Warriors of Camlann by N. M. Browne Page B

with a well-aimed attack and knocked the sword effortlessly from Larcius’s hand. It skittered across the mosaic floor amidst silence. Taliesin clapped and Arturus scowled.
    â€˜I hope I didn’t reopen your wound.’ Ursula sounded genuinely anxious.
    Larcius smiled shakily.
    â€˜You have already pierced my heart with your loveliness – the rest is nothing.’
    Ursula blushed again. Dan could not believe it.
    There was some clamour at the back and yells of ‘Fix!’ and ‘He let her win!’
    Dan knew Larcius had not let her win, though his overly courtly response might have been designed to suggest that he had. That man had been afraid.
    Ursula’s irritation got the better of her caution and, with a sinking feeling, Dan heard her shout, ‘Oh, forLugh’s sake! I’ll fight anyone you like but can we do it outside? This room is stifling!’
    They walked en masse to the amphitheatre where Dan had fought Medraut the previous day. Dan pushed his way to Ursula’s side, though she was effectively under guard. They spoke in English.
    â€˜You heard me didn’t you?’
    â€˜Yes, Dan, though I don’t think much of your timing. I don’t know why you’re so surprised, you forget I was once a sorcerer!’ Her triumph over Larcius had put her in playful mood.
    â€˜Seriously, how did you hear me and speak back to me?’
    Ursula looked suddenly earnest. ‘Things have changed, Dan, but not the connection between us. Have you forgotten how I passed power to you? How you learned the language from me? We are linked somehow, as we have been since Rhonwen first called us.’
    Dan was confused by that earnestness, the uncomplicated affection she had for him. ‘No, I’ve not forgotten. I just didn’t think it would still work here. Oh, I don’t know. It’s all too weird.’ He found it increasingly difficult to get his mind round what was happening to him, the strange feeling that his own mind was not a closed entity but receptive to the minds of others. He changed the subject. ‘Listen, are you OK with this fight even though you’re not Boar Skull now?’
    In Macsen’s world, Ursula’s magic had first manifested itself in her ability to take on the form of a huge and extremely effective male warrior.
    Ursula’s grin was mischievous. ‘The funny thing is, I think I am. I don’t look like him … er, me – whatever. I don’t seem to have his physique and all the rest of it but I feel like I’ve got the strength and the reactions he, I mean
I
, had when I was Boar Skull. It’s great! I loved having that power. I tell you, whoever fights me next is in for a surprise.’
    She laughed, a laugh not too far from hysteria. Even reading her mind Dan did not understand Ursula, but he no longer worried about the coming fight. He’d bet on Boar Skull against all comers.
    Three men offered to fight her in turn within the arena formed of Duke Arturus’s soldiers. The first man was a heavily muscled tribesman who, unusually it seemed, still sported tribal tattoos. He was of the Deceangli, a tough people. Ursula disarmed him quickly enough and when he continued to charge at her, hoping to use his strength against her, she rugby-tackled him and finished the contest straddling his chest with Bright Killer held against his throat. He conceded ruefully to loud barracking from his friends. Ursula spoke to him in his own language and told him not to underestimate women. He was almost as startled by that as by his defeat.
    The second challenger was a smaller man, namedViridias. He had the compact build and economical moves of a born fighter. That contest lasted longer, but again Ursula disarmed him and this time he conceded at once. He had quite a reputation in Arturus’s force and when he bowed to her in courtesy at his defeat, the men grew silent. Dan saw him shaking his head at his fellow