A Song of Wraiths and Ruin Page 41
“She’s just trying to goad you.” It was the first thing he’d said to her all day, which only stoked Karina’s anger. “Ignore her, and let us move on.”
The look of arrogance on Dedele’s face was one Karina had worn many times herself, often when facing other musicians—it was the look of someone who was certain they’d already won. She likely saw this as a chance to improve her popularity at Karina’s expense, and Karina considered having the girl arrested for her insolence, Champion or no. Her mother surely wouldn’t have entertained such foolishness.
Karina began to refuse, but she was cut off by Grand Vizier Jeneba saying, “Allow me to decline on Her Highness’s behalf. She has far too many responsibilities to handle for her to add another.”
This was also within courtly protocol, as the Grand Vizier often spoke on the sultana’s behalf, but Karina felt as if she’d been slapped. Was this the kind of queen she wanted to be, one who let others belittle her so easily?
She had failed her people at the Opening Ceremony.
She had failed them during the raid.
She would not fail them again.
Karina rose to her feet, ignoring the shocked gasps. “I accept your challenge.”
The cheer that the audience let out wasn’t loud enough to drown out the frantic drum of her own heart.
Ten minutes later, Karina stood on the floor of the stadium dressed in a fighter’s tunic and trousers, with her hair in a loose puff and all jewelry removed. She tossed her cedarwood stick from hand to hand as the referee listed the rules.
“No weapons besides your stick. Stick-to-stick contact is allowed. Stick-to-body contact is also allowed. You win when your opponent has either surrendered or has both feet outside the ring.”
Dedele eyed Karina with a determined glint in her eye. The Fire Champion was half a head taller than her, with hair in a complex design of cornrows knotted in a bun at the nape of her neck, and arms corded with muscle. At the other side of the stadium, Dedele’s family and the Fire-Aligned cohort screamed their support. One of the giant man-powered lion puppets ran back and forth in front of the stands, energizing the already frenzied crowd.
Karina already regretted this decision; once again, she’d thought with her heart and not with her head. But Great Mother be damned if she’d allow another person to belittle her today. Besides, this was probably the only Solstasia event she’d get a chance to participate in. She may as well enjoy herself before Dedele beat her to a bloody pulp.
“Are you ready?” cried the referee.
“We’re ready!”
Dedele and Karina pounded their sticks against the ground in unison.
It had been Hanane who had first taught her how to play wakama, and it was the closest thing to real combat Karina had been allowed to do after the fire. Hanane’s voice rang in her ears as she slipped into a defensive stance with her feet wide apart and her stick before her like a blade. One way or another, she would show her people and the council that one couldn’t make a fool of an Alahari so easily.
The referee blew her horn. “Go!”
Dedele charged forward, diving with the grace and speed of the leopards that symbolized her Alignment. Her moves were wasplike: first a jab to Karina’s right shoulder followed by a quick series of strikes to her gut. She moved faster than Karina had expected, shifting into a new position just as Karina had processed the last one.
Gasping for air, Karina hooked her stick under Dedele’s ankle, upending the girl’s balance long enough for Karina to dive behind her and catch her breath.
“Tuseshti! Wakama!” chanted the crowd. “Tuseshti, wakama, wakama! Tuseshti, wakama, wakama!”
Sweat poured down Karina’s brow even though the match had just begun. Still, she called out, “I should have your head for your rudeness earlier.”
Dedele grinned and swiped for Karina’s side. “I wanted to spend some quality time with my future wife, and what better way to know a person than by seeing how they fight?”
Karina laughed, then immediately regretted it when Dedele’s next blow caught her in the leg. “Watch your arrogance, Champion Dedele. You haven’t won Solstasia yet.”
Dedele was both larger and heavier than her, an advantage for sure, but size alone did not guarantee a win in wakama. The aim was to outstrategize your opponent, not simply harm them.
Wakama is a war game, she heard Hanane whisper. The bigger person doesn’t always win the war.
An idea bloomed in Karina’s mind, one that might help with her king’s heart problem.
“I have a proposition for you.” Karina lunged forward, and her stick crashed into Dedele’s with a resounding crack. “To make this more interesting. The winner of this match may make any request of the loser, and the other must oblige.”
Sure, she could leave things to fate and pray that someone besides Dedele won Solstasia.
Or she could tell fate to screw itself and create the outcome she needed herself.
Wind whooshed through Karina’s ears as she ducked another swing. “And why would you offer something like that when you are almost certainly going to lose?” asked Dedele. Despite herself, Karina grinned at the girl’s confidence; under different circumstances, they might have been good friends.
“I enjoy a good wager. Besides, my dear future wife, what true Fire-Aligned Champion backs down from a challenge?” The Fire-Aligned were the brashest of the Alignments, and the taunt worked exactly as Karina had meant it to. Dedele swung back with her stick high and her nostrils flaring.
“I accept your wager.” With that, she lunged forward with a new intensity, forcing Karina into a roll.
Karina tried to think of how the Kestrel or Hanane would have handled the match, but Dedele was on the attack again, landing a blow that sent Karina’s stick flying several feet away. Even though Karina was now unarmed, Dedele was merciless, striking with full strength. Karina’s skin morphed into a patchwork map of her failures as bruises bloomed from the Fire Champion’s barrage. Karina dove for her stick, but Dedele hooked hers under Karina’s stomach, rolling Karina back from the center of the circle until she was lying inches from the white ring.
“Do you surrender?” yelled the Fire Champion.
“Tuseshti, wakama, wakama! Tuseshti, wakama, wakama!”
Every part of Karina’s body screamed with pain. Her head wound had opened up, and blood now clouded her vision.
She couldn’t control the council.
She couldn’t even win at a children’s game.
She’d never be half the queen, or even half the person, her mother had been. All she could do now was hope that Dedele would make her defeat quick.
Dedele bashed her stick against Karina’s chest, but not hard enough to push her over the line. She could have ended this match several moves ago; the Fire Champion was toying with her simply because she could, and that hurt worse than the bruises spreading across Karina’s body.
“I expected more of a fight from the daughter of the famed Kestrel.” Dedele’s voice was barely audible over the maelstrom of cheers surrounding them. “Yet it seems the future sultana of Ziran is just another useless desert flower with no strength and no skill.”
Something deep within Karina snapped.
With a primal roar, she brought her arm up right as Dedele swung her stick down for the winning blow. An earsplitting crack resounded through the stadium as Dedele’s stick snapped in two. Taking advantage of the girl’s disorientation, Karina grabbed one of the pieces before it hit the ground, then pivoted and kicked the fallen stick out of the ring.
Forgetting about the council, forgetting about her mother and her sister and everything that wasn’t her opponent, Karina charged. She fought with the desperation of a person who had nothing to lose; her blows were unpredictable and imprecise, too fast and too harried for standard blocking techniques to work. Alarm clouded Dedele’s face as she was forced onto the defensive, barely fighting off Karina’s advance.
Karina moved with no grace and no strategy, nothing but pure, unbridled fury amplifying her swings. Today was Wind Day, the day of her Alignment; today, she was the champion, and no one else.
Dedele howled as Karina’s half stick smashed against her left ear, then jabbed into her gut. She slashed at Karina’s chest, but Karina pivoted from the arc of her blow, using the momentum to swing behind the girl.
Bahia’s Comet seemed to pulse in time with Karina’s heartbeat. For an instant, she saw herself and the stadium in perfect clarity, an energy like she’d never known connecting every being gathered there in a shimmering web.
Karina glanced at the sky and hoped that wherever her mother was, she was watching.
Then she brought her stick down on Dedele’s head. Blood pouring down her face, Dedele flew backward, landing several feet clear of the wakama ring.