by R. J. Batla
“Not likely,” I said, rage blossoming in my chest when he mentioned Leona. My tattoo grew hot as the Morsenube rose, threatening for the first time in a long time, my emotions getting the better of me. I wouldn’t let him do that to my friends, to Leona. The tattoo held, so I kept my head. I quickly moved to put my left hand on his chest. “Get off me, asshole! Energy Blast!”
Yellow energy exploded from my palm, launching Alyias backwards, but he managed to catch himself before he hit the wall.
Which gave me time to flash the Ignis and ask it how to beat the shadow power.
And, oh man, did I get a good idea - what would happen if there were no shadows?
People had tried it before, but they didn’t do it right. Fire alone wasn’t the answer. I grinned to myself. “Cyclone! Rock Barrage!” Charge, Stick, and Link!
Hundreds of rocks flew outwards from the spinning vortex of wind, with me at the center. None of the rocks were big, but they flew fast as arrows. If they struck, they would cause some damage.
But none did, just as I expected. As I slowed the wind, the now-charged rocks were littered all over the arena, stuck to trees, walls, in the water – everywhere.
“Tsk tsk tsk,” Alyias said as I let the technique die.
Fighting sudden exhaustion, I dropped to a knee and put one hand on the ground as I searched around for him. Come on, where are you?
“You know, I thought you were smarter than that,” he said. I flashed the Ignis, on and off as fast as I could; I had to time this right. “If I jump through a shadow, all your little rocks just fly right by. And now look at you. You used too much of your energy. Shame. Should have learned better.”
I put my fingers on my temple and finally saw him out of the corner of my eyes. Continuing to flash the Ignis and pull energy from my bracelet, I kept him in my periphery, letting the fool talk. He was the first one I’d fought who actually did something like this – which was stupid, but that wasn’t my fault. I could use it. And he’d thought he won already.
“You’ve never really had a shot, you know. The only one better than me is the Uland, and he’s on my side.”
He was circling me, like a predator just before he leaps in for the kill.
Alyias sighed. “Alas, I grow tired of this game. It’s time to end it. And you,” Alyias said.
I closed my eyes, feeling through the earth where he was, and his movements.
“Goodbye, Jayton Baird. As you die, know you couldn’t save yourself or your friends.”
One second.
Two seconds.
His weight shifted slightly.
“FLARE!” I screamed.
From the top of my head, and from each of those tiny rocks, erupted an energy and fire combination so bright it eliminated every shadow in the arena for a few seconds. Even through closed eyes, it was bright. I heard the crowd gasp and knew they all threw their hands in front of their faces to shut out the light.
And then I heard the scream.
I opened my eyes. There, in front of me, was Eht Alyias. Half of him anyway, from the waist down.
I turned around, and there was Eht Alyias, from the waist up, lying on the ground and bleeding profusely.
He gasped for breath. “You son of a bitch! You caught me mid-shadow jump!” he grimaced in pain. “You...you can’t do that! No one can do that!” He coughed again, this time blood splattering his lips.
Walking over to him, kneeling and taking my goggles off I said, “You’re right. No one could. Except me. It just wasn’t your day. You shouldn’t have threatened my friends. Light will always defeat shadow.”
Blood oozing down his face, Alyias ground out, “What? You know nothing, boy! Nothing! You will die. You will all die!”
As Alyias slowly succumbed to death, I stood and walked away. “The light has already won, you just couldn’t see it.”
Chapter 47 – Jayton Baird
TWO MORE ROUNDS AND this thing would be over. Two more rounds and we could go back to normal lives – well, relatively, since there was still a war going on. But more importantly, two more rounds and Leona and I could be together for real.
“Excuse me, Mr. Baird and Miss Orchard.” A man in a funny yellow suit tapped us on our shoulders while we were in the lobby of the arena.
“Yes?” I said.
“Mr. Corbman requests your presence in his prep room. Please follow me.” He turned on his heel and starting walking. I looked at Leona, she shrugged, so we followed past the guards to Corbman’s room.
“My friends!” Corbman said. “Welcome! It’s fight day, after all!” He shook my hand and gave Leona a hug. “Plus, I always settle my debts. Jayton Baird, I present you with one bottle of the finest whiskey my people have produced, per our wager. I never did see you use the Fire Eyes.” Corbman made a show of presenting me with the bottle. “Firerock” was written on the label.
“Ha, thanks. That was a bad bet on your part, Corbman.”
“Nonsense,” he said, producing three glasses. “Pour away. It’s never a bad bet when you can have a drink with your friends.”
I laughed and poured each of us a couple fingers of the amber liquid.
Corbman raised his glass. “To friends, fights, and plans!”
We toasted and drank, but I wasn’t sure what he meant. He sat down, one hand on his glass the other drumming the arm of the chair.
“Where are Orgen and Derno?” I asked. “I don’t think I’ve seen them more than ten yards from you this whole time.”
He cracked a smile while Leona and I sat down. “I find that they distract me before a fight. But I wanted to make sure I paid my debt to you. I’m a man of my word. And I wanted someone with me, hence you are here.”
“So you’re gonna do this then?” I asked. “You’re really going to fight the Uland?”
“Just wait and see, compadre,” was all he said. He leaned back, and we all sipped on the whiskey. We sat in silence until the guards peeked in and said it was time.
I couldn’t help but feel that this was the last time I would see my new friend. He hugged Leona and shook my hand again, this time on his way out. We watched him walk toward the scanner. “Corbman?” I said, and he turned around. “Don’t die.”
He gave a sheepish grin. “Not in the cards, Dragon. Keep it real. Catch you on the flip side!”
Leona and I exchanged a look, then hurried to our seats, my stomach souring more with each step. This was wrong. He had a noble streak in him a mile wide, and he’d die for anyone he considered a friend. I’d watched and heard him be more generous than most people I’d met.
But this was throwing it away. A waste. For no good reason.
We sat next to the rest of the crew just as the announcer began.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome once again to the arena. Our next fight has a relative newcomer, a Halfte, but one of the best showman we’ve seen in ages. You may know him as the Master of the Magma. The Sultan of Slag. Or more simply, the Lava Man...Corbman Kermit!”
The crowd chanted “Lava Man! Lava Man!” To his credit, Corbman did not disappoint, actually putting on the Lava Suit while he waved. There he was, wasting energy, glowing like a beacon. So much lava was generated that it actually flaked off of him, dripping to the floor of the arena. The heat made it to us in the stadium. What was he playing at?
“And his opponent...needs no introduction. The Prince of Pain. The King of Calamity. My champion. Your champion. The Uland!”
While the crowd went nuts for Corbman, they went stark-raving mad for the Uland. I saw a few people actually foaming at the mouth.
The hulking creature ambled out onto his triangle, pounding the ground with his massive arms. Shockwaves vibrated through the floor of the stadium with each impact. Corbman never flinched, only stared at the Uland.
This was going to be bad.
And no matter what Corbman did, if I won my next round, I would be the one down there facing down that death machine. What was I thinking? How could I face it? H
ow could anyone?
“Uland, are you ready?”
He grunted, pulling great gouges of earth from the arena floor with his arms, a plume of dust and grime erupting out of his nostrils.
“Corbman, are you ready?”
The Lava man dropped into a fighting stance, then stood up. “Nope! I give up. You win, Uland.” With a flick of his hands, he sent the lava suit to the floor, and he bowed to the Uland as his ankle bracelets fell off. He waved to the crowd. “My sincerest thanks for the love you’ve given me! I look forward to next year!”
He walked toward the exit, throwing every power he had around, spewing energy as the crowd politely cheered.
I tried to scowl and smile at the same time. “That son of a...”
Chapter 48 – Jayton Baird
THAT NIGHT, EVERYONE joined me in my room, including Corbman and all his people – you know, since he didn’t have a room anymore. Orgen brought an amplistone that was able to play music. People were dancing, talking, and having a grand ol’ time.
I asked Leona to dance during a faster song, and we twirled around the floor. We were careful not to show any extra emotion, any hint that we were together, just in case. I trusted Corbman and everyone here, but we were still on the West Side, and I didn’t know everyone that well. Plus there was still a possible traitor around.
Plopping down on the couch next to Corbman, I watched Leona talk to Morgan and Gilmer. “Careful,” Corbman said, “Or someone’s gonna nooootice.”
“Oh, shut up, man,” I said, punching his shoulder. “I just couldn’t stand it if I put her in danger, you know?”
“Oh, I understand. I feel the same way about all my fellow Halftes back home.”
Huh. “How many of you are there back in those mountains?”
“Hard to say. Some are a bit reclusive. But if you made me guess, I’d put the number at around sixty thousand.”
“Wow. And they’re all loyal to you? Or your parents, I guess? You’re a prince.”
He shrugged. “Meh, for the most part. Many of the tribes and villages just keep to themselves, only banding together if there was a common threat or they needed help.”
“Got you. So, if, say, it was to come to a fight against, oh, I don’t know, the forces of evil, would you be able to bring them all together?”
Corbman took a long drink of his beer, then looked at me. “What are you asking, Jay?”
“I’m saying if I don’t win this tournament, or even if I do, we’re probably going to need a lot of help to beat Malstrak. So I guess I’m asking if you could, or would, rally your people to help fight him, if needed.”
Corbman thought long and hard, scratching his chin and taking another sip of beer. “I think I could, but it would have to be because we were threatened in some way. We’re too small of a force, even with our powers, to go up against the war machine he has assembled.”
“But what if it was your best chance and you could join the East Side armies?”
“Hmmm,” he said, “that might help. But I still think we’d have to be faced with a direct threat.”
“I’ll take it,” I said, holding my mug up to clink with his. “Something else I’ve been wondering about – why did you befriend me in the first place, the night of the orientation party? I’d never met you, you had no idea who I was...what gives?”
“You hang out with hot girls, what can I say,” he said, ogling Celeste in a very obvious and obnoxious fashion.
I rolled my eyes. “Ha. While that’s true, you know that’s not the reason. Why?”
He shrugged. “You looked lost and your crew was clearly out of place. I figured I could help you, and then if I needed it, maybe you would help me too. You know, like a friend might.”
“Wow, that was awful trusting of you,” I said, clinking glasses again. “And you got lucky I’m such a nice guy. You were right though – if I can help you in any way, just let me know.”
He laughed. “Oh, I will.” He kinda looked down. “So,” he said, “I bowed out. Gave up. Didn’t fight the Uland.”
“Psh, yeah, but you lived.”
“Exactly. So when it comes time for you to fight him, what will you do? Will you choose life? Mister ‘don’t be stupid and get yourself killed’?”
I took a swig of beer. The Uland. He was just one round away.
Corbman continued, “Yeah, not such a cut and dry decision now, is it? Shoe’s on the other foot. So are you going to do the smart thing and give up too?”
Shaking my head, I said, “I can’t.”
“What the hell do you mean ‘I can’t’? It’s easy. You just say —” he grabbed my jaw and made a talking motion, “’I give up. Don’t kill me please.’”
I laughed, knocking him off. “Yeah, but you know my situation. I’ve told you about the Darkstone, and that the Uland plans to give it to Malstrak.”
“So?”
“So? That means all those soldiers fighting right now would have died for nothing! That many more would die too, once Malstrak and his army got through the Breaks.”
“Yeah, but what’s that got to do with you? What have those people ever done for you?”
“Well...not too much I guess, but that’s not the point,” I said. “First, I’ve already agreed to see this thing through. As a man and as a soldier, I’ve given my word, and the circumstances haven’t changed. Second, I couldn’t have it on my conscious that I did nothing when I could have at least tried to do something.”
“Even if it kills you?”
“Even if it kills me.”
The widest grin crossed his face. “Jayton Baird – if you win that tournament, all the Halftes on the West side will fight with you. You have my word.”
The party continued for another couple of hours until I finally kicked everyone out. When it was just me and my crew, Royn told us he’d take someone back to fight with the Elves first thing in the morning. So he had Leona do her thing.
And of course she said her own name.
Great. I’d been looking forward to some alone time with her, since we didn’t have to get up in the morning. But if she was going to help in the war, that changed everything.
I managed to pull her into the hallway where no one could see. “I don’t want you going.”
That was clearly the wrong thing to say.
“Jayton Baird,” she said, waving her finger at me. “If you think for one second that us being together means you get to tell me what I can and can’t do, then we’re gonna have a problem.”
“I just don’t want you getting hurt. I don’t want to lose you, I — ““And how the hell do you think I’ve felt every time you’ve gone in the arena? Do you think I liked that?”
“Well, no, but — ”
“Look,” she said, poking me in the chest. “We’re both highly trained Rangers. We both signed up for this. You play your part, I’ll play mine. My Guide power wouldn’t have suggested that I go if I wasn’t needed. We’re all risking our lives in this, Jayton Baird. You don’t have the monopoly on that.”
I started to argue, then shut my mouth. “Well, at least be careful.”
She reached up and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Don’t worry about me. Worry about yourself. I’ll be fine.”
Both of us more than a little frustrated, we each went to our own room.
Chapter 49 – Leona Orchard
SOMEONE KNOCKED ON her door. “Leona?”
It was Royn. “Coming sir,” she said, hurrying to open the door. “What is it?”
“Come on,” he said as he turned back toward the main room. “The Elves need help, who do I need to take?”
Leona powered up her Guide Quantum. “Me.”
Royn nodded. “Have you had any luck finding the traitor with your Guide power?”
She shook her head. “Negative. It’s not telling me anything at all.”
“Damn. We had to try, I was hoping it would work. To the Elves,” Royn said, grabbing Leona’s hand to head to Jump Point Fifteen
. After a bang and a flash of blue, they emerged a hundred yards off the front lines.
“Wow, they’ve been pushed up the canyon a mile since I was last here,” Royn said. Though judging by the piles of bodies on the other side of the mobile wall, it had cost the enemy dearly. Still, they kept streaming toward the fighting like lemmings to a cliff.
General Tovarish Falenlief found them quickly, blood oozing from a gash in his forehead. “Bloody scorpions almost overran us. They were as big as a horse, but we somehow managed to hold them back. But we’re losing ground rapidly today.”
“That’s not good,” Leona said, as several warriors moved equipment up the canyon. Slowly, but steadily, much like the fighting on top of the wall.
“Have they been able to scale the side of the canyon?”
Falenlief said, “We’ve been raining down attacks, but just today they sent some dark, one hundred pound, spikey possum-looking creatures up the walls, and now we’re fighting on both fronts.”
“Hystrix,” Royn said.
Falenlief grunted. “Oh yeah, I forgot the name. They’re hell on wheels up there.”
Looking up, they saw the battle above them on the ledge. There was a rolling wall on either ledge, a smaller version of the main wall in the valley. Senturians of all sorts fought tooth and nail to hold off the hystrix. The monsters were swarming the wall, some even going around it, but they were holding.
Leona noticed that there were a quite a few traps that had not been triggered, sitting right under the enemy. “Royn, can you get me up there and distract the hystrix while I set off the traps?”
She practically heard his eyes roll. “Of course you’d want to do that. General, prepare to take advantage of this. We’ll give you a chance to make up some ground,” Royn said, waiting until the general nodded.
Royn moved behind her and placed his hand on Leona’s neck. “All right, let’s get this over with. I can give you one minute tops, then I’ll get you and we’ll go do the same thing on the other side. Ready?”
