by Sam Ryder
It worked and soon I reached the top. As I stood, my heart leapt at the sight. For our gully wasn’t a gully at all, but a crater, long and narrow, protected on all sides by the cliff I’d just climbed. The crater was dug into the top of a steep hill, which was lush with verdant grass, flowers and other plants. However, as the hill digressed onto the rocky gray plains, it became rough and brittle, the plant life scant and withered. It was like two different worlds all in a short three-mile stretch.
One other problem:
I was on the wrong side. There were forms on the opposite side of the crater, moving about, presumably preparing for the next Black.
I remembered Minertha’s wink and Eve’s laugh.
I’d been pranked.
TEN
NEWB
Getting around to the other side was no easy feat. For one, the long sides of the narrow crater were hilled, but the short sides were straight-up cliffs with no vines to use for scaling.
Which left me with two options. One: Climb back down into the gully and then ascend the opposite side. Screw that, I thought. Eve would berate me for being so trusting of Minertha. So it was option two then: Descend to the plains and take the long route around to the other hill.
I paused because there was a third option.
Run.
I wondered what would happen if I chose that route. If I just took off into the unknown, would they pursue me? I figured they would, given they came looking for me the last time. Eve seemed to feel some responsibility for me, considering she was the one who had brought me here. Abducted, I thought. That was the truth of it. Would I ever see Earth again? Did I even want to? My life there had never been amazing, but it was okay. I had moments of enjoyment dotted around the days of misery. At least nothing tried to eat me on a nightly basis.
There was also no Vrill. I hadn’t had sex like that, well, ever. Plus, she was nice. And badass. That was more than I could say about the few women on Earth who’d spoken to me.
Could I find her? Would she want me to?
Yes and yes. However, I also wasn’t stupid. I was inexperienced in surviving this planet. Without Vrill, I wouldn’t have even survived the Circle. Casting myself off into the turbulent monster-filled seas would only get me killed. Hell, I didn’t even know how long I had until the next Black.
I descended the hill at a slow jog, careful not to trip and roll all the way to the bottom. That’s something my old body would’ve done. My new one, on the other hand, was surprisingly sure-footed. Not nimble, exactly, considering I was a bulked-up warrior the likes of which I’d only seen on Wrestle Mania. But stable, well balanced.
I made it to the bottom without an issue. Except for the throbbing pain in my feet, which were still feeling the effects of walking barefoot on hard, rough ground. Eve could’ve healed them with the ooze while she was doing my arm, but maybe there was a reason she didn’t. I guess I wasn’t going to have footwear for a while, it would be good to build up some callouses.
I scanned the vast, rocky plains, looking for the boulder field where the Circle was located. Somewhere toward—the north? The south?—I saw the outlines of black mountains. Smoke curled from one of their peaks, like there might be some volcanic activity going on in there. Great, I thought. Not only did I have no idea which direction Vrill might be in, there was a godsdamn volcano waiting to rain fiery hell down upon us all.
At least there were no monsters in sight.
I turned right and continued my jog, curling around the cliffs. Jesus, I thought, staring at the featureless wall of rock. That cliff would be unclimbable even for the most experienced climber. At least without equipment. Even with, I would guess.
I was distracted, so I almost missed my first surprise.
Which would’ve gotten me killed, unless Eve worked some more voodoo healing magic with her primordial ooze.
I skidded to a stop, loose dirt and stones tumbling into the pit that opened at my feet. Even still, my own momentum almost carried me after them. I wobbled for a few seconds, my arms pin-wheeling, and then managed to tumble backwards, gasping.
Not because of the near fall, but because of what I’d seen in the hole.
Snakes. Not one or two or a few—more like a hundred. They’d seen me too, their hooded heads craned toward me, their tongues flicking out with the desire to sink their fangs into my flesh.
I peeked back over the edge and they hissed.
Whoa. It wasn’t just the sheer number of them that freaked me out, but their size. They were much larger than normal cobras. Thicker and longer. The pit was deep, and yet several of them could rear up half the distance to the top.
“Vicious suckahs, eh mistah,” a gravelly voice said, snapping my head up and causing me to fall backwards.
I scrambled to my feet and fell into a fighting stance, like a boxer ready to face off against the heavyweight champ.
Like I knew what I was doing.
Which I didn’t.
The thing was, there had never been a heavyweight champ that could hold a candle to the man-beast standing in front of me. What was more remarkable was that I hadn’t seen him. He was as tall as a tree, each leg so thick around I couldn’t have locked fingers if I’d been stupid enough to run up and give him a hug. His waist was taller than the crown of my head by more than a few feet. His arms would’ve put a sasquatch to shame. His head was elongated, as tall as an average human, giving his enormous oval eyes a droopy look. Like me, he wore only a loincloth, except his was the size of a sheet.
Unlike me, he wasn’t unarmed. He carried a spear longer than an Olympic vaulter’s pole, except with a wicked-sharp point on the end.
I dropped out of my fighting stance, half-turning in preparation to run for my life.
He laughed, a thunderous bellow that seemed to shake the very air around me, and I understood why. Even if I sprinted, he would catch me in half a step, squashing me under one of his massive boots.
I didn’t run. I remembered something about wards protecting this area from the monsters. Plus, this guy was talking to me. None of the other monsters had done that. “Are you a Warrior?” I guessed, willing my voice not to shake. Failing.
“Aye, mistah. Tonight’s my hundredth Black,” he said with a hint of pride, touching one gargantuan fist to his rock-hard chest.
I breathed out a sigh of relief, though my heart continued to hammer out a rapid drumbeat. “A hundred?” I said. “Impressive. I’ll be lucky to last a week.”
“A weeeek?” He drew out the word like a whistle.
“On my planet, that is seven days.”
He grunted. “Protector Kloop sent Ton to getcha, mistah. The Black’s comin’ on quick.”
I glanced at the sky, where the bronze sun continued to shine forth through the dense cloud cover. It was lower on the horizon, but on Earth there still would’ve been several hours of daylight. Maybe here the suns’ cycles are more rapid. “Thank you, Ton,” I said. “For coming.”
He shrugged, like it was nothing. Which it was. He probably took three steps to meet me here. “Ton does what he’s told.”
And talks in the third person, I thought. “Still. Thank you. I’m right behind you.”
He frowned, his eyes drooping even further. “Naw, you’s right in fronna me still, little mistah.”
Oh boy, I’m going to have to be more literal with this one, I thought. “Sorry, just an Earth expression. It means you lead and I’ll follow. And you can call me Sam.”
“Ah,” he said. “T’ain’t gonna happen, mistah.”
With that, his enormous hand swooped down toward me and before I had a chance to dive away, he scooped me up and lifted me into the air.
Remember me, the conservative guy who never took risks? Yeah, rollercoasters were not on my list of ‘Fun Things to Do on a Friday Night.’ And this was a helluva lot scarier than some rollercoaster where you could see every turn and twist before it happened.
Ton’s arms pumped at his sides as he took long, loping strid
es, carrying me around the cliffside and up the adjacent hill. My stomach churned and threatened to dispel the leafrat I’d eaten…two days ago? Three?
And then it was over and he placed me back on my feet where I felt, oddly, like I was floating.
I heard a variety of brands of laughter and turned to find the most mismatched gaggle of creatures pointing at me and having a good ol’ chuckle at my expense. There was another one of those tall green, web-footed ones, like the poor fellow that had died in the Circle, and one of the blue lions—again, like the one I’d watched get killed. There were others too. A…thing?...with white fur all over its body, so much that I could barely see its black eyes peeking out at me.
Further down the line, there was a human-like woman with frills along the edges of her strong-looking shoulders and knees. She had white whiskers and a button nose, and small, tight curves hidden beneath a tight leather outfit that seemed to glisten like it was wet. All of which might’ve made her cute if not for the fangs that were revealed as she had a chuff at my expense.
Beside her was…a man. He was tall and solid. Close to human, his red eyes slightly too close together and framed by sharp eyebrows, his ears slightly pointed. A distant cousin, perhaps. His skin the color of night, both cheeks crisscrossed with scars. His pinkish hair was braided down one side, resting softly on his bulging pectoral. There was no mistaking where he was from. Vrill’s planet—Lri Ayem.
“Do you know Vrill?” I blurted out, unable to restrain my curiosity. The laughter died down with my question.
He stared at me. “I know of her. Eve told me about her. About her traitorous ways. She makes me ashamed.”
Well godsdamn. I knew Eve was persuasive, but this was like brainwashing. Vrill was no traitor. She was hurt and angry, but she was only doing what she needed to do to survive. Then again, I didn’t really know her either. We’d spoken about many things, and pleasured each other, but in the scheme of things it was the equivalent of a fling, even if it meant more than that to me. To her I was probably no more than an energy source. I couldn’t find the words to rebut his accusation, so I said nothing.
That’s when I noticed two others. A human! The same bodybuilder-like woman I’d helped from her cocoon in the Circle, only to have her clock me in the jaw and run away. She’d been cleaned up, too, her hairless body rippling with muscles beneath her plain, brown sports bra and boy shorts. So she survived, I thought. Good for her. She nodded at me once, which felt like both an apology and gesture of thanks. I understood. She felt bad for her unprovoked reaction within the Circle, not that I could blame her. Spilling from a cocoon covered in slime and surrounded by monsters would make anyone act without thinking.
Beside her was the second largest creature amongst our ranks.
Next to Ton, he still looked small, but compared to the rest of us he was a force of nature. He stood erect, on two thick hoofs, each with two blocky toenails. The rest of his body was just as thick, with his arms ending in dagger-like spikes, one per hand. His head was the horned face of a rhino, his mouth relatively small next to the rest of him. Almost out of proportion. His skin was gray and leathery.
Rhino-man stepped forward and said, “I’m Kloop, Protector of the Warriors—or what’s left of us. You must be Sam Ryder.” I was shocked at how eloquent he was, his voice deep but not gruff, each word pronounced clearly and carefully, as if he didn’t want to misplace a single syllable.
“I am,” I managed. “Sam, I mean. Sam Ryder.” As usual, I was less than eloquent.
“Nice bod,” one of the others said. The cat-like, leather-wearing female with the whiskers. “Tasty,” she added, which made me feel more like a cat treat than an object of desire.
Kloop waved her off. “Back to training,” he said. “All of you. I must speak with the newcomer.”
Though he said it in such a way that it should’ve made me feel important, I could hear what it really meant. Newb, in gaming speak. Newbie. Fresh meat. In the world I came from, no one took it easy on the new guy or gal. Until one learned the ropes, you were nothing but an easy kill.
The others dispersed, though several of them, including the human woman and the fanged cat, glanced back at me one more time before they left. The latter licked her chops hungrily.
Kloop, who towered over me by about eight feet, said, “Were you satisfied with your cleaning?”
Which meant the same to me as Ubdubdubbadoo!
Unless he was saying…no, couldn’t be. “You were the one who cleaned me up?”
He nodded, the massive spike on his nose bobbing up and down. I glanced at the long daggers poking from his knuckles. It was a wonder I hadn’t been skewered.
“I thought it was Eve,” I admitted, feeling foolish.
He didn’t laugh at me like the others would have. “It is not her place,” he said. “She is the Finder. Yes, she finds new Outcasts to remake into Warriors, but she is not our ruler or keeper. Warriors take care of our own.”
“Thank you,” I said. “My experience here so far has been…interesting.”
He chuckled, and it sounded genuine. Like he was laughing with me. It wasn’t an unpleasant sound. “We’ve all been there,” he said. “Well, except for Beat.”
“Beat?” I said.
“The other human. The woman warrior. Beatrice, but we’ve all been calling her Beat.” Awesome, I thought. She’s already got a cool nickname, and I’m just boring old Sam. “She’s a newcomer like you. It’s rare to have any survive the Circle, much less two. The Goddesses have blessed us. She has a day’s head start on you, so you’ll need to work hard to keep up.”
“Keep up?”
“Training. The Black will be here in less than two hours. I know you’ve survived one already, and I saw you kill the gargat, but I’m guessing it was beginner’s luck more than anything.”
I liked the rhino-man’s honesty. He was a straight-shooter. “It was,” I admitted. “I thought I was dead.”
He nodded again. “It’s fine. We’ve all been lucky at one point or another, or else we wouldn’t be here.”
“Can I ask you something?”
He waved one of his long claws and I was glad he was more than an arm’s length away or I’d no longer have a head. “Later. Prepare first. If you and I both survive the next Black, you can ask me anything you want.”
“Deal,” I said, not feeling at all comforted. If a Protector like him didn’t assume he would survive the next Black, then what were my chances?
Better than zero? I thought, hating that I added a question mark at the end in my head.
“Good. Let’s get started.”
~~~
Me and Beatrice, or I should say ‘Beat’, went with the fanged cat-woman for newb training while all the others trained separately. And every time the cat-woman looked at me, I swore she licked her chops.
She was gorgeous, of course. I wondered whether Eve had a thing for hot women. That would certainly explain the company she kept, but it wouldn’t explain why she’d chosen me. Then again, the ooze had turned me into a hunky warrior dude, so maybe the ooze had improved all the other Warriors as well.
“So…” I said, trying not to stare at the cat-woman’s ass as it twitched back and forth while she walked. Her bikini-like loincloth was small and revealing, with a hole cut out for her long bronze tail, which followed the movement of her hips, switching back and forth like a whip. “…what planet are you from?”
Beat offered me a look that made me feel like an idiot. Which I was.
The cat-woman said, “Protos.”
“I heard it’s nice there this time of year.”
The cat-woman yowled like I’d made the funniest joke of the year. Then she whirled on me, bringing her face right up to mine. Her yellow eyes were full of intensity. “Listen, human.” She spat the second word like a curse. “You just arrived, while I’ve been here for seventy-nine Blacks. You have a choice: be smart and survive or be a moron and die. I leave it up to you, but whatever you choo
se, don’t let it affect me.”
Day-um. She was feisty and scary and hot all at the same time. She was a strange mixture of feline and human, like someone back on Earth attending a Halloween party. I mean, she had the eyes and the whiskers and the tail, but the rest of her was mostly pristine human skin, slightly tanned. Her hands and feet had a layer of fur on them, but that was it.
If I was going to get eaten, I would prefer it to be her to one of the monsters.
Beat shouldered me. Heavily. Like she almost knocked me over. I stumbled but she caught my arm, grinning. Her face was wide, her cheekbones high. Even her head looked like a weapon—Hold my feet and use me as a battering ram!
She laughed. “You’re off to a good start,” she said. “Lace really seems to like you.”
There was an entire world of sarcasm in her tone. “Lace? Is that cat-woman’s name?”
“Technically it’s Lacey, but yeah.”
“What happened two Blacks ago?” I asked. We were almost to the bottom of the hill. Lace hooked to the left and we followed.
“After we parted ways?”
No, after you punched me in the face. “Yeah. Where’d you go?”
“What do you think? I got out of the Circle and ran until I couldn’t run anymore.”
I frowned. “Then what?”
“Eve and the others picked me up. Took care of my wounds. Like they did for you.” She gestured to my arm.
“What wounds?” I asked. “From what I saw, you got away clean.”
“The demons…Maluk’ori…didn’t pursue me,” she agreed. “And the troll was too engrossed in destroying the Circle to notice me slip away. But even in the Bronze and Silver times there are dangerous monsters.”
“What kinds of monsters?”
“The kinds that tear your arm from your shoulder,” she said, grimacing slightly.
Holy geez. Is that what had happened to her? Her arm got ripped off? Sure enough, when I squinted and inspected the connection point between arm and shoulder there was a faint white scar that formed a complete circle around the joint.
