The Habit of the Sorcerer

by J J Moriarty

  Hyzou breathed deeply. He owned his envy. He found his Qi.

  Slowly, the others began to dribble into the room. Hyzou retained his static posture, ignoring them all. That is, until he sensed Abe sit beside him.

  “Hyzou. What are you doing? Where is your armour? Where is your sword?” Abe whispered.

  The first fighter was called out. Eyes closed, Hyzou sensed him go, crippled by fear. He was just a boy, younger even than Hyzou. In the centre of the Stadia Hyzou saw the dark void that would soon tear him apart.

  “Aren’t you even going to speak to me?” Abe said.

  “I’m watching the fight”, Hyzou said.

  The warrior walked out to the centre of the arena. The Colossus must have already fed. The leftovers wouldn’t be pretty.

  Hyzou winced when the inevitable happened. The crowd’s manic cheers shook the walls of the dungeon in which Hyzou sat.

  “What madness is this Hyzou? You cannot just accept defeat and wear no armour”, Abe spat.

  Hyzou breathed deeply, then snapped. He grabbed Abe by the throat and threw him to the ground, placing a foot on the old man’s chest to pin him to the ground. It happened too quickly for even Abe, a former Servant, to do anything about it.

  “You drunken shit. Did you think I wouldn’t know? Did you think I wouldn’t find out?” Hyzou asked.

  “Find what out?” Abe asked.

  “That you had me set up to die. You gave me false hope”, Hyzou said.

  “Hyzou let me up”, Abe said.

  “Make me, you old fuck”, Hyzou said.

  Abe began to struggle, but each move was anticipated by Hyzou.

  “Since when have you gotten so strong?” Abe hissed.

  A crowd was already beginning to gather around them. Hyzou took his foot off Abe’s chest. Abe jumped up, and brushed the dirt off his clothes, obviously embarrassed.

  “Is everything ok here?”

  It was the master, who had seen everything.

  “We’re just fine”, Abe said, staring at Hyzou.

  Hyzou nodded. The crowd dispersed and went back to their nerves. The second warrior went up the tunnel. Hyzou turned his back to Abe and everyone else and walked to the corner. There, he lay, and breathed deeply.

  Hyzou tried not to, but he couldn’t help but use his Qi to look at every one of the ten that went before him.

  Finally, after it had disembowelled the tenth warrior, the Colossus was ready for Hyzou.

  Hyzou stood and took his spear into his hand. No one spoke to him, to wish him either luck or ill. All alone, he walked down the long tunnel to the brightness and noise outside.

  CHAPTER 26

  The crowd laughed. First, it was just a few dry chuckles amid the confused glances. Then the gales of laughter broke out. It was loud and screeching, running through the whole Stadia. Jeers and mocking cheers rang out among the crowd.

  Hyzou understood why. He understood how he must look. He had no close combat weapons or armour. He carried a bronze spear and wore a flimsy robe. On the sand around Hyzou there were corpses and limbs littered everywhere. Corpses of panthers and bulls and lots and lots of men. They had all been wearing thick and heavy armour, as well as carrying swords and knives and maces. They had all been slaughtered. No wonder the crowd thought Hyzou was a comedy.

  Hyzou breathed deeply and looked at the beast across the sand. It was resting back on its haunches. Its eyes were on Hyzou.

  Hyzou kicked the sand, but otherwise stood his ground. The beast would have seen two reactions from the slaves and animals it had butchered today. Most would have tried to run, searching manically around the Stadia for a way out. Others would have panicked and charged madly at the beast, a sprinting charge to take the beast out.

  Hyzou stood where he was and owned his envy.

  His Qi descended around him. He reached out and tried to sense the Colossus. The beast had no soul, and therefore had no Qi. It did, however,, have a mind.

  I wonder if it can suffer illusions? Hyzou thought. Aliya never said.

  There its soul sat, a black diamond in a sea of orange. Hyzou reached out to its mind, tried to surround it, but the beast was too far away. It was hunched eighty feet away. Hyzou retreated his Qi back to his own mind and prepared for the Colossus to make its choice.

  It sprang, leaping thirty feet towards Hyzou. It landed on its feet then sprinted, coming straight for Hyzou with claws out, teeth bared. Hyzou waited. He waited.

  Hyzou jumped. Just in time. Below him the Colossus’ claws closed around empty air. Hyzou was propelled thirty feet into the air, over the Colossus’ head. He landed neatly on his feet behind the Colossus.

  “You fucking missed me”, Hyzou shouted.

  The Colossus whirled around and in three long steps was upon Hyzou again. Hyzou saw the beast bring its right claw down in a heavy ark, intended to smash Hyzou’s head.

  Hyzou shimmied, exactly as Aliya had thought him. He was out from under the Colossus and back into the open. Hyzou drove the point of the spear into the Colossus’ side. It didn’t hurt it, but still, the Colossus felt the point. Knew it had been touched.

  The beast whirled again, faster this time. It swiped at Hyzou once, twice, a third time. Hyzou ducked beneath them all. Then he jumped.

  Much lower this time, Hyzou’s jump went just above the head of the Colossus as it was readying another swipe. His spear was extended out, and the tip of it flicked against the Colossus. Hyzou poked the Colossus in the eye.

  The Colossus roared.

  It was a sound like nothing else Hyzou had ever heard.

  The noise ran through the Stadia, silencing everyone in the crowd in a deadening wave. The Colossus turned again, snarling a low guttural call that ran through the air.

  Kt-kt-kt-kt-kt, the Colossus said.

  Hyzou wondered if the Colossus had ever felt pain before in its life.

  Hyzou stayed upon his toes and danced a little on the sand. The Colossus understood that it was being mocked. It charged, and Hyzou pivoted. Another move Aliya had thought him. The Colossus followed him, and Hyzou made it look like that he was sprinting away from the beast. Thinking that Hyzou had finally broken, the Colossus charged after him.

  Hyzou struck the ground with his spear and used it to spin off in the opposite direction to the Colossus’ charge. Then Hyzou followed the Colossus, landing three harmless blows upon the beast’s back.

  The Colossus wasn’t relaxed anymore. It turned immediately and charged at Hyzou. The beast still hadn’t deviated from thinking its pace was enough to catch Hyzou on a charge. Hyzou waited, as usual, before jumping out of the way at exactly the right time.

  Hyzou turned and saw the Colossus crash through the wall at the side of the arena. The beast went into the crowd, trampling some commoners. Spectators scrambled to avoid the monster, but they needn’t have worried, the Colossus only had eyes for Hyzou. It leaped away from the crowd and back down into the arena. The silence in the Stadia was heavy and tense.

  Kt-kt-kt-kt-kt, the Colossus said, in its guttural throat noise.

  “I’m going to fucking kill you”, Hyzou screamed.

  The Colossus charged, and Hyzou jumped. And again, and again, and again. The beast was a slow learner.

  They circled each other for a minute.

  “You won’t catch me if you keep trying that”, Hyzou said.

  Kt-kt-kt-kt-kt, the Colossus said.

  The Colossus charged once again, and Hyzou dodged.

  Hyzou realised too late he was being complacent. The Colossus had expected Hyzou to dodge this time and it quickly changed direction to charge at him again.

  It was a feint. Hyzou thought.

  Alarmed, and with the Colossus breathing down his neck, Hyzou leaped straight into the air. He avoided the Colossus but landed upon a corpse of one of the dead warriors. The body moved under the weight of the landing and Hyzou went with it, landing face down in the sand.

  Hyzou couldn’t see the Colossus. He could sense it charging a
t him though. Just behind him was one of the wooden walls of the Stadia’s pit, and the Colossus was already too close to him for Hyzou to be able to jump over it from a lying start. The Colossus was going to use its jaws to snap Hyzou in half.

  Hyzou pushed off the ground with his hands, jumping directly at the wall behind him. He heard a loud crack, the Colossus’ jaws snapped on empty air. Hyzou kicked against the wall, and the wooden boards gave him enough weight to get away from the Colossus.

  Not that he was saved. Hyzou had only managed to push away some ten feet. The Colossus, knowing Hyzou was panicking, was upon him again.

  Hyzou tried to jump, but the Colossus saw what it was he was trying to do and closed off the escape route. A gasp went through the Stadia. Hyzou realised he was trapped, and the Colossus was angry.

  Aliya told you you’d end up here. Just remember your training. Hyzou thought.

  The Colossus swiped. Hyzou saw the claws coming for him. They were aimed for his neck - the Colossus was making mistakes in its rage. In a fight a predator always incapacitates an opponent before the killer blow. But here was the Colossus, aiming for Hyzou’s throat.

  Hyzou waited until the killer blow was just an inch away, before he allowed his back give way. He flinched, his whole body flinched, and the claws passed just before his eyes. Hyzou pushed off with his legs, and with all the force he could muster drove his shoulder straight into the Colossus’ chest. The Colossus only wavered slightly. Hyzou hadn’t managed to get the beast to move.

  Now Hyzou was panicked. The Colossus launched an undercut that would cut Hyzou in half, so Hyzou leaned backwards, to try to avoid the blow. The claws ran up Hyzou’s torso - he felt his skin tear underneath the weight of the blow.

  “AHHHHHHHHHHHH”, Hyzou shouted.

  The pain knocked him out of his Qi. He felt the panic set into his brain, and he struggled to remember what to do. He was bleeding, his blood was everywhere. Hyzou fell to the ground and cowed by the wooden wall. The beast was arching its back, preparing for the killer blow.

  I’m going to die. Hyzou thought.

  The panic receded, and with it his breathing normalised. Then it came, the Qi. As purely as the moment when he was in his surgery - unconcerned with the physical tethers that held him to the earth. He felt like he was just his soul.

  The Colossus roared as the killer blow descended.

  Hyzou raised his right hand, and forced his Qi onto the Colossus. Controlling the monster’s movement. The Colossus froze.

  And there it stayed, fidgeting and ready to kill. It had paused. And instead of striking, it opened its mouth and let out a low moan that turned into an anguished roar. It began to shake; but Hyzou refused to let the creature move. There it stayed, having trapped Hyzou, but unable to finish him off.

  Hyzou staggered to his feet. He was soaked in blood and shaking. Holding the Colossus in this way was exhausting. Hyzou needed to lean on the wall beside him to keep standing.

  He breathed, the confused Colossus still just inches from his body. Hyzou tried to slip around the monster, but its giant frame blocked him. He tried to slip under the monster, but he couldn’t fit. The Colossus stared at him the whole time.

  Hyzou sighed. He knew what he’d have to do.

  Hyzou jumped, straight up and into the Colossus’ head. He punched and kicked at the monster’s eyes. He lost control of the Colossus’ mind, and the Colossus swiped at him. But for the beast it was too late. Hyzou propelled himself off the Colossus’ shoulders and landed on the sand.

  Listen to your Qi! Hyzou thought.

  He hadn’t noticed. He had removed his ability to feel pain. But the message his Qi was giving him was very clear.

  You’re losing too much blood. Hyzou thought.

  Hyzou’s right leg gave way. He swooned and fell to the sand. He coughed, and a lump of blood came up from his lungs. His vision was blurring, so Hyzou turned to the Qi to tell him everything about his surroundings. He was in danger, grave danger, of dying from the blood loss.

  Hyzou looked for the Colossus, trying to understand why it hadn’t attacked him, finished him off.

  The Colossus was circling Hyzou on all fours. Making the Tk-tk-tk-tk noise.

  It’s afraid of me. Hyzou said.

  It wouldn’t last, Hyzou knew. The Colossus couldn’t feel fear like a human, not strong enough to be as careful as it should.

  Hyzou ponderously stood and managed to force himself to his feet by leaning on his spear. Regardless of how the fight went, Hyzou knew that if he didn’t get to a surgeon in half an hour, he’d die. Until then, the Qi would have to do.

  From the audience something was thrown. A long chain that settled on the sand.

  The Whisperer, as planned. Hyzou thought.

  Hyzou ignored it, and the Colossus did too, charging directly at him.

  Hyzou was more sluggish this time, jumping out of the way, but he still managed to get out ahead of the charging monster. Once he had gotten out of the way, Hyzou threw his spear with all his might at the wall, in the one part that was made of brownstone.

  Hyzou owned his envy, and knew that either way, this fight would be over soon.

  The familiar dance repeated as the angry Colossus charged and Hyzou leaped out of the way. This time, however, Hyzou sprinted the moment he landed. His step was shaky, and he bled more each time he landed, but he quickly reached the chain. With a whip of it, he flicked the bronze metal into his arms. He began to roll the chain around his arm in a pattern. Over, over and under and over, over and under.

  Hyzou sensed that the Colossus seemed wary. It circled Hyzou again. And again, Hyzou knew this would only last a few seconds more, the Colossus was not a timid beast.

  The Colossus charged. Hyzou kept turning the chain. The Colossus sprinted, and he kept turning the chain. When the Colossus was upon him, Hyzou leaped straight into the air.

  Up there, Hyzou dropped most of the chain, and saw it land perfectly upon the Colossus’ body. He landed just behind the Colossus, but he didn’t sprint anywhere, he just stood there holding the end of the chain. The Colossus turned and saw its chance.

  Uncapable of feeling fear, the Colossus could never have imagined that it would ever meet an opponent that could best it. Prey was just ranked on the trouble it would cause it. It saw Hyzou and assumed just that the inevitable had happened and Hyzou had finally caved. It leaped right at him.

  The Colossus was three feet into the jump when the chain clasped shut, the heavy bronze closing tight around its throat.

  Hyzou’s knot was perfect. The Colossus itself was the one tightening it as it charged at Hyzou. Tightening the chain around its own throat.

  The Colossus didn’t understand. It charged angrily still, trying desperately to reach its adversary. Of course, the harder it pushed, the tighter the chain became. Hyzou for his part, was struggling – feet planted in the sand, every muscle straining to hold the end of the chain.

  The other end of the chain was buried where one part of the brownstone wall met another. It was buried there by the force of the spear that Hyzou threw earlier.

  The trap was perfect. Hyzou thought.

  Still, this was perhaps the hardest part of all. Still wounded, Hyzou had to hold on to a chain with a Colossus pulling at the other end. Hyzou planted either foot and held on for dear life. Literally.

  The Colossus strained more and more. The beast moved past anger, and was passing into desperation. It couldn’t get any air. The more it strained, the tighter the knot became. It clawed desperately towards Hyzou, and its claws found air just inches Hyzou’s face. Hyzou didn’t flinch, he didn’t even blink. He just stared straight ahead.

  The chain was chafing against Hyzou’s hands. No matter the pressure, Hyzou resisted it. The pressure saw the chain slip two notches, and the bronze tore the skin off Hyzou’s palms. Blood dripped on to the sand below him, and the Colossus inched closer. It began to swipe at Hyzou’s hands. Each time it got closer and closer. A crazy impulse told Hyzou to ju
st let go, or else he’d lose his hands.

  I’m holding on, or I die. Hyzou thought.

  He forgot everything about why he was doing what he was doing, he just knew that he needed to hold. Every part of his body and mind told him to let go. Hyzou began to scream, and his body began to shake. All the while the Colossus drove harder and harder against the knot.

  “NO. I WILL NOT LET GO”, Hyzou screamed.

  Then Hyzou noticed that his hands were bleeding on the chain, and the bronze was covered in it. The bronze began to slip from his hands. His own blood was a lubricant, and it would be his downfall. His hands loosened further and further. Finally, he knew he was about to let go.

  And then it was over. The Colossus, who had been scrambling in madness, merely stopped. Its legs gave way, and its whole body sagged down. Not even a twitch did its dead body give out.

  Hyzou let go of the chain. He breathed deeply, tried to stay standing. Tried to remember his training. Somewhere he heard a crowd cheer.

  You need to address the Pharaoh. Hyzou thought.

  It was what Aliya told him to do when he reached this place.

  He followed her instructions and headed towards the sun. Staggering, he made it to the edge of the stand. Looking up, Hyzou could see nothing.

  The stadium was silent. Hyzou bowed. As loudly as he could, Hyzou spoke.

  “Hyzou of Nuyin is my name. I am your slave, Your Majesty, and for your birthday I have brought you a gift of a full skin of godsbone”, Hyzou said.

  Hyzou couldn’t see the Pharaoh, but the crowd’s cheer told him everything he needed to know. Hyzou was going to live.

  Hyzou staggered bloodily to the exit gate. It was a slow walk, but he allowed himself all the time he needed. He waited to leave the sight of the crowd before he collapsed and fell into unconsciousness.

  CHAPTER 27

  A hand was softly placed on Hyzou’s shoulder. Hyzou grabbed it at the wrist and began to squeeze.

  “Hey! Stop!” A voice screamed.