by Jamie Davis
The thirty-seven human gladiators filed together onto the arena floor. Around them the waves of sound pounded down from the cheering crowds assembled for the Emperor’s birthday event at the coliseum.
Flemming Ginty sat in the VIP box with the other Wardens of Hyroth. There was also a tall man, dressed in polished black armor standing next to Ginty. His slick black hair was pulled back in a ponytail and he had a horrible scar running from his forehead, across his nose and down his left cheek.
Hal jerked his head up to the stands and leaned in to talk to Kay.
“Who’s the tall, dark, and gruesome fellow standing next to Flemming Ginty?”
Kay hissed between her teeth.
“Shit, that’s Baron Norak. He must have been sent to witness our deaths on behalf of the Emperor. This isn’t good, Hal. He’s the Emperor’s right hand. It is he who is charged with hunting down all the great rogue mages in the land. He is likely here to investigate rumors that the Opponent is real.”
“He’s just one more goon to kill,” Hal boasted. “He’ll get out of our way, or die. I care not.”
“He is said to be a formidable adversary, Hal,” Kay warned. “His black sword is supposed to be cursed to take the souls of those he kills. It steals the power of the slain and gives it to the wielder.”
“First, he’s got to kill me,” Hal said. “I’ve had a price on my head before, with wardens and others all trying to kill me. It hasn’t worked yet. I don’t plan on giving in now.”
“He won’t be alone, Hal. He has mages of his own and a whole regiment he travels with. It will not be easy to get past him and his men to escape the city.”
“You let me worry about that,” Hal replied. “We have to focus on the plan at hand. We’ll worry about getting out of this arena first. Once that is done, we’ll worry about getting everyone out of the city.”
Kay shook her head.
“Ever the optimist, Hal.”
“Is there any other way to be?” Hal smiled at her and settled his helmet over his head and pulled his shield around to the front, settling it in place with his arm in the straps.
Otto spoke up from the front of the group as the gladiators fanned out in a line across the floor of the arena.
“Here come the others.”
The big double doors on the far side of the arena opened and the non-human combatants filed out in their clan and tribal groups. There was a group of about twenty goblins, a small war band of seventeen orcs, five hill giants, and two towering brutes who looked like they were made of stone.
“What the hell are those?” Hal asked.
Junica answered from his right as she tested her bowstring.
“Those are rock trolls. They look like monstrous brutes, but they are perhaps the most intelligent of the troll-kin. They are as formidable as they look, though, so I hope your goblin chief has gotten them to join us in our plan or we are in real trouble.”
“Churg will hold up his end of the bargain, don’t worry,” Hal said. As he said it, he searched for the goblin chieftain in the group across the arena from them. He found him at the front of the cluster of goblins. The chief met his eyes and nodded.
“He’s ready, folks. The plan is on,” Hal said, loud enough for everyone in the line of gladiators to hear. “Remember your assignments and work fast. We have to pull this off before anyone can send for help.”
Hal looked up and down the line. His gaze was met with nods and grim smiles on the human gladiators’ faces.
A glance across the arena at the groups of their adversaries. He hoped Churg was able to remember his part of the plan. Both parts had to come together in order for his plan to work and there’d been limited communication to coordinate things.
The two battle lines faced off about fifty yards apart on the arena’s sandy floor. The crowd’s cheers settled down and a hush fell over the whole coliseum.
The event coordinator raised his speaking trumpet to his mouth and his booming voice echoed across the arena.
“Let the battle in honor of the Emperor’s birthday begin!”
A fanfare of horns and battle cries sounded from both sides as they charged towards each other.
Now was the moment of truth.
Hal focused on his luck and the slots in his head began spinning once more. The whirring of the slot machine’s dials spinning around rose to a humming whine in his ears.
It was louder than usual. He hoped that wasn’t a bad sign. Hal knew he was pressing his luck even more than usual, forcing it to work for not just himself and a single companion, but for an entire group of allies at once.
The charging humans and non-humans met at the center of the arena and the crowd gasped expecting the carnage to begin.
Instead of a collision of shields and armored bodies, the two groups passed between the other like fingers interlacing and charged beyond towards the ten-foot walls surrounding the fighting pit.
Junica and the other two human archers stopped in the center with two orc and three goblin archers. They stood in a loose circle and started firing their few arrows in rapid succession around the arena at the crossbowmen whose job it was to stop just such an attempted break out.
The guards on the walls hesitated, trying to pick between targets charging in their direction or archers picking them off from the center of the arena.
That hesitation was deadly as more and more of them fell to the arrows of the gladiators’ archers.
Hal didn’t have time to check on the success of the archers elsewhere. He was focused on reaching the section of wall directly in front of him as fast as his feet would carry him.
Kay, Otto, and Rune raced beside him, all aiming for the point on the wall just below the VIP box.
Two crossbowmen along that section of the wall were down and two others had crouched behind the low stone barrier, attempting to reload.
Other guards from the upper stands were racing downward, trying to force their way through the panicked crowds intent on fleeing the coliseum. The spectators only wanted to get away as armed and bloodthirsty gladiators climbed up into the stands behind them.
Hal and his friends reached the base of the wall and Otto braced himself against the stones while Rune scrambled up his back followed by Kay and then Hal.
By the time Hal reached the top and pulled himself over, Kay and Rune had killed the two remaining crossbowmen.
“Kay watch for more guards while Rune and I reach down to help Otto up.”
The big man was heavy, especially in his full armor. It took painful, long seconds to get him up and over the wall. They managed it and the big man rolled over the top of the low parapet to the floor of the stands with the loud clatter of metal on stone. Otto rose to his hands and knees, then stood and pointed up the rows of stands to the VIP box.
Hal turned to see what Otto was pointing at.
A double line of guards had formed up there to protect the wardens’ escape. They were being commanded by Baron Norak in his black armor. He had drawn his sword, a wicked, black blade with a dual serrated edge.
“Get them before they get away,” Hal shouted. He started running up towards the VIP box. He was flanked by his friends with Kay and Rune to the left and Otto to the right.
Two other gladiators made it over the wall and joined them. An olive-skinned woman named Helena armed with double scimitars and the young farmer Hal had trained in what felt like forever ago.
The coliseum guards snarled at the charging gladiators and surged downward to meet them.
As they approached, Hal tucked his shoulder behind his shield and used it to bash into the space between two guardsmen.
The blow sent them spinning away from him, opening a hole in their front line.
Hal stabbed down into the exposed side of the guard to his right as the hapless man fell stumbling backward.
1,000 experience points awarded.
Kay finished off the guard who’d fallen to the left as Hal pulled back his blade and raised it to fend o
ff a spear from the second line of guards.
The initial collision of the two groups was over and the fighting became desperate, individual struggles as the escaping gladiators fought against their captors.
There were about twenty guards in the double line and the six gladiators were hard pressed even as they cut down the less experienced fighters among the coliseum guards.
Hal was engaged with three guards at once. Even with his lucky slot machine spinning in his head, Hal knew he had to do something or get overwhelmed by the trio of guards.
He punched outward with his shield, delivering a blow to the chest of the guard to his left.
At the same time, Hal swung his sword in a broad arc at the center guard’s neck causing his opponent to raise his own blade to parry the attack.
Seeing his opening, Hal switched the direction of the swing, turning it into a lunging stab forward. He was gratified to see the blade sink into the opening in the armor beneath the guard’s armpit.
1,000 experience points awarded.
The attack succeeded but left Hal exposed on his right and the remaining guard bashed his mace into Hal’s armored side. Hal felt his ribs crack under the blow in an explosion of pain that raced up his side.
Health damage: Health -12
Hal sucked in his breath, feeling the pain his expanding lungs caused as they pressed against his damaged ribs. He recovered though, and parried the next attack from the mace-wielding guard.
At the same time, he raised his shield to catch the blow from the sword of the guard on his left.
He feinted an attack at the guard with the mace then turned his full attention on the man to his left. Hal delivered a combination of sword strikes along with slamming his shield’s metal rim downward on the guard’s leading knee, which was just a bit too far forward.
Hal was rewarded with cry from the guard when his knee buckled under the blow. Hal smiled, remembering his time with Bilham as he finished the guard with a thrust of his sword to the neck.
1,000 experience points awarded.
Health damage: -8
The guard to his right landed a glancing blow on his helmet with the mace before Hal could dodge and he saw stars flash at the edges of his vision for a second.
He recovered and dodged the follow-up two-handed blow that would have crushed his skull.
Hal swung his shield around and caught the descending mace as it crashed downward.
The guard had overcommitted, thinking his opponent was distracted.
Hal saw an opportunity and hacked sideways at the guard’s thigh, slashing deep into the muscle, blood spraying from the wound.
The guard’s leg twisted and bent under the attack and the combination of the momentum from the two-handed mace attack and the collapsing leg caused the man to fall face forward to the stone stands.
Hal stabbed downward, his blade piercing the chainmail armor and punching through to the guard’s spine beneath.
1,000 experience points awarded.
More of the gladiators from the floor of the arena joined them in the fight, swelling the ranks of those fighting the guards. The swelled ranks of the savage arena fighters started to turn the tide.
Baron Norak had joined the fighting against the gladiators and Hal watched as he cut down the young farmer. Norak’s black blade glowed with a sickening dark purple energy.
“We need to get the Baron,” Hal shouted. “He’s drawing on the life force of those he’s killed. If we don’t stop him, he’ll be too strong to defeat.”
Otto and Kay shouted as one, telling him they were with him.
Hal and the others, charged at the baron from the side. Hal had hoped to catch him unawares but the black-armored foe turned and faced them just as they arrived.
Faster than Hal’s eyes could follow, the black blade flicked out, knocking aside their initial attacks.
Each of the parries carried a quick following attack.
Hal cried out as pain seared through him. Norak’s sword broke through his defenses, stabbing him in the shoulder. It was a relatively minor wound but the sword’s magic caused it to be much worse. Hal felt part of his life force leech away by the cursed blade.
Health damage: Health -30
Kay managed to sneak in an attack on Norak at the same moment and he pulled his blade away with a grunt to parry her counterattack.
He batted away her blade but the first attack had the desired effect and set the black-armored baron on the defensive for the first time.
Otto swung a savage two-handed axe blow at the baron’s head.
Norak ducked under the blow and tried to force a wild sword thrust at Otto. He had to pull back at the last second, though, to parry Hal’s attack from the front.
Again, Kay was able to break through the baron’s defenses and once more her blade came back wet with the man’s blood.
Seeing he was outnumbered, Norak shouted a command and started backing away towards the stairs up to the exit. The remaining coliseum guards fell back with him, forming up on either side of him and fighting a rear-guard action as they retreated.
More guards fell, and the gladiators pressed forward.
Despite the pressure of the renewed attack, the baron and the other guards were able to reach the relatively narrow passage leading out of the arena’s stands. In the smaller space, the remaining guards were able to hold off the gladiators.
Hal snarled in anger as Norak pulled back behind the thin line of coliseum guards and ran off into the passageway.
Hal quickly finished off three of the remaining guards on his own with three quick parry and thrust combinations in succession. He was unable to break through their line, though.
1000 experience points awarded.
1000 experience points awarded.
1000 experience points awarded.
Level up!
The slots in Hal’s head stopped spinning as soon as the baron disappeared. The lack of chime told Hal that could not be good.
The baron had made his escape. That could mean he was free to go for help from his regiment. Hal knew they couldn’t be too far away, camped somewhere near city.
Time was short if that was the case.
Leaving the remaining guards in the passageway to the recently arrived gladiator reinforcements, Hal turned to scan the situation around the coliseum.
The stands were cleared of spectators. Here and there, a few knots of fighting between guards and the human and non-human gladiators continued but they had managed to carry off the first part of their plan. They still hadn’t escaped and Hal knew there was more to do before they left the city.
Hal called out to Churg when he spotted the goblin chieftain nearby.
“Can you gather the non-humans and bring them over here. We have to work quickly while the initiative is in our favor.”
“I will. Do we make a run for the city’s western gates?” The goblin chieftain asked.
“We can once we free the rest of the slaves and fighters kept in the pens below. They’ll bolster our forces and we will need the extra manpower if we run into any organized opposition on our way out of the city.”
Churg nodded and started barking orders in the guttural language of the goblins and orcs, gathering his forces to that side of the coliseum’s stands.
“We’re even taking the kitchen slaves?” Kay asked, overhearing what he told Churg.
“Yes,” Hal said. “Everyone. No one who wants to escape with us will be left behind.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing, Hal. Sometimes you can’t rescue everyone.”
“I don’t believe that. We have to try. The added numbers could be of benefit later on, Kay,” Hal added. “Come on, let’s get down to the pens and get the others before we head for the gates.”
Hal used the brief break to check his stats and level up while they made their way down into the bowels of the coliseum to rescue the others. He raised his luck attribute once again with his two points to allocate there. He saw the noti
fication that he’d maxed out the attribute score when he reached thirty.
He gained another weapon proficiency slot and he added it to his longsword skill. His skill point allocated to his riposte skill brought that to level two.
Hal summoned his chakra regeneration skill and healed up eighteen health points and turned his attention back to the rest of his plan to escape the city. It was time to see how good his luck really was.
Name: Hal Dix
Class: Warrior
Level: 8
Attributes:
Brawn: 22 — +7
Wisdom: 10 — +1
Luck: 30 — +11 (Max)
Speed: 14 — +3
Looks: 8
Health: 70/102
Skills: Shield Bash - 2, One-Handed Combat - 2, Combat Misdirection -1, Prescience -1, Chakra Regeneration - 3 (18hp during combat; 1/day), Riposte -2
Weapon proficiencies: Long sword - 4, Crossbow - 1
Warrior Experience: 20,000/38,400
Rogue Experience: 146,100/250,000
24
Once everyone assembled downstairs outside the slave pens beneath the coliseum, a quick assessment and count of the gladiators, human and non-human, revealed they’d lost about a quarter of their total number during the assault to escape the arena.
All of them were wounded to one extent or another. Some were supported by comrades while others limped along under their own power.
The two groups eyed each other, distrust showing in their eyes and Hal knew he needed to do something to keep them all focused on the most important thing, getting the hell out of here.
“Churg,” Hal said. “You and your comrades fought well. We would not have succeeded were it not for the valiant efforts of your fellow warriors.”
Churg nodded. It seemed he knew what Hal was trying to do.
“The same could be said of your fellow gladiators, Hal. I saw many great acts of courage from them. I am honored to fight beside them.”