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the power behind it. Brian had not exaggerated when he said that Sir Hugh had a strong upper body. They continued, Hugh advancing, Jim dodging and retreating. Gradually, the Page 328 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html tactics of the two men became obvious to the watchers and Malvinne's armed men, now seated on the grass in front in rows, with their hands still tied behind them. These began to jeer and catcall. Jim had no time to pay attention to this, but out of the corner of his eye he saw his own and Brian's men-at-arms moving between the ranks of seated men. The jeering stopped cut off, in one instance, rather abruptly. The combat continued. Jim was watching for signs that Sir Hugh might be tiring, but saw none. Unhappily, at the same time, he became conscious that he, himself, was tiring. This continual quick movement, as the sun heated up their armor, was taking the strength out of him. It occurred to him that with his spins and evades, he might be being a little too fancy using up energy, where Sir Hugh was conserving it. He tried to think of what he would do if he abandoned his plan. But no alternative came to mind. He had ample evidence from a number of glancing, but very noticeable, blows from Sir Hugh that the other was far and away his superior at close quarters. Jim's legs were holding up all right. He had never doubted that they would. But his arms and shoulders were getting tired from manipulating the heavy sword. The common people from Jim's lands who were watching did not jeer, but there was a glumness about them. Clearly, they, like Malvinne's warriors, had come to the conclusion that Jim was afraid of his opponent and doing his best to evade him. Well, thought Jim sourly, they were right at least in part. But evasion could not go on forever. Sooner or later they would have to reach the point of trading blows, and Jim did not like to think of what would happen to him when they came to that point. He had this thought so firmly fixed in mind that it was not until after receiving another of Sir Hugh's glancing blows this time in his side as he spun away once more from the other man that he realized the blow had not been as heavy as some the other man had struck earlier. It had never occurred to him that Sir Hugh's arms might also tire. He had expected it from his own arms, but he had unconsciously assumed that the other was as capable in the upper part of his body as Jim was in his lower. Cautiously he invited a blow that he could at least partially block. Sure enough, it seemed to him that Sir Hugh was not striking with the strength he had struck with before. It was a common thing among boxers, Jim knew, to become arm-weary in the course of a bout. This was often increased by an opponent's pummeling of the muscles of those same arms. Jim had been scoring his few blows against Sir Hugh's arms. It was just possible this was having an effect. Now that he had concentrated on this business of arm weariness, Jim was becoming more and more conscious of the growing weakness in his own arms. Eventually, this must bring him to the point where he could not strike an effectiveblow, that would tell against the other through his armor. In short, his time was limited.Which meant that somewhere along the line he would have to take the initiative and close with Sir Hugh. Then it would be the other Page 329 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html man's weakened armsagainst his own . Meanwhile, he was still doing his best to tire out Sir Hugh's legs. He was spinning clear around behind the other knight now and striking at him almost from straight behind. In Jim's helmet, sweat ran down off his forehead and dripped in his eyes. His whole suit of armor felt as if its inner padding had been soaked in water. He wondered if Hugh was suffering such difficulties; and the next time he spun close to Hugh, he deliberately listened. Yes, Sir Hugh was panting hoarsely within his own helm. But now Jim's arms were getting very tired. It was time to gamble. He started [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |