Reserved seats, front and center, await Xenograg's honored guests at the main competition stage. It is about twenty feet square, raised three feet off the ground. Both the stage and the viewing stand are temporary wooden structures. The stand already holds perhaps twenty people. More are standing around the stage. Xenograg and Amaltea are waiting for them. There is several minutes of small talk, mostly with Amaltea.
"I warn you," he begins after everyone is seated, "that this will be full contact. Even using practice weapons, injury can happen." Xenograg knows that Gwyn and the St. Germain girls are too innocent to truly understand; it is part of why they are here today. Xenograg continues.
"Also, some of the participants are sorcerers. Fighting magic. You will see things that may amaze or confuse you. No explosions, but certainly some...superhuman feats." The children are obviously looking forward to that. Again, they do not understand that the greatest risk of injury will be when sorcery is employed.
"This is an endurance ordeal. Amanda, and later Grimblade, will face a series of opponents. First solid hit eliminates that combatant. The line will start easy and progress to more difficult, while the tested one grows tired." Gwyn raises her hand, and Xenograg acknowledges her.
"Are these all single combat?"
"Good question. No. There will occasionally be two, maybe even three, against one." Maurin now raises her hand.
"Are these sword duels?" Xenograg smiles.
"Another excellent question. No, not exclusively. Let me clarify something: this is not dueling. This is mock combat. The only rule restricting the combatants is one against lethal force. Otherwise, anything goes. You will see tripping, wrestling, disarming, perhaps even weapon-breaking. Some matches, especially the early ones, will be very short."
"Oh, there is one other rule: the tested one must carry all the arms they will use for the entire ordeal. For example, a shield will need to be slung across the back when not in use. A discarded item cannot be retrieved. This includes being disarmed. Any last questions?" Tabitha has one.
"What if they both hit at the same time?"
"Then both are eliminated, which means the ordeal is over."
Amanda steps out of a nearby tent as Xenograg finishes his sentence. The crowd applauds as she climbs the steps to the stage. She wears a blood-red tabard over her elven mail. A practice sword is suspended from a thick belt. A round shield is slung across her back. She holds a helmet under her left arm. In her right hand, she hold a wooden spear-like weapon about six feet long. Amanda smiles and lifts her weapon up to acknowledge the applause.
"Is that a spear?" asks Gwyn.
"No, you would know it as a naginata. Two feet of sharp blade, slightly curved. See?" Xenograg points, and his guests now recognize how the wooden weapon approximates a bladed point. It is Reinette who blurts out the pertinent fact.
"A spear can only stab!" Xenograg smiles.
"Exactly." A man and a woman dressed in white climb to the stage using the same stairs Amanda did. These are the judges.
Lastly, Amanda's first opponent climbs onto the stage from the other side. He wears brown Rellugai lamellar armor, including helmet, and is armed with a practice spear. The judges take positions opposite each other. Amanda dons her helmet. At a signal from one judge, the combatant salute each other. At another signal, the fight begins.
