Sadira felt her blood quicken, rising to the challenge set before her. She restrained her reckless desires until the gilded gold and brass soldiers closed. When they were less than ten paces away she let loose an ear-splitting war-shriek, darting forward, shifting her curved, graceful swords in her hands. Lightning quick and deadly graceful, her sprint turned into a lethal pirouette as she came upon her foes. Her blades severed the clockwork's gilded head from his shoulders with a screech of metal and a glistening gout of black oil. The crowd roared.
A second brass man fell as Ravius channelled power into a spell that disrupted its control pattern, severing the link between the machine and the magic animating it. It froze in mid-step, sinking to the ground. A flourish that Ravius added to the spell for show made it appear as if steam burst from the clockwork's ears, gaining him some audience appreciation. The skirmisher smiled, moving forward to screen Karmal from the hungry blades of the mechanical horde.
Karmal followed in Sadira's wake, heaving her massive war-cleaver into the nearest clockwork man, crushing its armoured chest-plate and bearing it to the ground where it twitched and lay still. She moved forward, recklessly, relentlessly, channelling power for her magic.
Gavin moved after them, forcing the brass men back with his shield, parrying and blocking their attacks, and killing the fourth clockwork soldier with a quick, precise thrust of his grim war-spear, puncturing its armour and carrying through into its power core.
Vintia positioned herself carefully, guarding the backs of her friends. The fifth brass man to fall went down to two quick sword slashes followed by a short burst of bright white lightning for good measure. The smell of scorched metal filled the air, sharp and unpleasant as the mechanical soldier's innards overloaded and erupted.
The Brass Men pushed forward, hacking at the Gladiators with their bladed arms, but to little effect. Their slashing limbs were met by stout shields and cunning blades or simply swung into empty air as their targets danced away, laughing.
Sadira moved through the steps of the Razorwing's Flight dance among her foes; letting the simple joy of fighting guide her, she sent a sixth metal soldier to the ground with a sudden, precise thrust through a weak point on its armour, and a seventh with a wide, powerful double sword stroke that sent her blades through its shoulders and deep into its chest. She parried a trio of counter-strikes before tumbling away.
Ravius tripped a clockwork soldier with a long, low swipe of his barbed net. He timed his attack such that the heavy body tumbled backwards, playing havoc with the advancing ranks, causing several soldiers to falter. He then shut down an eighth opponent with his magic, exactly as he had slain the second, and it too fell to the ground inert as he chortled gleefully.
Karmal powered forward, clearing space in front of her with massive sweeps of her heavy war-cleaver. She screamed in fury, bringing down a bright bolt of lightning on the enemy ranks reducing two automatons to smouldering ruin with the brilliant energy of her spell. One of them exploded with a pyrotechnic flash. Thunder from her spell rolled over the audience and they cheered her display, thundering in turn. But a blade skittered off her armour, drawing blood and cutting short her triumph.
Gavin, seeing this, lunged forward and threw himself into the clockwork soldiers near Karmal, ploughing into them with his lion-headed shield held in front of him. A stray blade sliced him; he answered with a quick thrust of his broad-bladed war spear, killing their eleventh enemy.
Vintia was hard pressed; the disciplined ranks of Brass men were piling up against her shield and trying to get around her and flank the rest of the team. A quickly cast spell from Sadira endowed her with strength and energy enough to stop her from toppling over under the sheer weight of her assailants. She continued to batter at her opponents with a small spell burst of fire, ice, and lightning, felling another brass man when its oil caught fire and it cooked from the inside out in a series of small explosions reminiscent of children's fireworks.
Brass swords rose and fell. All of the Gladiators were bruised and bleeding now, unable to avoid the overwhelming number of swinging blades. The clanking clockwork hordes closed in around them, a golden flood on the white sands. The crowd cheered them on, encouraging them to stand firm.
Sadira whirled and danced. "TO ME" she shouted, channelling verdant power while weaving the pattern for the powerful font of life spell. Her swords scissored through a hapless brass soldier as she ducked under the arms of its comrades. The flailing torso fell to the ground, while its legs took a few steps before toppling. She kicked another as it approached her, sending it crashing back into the ranks, buying her some space to move.
Ravius dismantled the fourteenth brass man with three quick trident thrusts into its body, the last hit judged perfectly to push the body to the ground in such a way that it became an immediate obstacle to the rest of the horde. He moved backwards to Sadira, heeding her call.
Brutal Karmal's heavy war-cleaver caved in the gilded faceplate of another clockwork with contemptuous ease, but the others closed in around and forced her back before she could attack again. She stumbled back behind Gavin, cursing and wild-eyed, summoning her magic. Blood and oil dripped off her armour.
Gavin and Vintia were now forced to put every effort into holding the tide of brass men back; their muscles rippled and strained with the effort of pitting flesh and magic against relentless metal. Gavin lost himself in the effort for a while, forgetting his troubles in the pain and satisfaction of pure physical exertion.
Bronze blades and gilded fists rose and fell as the gold ornamented clockworks closed around the Gladiators like a glittering noose. The five barely had room to fight, and in the press of metal bodies and the storm of randomly swinging weapons their armour was of little use. Red blood mixed with glistening oil, fouled the pure white sands of the fighting grounds. The audience shouted excitedly, seeing that the situation had become desperate.
Straining with channelled power, Sadira unleashed her spell. The others were bathed in a tide of verdant magic which washed away their fatigue and set their wounds to closing even faster. The Gladiators, renewed by the font of life, pushed back into the ranks of their foes once more.
Karmal, eyes wide and flashing fury, shouldered into the Brass men, pushing them back and bringing her heavy war-cleaver down upon them. She slammed two into the ground with one pendulous swing, splitting one in half, the sixteenth to fall. She let power build up within her, readying for a tremendous spell of her own.
Cunning Ravius, ever mindful of the tides of battle, saw an opportunity and darted in finishing the brass soldier still struggling to rise after Karmal's swing with a swift thrust of his trident. He allowed his momentum to carry him forward, pushing the impaled brass man ahead of him for a few feet, a tremendous effort that caused the crowd to croon with excitement as he pushed back the ranks of the brass soldiers.
Gavin surged into the space created by Ravius's crafty move, using his shield to cover his team-mate. He lunged into the open space, his spear blade tearing into the chest of a brass soldier, producing a bloom of blue-white light as the weapons enchantments reacted with the automaton's power core.
"Nice fireworks!" shouted Ravius, laughing and waving to the crowd as he moved back to safety. Gavin grinned, rolling his eyes at his friend's clownish antics.
Vintia, ignoring two heavy blows that glanced off her armoured body, moved back and turned, pushing herself in front of Sadira. Her straight-bladed longsword swept out from behind her massive shield, slashing into the leg of a brass man. It faltered, gears grinding, and she toppled it with a powerful shove of her shield. She stepped onto it, her shield protecting her from its brothers, and sank her blade through its chest and into its metal innards, finishing it in a spray of oil, the nineteenth to fall.
The gilded metal soldiers, now a clockwork scrum around the Gladiators, pushed forward relentlessly. Every Gladiator bled, lacerated and punctured, unable to avoid the sheer number of blades that pressed in on them. Gavin fel
t a terrible pain as a sharp edge rent his back; only the healing power of Sadira's font of life kept him from falling before Ravius closed in and tripped his assailant.
Swift-footed Sadira leapt over Vintia's shield, driving her blades downward, slamming them into the shoulders of a hapless clockwork soldier like the fangs of some gargantuan predator. The metal skin of her foe screeched in protest as it gave way. As she wrenched her blades free, she gave a savage scream of exultation as then danced forward to behead another of the gilded clockworks before the blades of her foes forced her back.
Ravius threw his net, binding the legs of two brass men. They crashed to the ground, thrashing amidst their brethren He hopped forward and moved smoothly into a powerful two handed lunge that sent the points of his trident deep into an opponent. Its entire front armour plate ripped off as he pulled back his trident, spilling gears, oil, and coils onto the ground as it fell. "Twenty two!" he yelled, laughing.
Gavin, ignoring his wounds, stepped in behind Ravius, dispatching the two struggling brass men tangled in the skirmisher's net with quick, efficient thrusts. His shield was never still, moving to meet each threat to himself or his friend. He felt Karmal channel power behind him, the enormity of her magic raising the hairs on his neck even before she finished weaving the spell-pattern.
Karmal, sweating and bloody, holding back the tide with her broad cleaver-bade, howled in triumph as she let loose her mighty spell. For a moment nothing happened, then one of the brass men stopped moving. Light began to pour out from every nook and cranny in its metal body. And then it exploded, powerful magic detonating it with immense force. All of the nearby clockwork men were engulfed by the explosion, and the spell spread to them like a contagion causing several more to blow apart in turn, showering the Gladiators with drops of hot oil and bits of jagged metal. Karmal wiped the sweat and oil from her brow, smiling triumphantly as the crowd roared. With this, the Gladiators had felled twenty-nine.
Vintia took another, carving through its chest with three rapid, disciplined strokes of her blade. She pushed into the ranks, trying to capture and hold the territory that the Gladiators had cleared. If she could make space for her team, they would be able to manoeuvre more easily.
The wreckage of broken brass bodies was now an impediment to Gladiator and Clockwork alike; oil covered metal debris made for difficult footing. The brass horde pushed in, heedless of their losses. Karmal, reckless in her triumph, was caught away from the group and received a brutal wound as a brass blade plunged into her back. She swore, throwing herself backwards, stumbling and falling over a brass soldier's broken corpse. The merciless automatons moved in, gilded faces seeming to smile vacantly.
Sadira, hearing her friend's cry of pain, leapt gracefully onto the shoulders of a brass man and then jumped off before it could react. She flipped in the air, her swords cleaving into one of the automatons assailing Karmal, pivoting and lunging as she landed to take another. A blade glanced off her shoulder armour and another cut into her bare back, leaving a vivid red trail on her moonlight white skin. The crowd cried out in fear and anticipation.
Karmal stumbled to her feet, her massive blade heavy in her hand, blood pulsing from her wounds. Her vision swam. She loosed a lightning bolt with great effort, sending a brass form falling back into the ranks, smoking and sputtering. She staggered, but remained upright, ignoring her pain, overflowing with aggression.
Gavin and Ravius moved in, reforming the group around their bloodied comrade. Ravius tripped a clockwork soldier with a swift sweeping motion of his long trident, making it easy prey for Gavin, who thrust his spear deep into its pelvic gears, finishing it with a savage twist of the blade. It was the thirty-third to fall.
"Too bad Omodo isn't here; this is his kind of fight!" shouted the skirmisher. Gavin nodded.
Sharp-eyed Vintia, seeing the brass men starting to close around Sadira, renewed her stoneskin spell as she moved to a position where she could better protect her comrades. That will protect Sadira from a stray blade, she thought.
The gilded clockworks pushed against each other, eager to get to the Gladiators. They rained blows on Vintia and shield-wielding Gavin, gifting them both with deep cuts and forcing them back. They could not touch swift-footed Sadira though, for she had enough space now to evade them, and mocked their clumsy attempts to corner her, punishing them with her deadly blades.
Sadira began to call upon the font of life spell again, gathering power and weaving the pattern as she danced among her foes. She ducked low, barely avoiding a precise thrust from one of her clockwork opponents, bringing her blades up between its legs with a great war-scream and sending it cartwheeling backwards, cut open from groin to power core.
Ravius followed her, navigating the broken bodies with nimble ease. Seeing a pair closing in on Sadira, threatening to cut her off, he moved in on them. He thrust his trident into the neck of the first, twisting its head off with a savage motion. Then, howling with laughter, he tripped another and jumped into the air, coming down on his struggling opponent with all his weight behind his trident. Gears and oil spilt as it sputtered and went still, the thirty sixth to fall. The brass men were having trouble moving in unison now, such were the heaps of broken mechanical bodies leaking oil onto the sands of the fighting grounds.
Karmal steadied herself with her sword and blasted another automaton to pieces with lightning. She shook her head, trying to clear her vision as she struggled with her wounds. She channelled power, preparing another powerful spell-weave.
Gavin, heaving and sweating, pushed the brass tide away from Karmal as Vintia joined them. He surveyed the battle for a moment, breathing heavily, choosing his target wisely and then severing the animating pattern of one of their brass foes with a Cogimantic spell; it sank to the ground, robbed of any semblance of life. Hard pressed and bloody, he struggled to fend off attacks with his sword and shield.
Vintia channelled lightning of her own, a blue-white streak of electricity claiming two unlucky victims. She had no time to smile in satisfaction as the brass tide surged forward, driving their blade arms against her shield relentlessly. She pushed back but the clockworks surged against her with sudden strength, catching her by surprise; she toppled backwards, tripping over a broken brass body, suddenly buried by a swarm of mask-faced brass soldiers whose swords rose and fell, clanging off her armour and shield, and finally reaching her flesh.
Sadira loosed a font of life spell, pushing forward with desperate fury as it blossomed from her, invigorating her team with new life. Savagely, she skewered one of the brass men assailing Vintia, tossing it back into the nearest enemies with a surge of strength that nearly overbalanced her. It was the fortieth to fall.
Ravius now moved in swiftly, taking advantage of the brass men as they stabbed down at Vintia. Catching them unawares, with quick thrusts of his trident he took down three of the enemy spearing them in their vulnerable power cores before they rounded on him.
Gavin could not, however, leave Karmal's side; the red-haired warrior was still unsteady. He cleared space around them, taking the head off one brass man with a swipe of his razor edged shield.
Karmal, gritting her teeth, used the breathing room given to her by Gavin, calling down a massive pillar of flame spell among their foes. Heat washed over her as a towering column of bright orange flame slammed into the brass ranks, throwing melted metal bodies into the air with its ferocity. Several clockworks standing near were sucked into the inferno before it abated. She smiled in spite of her wounds, basking in the healing energy of Sadira's spell, and the heat of her own.
"Fifty!" roared the crowd with such enthusiasm that the noise startled some of the dozing patrons of the nearby spas.
At the same time, wilful Vintia, battered and pierced, but protected by her shield and heavy armour unleashed a spell of her own. Fire washed over her, heat stinging her eyes as a ball of flame burst above her, scattering the gild-faced clockworks and buying her a breathing space. Two of her foes did not rise aga
in. Now, she too felt the healing power of Sadira's font of life spell, and she staggered upright, blackened and bloody, gulping greedily for fresh air, as the crowd shouted its approval.
Although the ranks of the gilded soldiers were thinning now, they still had the advantage of numbers, and they pressed the weary and wounded Gladiators tirelessly, threatening to overwhelm them. Movement was hazardous as the ground was littered with severed brass limbs, and broken clockwork corpses.
Chosen Giselle watched with interest, enjoying the enthusiasm of the crowd. It was a rare thing to see wealthy traders and indolent pleasure seekers gripped by arena fervour in Scorpion's Oasis; people mostly came to the sumptuous spa town for relaxation, self-indulgence, and business. She found that she was actually pleased to be here instead of presiding over the show at the much larger arena in Brightsand Halls. Caught up in her own love of the Great Games, she almost forgot about all of her machinations. She almost wished she could participate.
The Chosen's eyes swept over the battle, reading its ebb and flow with practised ease; she saw the possible outcomes clearly. Unless she suffered from an extreme misfortune, peerless Sadira would easily be able to survive, picking off her foes one by one now that they could not encircle her, The rest of the team, less mobile than Sadira, and hampered by their wounds, was, however, still in danger. Idly, Giselle wondered what she would do in Sadira's place. Would she risk herself to help the team, or go for the greater glory of being the last woman standing?
To most of the audience the battle looked too close to call. Half the clockworks were dead but the Gladiators were in danger of being overwhelmed. This made them cheer all the louder; they wanted to see their proxies overcome such desperate odds.
A sense of inner peace flowed through Sadira as she launched herself forward, tumbling and rolling under the swinging blades of her foes. This was who she was; a Gladiatrix seeking her destiny in the arena, fighting for the pleasure of the cheering, bloodthirsty crowds. This was where she wanted to be, locked in righteous combat, testing her skills against whatever enemies they threw at her. She was at once an entertainer and a killer, sating the bloodlust of the crowds, proving herself worthy of her Gift with blood and steel. Swift and self-assured, Sadira attacked, her twin obsidian blades flashing in the bright desert sun. She moved fluidly from the leaping steps of Panther's Hunt war-dance to the whirling, circular cuts of the Razorwing's Flight. Shadows curled around her form, obscuring a wicked slash. Fifty three. She hopped forward, flowing back into the Panther's Hunt, lunging as she landed. Fifty-four. She back-flipped out of reach of the counter-attack, twisting, and bringing her twin swords down, raking and rending the brass armour of the clockwork closest to her. Fifty five.
Bloodlust: A Gladiator's Tale Page 51
