by E. A. James
“Game!” Kardok said, clapping his hands together.
Dario huffed and pushed himself up.
“Dario, wait,” Kira called out to him, reaching across the table quickly and pulling him back down. “What’s going on?”
It wasn’t common for their wise, older voice of reason to react in such a volatile manner. But, a lot of what Dario had been doing lately was slightly out of character.
Letting out another huff, Dario slumped back down into his chair. “I’m sorry,” he began. “I’m just stressed, worried about Thane and Alaria, and sleep deprived. Janica talks in her sleep and keeps me up all night long.”
“Janica?” Thor asked.
“My overly friendly, extremely large Arkadian cell-mate.”
“Right,” Thor replied.
“Is she still trying to cozy up to you?” Kira asked.
“She doesn’t understand the words ‘I’m not interested’,” Dario said. “She keeps offering me things—random items she’s been collecting from around The Pit—as presents.”
“What kind of things?” Aldo asked, his nose twitching.
Dario shrugged. “I never look that closely. If I accept it, I’ll have to repay her somehow.”
Kira laughed and Thor chuckled. Dario shot them both an unamused glance and sighed.
“You should see if it’s anything good,” Aldo urged. “Something we can use to gamble in the tournament.”
“No,” Dario said firmly.
“But…”
“No.”
“But…”
“I have a feeling this could go on for a while,” Kira said, pushing herself up. “I think we’re going to go for a walk.”
She slipped her hand into Thor’s and pulled him away before anyone could object. As they moved away from the table, they could hear Dario and Aldo continue to argue about the potential value of the Dario’s admirer’s gifts.
“Where are we going?” Thor asked as she led him through the Pits.
“To practice for the tournament,” she said.
“I thought I was supposed to be taking it easy.”
“Oh, don’t worry. I’ll take it easy on you,” she replied, glancing at him over her shoulder.
He returned her smirk with a smile that reached up to his eyes. Together, they wove their way through the crowd, their hands still linked and their fingers intertwined.
Kira had started to think of the conditions of her new life—her life in The Pits—as normal. The crowded conditions didn’t bother her as much and the lack of sky—star-blanketed expanse—no longer made her feel like her lungs were running short on oxygen. The fact that it didn’t, though, was beginning to make her feel slightly light-headed.
“How long have we been in here?” she asked Thor as they entered the ring.
The sand and gravel covered arena was unusually crowded. Inmates—small and large alike—were charging at each other, some with weapons in their hands, others relying solely on their brute strength to take down their opponent.
“Five days?” Thor replied.
“Is that a question.”
“Maybe?”
“It seems like forever, doesn’t it?” she said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out the energy blade Aldo had given her.
“Are you getting homesick?” Thor asked, eyeing the weapon in her hand.
“I’m just getting too comfortable here,” she replied.
Thor took a quick step forward, his eyes still set on the sheathed blade in her hand. She took a quick step back, realizing that their one-on-one melee had already begun in his mind. She tightened her hold on the cylinder and took another step back; he followed.
“Why do you think that is?” he asked, his eyes drifting up to hers momentarily.
“Because I don’t have any other choice,” she replied.
“I don’t think so,” he said.
His eyes still fixed on hers, he took a quick step forward. He moved with speed, but not with as much speed as she knew he could. His hand reached out to grab onto her wrist, but she pulled back just before he was able to do so.
Bringing her right hand up and triggering the column of energetic matter to spill out of the cylinder, she darted back.
“What do you think then?” she asked.
His eyes sparkled as he glanced at the weapon in her hand. Before she even realized he had moved, he was standing behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist and his right hand wrapped around her right wrist.
“I think it’s because you’re a survivor, Kira,” he said, leaning in and whispering in his ear.
The feeling of his breath cascading down her neck caused a fine layer of goosebumps to ripple down her arms. He held her so close to him, that she could feel the rise and fall of his chest with each deep, calm breath he took.
“I think that you could get tossed into the middle of just about any situation—life-threatening or otherwise—and find a way to get through it.”
His words were soft, but his hold on her was strong. His fingers began to apply pressure to her wrist, trying to coax her into releasing her weapon.
“You’re trying to flatter me,” she said. “Have I ever told you how much I hate when people try to flatter me?”
Acting as quickly as possible, before he could anticipate her move, she threw her head back, landing a blow in his chin. He shuffled back a few steps, releasing his hold on her waist, but still holding tightly to her wrist.
Before he could retaliate, Kira spun around halfway and threw her left knee up into his gut. The blow hurt her more than it hurt him—his rock-hard abs deflecting any pain or discomfort she had hoped to instill.
Still, her actions surprised him enough that he stumbled back one more time, this time giving up his hold of her arm. Scooting back quickly, she held her weapon out in front of her and waited for another chance to strike.
“It’s not flattery,” Thor replied, regaining his balance and poising himself to attack. “It’s the truth.”
Kira rolled her eyes and moved her weight to the balls of her feet.
“How the hell do you think we’ve made it this far without getting killed?” Thor asked.
Pushing herself off as forcefully as she could, Kira flew at him. With a grin on his face, he stepped to the side and reached out, grabbing onto her arm.
In a blur, the ring was on its side, her head was spinning, and her cheek was pressed against the scratchy sand floor.
She rolled onto her back, ready to push herself back up to her feet again when Thor rushed in and pinned her back down. He held her hands over her head, the dagger still gripped tightly in her right, and straddled her, a fraction of his weight resting on her gut, keeping her in place.
“It wasn’t just me that’s gotten us through all of this,” she said. “It was all of us.”
He smiled and leaned in, placing one quick kiss on her lips. “And it will be all of us that get us through this mission, too. So, no matter how much you like the slop in the mess hall and the sweet scent of unwashed Vorian warriors, don’t let yourself get too comfortable here, okay? Because before you know it, we’re going to be back in the flight deck of the Curio, where you will continue to scare the shit out of me with your fearless antics and crazy fight-tactics.”
“I thought we were going to do simple,” she reminded him.
“I’m already taking bets on how long that will last,” he said with a smirk. “My money’s on two weeks.”
“Two weeks?”
He smiled and shrugged, and she felt his hold on her loosen just a bit. Before he could come back with some smart-ass remark, she took advantage of the moment and ripped her hands free. She lifted the dagger, but before she could do anything effective with it, Thor was pushing himself up to his feet, a blur of blue jumpsuit moving too quickly for her to see clearly.
What she did see clearly, though, was that blur bump into a large orange mass.
“Shit,” she said, pushing herself up and grabbing onto Thor’
s wrist just before the large, four-armed Dralaxian could spin around completely.
“What the…?” the massive creature bellowed.
“Run!” Kira yelled to Thor, an amused laugh wrapped around her words.
He laced his fingers with hers and did just that—ran. They darted through the ring, running between fights and nearly getting caught up in them. A Bandurian male yelled a string of profanities at them when they interrupted his potentially perfectly placed blow. A Vorian female nearly tackled them to the ground when they bumped into her and threw her directly into the line of her opponent’s attack.
They didn’t care or notice, though. The only thing they could think about was the large orange mountain that was moving slowly through the crowds behind them. It wasn’t until they raced down the long, low-lit hall and burst out into the chaos of The Pits that they slowed their pace.
Gasping for breath and laughing in unison, they leaned back against one of the walls and slumped down.
“What are the chances?” Thor asked, his hand still holding onto her tightly. “I mean, seriously. What the hell are the chances that of all the people in there fighting, I bump into him—again?”
“Comfortable or not, one thing is for certain,” Kira said, still chuckling to herself, “I’m definitely never bored in here.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
When the day of the melee tournament finally arrived, Kira, Thor, and Dario all met at the ring early and spent a good hour pacing back and forth. They tried to talk about anything besides the fact that all of their hopes for getting out of Jaantu 7 rested on the events that would unfold in the next few hours.
“How are things going with Janica?” Thor asked playfully.
Dario let out a grunt and sighed. “Same as they have been since we got here.”
“When will we get to meet this special lady?” Kira asked.
Dario glared at her in response.
“Maybe we should introduce ourselves to her,” Thor added, continuing the banter. “She probably wants to meet your friends.”
“Oh yes, meeting the friends, that’s always a big step,” Kira said.
Together, they laughed and even Dario had to crack a smile, if nothing else, at the ridiculousness of the situation.
“Good morning, my faithful companions,” Aldo said, walking up to them with a spring in his step.
His arms were full of random items, some looked like nothing more than junk, and others looked like they might actually be worth something. He dropped his collection on the ground in front of them and stood up proudly.
Kardok, who had been following along behind him with an excited grin on his face, added a handful of items to the pile.
“Take your pick,” Aldo said, glancing between the pile and Kira.
She wrinkled her nose and looked down at the heap of metal.
“What is there to pick from?” she asked, kneeling down and rummaging through the parts.
“Oh, a little of this a little of that. What you got in your hand there is a small-scale comm device. It’s like a walkie-talkie.”
“Where is the other one?” Kira asked, turning the small black box over in her hand.
“There’s only one,” Aldo said, grabbing hold of it and tossing it back in the pile.
“Who would want just one walkie-talkie?” Thor asked.
“Someone who already has one,” Aldo replied matter-of-factly.
“Whatever,” Kira said, holding up a bracelet-like device. “What’s this?”
“That’s a hand-made-by-yours-truly current conductor,” Aldo replied.
“A what?” Kira asked.
Aldo reached out and took it from her, clicking a small button on the side of the device. He then held it out and pushed it into Thor’s arm.
“What the hell?” Thor asked, jumping back. “The little bastard shocked me!”
“That was on low,” Aldo said, turning the device off and adding it to the pile. “It’s another one of my personal self-defense items.”
Thor’s hands balled into fists and his jaw became clenched. Kira reached out and wrapped her hand around his forearm, silently urging him to calm down. Letting out a frustrated grunt, he relaxed his muscles and turned his attention back to the pile of junk Aldo had supplied.
“Anything of any real value in there?” Thor asked.
“Everything in there is of value,” Aldo snapped. “It’s just up to Kira, Dario, and myself to figure out what that is.”
He began to divide up the goods, giving each of them a variety of items to use to bet with. There would be no official bookmarkers or wagers going around. Any bets made would be decided in the moment.
“You have to get in there and just yell,” Aldo said, handing Kira and Dario each a sack full of random devices. “When the big hitters come in, I’ll let you know. But, don’t even think about trying to strike up a deal with them unless you have something worth offering.”
Kira and Dario nodded.
Before they knew it, the ring began to fill up. The stands were packed with spectators, and the ground level was filled with eager participants. Kira, Thor, and Dario remained on the sidelines, watching in awe as Aldo—small, squeaky, smart-ass Aldo—ordered everyone into place.
Their Rengar companion had called in a number of favors and had at least a half a dozen inmates working the event. It was the biggest thing anyone who had been in Jaantu 7 had ever seen inside the prison walls. The list of participants was so long, that eventually, they had to start turning some of the volunteers away.
“We’ll have to make this an annual thing,” Aldo said, patting a downtrodden Bandurian male on the shoulder as he turned him away. “You just have to get here earlier next year.”
Spinning around to face Kira and Thor, the Rengar twitched his nose and his beady black eye sparkled.
“Hey, if worse comes to worst and we don’t get out of his hell hole, at least we’ll have something to look forward to. I bet next year we could even start charging for people to participate.”
“If worse comes to worst, the entire galaxy will be blown to shit,” Thor reminded him.
“Aren’t you just a little ray of sunshine?” Aldo remarked, glaring at him before scurrying off to make sure the final arrangements were coming together.
“You ready for this?” Kira asked turning to look up at Thor.
“As ready as I’m going to be,” he replied, wrapping his arms around her waist.
“Be careful,” she said as she pushed herself up and pressed her lips to his. “But win, okay? That’s an order from your Captain.”
He chuckled and pulled back. “Yes, Captain,” he said, straightening up. “I won’t disappoint you.”
“You better not,” she said with a wink.
Just as the announcer, Aldo, reached the center of the ring and began to draw everyone's attention to the first fight, Kira and Thor split ways. He went to where the fighters had gathered. There, he would wait for his name to be called. Given that his fame had spread quickly throughout the prison—the fugitive Arcanum that everyone wanted to face off against—it wouldn't be long before he was summoned to the center of the ring.
Kira didn’t think about that, though, as she dove into the center of the crowd, her eyes darting around looking for someone to strike up a deal with. The second the first bell rang, the entire place erupted with a roar of cheers. She fell in with them, mixing in with the crowd and letting herself get swept away in the excitement that buzzed through the air around her.
Round after round the arena became more crazed. The bets were flying and the air was filled with tension. Kira had never been in a mob that worked up before. Arms were flailing in the air as shouts of frustration or cries of triumph rippled through the room. She felt as if she were being swallowed by the excitement, her head coming to the shoulders of most of the inmates around her.
Still, she called out her bets and elbowed her way around, challenging one individual after the next. The first few rounds,
she didn't recognize the names of the fighters that were called. Still, she bet. She lost some, won others. Her collection grew and shrunk as she worked her way around the crowded space.
When she heard the announcement that Thor would be fighting against the current reigning champion, a Vorian warrior with a reputable nasty attitude, she inhaled nervously. Scanning the area around her, she found an empty space on a bench and hurried over. Climbing atop it, she was just able to see down to the ring.