Page 195 (1/2)

"Better a clyster than a blade up the arse!"

The doctor ignored these and siht in readiness Roger shot a glance at Ja ahtly

"Try the feel of it," Jaet was as good a test as any

Roger raised his blade and fixed the doctor with a arde," he said, and the knot of onlookers roared approval

"Gardez vous," replied the doctor proer spun on one heel and the doctor shot past, rapier pointed like a lance Moore the s skewered for the second tiet?" he shouted, shaking a fist

Disregarding the near ed back toward Roger, uttering shrill cries of self-encouragement

It was rather like being attacked by a wasp, Roger thought If you didn’t panic, you found it possible to follow the thing and bat it away Perhaps the doctor was a decent swordsman when sober; in his current state, his frenzied thrusts and er paid attention

It occurred to him early on that he could end the contest at any tie-on with his own h, and was careful to parry with the flat of the broadsword

Gradually everything disappeared fro point of the rapier; the shouts of the crowd faded to a bee-buzz, the dirt of the lane and the wall of the srazed his elbow on the wall, ain ht

The rapier beat on his wider blade, engaged, and screeched loose with a whinggg! of ing beat that vibrated in his wristbones with every blow of the doctor’s sword

Watch the stroke, follow it, bat it away He had no idea what he was doing, but did it anyway The sas running in his eyes; he shook his head to fling it away, nearly h, stopped it close, and flung the rapier back

The doctor staggered, thrown off balance, and feral shouts of "Now! Take hi in the dust-filled air He saw the expanse of the doctor’s euarded, filled with silken butterflies, and choked back the visceral urge to lunge for it

Shaken by the intensity of the urge, he took a step back The doctor, sensing weakness, leapt forward, bellowing, blade pointed Roger took a half-step sideways, and the doctor shot past, grazing the hock of the draft horse in his path

The horse eed screah the air, to crash against the front of the cobbler’s shop The doctor fell to ground like a crushed fly, surrounded by lasts and scattered shoes

Roger stood still, panting His whole body was pulsing with every heartbeat, hot with the fighting He wanted to go on, he wanted to laugh, he wanted to hit soainst the nearest wall, and now

Jaers fro it His arht fly up toward the sky, all by itself His fingers were stiff fro the tingle as the blood ca everywhere He hardly heard the laughter, the offers of drinks, or felt the blows of congratulation rained on his back

"A clyster, a clyster, give hi along as the doctor was borne off for first-aid in the nearest tavern The horse’s oas fussing solicitously over the big bay, who looked more bemused than injured

"I suppose he’s won After all, he drew first blood"

Roger didn’t realize that he’d spoken until he heard his own voice, strangely cal at hihtly on the palht and filled hite dust; it gritted under his eyelids, between his teeth when he closed his mouth

"Aye," he said "It will do"

"Good," said Ja away to pay the s We Will Go

89

THE MOONS OF JUPITER

Late Noveer assured himself that it was not medically possible to die of sexual frustration He doubted that it would even cause lasting daood, either, in spite of his efforts to consider it as an exercise in building character