The Lightless Blade of Night
The darkness posed no barrier to Merinid, his acute senses
penetrated that veil, rendering plasmic shapes that flowed in sureal reds,
yellows, greens and blues from the warmth of his surroundings. As the
curtains before him were swept away, he readied himself, confident in his
disguise, and strode out into the onrushing sea of light and noise.
There he is Ladies and Gentlemen, the master of magic and steel
himself, Merinid Rostarr! The anouncer�s voice accompanied Merinid�s
twin longswords as they wove an intricate pattern through the air shedding
sparks and violet streamers of magic from their edges. In a dance only he
understood, he swept up to the platform and spun once, tossing both swords
into the ground before him, where they suddenly blazed into torches. A
lovely gypsy girl, dressed in spun silks that swirled in a kaliedescope of
colors led the trained stallion past the platform. Merinid wasted no time,
but vaulted onto the back of the horse, pulling out throwing knives as he
did so. The gypsy dancer sent the horse into a gallop around the edge of
the center ring. Small circular targets were propped at quarter intervals
around the ring, and as he came upon each of them, knives slipped from his
hands into the well scarred wood. Springing to his feet, he continued the
breakneck ride around the ring, tossing knives into the centers of the
targets. To the waves of applause, he tensed on the final circuit, then
sprang backwards, back flipping to his feet as the horse rode off. Once
again, the dancer returned, and gently tied a blindfold over his eyes,
testing his blindness by bringing her hands quickly forward, stopping
just before his eyes. He stood perfectly still, skilled by countless
performances of this charade. Outside, ridiculously outfitted halflings
with bright red noses and white powdered faces wheeled out the target
where the dancer whirled up to, bells on wrists and ankles gently
tinkling as she was strapped into place. Merinid shut out everything
and concentrated on that tingling. This was the part that made all of
this getup and attention worth his time. A point in space and time
where even his keen senses couldn�t be certain of anything and he had to
trust in himself and his skills to see them through. Like everytime
before, the sound of the bells suddenly clarrified, and in his mind a
spreadeagled figure rushed towards him, bright bands glowing on ankles and
wrists.
The audience quieted as the first pair of knives whistled to the
target, thudding into place mere centimes from the dancer�s bound wrists.
As the first cheer went up, the first two knives were rapidly followed by
a barrage of others that flew with unerring accuracy to outline the
dancer�s body.
As the last knife thunked into place, Merinid slumped mentally and
let the emotional high rush into his body, basking in the applause from
the audience. He bowed sharply then retrieved the torches, now
transformed back into gleaming longswords, and stalked back through the
curtains. He pushed past the Tavyen and Taykie, the twin acrobats, and
moved quickly to get in position for the next act. Two of the boys from
the town had managed to sneak backstage and were dogging his heels as they
showered him with questions and pleading requests to just hold one of the
blades for a minute. He didn't have the time to deal with them, but
thought of something suddenly. Spying Kythala running towards him,
shedding silks as she changed costumes for the next performance, he
pointed her out to the boys, then jumped back, out of the way. They
stopped their babbling, and looked, jaws dropping, as she rushed towards
them. The delicate and graceful dancer changed in seconds to a speeding
charger, as she barrelled down on them, shouldering them out through the
curtain, to the ground. As they looked up groaning, they heard a low
melodious laugh fade away within.
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