The next morning, I counted the men in my camp then I stopped at the depot. I told the cook I needed food for seventy-six. I reported the count to General Skull outside the arena. While I waited to speak to him, I overheard him talking to the guards about betting against Red Team.
“It’s easy money,” they said.
The animal fighting that day was undefeated.
I picked up the food and took it back to the camp. The men ate, and then it was time for training in a large, fenced area not far from Red Camp. I watched from the fence. My father and the other men fought with sticks, shields, and dull swords for hours, often screaming in pain. When training was over, some men were bleeding, and all were black and blue.
“I’m sore all over,” Father said. “I hope they have something for my bruises.”
I took the men back to camp to find soldiers waiting to give the men their numbers. The numbers were drawn from a bucket, and then each man was branded with their number with a hot iron. Most men screamed when the iron seared their skin, but not my father. Father drew a sixty-five. Steven drew a thirty-five. Father told me not to call Steve “uncle” or tell anyone that we were related. Father and Steven looked dissimilar enough that nobody would guess they were brothers. The king had drawn seventy- five for the red camp today.
When Skull announced today’s number it was Sixty-five. He looked at father and smiled. He knew it was my father’s number. I didn’t know what to do. I held him as tight as I could.
Father pulled me from his side, sat me down, and wiped the tears from my eyes. “Stay here at camp,” he said softly. “I’ll be back soon.”
Father was led away, but before he disappeared from sight, he turned and waved. My eyes filled with tears. I heard the king talking, and the crowd cheered so loudly it hurt my ears. Suddenly, everything got quiet. My heart dropped, and I ran for the ring, crying so hard I could hardly see. A saber-toothed tiger lay dead at my father’s feet. Priest stood by my father’s angel, which had long fiery red hair, just like Father. Priest waved his hands, and Father’s angel sank back into him. Priest held his hand in the air.
The crowd cheered, “Red Head! Red Head!”
Father was led from the ring, and I hugged him.
“Why are you crying, son?” he asked. “I won.”
“I am just glad to see you.”
“Let’s get some wine and milk and go back and celebrate.”
Back at camp, my father talked about his angel. Uncle Steven hoped his angel would be as strong as his brother’s. We laughed and drank, and we talked about home. I curled up beside Father and fell asleep. The next day came as fast as my slumber.
My first dream
That night, my dream seemed more like a vision of the future. I watched Father kill a soldier. There were people around me holding rope. Then we were on our way home. I couldn’t see the faces of the people around us. I had never had a dream like it before, so I woke Father.
“We were going home after your fiftieth fight, I think. You killed a soldier.”
“Dreams are just dreams. I’m going to try to stay alive. Learn everything about summoning the angels, and maybe one day we can go home
CHAPTER 12
The King’s Birthday
Two weeks after father’s first fight, I was down to feeding twenty-five men, counting myself. Today was a bad day. Father would fight with my uncle against some creature the king chose. If they both died, I had nothing to live for. I went to see Seth.
“Seth, can my father fight a different day? He isn’t feeling well.”
“His number has been drawn. No one can help him. Only he can help himself. Now get out of here before I give you a whipping.”
I followed Father and my uncle to the ring. I had tears in my eyes.
“Son, why are you crying?” Father held my chin in his hand. “I promise it will be all right.”
My uncle looked at me and winked.
They were to fight three raptors. Yesterday, I had watched the raptors rip the angels apart and then devour the men. Raptors were some of the best killers because they surrounded and stalked their prey, and then, all at once, they pounced.
Father and Steven followed Priest into the ring. Priest held his hands in the air and summoned Steven’s angel, Hawk, first. He didn’t have hair; he had feathers on his head and dark purple eyes. Hawk was fast, and his wings were made of gold.
The crowd cheered wildly. “Red Head! Red Head!” It was standing room only. Everyone, including King Enoch, was there to see Father’s angel. The king had not been to the arena since Saxon’s fight, but he wanted to see the redheaded angel he had heard so much about.
When Priest summoned Father’s angel, everyone fell silent. They had never seen a redheaded angel until now. Father’s angel was also bigger than most.
My father turned to Steve and said, “Stay close.”
The gates closed.
“Who is the only god of this earth?” asked Enoch.
The crowd chanted his name, and Enoch smiled beneficently. He waved his hands in the air, and everything got quiet.
“Today’s fight brings us a red-haired angel for your amusement,” he said. “The name I give him is Red Head.”
The crowd began to chant again. The king raised his hands. Silence fell.
“Blood flows in all men, and blood flows in all beasts. You see the Ring of Blood. Let the blood flow.”
The horns sounded, and the chains dropped. Everything moved in slow motion. The raptors crept out of the gate and circled their prey, but Red Head attacked, and Hawk flew to the swords, tossing a pair to Father and my uncle. Red Head’s strength was incredible, and Hawk was fast. They tossed the dinosaurs around as if they were nothing. Before we knew it, the dinosaurs were dead, piled on top of one another. The crowd went crazy. My tears turned to tears of joy. The noise was so great it hurt my ears. Priest came into the ring and returned Red Head to my father’s body.
“I like you,” Priest said to my father.
Priest prepared to return Hawk to Steven. I ran into the ring and caught some of the words, but Priest stopped and glared at me.
“What are you doing here, boy?” Priest demanded.
“He’s my father.”
He sneered, but walked away.
Father and I walked out of the ring.
“I know some of Priest’s words,” I whispered.
“Keep it up, son, and we will be able to return home one day,” Father whispered. “Did you see the angel that God gave me?”
Seth walked up. “Nice fight, Bardon.”
“Thanks, Seth.”
“I need to talk to your son.”
“Is anything wrong?”
“No, I just want to talk to him a bit.”
“It’s all right, Father. I’ll see you in a little bit.” I followed Seth across the cavern until we were standing by ourselves. He didn’t look pleased.
“I thought you said your father was sick,” Seth said, frowning.
“He was. I guess Red Head wasn’t.”
“That’s a good answer,” Seth said. “I’d have to punish you for lying to me, so I’m going to believe you. The king’s birthday is in a couple days, and I don’t know what to plan. Last year, we killed a hundred men, and it didn’t please him. The year before, we made the beasts fight each other, and that wasn’t good enough. I don’t know what to do to make him happy. Any thoughts?”
“How about life? On the day he was born, he was granted life,” I said. “He could give the men in the camps an extra day of life. Maybe even a week.”
“I don’t know about a week,” said Seth, “but I think you’re on to something. What would we do for entertainment?”
“In our camp, we have a contest called stack.”
“What is stack?”
“A man gets on another man�
�s shoulders, and they become a team. The top man has a broom that he uses to knock other men off their teammates’ shoulders. If the top man gets knocked off, that team is out. The match keeps going until only one team is left. The winners are kings for a day.”
“That sounds like a good idea. I will talk to the king.”
I went to the depot for wine for the men and some milk for myself. Father was waiting for me when I got back.
“What did Seth want, Noah?”
“An idea for the King Enoch’s birthday party. It’s in two days.”
“What did you tell him?”
“That we should play games all day.”
“I bet that went over well.”
“You should have told him to put the king in the ring with a saber-tooth and a pen knife,” Steven said, chuckling.
“I would like to see that myself.”
“I don’t think Seth would have thought that a good idea.”
We sat down beside the fire to drink our milk and wine. I looked at my father. “What do you think of your angel?”
“I like him. He has red hair, like me.”
“I like your angel, too, Uncle Steven,” I said. “He looks like a hawk and is so fast.”
The rest of the day and into the night, we talked about the angels and King Enoch.
“What if I have to bow down to the king and call him God?” I asked.
“Do what you have to do to stay alive and ask God to forgive you.”
That night, I dreamed of a yellow-haired angel. Morning came, and I took the count to the guard at the gate and got the men breakfast from the depot. When I got back to camp, a soldier was waiting for me.
“The king wants to see you in his hall.”
“I have to take the men to practice.”
“The king doesn’t wait. I’ll take the men where they need to be.”
“I’ve never been to the king’s quarters. Where are they?”
“I’ll get someone to escort you,” he said. “We’re just waiting on Frank and Lock—oh, here they are.”
A soldier guided us through the cavern and into daylight. A huge palace was perched on the side of the mountain, accessible by a winding, narrow path. Guards were posted all along the way, and they watched us closely as we passed. We walked into the main hall. The king was sitting on his throne, next to a lovely lady.
“Lock, who’s that woman next to the king?” I whispered as we approached.
“That’s Queen Carmen.”
“I didn’t know there was a queen. She’s very pretty.” I frowned and almost stopped walking. “Why are we here, Lock?”
“I don’t know, but hopefully, it’s not bad.”
The king motioned for the doors to be closed, and Frank bowed.
“No, don’t bow. Come here.” King Enoch motioned. “I’m very excited. I want to talk to you. Tomorrow is my birthday. In years past, I sacrificed men on my birthday. This year, I’m going to show kindness to my people. I’m going to make life, as only a god can. Tomorrow, everyone receives the gift of life for another day. There will be no blood shed, and there will be a feast. There will be entertainment. I created a game called Stack. The four strongest men from each camp will make a team. The men will ride on their angels’ shoulders. They will be equipped with a uniform and a broom and must guard their team’s scarf by knocking men off the angels’ shoulders. Whichever team has the most scarves at the end of the game wins. If a man falls off his angel or his angel falls down, he is eliminated. The winners will be treated like kings for a day. The fight will be at noon.”
The king looked at me and said, “Red Scarf, make sure that Red Head and that bird angel are there. Red and Green, you may leave.”
As Lock and I walked out into the bright sunlight, I asked, “Lock, why do you think Frank stayed?”
Lock said nothing until we reached the arena. Then, “Last year, the king wanted a four-man tag team match for his anniversary celebration. We were supposed to use young men with no angels. Blue instead brought Saxon and two older men. They killed everyone in the ring. The boy that had the Red Scarf before you ran into the ring to help his brother. He tried to fight, and they killed him, too.”
“Why would they do something like that?”
“The king wanted to win a bet.” He shrugged. “Say, tomorrow, we should fight together.”
“Okay, Lock. That’s a deal.”
Lock and I shook hands.
“The king is racist,” added Lock. “He thinks white men should rule the world. He doesn’t think God created us equal. He thinks he’s God. I’ll see you tomorrow, and after we kick Blue’s ass, we will all just fall down and stop fighting.”
“The king will love us.”
I think I skipped all the way back to the camp. I told Father what the king and Lock had said. I told him that the king had picked him and Steven, and he had to pick two other men.
“Are you sure no one will die, Noah?”
“That’s what the king said, but Lock told me that the king is a cheater, and he wants Blue to win, so we are going to fight with Green tomorrow.”
“We’ll make the king’s birthday unhappy and his pocket lighter,” Father laughed.
I think we were all happy for that moment. The next day, I lined the men up and announced the king’s birthday and the moratorium on training. The men cheered and whistled.
“But there is a game,” I said, “and the king is betting against us. If you want the king to have a bad birthday, just step out.”
Several men stepped forward. Father picked a big, strong, black man named Royal, or Roy. Then he picked a fighter named Tie. His eyes were slanted. I told the rest that there would be a feast today and that we would all get fat. They cheered and went away happy.
Father explained to Tie and Royal about the fight. A soldier brought red uniforms, but they didn’t fit Royal well. The shirt ripped up his back and across both shoulders.
We all laughed. We laughed all the way to the arena. We laughed as General Black escorted the men into the ring. Black told us to go to the corner where the red scarf hung. He looked at Father and said, “I am betting on you to win.”
I studied the men in the ring. The blue team had the biggest man in the camp.
“Lock, who is that giant on the Blue Team?”
“That’s Tidal Wave. He just arrived. They say he whipped ten soldiers at once.”
“He sure is big, and that’s not good for us. You have a big man, Lock. Who is that guy with the pony tail?”
“His name is Soma, and his angel is Slue.”
King Enoch walked out to the podium, and the crowd screamed happy birthday.
“I’d like to explain the rules,” the king held his hand into the air everything got quieted. “If the man on top falls off, that pair is out. If a team’s flag is captured, that team is out. I want no blood, but if there must be blood, then so be it.” The king sat down.
Lock nudged my shoulder and whispered, “Always changing the rules to his benefit.”
Priest walked into the ring and held his hands in the air to summon the blue team’s angels. Then he summoned the Green angels. He came over to summon the Red angels and told me to get the brooms for the men. I gave one to each then went to help Frank hand out his brooms. I picked up a blue team’s broom, and it was very heavy.
“Put that down! I’ll do it!” Frank yelled.
Without a word, I laid the broom down and found my father. “Father, their brooms are much heavier than yours. Tell the other guys.”
Roy walked over. “How am I supposed to ride my angel? Alai is too small for me.” A thought crossed his mind. “Never mind. I got it.”
Roy handed me his broom, bent over, picked up Alai, and put him on his shoulders. I handed Alai the broom.
My father looked at Roy.
“Try to knock them off,” he said.
I heard people laughing. Tidal Wave’s angel was smaller than Roy’s. Tidal was trying to get on the little angel’s shoulders, but the little angel was running from him. Tidal caught him, and the little angel fell to the ground. Tidal picked him up and put his angel on his shoulders, just as Roy had.
I looked at Lock. “I guess we can call him Little Wave.”
Lock laughed. “Or maybe we can call him Splash.”
Priest finished summoning the angels. He held his hands in the air, and the people chanted his name as he left the ring. King Enoch stood. The people cheered and whistled.
“Long ago, on this date, I was given life. I was born and made king of all gods. I give you all a present today. I give you life for a day. Today, there will be no death. Our entertainment comes from men with brooms, no swords. My brother Seth leads the Green Team.”
The crowd cheered. Seth waved.
“My brother Black leads the Red Team.”
Black stepped out and waved.
“My Blue Team. Give them a hand.” The crowd roared and the king continued, “After the match, we will feast. Let’s get this match started and do not let the blood flow.”
The horns sounded, and the match began. Father was guarding the scarf. Red and Green came at each other, then turned and ran at Blue. The sounds of brooms crashing together echoed through the arena, and down went one Green, and then another. Soldiers stopped the fight, opened the door, and let them out. The battle started again, and down went Tie. Roy took out a Blue with the help of a Green.
A Blue tripped a Green, who hit the floor and was out cold.
“No fair!” we screamed.
Steven almost had a Blue down, but another Blue hit his angel from behind, and Hawk went down. The fight stopped, and Steven got up and walked out, casting anxious glances over his shoulder at my father. The fight began again, and the last Green ran to his corner. Tidal Wave ripped Royal’s angel Alai from Roy’s shoulders and threw him to the ground. The Blue warrior threw Roy to the ground and kicked him. Father went to help, but Tidal Wave started towards the red scarf, and Father backed up to block him. Tidal turned to kick Roy again.
Angels of the Second Earth Age Page 6
