When Emerald awoke from the strange dream, at first he thought it must be nonsense. If she was really Blue Sword Honor, how could he have gotten close enough to read her thoughts? But if his memory was trying to tell him something, he didn’t understand what it was, or how it could be of use. Surely the world he had dreamed of was not this one.

Suddenly he remembered the strange game that the River insisted they play. Could he really have found a way to visit the world they were linked to, to try and gain an advantage?

Of course there was a more immediate game coming up, and his life was the stake. He got dressed and prepared for his lesson. Then he let Joey take over.

When he finished his daily commute and entered This End Towards Enemy, Able seemed somewhat amused about something. Joey didn’t think his predicament was that funny.

Able started, “I talked to some guy yesterday. He made me promise not to mention his name to anyone, so from now on I won’t.”

That didn’t sound promising.

Able continued, “He did say that he would never shoot a flintlock pistol at another human being, and he wasn’t engaged in any sort of contest apart from solitary recreational shooting. There was something very smooth about him, something I might distrust in other circumstances. I would never call a customer of such longstanding a liar though. That means as long as I don’t mention any names, I couldn’t possibly be betraying any secrets. I’m sure the two of you will never even meet. Shame on you for implying otherwise!”

Joey was bewildered a moment, then suddenly appreciated the genius of this. Mario’s smooth lies had backfired on him, allowing Able to help Joey without being bothered by either side of his own conscience.

Joey grinned. “You got me. Now just hypothetically, how could somebody win a duel against an opponent who had been practicing much longer than he had?”

Able shrugged elaborately. “Hard to say, depends on the opponent – and the individual. But let me tell you an interesting story. Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr were going to fight a duel. Hamilton knew his opponent was good, and suspected he could win. Here’s what he did. He drew his gun and assumed the firing position, but didn’t pull the trigger immediately. His opponent aimed for the heart and shot true, but Alexander’s arms were in the firing position and blocked the way to his heart. All according to the Code Duello, he didn’t more his feet or try to evade the shot. Who could fault him for aiming his gun quickly but firing slower than his opponent?

“But once Burr had fired it was a different story. Hamilton had a bullet in him and was in pain, but he was able to stand and aim his gun. He had plenty of time too, time to stare at an opponent who knew what was coming. And Burr was completely helpless. The Code Duello held him rooted to the spot, after he had already fired.”

Joey had lost a lot of memories, but this common bit of history sounded vaguely familiar. “So that’s your advice for a real duel? To draw and aim quickly, but not fire until after my opponent does, while he feels rushed because he expects me to?”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Able paused. “My real advice is to avoid a duel however you can. Accidents can happen, and I’ve never seen your opponent whoever he may be in actual combat. He may know tricks too, including this story.

“However, if you ask me for a suggestion this is the best I have. But what will happen afterwards? If by any chance you owe someone a great deal of money, it seems you have been foolish. I suspect this might not be the end of it.”

Joey shook his head unhappily. “Yet if it were money, I might get some somehow.”

For another hour he practiced loading, firing, and cleaning the gun. His spirits were sober though. They had underestimated him before, but were unlikely to do so again.

Belatedly it occurred to him it would have been easy to have him followed, to know where he was taking lessons. He had taken no precautions at all, and wouldn’t really have known how to. He had been a Marine before the court martial, but never a spy. That he remembered anyway.

So he was in a cautious mood when he bade his teacher goodbye. Despite the gaps in the man’s knowledge, he had made a good point. The carefully phrased promise he had been given only guaranteed that none else would attempt to kill him to supplant Emerald as Green Sword Honor representative. They could still kill him just to be rid of him. Even if the Green Alliance united behind him, the Blue Alliance seemed more combat ready.

Hopefully Emerald would have more useful knowledge about that than he did. He tried to figure out what Emerald might know, not because he actually expected to succeed, but because he knew that was the way to turn himself into Emerald.

When Emerald arrived back at the mansion he had the beginnings of a plan. Once inside the door he stood for a moment with his eyes closed. He could sense Serpentine in the dining room, and Diopside upstairs. Where was Green Agate? That had to be a few miles away. Emerald didn’t have a map of this city in his head, so he couldn’t tell exactly where what he sensed was coming from.

Serpentine told him Green Agate would be back in a couple of hours, and suggested they could have an Alliance meeting then.

Emerald waited impatiently, then tried to use Latimer’s cell phone to learn something about humans and the strange world they had built. When Joey tried to explain to him about different languages, he snapped at him. Then he apologized, since they were both occupying the same body and it happened to be Joey’s. Then he went back to being impatient awhile, and also tried a little pacing.

But Green Agate arrived at the promised time, as did the meeting. Emerald managed to keep from screaming without reason, but dove straight into the meat of the meeting with few pleasantries.

“If I survive my next duel, that doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods. We need two plans – if I win and if I lose. Supposedly Peridot is a loyal member of the Green Alliance. It might be worth a shot if I lose. If he’ll really tell you all he knows about Sapphire’s machinations, then perhaps our alliance might pull victory from the jaws of defeat, even though Joey and I won’t be there to see it.

“If he’s already completely suborned, a traitor within, then our Alliance is in desperate straights on Earth. Six of them, including the corrupted piece of the River, vs three of you. They do have one problem though. If they try and let the three of you live, then when they open Earth to the rest of the Eightfold, some will communicate with you. No matter how they threaten you, or even alter your perceptions, there are those who will realize something is very wrong.

“Perhaps you will find a way to destroy them. I don’t know how, but you’ve helped me when I didn’t know what help I needed. Even if you do, that won’t solve all your problems. You’ll be stranded here, with little ability to help either the humans or yourself. Perhaps another Embassy will be sent, perhaps a corrupted Embassy by the same ones who sent us.”

He looked around at his fellows, knew that they saw the depths of the problem.