Swords Against Wizardry by Fritz Leiber ...
Swords Against Wizardry by Fritz Leiber ...
Swords Against Wizardry by Fritz Leiber ...
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ankles now took note of a slight yet unaccustomed draft from under the arras. For<br />
without other warning a fist pointed with a dark dagger punched through the<br />
arras-slit at his throat.<br />
With the edge of his left hand, which had been raised to indicate to Ivivis<br />
their bedding-place, the Mouser struck aside the black-sleeved arm.<br />
The girl exclaimed, not loudly, "Klevis!"<br />
With his right hand the Mouser caught hold of the wrist going <strong>by</strong> him and<br />
twisted it. With his spread left hand he simultaneously rammed his attacker in<br />
the armpit.<br />
But the Mouser's grip, made <strong>by</strong> hurried snatch, was imperfect. Moreover,<br />
Klevis was not minded to resist and have his arm dislocated or broken in that<br />
fashion. Spinning with the Mouser's twist, he also went into a deliberate forward<br />
somersault.<br />
The net result was that Klevis lost his cross-gripped dagger, which clattered<br />
dully on the thick-carpeted floor, but tore loose unhurt from the Mouser and after<br />
two more somersaults came lightly to his feet, at once turning and drawing<br />
rapier.<br />
By then the Mouser had drawn Scalpel and his dirk Cat's Claw too, but held<br />
the latter behind him. He attacked cautiously, with probing feints. When Klevis<br />
counterattacked strongly, he retreated, parrying each fierce thrust at the last<br />
moment, so that again and again the enemy blade went whickering close <strong>by</strong> him.<br />
Klevis lunged with especial fierceness. The Mouser parried, high this time<br />
and not retreating. In an instant they were pressed body to body, their rapiers<br />
strongly engaged near their hilts and above their heads.<br />
By turning a little, the Mouser blocked Klevis' knee driven at his groin. While<br />
with the dirk Klevis had overlooked, he stabbed the other from below, Cat's Claw<br />
entering just under Klevis' breastbone to pierce his liver, gizzard, and heart.<br />
Letting go his dirk, the Mouser nudged the body away from him and turned.<br />
Ivivis was facing them, with Klevis' punching-dagger gripped ready for a<br />
thrust.<br />
The body thudded to the floor.<br />
"Which of us did you propose to skewer?" the Mouser asked.<br />
"I don't know," the girl answered in a flat voice. "You, I suppose."<br />
The Mouser nodded. "Just before this interruption, you were saying, 'The<br />
very chamber where -- ' What?"<br />
" -- where I often met Klevis, to be with him," she replied.<br />
Again the Mouser nodded. "So you loved him and -- "<br />
"Shut up, you fool!" she interrupted. _"Is he dead?"_ There were both deep<br />
concern and exasperation in her voice.<br />
The Mouser backed along the body until he stood at the head of it. Looking<br />
down, he said, "As mutton. He was a handsome youth."<br />
For a long moment they eyed each other like leopards across the corpse.<br />
Then, averting her face a little, Ivivis said, "Hide the body, you imbecile. It tears<br />
my heartstrings to see it."<br />
Nodding, the Mouser stooped and rolled the corpse under the arras opposite<br />
the closet door. He tucked in Klevis' rapier beside him. Then he withdrew Cat's<br />
Claw from the body. Only a little dark blood followed. He cleaned his dirk on the<br />
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