by Priya Ardis
Like me, he stood with shackles on his hands and feet. His skin had returned to normal. His gills were gone. Somehow, the mermaids had subdued all the wizards’ magic.
Matt, however, was trussed up like a serial killer. Every piece of his body had been chained. His face was muzzled with an iron mask that had only half-slits to see through and small openings on the nose and mouth. The largest yellow diamond I’d ever seen was attached to a gold chain and hung around his neck. Vane wore a similar diamond and chain.
The King focused on Matt. “What is the meaning of this?”
“King Lelex.” The older soldier pointed at Matt. “This one is a powerful magician. We’ve had to subdue him.”
“Why have you not beheaded him?” Lelex barked.
“Take off his mask. I wish to see him.” King Lelex waved the older soldier to bring Matt forward.
A handful of soldiers emerged from their positions against the walls. They made a semi-circle just behind Matt. Leonidas unsheathed his sword. Lelex sighed, looking bored. The older servant used a small key to unlock the mask. Matt blinked at the sudden burst of light. My hands curled at the sight of him. A mass of bruises covered his face.
“He doesn’t understand you,” Vane said.
“He cannot speak,” the older soldier said.
“He does not need to,” King Lelex said. “Bring him to me.”
Leonidas grabbed Matt and pushed him toward the King. When they reached the dais, he shoved Matt down on the steps. “Kneel before the King.”
Lelex gave his son an unamused look.
Leonidas took Medusa’s snake from his cloak and held it out to the King. “We found this on him.”
Lelex’s eyes widened. “I thought this was only a legend. I have a feeling this one can tell us much.” He reached out and touched Matt’s head. The emerald on the King’s crown glowed. Matt’s body shuddered under the weight of Lelex’s probing.
On his throne, Lelex started sweating. “He is stubborn.”
Matt opened his mouth in a silent scream.
“No!” I stood up, pulling Gia with me.
“Let him go.” Vane struggled against his chains.
The crown glowed even more. Matt passed out. The King slumped back in his seat. “His name is Merlin. He is their most powerful wizard. I could not get more; his defenses are strong.” The King crooked a finger to beckon two soldiers. “Take him to the holding rooms. I will try again later.”
The soldiers dragged Matt away.
The King’s gaze turned on Vane. “Why are you here, wizard?”
“Why should I tell you?” Vane said.
The King deigned to glance at us against the wall. “I can start killing off your people one-by-one.”
Vane said coldly, “They are not my people.”
“Ah. They are Merlin’s.” The King’s eyes gleamed. “You do not like that.”
“Father.” Leonidas took the trident from the older soldier’s hands. “We found this on him.” Leonidas turned the trident so it lay horizontally on his hand and presented it on bended knee to his father.
Lelex took the trident. He turned it over several times in his hand. “It is real. I cannot believe it. It has found us again.” Lelex stood up and walked closer to Vane. The emerald on his crown glowed again. He held his hand out in Vane’s direction.
Vane shuddered, even though Lelex hadn’t touched him.
“How is this possible? He is a wizard…” He peered at Vane. “And yet, the Fisher King is marked on you.”
Vane blinked. “I am not Bran of Pellam.”
“Bran the Blessed? No, you are certainly not he. He came to us also. It happened over a thousand years ago, but I know our history well. After he lost his kingdom, he came to my ancestor.” Lelex said with a sneer, “Yet, he was no longer the Blessed. He came to beg for help. He was weak. Wounded. Defeated. My ancestor gave him more of a chance than I would have. He only had to prove himself. He did not even survive one challenge. Why would we help a creature like him? We are Triton’s descendants. Sons of Poseidon.” The King looked out over his court. The people cheered. He turned back to Vane. “No, Bran the Blessed was not the Fisher King. His kingdom meant nothing to us.”
“And the cup?” Vane asked.
Lelex laughed and shook his head. “Is this your true purpose? To live forever? There is no such thing. If there were, Bran would not have been defeated so easily.” Lelex took another step closer to Vane. “You defeated him.”
Vane frowned. “Yes.”
“But how? You cannot be so old.”
“A spell,” Vane said. “I was frozen in a cave. I woke only recently.”
Lelex turned his head toward us. He looked past us to the fading light in the sky. “It makes sense. Time grows short for us all. The day of reckoning is near. It is why these blood moon sacrifices must be our greatest.”
The people in the court murmured in agreement. Several faces looked out at the sky with fear. Lelex turned back to Vane. “The mark of the Fisher King is a sign from Poseidon. He is pleased with our offerings. Now, with the addition of these outsiders to the blood moon games, we will be able to give him a true prize.”
Leonidas marched up to me and grabbed me by the hair. He swept his legs under mine to knock me to my knees. Our interlinked chains caused Gia to go down with me. “It is our thirteenth night. The maidens will make a most auspicious sacrifice.”
Grey and the gargoyles tried to push themselves in front of us. A swarm of soldiers converged to restrain them.
I looked up at the hulking barbarian. “What a Prince Charming you are.”
Leonidas frowned in confusion. Beside me, Gia giggled.
Leonidas scowled, realizing that I was insulting him. He backhanded me, nearly knocking me down with the force of the blow. He pulled me up by the hair again, making me tear up. “Anything else you would like to say to me?”
No one noticed Vane taking a step closer to Lelex. Without warning, he lunged at the King. He moved so fast, and before anyone could react, he used his chains to put Lelex into a chokehold.
Vane commanded, “Release us or I will break his neck.”
Near me, Leonidas’s hand tightened on his sword.
The King croaked out, “Interesting. You do care about them. I am a descendant of Triton. I am Aegae. I do not mind dying honorably. But your friends will not die so well. Aegae do not surrender.”
The older soldier pointed a finger straight at me. “He watches that one very closely.”
Leonidas’s nostrils flared. He shoved my hair to one side to expose my neck. He sent his sword crashing down.
“No!” Vane cried.
Leonidas didn’t pull his swing. I rolled out of the way at the last second. I knocked into Gia and we both fell over to the floor. Leonidas moved swiftly to grab my hair again.
“Enough!” Vane gripped the King. “Let her go and I will release him.”
Lelex made choking sounds. The barbarian looked at his father. Lelex managed a nod. Leonidas let go of my hair. Vane released the King.
Soldiers grabbed Vane and pulled him away. Leonidas walked up to Vane and punched him in the gut. With a pained grunt, Vane doubled over.
Lelex rubbed his throat. “I should run you through with my sword, but that would be too easy.” He looked at Grey and the gargoyles. His gaze wandered over at me. “The maiden seems to matter a great deal.” A sly smile lit his face. “My son is right. The maidens will make a good sacrifice. However, Poseidon has sent us the outsiders for a greater purpose. We will pit their champion against ours.”
Leonidas’s face turned red. “But, Father—”
Lelex raised a brow. “You have won every game. You are Aegae’s true champion, but a champion needs a worthy opponent.”
Leonidas scowled. “They are outsiders. Look at their skin. Blue. None of them can be a champion.”
“Enough, Leonidas. As you said, this is an auspicious night. I have decided.” The King climbed back up to his thro
ne.
A soldier came out from behind him and blew the signal on a conch. Everyone in the court hurried to the sides of the room. Soldiers pushed Vane toward the far wall away from us. We stayed in place. Two men in trousers, but no shirts, presumably servants, rolled up the red carpet.
The conch blew again. The slabs of marble on the floor shifted and retracted. The floor opened to a deep pit. On lower floors beneath us, more people sat in seats surrounding the pit. It reminded me of the private boxes at a stadium. On one side of the pit, a set of stairs led somewhere underground.
I spoke without thinking. “We’re not going to slaughter some poor animals, are we?”
The King grinned. “Not at all. You are the poor animals. A champion and a sacrifice will be chosen. If the champion loses or dies, the sacrifice will be Poseidon’s gift.” The King pointed behind me to the spike with the head. “We do this each day until the night of the blood moon. Then we pray to Poseidon that he will protect us from the upcoming wrath.”
Vane frowned. “What wrath?”
Lelex turned sharp green eyes on him. “The reason you seek the cup, of course. To live. To survive. We are on the precipice of the last stage of the cycle. The end is at hand. I seek to ensure that the Aegae survive. Our island is hidden from your world with only a few gateways to connect us. Sometimes we see your airships pass over us, but they’ve never seen us. We are hidden, but not immune. Your world will shake and so will ours. Both will be torn apart.”
“What is going to happen?” Vane said.
“I do not know. The gods have not revealed it to us. We just know the storm comes.” The King’s eyes fixed on the gargoyles “Now, night nears. We must begin the game. You must appoint one champion and one sacrifice. Whom do you choose?”
I opened my mouth to volunteer as sacrifice.
Vane beat me to it.
He pointed a finger at me. “She will be our champion.”
CHAPTER 14 - CHAMPION
CHAPTER 14
CHAMPION
I gaped at him. Apparently Vane knew me too well and was trying to save me from myself. The Aegae in the throne room turned to look at me. I know what they saw—short, slender, and delicate. A girl who probably couldn’t even lift a sword, much less fight with one. I was no Hercules. Leonidas laughed first. The King followed and so did the rest of the court.
“What is going on?” Blake said. “We still don’t understand their tongue.” Grey explained to him and the wizards who watched the laughing court in confusion.
I stood up. “I will be the sacrifice—”
Grey walked a few steps forward. “No, I will be the sacrifice.”
Leonidas echoed eagerly, “The maiden seeks to be the sacrifice.”
Lelex’s eyes fixed on me. For the first time, he looked at me closely. His eyes focused on my amulet. “Theras,” he barked at the older soldier who’d come into the hall with Leonidas. “Why does the maiden still wear a charm?”
Theras stepped forward. “We could not take it off her, Your Highness. The magic is too strong. By the signature, we think the magic is tied to the wizard, Merlin.”
Lelex’s eyes narrowed. “We shall see how strong when he breaks.”
“She is a regular, sire,” Theras continued. “An oddly strong one, yet still a regular. I do not sense any magic on her otherwise.”
I let out a breath. They hadn’t looked very closely at Excalibur.
“You choose a regular as champion?” Lelex said. “Interesting.”
“You asked,” Vane said quickly. “We chose. The maiden is the champion.”
“Indeed.” The King nodded.
Leonidas whined, “A maiden should be sacrificed.”
McKenna stepped forward. The girl gargoyle wore her human face. “If you require a girl, I offer myself.”
“No!” Grey protested.
“Check her ears,” Leonidas commanded.
A soldier stepped forward and checked. He shook his head. Lelex waved a hand in McKenna’s direction, sending a stream of green magic at her. McKenna went flying backwards to the floor. She snarled and morphed into her gargoyle face. The soldier leaned down and checked her ears again. No point showed.
Lelex sighed. “She is no maiden.”
McKenna’s cheeks flushed.
The meaning hit me then. My own cheeks turned red. Wasn’t it embarrassing enough to actually be a virgin? Stupid ears. I may as well have been pinned with a scarlet “V” to my chest. I looked at Gia. Her eyes lit with the same realization.
“We’re surrounded by a bunch of ho’s,” she muttered, glaring at Blake. “Even him!”
I nudged her to look at Leonidas’s ears. She giggled. The pointy-eared prince scowled at us with suspicion.
“By rights, I choose the first set of champions and I have done so,” the King declared. “Prince Leonidas will be the Aegae champion. His sacrifice—”
The soldiers parted. A young mermaid with pointy ears in handcuffs was thrust forward.
“Ah, the tribute. You will restore your family’s honor.” Lelex nodded regally.
The mermaid lowered her head.
The King turned back to the court. “We will take the gargoyle girl as sacrifice. She will be auspicious enough. The maiden will be champion.” Murmurs and a few cheers erupted from the surrounding court at the pronouncement. Lelex waved at them and they quieted. He continued, “The champions will fight until one concedes. You must both agree on the same weapon.”
“Swords,” I said quickly.
Leonidas gave me a surprised look, but nodded in agreement.
“Swords, it shall be,” the King said. “Theras, get her one.”
The older soldier came up to me and held out his sword.
I didn’t take it. “I want mine.”
The older soldier sighed. “This one is well made. Excellently, in fact, it is mine.”
“I want mine,” I repeated.
“She can fight with any sword,” Vane said from across the room.
How did he expect me to be a champion without Excalibur? I frowned at him, with question in my eyes. He mouthed, “Trust me.”
“You seek to delay us,” Leonidas snarled at me.
I found myself reaching for the older soldier’s sword.
Leonidas picked up his sword and ran a finger along its blade. He looked at McKenna. “Prepare yourself for death, gargoyle.”
McKenna’s gaze traveled to the sword I held. She bit her lip. My fingers tightened around the ordinary blade. No sense of belonging filled me. No sense of lightness. I hoped what the barbarian prince promised wasn’t all too prophetic.
***
That was how I found myself in the pit.
Leonidas was a true gladiator and he fought like one. He was relentless.
A wide floating disc scooped me up and lowered me into the pit. I don’t know where the mermaids got their magic. I saw no wizards. Like the gargoyles, the mermaids seemed to be using charms. The gargoyles bought magic as either charms or potions from the wizards. But seeing how cut off the mermaids were, I doubted they could engage in such commerce.
Once I hit the pit though, I had no more time for speculation. Leonidas didn’t charge me and start hacking away, oh, no… His technique was smoother. He tested me first. He played. He took off his armor breastplate and fought in a transparent tunic.
It quickly became obvious that he’d trained all his life and knew his way around a sword. What he didn’t know was that I was the sword-bearer. Not just another ordinary fighter.
His green eyes lit with interest as soon as I blocked the first flurry of strikes. We went back and forth without either one of us giving much ground. Then we started using the things in the pit. Objects like a half-wall, a railing, and rocks had been littered throughout the pit to pique the audience’s bloodlust in the sport. A moat surrounded the pit. Two waterfalls falling from one of the levels above terminated into the moat.
Above us, the people cheered when Leonidas used a railin
g to do a fancy leap in the air before pouncing on me.
I blocked him, but it took a lot of effort and I slipped in the fine sand that made up the pit’s floor. I fell backwards and quickly rolled. Leonidas’s blade cut through my wetsuit and sliced a good line of the rubber up my left side. Burning pain followed and I rolled behind a rock.
The crowd booed.
“Coward,” someone yelled.
I heard Leonidas showboating, yelling back at the crowd to work them up. I waited until he reached the edge of the rock and did a one-handed handspring to jump on top of it. I hacked down at the smiling barbarian.
The blade sank deeply into his thick skin and hard tissue. Unfortunately, he moved at the last second so it went into his shoulder instead of his heart. I kicked his sword out of his hand. It flew across the pit.
The bloodthirsty crowd roared with approval.
He bared his teeth and grabbed my blade with one hand and my ankle with the other. He flipped me off the rock. I fell to the floor. I crawled for his sword while he drew mine from his shoulder. My fingers found the hilt of the fallen blade. I picked it up and jumped to my feet, holding the weapon in front of me.
What happened next, I couldn’t believe. A door opened and a bridge dropped across the moat. A white bull with some leather around its middle charged Leonidas. He didn’t move. Instead, he waited. Just before the bull could gore him, he caught its horns and pulled himself on top of the animal.
The bull bucked, but Leonidas used the straps of leather to hook onto his feet and steady himself. Then, he turned the bull on me.
I cursed. So much for “the only animal will be you.”
The bull ran at me. I should have thrown the sword at the bull. I should have maimed the innocent animal, but I couldn’t. With no cover around me, the only option I had was to run or…
My eyes narrowed. The bull approached. I glimpsed deep scars running up and down the bull’s skin just before I had to duck. I sidestepped it and reached for Leonidas’s ankle. I wasn’t quick enough. As if he’d known what I would do, Leonidas kicked me hard in the face. I fell back into the dirt. He leaped off the bull. It ran off while Leonidas lunged toward me.
I had a second to twist. And, this time, Leonidas impaled me with his sword. He drove it deeper into my side, pinning me to the ground.
