Bandar and the Scorpion stood facing each other about ten feet apart. The sand was warm and red as blood. The setting sun had turned them all into figures of fire and shadow. The Scorpion’s heart pounded. It was for this moment that he had been born. His kismet had brought him to this desolate arena as surely as if he had been guided along a track. Now all the remembered insults and humiliations came back. Rage bubbled under icy control within him, the optimal killing attitude. They both went into a crouching stance, knives held before them, circling in a deadly rite as ancient as time itself, never taking their eyes off the opponent’s dagger. The blades were razor sharp. They glittered like rubies in the scarlet dusklight.

Bandar suddenly dropped his shoulder and stabbed forward, the blade tip coming within an inch of the Scorpion’s belly, but the Scorpion didn’t flinch. He had judged it a feint.

They circled in the sand, feinting and dodging to test each other’s reflexes. The Scorpion flicked his khanjar at Bandar’s wrist. Bandar’s blade circled under the Scorpion’s and stabbed at the Scorpion’s heart. The Scorpion twisted aside at the last second. Allah, he thought. Bandar was quick as a cat. Bandar’s bad eye glowed red as a bloodstone.

The Scorpion moved. He feinted at Bandar’s arm, then circled under Bandar’s parry and thrust forward. Bandar’s khanjar slashed back at the Scorpion’s, blade ringing dully against blade and then they were apart, circling again. This time a new wariness had come into Bandar’s good eye.

Bandar stepped back two paces, whirled and as he turned back towards the Scorpion, there was a shadow of something dark in his other hand. The Scorpion heard a muffled scream from Kelly’s direction even as he reacted with a back-to-front crescent kick. His foot caught Bandar’s automatic as the trigger jerked and sent the gun spinning into the shadows as it fired. The loud report shattered the stillness like crystal.

With a wild howl, Bandar came at the Scorpion, slashing savagely and methodically. The Scorpion backed away, parrying the blows, blade to blade, counterslashing back. Suddenly, Bandar feinted left and struck right. The Scorpion twisted away from the thrust and kicked out, his foot catching Bandar’s shoulder and knocking him sideways. But his own footing slipped and he went down.

Bandar was on him like a bull on a matador, stabbing in a frenzy. The Scorpion saw the blade coming at his groin as if in slow motion. He grabbed a handful of sand with his left hand and flung it into Bandar’s face as he rolled just out of reach. Bandar howled like a blinded Cyclops and slashed wildly at the Scorpion.

Now, the Scorpion told himself as he scrambled to his feet. Now!