Ellery eyed him cautiously, then led his gaze to the weapons' rack. "Is there another you'd prefer?"
"Prefer? For?"
The woman's eyes narrowed. She strapped the shield onto her left arm, then reached over and drew a wooden battle-axe from the rack.
"My dear Lady Ellery," said Jarlaxle, "are you challenging me?"
"I have heard so many tales of the battle prowess of your race," she replied. "I will know."
Jarlaxle laughed aloud. "Ah yes, answers."
"Answers," Ellery echoed.
"You presume much," said the drow, and he stepped back and lifted the two blades before him, testing their weight and balance. He sent them into a quick routine, spinning one blade over the other, then quick-thrusting the second. He retracted the blades immediately, bringing them to rest at his side. "What interest would I have in doing battle with you?"
Ellery let the axe swing easily at the end of her arm. "Are you not curious?" she asked.
"About what? I have already seen far too many human warriors, male and female." He sent one of the wooden swords in a spin again, then paused and offered a coy glance at Ellery. "And I am not impressed."
"Perhaps I can change your mind."
"Doubtful."
"Do you fear to know the truth?"
"Fear has nothing to do with it. You brought me here to satisfy your curiosity, not mine. You ask of me that I reveal something of myself to you, for your sake. You will reveal your battle prowess at the reward of satisfying your curiosity. For me, there is…?"
Ellery straightened and stared at him sourly.
"The chance to win," she said a moment later.
"Winning means little," said the drow. "Pride is a weakness, don't you know?"
"Jarlaxle does not like to win?"
"Jarlaxle likes to survive," the drow replied without hesitation. "That is not so subtle a difference."
"Then what?" Ellery asked, impatience settling into her tone.
"What?"
"What is your price?" she demanded.
"Are you so desperate to know?"
She stared at him hard.
"A lady of your obvious charms should not have to ask such a question," the drow said.
Ellery didn't flinch. "Only if you win."
Jarlaxle cocked his head to the side and let his eyes roam the woman's body. "When I win, you will take me to your bedchamber?"
"You will not win."
"But if I do?"
"If that is your price."
Jarlaxle chuckled. "Pride is a weakness, my lady, but curiosity…"
Ellery stopped him by banging the axe hard against her shield.
"You talk too much," she said as she strode forward.
She lifted her axe back over her shoulder, and when Jarlaxle settled into a defensive stance, she charged in.
She pumped her arm as if to strike but stepped ahead more forcefully with her opposite foot and shield-rushed instead, battering at the drow's weapons left to right. She started to step in behind that momentum, the usual move, but then pivoted instead, spinning around backward and dropping low. She let her weapon arm out wide, axe level and low as she came around.
Had he expected the move, Jarlaxle could have easily stepped in behind the shield and stabbed her.
But he hadn't expected it, and he knew as Ellery came around, forcing him to leap the sailing axe, that the woman had judged his posture perfectly. He had underestimated her, and she knew it.
Jarlaxle fell back as Ellery came up fast and pressed the attack, chopping her axe in a more straightforward manner. He tried to counter, thrusting his right sword out first, then his left, but the woman easily blocked the first with her shield and deftly parried the second out wide on one downswing with her axe.
Jarlaxle snapped his right hand across, however, batting the side of that axe hard, then rolled his left hand in and over, again smacking the same side of the axe. He did a quick drum roll on the weapon, nearly tearing it from Ellery's hand and forcing it out wider with every beat.
But Ellery reacted properly, rolling her shield shoulder in tight and bulling ahead to force too much of a clench for Jarlaxle to disarm her.
"If I win, I will have you," the drow said.
Ellery growled and shoved out hard with her shield, driving him away.
"And what will Ellery claim if she wins?" Jarlaxle asked.
That stopped the woman even as she began to charge in once more. She settled back on her heels and peered at the drow from over the top of her shield.
"If I win," she began and paused for effect then added, "I will have you."
Jarlaxle's jaw might have hit the floor, except that Ellery's shield would surely have caught it, for the woman used the moment of distraction to launch another aggressive charge, barreling in, shield butting and axe slashing. It took every bit of Jarlaxle's speed and agility for him to keep away from that axe, and he only managed it by rolling to the side and allowing Ellery to connect with the shield rush. The drow used the momentum to get away, throwing himself back and into a roll. He came lightly to his feet and side-stepped fast, twisting as he went to avoid a wild slash by the woman.
"Ah, but you cheat!" he cried and he kept backing, putting considerable ground between the two. "My good lady, you steal all of my incentive. Should I not just drop my weapons and surrender?"
"Then if I win, I deny you!" she cried, and she charged.
Jarlaxle shrugged, and whispered, "Then you will not win."
The drow dodged left, then fast back to the right as Ellery tried to compensate, and though she tried to maintain her initiative, she found herself suddenly barraged by a dizzying array of thrusts, slashes, and quick, short stabs. At one point, Jarlaxle even somehow moved his feet out in front and dropped to the floor, sweeping her legs out. She didn't fall directly but stumbled, twisting and turning.
It was futile, though, for she went down to the floor.
Her agility served her well then, as she rolled to the side and got up to one knee in time to intercept the drow's expected charge. She parried and blocked the first wave of attacks, and even managed to work her way back to a standing position.
Jarlaxle pressed the attack, his blades coming at her from a dizzying array of angles. She worked her arms furiously, positioning her shield, turning her axe, and she dodged and backed, twisting to avoid those cunning strikes that managed to slip through her defenses. On a couple of occasions, the woman saw an opening and could have pressed the attack back the other way.
But she didn't.
She played pure defense and showed the drow a series of apparent openings, only to close them fast as Jarlaxle tried to press in. At one point, her defense was so quick that the drow overbalanced and his great hat slipped down over his eyes. For just a moment, though, for he swept one hand up, pulled the hat from his head and tossed it aside. Beads of perspiration marked his bald head.
He laughed and came on hard again, pressing the attack until he had Ellery in full flight away from him.
"You are young, but you fight like a drow veteran," Jarlaxle congratulated after yet another unsuccessful attack routine.
"I am not so young."
"You have not seen thirty winters," the drow protested.
The grin that creased Ellery's wide face made her look even younger. "I spent my childhood under the shadow of the Witch-King," she explained. "Bloodstone Village knew war continually from the Vaasan hordes. No child there was a stranger to the blade."
"You were taught well," Jarlaxle said.
He straightened and brought one sword up in salute.
Not ready to let such an obvious opening pass, Ellery leaped ahead, axe swinging wildly.