Amirra

by Coralyn Umber

  It was unwise to ask questions but that did not prevent them from forming. I followed my feline-esque guard to the northern portion of the arena where there were a series of obstacles ranging in height from waist high to nearly two stories. Some had ropes that connecting them. Their width varied just as dramatically as their height, as did their composition.

  My guard spoke once all of our group was assembled. Her voice was gravelly and did not carry well, “This course you must complete. It required. Today, not competition. You must watch and do only. At gong, you done, eat, and return to cell.”

  She quickly darted from one obstacle to another, sometimes jumping, sometimes swinging across ropes, and other times pole jumping. It did not seem so difficult but based on the condition of my fellow prisoners, many would struggle. There was enough room for two at a time to complete each section of the course and in many areas more. I did not want to go last, nor first, so I waited until the first group began before attempting the course. One from the group in front of me fell from the ropes as he was trying to go hand over hand from the two highest obstacles. His body made a sickening crunch and I could hear his moans but no one attempted to go to his aid. I hated it but I simply kept working the course. The jumps were easiest for me and the scrambling up the sheer faces some of the hardest. The spider-like mutations seemed to ooze up these climbs with little difficulty. We had to scramble across thin shaky board in an area over a mud pit. If anyone hesitated, they were given a shove and if they made it that was fine but the guards seemed just as happy to see some fall. Those that could get up had to keep going, starting over from the beginning, despite their injuries.

  My body was bathed in sweat, my fur matted from the sweat mixing with the dust of the arena. The stench of the other unwashed bodies, the hot mud, and the cooking lunch, made my stomach lurch. Each time I finished the course, I was told to do it again. When the gong sounded, I had just begun my third loop. I turned to stop and of course the guard that was behind me was mine. She prodded me until I finished the course again. By the time we arrived at the fire and kettle for my food, there only broth left from the soup to assuage my thirst and hunger. I felt defeated, starved, and miserable in my matted and sweaty pelt.

  The next day we went to another area of the arena where wooden weapons were strewn across the ground; there were swords, poles, knives, and clubs. It was obvious they wanted us up close in our combat. I chose a pole because it would lend additional length to my already long reach. Many chose clubs or swords.

  Again, my guard, the only other feline mutation, led the instructions, “First pair by two, fight. Then pair by three, fight. No kill today.”

  Though we couldn’t kill our fellow prisoners, there seemed to me no other limitations to the damage we could cause each other. My pelt hid my bruises but others were not so lucky, especially those with the pale skin of the Catacombs. I fared poorly and was favoring both my right ankle and my left wrist. Three more from my group were injured beyond rising during their pairings. My group was down to nine prisoners. I also discovered that we were given only stale bread and vegetable peels as accompaniments to our solitary meal.

  Day three was about skill and using our brains. We were paired off and played games of skill; some of which included dice, black and white kingdom pieces, which they called chess, cards with figures and numbers painted on them, or red and black disks, which they called checkers. The purpose of these I could not determine except to figure out who among us could learn quickest and problem solve the quickest. Here was an area at which I again excelled once I understood the roles of the pieces and the players. While the day without the physical abuse was welcome, it made my body stiff from its previous abuses.

  Our meal, though a poor affair was relished for what it was and a fight broke out between three individuals in my group and two in another group, significant mutations all. The two from the other group had glands in their mouths that secreted a poisonous acid when they spit. The three from my group were blinded or worse. They were left moaning in the filth of the basin. I had little that I could provide them as comfort but ripped strips from the hems of my pants and wiped as much of the slime off of their faces as I could before I was seen by my guard. I made it look like I was stealing their bowls of food so I would not be punished like a boy from our group yesterday. The boy yesterday who had helped his partner up after beating him in their first pair off had been lashed with a cane and I saw the damage it had done to his back. He was not with our group this morning. We were down to five prisoners still on the field in our group and the two other groups had fared better, each still containing ten prisoners.

  On day four we were taken to an interior room where there was a communal bath. We were forced to strip and when we emerged, more or less clean, we had to scrub our garments. Still naked, we took our wet clothes back out to the to colosseum and hung them as best we could along the debris the lay strewn across the ground. We were next guided through a series of moves, over and over, designed to stretch our muscles to the burning point. If one of the three guards was not satisfied with our positioning, we were given a quick, sharp kick or smack.

  The prisoners, it seemed, had come to an unspoken agreement to simply not see the nakedness of those around us, that is until one guard cupped the drooping breasts of the woman forward and to the right of my position. She pulled away, smacking the guard for the gesture. She was cuffed hard enough by the second guard to be knocked unconscious. The two male guards took their turns among each of the remaining four prisoners groping us where they liked, laughing, snickering, and jeering each of us. After they had groped me both from behind as I was bent forward and then roughly cupping one of my breasts as I stretched over backwards, I felt immense satisfaction as the burly man to my left gave a swift punch to the throat of the second guard when he was groped by the much smaller guard. For the first time, the female guard, my guard, stepped in and quickly swept the burly blue mutant off his feet and knocking the wind out of him but taking no further action. Apparently, there was no real camaraderie between the guards, simply an understanding of you get what you ask for. After hours of these stretching exercises we gathered our still damp and musty clothes and dressed for our meal.

  For two weeks we continued this routine of punishment. Our group continued to consist of the same four members: myself, the large blue mutant, a wiry woman who was one of the spider mutations, and a pale man from the Catacombs. The guards stopped groping us after the second round as our muscles hardened and we learned that we were not punished for what was considered justifiable payback.

  On our third iteration through the training cycle, the guards no longer simply instructed us, they completed each round of training with us. One of the other groups still had 8 of the original prisoners, while the third group had only two. I was now used to the routine, the bruises, and the exhaustion. I was physically exhausted but I now lay awake in my dark cell each evening fearing what would come next and fearing what had happened to Vorn. I knew the prisoners would have to fight each other, likely to the death, and while I now had the muscle and skills to do it, I doubted my actual ability to complete the task. Honestly, I didn’t want to think that I could do it. I didn’t want to turn into a monster who killed other people for someone else’s pleasure. I began to formulate ways to stun and knock out my opponents without causing death. My mother had taught me to be a healer so I knew which areas were most sensitive and likely disable my opponent without causing lasting internal damage or death. I didn’t bother trying to determine how to escape. Each day I had studied the walls, which were made as smooth as they could be. Prisoners came from each of the archways except two. One was where the bath was located. The last we were told is where they caged the beasts.

  In all this time we prisoners never spoke. Speaking meant death and knowing that we could cause the other’s death at any point, meant that most felt our names were meaningless to each other. I ached to speak with someone but didn’t so much as mumble wh
en I was alone for fear of revealing a weakness.

  Finally, on the last day of the two weeks the original guard again took center position among the remaining gathered prisoners, “You have trained and you have survived. In three days time there will be the first of the games featuring our new recruits. It will be an obstacle course. There will be two teams competing: Gor’s team and Ti’s team.” The feline guard gave a nod of recognition at the name Ti and the speaker continued, “There are no rules except be the team that wins. You will be confined to the southern side of the arena while you continue to train. My team, with the help of some outsiders will be creating the course in that time. Dismissed!”

  The two competing teams moved to the southern side of the arena where, for the first time, our guards began to speak to us instead of at us. The short guard spoke first, “We are outnumbered so we must find ways to even the playing field quickly. Ti, you are most familiar with the engineers, what are we likely to see?”

  Ti was thoughtful for a moment, “Jumping circled by slither beasts, tightropes over hot coals, swinging vines, and sheer cliffs.”

  “You, Kitten,” the taller guard pointed at me, “you and Ti will go first unless it starts with a cliff because you are the fastest across jumps. Then you, Spider, followed by me, Big Blue, Pretty Boy, and Slither will bring up the rear.”

  Slither spoke next; his voice was gravelly and barely audible, “Today practice jumps and climbs close together. Moving in small spaces is key. We are smallest group. To survive, we must keep each other alive for now.”

  We had only flat ground to work with so Ti created a series of circles, all smaller than one pace wide, that we had to jump between in twos and even threes. Next, we spaced out across circles that were barely big enough for one. Ti indicated that Big Blue should catch and toss each of us to and from different circles. We practiced jumping from each other’s shoulders, climbing up and down each other. This was not difficult except when Blue had to join any of us others. His bulk nearly tipped each of us out of our circles. I resolved this by jumping straight up and landing on his shoulders. The timing was tricky but after about 20 attempts we were nailing 3 out of every 4 tries. Spider would position herself clinging to the make-believe boulders as her ability allowed her to do. The other three, Ti, Sword, Slither, and Pretty Boy all practiced ways to give as much space as possible without actually tipping over. Blue was able, with some effort, to throw Spider over one drawn circle to the next in the series if it came to that.

  The next day was much of the same skills practiced over and over but while wielding weapons. One of our choice and one selected at random by Ti. Our moves were revised and reshaped to accommodate the added weight, bulk, and in my case the length of the pole. Based on the course we could see being constructed starting at the opposite side of the arena and heading our direction, we could do our best but there was no way to prepare for the sheer walls, dizzying heights, and the beasts that were being stationed in chains beneath different parts of the course.

  In this time, the guards and prisoners alike were focused on the task: no unnecessary hostility was given, no inappropriate gropes were administered by any, and we each pushed our abilities and those of our teammates as far as they could go. While more was said in these two day than all the others combined, no real conversation ensued. We developed, maybe not a camaraderie, but a mutual understanding built on respect and knowledge for each of our abilities.

  XII

  On the day of the games, I was given a stew that actually included meat and real chunks of vegetables. It was bland for lack of herbs or salt but I was thankful for the extra meal nonetheless. Time passed far too slowly and my anxiety about what I would have to do made my hands shake and my forehead sweaty. It must have been at least mid-afternoon before Ti came for me. She already had the rest of the team at the opening to the gallery where my cell was located. For the first time there was a roaring, stamping, clapping, and deafening sound to greet us as we moved out to the starting position that was on the west side of the stadium. The other team was already there. For the first time we looked at each other not as fellow slaves but as competitors.

  I could not help but feel some excitement as the roar of the crowd became hushed and a familiar scarred face took position on dais above us but below the crown, “My good people, it is time. You have waited long for a new season of games.” He paused at the deafening roar of the crowd, “Your City Council has decreed that these will be the best games you have yet witnessed. Their engineers and my guards have brought before you the best of the monsters that could be found out in the wild.” Jeers, sneers, and cat calls followed these remarks.

  A new face emerged in a dais parallel to but above the one that the scarred captain stood upon. He was the fattest person I had ever seen and even so his rich clothes hung from his frame and jewelry bedecked his neck and arms. He held up his hands for silence, which came slowly, “Today, ladies and gentlemen, you will bear witness to the finest course that our engineers have ever created. Only one team can win today. Winners, the team with the most survivors at the gong, earn a feast. Losers, if they survive, compete again tomorrow against Captain and his team. After tomorrow’s game there will be a short delay of 3 days,” his loose jowls wobbled as he waited for the appropriate amount of time for the crowd to react. He was very obviously enjoying his role, “The course must be torn down for next week’s games, which will feature entertainment of a..uh.. shall we say adult nature for those favored by the council.” The crowd’s voice became a fever-pitched frenzy at this announcement and I refused to think about what that would entail and instead focused on what I could see.

  “Let the games begin!”

  Ti and I sprinted into the course. We had agreed to head as straight into the center as we could before moving out to the perimeter. The rest followed in our planned order. Entering the center did require grace and balance but seemed too easy to be true. We encountered nothing as jarring as a few slippery climbs over snapping jaws and pits of slithery poisonous creatures but once we reached the center everything changed. Captain’s men were stationed here, guarding weapons as well as food. They were armed with real weapons and not the playthings that we had been given for training.

  Big Blue motioned to Spider to join him. He took aim and tossed the spindly woman onto a platform that contained weapons, behind a short, stocky man with a greenish cast to his skin. She grabbed what she could and used a pole to vault out of the space and knocked the guard temporarily off balance. She made the second jump back to Blue before he regained his balance. The crowd booed but I again moved them away from my focus and concentrated on the task at hand. If I took the pole there were enough blades and clubs for each of the others to have a weapon.

  The guard jumped straight toward the one he felt had the weakest advantage in weapons, me. His sword was drawn and he was making an awkward lunge, hoping to catch me by surprise but I used the pole to deflect his blade and knock him off course enough that he couldn’t find purchase on my rock. There was a thud followed by a sickening gurgle. He had fallen on his sword. One guard was down.

  We took our weapons, foregoing the food for now, though we were all near starved, and headed away from the center. The problem with the exterior columns is that many were poles made from narrow but tall trunks. There was barely enough room for any one of us to stand with both feet down. Two other guards pursued us, Pretty Boy lost his footing when one of the guards grabbed for him. He clung to his log with a burly guard standing over him sneering. One quick kick to the face and Pretty Boy had been knocked off his log into a roiling and seething dark mass below; that must have been the slithers. Sword had used the distraction to sneak up behind the guard and with a swing fast enough to make his blade sing, he decapitated the gloating man. Two guards were down, one teammate was down.

  The other guard retreated to his central position because another force was heading our way, Gor’s team. Their team had only two surviving prisoners but they had t
he most original guards. They came at us across the log pole stepping stones, with a raging bloodlust. We could not retreat. Our backs were to the open ground and the slithers that waited there. We had not expected them to rush us so soon. Ti engaged one of the guards using a club with a ferocity that matched their madness. Slither was dodging attacks from a blade of another former guard. The blue behemoth that was part of their group rushed towards me with a club as well. I vaulted up and over, allowing her to nearly topple off my perch before the swing from my pole knocked her over enough to send her within Big Blue’s reach. He did not choose to engage his weapon but instead gave her one quick knock to the back of her skull. She ended up prone across the log on which I had been standing. Spider had used her climbing ability to scuttle down on the logs and was leaping from log to log, to harry the feet of the other team as the stood just as precariously on their perches. With a swift kick Ti disarmed her opponent finally.

  They chose to retreat. Sword motioned for us to follow them. This day would not end until they were all incapacitated or we were. Once we were again near center, they turned and engaged us once again, only this time Captain’s team joined the fray so all three teams were fighting on two fronts. Big Blue was knocked to the ground. Here there were hounds patrolling the rock pillars that made up this part of the course. He struggled to get up at first, shaking his head as if trying to clear it. Before I was able to focus, a mutated hound as tall in the shoulder as Spider, lunged for him. It knocked him back but that seemed to clear the last of his cobwebs and he engaged not only that hound but two more that had been drawn to the fighting. I refocused on my own opponent, sweat was running into my eyes but I couldn’t chance looking away to wipe my forehead. The rock on which I stood was wide enough for us to circle each other but it was not enough space for me to use my pole well so I dropped it below, hoping I didn’t knock Blue in the head with it. One of Gor’s men fell and the vicious beasts below left Blue for easier prey, when the woman did not get up. Gor and one other guard were all that was left standing on this level of the course.