Three laws of duel

I was barely out of school when I first witnessed the duel. A rich landlord often used to challenge his neighbouring landlords by inviting them for a duel and ultimately possessing their land after he killed them.

Sir Henry and Sir Richards walked onto the field followed by an attendant who opened a chest. Two new single shot gold plated Italian Flintlock Dragoon pistols were lying in the case only to be picked up by each of them. With their bodies prone to each other, they walked for a distance until some one counted 1…. The finger was on the trigger 2…. The gun was brought into the position…. and ‘boom’ ….3…. both of them happened in sync. Sir Henry hasn’t even turned back. And blood oozed from Sir Richards chest even as he fell to the ground while trying to turn. Sir Henry had shot him facing backwards but his hand and gun facing the victim.

‘The three laws, you have to follow them to win this game of death. The first one, Cowards don’t deserve to live and hence the brave are destined to win. The second one, you need to be an adept in the game of hunting and shooting. You were good with the first two, but the third, you missed out. The third law states that your life is dependant on the reaction time. A millisecond is all that costs your life’ and then there was silence.

Those words had a deadly impact on me. ‘One day I will win over you, Sir Henry’ I told myself.

I brought a country pistol and practiced shooting with it even as Sir Henry’s empire went on expanding. I couldn’t do all the things on my own and so I hired a teacher, a woman named Danielle who was a widow of one of Sir Henry’s victims. She was from a noble background and she was adept at shooting and hunting. Moreover she was raging with vengeance, and naturally my perfect choice.

‘You need to have an empire sizeable enough to challenge Sir Henry, and so you will have to participate in the annual duel competitions and win them all before you see your last victim’ she said, ‘You see Sir Henry’s move, he doesn’t turn back to waste time. Instead he maneuvers his hand in the direction of the victim and hence killing him’

There was a war raging between England and other countries which were against the colonial power. Sir Henry was asked to lead a battalion and he headed towards the west to suppress resistance. In the mean while I went on winning duels after duels and expanding my empire. ‘Your life is dependant on the reaction time. A millisecond is all that costs your life..’ I always followed Sir Henry’s words.

Five years since I witnessed the first duel. My empire, if not my age, now is sizeable enough to challenge Sir Henry and he also returned from the war.
My messenger headed to his palace and he was surprised to see an invitation for duel. Normally it’s him who invites reluctant and frightened landlords to duels. He’s heard of me in the war as my name spread far and wide owing to my victories in his absence. And so he readily accepted for the duel.

The day I had been waiting for eventually came and I reached the famous dueling court where Sir Henry hasn’t lost a single duel. I alighted from my carriage, walked towards the court followed by Mrs. Daniele and watched by thousands of curious onlookers. I remember, five years back, I was one amongst them. Today is gonna be my last duel. If I win, I will quit killing and if lose, I lose my life and Sir Henry will be invincible.

Sir Henry looked at me and said, ‘You are too young for a duel’ to which Mrs. Daniele replied, ‘He may be young but not at heart. He’s brave enough to fight you’.
Sir Henry nodded and keenly observed my eyes. ‘There’s no fright in your eyes, not even a bit of anxiety. You are a brave boy, I can’t kill you’ he said even as he was about to leave when I shouted, ‘You are violating the first law’. He turned back and his eyes were red with anger. He called out a name and his attendant slowly approached us onto the court with a wooden chest.

Both of us chose our weapons and promising that we’ll abide by the laws of duel, we turned prone to each other. Then both of us walked for a certain distance before we stopped still with our backs facing each other.

One ….. I moved my finger onto the trigger even as all the incidents that happened previously in my life uncovered in front of my eyes. A slight gust of wind blew my hair and pulling me back to reality from those imaginations.

Two ….. I slowly raised the pistol into position with my hand gripping it even as a droplet of sweat cascaded down my beard. ‘Come on… this is your moment… you can do it… I told myself.

Three …. ‘Boom’ ‘Boom’ … two shots were fired. Both of us were still standing with our backs facing each other. And I looked down in despair even as blood poured out from my chest, and I fell onto the ground on my knees.

With great difficulty I turned back to see Sir Henry still smiling and standing on his feet. ‘No this cant be… not another victory to him…’ when Sir Henry turned to my side when I saw him spit blood from his mouth and he opened his jacket to see that he too was hit in his chest.

He laughed and said ‘Both of us have been hit’ when I put one of my hands down pushing myself onto the feet and I said ‘No…. I ‘m not hit even as a I pressurized my hand over the wound on my chest.

Sir Henry looked confused when I explained the third law and said ‘Your methodology is undeniably the best. You don’t turn back and shoot. Neither do I. But you shoot by moving your hand away from your body which will definitely take more time than my move… My move of not moving the hand away from the body but shooting through the body where I am least hurt…’ when I saw Sir Henry collapsing to the ground much to the surprise of the curious onlookers and he himself to be beat at his own game and also the third law.