“Stay put, I will see about washing that off” Gregory replied. “Things catch infection here really quick and the healers love chopping things off”.
Ray watched Gregory leave and started to notice many of the men remaining had on boots. It made sense Ray thought, they used them as weapons against those with no shoes and the ones wearing pants probably had some kind of nasty surprise waiting for whoever they kicked. Ray thought his wounds were not that bad but had to play the part. Other fighters were being treated by their trainers, he would let Gregory do the same and if his cousin was correct then Gregory could leave with him.
The next couple of rounds were a mixture of tough fights and beatdowns, the Largen all made it through along with most of the bigger Holyan prisoners. The only surprise was when an average sized man Gregory called Harlon landed three solid blows and knocked a much bigger man unconscious. Ray fought his next couple of rounds much as he did the first, he was bigger than his opponents and it was easier to just smother them instead of getting into a big brawl where he could really hurt someone. He only had three fights remaining now and they were all against tough opponents, if he won his next fight then he would be matched up against one of the Largen who had decent size and at least two of them outweighed him. Ray entered his next match with a man Gregory called Bull who liked to end his matches sort of like Ray. Instead of smothering though Bull liked to tackle men to the ground and straddle them before punching them in the face over and over. The crowd liked his technique and what his opponents looked like after the fight since the guards were slow to stop a good pounding. The fight started and Bull rushed, Ray threw a light jab which caught his opponent on the nose followed by a straight which knocked the man on his behind. Bull was dazed on the ground as Ray wrapped his arms around the big man’s neck, his opponent realized what happened and bit down hard on Ray’s forearm. Ray’s skin turned the attack away and soon Ray held a big sleeping prisoner.
“From now on, no choking or any submission moves” the warden said as the crowd cheered.
People were shouting for blood and the other fights gave it to them. It was by luck the opponent Ray was supposed to fight next was too injured to do so, the big Largen had won his fight but soaked up too much damage which gave Ray a bye to the final round. The other two remaining opponents protested this, they were both Largen and Ray could tell they were in bad shape as well. They were foolish for playing to the crowd, their fighting style brought a lot of cheers but they had fought six fights so far and had gotten hit in every one of them. Now they had to fight each other with the winner having to fight Ray immediately afterwards. Ray laughed as the Largen tore into each other, the guards gave him angry looks but he didn’t care. These men were sabotaging themselves, they were already guaranteed a top three pick of prizes and should have taken it easy. Ray watched in satisfaction as the fight ended, the winner had a broken nose and looked to have a busted left hand as well.
“I think we have this won” Ray replied. “That man aint in any condition to fight”.
“No he isn’t” Gregory agreed.
Ray stood up and went to stand in the center of ring and wait for his opponent, the man walked inside as well but looked absolutely terrible now Ray could see him up close. Ray was waiting for the signal to begin as his opponent looked resigned to his fate.
“This is two easy fights in row for you prisoner” the Duke’s voice boomed out as he stood and looked at Ray. “I will declare you the champion of this tournament but your final fight shouldn’t be this easy, you are fresh and your opponent can barely walk. I am going to make this fight a lot more interesting, give you a proper challenge and I will let you choose your opponent. You can pick out any of my guards to my left to fight, or you can take on my mage”.
“The mage” Ray said looking at the woman holding a staff.
“Are you sure?” The Duke replied.
“The ring is small Your Grace” Ray began. “I will be on her before she can get a spell off”.
“Very well” the Duke said as he addressed the crowd. “Are you ready to see a mage battle?” he asked loudly as the crowd started cheering.
Ray watched the woman climb into the ring, as soon as the signal was given she raised her staff but instead of casting a spell she thrusted it into his chest then pulled back and swung it around to collide with his head. It was a good blow Ray thought as it backed him up and made him take a knee. The mage hit him again with the staff on the side of the head and Ray began reaching out for her. She was fast, nimble and did not rely solely on magic as Ray could feel smack into him and send him to the ground. Power started pouring into him and his head cleared instantly, he sprang up to grab the frozen mage and snatched away her staff and tossed it out of the ring. The mage stood their frozen as Ray stood in front of her, daring her to do something. The Mage reacted quickly and brought her elbow into his crotch, the blow dropped him but Ray now had a hold of the girl and wrapped his arms around her throat until the pain stopped and she was out.
CHAPTER 12
The Great Escape
“Are you sure about this Ray?” Gregory asked worried. “If we get caught then we are dead”.
“Stay here if you want, I am leaving right now” Ray replied. “I should have already been back at my prison, they are sore losers who are trying to keep me here”.
“You have only been here a day and this is the great forest we are in, at least the outer portion of it anyway” Gregory replied as he swung his ax. “A lot of people have tried running through this forest, everything in there is poisonous, the Gaea don’t take kindly to anyone running through their forest. Not even the guards will follow you in, do you know how many prisoners we lose out here every week?”
“No” Ray replied.
“At least one” Gregory replied. “They are either bitten by something or scratch themselves on one of the plants around here. The ones that tried to run are presumed dead”.
“Are you coming with me?” Ray replied. “I know the cure to most of these poisons”.
“What do you mean you know the cure?” Gregory asked.
“It is just like I said, now let’s go” Ray said as he started moving deeper into the forest.
Prisoners shouted to give them away and a few arrows were launched their way but they were nowhere near hitting anything. Ray ran and could hear Gregory behind him and started looking around for things. He found what he was looking for, it was a plant whose sap dried into a tough but malleable substance. Ray scooped up as much of it as possible then tore off a piece of bark.
“What are you doing, we have to move” Gregory whispered.
“I am making you shoes” Ray replied. “My feet are tougher than yours are and the forest up ahead is unexplored”.
Ray stuck the substance to the bark then tied the whole thing to Gregory’s feet using vines. These were horrible shoes but at least it would keep the thorns out if he ever stepped on them. Ray had Gregory follow his exact path, twice Ray had been bitten by vipers who couldn’t puncture his skin. If it had been Gregory who was bit then he would have had to stop and make the antidote assuming he could find the snake that bit down. That got Ray thinking as he made Gregory some protection for his lower leg the same way he made the shoes, the bark should be able to keep out any fangs from biting vipers but deeper in he knew he had to watch out for constrictors. They traveled this way for most of the morning before Gregory called a halt.
“We are being watched” Gregory said as he looked around.
“How do you know” Ray asked as he started looking around as well.
“It’s not the guards but somebody is out there” Gregory replied. “I have stopped a couple of times and could still hear movement that wasn’t yours”.
“Is it the guards” Ray asked. “If they still have that mage she can fly”.
“She wouldn’t fly in here” Gregory asked as Ray could see his face freeze.
“I found them” Gregory replied and pointed.
Up in a tree Ray could see a figure dash behind a big branch, it was too shadowy to determine the sex but whatever he saw was not an animal. The figure stayed crouched for a while then took off running and jumped from limb to limb until it was out of sight. Ray and Gregory looked at each other but continued on, whoever it was didn’t matter, the only thing that did was that they kept moving. Ray wasn’t sure if they were heading in the right direction, Holyan was north but until it became dark he couldn’t change his course in the correct direction and that was only if he could see the stars.
“We need to make camp soon” Ray said as the sky was getting darker. “We have been moving all day and haven’t had anything to eat”.
“Where are we going to get food?” Gregory asked.
“There are bugs all around us and none of them are poisonous” Ray replied. “There are some berries hanging around but they are poisonous to everyone, even the Gaea if they are eaten”.
“I am not eating bugs” Gregory said as he watched Ray crunch into a few.
“You will die out here then” Ray replied. “You are already malnutritioned and this is a long trip”.
“Give me some of those bugs” Gregory said as he snatched up a handful from under an old rotten log and ate it. “Disgusting” Gregory said and made a sour face. “Where are we going to sleep?”
“Up in the trees” Ray replied. “I don’t know what animals are down here but it has to be less of them up there. We still have our axes, when should be able to deal with anything that gets up that high”.
“How am I going to climb up there?” Gregory asked. “I have lost some weight but I am still not strong”.
“I’ll help you” Ray said as he continued looking for food.
~
“Why don’t they do something” Gregory said nervously as he looked up into the branches and saw several figures following them. They have been on us for three days now and have not attacked”.
“Who knows” Ray replied. “They probably thought we would be dead by now and are curious”.
“I almost was a few times, I hate this forest” Gregory spat.
“Would you rather be out here with me or back with the Largen?” Ray asked. “We can't do anything about them anyway, we should just keep pressing forward”.
“Something is not right Ray, they are climbing down” Gregory said as he sped up.
“Follow me” Ray replied as he tried to avoid them by changing directions.
Ray increased his pace but the Gaea were everywhere now, it was more than the few he had seen and could hear them giving out cries as they streamed down the tree. They were surrounded on all sides now, Ray and Gregory held their axes high as the Gaea closed in around them. The Gaea had a mixture of weapons, some looked like those you would find in Holyan, Largen or any of the other civilized nations while some had cruder Gaea weapons like a war staff.
“What do you want?” Gregory screamed as he swung his weapon back and forth.
“You shouldn’t have come here Outsiders” a female warrior said as she held a blow tube to her mouth.
“I was born here” Ray replied. “I aint no Outsider”.
“Liar!” another voice said from behind Ray making him turn to the speaker. “You even sound like an Outsider”.
“My mother was Raelin” Ray said as he waited for the Gaea to get close. “She was the great shaman before she fell”.
“Liar!” another voice said from Gregory’s direction. Ray did not turn around to see the speaker, he had his back to Gregory and needed to watch what was in front of him.
“Explain my eyes then” Ray said quickly. “I have the old magic and I know how to use it”.
“You are not a shaman Outsider” the woman with the blow dart said as she continued talking. “I don’t know how you made it this far but your life ends here”.
“I can prove it” Ray replied.
“Wait” came a male voice. Ray could see an older man walk forward, he was bent at the waist from age and needed a stick to get around. The warriors stopped and parted for him, Ray lowered his axe as the man came closer and went to a knee so they could see each other better. The man felt Ray’s face in between his hands then began to speak.
“He is one of the lost ones” the old man spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. “I thought you were all dead when the Outsiders took you, how are you still here?”
“They didn’t kill us when they grabbed us” Ray began. “They needed a way to produce more workers and we were it. The man behind me is a family member”.
“He is not Gaea” the old man said looking over at Gregory.
“No” Ray said as he was relieved to see the warriors start lowering their weapons. “I was adopted by a family, his family”.
“Where are the rest of the lost ones?” the old man asked.
“Still in the land they were taken to along with their kids” Ray replied. “It is a death sentence for any Gaea to be near the great forest, the only reason I am here is because the Outsiders started fighting each other and we were both captured. We are trying to go home now”.
“We should kill the Outsider” the woman with the blow dart spoke.
“No Faylin” the old man replied. “He is with one of the lost ones and I am sure they have a story to tell”.
“We can’t let his kind live, if we do Outsiders will be all over the great forest” Faylin replied. “Do you want them to take even more from us? The Great Mother should decide this, she is in charge, not you”.
“I won't say shit to anybody” Gregory pleaded. “I only want to get home to my family”.
“Liar!” Faylin screamed. “You have the tree cutting weapon in your hand, you want to chop down the great forest so you can kill us easier”.
“I don’t want any of that” Gregory replied.
“We will let them pass” the old man replied.
“No we won’t” Faylin said as she now closed distance on the old man causing Ray to rise to his feet. Faylin was startled at first but kept her hand on her blow tube, Ray could tell she had something in her mouth. “We will either bring them to the Great Mother or kill them First Father, these warriors are mine to command, not yours”.
“The great mother said we should let the forest kill the Outsiders” the old man replied.
“But the forest hasn’t First Father” Faylin replied. “They have defeated our vipers and the plants are not effective. They know about the great forest and can defeat the poison”.
“You don’t know if they will make it out Faylin, we should leave them” the old man said now facing the woman.
“If he has the old magic the Great Mother would want to know” Faylin replied.
“I thought you said they needed to die” the old man said not backing down.
“Drop your weapons Outsiders or we will kill you here” Faylin screamed. “The Great Mother will decide your fate”.
“What do we do Ray?” Gregory asked.
“We drop our weapons” Ray said as he let his weapon clatter to the floor. “I can take them but not without getting you killed, now hurry up and drop your weapons”.
“We need to blindfold them” the old man replied. “I am sorry for this lost one but we cannot chance you remembering your way back here”.
Ray let himself be blindfolded, the Gaea didn’t wear much clothes and currently he had someone’s loin cloth wrapped around his eyes. It smelled horrible, whoever’s it was, was either on her woman time or needed a good bath. Ray was unsure of how long they walked but could hear many voices whispering about the newcomers. Gregory complained about a scratch he received, if it was death thorn he would still have at least two days left and Ray would fix him up whenever they stopped moving. They had to be close to something, the ground here was free from twigs and other things that could poke the bottom of feet and the dirt underneath him felt hard and compact.
“Sit down” a voice said as Ray had his blindfold yanked away from him.
“Where is
Gregory” Ray replied as he looked around for his cousin.
“Someplace else now shut up” the woman Faylin said as she looked down at him.
“He was poisoned, he needs my help” Ray begged.
“So what, the only good Outsider is a dead one” Faylin replied. “The Great Mother is coming here and you better show her your respect”.
Ray waited as two more warriors came in followed by a woman as old as the man Faylin called the First Father. She didn’t walk with a stick though and looked to be in much better health. She looked Ray over, from his clothes to his face and grabbed a lock of his hair before starting to cry. The warriors didn’t like this and went to make a move as she held up her hand for them to stop.
“Rae’aln’or” the old woman said and held his face in hers. “Do you know that name?”
“It is my name” Ray replied. “At least it used to be”.
“I am your great grandmother” the old woman said as she kissed his forehead. “My granddaughter told me she had this plan to make you big and strong enough to defeat the Outsider fire users”.
“I am sorry I do not remember you” Ray began. “But I can beat them, they are called mages. Their magic does not affect me at all, but they are many. Maybe if there were more like me to begin with we would have had a chance but now I do not think so”.
The Mage Slayer Page 11
