“Red Head! Red Head! Red Head!”
We walked to the steel cage.
The king stood at the podium. “Get in the cage, Red Head,” he commanded.
Father did as the king asked, and the door locked behind him. Father walked up to the cage divider, and a giant black and white spider jumped at him. Father stumbled back a few steps. The king told the soldiers to lift the divider a little. The spider tried to get underneath. My father stepped back, fear in his eyes. The king lowered his hand, and the soldiers dropped the divider again.
“There will be no fight tonight,” the king announced. “Red Head, you will fight the spider god tomorrow. Go back to your camp, get a good night’s rest, and dream of your death.”
A soldier opened the door, and Father stepped out. He was scared, but he held his hands in the air for attention.
“I will kill the spider,” he said calmly. Then he looked at the king. “Red Head will be the god of the ring, and you will bow down to me.”
The crowd cheered. As we walked to camp, we heard, “Red Head! Red Head! Red Head!”
CHAPTER 25
Arachnophobia
At the camp, soldiers were waiting with chains in their hands. It was obvious they feared my father.
“You only need to chain me,” Father said as he stuck out his arms.
They placed the shackles on his wrists and left.
I went into our room, the same one we had shared before, and found my scarf. I brushed it off and walked to the gate. There were no guards. We needed food, so Mara and I headed for the depot.
Mara got water and I got food. We saw no guards anywhere.
“I guess the king killed too many,” I said.
Mara shrugged. “I wish he had killed all of them.”
It was an eerie stroll back across the cavern to our camp.
“There were still no guards at the gate. The king must have killed them,” Mara said.
Doc prayed over our food and asked for a good day tomorrow. It was silent as we ate, each of us lost in our thoughts. We tried to get some sleep after dinner, but it was impossible. As dusk gave way to dawn, King Seth came to the camp with his strongest remaining soldiers. He had us put in chains then the soldiers picked Father up and hung him on a peg in the wall. He screamed as his shoulders took his weight. Doc and Journey tried to help him, but the soldiers knocked them down.
“Please, stop it!” I screamed.
A soldier hit me, and I began to cry.
“Leave them alone,” my father said.
The king walked over to my father.
“Red Head, I will let you down if you bow before me. Call me god, and I will save you and your pathetic son.”
My father spit in his face. “You are as much a god as I am, Seth.”
“You will be dead in mere hours, and your son is sixteen. He will be next. Then her. Then them.”
“Let me fight with Bardon,” Journey said.
King Seth laughed. “A woman wants to help you? How about this white-haired freak? Does he wish to fight with you?”
“I would be proud to,” Doc answered.
“Everyone here is in such a hurry to die,” Seth chuckled. The king cut my father’s chest open. “Gods don’t bleed, yet blood pours from you. You are no god after all.” Seth turned to me. “Happy Birthday,” he growled. “It will be when my father kicks that spider’s ass.”
“Then you will be next,” said the king over his shoulder as he turned away.
A couple of soldiers remained to be sure we didn’t cut Father down.
When General Black came to our camp and saw my father hanging on the wall, his face darkened. “What the hell happen? Who did this?”
“King Seth,” I said.
“My brother is trying to win a bet. It’s more than money. His pride is on the line.” Black turned to the soldiers. “Get him down, now!”
They quickly lowered my father from the wall. Doc pulled some herbs and greens from a black velvet bag and dealt with Father’s wound.
It was my birthday. The irony of my father possibly dying on the day of my birth didn’t escape me. Journey said the day she was caught, the army kill the spider by jumping over it and then onto its back.
“That’s what we will do,” said father.
Soldiers came to lead us to the ring. Lock was with them.
“What’s going on, Lock?” I said.
“Never thought I would see you guys again,” he answered. “I can’t believe you escaped.”
“What’s happening?”
“The king decided to put your father and his friends in the ring with the spider. He is giving them sticks and not letting their angels fight with them.”
“They are doomed,” I said.
“Did you hear the big news?
“No!”
The king had a baby with one of the angels, though the angel died. His name is Icon.”
Before I could reply, I heard the murmur of the crowd, and then King Seth’s voice.
“Red Head told me that didn’t need his angel to defeat the spider. All he needed were his friends. I granted him his request. With no further delay, let the blood flow.”
The divider separated them from the spider. Tensions were high. The king ordered the divider raised, and the spider jumped at my father.
Doc and Journey came running. Doc held out his hands and threw Journey over the spider. The spider turned its attention to Journey while Father and Dock swung their sticks and snapped two of the spider’s legs. The spider shot a web over Father and Doc, immobilizing them. Journey jumped on its back and began stabbed it with her stick. It howled in pain.
“Someone shoot her!” screamed Seth, pointing at Journey.
The archers aimed and shot Journey, she fell to the ground.
“No!” I screamed.
Mara began to sob.
Doc bit through the web with his teeth. Then threw his stick into the spider wounding it again. Making the spider scream. The archers shot him, and he fell. Mara collapsed.
“Get up, Red Head! Get up!” the crowd shouted.
Father fought to free himself while the spider inched closer. Suddenly, the ring door swung open, and Saxon stepped in. He walked over to the spider, raised his sword, and drove it into the arachnid’s body. Ichor poured from the hole in its side. It took a few steps and fell dead.
Saxon turned to the king. “King Seth, I killed the spider god. I will now kill Red Head and claim the title of god of the ring.” King Seth stood up and said “let it be done.”
Soldiers tried to clear the giant spider from the ring, but they could not move it. They called for more manpower while two other soldiers dragged Doc and Journey out by their legs. I heard the most amazing thing as they passed me.
“They are still alive,” one whispered.
“Mara!” I exclaimed. “They are not dead!” I ran after the soldiers. “Please take them back to our camp.”
“As a favor to the late General Black. He respected your father.”
Confused, I nodded and trailed behind them, wiping tears from my cheeks.
The soldiers didn’t elaborate until we reached camp. Then one turned to me and said, “General Black is dead.”
“How?”
“The king cut his throat this morning.”
They laid Doc and Journey on the ground and returned to the ring.
“Did you hear that, Mara? Black is dead.”
“Journey and my dad will be, too, if we don’t do something.”
I retrieved Doc’s medicine bag. Doc grabbed my hand and looked at me, “I want you to
“Break the arrows off the tips and pull them through.”
I broke the tips off and took a deep breath. “Are you ready, Doc?”
He nodded. I pulled the first
arrow out, and Doc screamed. As soon as he could speak, he looked at Mara. “Mix up one potion for pain and one to fight infection.”
“I don’t remember how,” Mara cried.
“Yes, you do,” Doc replied. “You can do it, Mara. Just like I showed you.”
Mara regained her composure and began to crush herbs and greens between two stones.
“Are you ready Doc?” I said.
“Do it, Noah.”
“I am so sorry, Doc,” I whispered.
Doc breathed heavily and asked for a stick. Mara gave the broken arrow to him. He put it in his mouth, looked at me, and nodded. I pulled the next one, and tears sprang into his eyes and beads of sweat appeared on his brown and cheeks. He began to pray.
“Um-fro-dalai-by-ka,” he chanted, and the bleeding stopped.
Mara poured the pain potion into her father’s mouth.
“Noah, take the infection medicine and rub it into my wounds,” Doc instructed.
I hesitated.
Doc grabbed my hand. “Noah, do it now.”
I did as he said, and Doc screamed. I stopped and began to cry.
“All the way, Noah!” he yelled. “You have to get the ointment all the way into my wounds!”
I repeated the procedure on his other wounds.
“Um-fro-dalai-by-ka.”
Mara poured the pain potion over the holes.
“Noah, go back to the ring,” Doc said. “Mara and I will take care of Journey. Check on Bardon.”
“I’ll stop the fight,” I insisted.
“How can you do that?” asked Mara.
“There is only one fight a day. It’s the law of Eden Two.”
I ran back to the ring.
“Good luck, Noah!” Mara yelled after me.
I heard the king starting the fight. I ran as fast as I could.
CHAPTER 26
Two Fights, One Day
“One day, one fight!” I screamed as I ran back to the ring. “One day, one fight! One day, one fight!”
The crowd heard me and began to chant. “One day, one fight! One day, one fight! One day, one fight! One day, one fight!”
The king stood and the crowd quieted.
“I know the rules,” King Seth bellowed. “I don’t think Red Head has fought enough today. So he will fight again.”
The crowd didn’t dare disagree.
The king continued. “We have Red Head, and we have Saxon. When this battle is over, one will have fifty-one wins, and we will have a true god of the ring!”
The crowd cheered. King Seth raised his hand. Silence fell. “Let’s find our true god, and let the blood flow!”
Saxon walked over to my father then cut the webs from him up. My father got up and said “you should have killed me when you had the chance.”
Saxon threw a stick at Father’s feet and laughed.
“Where is my sword?” Father asked.
“You claimed you could kill a god with a stick. Prove it.” Saxon chuckled.
Father picked up the stick. “If you want me to beat you to death, this will do.”
Priest walked into the ring. Saxon pulled him close. “We don’t need angels!” He threw Priest back through the gate and into Lock, who dropped the bottle he was holding. Oil poured into the dirt and made a puddle.
Priest went berserk. He shoved Lock to the ground and began kicking him. “The oil is everything!”
Lock pulled himself up, dodging the blows.
“Get out of my sight before I kill you!”
Lock ran. I pulled him to the side. “Are you all right? You’re safe over here.”
“I hate him,” Lock cried, tears in his eyes. “I hate him with every fiber of my being.”
“Don’t pay Priest any mind,” I said. “Did you hear what happened?”
“No,” said Lock. “What?”
“King Seth killed his brother. He cut his throat over a bet.”
“Why am I not surprised?” said Lock.
“The king killed a good man.”
“The king has killed hundreds of good men,” said Lock bitterly.
“Not today. Today good prevails over evil.”
“I hope your father kills Saxon. Saxon is evil. He raped my mother then killed her.”
The crowd began to chant for Saxon. The cheers grew louder and louder.
“Red, kneel at my feet, kiss them, and call me God,” Saxon demanded. “I will make you a captain in my army.”
My father took a step forward and bowed his head a little. He looked at Saxon. “How about I piss on the floor and you lick it up, instead?”
Saxon growled.
Then Father said, “I might even allow you to be my bitch.”
CHAPTER 27
God Of The Ring
Saxon swung his sword, but missed. My father didn’t. He hit Saxon repeatedly with the stick. Saxon charged. Father moved to the side, and Saxon slammed into the ring wall. Saxon pulled himself up and lunged. Father hit him again, hard. Saxon flew through the air and hit the ground. My father stood over him.
“Give up, Saxon, and you may live.”
Saxon was covered in welts and spitting blood. “I give up,” he mumbled. “I give up.”
Saxon dropped his sword. He held his hand out for my father to help him up. When Father extended his hand, Saxon grabbed it and threw my father against the wall. Father fell, and Saxon kicked him in the face. My father’s eyes closed, and he was unconscious.
Saxon began to strut around the ring, his hands in the air. “I am the god of this ring!” he yelled.”
The crowd booed. He shook the rail that went around the ring.
“I will kill you all!” he screamed.
My father opened his eyes and picked himself up. “Are you done? There’s still time to lick that piss up, bitch!”
Saxon ran at him. Father kicked Saxon across the ring and out the door. Saxon staggered to his feet and looked at Priest.
“Summon my angel or die!”
Priest did what he was told.
The crowd began to chant. “Red Head! Red Head!”
Goliath, Saxon’s angel, charged my father, knocking him off his feet.
Father said, “You’re not allowed to hurt men. That’s God’s law.”
Goliath looked at father with red, evil eyes and said, “Whose god?” Goliath picked up my father and held his arms.
Saxon came into the ring and picked up his sword. “I think I’m going to cut you from one end to the other,” he said. “Or maybe I’ll break every bone in your body.” He punched my father, laughing.
“Lock, why was Priest so mad at you?” I asked, hoping to learn something to help save my father.
“I spilled the oil. He is always going on about how it means everything.”
“Did you spill it all?”
“Yeah, but I carry an extra jar,” he said, pulling a small glass canister from his pocket. “I always do. I’m such a klutz.
“Can I have it?”
“Sure.”
Thanks now I have to save my father, now if I had something or someone to distract Saxon. I smiled at him and left.
“I’m going to finish this!” yelled Saxon.
Saxon kicked my father in the stomach and flew into the steel ring. He tried once to get up, then collapsed, and didn’t move again. Blood dripped from his mouth and nose. Saxon yelled “who is the god of the ring?”
Lock ran up to the ring and yelled “you are a piece of shit Saxon.”
Saxon ran at Lock and yelled “when I get out of here I am going to kill you!”
Lock yelled “come on, come on.”
I made my way around the ring to my father, are you alive?” Tears ran down my face. I yelled “FATHER!”
Father lifted his head and lo
oked at me. “Don’t watch me die son.”
Saxon began to strut around the ring, waving his hands in the air. The crowd booed and yelled for my father.
“Get up, Red!” the voices cried. “Fight, Red! Fight!”
Saxon hit the rails. “I will kill you all!”
The king screamed, “Kill him! Kill him now!”
Saxon was too busy strutting and berating the crowd.
“Father, I learned what it takes to summon the angels,” I whispered. “It’s this oil. Give me your hand.”
I poured the oil into it. He rubbed it on his face as I said the words, “From deep within this human shell of mortal flesh and bone, I call to you angel, to let your presence be known. With the power of my all living God, I summon you from Bardon’s body.”
Saxon told Goliath to bring my father to him. Goliath walked over and bent down to scoop up my father just as Red Head flew from Father’s body.
Red Head waggled his finger in Goliath’s face. “Come through me first.” His fist slammed into Goliath’s jaw. Goliath stumbled and fell back into Saxon.
Saxon got up slowly and went after my father. Red Head tripped him, and he fell to the ground.
Red Head said, “I’m sorry,” then smiled at him. Red Head picked up Goliath and dropped him on top of Saxon.
Saxon crawled out from beneath his angel to see my father with a sword in his hands.
“Please, don’t kill me, Bardon,” he begged.
“Do it, Father!” I screamed.
Father turned towards me, and I saw Saxon slip a knife from his boot.
“He’s got a knife, Father!” I warned.
Father turned and swung the sword. Saxon’s head fell to the ground, and his body crumbled. His head came to a rest next to the door.
Father dropped the sword and slumped to his knees. Red Head put his hand on my father’s shoulder.
“No! No!” screeched King Seth.
“Father won!” I cried. “Father won!” I ran to him. “Can you get up, Father? Are you all right?”
“Because of you, Noah, I am.” Father pulled me close. “Summon every slave’s angels. Hurry, it has to be done now.”
Angels of the Second Earth Age Page 13
