by Jamie Davis
“Don’t make fun of me. I’m going to enjoy watching you die, Hal Dix. It’s gonna wipe that smirk off your face real fast.”
The captain turned to the other guards.
“Take him away and go bring his bunk mates to the cells with him. They can commiserate together while they await their final fate.”
Hal was still smiling as they dragged him away.
20
Hal stood in the corner of the cell and concentrated on his Chakra regeneration skill as he went through the intricate motions. He needed to heal himself up as far as possible if he was going to survive the coming fight.
A warmth spread across his body and his aches disappeared. He felt a lot better.
12 health points restored.
A look at his health stats showed he wasn’t fully healed but he was close.
Health: 90/98
It would have to do.
A commotion down the hallway from his cell drew Hal from his meditation and he looked up to see Kay, Junica, Rune and Otto being pushed down the row of cells until they arrived at Hal’s location.
“I see you managed to drag us all in on this suicide mission for the Warden and his guests,” Kay said.
Hal shrugged. He didn’t know what to say.
“You know me well enough that I wouldn’t have done it if I’d known how it would turn out, Kay.”
She closed her mouth.
“Don’t worry, Kay,” Junica said. “We knew we were all going to die at some point in this gods-forsaken place. Now is as good a time as any.”
Otto grunted his agreement as the four of them were pushed into the cell with Hal.
Rune was silent as usual. He nodded to Hal and sat down cross-legged in the corner.
Hal waited for the guards to lock the door and leave them alone before he spoke.
“We’re not going to die, guys.”
“If you say, ‘I’ve got a plan,’ Hal. So help me…” Kay said.
She was smiling, though, which told Hal she wasn’t really mad at him.
“I won’t say it if you don’t want me to. Just trust me.”
“That’s even worse.” Kay threw her arms up and laughed as she turned away and walked across the cell.
“You both act like you’ve been through this before,” Otto growled. “This is no laughing matter.”
“Easy, Otto,” Hal said. “Kay and I go back a long way and we’ve been through tough scrapes before. The guard captain isn’t the first person who’s tried to kill me and been sure they’d discovered the perfect plan to do it.”
“Your point?” Otto asked.
“We’re still here and they’re not,” Hal said. “It’s that simple. We survived, against all odds to the contrary. The two of us, almost single-handedly, brought down the Emperor’s Wardens in Tandon. That is why we are condemned to fight to the death in this coliseum. I’m not giving up and neither is Kay. The question is, Otto, are you?”
“Bah!” Otto exclaimed, throwing up his hands, turning away from Hal in exasperation.
Junica stepped in to answer for him.
“What our large friend is trying to say is, we’ll all fight to the end. We’re not going to roll over and die for anyone.”
“Good,” Hal said. “That’s settled. Now all we have to do is wait for the games to begin.”
“Wait,” Junica said. “What is the plan? We need to know your plan if we’re expected to survive.”
Hal shrugged. “I won’t know until I get there. That’s how it works.”
“How what works?” Junica asked.
“His karma,” Rune muttered aloud from across the cell.
All the others turned to look at the eastern monk. He still sat cross-legged on the floor with his eyes closed.
“It is how he survives,” Rune continued. He opened his eyes and looked up at his companions. “Hal’s karma is to survive until he fulfills his destiny. If he is the Opponent of prophecy, he must survive to face the Emperor at the end of his ultimate quest.”
“You’re saying that no matter what they throw at us up there,” Otto asked. “Hal must survive because he has a preordained destiny? That makes him invincible and we all know that no one is invincible.”
“No, not invincible,” Rune said. “But as the stars and planets align, if there’s a chance to survive, he’ll find it, even if he stumbles upon it by accident.”
“Now, that’s the best way I’ve ever heard to describe one of Hal’s famous plans,” Kay said. “Accidental. Pure, dumb luck.”
“So, we’re supposed to trust that he might figure a way to survive totally by accident?” Otto asked.
“Someday,” Kay said. “I’ll tell you the way we snuck into the Temple of the Sun to kill the final two wardens in Tandon. You won’t believe it.”
“Try me,” Otto said.
Kay sighed and rolled her eyes at Hal then started to recount the tale of their final assault on the Emperor’s leaders in Tandon.
Hal listened with only half his attention. The rest of his mind thought about what Rune said about his karma. It made him wonder what that final encounter would be like and who would survive that foretold meeting between the Emperor and the Opponent. The possibilities didn’t sit well with him.
He didn’t say much the rest of the afternoon as his mind chewed on the questions he had. The others decided to try and top Kay’s description of the Temple battle with tales of their own exploits. The mood in the cell lightened as the companions bonded over their shared stories and tall tales.
The five companions were outfitted in their typical armor and weapons before they were marched up from the underground gladiator pens to stand before the double doors that led to the arena’s sandy field.
Hal shifted his partially repaired ring-mail armor so it didn’t chafe at his neck and settled his helmet over his head. The conical helmet’s leather padding’ pressed on his forehead as the steel nose guard momentarily blocked his vision when he twisted the helmet from side to side to seat it in place.
He pulled his metal embossed, round shield around off his back sliding his left arm into the shield’s straps. Hal checked his sword belt and felt for the longsword on his left hip and a long dagger on his right. He was as ready as he was going to be.
Hal’s companions were doing similar last-minute checks on their equipment. Like fine artisans would do before beginning their daily work, these warriors checked the tools of their trade.
Junica tested the taut bowstring on her recurved bow and drew two arrows, gripping one with the forefinger of her bow hand and nocking the other to the string so she had two of her deadly missiles ready to go. She was dressed in her forest-green leather armor, covered in metal studs for additional protection. The archer also had dual long knives on her belt and a wicked-looking hand axe tucked at the small of her back.
Otto wore his steel breast plate and his horned helmet. The burnished steel of the big man’s armor reflected the torchlight making the bright steel stand out from his black skin. His gauntleted hands gripped the haft of his double-bladed battle-axe so hard the leather in the gloves creaked.
Kay was suited up as she’d been the last time, in chainmail hauberk and a round, plumed helmet. She had a longsword and dagger on opposite hips and she had a small kite shield on one arm.
Rune was the one who Hal most wanted to see in action. The bald monk was wearing no armor, still in his loose-fitting robes. He had armed himself with a six-foot-long staff topped with a broad, double-edged blade about eighteen inches long. Rune stood with the butt of his staff planted in front of him, both hands gripping it at shoulder height. His eyes were closed and Hal was sure he was in the midst of a meditation in preparation for the coming battle.
Hal heard a roar from the crowd as the double doors opened and the sunlight flooded into the corridor leading out to the arena’s floor.
“Move out to the center of the arena and await your fate,” the guard captain said. “I’ll be here to watch as the slaves
drag your butchered bodies back in a few minutes.”
Hal opened his mouth to deliver a sarcastic comment but the others started marching forward and he decided to save it for another occasion. He followed along with them, stepping out into the warm sunshine as the crowd cheered them on to their deadly encounter.
The group reached the center of the arena and waited for their opponents to enter. They didn’t have to wait too long. The double doors opposite them opened and a band of twenty orcs entered the arena.
They seemed confused for a moment, looking around at the cheering spectators in the stands and the armed guards lining the walls of the central fighting pit. Hal remembered these orcs had just been captured from a battle with a northern tribe. This would be their first introduction to the brutality of the coliseum here in Hyroth.
Hal wished he could have met them under different circumstances. Instead, their leader, a tall orc, armed with a spiked war hammer, pointed to the five smaller humans in the center of the arena and bellowed something in Orcish. The rest of the tribesmen bellowed their war-cries and charged at the group.
The slots started spinning in Hal’s head. He knew his luck was in play.
Calling out to his friends, Hal said, “Junica, take out as many as you can, then we form up back to back and fight as a unit. Don’t let them separate us from each other or we’re all dead.
Junica started snapping shots as fast as she could draw her bow.
One after another, the orcs started to fall.
She was able to drop five of the twenty orcs before she dropped her bow and drew her long knives.
Junica had bettered the odds for them a little bit. Now the rest of the group had their work to do.
Leading the group’s assault, Otto’s two-handed battle axe swung in broad arcs, parting the mob of orcs, spreading them around the knot of human gladiators.
Hal ducked behind his shield as a swords and axes bashed at him trying to break through his guard.
In between fending off blows from the orcs, Hal lunged and slashed with his blade at the circling orcs. He landed a few blows, but not enough.
The first painful strike he received came from a spear thrust. It slipped past his raised shield and pierced his thigh.
Hal grunted in pain as he hacked down at the spear’s shaft, breaking the wood off just below the spearhead.
His leg was bleeding profusely from a deep gash that pierced his armor and sliced into the flesh beneath.
Health damage: Health -8
The surprised orc pulled back his stub of a spear shaft, staring at the splintered end where Hal’s blade had shorn through it.
Hal saw his chance and swung a savage blow at the orc’s exposed neck and shoulder. Blood sprayed outward as he severed several arteries.
The tribesman fell backward clutching at his neck to staunch the flow of blood.
It was too late.
1,000 experience points awarded.
The orc numbers were diminished by the others as well. There were only ten left and they had stopped circling. The orc tribesmen settled in and pressed their attacks on the cluster of human warriors.
Hal couldn’t pay too much attention to his friends but he’d seen enough to realize all of them were injured to one extent or another. He snapped his focus back on the two orcs in front of him as they pressed home their attacks.
Parrying a flurry of sword blows, Hal was unable to do more than fend off a few of the attacks.
The damage started mounting as more each round of attacks broke through his defenses.
Health damage: Health -10
Health damage: Health -8
Health damage: Health -7
Hal landed two glancing blows but not enough to kill either orc. A glance at his health stats showed he was nearly at fifty percent.
Health: 57/98
The slots were still rolling and Hal looked for some opportunity where he could exploit his luck and take a chance.
It came when the two orcs in front of him stepped forward at the same time, causing each of them to stumble against each other.
Hal lunged, stretching out to his fullest reach until he felt the tip of his blade sink home into the chest of the closest orc.
The orc fell backward with a groan, clutching his belly and collapsed to the ground.
1,000 experience points awarded.
The lunge finished off one of the orcs but left Hal overextended and the orc’s companion seized the opportunity to hack down at Hal’s sword arm.
Health damage: Health -8
The stinging blow caused Hal to lose his grip on his sword. He pulled his injured arm back, leaving the blade on the sands of the arena.
Hal took the next two attacks on his raised shield while he worked his fingers to return feeling to them. He pulled out his long dagger and started thinking about whether it was worth trying to pick up his sword.
Catching a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye, Hal ducked as a spear thrust from behind him caught him by surprise.
A quick glance backward showed Junica was down and Rune was standing over her trying to fend off three orcs at once.
One of those orcs had tried a spear thrust at Hal exposed back.
Thank God for his prescience skill watching his back.
Despite the itch it caused between his shoulder blades, Hal had problems of his own as the orc he was facing pressed its attack.
Slash after slash landed on his shield, hacking slivers of wood away with each blow.
Hal waited for an opportunity to push forward and try and sink his dagger into the orc’s exposed neck, armpit, or groin where it would do the most damage.
He finally decided to risk opening himself up to an easy attack, luring his opponent in for what looked like an easy strike.
Letting his shield drop to the side and feigning fatigue, Hal waited for the orc to recognize his opening.
It didn’t take long.
The orc let out a war cry and charged forward, lunging at the perceived gap it saw in Hal’s defenses.
Hal felt the blade scrape along his upper arm, scoring a long slash on his shield arm before he could bring the shield back up to cover himself.
Health damage: Health -8
The ploy worked, though.
Hal’s hand snaked outward and plunged the dagger home into the orc’s armpit, the long blade reaching the tribesman’s heart, killing it instantly.
1,000 experience points awarded.
At the same instant he saw the message, a spear thrust from behind evaded his battle prescience and stabbed into his back.
Health damage: Health -6
Hal spun around to face the new attacker and saw that Rune was down on the ground, his robes stained with blood in multiple places.
There were just four orcs left at this point. Two on Otto, including the hammer-wielding leader, one on Kay, and one facing Hal with a spear.
Hal knew he had to work fast or they were finished. Both Kay and Otto were staggered by their wounds. Hal himself was down to a third of his health points.
Shouting in defiance, Hal charged the orc who’d stabbed him in the back.
He led with his shield and used it to push the spear tip up and aside as he rushed at the orc.
Once inside the spear’s arc, Hal tucked the shield in tight and bashed with the metal boss in the center of it at the orc’s chest.
A crunching sound and a grunt sounded from the orc as the shield slammed home, knocking him to the ground.
Hal rode the orc to the ground, trapping its arms with the shield and his body weight. He pressed his dagger up under the orc’s chin and shoved it home into the tribesman’s brain.
1,000 experience points awarded.
He stood immediately and grabbed the spear from the orc’s lifeless hands.
Turning in place and throwing in a single motion, he struck the orc standing over Kay, transfixing it through the chest and knocking it backwards before it could finish killing his friend w
here she lay on the ground unconscious.
1,000 experience points awarded.
Level up!
There was no time to rest as Otto went down under a savage hammer blow to his head that dented in his helmet on one side.
Hal raced forward and scooped up his dropped longsword before squaring off against the final orc, the chieftain.
“You, I kill slow for the joy of the crowd,” the chief snarled.
“Or we could opt not to fight each other at all,” Hal answered.
Apparently, that wasn’t the right thing to say as the orc chieftain growled his reply and charged at Hal, his war hammer raised over his head.
Hal ignored the pain pulsing outward from his various wounds and braced himself for the coming attack. He raised his shield to fend off the descending hammer blow.
He managed to deflect the attack but the shield shattered into splinters under the impact.
Hal shook his forearm free of the straps holding the useless shield in place on his arm.
As he dropped the broken shield, Hal spun in place and directed a two-handed swing of his sword at the chieftain’s torso.
The huge orc barely managed to pull his hammer back from his previous attack in time to brush away Hal’s blade.
Hal followed up with an attack on the other side. He had the smaller, quicker weapon and he managed to score a hit on the orc, cutting deep into its upper arm.
He must have severed a nerve. The orc chieftain’s second hand dropped from its hold on the huge war hammer to dangle uselessly at his side.
The chieftain didn’t let that setback deter him, though.
With an impressive show of strength, he surprised Hal by punching the head of the hammer horizontally into Hal’s chest, nearly knocking him to the ground.
Hal felt the small spike set in the top of the hammer’s haft penetrate his armor with a stab of pain to his upper chest.