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."I don't like fighting," she said evenly."But I will fight to protect me andmine."In front of her, Gitana gave a smug grin.Behind her, Yvette could detect Pias's anguish.He obviously didn't want her to fight any more than she did, but, like her, he recognizedthe necessity for this match."Be careful, Eve," he whispered."She's good."Yvette had already surmised that simply from the manner in which Gitana moved asshe approached.Her blade was held point upward for a quick slash or jab, her stancewas a slight crouch that would let her spring quickly forward or to either side, dependingon circumstance.Her gaze was fixed squarely on Yvette; she would let nothing distracther from her goal of victory.Yvette was not surprised to see these signs of expertise; itonly stood to reason that Gitana would challenge her opponent to a form of combat inwhich she herself was an expert.It's known as hedging your bets, Yvette thoughtcynically.Yvette moved away from the table toward an open area of the room where she'd havemore space to maneuver.Gitana turned slightly and continued coming after her.Around them, the room had grown deathly quiet in anticipation of the blood sport thatwas to ensue.The two women circled one another warily, spiraling inward toward the center of a smallimaginary circle.Each was looking for-some weakness in the other's defense, and eachwas having a hard time finding one.Yvette was patient, however; she hadn't wanted tohave this fight, anyway.She could afford to wait all night if necessary for the rightmoment to move, and she refused to strike first.Gitana was not blessed with her opponent's patience.After circling for almost twominutes, she grew tired of the waiting game and decided to force Yvette's hand.With asudden lunge, her knife lashed out at the DesPlainian's eyes.Yvette was ready for the move.She had spotted the tiny muscle tensions that precededthe strike, and could predict almost the instant it would come.As Gitana's blade camesweeping toward her face, she took a slight step back with her right foot and lifted herleft arm to block her opponent's motion.Gitana's move, though, was a feint; even as Yvette was reacting to the supposed threatto her eyes, Gitana's hand was drawing back and her-left leg was lifting for a viciouskick to Yvette's midsection.Not even Yvette's reflexes were fast enough to completelyward off the effects of the blow; the best she could do was start to fall backward as shesaw the foot approach.The kick did not land as hard as Gitana had intended, but it didhave enough force behind it to knock Yvette to the floor.On a high-gravity world like Newforest, with a surface gravity two and a half times thatof Earth, any fall was a serious accident.Even ten or twenty generations had notcompletely acclimated the inhabitants to such brutal conditions.While their bones werethicker and, to some extent, tougher, they were still basically the same calciumcompounds that had evolved over millions of years on Earth.They could-and did- stillbreak when allowed to fall victim to the crushing force of high-grav.The only thing that kept the fight from being over then and there was Yvette's circustraining.Gitana's kick had pushed her off balance.There was no way to prevent theimpending fall from happening, but she did know ways to keep it from being disastrous.Using her skills as an accomplished acrobat, she tucked her body up in a compact ballthat allowed her to land on the softer portions of her anatomy, cushioning the impact onher more fragile bones.At the same time, she utilized the momentum imparted to herby Gitana's kick to let her roll backward.In one fluid motion she had fallen, rolled andsprung to her feet again, prepared to do battle once more.I've been underestimating her and overestimating myself, Yvette criticized severely.I'vebeen so used to working on low-grav worlds these past few years, and so used tofighting people whose reflexes aren't as fast as my own, that coming back to ahigh-grav planet requires an adjustment.Gitana has lived in high-grav all her life, andshe's more used to it right now than I am.Her reflexes are every bit as fast as mine.I'llhave to watch that.The only advantage she could count on now, she knew, was her extra training as acircus performer and her greater experience in life-or-death situations.There was agreat deal to be said in favor of such experience, but it could not completelycompensate for overconfidence.Gitana was upset that her trick had not worked.The feint and kick was the prime tacticin her repertoire, and she had hoped to use it to end this fight quickly.Now they were infor a more protracted battle.Gitana was still confident of her ability to win, but she hadgained at least a slight measure of respect for her antagonist.She made another feint, but this time Yvette did not respond to it.Gitana pulled back,and the two women began circling one another again.Yvette felt a little more securenow; having analyzed her opponent, she knew that the other's major weakness was herimpatience.She wanted to make something happen fast, and that, Yvette knew, couldbe Gitana's undoing.Things would happen quickly enough, to be sure; but it would be acalculated quickness on Yvette's part, not a quickness born of impetuosity.Gitana made a slight body feint with her left shoulder, then lunged savagely into anattack.It was no feint this time; her knife was slashing for real as her hand rippeddownward in a sweeping motion.But Yvette was no longer there.She had moved into the feint instead of away from it,so that her body was closer than Gitana had anticipated it would be.Yvette came upunder the slashing arm, knife at the ready.Gitana, her own reflexes lightning quick,pulled quickly away-but not quickly enough.Yvette's blade raked the side of her arm,leaving a gash fifteen centimeters long and drawing blood.Gitana howled with the pain and pulled rapidly away from the encounter.The woundseemed only to have doubled her determination to kill Yvette; she glared at theDesPlainian with intensified ferocity.Let her get angry, Yvette thought coldly.Themadder she is, the more impatient and careless she'll become.All the better for me.The Newforester made another lunge, which Yvette easily sidestepped.As Gitanacame rushing by, Yvette gave her a blow to the back of the head with her right fist,causing her foe to stumble into the wall a few meters away.Gitana's apparentclumsiness invoked a couple of quiet laughs from the audience.They were quicklyhushed, but they had reached Gitana's ears and infuriated her still further.She wouldnot be humiliated this way.Gitana regained her balance and started what seemed like another blind charge atYvette.The latter was all prepared to sidestep once more but, at the last moment, shesaw Gitana flip her knife expertly from right to left hand.She's ambidextrous! Yvettethought-and that thought in itself was almost too late.She had been set to move one way to avoid the knife, and suddenly it was coming ather from another angle altogether
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