"What happened to the increased number of monster waves?" asked Vintia, pinching her lower lip while looking at the sheet they were reviewing.
"The Blues rejected it; sorry Vintia," said Gavin. He too, had been looking forward to a longer match; it would give defenders like them a real advantage. They were trained to outlast their opponents. "They also rejected our terrain additions..."
"Well, at least we won't have to deal with them cheating again with the single-team trial bit," smiled Karmal. "Those bastards nearly cost us the last match with their cheap tricks. Although, I wouldn't mind getting my hands on that little spaz Steel Harmony..."
"Just leave some for me if you manage to run her down, Karmal," said Sadira with a half-smile. She had developed a great dislike for the Blue fighters, Steel Harmony and Blue Calamity, after they had purposefully fouled her last match. "Just keep in mind that, as the challenging team in a single-team trial we have to go first; the other team gets to compete against our score. We need to do the best we can to push the score high enough that it demoralizes them and ruins their performance. Also don't forget to register your arena name if you are going to use one. Sulius says that we don't need them until next season, but I figure the sooner we have them the better. I'm thinking of Red Scorpion myself. "
"Isn't that taken?" asked Karmal, eyebrow arching.
"What can I say? I'm a fan of the classics," Sadira shrugged. "I'm surprised you haven't figured that out by now, girl. It is a well-worn Arena Name to be sure, but so long as no one in the region objects when I register, I can take it."
"I'm going with Lionfang," said Gavin, pointing at the lion emblazoned on his breastplate and shield. "Lionheart sounded a little off for a Gladiator, and Sapphire Lion is a little too blue..."
"I like the sound of Lionfang," said Vintia, looking seriously at Gavin. "What do you all think of Stronghold?" She frowned when no one spoke up quickly.
"It is... somewhat lacklustre, little sister," Ravius said cautiously. Living with the small defender had given him more respect for her moods. "It does not bring your better qualities to mind like a good arena name should. This is the epithet people will remember you by, often enough; stronghold does invoke an image that is tenacious, but I don't think it sufficiently captures your grace and courage."
Vintia smiled at him, blushing a little at the compliment. Ravius could be very charming and Vintia's reactions spoke of intimacy. Sadira noticed Karmal raise an eyebrow and wondered if Ravius had seduced her as well. They needed to get the skirmisher his own rooms, quickly; she did not want her friends fighting over him.
"How about Brightshield?" suggested Gavin.
"It’s not bad, actually," responded Vintia, pinching her lower lip as she imagined the crowd shouting it for her. "I’ll keep it in mind."
"I like it," Said Sadira. "It suits you Vintia. Karmal?"
"I figured I would follow your lead, and go with Crimson Dragon." said Karmal, choosing a well-heeled arena name herself, despite chiding Sadira for taking a cliched moniker.
Sadira nodded approvingly. They all turned expectantly to Ravius, who smiled broadly in response, enjoying the attention."Ravaging Rude Ravius!" he announced, his eyes on fire with mirth, making them all laugh, until they realized he was quite serious.
"Right... I'll get these to Sulius and the Arena Master and meet all of you on the practice field in fifteen minutes," said Sadira. "If this draft is accepted we should be fighting in ten days."
-----o
Regina diCouture, the Chief Promoter of the Blue Faction in Scorpion's Oasis, was renowned as an excellent judge of Gladiators. She had managed a decent record of sixty-five wins, seven loses before retiring from the arena herself; this gave her a good idea of what it took to win. Added to that, she had nearly a hundred years of experience as a recruiter and promoter for the Blues. She knew the Great Games very, very well. She was a dominant force here, and would soon be able to parley her success into an even better position. As a popular fighter for her Faction she had been offered many purely decorative positions right after her retirement, but she had eschewed them all in favour of learning the ins and outs of her new life from the ground up. She had earned her current position through hard work and an infallible eye for talent. Yet, the ability to recognize greatness in a Gladiator was now making her nervous. She could see that Sadira Lacivia had all the makings of a champion Gladiatrix, a better, more popular fighter than any she had; the problem was that Sadira was a Red, which made it Regina's job to act as a foil for the rising superstar. It did not help that the other new additions to the Red team seemed solid as well; the Reds were most dangerous when they had a good, well-rounded team.
To make the situation worse she had received several imperatives from important persons within the Faction stating that she must either turn Sadira into a Blue, or somehow limit the spread of her fame. Naturally, her superiors left the details to her. Politics was second nature to the Blues and few of them had any qualms about using dirty tricks. The stakes were high; there would be a grand Championship soon, and the Blues wanted one of their own to win it. For personal reasons Regina preferred to show fairness to her opponents, but it seemed like the gloves would have to come off this time.
Regina wished she could lure a rising Blue superstar, like the dreaded Valaran diVolcanus, here to oppose Sadira, but Chosen Moltar's latest protege was notorious for only fighting one on one Deathmatches, which made him next to useless in Faction challenges, where that type of fight was banned. There were others who were not as brutish as Valaran, but they were all equally self-centred. Individual ambition was the Blues greatest strength, but it did not serve them well in cases like this.
Other options were equally bleak. Competition for talent was fierce, and she did not have the resources to spend on the kind of "talent-for-hire" that could help her; nor did she think that any of her younger Gladiators, good as some of them were, would be a match for this dynamic Shadow-Elf that Sulius had recruited. If the rest of Sadira's team turned out to be as good as she thought, they would be serious trouble for Regina's Blues next season.
She could tell that Sadira was aggressive, but it seemed to Regina that this had been tempered already in the arena; it was a process she knew well. She doubted that she would be able to provoke the star Gladiatrix into a foolish loss through anger alone. This meant that she either needed to somehow win the glorious miss Lacivia over to the Blue Faction, or to find some other useful vulnerability. The woman seemed close to her friends; rising stars often invoked jealousy in those around them, an area ripe for exploitation. It was also possible that damaging one of these friends would dim her fighting spirit. As loathsome as she found the idea, it merited further exploration.
Regina diCouture did not think herself cruel; she had to be ruthless, or risk losing her position. On the other hand, if she managed to turn, crush, or limit her new foe, then it would go far to advancing her own status within the Blues. That was just the way the world worked, even if she found it distasteful at times.
-----o
As the issuers of the challenge, the Reds were the first team to take the field. The audience was as apathetic as they had been at their previous appearance, barely acknowledging the Red team's entrance. The Blues had clinched the season's victory in Scorpion's Oasis months before Gavin and Sadira arrived and so today's match had little meaning for the season standings. Most of the spectators had spent the day relaxing torpidly in the peerless baths or enjoying the luxurious massage altars of one of the local resorts, and they were only slightly interested in what was going on at the fighting grounds. The nude acrobats that performed before the Gladiators drew more cheers; the only reaction to their new arena names was a lazy ripple of laughter for Ravishing Rude Ravius. Sadira felt deep frustration at the lack of reaction from the crowd, silently vowing again to make them shout her name. Gavin smiled to himself, noting the look of determination on his lover's face.
"Today, we have the last of our Faction chal
lenges for the season. The Red team has challenged the Blues to a survival match." The announcer barely needed to raise his voice, the audience was so quiet in its lethargy. "Each team will strive to withstand the waves of monsters for as long as possible. Points will be awarded to the teams based on how long they survive, and how many creatures they kill. Extra points will be deducted for every Gladiator who cannot stand at the end of the match. The Blue team will take the field after the Red team to see if they can beat their score."
The audience was already bored by the long description. The announcer frowned at their rudeness and signalled the trumpeters. The bright brass call sounded, and the match began.
Doors opened from all sides of the fighting grounds and a dozen clockwork soldiers moved into the arena, their polished brass armour blinding in the bright, hot sun. Gears whirred and clicked as they marched forward with perfect precision. These particular automatons were armed with a single blade hand and a large spiked round shield. They pressed in toward the Gladiators without hesitation.
Gavin and Vintia took up positions on opposite sides of their friends, shields held high at the ready. Sadira and Ravius stood flanking Karmal in the centre. Bright lightning crackled and flashed from the flame-haired Gladiatrix, striking one clockwork man and leaving it a smouldering, sparking ruin. Its fellows ignored their fallen comrade as they moved toward their targets.
Sadira drew Bellasdoom, her greatsword, enjoying the sound of the blade scraping free of its sheath. She leaped over Vintia, loosing her war-shriek as she landed near her foes, darting under a pair of slashing brass swords, and then swinging her own weapon in a vicious arc that sent the head of her closest assailant flying. Oil flowed from its neck. She felt the rush of battle as she exulted in the black blood of her foe soaking the sand.
Ravius cast his net. Snaring a clockwork soldier, he left it struggling in the sand while he steered others toward the defenders, baiting them and pushing them with his trident. He did not bother taunting the creatures; it was hard to make an automaton angry, but he made clownish gestures to entertain the crowd nonetheless. Gavin drove his spear-blade deep into the gears of a brass-man as it tried to grapple his shield away. He moved back and forth, knocking his metallic foes away from his side of the formation. Karmal and Vintia bombarded the brass men with snaps of fire and bolts of lightning.
A second wave of metal soldiers marched into the arena. Some of them had a strange devices on their arms, like an elaborate bellows. One of these raised its arm, pointing the device at the Gladiators.
"SHOOTER!" yelled Gavin, raising his shield and surging forward to meet this new threat.
Karmal turned to fire a spell, but Sadira had already singled the shooter out for her lethal attentions. She tumbled past the metal soldiers between them, ducking under blades and dodging spiked shields on her way to the bellows-armed brass man. As she neared, it aimed the device at her, firing a spray of scalding steam and a sharp six inch spike. She ducked under the projectile, feeling the wind of it brush past her head and the scalding breath of the steam on her skin. Whirling as she came up, Sadira extended her blade in a lethal upswing. Her elegant obsidian greatsword cut through the brass skin and geared innards of the automaton with ease, cleaving it from shoulder to hip. It fell apart, showering the area with oil and gears, and as she danced away to rejoin her team she gave a little flourish of her blade for the sake of the watching crowd.
Now, the brass soldiers pushed in from all sides, their sheer numbers lending them weight as more and more piled into the arena. Indomitable Gavin and wary Vintia were pushed back slowly, fending off jabs from the wall of spiked shields that encircled them. Their role was to defend their team-mates, freeing them to attack and maintain a strong position. Beaded with sweat now, they all bled from minor wounds.
The audience began to take notice of the dire situation. Watching a few upstart Reds, few of whose supporters could even afford the exorbitant expense of the baths and spas at Scorpion's Oasis, get mauled appealed to more than a few of the exclusive clientele of this arena.
Sadira vaulted over the heads of a trio of Clockwork Soldiers, landing beside Gavin and ducking behind his shield. Karmal moved to stand beside her, heavy blade of her brutal war-cleaver held up like a shield to ward of their foes. Ravius moved back into formation as well, while Gavin and Vintia gave ground and moved in behind, walking backwards toward the rest of the group. The two stalwart defenders staggered against the tide of Brass men pushing at them, putting all their efforts into weathering the assault.
Ravius and Karmal looked to Sadira. She waited, observing the flow of battle, watching as Gavin and Vintia backed up slowly, taking most of the pressure of the oncoming tide of brass men. The two defenders trembled with effort, bloodied from the pounding. Although she felt heartless, Sadira knew the timing of their next move must be right. When they were packed in, almost touching, Gavin and Vintia in tight formation with the rest of the group, Sadira gave the signal.
They raised their weapons and surged forward. Ravius slipped into the ranks of the brass men, like an eel swimming among rocks, hooking the leg of a Clockwork soldier with his trident and sending it crashing backwards. The formation of brass soldiers broke for just a moment as the flailing metal body fell into the ranks behind. Sadira and Karmal let loose twin war-shrieks and leapt forward into the breach.
Karmal's heavy blade did not penetrate the armour of her first foe, but crushed its metal plates nonetheless, driving the armour into its clockwork innards, destroying it. Sadira's sword, lighter but sharper, sheered through the neck of her first target and claimed the leg of another on the back-swing. She channelled power into the pattern of a spell, sending grasping green shoots bursting from the sand to further disrupt their foes.
The three Gladiators pressed forward, pushing into the tightly packed ranks of brass men. who were hampered now by their close proximity to each other. Gavin and Vintia moved in behind, protecting their formation as the others shouldered and slashed their way through their opponents. Sadira felt a burst of pride in her team as they surged forward. Their movements were flawless, as they fought selflessly, with an artistry that mocked the stiff precision of the clockwork men. Now, the audience cheered as well, impressed at last by the five Gladiators.
Ravius concentrated, channelling power into a spell-pattern to dominate the "mind" of a machine in front of him. The clockwork soldier turned, striking one of its metal brethren, sewing further confusion in the enemy’s ranks.
Karmal staggered as a poorly parried blade skidded off her war-cleaver and plunged into her shoulder. She felt her own blood splash against her face and it filled her with fury. She grunted, snarling, her eyes glowing blue. Then she shouted, spitting lightning. Brass men sputtered and sparked, smoked and died. Her heavy sword crashed down on one who still moved. Sadira answered her battle sister with a war-shriek of her own, flowing around her opponents. She cut one in half and leap onto the shield of the next, thrusting her sword downwards through its metal skull and riding it to the ground as it toppled.
Wary Vintia wove a stoneskin spell to protect the bloodied Karmal, ignoring the blades that glanced off her own shield and armour, as rain off the rocks. She and Gavin backed up under the steady pressure of the brass men, too busy with defence to attack in return. Each backwards step was fraught with danger; tripping over one of the broken brass bodies left behind by their comrades would spell instant doom. Gavin revelled in this struggle, the pure physicality of testing his strength and skill against the clockwork mob. He loved the sport, but not the slaughter.
At last, Sadira broke through the other side of the brass mob, followed by Ravius and Karmal. They turned to help Gavin and Vintia when the trumpets sounded, signalling the end of the fight. The clockwork men froze, whirring gears suddenly quiet. The Gladiators relaxed, Gavin and Vintia gulping air to catch their breath. Sadira caught her lover's eye and flashed him a smile. They moved to the centre of the ring and saluted the applauding spectators. Sad
ira sighed, still disappointed in their response; but at least they were showing some energy.
The announcer came forward, shouting theatrically, his magically enhanced voice carrying over the noise of the audience. "RED TEAM, SEVENTY-FIVE POINTS FOR SURVIVAL, AND SEVENTY FOR KILLS. TOTAL: ONE-FORTY-FIVE. CAN THE BLUE TEAM BEAT THAT?"
They watched as the same elegant, silver-haired Light-Elf woman, dressed today in a regal gown of blue satin stepped forward. She whispered in the announcer's ear and he nodded, frowning. Gavin recognized her from their last match when she had performed a similar action. She fit the description that Sulius had given them of Regina diCouture, the Chief Promoter of the Blues.
"BLUE TEAM FORFEITS!" shouted the announcer. "THE CHALLENGE GOES TO THE REDS! THE BLUE TEAM WILL INSTEAD END THE SEASON WITH A SLAUGHTER MATCH FOR THE CROWD'S PLEASURE. THIS WILL NOT COUNT TOWARDS FACTION TOTALS. CONGRATULATIONS REDS, THE DAY IS YOURS."
The crowd clapped politely as the five fighters left the arena, but a few minutes from their arming room they could hear them cheer the Blues with real gusto as the fighting commenced again. Gavin could see Sadira's frustration; she had been robbed of yet another chance to prove herself against the Blues by this late forfeiture.
Bloodlust: A Gladiator's Tale Page 29
