In order to win, she had to move herself into the other player's starting spot. And conversely, if her opponent reached her spot, she would lose. Since there was more than one challenger, she had to capture both spots. If she captured one, all of his living pieces became her own.
The other way to win was to kill the opposing players and the scourge.
At the start of the game, there was to be a pool of slaves, all of them denuded. The rector would choose one, usually the most fit or largest slave, and it would be placed at the tip of the challenger's triangle. This was the scourge. Then the players would go back and forth and pick their own team (called “pieces"), and they were placed wherever they were commanded within their own triangle. Strategy was exceedingly important here, Ravi explained. The game could be won or lost at this time.
For every turn, you were allowed to move each piece one space in any direction. Moving your pieces was optional, but you had to move yourself. If your piece's triangle touched a triangle occupied by your opponent or one of his pieces, they had to fight at the end of the turn. To the death.
Each team was given four weapons. Three spears and a curved blade that could only be used by the player. Who got the spears was again important strategy. If your piece killed an armed opponent, the weapon was captured, and it could be given to any of your pieces. The scourge was given a mighty whip with a barbed end.
In the end, the loser and all the surviving sacrifices were oblated in the name of Moloch. The victor was in Moloch's favor and not accountable for any past sins.
If she won, she would be granted sanctuary. If she lost, she was going to die.
Her head swam. She began to wish no one had accepted her challenge. The prospect of going home didn't seem so unreasonable suddenly. “What do you think of my chances?” she asked Ravi. “How good are my opponents?”
Ravi shuffled his feet uneasily. “A-A-Alli has been victorious thirteen times. Plehka has won s-s-seventy-six. He is the record holder. He will win.”
That's when she actually did begin to pray, not to Moloch or any silly pseudo-god. She just prayed. To whatever forgotten being who had created the glorious Charun and made them superior to every living demon, human, or angel.
Every mealtime, she had Ravi come in and set up a miniature dancing board he had invented, and they played against each other. He controlled the scourge himself since they both knew it was going to focus exclusively on Ungeo anyway. He always commanded two opponents, and he worked them as if they were one. The battles were decided with a weighted chance cube, not violence.
She never won once. But she could grasp all the nuances of the game this way. Ravi really was rather good. He had several strategies that would suit him well when he was of age to do the ceremony. After some time in Ungeo's presence, his stutter disappeared.
The whole time, she couldn't help but think if he's so good, and he's never done this before, how skilled will my opponents be? Seventy-six wins?
Once, she tried to leave her quarters. She had the idea to escape, but she found two guards outside her room. They weren't armed, but she got the message.
When the time for the dance came, the rector visited her in her chambers.
“I understand young Ravi has been giving you instructions in the game.”
“Yes.”
“Like many young Dahhak, I suspect he has given you strategy guides, pointers, and instructions. I'm sure he has proven invaluable.”
“He has,” she said.
The rector sighed. “I want you to remember something important. This trial isn't about your skill at the game; it's about your devotion to Moloch. He guides the pieces. He decides who wins or loses the battles. You can be the best strategist in all of the Dominion but still lose because you weren't pious enough. Remember that.”
“Of course.” She wanted to laugh in his face, but she was too nervous. “Will you be in control of the scourge?”
He nodded dismissively. Of course he was going to control the scourge. He was the rector. “Have you learned the pre-match prayer? It must be recited before we begin.”
“Yes,” she lied. She had the book sitting on her small table. She had skimmed the two-page-long prayer, but she hadn't known she had to memorize the stupid thing.
“Make sure you know it well. Moloch is always listening. He will take note of how well you recite the prayer.” He turned and left.
She spent the rest of her time desperately trying to learn the murky prayer. By the time the attendants arrived, she had the first paragraph. The rest eluded her.
The attendants, six Dahhak wearing the hooded yellow robes of acolytes stood in a circle around her and chanted a few times, offering last rites, and pushed her out the door. She followed them, twisting along tight pathways in the labyrinth of the temple. They descended a steep staircase and went through a secret door behind a great leather.
The crowd above cheered when she entered the game board. It was just as Ravi had described, but it was somehow bigger than she imagined. Each of the three triangles had a hundred spaces, and each space was big enough to lie in.
Or die in.
Her opponents entered the room, each from a door by the top of their triangles. They were quite far away, but she could make out the furrowed looks of Dahhak determination on each. The one called Alli fell immediately to his knees and prayed. Plehka, the one with seventy-six wins, paced back in forth in his spot, eyes on fire.
The crowd cried for them as well. Much louder than for Ungeo. She wondered if young Ravi was up there, and if so, who was he cheering for?
The thirty-one denuded slaves were ushered in through yet another door, herded by the same six Dahhak who had brought her here. Her stomach fell when she saw them. There was no doubt that they weren't quite chosen at random.
Three giant, well-muscled Daityas led the group, with about twenty humans, two Nidhoggs, three shoals, a Sedim, and two sickly-looking Gorgons, the worms in their hair all dead. All of them were sandaled with leather skirts, not the typical attire for slaves. But the black cloaks of slavery were a Dominion law, not Moloch's.
The Daityas were the obvious prize, and the fact that only three of them were offered wasn't an accident. The biggest one, a breathing avalanche of flesh, was chosen as the scourge. The rector was unseen, but he watched. The moment the transmitter was placed on the scourge's head, he moved to the tip of Ungeo's triangle, facing her. An angry-looking, barbed whip as long as the wingspan of an angel was thrust into his hand.
The next two Daityas were quickly snatched up by Alli and Plehka. Each were given a number and a radio. The pieces would be controlled via radio and they would be identified by their numbers. Both of them ordered their giant pieces in the middle of their triangles. They moved as ordered, completely emotionless.
She was also given a radio, and it was strapped tightly around her head, very uncomfortable. It felt as if her skull was held in the death grip of an Overseer. But she wanted it on tightly. The game wouldn't be stopped for equipment failure.
As Ravi said, the game could be won or lost at this point, and she chose as carefully as she could, picking the Sedim first. Alli and Plehka took the two Nidhoggs, and Ungeo picked a muscular human male next, placing him near the center of her triangle. She was planning to choose the shoals, but then she saw they were female. The blood of the females wasn't caustic like the male's. The two Dahhak both went through the shoals anyway as she took the fittest-looking humans. Plehka ended up with one Gorgon, and she had the other, placing her in the second to front row.
Next, the weapons were handed out. She gave the spears to the Sedim and the two strapping humans. Her sword was long and curved. The blade was nicked in several places, showing it had been used many times before. She wondered how many of the sword's predecessors were still alive.
“Let us pray,” the voice of the rector boomed over a hidden loudspeaker.
Luckily for Ungeo, her two opponents knew the long prayer well, and they shouted it. Screa
med it. Alli fell to his knees several times, waving his arms like a fool. She couldn't be sure, but he also looked like he was crying. She wanted to fly over and snap his neck, put him out of his misery.
Of course he was just as likely to die as she was. Plehka was by far the favored player today. The thought only made her feel slightly better. She mouthed the words to the prayer, but she refused to participate in any of these ridiculous antics. Even if she was about to get herself killed, she was at least going to do it with the dignity of a Charun.
Above, a loudspeaker crackled like fire. The crowd roared.
It was time to dance.
The very first move was as she expected. The scourge stepped forward and to the left, facing her forward piece, a slight human woman.
“I want you to fight,” she told her emotionless slave. “Jump on his leg and start biting him or something.”
But when the order came, the whip struck like a snake, popping like a thunderclap right under the slave's chin before she could even move. As the head sailed into the air, Ungeo understood why there were bloodstains on the glass ceiling.
A pair of acolytes rushed out and dragged the headless body away, leaving a streak of blood across the board. A young Dahhak boy retrieved the head, holding it over his own like a trophy as he rushed out to the crowd's approval.
This was already not going well. The Daityas was obviously trained with a whip.
The bastards had stacked the slave pool.
Anger churned within her. She clicked her beak, cracked her talons.
Alli and Plehka moved a few of their human pieces forward, but they left most of the valuable ones stationary, content to allow the scourge to do their work. Each also made the mandatory move themselves, both stepping to the side like cowards, not forward.
It was her turn. The scourge was flanked by several triangles. She had placed her human in hopes to lure the scourge in, and it had worked. Now she moved four of her pieces forward to adjoining spaces: the Gorgon and three humans, one of which had the spear. The scourge was going to have to fight four against one. She also moved all her other pieces, including herself, forward to carefully thought-out spaces.
Above, the spectators bristled.
She quickly screeched out orders to each of the fighters. The Daityas was more than three times as bulky as the tallest of her bunch, the human male with the spear, but thankfully they would follow her orders implicitly and without fear. She generally frowned upon denuding slaves, as it made their meat tough and taste bland, but now she was glad for it.
The fight order came, and her pieces sprang. The whip stung out, impossibly fast at her human. The other two hurdled themselves like tree cats onto the arms of the arch-demon, biting and tearing. The large human, as ordered, tossed the spear right at the old Gorgon. Before the weapon was even in the Gorgon's hands, the human's chest was rendered open by the savage barbs of the whip. The Daityas struggled with the humans on his arms, and it bit at one with its massive mouth.
The human female screamed as the teeth ripped at her back. The sound of a human scream, utterly devoid of any emotion other than raw instinct, was surprisingly chilling. Normally she savored the sound of any suffering, but this was different. Every scream, every death brought her closer to her own.
The Gorgon caught the spear, and she pulled her arm back and thrust the weapon hard through the air, using more strength than Ungeo thought she had. It whistled as it flew.
Ungeo cringed as the razor tip pierced the second human on the Daityas’ arms. The crowd loved it. But the massive demon stumbled back, dropping the whip. Daityas blood, thick and clumpy, pooled on the floor. It fell over backward, dead.
The spear had pierced the human, the scourge's arm, and went straight into its chest. The other human, the female, was still alive despite the massive wound to her back. She rolled off the Daityas corpse and crawled on one arm back to her spot.
Four versus one and she ended up with two dead, one mortally wounded, and the other too old to fight properly. Still, two other Daityas were on the board, and neither would likely fall into such a trap again. She ordered her Gorgon to fetch her weapon. It made a sucking sound as it was pulled out. She also grabbed the whip, and Ungeo ordered it to one of the humans, a tall, thin male with dark skin and hair white like the majestic cliffs of her home.
It took five acolytes to drag the scourge away. The smell of blood filled the dry air of the temple, and her stomach rumbled. A minor victory. There was a certain honor in defeating the scourge, in that if Ungeo was now killed, she wouldn't be fully dishonored in the eyes of Moloch. The thought offered little solace.
Again, Ungeo moved all her pieces forward, rehinging the trap. The human with the massive wound on her back expired. She bunched her remaining six forward in a defensive position. Any of her adversary's pieces would have to fight at least two of hers no matter where they entered.
It seemed neither of her opponents wanted to be the first to advance on Ungeo. Each side took several turns rearranging pieces, both of them trying to create a defense that would still allow them to have the upper hand. Once, one of Alli's humans came too close to the tip, and Plehka's Nidhogg moved in and skewered him with a single, masterful thrust. It was out again before Alli could react.
Despite the skirmish, the crowd became restless at the lack of violence. Ravi had said there was no time limit on moves, but denuded slaves had a tendency to lose their strength more quickly than normal ones, making the fights less exciting. The crowds knew this, and they roared with indignation at every extended lull.
Both her opponents attempted to draw Ungeo out, but she would not be tempted. She was in no hurry to die. Alli in particular was amusingly frustrated.
“Come and fight us you worthless heathen! We grow bored of your games.”
To that, Ungeo responded, “Come take your prize then. Before your partner collects all the spoils. If not, it'll be said you feared me.”
“I fear nothing!” he shrieked. “Anyone who says so will have to face me here.”
“The dead can't dance,” she said. “Even if I am judged unworthy, I won't be fleeing this world alone. But do not worry, my spirit will wait for yours. We can travel to the afterlife hand in hand.”
The Dahhak above roared with laughter. Even grim-faced Plehka grinned at that.
“His luck won't hold up today,” Alli yelled back. He paced back and forth in his spot. “He is not nearly as pious as I am.”
“You will eat those words,” Plehka growled.
Much to her surprise, she found herself enjoying the parlay. She still expected to lose, but at least she would allow herself an intellectual victory. She would not lose control. After all, Charun were famous for their calmness.
It was Plehka who made the first real advance. He pressed forward his Daityas and had it step into the tip of Alli's triangle, effectively blocking him out until he could create a proper response. The next round, he had the armed Nidhogg step forward into Ungeo's triangle, forcing a fight between the snake demon and two of Ungeo's pieces: the Gorgon and the white-haired human male with the whip.
The Nidhogg rushed the Gorgon as the human struggled with the massive whip. The Gorgon drove her arm forward and pierced the demon through the wing. It hissed and sank slightly, but it still placed a thrust of its own. Its aim was true, and Ungeo's piece was stuck right through the chest. The Gorgon screamed as she tumbled over.
Miraculously, the white-haired human got the whip under control, and it flashed forward. But the power behind the crack wasn't nearly that of the Daityas', and the tip did nothing other than open a red gash on the Nidhogg's arm. It flew up into the air, the spear pointing downward, and arced back at the human.
“Move,” Ungeo screamed. The human complied at the last possible moment, and the spear shattered against the ground, followed by the Nidhogg. She called out a few quick commands, and the human dropped the whip, snatched up the Gorgon's discarded spear, and sank it into the head of the still-r
ecovering Nidhogg.
She now had five pieces left, and both her opponents had nine.
She had the whip brought to her, and she chopped it up with her sword. None of her pieces could use it properly, and now neither of her adversary's Daityas would get their fleshy hands on it.
Alli launched an assault on Plehka. To Ungeo's relief, he set Daityas versus Daityas. Plehka's won, but barely. A Nidhogg and shoal finished it off next round, but Alli lost the shoal and the Nidhogg had an arm ripped right off. It would bleed to death by the end of the next round. Plehka took advantage of his sudden piece superiority and sent almost everything he had against the other Dahhak.
After a few more rounds of Alli and Plehka breaking their pieces against each other, a bold plan took form. For the first time, she allowed a small ray of hope to flicker. In all of the scenarios she had practiced with Ravi, they had always assumed her two opponents would work together to eliminate her. In fact, it was the opposite, and she now had the opportunity to use this to her advantage.
Alli and Ungeo both now had five pieces left, Plehka six, but two of them were grievously injured. But according to Ravi, Plehka's strength was in his own fighting skills. The Dahhak was more muscular than most the others, and the boy said he trained incessantly in the art of swordplay, something Ungeo was pitifully inferior in. She much preferred using her own talons, but those were useless for ground combat. Plehka was said to have once dispatched a pair of armed Asag without obtaining a single injury.
She swung all her pieces over and started moving herself forward, hoping her opponents were too preoccupied with each other to notice. Plehka had five of his pieces in Alli's triangle, and he was making a move to capture the starting spot, thus replenishing his own set and ridding the board of an opponent. That left himself and an injured human the only ones in his triangle.
The Shivered Sky Page 24
