by Jez Cajiao
“Fight!” The announcer roared, and I reacted instantly, diving to the side. An arrow split the air above me, hammering into the grate of the portcullis and bouncing off. I rolled further to the side, then dove and rolled again, coming to a halt behind a barrier as arrows peppered the ground nearby. I heard a jingling clatter and risked a quick look. Wilhelm had decided to take advantage of Ora’s fixation on me and was lumbering towards her.
She backed away, shifting her aim to target him. As she began to circle him, she switched to another, much heavier arrow and fired, backing away almost as quickly as he was closing on her.
I grinned and set off running after them, knowing Wilhelm wouldn’t be able to see me coming with that helmet. I sprinted up behind him. Ora glanced at me, but she kept on firing at Wilhelm, obviously deciding that he was the greater threat for now. Her arrows targeted weak points in his armor, the joints and his visor. The edges grew chipped as arrow after arrow landed, but the majority were deflected by his shield. He lifted it higher and thundered toward her across the ground at a speed I knew I could never match in his place, encumbered as he was.
He was less than ten feet from her when I planted a foot on a nearby barrier and used it to launch myself into the air. I twisted as I flew, using my momentum to bring the naginata down hard and punch through the joint between his pauldron and breastplate. He’d lifted his left arm to hold his shield higher and exposed a section of chainmail, and I didn’t let the mistake go unpunished. The blade of my naginata pierced deeply, cutting through the thin metal, the gambeson below it, and cut deep into his shoulder muscle before slipping between two ribs. I felt it lodge in his lung, sticking fast, as my weight and the unexpected attack from behind combined with the injury to bring him down.
As his shield went flying from limp fingers, he fell forward and hit the ground face first, crying out in pain and shock. I hit the ground too, the impact knocking the breath out of me, but I had the foresight to roll as I fell. I sprang to my feet as fast as I could, diving behind another barrier I’d picked out during my sprint. As I slid behind it, an arrow winged me, leaving a shallow cut across my right bicep.
I heard Wilhelm crying out in pain and fear as he tried to get to his feet, but nothing else. I tried to slow my breathing, my panting loud in my ears, and waited. Either Ora would try and finish him off, or she would…
Another arrow slammed into me, penetrating deeply enough to cut my armor and leave a bruise, but no more than that, thankfully. I got the picture, though; she was after me, and I wasn’t safe here.
I crouched behind the wall, then had a sudden stroke of inspiration. I shifted around until I was close to the edge, and then took off my helmet. Lifting it in my right hand, I let the very tip of it show above the barrier and WHAM! An arrow pierced it, nearly hitting my hand. I made it disappear out of sight as though I’d fallen and waited a second, then lunged to my feet, a throwing knife in each hand. Ora hadn’t been fooled. I could see that she had her bow raised and an arrow nocked, but she’d been watching the far side of the barrier, and in the time it took her to draw a bead on me and release, I’d thrown both daggers and set off running. Her arrow struck another glancing blow, cutting a furrow out of the leather armor protecting the area between my left shoulder and throat. The gash bloomed with a stinging sensation and a burst of pain, but with the adrenaline, anger, and fear, I barely noticed.
I ran at her as she dodged one of my daggers, the second being widely off target. She lifted her bow again as I drew my right short sword from my shoulder and lifted my left hand. I contorted my fingers as I’d been taught, unleashing a Firebolt at her. She noticed the brooch and the gesture and bought into my deception fully. She screamed and dove aside, dropping her bow and lifting both hands in a defensive gesture as she shouted something, and a sparkling barrier flashed into existence around her.
She knelt there, secure in her bubble, as I rained Firebolt after Firebolt into her shield. The blasts kept her occupied, draining her mana as fast as I drained my own. Her shield was far more powerful than my Firebolt spells, and we both knew it, but between firing my third and fourth spells, I’d cast one she hadn’t noticed. A few feet behind her, a small spring had appeared. Outside of her shield as it was, she had not been alerted when it appeared, and it began to spread across the floor.
I had started the fight with one hundred and fifty mana. With the mana regeneration, I’d only used fifty mana so far, so I began to alternate Firebolts to obscure her vision and distract her, and more magical springs around her. As each spring ran out of mana and dissipated, it left another soaked area of sand behind.
I cast one more, thinking that she was making it easy for me, when she finished her own spell.
She stood up, screaming the last word in triumph as the earth before me shook violently. The sand began building into a small lump, then a mound and more, growing upwards until it was taller than me, its bulk spreading out into a recognizable form.
A humanoid golem of sand towered over me, seven feet tall. Its features were roughhewn and unfinished, with huge fists, legs ending in flat-toed pads resembling an elephant’s feet, and it clumped about, trying to figure out where it was. It slowly turned to look at Ora, and she laughed at the expression on my face as she shouted out to it.
“Kill them both!”
It twisted around again, faster than I expected. I backed up, and it set off after me, its footfalls making the ground shudder. It started picking up speed, pounding the sand as I backpedaled furiously. I twisted around and started to sprint away, feeling the ground shake with its approach. Laughter erupted from the booths overhead.
I attempted to kite the summoned creation around the outside of the arena, twisting to hit it with a Firebolt as I ran, but the golem simply shrugged it off. I turned again, following the curve of the room, and found Ora waiting for me. She had dismissed her shield, and both of her hands pushed in toward a fireball at least three times bigger than any my own Firebolt spell could create. I barreled toward her, closing the distance as I tried to come up with a plan and hoped I could get close enough to attack her before she could unleash that blast.
I’d covered barely half the distance when she looked up at me and thrust her hands forward, sending the Fireball sizzling through the air. I jinked from side to side, but it swerved to track me, guided by her gestures. As I closed the last few feet to it, I saw one chance, thankful for both the boost to my luck and agility stats, I took it. Jinking to the left again I jumped back to the right. Putting my right foot on the edge of a small wall, I kicked off, using it to do a ‘Fosbury flop’ over the Fireball. I moved too fast for Ora to adjust to hit me, and I threw my sword overhand at her. A ‘boom’ thundered behind me and a wash of superheated air picked my already airborne body up and hurled me even further. I smashed into another small wall and rolled to a halt, coughing and trying to force myself to my feet.
I shook my head to rid it of the ringing in my ears and focused on the world around me. The summoned elemental golem was now a pile of rubble; it must have taken the Fireball head-on when I’d dodged it.
“Feck, that was lucky!” I muttered, trying to focus as I lurched to my feet. Turning around, I suddenly felt the world spinning again, and found myself smashing into the barrier, pain blossoming through my body.
I spat blood on the floor, reaching up for my helmet to remember it was long gone. Blood trickled down the side of my head from a scalp wound above my right eye. I ached everywhere, and a strong smell of burning hair filled my nostrils. I shook my head again, looking around the arena and caught sight of Ora as she sauntered towards me. Balanced above her hands were two slowly spinning balls, one that appeared to be rock, and the other fire. She’d clearly hit me with one of each already, judging by the burns on my armor and the ringing in my ears.
Behind her, Wilhelm was struggling to his feet, although how he stood at all with my naginata sticking out of his upper chest like a flagpole was beyond me. My options were rapidly
becoming limited. I had to keep Ora’s attention so Wilhelm could reach her.
Staggering to the side, I lifted my right hand and started to weave it around my left, making it look as mysterious and occult as possible while muttering phrases under my breath. She frowned, obviously trying to work out what I was doing, until I pulled my right hand aside, lifting my left to show one upright finger raised in defiance.
She froze for a long second, confusion changing to rage as she realized she was being mocked, which I further confirmed with a big shit-eating grin. She screamed and flung both spells at me, summoning more as I ducked behind the barrier. I felt it shake and crack as the spells impacted, the explosions repeating as more followed. I crawled to the side, gathering my feet under me and then springing up. I ran as fast as I could, diving into cover behind another barrier barely in time. A wash of heat and pain chased me as something clipped my heel.
I counted ten more hits before setting off to another barrier, but this time, I didn’t quite make it.
Something sent me flying, and I bounced past the end of the last barrier, out into the open center of the arena.
“You dare! You, a mere insignificant weasel, DARE to mock me! I’ll boil your blood, I’ll melt your eyes, I’ll….Ahhhhh!” Her screamed tirade cut off abruptly as Wilhelm stabbed her from behind, the point of his sword erupting from her chest just below her right breast.
He didn’t have the strength to keep her upright, and she fell forward, twisting around and casting a flame spell at him as he staggered. His armor caught fire with spectral blue flames, flickering along the edges and digging in at the joints and damaged sections. He screamed in pain and flailed helplessly as he staggered backwards. She pushed herself backwards, holding her right hand over her chest and lifting her left toward him. Another ball of rock appeared and began to spin and grow. Unknowingly, she’d also pushed herself back into the same area she’d been standing in earlier, and now lay in the middle of the wet sand, her own blood connecting to the surrounding pockets of moisture.
I saw my chance and took it. With both hands, I cast ‘Weak Lightning Bolt’ and sent it flashing into her. As the spell drain began to cut off, I forced more mana into it, opening some kind of a channel. What had started as a pair of weak arcs of lightning became a single much more powerful version that lashed into her, making her scream in agony. She writhed uncontrollably as the wet sand conducted the power through her, the sand turning to puddles of molten glass that fused with her skin. Blood vessels burst and her eyes started to smoke, yet still I forced the last of my mana into her. Her screams died away into a faint whistling croak that faded to a whisper. As I ran out of mana, I fell to my knees, completely spent.
I sagged with exhaustion, catching my breath and fighting with a fierce mana depletion headache. Forcing the pain and light sensitivity away, I staggered to my feet. It felt like the worst migraine I’d ever had, but I couldn’t let it stop me. Once I was standing again, I staggered a bit but remained upright. I grabbed my remaining sword, yanking it free from its sheath and nearly falling over again. I held my head for a second, before stumbling to Ora, who twitched and shook on the floor before me in obvious agony. The sounds she made were more like mewling than crying now. Her skin was blackened, her eyes shrunken and boiled away in their own juices. I didn’t hesitate, the distress of killing a woman dismissed in the pity I felt for this blackened remnant of a human being.
I stabbed down, my sword cleaving her heart in two as it cut through her burnt armor easily. She gave a faint gasp and a final twitch, her last breath sighing out as I pulled my sword free.
I turned to Wilhelm, determined to finish it, and watched as he forced himself back to his feet, smoke rising from his armor as he struggled upright. I stumbled toward him as he used his sword to finish forcing himself upright. Blood dripped from his visor as he coughed it up, and more seeped from the bottom of his armor. He turned, trying to determine where I was, but the narrow slit in the visor cost him valuable time as I threw my sword at him. He spotted me just as I slid past him, and instinctively tried to block my flying sword. It clattered off his bracer and he stumbled around, trying to find me. I’d made good use of the distraction, planting my feet into the sand and leaping up as high as I could. I grabbed the naginata, which was still buried in his chest, wrenching it to the side as my momentum and weight jerked him from his feet and caused him to scream in agony.
I landed hard in the sand next to him and rolled to my feet. Sweeping up his sword from the ground where it had dropped to the ground near me, I hefted it over my shoulder and turned back to him. I paused as I heard his voice rattle from the depths of his helm, barely understandable over the coughing and crying.
“Please…. *cough* please, no…I surrender…I *cough* surrender! Let…… me live!” I paused over him and thought frantically. Did I dare let him surrender? I’d been told it was a fight to the death, but….
“Can I accept his surrender?” I called out. “He can’t fight me now.” There was a pause before the announcer responded to me.
“What terms will you impose, young scion of House Sanguis?” I could hear curiosity in his voice.
“He swears to never fight me again, and in any dispute between his House and me, he stands aside. And I get any magical items he would have taken to the UnderVerse!” I added the last bit in hastily, suddenly realizing I might lose any loot if I let him live. “If he swears to those terms, I accept.”
“I acc... *cough*...accept! I accept!!” A weak voice cried out from the suit of armor that lay on the arena floor, its inhabitant bleeding out. With that, the announcer called out again.
“My Lord and Ladies, we have a winner! Jack Sanguis has accepted the honorable surrender of Wilhelm Granth and is our new champion!” Polite cheers and a round of clapping echoed around the arena from the booths, and I looked around slowly while trying to catch my breath. The attendants ran out, Helena beginning to strip Ora’s corpse as her attendants watched in shock. Johan came to me, offering a glass of water that I greedily gulped down.
“Are you ready, my lord?” he asked, raising one hand in readiness.
“God, yes. Heal me…” I whispered, stiffening as he expended the last of his mana on healing me as far as he could. When I could breathe again, I clapped him on the shoulder and thanked him, with the pain much reduced at last.
I turned to Wilhelm and saw his attendants using a healing spell on him immediately, before two more came to join them and tried to move him. His screams rang out as they dragged him to his feet, and I told Johan to go with them to retrieve my naginata and whatever magical items he had.
I spotted the Baron in another booth, smiling widely at an unfamiliar noble who grimaced as he handed something over. The bastard wasn’t even looking at me. He’d just rushed off to get his winnings. I shook my head and looked around, seeing others doing the same, until I found Falco. He watched me until he was sure I’d seen him and then handed something to his daughter. She took it and left, glaring daggers at me as she went.
He clapped a fist to his heart in salute and then left the booth by the rear door, disappearing into darkness.
My attention was diverted a second later as my guards surrounded me, clapping me on the back and laughing. I felt two grab my legs, and the next thing I knew, I was being paraded around the arena on their shoulders. I couldn’t help but laugh at their antics. Despite their magically enforced loyalty to the Baron, I knew the guards liked me.
“You beauty! You absolute beauty!” one shouted as we went. “You won me a house! An actual house, in Italy!” Others called up to me as well. “Ten grand!” “A car!” “I got a yacht!”
As they reveled in their winnings, I saw West grinning at me from the exit, and I clambered down, receiving more bruises from the round of hands smacking my back than I did in the fight. I eventually got them to let me through, and they formed up at a command from their captain, although they still all sported grins that threatened to take off the to
ps of their heads.
“How did you do then, West?” I asked him as he fell in beside me, escorting me to my room.
“Let’s just say that your other trainers and I did well, Jack. We pooled our money and bet with the Lord of one of the noble Houses, rather than the guards of others. There’s an estate we can all retire to in Florida now. Our families will be remembering you in their prayers for years to come when they find out.”
“You have a family?” I asked in mock surprise. “Someone actually liked your ugly mug enough to come back? Must be blind, surely.”
“Cheeky bastard. At least my partners don’t have to be paid!” he replied, grinning. His humor was quickly replaced with a frown, however, as he shook his head at me, clearly remembering the woman he thought I’d abused in my changing room. “Two little girls, and a wife that complains she don’t see enough of me, an’ I told you that before. Knew you weren’t listening! They’ll love the surprise break, I tell ya, long as she who must be obeyed don’t find out it’s from gambling! We all have families. The Baron looks after them well, says they can serve in their turn after all. It’s a great honor.” I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I just told him I was happy for him, and hoped his family enjoyed it.
Chapter Eight
We reached my room, finding the door already open and the Baron inside, looking over some of the junk I’d collected from the earlier fights.
“So, how did you do? Manage to turn a profit?” I asked, trying to distract him.
“Indeed, I did! Several nice estates and a vineyard!” He rubbed his hands together, looking inordinately proud of himself. “Now, I’ll have my brooch back. You needn’t think I’d forgotten.” He held out his right hand and gestured as I pulled it off and passed it over to him. In truth, I’d hoped to keep it, but I’d known there was little chance.
