Rhiannon - Dragonrider

Chapter Twenty Six - The Cerebrally Buttressed Broadsword Parry

"Carodoc!" I said, turning to him. He was trying to copy some of my stretches. "I'm going to ask you a couple of questions about Kiernonda. You might think that some of them are a bit funny but there'll be somebody else listening in."

"This is another one of your, 'don't ask, you don't want to know,' things, isn't it," he said with a grin. "Okay, fire away!"

"Please describe Kiernonda as a fighter," I heard myself saying.

Carodoc gave me a funny look but then he shrugged and began, "Kiernonda's one of our more skilled nonda transitors. He's quick and ruthless with the broadsword, but he doesn't always pay enough attention to defence. He is, however, not as fit as he should be and tends to tire easily."

"Is he right-handed?"

A blizzard of questions followed, dragging out every possible detail of Kiernonda's combat technique and habits. When Psion was done, Carodoc went to sit on the low wall with his back to the sea. He looked a bit stunned.

"That was amazing!" I told Psion." I've been watching Kiernonda fight ever since I've been here, in the Saturday sparring sessions and that sort of thing, but just thinking about those questions made me look at him in a completely different way."

"I would venture to suggest that you have been seeing him rather than watching him," Psion observed with his bubbling cloud humour thing. "However I have considerable experience of preparing humans for duels, and, I might add, there has only been a single regrettable instance where my charge has failed to emerge victorious."

"That's encouraging," I replied.

"Encouraging or not, you're in for the toughest four days of your life if you are to survive this particular encounter. He is a much more experienced swordsman than you."

"But I've got the best advisor on my side!"

"Have no doubt, Young Mistress," he said in an unusually serious tone, "that he, too, will have the support of excellent advisors. It is my working assumption that he will have the full support of the House of Quaro in this encounter."

"And they're good?"

"Quaro is one of the four senior Edify. Their advice will be excellent. Our principal advantage lies in the fact that you are a completely unknown quantity for them."

"Won't they just ask Kiernonda and Quaro-Deryn the same sort of questions you just asked me?"

"Beyond doubt!" he answered. "I am, however, cautiously optimistic that they will fail to recognise your cerebral puissant capabilities, though you gave significant indication of your budding talents yesterday."

"You what?"

"They may not recognise how powerful your mind is and how effectively you are able to bring it to bear in combat. That was quite a trick you pulled off yesterday."

"But you told me I could do it?"

"I have had the privilege of observing your mind at close quarters," he told me. "Furthermore, I was completely familiar with your mother's exceptional talents so I knew what to look for."

I went quiet for a bit as I thought about this.

"People in the house are starting to wake," Psion warned me. "It would be wise to break the link soon."

"Before you go – what training should we be doing this morning?"

"I would recommend that your young gentleman companion ensures that you are completely familiar with the full gamut of sword, dagger and cerebral parries. Your activities in the quad will doubtless be most minutely observed, however those exercises will reveal little to our opponents. Ensure you keep your will on a tight leash, however. I would not have you advertising your mental resources any more than is absolutely necessary before the confrontation."