The Gladiator's Downfall

by Kristen Banet

  “If we fail, they’ll tear our wings off,” she whispered. She could remember the pain as they had started, and even though she had no lasting damage, it had stuck with her. The fear. She had never touched the skies and if they had done it, she never would have.

  Mave, you have to move. You can’t be so scared of this. This is your only chance. You’ve tried before, sure, but this time could be different. This is it.

  “Why is she stuck on this?” Zayden asked, hissing it out.

  “Because it nearly happened to her once before,” Rain told his father. He reached out and pulled her along. “Mave, we’re getting out, and if we lose our wings, we’ll all lose them together, but if you stay down here, you will die. There’s a slim chance at escape, but it’s the only chance of staying alive. Surviving.”

  He’s right. Mave, he’s right. Just move.

  She nodded, unable to find more words. She let him hold her arm. She had never felt so much fear in her life. She didn’t understand why it continued to affect her as they snuck through the dark tunnels, led by the Elvasi guard. She didn’t trust him, that was certain. She was confused by Dave’s words. Defecting. Leaving the pits. Escaping Elliar. Wanting to help.

  Minutes ago, she’d been well on her way to having sex with a strong male she cared about, knowing she was going to die in the morning, maybe at his hand. Now, she was armed and quickly walking through the tunnels of the pits towards freedom.

  As they moved to an area always blocked off by guards, Mave’s courage grew.

  Leaving the pits. Escaping Elliar. This was really happening.

  “The guards are already out. I drugged the evening meal and drinks with a decent sleeping draught, so everyone in the guard house should be out cold. We knocked out the few on the way here as well,” the Elvasi whispered, explaining the bodies of guards as they passed.

  Mave resisted the urge to slip her sword between their ribs just to be certain. She wasn’t the only one.

  “We should kill them,” Matesh murmured loud enough for Zayden at the front to hear him.

  “No. We don’t need too many bodies. In and out was the rule from Luykas, if we did this. You know how he and Alchan are. They don’t like big splashes, not for things like this.” Zayden motioned for them to stop at a corner, but the guard continued going around it. Dave went with him, but none of the Andinna moved.

  They waited in the dark. Mave could cut the tension with her steel.

  A thump and groan. Something hit the ground, and silence again. The Elvasi came back and waved them forward, not saying a word. He even put a finger on his mouth when Mat opened his mouth to speak.

  They continued to a staircase. Mave had never been through this exit out of the pits. This area had always been blocked by the guards, and she had never been curious enough to try and sneak through them, since it was a death sentence. She hadn’t known there was a way out. A thousand years and survival on her mind, her curiosity had only reached so far. There has been a way out that I didn’t know about. Skies, I wonder if I could have used it long before this.

  The Elvasi led them up the stairs, spiraling into a building and leaving the tunnels behind.

  Mave’s heart wouldn’t rest, feeling like it was going to beat so quickly that it would quit soon.

  The Elvasi opened a door forty steps up - she counted - and went through, motioning again for them to remain silent as he looked around. After a moment, he motioned for them to follow him.

  Dave went first, human and the least threatening of them. After him, there were only Andinna. If anyone saw them, they would know something was terribly wrong. They would know this was a breakout.

  A hand touched her lower back and pushed gently. She moved through the door, Mat right behind her, staying close to her, his hand never moving from the small of her back between her wings. She could feel his breath on her ear, he was so close. Rainev and Zayden came last, with the young father closing the door behind them without a sound.

  Mave’s eyes took in the room around her and her anxiety climbed.

  Around their group were sleeping Elvasi guards. A dozen of them.

  The Elvasi waved them to follow and she resisted the urge to just run from the building. They had to go slow and quietly, or run the risk of waking up every guard within a hundred yards of them - and maybe the entire city.

  He led them through the first room, what had appeared to been an armory, and into a dining hall. A few soldiers were sleeping at their plates, but the room was fairly empty.

  After that, they were in a recreational room. Mave heard a groan as her foot connected with something. Everyone froze and Matesh looked down, pointing. Her eyes fell on the guard who had fallen asleep. His leg was sticking out. That was what she had kicked. She stepped over him carefully, overjoyed that he hadn’t awoken thanks to her clumsiness.

  The guard pointed to one last door. He mouthed a message back to all of them. ‘Exit.’ Mave resisted the urge once again to just run out of it.

  As he opened the door, however, things took a turn for the worst.

  “Trevan, why are you here tonight? Isn’t it your night off?” an Elvasi guard asked, walking in the door. Then his eyes fell on the Andinna in the room. “By the fucking Gods.”

  It was Trevan who slid a quick dagger between the other male’s ribs. The guard was wide-eyed, gurgling out words that Mave couldn’t understand as Trevan pulled the dagger free and laid the other guard on the floor. He was dead quickly.

  “We need to move now,” Zayden snapped.

  “Gentry? Did I hear you say Trevan? What is that idiot doing here?” another guard called out from the outside. “Shit, I can’t take in my pipe. Let’s finish smoking and let Gentry deal with Trevan. That fucking stick in the mud.”

  “Shit,” Trevan cursed, peeking through the door. “There’s a fucking small group of them. They must be coming in from a night out at the taverns. Damn it. We have a moment since they are using pipes.”

  “Well, if we have to fight, then we have to fight,” Matesh whispered. “But we can’t stay here in a hotbed of them.”

  “You’re right,” Trevan agreed. “But they all need to go down or one will sound the alarm. The sleeping draught won’t keep these guys down for that and other guard houses around Elliar will respond as well. It’ll be madness. We only get one chance.”

  Mave unsheathed her swords without needing to hear anymore. It brought the gaze of Zayden, who began doing the same, pulling the longsword at his back. Matesh drew his, then Rainev. Trevan’s pale gold eyes ended on her as well and she bared her teeth at him.

  “If killing people will get me out of here, then amazing. I’m actually good at that,” she said to him softly.

  “They outnumber us, but they’re drunk,” he explained.

  She shrugged. I’ve been outnumbered my entire life. This means nothing.

  He looked over them all. The temper was boiling underneath the surface of every Andinna in the room. They were ready for blood. Freedom stood just beyond the door, and behind that door a group of guards who had no idea what waited on them. He pulled the door open and they charged through.

  One was watching the door and his mouth opened to scream. Mave went for him first, jumping through the group without a sound and tackling him to the ground. Both her swords were in his chest as the other guards cursed and swords were drawn.

  “The Champion has escaped,” one screamed. He was ended seconds after that, Rainev in his face snarling, a dagger buried in the guard’s throat.

  Coming up, she swung and cut another down at his knees. He fell, screaming in pain. Activity at nearby buildings began to pick up as the noise got attention. They hadn’t been fast enough. Mave cursed as she killed another of the drunken youths, guards who hadn’t thought this would be their night.

  “We need to move!” Zayden roared. “We’ve lost our ability to sneak out now!”

  “We weren’t fast enough,” she snarled, whipping her blade to knock blood off it. Ar
ound her, the group of them had killed the guards, but now people were running into the street around them. Some saw her and gasped. Others just screamed as if the Andinna were there to topple over their great white marble city in the night.

  “Lead the fucking way, Zayden,” Matesh ordered. “Go!”

  Zayden began to run for an alleyway, and the Andinna ran after them. Soldiers and guards were beginning to show up, following them since the bystanders were pointing towards their escape.

  Mave didn’t turn back for a long time, hearing the soldiers yell orders as they followed. At the back of their group, winding through the tiny alleys of the capital, Trevan turned his back on them, looking back to the soldiers.

  “What are you doing?” she screamed back at him. “Let’s go!” She had no idea why she suddenly cared about this Elvasi, but he was helping them escape and that had to count for something.

  “I can hold them here,” he told her. The entire group stopped and looked back at him. Matesh grabbed Mave, who refused to be moved.

  “Why?” she asked.

  Tell me. I need to know. Why would an Elvasi do this for me? Why would an Elvasi die for me?

  “Because not all of us agree with the Empress,” he answered as the soldiers came into sight. “And I spent six hundred years looking for a way to help you.”

  There was something in his voice, an emotion she didn’t understand. He turned back and smiled at her. It was a sad, lost smile.

  She stepped away from him, letting Matesh pull her. She turned on her heel and began to run as the soldiers tried to get past Trevan in the tiny alley. She knew he was going to die and that unexpectedly hurt.

  But he was buying them more time.

  I’ll remember you. Trevan. The only Elvasi to ever show me a shred of kindness. A silent promise from her to him. An unexpected act of sacrifice. He deserved to be remembered, even if his ears were pointed.

  “There’s a few ways out of the capital,” Zayden called back as he led them through the dirty alleys of the poorer areas of the capital. “We’re taking one that shouldn’t exist. An old construction tunnel for the wall.”

  None of them had anything to say to Zayden as they kept moving. Mave looked at their little group, already a male down. Somehow, they still had Dave with them, which surprised her. He’d been able to keep up with the breakneck pace of warriors. He was breathing much harder than them, but he was keeping up.

  Soldiers were everywhere. Zayden called for them to stop and she ducked into a dark corner of the alley they were in. She stopped breathing as the entire group scrambled for their own hiding places. Matesh ended up with her, pressed up against her, chest to chest, her back against the wall. If they hadn’t been running for their lives, she would have enjoyed it for a moment.

  He must have read her mind, because in the dark, that arrogant smirk showed up. She nipped his chin with her canines, which only had him press against her harder.

  When the soldiers passed, he moved away from her and they moved on in silence, still letting Zayden lead them out of the capital.

  He pointed to the wall as they drew closer to it. He pointed at their wings and, quickly, pulled a dagger to cut Rainev’s free. Mave held her breath as she watched Rainev’s stunning deep, dark blue wings expand and flex, flapping twice as he stretched them. Next were Mat’s, those pure Andinna black wings larger than Rain’s. Rain freed hers, but she kept them pulled to her body, used to it. She hadn’t expanded them since the last time she tried to escape, centuries before.

  Zayden frowned at her but said nothing.

  “I can’t fly,” she told him softly. “If we have to fly the wall…”

  “We’re not flying over it, that’s for damn sure,” he whispered back to her. “There’s horses on the other side, but if one of the horses goes down, the rider will have to fly. Two Andinna can’t ride together. You can’t fly?”

  “I never have,” she explained. “I tried once.”

  “We’ll figure it out,” he promised.

  Then they were back to moving, closer and closer to the wall. She could see the door to the construction tunnel he mentioned. Then a unit of soldiers came into view, blocking their way, guarding the hole. They had known it was there.

  “They must have every known exit blocked,” Dave whispered. “What do we do?”

  “We have to fight,” Matesh answered. “They are going to shut this city down to find us. We won’t be able to hide out until they forget about us and move along.”

  “How do four Andinna and a human take down…” She counted the guards quickly from their position, unseen for now. “Twenty-five guards?”

  “We’re Andinna. We’ve had worse odds,” Zayden said, sounding just as arrogant as Matesh ever could. “But I’m on her side, Matesh. We can’t deal with all of them with just blades. We need a distraction.”

  “I’ll do it,” Dave said, looking between them. “You all getting out…that’s more important.”

  “You’ll die,” Mave reminded him. “We already lost Trevan. Are you sure?”

  “I’m human. I can be forgotten and blend in,” Dave retorted. “Plus, you remind me that I’m going to die pretty often, you know, just of old age.”

  She glared at him. Old age was better than dying for a bunch of slaves making a run for it.

  “Fuck…” Zayden groaned, rubbing a hand through his hair. “Bodara?”

  “I have nothing, bodra,” Rain answered, shaking his head. “We can’t stay here either. Eventually another group of soldiers will walk by and we have nowhere else to go.”

  “I can do it,” Dave repeated, stronger. “I’m fast.”

  “You’re exhausted,” she snapped at him. She was feeling possessive. She wasn’t letting another one of the freemen who helped them die for them. She couldn’t believe the Elvasi was anything but dead. This is my human. He annoys me, but he’s mine.

  “If he can do it…” Zayden looked at the human. “Make them believe we’re with you, looking to see if the way is clear. Then haul ass. You know another way out of the city?”

  “I know most ways out of the city,” Dave confirmed. “It’ll be hell, but I think I can do it.”

  “I hate this,” Matesh mumbled. “But if I never see you again, human…thank you.”

  “The Andinna deserve to be free. I’ve seen what they do to your people.” Dave’s eyes slid to her and she looked away. He meant her. “Things that are unspeakable. Wait here. I guess you’ll know when it’s safe to make a break for the tunnel.”

  “Thank you,” Rainev whispered. “You’ll be remembered, Dave.”

  “Don’t talk like I’m dead yet,” the human said, giving a weak chuckle. He turned to leave and Mave grabbed him, holding him for a moment.

  “Have wings,” she whispered to him. “Fly like the wind, human.”

  It was all she could say. He only nodded in return, then disappeared into the dark. Her human was gone.

  They waited in silence until they heard it.

  “You! Halt! What are you doing here?”

  “Shit! Champion, run! They have this exit blocked!” Dave’s voice rang out, in fear and terror. Mave was impressed by his acting skills. She felt the need to run even though he was down another alley. They could hear the soldiers shouting, the telltale sound of plate armor rattling as they ran after the human.

  “The guards are following him. Not all of them, but there’s only a few left at the exit. We can fight our way through now,” Zayden whispered, looking around their corner. “Hold. On my order, we run for it and cut down anyone still in the way. The tunnel through the wall is a straight shot. If they follow, we won’t be able to lose them until we’re outside the city and that will be hard. It’s all plains on the other side, farm land.”

  Mave tightened her hold on her swords, ready for the word.

  “Move.” Zayden’s order was quiet, but firm.

  They turned the corner and began to run. Rainev jumped up at the last moment and with two easy flap
s, was above the group. Mave ran underneath him and stabbed the first soldier she ran into, catching him unaware. Rainev landed on the one behind him, silencing a scream.

  The Andinna were a warrior people and death was something they were good at. Mave knew it; the soldiers knew it. Their screams could probably be heard through the entire capital.

  It was brutally efficient and then Zayden was leading them into the wall, at a full run. They had to tuck their wings in close since the walls weren’t built to accommodate the large additions of the Andinna.

  “Did we leave any alive?” Matesh yelled as they ran.

  “No, but they were squealing like pigs as they died. More will come,” Zayden roared back, turning sharply and leading them down another long stretch of tunnel. He’d been right, Mave noticed. There was only one path, which snaked through the wall that enclosed Elliar. There were no rooms attached to it, or other tunnels. A ‘straight’ shot.

  They could hear soldiers behind them, echoes of armor, but nothing close.

  Zayden shoved a barred door open and they pushed out of the city, and Mave felt a rush of freedom. The farm land around the capital was expansive and wide, also very flat. There weren’t any trees until the horizon, far in the distance. She looked up, stunned by the night sky and how big it was. She had never seen so much sky. So many stars, covering the entire black expanse.

  It’s beautiful.

  “Mave, marvel later,” Rain whispered to her. “We have to move.”

  “I’ve never ridden a horse,” she whispered back, still staring at the sky. “I could die happy right now.”

  “You aren’t dying tonight,” Matesh growled. He yanked her to keep moving, forcing her to break her gaze at the stunning sky. She stumbled after him to the set of horses waiting.

  “We have extra since we lost those two,” Zayden said quickly. “Just get on and hold on. I’ll lead yours.” She fought with the stirrups, but managed to pull herself into the saddle. Everyone else mounted easily. “Thank the gods we’re not stupid enough to fly, since you can’t.”

  “Why aren’t you flying?” she asked, suddenly curious.