The Element of Fire, page 127 by Martha Wells
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edge. Aristofan and Denzil circled each other.
"You're about to lose a blade," Thomas told Lucas.
"I've been doing this twenty years and I never needed anything like that," Lucas said, exasperated. "This isn't a duel; it's a murder. That young idiot ought to give over."
"It would look bad. People would talk." Thomas's voice was heavy with irony.
Lucas made an impatient gesture. "He'd be alive to hear them. He's only a poet; why should he care what people say?"
"Everyone does," Kade said.
Thomas looked down at her and saw the tension in the way she was standing, the intent look in her gray eyes, and realized what she was about to do. He decided to let her.
Aristofan attempted a desperate parry and Denzil trapped the boy's sword in his elaborate main gauche and snapped the blade. The Duke's first slash opened a long cut on Aristofan's cheek; his second never landed.
Kade slammed into Denzil from the side. He staggered and twisted away from her, landing heavily. Before she could leap on him, Thomas caught up with her from behind and pulled her out of the way. Denzil leapt to his feet, threw down his sword, and started toward her.
Thomas shoved him backward and said, "Temper, my lord. Take them one at a time."
They were treated to a good view of Denzil with the veneer of civility stripped away. "How dare that bitch interfere with me?" he shouted.
Aristofan had fallen to the floor and was pressing his arm to his face, trying to staunch the blood flow. A couple of watching servants ran forward to help him.
"I'll do more than interfere with you, posturing monkey," Kade sneered at the infuriated Denzil. "Why don't you take on someone with a chance against you?"
"There's a thought," Thomas remarked pleasantly.
Denzil focused on him and his expression changed. He smiled and gestured back toward the fallen poet. "Is that the problem, Captain? Am I usurping your duty?"
They regarded each other for a moment, long enough t