The Gladiator's Downfall

by Kristen Banet

  “There’s a lot of people here who would rather just kill you right now, so I wouldn’t pick that fight, Champion.” He laughed. She memorized his number. Fifty-three. “Do you…still have that title? Or was that taken from you?”

  “The next Champion will be the person who kills me on the sands, not the arrogant, foolhardy ass sitting in my chair, or jumping me in the pits, or trying to stab me in my cot. You hear that? You want to be Champion? Kill me right, or get out with your tail between your legs, coward.” She pointed for the door. She said the ending loud enough that it could be heard over the entire chow hall, a challenge to all of them.

  The male growled at her, standing up. “Don’t. You have no one backing you up anymore. Not even the Empress.”

  “She still has us,” Matesh reminded him. Mat took the bowl from in front of the gladiator, then threw it across the chow hall. “Now, fetch that and take it where it belongs, since you’re done with your meal.”

  “I’ll fucking kill you for-”

  “No fighting,” a guard roared. Mave heard the sweet sound of steel singing as it was unsheathed. The guard approached, his blade up. “Your meal is over. Get the bowl, turn it in, then move along.” He turned on Mave, a dark glare. “One fuck up, Champion. One punch. You know the consequences.”

  She said nothing as the gladiator and his three friends got up from her table and left, snarling as they passed her. One shoulder checked her, but she refused to stumble to it. She was stronger than them, stronger than all of them.

  She would only fall to one person on the sands. Because it was the only way for everyone to live. Everyone that mattered, anyway.

  There were only two people that mattered.

  Mave had her work cut out for her. It’ll be easy, really. I won’t have to worry about them anymore and they’ll have each other.

  When lunch was over, they wandered back to the hole they had claimed. They settled in, silently. Mave leaned on Matesh’s shoulder in the dark room, gaining an eyebrow raise from Rain.

  “So, that’s how it is?” he asked, a sad smile breaking out. “Just going to do it and be damned to the consequences?”

  “Why not?” she asked back. “In the end, no one can stop me. Or him. There’s nothing they can do that hasn’t already been planned for us.”

  “Enjoy it, but please, get some rest tonight. You’re both injured. You still have a hole in you.” Rainev pointed to her side and she sighed, nodding. “If you stay up for the kind of activity you two might get into, that thing won’t heal and you might not make it to the sands.”

  “Don’t worry, nephew,” Matesh said, smirking. “I plan on making sure that is well taken care of. She’ll sleep tonight and we’ll keep the rough stuff to tomorrow night. Before the fight.”

  “Good plan,” she agreed. He turned his head and kissed her forehead. It was kind and sweet. Gentle. A show of affection that held no expectations.

  Another little gift from him. Like so many they had given her before.

  I want more of those. I want one every moment I’m on this earth, however short it may be.

  Rain’s smile was still sad. “In another life,” he whispered. “I would have rooted you two on, this very moment, then left you to have a moment together. I wouldn’t worry about healing wounds and fights on the sands.”

  “This is the life we have.” It was all she could say.

  20

  Mave

  Matesh had been careful. He had taunted and teased her again. He’d kissed her body and made her feel beautiful. He’d been gentle but strong, moving her body the way he wanted it.

  Mave had craved and wanted until he’d given her a release, claiming her mouth so it wouldn’t wake up Rainev.

  But he hadn’t given her what she truly craved - a piece of him. All of him. He’d brought her to finish, but not with everything. Hands and mouth in places she’d never known would work. He’d even used his tail to tease her and bring her releases that brought her a bliss she’d never known.

  But not all of him.

  “That’s how a male shows a female she’s more important, worth every ache and bruise,” he whispered on the morning of the sixth day of the games. “To help you sleep and heal, making the moments in between easy on you. You should be healed as well as you can by tonight.”

  “Maybe tomorrow will be easier if it’s only once,” she murmured into his chest as sunshine broke in through the tiny grate far above them, out of reach. Always out of reach.

  “No, it won’t be, but it’ll be one happy memory. We won’t have a chance to fuck up the morning after since we’ll be meeting on the sands anyway.”

  “Damn the Skies,” she cursed, sitting up. The sands. Underneath a sky they couldn’t reach. “I had prayed for the first time in centuries for Rainev to live. For this week to be survivable.” She glared up at the light. This was the gods’ faults. “And this is what you give me?” she asked the sky. “This is what I deserve? A stolen two days with them, without pretending? Without trying to hide how much they mean to me?” She ignored Matesh trying to hush her. She shouldn’t be cursing the gods of her people, but she was done with them. She had finally given them some of her faith again and this was their answer. Because of them, she was going to die and lose the only good thing she ever had.

  The day had barely begun, and she was already angry.

  “I hate you. I hate you, my gods, like I hate the crowds. Like I hate the Empress. Maybe even, I hate you more. I’m supposed to be your child and this is what you’ve given me. Hell and pain. Is it because I don’t know your names?” Matesh gave up, just looking away as she ranted. “I don’t know what you are? I’ve never visited a temple and done sacrifice for you? This is what I deserve? A gift of family and friends for such a short time, and only for you to hurt them too?” She snarled and said every word out loud, hoping the words made it to the sky and her gods took note. Like the gladiators, she was done with them.

  Rainev doesn’t deserve this. Matesh doesn’t deserve this. They are good. Are you punishing them for being with me? For being my family?

  By lunch, her bad mood had not abated. Luckily, the guys kept her out of trouble. None of the other gladiators tried to cause any problems.

  By dinner, it was much the same.

  When they were alone, for their last night together, she knew it was time to tell them her plan, since they were frantically trying to find their own. It was already late; the dark had fallen outside the tiny grate above. She figured they had been talking for more than a few hours. Midnight would soon be approaching. It was time to end their worries.

  “I will lay down my swords to whoever of you meets me first on the sands.”

  Silence from them. Whatever conversation they had been having ended.

  “Mave?” Rain’s soft, confused voice was the bravest one in the room.

  “You heard me. One of you will give me a quick death, without a fight. You will leave the sands and you two shall remain together.” She was ready for it. She had been ready for it since the moment the Empress had walked away from them. Shadra wanted Mave to kill them or die trying.

  She had a reputation for stubbornness. To defy the Empress, she was going to give the crowd what it wanted: a fallen Champion. Willing and ready for her blood to meet the sands one last time.

  And her family would live.

  They have to live. I can’t be in a world without them. Not anymore. They changed me too much. I can’t know a life with them and then keep going without them.

  “I can’t…” Rain had a wide-eyed stare. “Mave, I can’t…”

  “You will,” she snapped. “Damn it, I’ve been here for a thousand years. I’ve suffered and I’ve bled for them and I have nothing to show for it. Nothing until you two has mattered at all. I won’t kill you. I won’t even fight you. I am going to throw my blades down on the sands and the only gift either of you can give me is to run me through. Strike fast and true, make it quick.” She took a deep breath. “If t
he Skies won’t have me, then the earth can. It’s at least always been under my feet.”

  “Holy shit,” Matesh whispered. “You’re not joking.”

  “I don’t joke,” she reminded him. “Tonight…I’m going to enjoy my last night. Tomorrow, one of you will kill me.”

  “I’m…” Rainev stood up and looked between them. “I’m going to the room across the hall. I can’t…”

  “Rain,” Mave said, trying to stop him. He left, though, leaving her alone with Matesh. She looked over at him. “I won’t be sorry for it.”

  “You would just give me the night of my life, then die on me,” he retorted, looking angry.

  “One of us is going to die tomorrow anyway,” she growled back. “Or him. He can’t beat me, not in a fight. I’m faster, with more experience. I’ve got centuries of experience on those sands. I was the Champion of this Colosseum before his short-lived great-grandfather was even a sperm looking for a cunt.” She threw her hands up. “And I won’t kill him. So this is what I have. To let one of you kill me. Without a fight.”

  “I’m not letting you die. I’m not letting any of us die,” he said, that arrogance running strong in him.

  “How?” she asked, spreading her arms to the empty room around them. “What in the pits will save all of us?”

  “I don’t know yet, but I’m not going to fuck you, then run you through the heart. I won’t do it.”

  “Fine,” she mumbled. “I’ll spend my last night alone then.”

  She went to leave the room and he grabbed her. She snarled back at him, then was cut off by a kiss and a hand at the back of her neck. He yanked her back further into the small room, holding her mouth to his. She gave a token struggle, trying to pull back, trying to get her nails into his flesh. She bit down hard enough to draw blood from his bottom lip.

  But when he turned her and her wings and back hit the wall, when he pressed his cock to her core…

  Her nails scratched as she ran her hands over his muscles. She nibbled instead of biting.

  “Fuck, Mave, why?” he asked one more time, holding her there, pinned.

  “Because I care, and you both…you both have given me so much. I can give you this. This is the only thing I have to give.” She had never said something that made her sound so vulnerable. Not to her own ears.

  “Then I guess I should give you one more gift, shouldn’t I?” He leaned down and kissed her neck.

  She reached and tugged open his loincloth. While he opened her shirt, she threw away the only thing he wore. Her shirt went next and his mouth claimed one of her nipples. Her other breast was found by one of his large hands, massaging it. Then he pinched her nipple lightly, while nipping the other with his teeth.

  It brought out an unashamed cry of pleasure.

  “Are they back here? Was that what it sounded like?” a male asked. Matesh pulled away from her and looked to the door, his eyes wide in shock. She growled, ready to attack whoever walked through the door. She wouldn’t die yet. She would die on her terms, not some stranger’s.

  “Yes, this is where they have been hiding,” another male answered. The accent of this one was of Elliar. Elvasi or human, then.

  She bared her teeth. The Empress sent assassins? Really? She can’t just let me fucking die tomorrow? She’s got to kill me now?

  “This is a crazy plan.” That one was Dave. She stopped growling and grabbed her shirt. Matesh was already putting his loincloth back on. She made it to the door first and watched the guard that had acted strangely, had spoken to Rainev, leading Dave and an Andinna she didn’t recognize. He wasn’t dressed like a gladiator. He wasn’t dressed like a slave.

  Who is this? What…

  “Mave,” Dave gasped. “You’re still alive. Good.”

  “What?” She looked down at the human, then to the others in the room. A human, an Elvasi, and an Andinna. What was the meaning of this?

  “Zayden?” Matesh’s voice was cautious and wary.

  “Where’s my son, Mat?” Son? She looked at the big Andinna longer, the one she didn’t recognize. He had dark blue eyes in the Andinna black and the same style horns as Rainev. He looked at her as Matesh walked across the hall and she could hear him waking up Rainev. “Ah, and the Champion. At least you’re all together.”

  “You’re Rain’s father?” she asked softly, pointing at him. He didn’t seem old enough to be a father, but then, the long-lived people never seemed old enough for anything until they were too old for most things. He seemed barely older than Matesh.

  “Yes. More on that later,” he ordered. “We’re getting you all out of here. I’m not letting you kill my son in the Colosseum.”

  “She wasn’t going to,” Rain cut in. “She actually wanted me to run her through. What the hell is this?”

  “Your escape, bodara,” he said. He elbowed the Elvasi guard, who took that moment to swing a bag off his shoulder. Inside, there were weapons and cloaks. “Get ready.”

  “There’s no way the Company approved this.” Rain was confused like she was. “Are you here without-”

  “The entire Company agreed we weren’t leaving you idiots to die in here. We hadn’t planned on coming in during the fucking games, though. Then you three went and got into trouble. Shit, she was never a part of the plan, but he,” he pointed at the Elvasi, “wouldn’t help us without a guarantee that we would try for her too.”

  Mave was too confused to catch all of that, other than the Elvasi had wanted to help her escape. This auburn-haired Elvasi guard. From the night she came back and he let them help her. From the time he showed a tiny moment of concern for Rainev after he and Matesh were jumped.

  “Escape?” She looked frantically between them. “If we’re caught, we’ll lose our wings.”

  “Then let’s not get caught,” Zayden said, pointing to the bag. “Get ready. Hurry. We don’t have much time.”

  She reached down, her hand wavering for a moment. A hand landed on her shoulder and she looked at the source. Dave, and his pity-filled eyes.

  For the first time, she didn’t question the pity, didn’t growl or get angry at him for it. He pities me enough to try and save me. Save…me.

  “Years, we waited for a chance, for anyone willing to come get you,” he whispered. “Me and Trevan have been planning on defecting for a long time. Him longer than me. A lot longer.”

  “Damn the Skies. Later, all of you. Questions and talking about this later.” Zayden was looking even more angry by the second.

  Mave stopped talking, grabbing a belt with a gladius on it. She attached it quickly, but didn’t bother with anything else. The cloaks were useless, a very Elvasi or human thing to do. Andinna couldn’t wear them, that was certain. Rain and Mat were just as quick, arming with what they had available. Rainev with four daggers while Matesh took the only longsword. The other proved to be an extra gladius and Zayden pointed to it.

  “That’s for you, Champion. I hear you use two?”

  She nodded and took it, unsure what to say. She carried it, waiting for the others.

  “Don’t be an ass, Zayden. Also, did you bring any pants?” Matesh motioned at himself, making Zayden chuckle. She glanced over. He was still only in the loincloth.

  “I would love to leave you like that. It’s funny.”

  “We grew up together and that’s how you would treat me?” Matesh coughed, glaring at Zayden.

  “No.” Zayden reached further into the bag and pulled out a pair of pants. “There’s more clothing in here; you just missed it thanks to the cloaks.”

  “Grew up together?” she asked, looking between them.

  “She asks a lot of questions,” Zayden noted, looking back at her.

  “We haven’t told her much and you’re breaking her out. She has a right to be curious,” Matesh defended her.

  “Illo amyr, meet my bodra, Zayden.” Rain smiled between them. “He and Matesh are only a couple hundred years apart. My bodra is a grumpy shit, though.”

  “I had a
kid too damn young,” Zayden mumbled. “Thirteen-hundred was much too young for a child.” His eyes were curious as they stayed on her. “Illo amyr, huh?” He said it in a mumble, not really asking anyone, but rather just to understand what his son had said.

  She did the quick mental math as he gave her a curious look. That made him sixteen-hundred. Not even that old. She didn’t know how to comment on it, though. She looked over him further as the others got ready and Matesh put on pants.

  He had Rain’s blue eyes, that she already noticed. The same style horns. There weren’t that many styles, but his were the same as Rainev’s in every way except color. He was much broader than his son, but leaner than Matesh, who was huge. He still had the black hair, black wings, and tail, but if she ignored the pure annoyance on his face, he was attractive, an older, taller, pure Andinna version of Rainev.

  He was more attractive than his son. She could admit that, though it was in part her own leaning to the real, rough Andinna look.

  “Does she always look people over like she’s sizing them up to eat?” Zayden asked, pointing at her.

  Heat hit her cheeks as all the males who knew her in the pits answered. Dave, the guard, Matesh, and Rain. Not a single one resisted giving an answer.

  “Yes.”

  “Don’t eat me,” he ordered her.

  “I don’t eat people,” she said quietly. She felt like a fool and sought to change the focus off herself. “Are we going to go? Is this going to happen, or are we going to stand down here all night until we’re dragged out onto the sands?”

  “Waiting on Matesh to get his damn pants on,” the father grumbled.

  “I’m ready,” Mat growled. “Shit. You’re an extra bastard tonight.”

  “I’ll tell you why later. Let’s fucking move.”

  Mave was nearly dazed. This was it. They were about to try and escape. For the first time in ages, she was scared. They all began to walk and she didn’t move, watching their backs.

  “Mave?” Rain called out to her. “Mave, we need to move.”