by Kelly A Nix
“Don’t worry, my queen. We won’t fail you,” Atae says.
“Good, I shall be off to my viewing box. I don’t want to miss anything.”
“You’re staying to watch? You and the prince?” Jeqi asks. “I didn’t know there would be a live audience.”
“Don’t worry. It’s just the two of us. I always insist on watching in-person when I am planetside. And I can do that because I’m the queen.”
Queen Sula chuckles at her own remark and waves goodbye to the younglings as she crosses the entrance to disappear after her son. Atae smiles at Queen Sula’s behavior. A stray thought whisks through her mind that perhaps the queen enjoys antagonizing her son and that she is using Atae to fuel her amusement. But that would be absurd. Queen Sula is the ruler of the Kaji Empire and would never resort to such petty antics.
“She’s not really what I imagined,” Jeqi says.
“Right? She’s better.” Both younglings giggle from opposite sides of the energy field.
“Come on. We need to get into position.” Jeqi waves at Atae to follow her. The blue-haired hybrid nods her head and holds her breath as she steps through the field.
“Ow.” Atae’s visor studs tear free of her earlobes and fall to the ground on the outside of the energy field.
“You’re not allowed to bring your visor. Or anything else for that matter. Only your hilt. Did you even read the rules?”
“There are rules?” Atae massages her earlobes, and Jeqi sighs as she leads them through the crowd of younglings to their assigned position. The tournament arena is far more extensive than anything Atae could’ve imagined. The royal palace could fit inside the massive field. The walls, masquerading as stone, stand five stories high, and an energy field fluctuates above them to create a dome. Large boulders and jagged stones jut out of the ground, and a large pool of water cuts the arena in half. So the only way to reach the opposite end of the field is to cross a fragile-looking bridge. Not trusting its dark complexion, Atae and Jeqi eye the calm water.
“What do you think of that?” Atae asks.
“Nothing good.”
As the two females cross the massive arena, they pass dozens of small, translucent energy domes that house fellow competitors. Groups, no more than four, stand inside their energy constructs, waiting for the tournament to begin or for their fellow packmates to join them. Atae doesn’t notice the silver orbs residing at the top of each energy field, but Jeqi takes note and bites her lip. When they reach their assigned dome, Marqee waits inside, and he nods in greeting when they cross the energy field. Two of the three metals orbs docked to their mound detach and drop down to join the group.
One small, round ball buzzes around her head, and Atae sneers at it. “What is that thing?”
“It’s a camera,” Jeqi says. She swats at the second orb humming past her ear, and Marqee shrugs, seemingly unbothered by his camera.
“Every competitor has one assigned to follow them throughout the tournament,” he says. “Just destroy it when everything starts.”
“We won’t get into trouble?” Jeqi asks.
“Maybe a point or two. It’s not like you can’t afford it.”
“I think it’s worth it. This thing is freaking me out. Why are they recording us? It’s weird.”
“Spectators can use their visors to watch the competitors they want without the distraction of the others,” Marqee says. He smiles at Jeqi, flashing his adorable dimples, and the blonde bites her lip to stop her impending grin. Atae doesn’t notice her packmates odd response, nor her blushing cheeks.
“There are spectators? Why are there spectators?” she asks.
“Because that’s just how it works, Atae,” Jeqi snaps. “The Sula Academy Tournament is the second most-viewed production every season. Our performance here will help determine our odds in the Gridiron.”
“Yeah, if we’re lucky, we’ll get our own fan club,” Marqee says.
“Doesn’t Sloan already have one? I can’t imagine why.”
“Where is Sloan?” Jeqi asks.
“We still have time. He’ll be here,” Marqee says. Atae twists her mouth and jams a hand to hip before raising an eyebrow at the dimpled purebred.
“How can you be so certain?”
“Because he knows me,” Sloan shouts from several domes away with Debil wrapped around him. Arms slip from his neck and slide down is dark, muscular arms to grab his hands and his attention. Turning back to the purebred female, Sloan says something that pulls a cascade of giggles from Debil, and Atae is thankful to be out of earshot. He slips from Debil’s grasp and sends her a faux pouting expression as he joins his pack under the dome.
“Did you miss me?” Upon his arrival, their last camera activates and buzzes overhead.
“About as much as I’m going to miss these cameras,” Atae says. “Where have you been?”
“I ran into an old friend. Tell me, how is it possible that you’ve never seen an energy field?”
“You’ve never seen an-”
“I’ve seen one. I’ve seen dozens of them. I’ve just never used one before today.”
It doesn’t occur to Atae to wonder how Sloan knows of her inept experience with energy fields. Instead, she stews in her embarrassment.
“Wow, these are really annoying,” Sloan admits and snatches his camera from the air. He smiles at its amusing struggle to escape his grasp until it lashes out with a crackling shock that reverberates up Sloan’s arm.
“Ouch.” He drops the nasty ball, and it returns to its mission. “Oh, you are so going to die as soon as this round starts.”
“You realize that you’re threatening a machine,” Atae says.
“A machine that’s going to die.”
Atae bites her cheek to hide her amused smile, but Sloan catches it with a wink. Before Atae can salvage her reputation with a snide remark, an alarm blares, and their translucent dome glows green. The majority of the other energy field follow suit, but a few flare red. The remaining younglings rush to their assigned vaults. Once their packs are complete, their energy construct changes from red to green. It only takes a moment for every dome to signal green, but it doesn’t last long. In harmony, all the fields deactivate with loud cackles that echo across the arena.
Atae, Jeqi, Marqee, and Sloan gather close as they walk across the field and inspect the competition. Their cameras buzz all around them, and Atae swats at one that skims her ear.
“How am I supposed to concentrate with these things flying around?”
“Like this,” Sloan says. He unsheathes his hilt, and his broadsword springs to life. With a few swings of his blade, metal scraps and electronic parts crash to the ground. All four cameras meet their deaths within moments.
“I told you I’d kill them.”
“I’m pretty sure that we’re going to get into trouble for that,” Atae says. Sloan shrugs at her with a crooked smile and sheathes his hilt, while Atae hides another amused smile by glancing around the field. Jeqi motions toward several packs.
“Offensively, those are the ones we should target.”
“Fine by me,” Sloan says. “Just waiting for the signal.”
As if on cue, a massive hologram assembles over the pool in the center of the arena, and everyone pauses to watch.
“Welcome, everyone, to the twelfth seasonal Sula Academy Tournament.” Skiska’s voice booms across the arena, and her round face beams. “I don’t know about you, but I’m very excited to see how this turns out.”
“As is the rest of the empire. Almost 60 percent of the entire viewing public is tuned in today.” Frack’s square head assembles next to his co-host. “This season’s class of younglings marks the first group to attend all twelve seasons of training that Sula Academy offers.”
“So, they should be the best of the best.”
“Should be,” Frack says. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
“Well, let’s get started, shall we?”
“Everyone knows the tournament
rules, but we’ll remind you. All of our competitors have been stripped of their visors and anything else deemed helpful,” Frack says. Atae strokes her empty earlobes with a begrudging frown.
“Only one weapon is allowed. Most competitors chose a ranged or bladed hilt,” Skiska says. Jeqi touches her holstered hilt and glances at each of her allies, sporting weapons of their own.
“Everyone must enter the arena in their first form. After that, all’s fair,” Frack says. Atae glances around the field to confirm and pauses when she notices Debil and Seva watching them. She waves at the two purebreds, but Debil glares at her from across the arena.
“She’s going to be a problem,” Sloan whispers at Atae’s back. The blue hybrid stares up at him.
“What did I do to her?”
Sloan chuckles at Atae’s question and shrugs in answer.
“Now, the rules for round one,” Frack says. “This is an all-out brawl. For every competitor that yields to another, the winning competitor wins ten points. Once a competitor yields, he or she can no longer fight. If you continue to fight, your entire pack will be disqualified. Falling unconscious, dying, sustaining a crippling injury, or a verbal surrender constitutes yielding.”
“As always, leaving the arena disqualifies your entire pack,” Skiska says. “Fifty packs of four will compete, but only forty packs will advance to round two. When ten complete packs yield, the round ends.”
“Don’t forget, only half the arena is lighted.”
“Oh, that’s right. That should make things more interesting.” With Skiska’s words, an energy field bursts into life and splits the arena in half over the giant pool. From a distance, Atae can tell that the energy construct is not dangerous but meant to control the light on either side of the arena.
“It gives the purebreds on the dark side a great advantage if they can shift fast enough to put their night vision to use,” Frack says.
“Which side are we on?” Jeqi asks no one in particular, but Marqee answers.
“We’ll find out soon enough.”
“I think that about sums up the rules for round one,” Skiska says. “Should we get started?”
“Yes, enough rules. Let the tournament begin!”
With that, the lights around Atae’s pack darken as their side of the arena falls into a pitch-black fog.
Chapter 20
“Of course, we get stuck on the wrong side,” Marqee says. From his voice, Atae can tell he is a few paces behind her.
“Jeqi,” she says.
“I’m here,” Jeqi answers from Atae’s left. The darkness is thick and heavy against her chest, but Atae commands her lungs to breathe steady and deep. She reaches for her packmate and grips Jeqi’s shoulder. The blonde stays close, using her Setunn night vision to watch the battlefield around them.
“You didn’t expect this to be easy, did you?” Sloan chuckles at Marqee’s side. “We can’t see a thing. We need to shift.”
“Wait,” Jeqi says. “Follow me.”
Atae, still holding Jeqi’s arm, reaches back with her free hand to grab an arm behind her. Startled, Marqee pulls away at first, then he recovers and snatches Atae’s hand. He does the same for Sloan. Jeqi guides her pack to the protection of a nearby boulder. When they all have a secure hold on the stone, she glances around.
“I’ll be back.”
“Where are you going?” Atae asks.
When no one answers, the darkness grows much heavier, causing her lungs to tighten, so Atae presses her face against the stone. The rough texture keeps her grounded and beats back the phantom laugh whispering through her mind.
I am not weak. I am strong. I am Kaji.
“She’s gone. Sloan, you shift first,” Marqee says. “I’ll watch your back.”
“Both of you should shift now,” Atae says over her shoulder. With the side of her face pressed against the rock, Atae watches other younglings activate their hilts in the distance. She shakes her head at the stupidity. Now, the handful of energy blades dancing in the darkness are targets for aggressive younglings hoping to win points.
“Do you think we’re going to trust you to protect us? You can’t see anything,” Sloan says. If it weren’t for the darkness, Atae knows she’d see a snide expression plastered on the older Kaji. Instead, she watches a nearby energy blade clatter to the ground and disperse into the darkness.
“Neither of us can see right now. Both of you need to shift as quickly as possible, and you need to trust Jeqi and me to do whatever it takes to survive this round. If that means protecting you two idiots for a few moments, then so be it.”
“Hurry up,” Jeqi says from Atae’s side, making her jump. “Those around us are almost finished shifting. We’ll be ripe for the picking soon.”
“Fine,” Sloan says, his voice already gravelly from the change.
“Where did you go?” Atae asks.
“I scouted the area and took advantage of a few exposed purebreds and some idiots with hilts.”
“How many did you get?”
“Six.”
“Well, I’m impressed.” Atae attempts a strained chuckle then grows serious. “Tell me what you see.”
“We are surrounded by battle beasts,” Jeqi says. Atae nods at the sounds of nearby beasts crawling to their feet. She listens to a fight break out to the left of their little pack and another to the right. A scream echoes across the field, but Atae can’t determine how far the victim stands.
“We need to get to the lighted side,” Atae says. Another scream echoes across the field, and this time, she watches the light from a hilt fall in the distance.
“We don’t have long.”
As the screams close in on Atae and her pack, a familiar tendril of fear laces up her spine and taunts her with the voice of nightmares. The sensation of Salyn watching her from under the dark cloak slips into the back of her mind. She pushes against the weight of the abyss surrounding her and darts her eyes around the darkness. She searches shapes or figures until a sharp pain stabs into her skull as a familiar silver wisp invades Atae’s mind and tugs at a mental switch. Pressure builds behind her eyes, and she grabs at her head in pain. When discomfort subsides a moment later, Atae opens her eyes to an illuminated arena. She watches battle beasts tear down the remaining hilts glowing in the distance as she whispers to Jeqi.
“Is it over? Why did they turn the lights back on?”
“What are you talking about?” Jeqi says. She scopes out their tiny perimeter around the boulder for threats. Atae’s brow furrows as she notes the strange shadows and the shifting darkness. When she focuses on one particular warrior, the area around him brightens, but anything beyond the warrior’s near vicinity darkens. Only when she focuses on the arena as a whole does everything brighten. With sudden realization, Atae gasps, causing Jeqi to spin around. Upon seeing Atae, the blonde gapes.
“Atae, your eyes are-”
Before Jeqi can finish her thought, Atae grabs her by the shoulder and pushes her to the side. Jeqi stumbles to her knees to the right of Atae just as a battle beast lands between them. Seva had planned to pick Jeqi off while her back was turned, but, thanks to Atae’s quick reflexes, she missed. Now, the battle beast swings her snarling jaws toward Atae and growls at the helpless hybrid. Atae sidesteps to Seva’s left and away from the still vulnerable Marqee and Sloan. The beast follows her prey with her bladed tail thrashing above.
Back on her feet and behind Seva, Jeqi unsheathes her claws and hisses, but Atae motions for her to fall back. Someone needs to protect Marqee and Sloan. She can’t spare a glance at their progress but hopes it won’t be too much longer.
Just a few more moments.
Seva’s massive jaws snap and snarl at Atae, and she steps back. Atae searches her brain for any plan or idea on how to hurt her opponent without drawing her hilt and attracting more enemies. When Atae spots Debil stalking her from behind, she worries at her chances of escaping this predicament. Tournament participants are counseled to exercise restraint and
avoid any severe injuries. A broken bone here or there, maybe a light mauling, but nothing life-threatening. Still, accidents happen on occasion, and Atae suspects that she might be on the receiving end of an accident today.
Might as well. She unsheathes her hilt. Brandishing the small energy blade fills her with a swell of confidence, and she smiles at the circling battle beasts.
Debil spins around to whip her bladed tail against Atae’s small frame. She tries to block the strike with her hilt, but the strength of the blow knocks it from her hand. As the beasts circle in for the final blow, the confidence that filled Atae swirls away. Once again, fear surrounds her, and she struggles to breathe. The silver particles that coat her mind tug at another switch, and something sharp slices through Atae’s arms. Unprepared for the sudden pain, Atae falls to her knees, cradling her arms to her chest, and Seva uses the distraction to attack. At the moment that Seva pounces, Atae throws her arms up as a shield against the battle beast’s jaws.
Seva yelps when her mouth falls upon two razor-sharp blades instead of vulnerable flesh. Atae’s eyes widen as Seva falls back, shaking her head and whining at the sudden injury. Debil growls on behalf of her packmate and snarls at Atae. This time aiming for the hybrid’s unprotected back, Debil swings her bladed tail again. Still on her knees with her forearms shielding her face, Atae spins toward the incoming blade. Sparks dance through the night as Debil’s tail blade bounces off Atae’s forearms. Undeterred, Debil swings her tail around for another blow, and Atae braces for impact until Marqee slams into Debil. Sloan tackles Seva before she has a chance to rescue her packmate.
Jeqi runs to Atae’s side but stops an arm’s length away. Ignoring the tussling beasts all around her, Atae stares at the blades erupting from her forearms. Similar to the daggers on a battle beast’s front legs, the thick, sharp edges curve the length of her arm.
Impossible. It can’t be real. I’m hallucinating.
As the blades recede, the real pain of muscle and tissue splitting apart pushes all doubt from her mind. When her forearms are completely smooth again, Atae stares up at Jeqi, who gapes in return.