Trading in Futures by Steve Miller, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller Read Free Book Online Page B

bowed fully--House Child to Honored
Guest--and turned. She walked away as sedately as one with years of
negotiation behind her, and the crowd parted to let her
through.
    "You, sir," Jen Dal del'Fordan cried, "will
satisfy the honor of my House!"
    "Don't be absurd," Daav said, voice
stringently calm, despite the anger trembling within. "The honor of
your House is intact, as you well know."
    "I know nothing of the sort. Korval destroys
Clans as casually as I pluck a flower." The last was said with a
sneer and Daav caught his breath at the sheer, blinding stupidity
of the man. Did he not know that even now Korval and Etgora were
mending the damage given his Clan? Did he not know that with
Korval's patronage and the smiles of the High Houses, Etgora would
recover its loss and reap new profits before Kesa signed her first
Contract lines?
    "You do your sister an injustice--you call
her honor and her understanding into question before all
these."
    He threw an arm out, showing the so-quiet
crowd damming the pathway. "Is this the path a brother treads, in
the task of keeping his kin safely? Your understanding is at fault
in this, sir. Neither Etgora nor Etgora's children has taken
lasting harm from Korval. Have done and stand away."
    Jen Dal del'Fordan smiled. "And I say," he
returned, voice, without doubt, pitched to carry far into the
gardens, "that Korval has tainted Etgora's honor. Everyone here has
heard me. I will have satisfaction, sir!"
    Fool ! Daav raged, forcing himself to breathe deeply. He bowed,
deliberately, in the mode of Master to Novice, taking a savage
satisfaction in the gasp from the crowd.
    "Call the House's dueling master," he said,
and his voice was not--quite--steady. "I will satisfy you."
    From the corner of his eye, he saw the crowd
waver and reform with Etgora and his mother in the first rank. His
mother's face was very calm.
    * * *
    THE CARD TABLES in the Sunset Glade had been
hastily removed to make room for the combatants. Clan Etgora's
dueling master bowed to Daav.
    "My Lord yos'Phelium. As the one challenged,
you may choose the weapons of the duel. The House can provide
pistols, swords, knives, or Turing forks from its own arsenal. If
you wish a weapon we do not own, the House will acquire a matched
set of the weapon of your choice, within reason. If it appears, in
the judgement of the Master of the Duel, that your weapon has been
chosen with an eye to indefinitely postponing this duel, you will
be required to choose another weapon. Is this understood, sir?"
    "It is." Daav closed his
eyes, briefly considering edges and explosives, bludgeons, the
perfectly tuned gun in his sleeve, but--no. Such weapons were
insufficiently potent; they limited one to the infliction of mere
physical damage. He required-- he would
have --a fuller Balance.
    Daav opened his eyes and pointed at the
gaily colored balloons, strung on their strings at the edge of the
glade.
    "There is my weapon of choice, sir. If the
House is able, let a dozen of those be filled with water and let
both my opponent and I choose three. Can this be done?"
    The dueling master bowed. "Indeed it can.
And the distance?"
    "Twelve paces, I believe," Daav said,
counting the moves. AYes, that will do."
    "Very well," said the dueling master and
went away to give instructions.
    The balloons arrived in very short order and
were placed, carefully, on the lawn. A murmur rose up from the
crowd--and an outcry from Daav's opponent.
    "What is this? Toys? Do you consider a
challenge from Etgora a matter for mockery, sir? Dueling master!
Take these insults away, sir, and bring us the matched set in the
mahogany case!"
    The dueling master bowed. "The rules of the
duel state clearly that weapons are the choice of the challenged,
sir. Lord yos'Phelium has chosen balloons filled with water, at
twelve paces. He is within both his rights and the bounds of the
duel."
    "I will not--" began Jen Dal, but it was
Etgora who spoke up from the sidelines.
    "Do you know, my son, I