by Kieran Song
She was stunned by his suggestion.
“No,” she said. “You can’t.”
Tiberius took her by the hands and reassured her. “I owe it to you and to Dog. He needs to be at peace.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine.
It had been a while since Tiberius last walked through the damp stone corridors leading to the pit. The smell was still the same, like a butcher’s den.
All around him, he heard the sounds of anarchy—screaming and gunfire—but he ignored it. His focus was on one thing only. Retrieving Dog’s body. The entrance to the pit was unmanned and with Ryker’s guards busy trying to subdue the crowd, the gate was left wide open.
Tiberius stepped onto the sand.
The tiger noticed his presence and immediately sprung into a defensive position and growled. It bared its teeth, the same ones that tore out Dog’s life. Tiberius was impassive and slowly reached for the bat that Dog had discarded, his eyes never leaving the animal. He gripped the bat in one hand and polished the wooden surface with the other while the tiger watched. The two faced each other in silence, both cautious and anticipating the fight yet to come.
“Come on then,” Tiberius finally said. The tiger leapt at him.
He gripped the bat at both ends and braced for the impact as the creature landed on top of him. They both crashed into a heap and Tiberius found himself pinned to the ground while the tiger snarled at him from above.
Tiberius positioned the tip of the bat underneath the tiger’s jaw and pushed the creature’s head back, struggling to avoid its fangs, only inches away.
The tiger was resilient and Tiberius felt daggers tear into his chest as the animal’s claws left a bloody gash in his flesh. He ignored the pain and continued pushing the tiger’s head with the tip of the bat as the muscles in his shoulders smoldered into an aching burn.
The beast roared and tried to take another swipe with its claw but Tiberius delivered a powerful kick to its soft underbelly and the tiger fell back, allowing the former champion to clamber onto his feet.
The tiger shrugged off the attack and charged again with uncanny speed. A bright orange blur flashed before Tiberius’s eyes and smashed against him. He felt winded, but managed to regain his footing. Like a domineering dance partner, he struggled with the tiger as it tried to wrestle him back onto the ground.
He drove the end of the bat into the fleshy pit of the tiger’s jaw and it collapsed to the sand, but only for a second, as it sprung back onto its paws with its cat-like instinct.
“Not so confident anymore are you?” Tiberius said.
They slowly circled each other, none willing to strike first. Tiberius positioned the bat over his shoulder, ready to swing with all his might should the beast lunge at him. The tiger, however, was patient.
Tiberius decided to provoke it.
He reached down and grabbed a handful of sand while the creature eyed him with suspicion, but it kept itself at a distance, patiently waiting for the opportune time to attack. That didn’t last long. Tiberius hurled the sand at its face and the beast let out a vicious roar and pounced again. He underestimated the animal’s speed and before he could bring the bat up to defend himself, the tiger’s claw found its mark and savagely struck the right side of his face.
His head throbbed as he staggered backwards. Instinctively he touched the wetness of his cheek with his free hand and felt the exposed muscle through flaps of skin. Tiberius tried to open his mouth but the pain was too excruciating. Warm blood pooled into his mouth and he spat it out.
The tiger lunged again, sensing weakness, ready to strike the killing blow.
Tiberius was ready this time. With speed that rivaled his opponent, he drove the end of the bat forcefully into the tiger’s left eye and he felt the crunch of bone behind the weight of the weapon. The tiger howled and leapt backwards, stunned.
Its left eye was in ruins as blood dripped down the side of it. Tiberius found another opening and he swung the bat as hard as he could, shattering the tiger’s front right leg. The beast immediately collapsed to the ground with a yelp.
He stared at the broken creature. It was finished.
Tiberius couldn’t help but feel empathy for it. The beast was stolen away from his home, and brought to this foreign place, forced to use its animal instincts to survive. It was no different than all the other slaves.
“You’re free now,” Tiberius said. “Broken, but free.”
The tiger turned its head away and licked its crushed leg. Its left eyelid was tightly shut as a red trickle leaked down the side of it, drawing a thin crimson line across its orange fur. It whimpered, like a wounded cub.
Tiberius walked over to Dog’s body and picked him up in his arms and took him away from the pit forever.
Chapter Forty.
Allegra watched as Tiberius strolled into her chambers, Dog’s lifeless body cradled in his arms.
Dog looked so tiny and frail now, no longer the physical force he once was. Allegra longed to hear his breathing again.
She turned to Tiberius and noticed his wounds. “We need to go to the infirmary,” Allegra ordered. “You’re seriously hurt.”
His chest wounds were superficial and she mended those with ease. However the wound on his face was severe. Allegra did her best to patch it up and slow the bleeding. The gash was deep though and a chunk of cartilage had been torn out, forever scarring Tiberius’s once handsome features.
When the bleeding finally stopped, Allegra wrapped a bandage around the lower part of his face, carving out an opening at the mouth so he could speak and breath.
“I’m sorry,” Allegra said. “Your face—it will be permanent.”
Tiberius surrendered to the fact. “It’s fine,” he said. “It’s another scar added to my body. I’ve never had much use for my looks.”
“That man, Damien, he seemed to know you,” Allegra pointed out.
“Strange if he did,” Tiberius replied. “I don’t remember ever meeting him.”
He wandered over to one of the free beds in the infirmary and laid down. “If you don’t mind, I will rest here for a bit.”
While Tiberius slept, Allegra tended to Dog’s body, cleaning the blood off of him with both water and tears. She dressed the fatal wound around his neck, cleaning it first and then wrapping a cloth around it; hiding the injury from sight.
It was hard to imagine that the body lying on the operating table once held Allegra in his arms, comforting her when she needed it.
“Perhaps I could have loved you,” she said. “Given more time.” But now, she would never know.
He was dead.
“I regret what I said to you,” Allegra whispered. “I should have never blamed Maria’s death on you and I lied when I said I couldn’t stand to look at you. It was a horrible thing to do. The world goes to hell and I spend my time taking it out on the person who loves me most. You did your best. Please forgive me if you can.”
She wiped the last bit of sand off his hands and held them in her own while she stood and watched him with vigilance. Almost an hour passed before Tiberius’s voice interrupted her, waking from his sleep.
“He was stronger than all of us.” Tiberius said. “He was stronger than me in the end.”
Allegra nodded. “Sometimes, I feel so ashamed when I’m with Dog. I compare myself to him and realize how weak I really am.”
“There is no shame in being weak,” Tiberius said.
“Dog loved me you know.”
“I could tell.”
“I used him. I needed someone to protect me and I used his love for my benefit. He gave me physical comfort when I needed it, but when it came down to loving him back, I couldn’t do it,” she said. “Now he’s dead and I’m asking him why he loved me in the first place. I’m just a slave girl who’s a leech and incapable of giving someone the love they deserve. Everything seems so surreal. Some days Ty, I feel like I’m being punished.” She shook her head and laughed in exasperation.
“Please Al
legra. His death had nothing to do with you. Don’t take it out on yourself.”
“Dog refused to look at his own reflection. He was afraid that the person looking back at him was a monster. But you know what? He was beautiful, inside and out. And now he’s gone. Another victim of this horrible place.”
She looked at Tiberius and clenched her fist and suddenly began shaking. “I had him Ty,” she said. “For once I had the courage to do something and I could have killed Ryker. It would have ended all this madness and maybe Dog would still be alive. Why did you stop me?”
Tiberius shook his head. “Ryker holds something over me and I’ve always been too much of a coward to confront him.”
“What does he have over you?”
“He has my sister,” Tiberius replied. And then Allegra understood.
She thought of her own brother and how one time, he had protected her from being bullied by four other boys in school. She was five at the time, he, seven. He stood against them all. They beat him silly, giving him a black eye and a bloody nose, but finally they grew bored and ran off to play handball with some of the older kids.
“You’re hurt,” Allegra had said.
“It’s nothing,” her brother replied, his pride clearly broken.
“What are we going to tell Mom and Dad?” she asked.
“You pushed me down the stairs.”
“But I didn’t,” Allegra had protested.
“Fine. I fell down the stairs.”
“How do you get a black eye from falling down the stairs?”
“My face hit a doorknob, okay? Can we go home now?”
“Thanks.”
“I get your dessert for a week,” he had bargained. Allegra had given him her desert for a month.
She smiled at the memory.
“You’re…happy?” Tiberius asked confused.
Allegra was aware of the inappropriateness of her smile. “It’s nothing Ty. I’m just remembering my own brother. That’s all.”
“I see.”
“I’m sorry. It’s not your fault, I shouldn’t have blamed you,” she said. “I have this bad habit of blowing up at people. The last thing I told Dog was how I can’t stand to look at him anymore. It was such an awful thing to say.”
“I’m sure he knew you cared about him.”
“I can only hope,” she said as she glanced over at Dog’s body. “Do you think he was afraid just before he died?”
“All men are afraid to die,” Tiberius said. “But some find courage in those final moments before their life ends. I remember this older man from my first fight. He was physically stronger than me. When the match started, he condemned Ryker to hell and then laid down his weapon and said, ‘My life is not worth more than yours. Do it so it doesn’t hurt.’ He got down on his knees and waited for me to kill him. He was terrified, I could see that, but when I held his head in between my hands, he seemed at peace. His eyes were closed and he was smiling. I snapped his neck, and just like that, I took the life of one of the bravest people I’ve ever seen. He was at peace when he died and just before Dog’s death, I saw the same look on his face as I did on that man.”
“He did seem at peace,” Allegra said. She paused. “I wonder if there’s a place in heaven for him.”
“Maybe.”
“Do you ever pray?”
“I’m not on good terms with God.”
“I’ll pray for him,” Allegra said. “And hope that everything he’s done in the Arena is forgiven. God must have seen how loving he was to me — that should be good enough. He deserves that happiness and peace.”
“I hope you are right.”
Allegra held Dog’s hands again and sighed. “What about Ryker?” she asked.
“He’s finished. The crowd’s turned on him, and so has his benefactor. They’re both unforgiving. The Arena can’t survive, not after this.”
Allegra disagreed. “Ryker’s not done yet,” she said. “He’s desperate for money. He’s going to try and sell me.”
Tiberius’s silence confirmed her theory. She was the fast and easy cash that Ryker needed to pay off his debts.
“I have one more chance to strike at Ryker,” Allegra said, her eyes never leaving Dog’s body. “Find out when he’ll sell me. I’m going to make sure Ryker pays. I’m going to put the final nail in the coffin.”
Tiberius nodded.
“One more thing Ty,” she said. “Please don’t try and stop me this time.”
Tiberius agreed. “Never again.”
Chapter Forty-One.
The auction was scheduled sooner than Allegra had expected.
“I thought I would have more time,” she said when Tiberius gave her the news.
“Ryker is desperate for the money,” he said. “He’s a dead man if he can’t pay back his loan to Damien.”
“Tomorrow?” Allegra asked.
“Yes,” Tiberius confirmed. “Ryker has given me instructions to prepare the viewing room. He has four people interested: two Romanian slavers, a Japanese Yakuza boss, and one local from America.”
Allegra was beginning to doubt herself. “Can I really do this?”
“Yes, you can.” Tiberius said. “If only I wasn’t scared to act sooner, things might have been different. My weakness was my failure. Don’t let it be yours as well.”
“I would never think to call you scared,” Allegra said. “You were always so dominant in the fights.”
“It was never my life I feared for,” Tiberius said. “Sometimes love weakens a man, no matter how physically strong he is.”
“Not just man,” Allegra said. “Woman as well.”
The hallways, once filled with guards and slaves, were now at half capacity. Many of Ryker’s men were injured or killed during the riots and the lack of their presence was noticeable. Allegra felt the tiny, and invigorating, taste of freedom. She could now roam the corridors without having someone watching her every footstep.
Allegra knocked on Jacob’s door and took a deep breath. It was time.
Jacob greeted her with sympathy and offered her his condolences. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I know Dog was important to you.”
“Thanks Jacob,” Allegra said. She paused. “I need your help.”
“Yes of course. Anything, Allegra, anything.”
She filled him in on her plan and how he fit into it. However when she was done, Jacob protested. He clearly was not comfortable with the idea.
“Allegra, think about what you’re doing,” he said. “You can’t. You simply can’t.”
“It’s the only way,” she said. “I’m going to be sold tonight Jacob. I can stop it, and I can stop Ryker.”
“It’ll be permanent,” he said. “Please, reconsider.”
She rested a hand on his shoulder in order to calm him. “Dog sacrificed his life and set the wheels in motion. I need to do the same and finish this. We all dreamed of putting an end to Ryker, and this is the way to do it.”
Jacob lamented for a moment before finally conceding. “I’m going to miss that pretty face of yours.”
“What do you care?” she laughed. “I’m not your type.”
“I still enjoy beauty,” he replied. “In a place so ugly as this, I take it where I can get it.”
Jacob had her lie down on his table and like a skilled surgeon, he set to work with complete focus. Allegra closed her eyes and remained motionless, her breath held for most of the time. This was Jacob’s last tattoo, she knew. In a way she was honoured, but sad as well.
It was to be his masterpiece, the one piece of art that would make it all come to an end.
Chapter Forty-Two.
Hideo Yoshida was the first to arrive. For the most part, he kept silent though when he did speak, it was in his mother tongue, despite the well-known fact that he was fluent in English. Tiberius greeted him at the entrance and led them down the winding tunnels of the Arena. Ryker usually welcomed guests himself, but with recent events, he had grown paranoid of leaving his quarters unl
ess absolutely necessary. He left the task of escorting Allegra’s potential buyers to a few trusted guards above the surface and to Tiberius down below.
“Mr. Yoshida would like to thank you for your hospitalities,” Yoshida’s translator said. “He has seen many of your matches and hopes to bring you back to Tokyo one day and fight in one of his underground events.”
“My time for fighting is done,” Tiberius said. If Yoshida took offence to the rejection, he kept it well hidden. Instead the Yakuza boss whispered into the translator’s ear and then respectfully nodded at Tiberius.
“Perhaps you will reconsider one day. Mr. Yoshida can make you a very wealthy man.”
“There’s only one thing in this world I want, and it’s not money,” Tiberius replied. The translator nodded.
“With respect.”
Yoshida grunted and stroked his thin bony chin with the tip of his thumb. He was dressed in a pure white business suit that hugged his thin frame. Just above the collar, Tiberius could see the blue and red inks. The Yakuza decorated their bodies with tattoos as well, though for different reasons than the slaves of the fighting pits. Trailing behind him were six men in black suits, Yoshida’s personal security.
Tiberius led them to the viewing room where four large leather chairs were set up in front of a panoramic viewing window. Beyond the glass was a circular stage hidden away behind a red curtain.
“Please, sit,” Tiberius gestured towards one of the leather seats. “The auction will begin shortly.”
Yoshida grunted again and whispered into the translator’s ear.
“Mr. Yoshida would like to know what happened to your face,” the translator said. Tiberius nearly forgot about the bandages covering the gaping hole in his cheek. He lifted his hand and gently brushed against it. The wrappings, changed only hours ago, were still clean.