The Great Game

by O. J. Lowe

  The eight-eyed monster was almost on the lizard now, bearing hungrily down, jaws opening wide and Scott felt something snap inside him, a moment of cold horrible inspiration he’d never quite expected to find he had within him. His skin felt grimy even considering it.

  If you can’t win, the important thing is to ensure that you don’t lose.

  He’d not known just quite how far he was willing to go to ensure that the coveted trophy had his name on it at the end of the bout before now. Yet even as he gave the order, felt the wave of shock calling back to him, he realised that he’d not wanted to consider it before because it made him feel ever so dirty. Regardless Becko obeyed and he squeezed his eyes shut to close out the sight. He couldn’t block out the scream, the sudden silence of the crowd and the stunned spluttering’s of the stadium announcer, nor even what the radio commentators were probably describing for the benefit of those around the five kingdoms who didn’t have viewing screens.

  Blood was gushing out of Becko’s ruined limbs, he was free of the web but he wouldn’t last long. Somehow, a supreme effort on the part of the lizard, he leaped and landed hard on the head of the spider, claws on his front feet digging in while at the same time he dug the other set of blades hard and fast into the body, ripping and sawing away with no thought of his own safety, ichor and other gunk sputtering out under the cutting force. Scott tried to shut out the stunned silence, already aware what people were probably thinking about his desperate gambit but it looked like it had worked. It really did! So why did he feel so worthless about doing it?

  Already Becko’s movements were slowing, he couldn’t keep it up and he could see the shattered body with the stumps at the end of the hind legs sliding down the great hairy body. As he landed in front of the dying spider, it had to be on its last legs… Scott groaned inwardly at his own pun… it skittered forward in its death throes and trampled over the stricken lizard, six feet leaving great puncture marks across the green scales until it finally collapsed, legs curling up uselessly.

  Another draw. Three defeats for three. So far, they were proving evenly matched. Either that or Theo was taking the battle of attrition, wear away at him, ensure he didn’t get defeats and just go stronger as the bout went on. He couldn’t be sure, not just yet. The remains of Becko’s bloody feet, still stuck in the web vanished along with the lizard, sucked back into the container crystal.

  Still evenly matched. So far neither of them could be claiming domination. It could still swing either way here and yet he knew it was important that he take some measure of control over the situation.

  Otherwise the circumstances could be dire for him.

  He let Theo pick first the next time, saw a bear of his opponent’s own materialise into existence. It wasn’t as big as Snooze, just a plain old nasty looking grizzly who dropped to all fours and let out a bellow, a cacophony of pride and anger. Claws dug into the turf and Scott tried to ignore it. He’d faced it before. In retaliation for that defeat, he chose Herc, the stag bug fluttering down to land. The patch of web had already dissolved; it was one less thing to worry about. The two combatants faced each other down, the stag bug emotionally passive, the grizzly frothing with barely held back rage. Herc’s arms swung loose at his side, the two pairs of eyes locked on each other, bear and bug desperate to see who would flinch first.

  The buzzer went and it was the bear, deceptively quick as it moved across the space between the two of them, raking claws down Herc’s front. Wings snapped out and Herc shot backwards swiftly, a deep gouge left in his carapace but it hadn’t been serious. The bug’s features broke into anger and Scott tapped into it, gave a command that the bug could get on board with. Lowering his horn, Herc shot forward, propelled on by his wings and landed the blow hard into the grizzly’s kidneys, breaking the skin. A sudden release of jeering escaped the crowd as crimson spattered out, covering Herc’s carapace. The bug wasn’t bothered, he spun and threw a punch upwards, an armoured fist connecting with the grizzly’s jaws. The roar that broke out in response startled even Theo by the looks of it, pain and absolute white fury ripping out from that maw as it suddenly charged, checked into Herc with its greater girth and weight, pushing the bug back hard. Scott tried to get him to push back, to no avail, the difference between their sizes and weights was just too great, the bear had momentum and getting Herc to fight against it was an uphill task. All he could do was run and evade once again.

  In moments, the two of them were at the edge of the field, the bear biting and snapping viciously at the armoured shell, still pushing hard. They went past the outlines of the field and through the advertising hoardings, he could almost hear anguished ICCC officials bemoaning the inevitable complaints from companies who’d paid good money for sponsorship, and hard into the energy shield that protected the crowd from harm. Herc hit it with a sickening crunch, Scott winced, the bug had been caught between an immovable object and a seemingly unstoppable force. Not an ideal situation for anyone. Even now, his arms, previously held in place made several false starts to move and then went limp.

  He reacted badly, he knew it with the way his eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open, the words failing him for the first time that day. He just… Herc… Four defeats to three, advantage Theo. That bear was powerful, he’d not guessed at just how strong… Herc wasn’t a slouch and he’d cast him aside like he was nothing.

  A scowl slipped across his face and a deep feeling of bitter resentment rushed through him. He might have been smiling, he couldn’t tell through the numbness in his face. Oh, you’re going to pay for that, Theo! He could feel the anger bubbling up underneath his surface, he knew it was a slippery slope getting like this but he felt pissed, not just at Theo but just as much at himself.

  Permear! Now!

  The ghost appeared almost before Herc had vanished away, stretching his arms out and yawning.

  “Oh, is it me? About bloody time, bagmeat. Hey, a bear!” The ghost waved at the bear who at least looked confused enough to halt appearing perennially pissed off, Scott noticed with a smirk. Probably not the best time to be caught smirking really. It might give the wrong impression.

  “You got this, Perm?”

  “Oh yeah, it be fun. I got this,” the ghost said confidently as the buzzer went off. He cocked a hand to the bear and gesticulated, wagging his fingers in a taunt. The bear went for him, bundled straight off towards him and brought back a clawed paw for a powerful swipe…

  That passed straight through Permear’s body leaving him looking bemused. “That supposed to do something? Kinda tickled me. And not in a fun, hey this is where he touched me way!”

  “Perm!”

  “Oh yeah!”

  The ghost spun, threw a shadowy uppercut straight into the bear’s nose and the crowd let out a surprised jeer as it was thrown backwards into an untidy heap, eyes glassy and suddenly unfocused as the huge body hit the ground.

  “Think I broke something,” Permear quipped, hovering up a few feet off the ground. The wound in the bear’s abdomen was still bleeding, Scott noticed, gore spattering over the ground beneath its feet. It looked slippery. “Now, as for my next performance.”

  Hit it in that big bloody gash! Scott bellowed mentally.

  “You a big bloody gash,” Permear muttered unhelpfully but reciprocated anyway, hurling himself away through the air to tackle the grizzly, tearing at the wound with claws formed out of his own smoky substance. “Come on, bleed for me!”

  Bleed it did, Scott noticed with a barely suppressed sense of glee. The ghost might be intangible but when he wanted to reach out and touch the world around him, he could do it. The bear roared, tried to beat Permear away but failed utterly on every swipe, even fired a uniblast into the ghost at point blank range yet to the same little effect as the smoky blue body was everywhere around it, swarming potently. Gradually they faded away, the attacks losing their vigour as the bear continued to bleed to death, Permear not letting up at damaging the wound, Scott was sure he was even mauling a
t the organs inside the bear. That’d account for the agony on its face as it collapsed forward, face first with perhaps the final intent of landing on the ghost. Nimbly Permear stepped out the way and kicked it in the head as it lay in a big pile of fur and gore. The foot bounced off with a dull thud, left a deep groove in its skull.

  “Nice one,” Scott muttered. See, it all works out when you do what I say… When you take my advice. Not that I’m dictating to you.

  “You got lucky, bagmeat,” Permear said as the bear was summoned back into a crystal. Any hint of serenity felt by his opponent before that was fading, Scott noticed, a permanent frown etched into Theo’s forehead for minutes now. His fists were clenched at his side and he looked ready to kill.

  His next choice ramped up the temperature even more, sweat beading onto Scott’s forehead the second it appeared, something that he had to shield his eyes to look at directly. Was… Was that thing made entirely of fire? It left burning footprints in the ground, smoke rising from wherever its footsteps met the bare ground, it looked… He couldn’t entirely see what it looked like through the flames but it stood on two legs, had two arms, maybe a head…

  “Shit dude, that’s just nasty,” Permear commented.

  You know what that is?

  “Yeah, it’s on fire!”

  Ha, I’d never have guessed.

  “Well you know what you feeble humans are like, I got to tell you this stuff or you might miss out on it. Fire ghost.”

  Wait, that’s a ghost?

  “Ah, maybe a spectre or an elemental is more accurate. I don’t fucking know, do I? I doing you a solid, bagmeat, telling you what it is, not its damn life story.”

  Fire elemental, Scott thought. He’d never recalled anything about Theo having one according to the data files on him. So maybe they were incomplete. Or maybe…

  The buzzer brought him back to his senses, told him how much it really didn’t matter right now. He snapped to attention, fired off an order to Permear, adding a note on how he needed to be careful.

  “I don’t need to be careful, I…”

  You do know that it can hurt you, don’t you? It was true as well, elementals, spectres, ghosts, they were all cut from the same genetic material. They could interact with each other without any problem.

  “Yeah, I’m… Oh shit!”

  The fire elemental was suddenly on top of Permear, swung back a fiery fist which he barely avoided, swung back with one of his own that thudded into its chest. The ghost’s features twitched, his knuckles smoked. Scott was privately amazed that he hadn’t complained about it.

  “Hey, I heard that.”

  Permear flung back an orb of shadowy gunk, struck it hard in the chest, enough to double it over, the elemental retaliated with a stream of flames that the ghost had to dodge, executing a series of surprisingly nimble dance moves that had cheers emanating from the crowd who hadn’t been expecting it. Scott hadn’t, for that matter.

  “What, you think I don’t listen to what Mia tells HER spirits?” Permear asked, once more attacking from distance under Scott’s behest, the shadow blast hit hard but not hard enough. Rather than reply, Scott was too busy thinking about what he knew on elementals which wasn’t as much as he needed. Not as much as would be useful. They were stronger than ghosts, wouldn’t have surprised him if Theo had brought it in specifically to counter Permear.

  The two of them continued to circle, Scott was sure that it was getting hotter, that the fire elemental was continuing to ramp up the heat. Any hotter, it’d be dangerous for him and Theo to be in this space, never mind Permear. The protective bubble that stopped any stray attacks from going into the crowd would keep the heat enclosed, just making it even worse. He gulped, gave Permear his orders, told him he needed to knock it out quickly. The response was just as sarcastic as he’d expected.

  “Well, gee, I thought I talk it to death.”

  Still the ghost did obey, shadow blast after shadow blast landing as he advanced on the elemental, each burst countered with a ball of fire which had the unfortunate effect of nullifying it into nothingness. It didn’t matter, Scott just needed an opening, he needed to get close enough to…

  He heard screams from the crowd, someone scream about the heat and spun around. Normally you couldn’t see the barrier but you knew it was there. Like the divines themselves. And yet now he could see it, it was winking out of existence, glowing bright just before fading into nothing. Theo looked just as confused, the stadium announcer was screaming about a systems failure before a shadow cast across the arena floor grew prominent, growing and growing more by the second. A winged shadow.

  Scott glanced up, saw it looked like a big leathery bird, maybe something prehistoric but what wasn’t up for debate was how nasty it looked. It soared down, opened its jaws and let loose a series of sonic blasts from its jaws which made him flinch. Both Permear and the fire elemental took the main brunt of the blasts, both went down defeated before she landed, the mount putting a clawed foot on top of the downed elemental. Minus its flames, it looked small and frail. The woman on its back looked familiar, it took Scott a moment to remember her name and why he should even know it. Then he realised, she’d been in the media most of the last few days. Most wanted in all the five kingdoms. She cast an eye down at Permear, there was something there that he didn’t like in her expression. Claudia something-or-other…

  What the hells?

  He got the feeling that things had just gotten infinitely worse and he wasn’t going to like where they ended going here.

  Chapter Seventy-Three. Interrupted.

  “Wait, there’s someone down there on the battlefield… Most invaders just run on the pitch, they don’t fly down on… What is that, you know what that is? Some sort of bird, I think… WOAH! She just knocked out the combatants’ spirits! Both ghost and elemental have fallen to her. What the hells had just happened here? Oh, this has suddenly turned nasty, security is running out to apprehend her. Maybe we’ll be able to resume… SHE KILLED THEM! Things have taken a sudden ugly turn here at…!”

  Last few seconds of commentary at the Quin-C final before the power was lost.

  The ninth day of Summerfall.

  It was Claudia Coppinger. Claudia fucking Coppinger here and in the flesh, smugly stood there basking in the surprise of the crowd, as if she were minus any sort of worry in the world. Managing to look as suave and sophisticated as ever despite being the most wanted woman in the five kingdoms, not a hair out of place and a big grin of confidence about her features.

  Some boos and jeers rained down on her as she raised a head to the crowd, taking it all on the chin, letting them get it out of their system. Her smile grew. It was cold, the self-satisfied smirk of someone yet to let others in on the joke. Maybe she did have something left yet to offer. Already security was making their move, uniformed guards making to take her off the field. She turned her head left, then right, nodded to her spirit. The great toothed beak clacked open with a vengeance. Nick somehow knew what was going to happen even before the pure golden light erupted out from within. Not even ashes remained of the guards. It had precisely two effects. One, the crowd were suddenly shocked into a sobered silence and two, Theo Jameson erupted in anger.

  “How dare you!” he said. “Who the fuck do you think you are, interrupting this?” Thousands of viewing screens around the world heard it uncensored. With what followed next, the dozen complaints to the networks over the bad language, were likely the least of anyone’s problems or cares. All complaints went ignored. Nobody held the companies responsible.

  A videocam focused in on her as she stared him down with those two red-gold eyes, narrowing them until they were little more than cat-like slits. Nick was sure they hadn’t been that colour before. He tried to hold her gaze, failed miserably. A trickle of blood ran down his cheek, his eyes widened in horror. Nick didn’t even want to think about what he might have seen. It was the last thing he saw before the giant screen in the roof of the stadium flickered and d
ied, any magnified view of the battlefield lost to them. It didn’t dull her voice though, she remained as clear and concise as she had before.

  “Quiet!” she hissed. “And you!” She rounded on Scott Taylor before he could say anything, keeping him stunned into silence. “If you speak, you will be injured. If you continue, you will be hurt further. It doesn’t matter to me. You’re all here to listen, not to speak!”

  With that, she turned back to the crowd, drinking in the atmosphere around her, it suddenly fetid with fear. Around the stadium, men in black body armour, big boxy assault weapons clutched in their hands were starting to materialise out of the crowd, the menace hanging from them palpably. They didn’t look friendly, they moved with purpose and Nick already had a horrible feeling he knew what was going to happen. A statement was going to be made. There had to be dozens of them, it didn’t sound like a lot amidst a crowd of a hundred thousand-ish but a lot of people would still get in the crossfire.

  “People of the five kingdoms,” she said. “Hear me now and hear me well because I have something to say and I can think of no better platform for it to be heard. Because well, I paid for all this. I made it happen. I’ve given you the last few weeks all out of my own pocket. I brought it here, I suppose the least you can do is give me five minutes of your undivided attention.”

  Nick glanced around, trying to see where the closest guard was to him. Three rows back, seven seats away. Not close. Couldn’t do anything. Not yet. And he wasn’t carrying his weapon either. He cursed silently. Not that it might have made much difference. Right now, he was outnumbered and outgunned. Best to just hold tight a moment, see what came of it. People had to know about this outside the stadium, backup had to be on the way. No point overplaying too early. It was always about picking the right moment to act.