2.18 En garde!

“Iris wanted to test your shield. Which reminds me."

Esther summoned her throne of javelins. They appeared in a semi-circular throne behind her. Their crimson red bodies glistening like the stingers of a mutant scorpion. She held out her arm to the side. There was a flash of light, and a seventh javelin appeared in her outstretched hand. Only, this javelin was not a javelin at all, but a fearsome swordstaff. The polearm measured a little over eight feet in length, two of which belonged to a silver head shaped like a double-edged shortsword with a razor-thin taper. The other six belonged to its uncolored wooden haft. Between the two was a golden crossguard that was well over a foot long.

At that very moment, I heard the gentle plucking of a single note on the harp accompanied shortly after by the faintest of strings. The tune was soft and whimsical until it was interrupted by a piercing dissonant double-stop solo on a violin. The song soon returned to its whimsical theme, now accompanied by the woodwinds and the rest of an unseen orchestra. At first, I thought I was just hearing things again, but when the song persisted, I knew that it was there. This was the second time music accompanied something Esther did. It bothered me that I still didn’t know if this was because Iris was messing with me, if I was losing my mind, or if Esther really was the source of these haunting melodies.

Maybe it’s one of her curses, having creepy music follow you around every time you fought, I thought. A curse I would gladly trade for one of my own.

In response to Esther summoning her Remnant, I prepared a barrier but merely held it. Having already been shot in the heart once by her, I didn’t want to be caught off-guard again. This time, though, I really wasn’t sure what she was trying to do.

I waited for Esther to move.

Esther caught my nervous look. She immediately waved her free hand.

“We need to duel!” she explained.

I laughed but held my barrier regardless. It seemed odd that she would want to duel now when Gordon had made such a big fuss about us being short on time.

“I thought we had things to do,” I said.

“This is one of them.”

The ghostly string quartet picked up their pace. Their notes crescendo gently, like an approaching freight train. The notes became clear, familiar, notes of a song I once knew the name of.

We stepped onto the last floor of the spiraling golden bridge that seemed to span the entirety of the Starlit Palace. The air was about twenty to thirty degrees Fahrenheit colder here than the floor above, not quite freezing but dangerously close to it. A slight breeze made the chilly air that much colder. I detected a slight trace of salt in the air. The ocean must have been nearby, somewhere.

The floor beneath my feet was made of a golden grating. I stomped the floor several times. The material didn’t budge an inch. Whatever it was made of it, it definitely wasn’t pure gold, at least, nothing like gold in the Outside world. The platform measured about forty feet in diameter and had a troubling lack of any sort of railing.

“Gordon, what happens if we fall off the edge?”

“You’ll float, like autumn debris on the surface of a mild pond.”

“Debris, thanks.”

I summoned Kairos. I still couldn't believe Iris had gotten me a perfect copy of my mother's blade. Its beauty was like that of a fine watch. No matter what angle you looked at it, it was flawless. I never got tired of admiring its shimmering square cross-guard, its eternally sharp edges, its razor-thin blade, its mythical distribution of balance. Every inch of the weapon was a swordsman’s dream come true. To make a mastercraft Remnant like this took a lot of time, skill, and a good amount of luck. It made me wonder if I could ever forge my own weapon, the Mocles Saber, into a shadow of what my mother had managed to create.

Someday, I thought.

I was still adjusting to using the new weapon. However, because of how well balanced it, the transition had been buttery smooth. It wouldn't be long before I could stop having to consciously make adjustments with it when fighting

Don't worry, mom, I thought. I'll make you proud.

“I presume you want a fair duel,” I called out.

“Yes,” Esther replied. “No magic. No need to kill each other. Gordon, the sparring barriers?”

The cat rustled with excitement inside of his pocket dimension.

"Right away!" he replied.

Gordon meowed loudly. A moment later, a translucent barrier appeared over Esther and me each. I carefully touched the edge of Kairos with my finger. Sparks erupted when the two surfaces came into contact. But there was no cut, no mark.

"Sweet," I said.

I flourished my sword.

"Now, I am a decent duelist, but I don't like my chances fighting a polearm. Not without my magic.”

“Very well,” she said.

Esther dismissed her swordspear and her throne of javelins and summoned a mother-of-pearl hand mirror in one smooth motion. She flipped the mirror and pointed its reflective surface toward me. A moment later, the mirror transformed into a copy of Kairos. Upon closer inspection, it seemed like a perfect copy, at least on the surface.

"Wait!" I cried. "Kairos is a very particular blade. If you don't channel the right current into the blade, it'll shatter."

Esther flourished her copy with a great degree of familiarity.

"Thank you for your concern," she said. "You should know you are not the first to wield your mother's blade."

"Oh," I said, feeling a little more disappointed than I thought I'd be learning that I wasn't the first to wield Kairos in the Nightmare. "I guess that makes sense. That mirror, though. I want one."

"If you win," Esther said, holding the blade handle first toward me.

I blinked.

"For real?"

Esther then stepped forward and held Kairos at the ready.

"If."

"You're on."

“First to three strikes,” she declared.

I took off Gordon’s pocket dimension and tossed it to the side.

As the backpack slid to a stop near the edge of the platform, Gordon crawled out of from within and sat promptly on top of his home. He wagged his tail excitedly, watching us with undivided attention. The volume of the whimsical music filling the arena fluctuated during this sequence of events. It was at that moment that I realized the creepy violin music was coming from within the pocket dimension.

“Gordon, what's with the music?" I asked.

“We can’t have a proper duel without setting the mood. If you’d rather not-”

“-no, no. Just leave it. It's fitting. It's just that melody is so familiar."

Gordon flashed his sharp pearly whites.

“Just a dance to the death.”

Saint-Saëns. Of course.

“Very funny," I said, narrowing my eyes.

Gordon laughed but said nothing.

Oh, you guys are dueling! A familiar voice chimed. Wonderful! I’ll officiate.

Where have you been? I said, more glad than I realized to hear her voice again.

Trying to figure how to keep you two poor souls alive for at least the next the three days, Iris groaned. I’ll give the signal when you two are ready.

Esther and I approached each other until we stood three feet apart. We locked eyes for a brief moment. There was still a small smile on her face. But in her eyes, I saw the icy focus of a veteran fighter preparing for battle. I couldn’t tell if this was because she was competitive and wanted to win, as all duelists did, or if there was something more going on that no one was telling me.

Probably the second, I thought.

The exchange ended as soon as it came. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I was a little shaken by her resolve.

Just a duel, I reminded myself. It’s not like we’re actually trying to kill each other.

Who was I kidding? There was a lot riding on this fight, most importantly, who the better duelist was between the two of us. If I lost, I would never hear the end of it from everyone here at the Starlit Palace, especially Iris and Gordon. There was no telling when I would get a rematch, so I had to prove here and now that I wasn’t a chump.

We raised our blades and held them at the ready.

Esther’s smile widened.

I smiled back, hoping she didn’t see how nervous I was.

Alright, are the duelists ready? Iris said.

"Ready."

"Ready."

Fight!