King of Storms: Part 11
"Let's get on with it then," Lee said.
Both Vaughn and the King of Storms turned to look at him.
"Neither of you is going to change their name so now it's time to come up with another way to handle it. You'll want to choose seconds and Vaughn, you get to choose the weapon if it's a duel."
"Duel?" Vaughn sounded incredulous.
"Sure. What else would it be?" Lee grinned at the both of them, but started talking before either of them could reply. "Of course it doesn't have to be a duel. Trial by ordeal has it own good points. I always liked the one where you each stuck a hand into boiling water and the one whose hand healed best won."
Jaclyn stopped talking to Cassie long enough to say, "Wouldn't that be cheating?"
"Of course it was cheating. Worked pretty well too -- except for the time that some baron decided my healing had to be from the devil, and, they burned me alive."
"Burned you alive?" Vaughn said.
"It didn't take," Lee said. "Ah, but you should have seen their faces. They'd had the sense to use chain instead of rope, but by the time most of my flesh had burnt off, the chains weren't tight anymore, so I pulled my hands out and walked away. I didn't even have to fight them, but, of course, I was still on fire.
"Public executions," he said, "you just can't beat them for cheap entertainment.
"But let's get back to trial by ordeal," Lee said. "My idea is that we have the Rocket whip up a machine that controls current and we find out how much electricity each of you can take before passing out or giving up. What do you say?"
"I think I could handle that," Vaughn said.
"No." The King of Storms shook his head.
Lee eyed him, "Well, what kind of ordeal would you prefer?"
The King of Storms said nothing for a moment and then at least six voices started talking at once.
"OK," Lee said. "Stow it. If you can't come up with an ordeal you like, let's go with a duel."