The Great Game

by O. J. Lowe

  She paused, silent for a moment. “It still doesn’t feel right.”

  “There’s nothing I can do about that. And surely you don’t want Roper kicked out,” Arnholt said. She caught a sense of something from Brendan as he said it, a whiff of irritation. Hardly surprising. Still she could appreciate Arnholt’s dilemma. She’d caught it earlier, not known what it was about. That sense of conflict raging away inside him, the right thing to do by the book against the common-sense approach. The latter was something he’d brought to the table in his time as director. The former had been done too often and the organisation had suffered for it at times.

  “You know Director, I really don’t envy you doing your job,” she said slowly.

  Arnholt smiled at her. “It does have its perks,” he said. “I get the impression you don’t approve. I know Brendan doesn’t sometimes.”

  Oh, you have no idea. Anne kept her face impassive at that. “Well sir, it’s not my place to tell you how to run Unisco. But surely you have a responsibility to…”

  “The people, the five kingdoms, the Senate and their constant security,” he finished. “Yes. Yes, I do. I also have a responsibility to the agents under my command. They risk their lives in the field, I’m not going to see them slaughtered at home by outdated rules.”

  He had a point there, she had to admit. Many of the Unisco guidelines had been scribed when the organisation was set up some several decades earlier. The five kingdoms had changed since then. A lot. Always the debate had come up about changing them but it never seemed to happen. Interesting if that was the way Arnholt chose to run the agency. She’d never seen this side of him before.

  She reached out to him with her senses, but for the first time felt nothing. That surprised her more than his actions or his words. He raised an eyebrow at her. “Something else you need to say, Agent Sullivan?”

  She shook her head. “No sir. Anything else I can do, sir, you know where to find me.” Unlike Roper had, she didn’t feel the urge to salute as she slowly left the room.

  “Why do you trust her so much?” Brendan asked aloud as the door closed behind her. “It’s never been proven…”

  “You never doubted the other agent we had with powers like her,” Arnholt said. “If she ends up half as effective as he was… Brendan, I trust her. She comes with the highest recommendations as to the verification of her abilities. Just because we cannot sense what she senses does not make her a liar or a fake. Some called Baxter a fake as well.”

  That shut Brendan up for the moment. “I don’t like it that she knows. I don’t like it that she read you.”

  “That trust is a two-way street,” Arnholt said. “If I trust her to read the emotions of those we judge guilty, I must trust her not to overreact with what she reads in you or me. I do trust her. She’s not given me a reason not to.”

  “But you didn’t give her the whole truth. Or Roper for that matter.” Arnholt sighed at that, shaking his head.

  “I was never going to see Roper kicked out for this. I don’t want it spread before we’re ready. You know we can’t go public with what happened down there. If word gets out, they’d cancel the tournament indefinitely. Someone went to a lot of trouble to ensure that it took place here. I’d rather know why.”

  “You’re baiting them?”

  “What else can I do?” Arnholt asked. “Besides Agents Okocha and Noorland have been scouring back over island security footage for the last month for any sign of Blut. They caught plenty of hits on him. If they went back further, they’d find more. He doesn’t act like a prisoner. He had freedom of movement. Doesn’t mean they didn’t have something over him. We’ll never know unless someone talks. Or Blut shows up alive. Which of them is more likely I can’t decide. You might have wanted to see more done to Roper…”

  “I never said that.”

  “No but you were thinking it,” Arnholt countered. “Brendan, believe me, I’ve dealt with this in the way I thought best. We can’t afford to lose agents like Roper. If we had a hundred like him, a thousand, maybe I’d consider it differently. But we don’t. Every day we lose people to the outside, we can’t afford to lose from within as well. If this is as big as I worry, then we’ll need them more than ever. You might not agree with my judgement but can you at least respect where I go with it?”

  Reluctantly, Brendan nodded. “I can. But if something happens again…”

  “If Roper errs again like this, I’ll be down on him myself. It’s not the first time I’ve made a judgement like this. It likely won’t be the last. Trust me, Brendan.”

  “That’s the thing,” Brendan said. “You can only ask for trust until it stops being given.”

  “You saying you don’t trust me?”

  “I’m saying I worry sometimes,” Brendan said. “About your judgement. About the way you wield your power.”

  Arnholt studied him for a few seconds before smiling solemnly.

  “That’s not your job,” he said. “To worry about what I do. If you don’t like it, my friend, you know where the door is.” Not a hint of emotion in his voice as he said it as well. He meant every word of it.

  “Hey.”

  Scott looked up from the bench where he’d found himself sat for the past few hours and smiled at the face staring down at him. Considering she’d nearly died or something, Mia looked pretty good. The colour had returned to her skin, she had a big beam on her face.

  “Hey,” he replied. “You’re looking better than last time I saw you.”

  “I feel better,” she said. “Better than ever. Like I could take on the world.” She jokingly flexed her arms, showing admittedly not very impressive muscles. “The kingdoms better watch out because I’m back.”

  He grinned at that. “Well I’m certainly a little intimidated by that.” He stood up and squeezed her arm. “Wow, you can bench press what, a hovercar with those?”

  “At least,” she said, dropping them back to her sides, a little blush on her face as she sat down on the bench next to where he’d been a minute ago and gestured for him to sit back down. He did, glancing around at the park. He’d picked a good place to come and think, one of the parks on the island. “So, you want to talk? You seem a bit down.”

  Scott shook his head. “Down? Me? Nah, I’m just thinking.”

  “I saw your bout with that Bruzack guy,” she offered. “Ouch. You were a bit unlucky there, I think.”

  It was a hollow comfort but he took some consolation from it. The only thing he’d been unlucky with was trying to be too smart using the environment against an opponent who had seen through it too easily.

  “Still.” She put a hand on his arm. Her skin was soft and warm, he couldn’t help but smile as he felt it against his own. “Not over yet, is it? You can pull it off, still go through. I know I’ll be cheering for you. You know as long as you don’t go up against my brother.”

  On the one hand, Pete was gutted for Scott on his loss, he’d been there and he knew what a rotten feeling it was to lose a bout at this tournament. On the other, Scott had enjoyed rubbing it in when Pete had gotten beat by Ulikku in that first bout and he’d been looking forward to enjoying some comeback on it. But on the third hand, he’d decided to focus on his bout with Sharon instead. Because there wasn’t any guarantee he was going to beat her, he’d be out if he didn’t get something and it’d hurt even more to rub in Scott’s loss and then go out himself.

  But there in the changing rooms of the stadium, he knew something was going to happen, it wasn’t that he had a bad feeling but more like an inkling, a suspicion that this wasn’t going to be as cut and dried as people expected.

  That was how he felt anyway before he’d walked out onto the battlefield. Now, as he saw Sharon stood already waiting for him at the other end of the grassy terrain, he felt that sudden twist of panic in his gut like a knife. She looked deadly serious, he’d seen that look before and it didn’t usually end well for him.

  Crap! She’s going to murder me here.

/>   Already she was waiting for him, already her anubian Drax was stood by her side ready to enter the fray. The spirit stood high on two legs with dark blue fur and a yellowed chest, golden spots across the down, its face decidedly lupine in nature. Sharp teeth filled its jaws while a golden eye mask rimmed the cool white eyes. A pair of ears twitched in the warm breeze as it wandered onto the field, bowed first to Sharon and then to Pete and finally to the crowd, a gesture that sent them into a rapturous applause for the effort.

  Sharon winked at him, made a gesture with her hand, one he’d seen so many times before. One as if to say, after you then little brother. Come at me if you dare.

  Chapter Twenty-One. Brother and Sister.

  “I really hope she doesn’t make this thing personal.”

  Peter Jacobs to reporters before his bout with Sharon Arventino.

  “I mean to make this personal.”

  Sharon Arventino to the same reporters before her bout with Peter Jacobs.

  The twenty ninth day of Summerdawn.

  Pete didn’t hesitate, Basil charged from the container crystal and landed gracefully on the grass, the deer raising a dainty nose to the sky and sniffing the air. He could smell her scent immediately, the hearty aroma of the fields and the wilderness. With brown and green fur, she fit right in with the environment, several green orbs dotted around the base of her neck like a necklace. Stubby horns protruded from her head, not majestically over the top like they would be on a stag but still potent enough if used right. White spots covered Basil’s stomach as she flitted into a battle stance. Drax bowed to her as well, Pete had seen the anubian before but never made the connection before now.

  Huh, guess she picked something else up from her old master. Even when claimed, anubians were notoriously hard to commandeer. They had a frightful independent nature that made them desperately resistant to being told what to do, even by skilled callers. They were hard to find, harder to defeat. Great spikes emerged from Drax’s knuckles, silver and irresistibly sharp, and suddenly he had a vision of them digging into Basil’s flesh, tearing through…

  Yeah, with that attitude it’s really going to help. He cursed himself. Keep your head in the game. You can do this. She might be good but show her you can be just as good. Don’t let her get to you.

  Easier said than done. Come on, Basil. It’s you and me against the world. Let’s do this! Of all his spirits, he’d been with Basil the longest. The two of them had a bond, he liked to think they’d achieved the impossible together. Or at least gone some way towards it. He shut it all out, imagined they were alone, no crowd, no cameras, just them. Everything gone but the four of them. Him and Basil. Sharon and Drax. This was it.

  Pete found himself acutely aware that the video referee had given the order for the two of them to start, Sharon hadn’t done anything yet other than watch him with the same calm focus her anubian showed. It wasn’t anything he hadn’t seen before and yet it was ever so different being on the receiving end of that iron eyed focus.

  Let’s test the water. Fire a few warning shots, let’s get her moving. He gave the command and Basil reacted, the orbs around her neck splitting open to fire out a flurry of seeds in the direction of Drax. For several long seconds, the anubian didn’t react and then in one swift motion, it sprang into a backflip, evading each seed as they passed harmlessly beneath it. The palms of Drax’s paws started to glow, the hairs on the back of Pete’s neck started to prickle…

  Dodge! Now!

  … Before it slung out a trio of pale blue orbs, pitching them like balls in Basil’s direction who leaped aside the first and ducked under the second before going to jump the third. It would have been flawlessly executed had the first two not spun around to double back on her, a sight which froze Pete solid as they cracked into Basil from behind, the third taking her full in the face. Streams of blue energy crackled out across the fur, he winced as he saw Basil shake herself. At least she didn’t look too badly hurt. There was plenty of fight in the old doe yet.

  Already she charged forward at his urging, hooves pounding across the grass before she leaped up and brought all four feet down into Drax’s body, the anubian letting out a bellow of pain as she bounced back, four distinctive hoof marks across the bruised furry flesh. Blood dripped down the chest, pooling at the ground. It might have been a better blow than he’d guessed it might be, Drax was holding itself a little gingerly. Maybe she’d cracked one of the opponent’s ribs. If he was going to get lucky shots like that in, he’d take it.

  Fancy producing some pollen? He asked Basil silently. The doe obliged, the growths around her neck blossoming once more, growing into beautiful white petalled wild flowers. Basil ran towards Drax, each thundering footstep crashing into the ground and knocking pollen out from the flowers. Up close to the anubian, Pete watched as his sister’s spirit got a face full of it and immediately sneezed, the area around its snout swelling up immediately. He could see the inflammation already and grinned. That’d go some way to causing some discomfort. With her up close, he gave Basil the order to swing her head sideways and dug her horns into the anubian’s side. They weren’t sharp enough to cut the flesh open but Pete still saw the wide-eyed look of astonishment. Sharon’s expression hadn’t changed.

  He thought about taunting her, maybe trying to get under her skin but he doubted it’d be a good idea right now. Last thing he wanted to do was fire her up unnecessarily. All she needed was a few good hits and the momentum would be back with her. The thing he needed to do was stop her from regaining it. Even though she was trying, Drax was already winding up to pitch more of the electric blue orbs after her and given what had happened earlier, Pete had already half thought out a strategy to deal with them. Couldn’t dodge them, that was for sure, but maybe, just maybe…

  One, two, three, all of them were in play and he gave Basil a command, one she obeyed immediately. No longer running forward, she turned and charged towards them, meeting them head on. He saw the barest twitch of surprise from Sharon, her eye widening slightly but otherwise she didn’t react. All three of them closed in on the onrushing doe, she didn’t balk in her running, right until the last second when she went down, rolling clumsily beneath them, her legs tucked beneath her body. For a moment, the crowd held its breath and Pete suddenly hoped he hadn’t made a fatal mistake. Up above her, two of the three orbs crashed into each other and broke themselves apart with a terrific flash and crash while one spun back around to home in on Basil once more.

  Come on! Up! Up! Silently he urged Basil to get back into the fight, he hoped she hadn’t been hurt by the fall. It almost seemed painfully slow as that last orb fell towards her, he held his breath as she struggled unsteadily to her feet. The stadium felt silent as he watched, still silently screaming for her to react, but other than that it felt like he was stood in a soundless void…

  Yes!

  He suddenly loved those nimble feet as Basil bounced aside gracefully, springing across the grass with sudden speed and agility, the orb still following her. She was fast but he knew from painful experience there was a limit to her endurance. She wouldn’t be able to keep this up for long. Already it looked like the orb was gaining on her, she was exhausting her reserves and he needed something quick.

  Basil! Back towards Drax, now!

  Her turn was almost painfully wide, he flinched as the orb nearly caught her in the side and breathed a sigh of relief as she tore back off towards Drax, hooves tearing up the turf, kicking up sods of earth behind her as she ran. Still the orb followed her, he saw her cutting the distance and he saw Drax taking up a defensive stance. Suddenly he felt doubt in his mind. Would this really work? Surely, she wasn’t about to get caught out by this. But he couldn’t stop now. He could see it now if Basil halted, she’d be hit by a triple whammy. The fatigue, the energy ball and an open hit for Drax to land on her. He couldn’t give it up now. In close, the anubian was winding back a claw lined knuckle to smash into her, the orb was behind her and they were almost nose-to-nose
.

  Basil jumped.

  That had been his big plan and for one horribly long moment he found himself hoping he hadn’t overextended himself. It wasn’t a big jump, one just high enough to clear Drax, one muscled arm coming up to slash at the exposed belly above it, but as she came down on the other side of the anubian, the orb didn’t deviate course. He couldn’t see Drax’s eyes from this angle but Pete mentally imagined they’d widened comically with horror as the blast smashed into it and sent the blue furred body sailing high in the air until it landed at Sharon’s feet. The eyes might have been wide before but they were blank and lifeless now. Suddenly the sense of elation passed across Pete as the video referee trilled and he realised he’d won that round.

  “Congratulations little brother,” Sharon said as she brought Drax back into a container crystal and locked another into her summoner. “Looks like I might have to stop going easy on you.” It sounded like a joke, Pete only smirked.

  “Looks like I might have to do the same,” he retorted. “Come on Sharon, I thought you were better than this.”

  It was her turn to smirk as she activated her summoner and he felt his sudden sense of elation fade and die in that moment as Gamorra unfolded her wings out in front of him and hissed angrily. Oh terrific.

  He knew about her spannerhead winged shark lizard. Like Basil for him, Gamorra had been the one Sharon had had the longest. This shit had just got serious. He’d never truly guessed she was playing about. It was sort of confirmed now.