but could not see them rolling down the stairs into the pit.

I reached for one of the abandoned pistols. De Belsac’s blade drew sparks from the stone floor an instant after I withdrew my hand, empty of its prize. I scrambled away, my hand coming down by chance on the hilt of the other sword. I grasped it and sprang to my feet, ready for the next attack. But de Belsac was himself now reaching for the pistol. I lunged, straight at his stomach. He parried adroitly and skipped back two steps.

For either of us now to bend to seize the pistol would mean instant death. It was to be swords and swords alone...