Bloodname

"Are you sure? You will find no big sticks or animal hearts on this parade ground."

"Then I will smother you. With my stench."

The joke relieved the tension, and Megasa's companions led him away. Aidan had longed to blast Megasa off a battlefield, but he would save it for the Trial combat. He would live to gloat over the fallen Megasa.

* * *

Kael Pershaw watched the next round of Bloodright battles from the command center, where elaborate hol-otank images of some of the individual contests were projected. He joined Joa

In the coin ceremony for the next contest, Aidan's coin had emerged second from the gravity fu

At this point Je

Aidan's aggressiveness would be a help rather than a hindrance in the fight with Star Captain Je

The end came so suddenly that Kael Pershaw almost did not follow it. When the Stormcrowsuddenly disappeared, he silently uttered words of praise for Aidan and words of regret for Star Captain Je

* * *

"You have fought three major battles," Horse said, "the Grand Melee and the two first rounds of the Bloodright. All three of your opponents are dead. Is a Bloodname worth all this, well, blood?"

"You know it is, Horse."

Horse said nothing. He had never truly understood his friend.

* * *

Marthe saw that what might be termed the psychological advantage was shifting to Aidan's favor. In the next battle, his opponent, perceiving that Aidan had twice survived in unusual terrain, had chosen as venue one of the many Trial fields on Ironhold. Marthe leaned against a rail to watch the holo projection of the battle. She could not stand with the rest of Aidan's entourage without revealing her true role in Aidan's Bloodname quest. Joa

Aidan's foe, a Star Commander Grayling, had come onto the field in a Timber Wolf,a 'Mech especially popular with Clan Wolf but uncommon among Jade Falcon warriors. With the double LRM-20 racks mounted on its shoulders, the Timber Wolflooked like a beast of burden, carrying heavy loads on bowed shoulders.

The two 'Mechs kept their distance at first, firing long-range missiles at one another in a way that suggested this battle might be a prolonged one. The missiles did considerable damage, distributed evenly between both sides. Armor lay spread around both 'Mechs.

Then the Timber Wolfstarted to close in on the Summoner.Lumbering forward, using its large lasers now, the 'Mech was sketching lines of damage across the surface of Aidan's 'Mech.

Aidan had studied Grayling's codex, however, and knew that the man almost invariably fought by the book. To counter the Timber Wolf'splodding slowness, he started his 'Mech toward it, gradually breaking into a run straight at his foe. Then he fired off a volley of LRMs directly in front of him, letting the smoke and dust thrown off by the explosion envelop his 'Mech. Aidan was gambling that Grayling was concentrating on the visual spectrum display of the primary view screen. In the instant it would take for his opponent to track the Summoneron the secondary screen, Aidan maneuvered it to one side, suddenly emerging from the thi

With&ut slowing down, Aidan came at the Timber Wolf,relentlessly unloading his entire supply of short-range missiles. According to the plan Aidan and his team had devised, the goal was to take out the LRM packs on each of the Wolf'sshoulders.

And the strategy worked. First one blew up, then the other, followed almost immediately by the Timber Wolfitself. The observers (including Aidan, viewing from his cockpit) were relieved to see Star Captain Grayling shoot out the 'Mech in his ejection seat just before the 'Mech exploded.

"That was lucky," Kael Pershaw said as he passed Joa

* * *

Megasa had also reached round four, but he and Aidan were not scheduled to fight one another. Not yet.

Many warriors had gathered on the various tiers to view the combats involving Aidan and Megasa. Megasa, in his Mad Dog,quickly vanquished an opponent in an Executioner.Indeed, the fight was over so soon that he was able to come to the command center in time to watch Aidan's contest.

Aidan's coin had made him hunter, while his opponent chose as venue an island in the middle of a lake. Aidan was not so concerned how or where the contest would be fought. It was more that he was so exhausted from the previous contests that he wanted to polish this one off quickly. If he was going to fight in the final Bloodright battle, he wanted to be ready for it. Joa

For this fight, Aidan's Summonerwas configured entirely with long-range missiles, plus a narc beacon. Marthe wondered if it might not be wise to keep some of the other armament or at least add some medium lasers, but both Joa

"What if he gets in close?"

"I will risk it," Aidan said.

"He will risk it," Joa

"Yeah, risk," Horse coarsely agreed.

* * *

Aidan's foe, a MechWarrior named Machiko, would be in a Hellbringer.That would not affect Aidan's strategy, which had been devised to operate against whatever type 'Mech entered the field against him.