Chapter 18: Battle Ready

I moved away from the scene of our fight and was joined by the rest of my finger.

"Wooo that was intense." said Desrae.

"Damn right, but a walk-over. I don't think it will be quite as easy next time."

"Don't be too sure. I have been watching just as closely as you and I think that we are a lot better than you realise."

"Maybe. Let's see what happens. We have definitely lost the element of surprise though."

"Not necessarily. I suspect that even the veteran finger leaders are a little surprised, and they have experience of the real thing. If we keep changing our tactics, I think we will keep them on edge. I also think that our speed is going to be very, very difficult for them to counter."

"Agreed. I think we have just proven though that the use of shields could be an advantage. We couldn't have broken them as fast if they had been using shields, although if we have to fight a finger that is experienced in the meleé with the parry-dagger, then we might have more of a problem."

"I think you are still underestimating how far we have come. Looks like there is some discussion going on..."

I looked over at Fist Ryon. He had walked off to the side and was involved in an animated conversation with hand Evans and Finger Roberts. The other Finger Leaders had also all congregated in a clump and I saw some arm-waving going on. I grinned at Desrae and the others. Finger Roberts had warned us that we were about to set the cat amoungst the pidgeons.

After about 10 minutes, Finger Roberts left the other two and walked over to us.

"Any pidgeons left alive Finger?" I asked him with a smile.

"Not many!" he smiled back... "There was some discussion about what you guys did, and whether there was anything that you had done wrong, but mostly they were concerned about what would happen to anyone else that they sent up against you. They are going to consult the other finger leaders and find out if there are any of them that think that their fingers could stand up against you. If not, then they are going to set you against the veteran finger straight away. The whole concept of the competition is essentially scrapped.

"I had to face a few hard questions about what was up with you lot, but Hand Evans supported me. I suspect he is going to have some words with Fist Ryon about believing reports that are passed up through the chain of command. He was hanging around here expecting to see some fireworks. It turns out that he, at least, believed what I told him about you guys. The other hand Leaders have also been called so that they can watch you in your next battle."

"Do you think we will have any trouble with the veteran finger?"

"No. I think that at the very worst, you will find the fight a little more even than your last one, but even then, I think that you have gone beyond what anyone has done before; at least after the first phase of training. Let's see how it pans out."

We waited for a little while longer until I saw Fist Ryon turn away from Hand Evans and walk over to a bunch of guys sitting under a tree. I had them mapped on my mind-map, but I had paid no particular attention to them up to this point. When I noticed Fist Ryon speaking to them, I realised that they must be the veteran finger that we would have to fight. They were not any brighter on my mind-map than any of the other fingers, but when I focused on them, they seemed to be more intense somehow. As I watched them, both with my eyes and on my mind-map, I saw them get up and start to walk onto the parade-ground. As they started moving, the mind-map images of them seemed to blur slightly and for a moment I had trouble distinguishing the individual warriors. After a few seconds I managed to compensate. I realised that what I had seen was a seasoned finger that had just gone into battle mode by entering the meditative state similar to what we did.