The Great Game Trilogy

by O. J. Lowe

  Yeah it looked bad.

  There was an unproven but not entirely disproven theory in the world of spirit calling that every opponent had a weak spot which any attacker no matter how bad the circumstances were would be able to target and thus given a fighting chance. In situations like these, great callers survived them, anything less and they forfeited their spirit for the round. Scott wasn’t entirely sure he was ready to give up on Palawi yet but at the same time, he couldn’t see how the hound was going to get out of it.

  Observe. React. Attack.

  Always a good plan to fall back on. Why exactly weren’t the lightning attacks working? Obviously, the creature had some sort of imperviousness to them, it surely couldn’t be natural. It wasn’t just resistant, it had absorbed it. That clearly wasn’t natural. He winced, mentally congratulated Palawi on avoiding another attack. Now run up its arm next chance you get. Stay in close to it, but not on the ground. If Palawi tried running between its feet, chances were that he’d get stamped on, a broken spine would be the end of it. At least on its body, he had a fighting chance. Unless the troll was willing to whale on itself to try and dislodge Palawi.

  Hmm. In lieu of a better strategy, that might work. These things weren’t smart. Next attack that came, Palawi sprang up and landed on one broad arm, digging stubby claws into fur and flesh unwilling to yield. If he’d tried to stay still, it might have been an issue. As he carried on running, he didn’t stay in one place long enough to fall, not until the tiger troll spun its arms around suddenly, a vicious twisting motion that left Palawi scrabbling at thin air and falling. He never hit the ground, the other arm swept around and caught him a vicious punch in the side that sent him flying across the arena like a rag doll, eventually the hound hit the ground near Theo and didn’t move. Knocked out. Dead. Either way, he wasn’t getting back up, Scott had heard shattering bones and it wasn’t pleasant. A wave of sadness flushed up through him, tinged with regret. “Thanks, Pal,” he muttered. “Good job.”

  Who next? He had to make the next spirit count. Something who could hit this thing hard and take an attack in exchange. With armoured skin, power counted. Palawi had been a completely inappropriate matchup in hindsight. Still he had five more, as did Theo. And although Palawi hadn’t really hurt the tiger troll, the exertion the thing had spent to nail the hound had to have done something to its stamina. If he wanted pure power, then there had to be only option. Sangare or Sludge might be apt choices, but he wanted to keep the dragon in reserve for if it got bad and although Sludge might be able to take the blows, there was no guarantee the poison would get through that skin.

  He went with Snooze, the giant sloth-bear flopping onto the field and giving a big yawn. This time the two were matched in size, two heavyweights sizing each other up. Theo looked impressed, a smug smirk crawling about his features as if to express his amusement at being given what he no doubt considered a challenge. More than anything, that pissed Scott off. Not considering Palawi to be a challenge was more than just disrespect, it was adding fuel to the fire. What didn’t help was Snooze had faced Theo in the semi and lost. Maybe he thought it was going to be an easy victory.

  He wasn’t making the first move this time, not after what had gone before. This time Scott was letting Theo make his attacks and he was going to counter them. Snooze couldn’t go after the troll the way it had gone after Palawi. Best thing to do was hunker down, mount a defence and then retaliate hard. Except anyone who’d ever fought a sloth bear knew that was the standard way to get the best out of one. Their size made speed impossible, it was playing to their strengths in every single way. Best way was to pick them off from a distance with an elemental attack, preferably one aimed at the head. He didn’t know if Theo’s troll had that capability, best to keep on his toes and try not to be taken by surprise.

  First sign he got of the troll charging, Scott gave Snooze the order to hit it hard with a uniblast, the beam ripped out of the bear’s giant maw and caught the troll powerfully in the chest, hurling it several feet through the air. Incredibly the skin hadn’t been broken though it had left a serious of painful looking burns prominent across it, the fur burned away leaving dull grey smoking patches. It leaped to its feet bellowing angrily and struck back, generating its own lightning and sending the shockwave into Snooze who let out an agonised howl and fell onto his back, muscles going into spasms. Having dealt out plenty of those attacks throughout his career, the irony wasn’t lost on Scott. With Snooze down, maybe Theo assumed he was good to attack, the troll lunged, sprang up into the air and prepared to bring both fists down into the bear’s head, hammer style.

  Now he was just playing into Scott’s hands, Snooze rolled back even further, brought both stumpy hind legs up and kicked out, putting all his considerable weight behind them and suddenly the troll was airborne again, this time involuntarily, arms flailing helplessly. It was a good kick, Scott was sure it hit the roof of the protective shield and bounced hard into the ground, face first. The crowd let out an appreciative sound and the exterior of calm broke again once more, a snarl flashing across Theo’s face for a split second.

  “Zap,” he said calmly but coldly. “Stand up.”

  It took an effort and Scott was pleased to see that, but the tiger troll did manage to rise, which he wasn’t so pleased about. Its legs looked unsteady, he was sure there were some cracks forming across that skin, but he’d seen spirits look worse with less. At the same time, Snooze scrambled back up with just as much effort though he could see a giant sweat stain on the ground where the bear had lain. Deep breath, they’d be at it again in a moment and he was proven right as Zap lunged in, fists flailing in gracefully clumsy motions, blows bouncing off Snooze’s ample gut. The bear’s eyes widened, and he flicked out a front leg of his own and swatted the troll away, sending it staggering in the same way Zap had hit Palawi with the death blow.

  Both caller and spirit looked irritated, Theo because maybe he was realising just how much he’d underestimated the strength of Snooze and Zap because maybe it wasn’t used to being pushed around like that. Still he wasn’t one to deny an advantage, this time both of Snooze’s fists swept out to crush Zap between them and his heart soared as this time there was the distinctive cracking of bones breaking and suddenly the troll looked like a shattered tube of toothpaste. The top of its head had nearly been blown out by sudden twin impacts of pressure to its sides and that had to be that. Nothing could survive a hit like that, not on top of everything else it had suffered.

  Scott hadn’t been expecting it to still be conscious, by all rights it should be dead, so the sudden eruption of lightning caught him by surprise, the electricity ripping from the shattered body like an enormous storm, ruptured through Snooze, tearing a ragged entry wound through the thick layers of furred fat on his stomach, coursed through his great girth and ripped out through the top of his head. Though the wound cauterised immediately, the internal damage was too great to overcome, the sloth bear clutched at his chest, scrabbled wildly in panic until the pawing faded. Scott felt every second of it through the connection and winced. Ouch. Not pleasant. His own chest felt tight, sore even and if he never felt like this ever again, it’d be too soon. That was it for Snooze. For both him and for Zap. Neither of them was continuing, the scoreboard showed the naked truth, they were drawing two defeats for two. Four more each for regular battle. There was still an outside possibility of sudden death, Scott really didn’t want it to go that far.

  His next choice was to unleash Becko upon his opponent, the leaf lizard swarming into existence with a flourish of the blades on his forearms. They spread out like fan blades, the lizard covering his pointed face with the extent of them. Scott had taught him that pose recently, just a little something Mia had pointed out about psychological intimidation. Appearances can be deceiving, she’d said. It was a spirit dancer’s trick; one the average caller might not recognise.

  Theo went with a huge fucking spider and he mentally kicked himself, realising intimidation
wasn’t going to work against something that big and ugly. His skin began to crawl as he stared at it, saw many more little bristles of hair covering those spindly legs than he could ever count. Eight eyes blinked at him, the mandibles clicked in anticipation. The fangs that grew from them were easily the size of his arm. He was starting to notice a pattern with Theo’s spirits. All big so far. All intimidating. They did say the spirit was the extension of a caller’s personality. What did that make him? He’d never stopped long enough to consider it before, wasn’t entirely sure that he wanted to. Scott heard the buzzer and the first thing he had to do was scream mentally a command for the leaf lizard to evade, a thick glob of poison sailing towards him from the spider’s maw. Becko sidestepped it, hissed angrily.

  Engage at close range with your speed! Do not let it bite you!

  Simple instructions, the best kind. That second one was imperative. That spider had already displayed the deadly poison it could administer. He didn’t doubt the bite was just as potent. A second command and Becko’s jaws snapped open, a flurry of razor sharp seeds fluttering towards the spider as he ran towards it. Some sailed wide, most didn’t, and they cut shallow gouges across the arachnid body. Scott’s experience of spiders mainly extended to that they were supposed to be stood on, not be big enough to do the standing. They were supposed to be squishy, this thing looked anything but. No blood, that didn’t surprise him, just a clear grey substance that stank like hells. It made him want to wrinkle his nose in disgust.

  In close, Becko swept the blades with razor quick impunity, slashing with rapid manoeuvres almost too fast to keep track of with the naked eye. Two of the front legs were hacked off before the spider could react, the crowd cheering loudly, their applause and cries reaching a crescendo as the arachnid skittered back in surprise, several fresh new gashes torn across its body. Something akin to rage fluttered across its eyes, Scott saw it and suddenly it charged, surprisingly agile even on only six legs and tore across the ground towards Becko like a runaway mag-rail car. The lizard tensed the muscles in his legs, gracefully sprang up and over the oncoming spider, dropped and dug in both blades hard to the rear, something giving by the sounds of it. Its giant behind looked like it had suddenly deflated quite a bit, Scott’s spirit rose. This might be over very quickly.

  Becko suddenly roared angrily, not a loud roar but a hissed one that embodied every venomous emotion in the lizard’s array, he saw why as the spider spun around, something glistening white lay over the lizard’s feet, Becko’s efforts to pull away failing miserably. Three…

  Scott cursed himself. What do spiders do, Taylor?! They spin bastard webs! Trap insects and stuff so they can eat them! His own stupidity amazing him, he pushed it aside for a moment and tried to figure out a way around it. Hacking at the stuff with the blades didn’t do a whole damn lot of good, it clung to the blades themselves and left Becko struggling to pull free in two separate places.

  Two…

  The eight-eyed monster was almost on the lizard now, bearing hungrily down, jaws opening wide and Scott felt something snap inside him, a moment of cold horrible inspiration he’d never quite expected to find within him. His skin felt grimy even considering it. If you can’t win, the important thing is to ensure that you don’t lose. He’d not known just quite how far he was willing to go to ensure the coveted trophy had his name on it at the end of the bout before now. Yet even as he gave the order, felt the wave of shock, he realised he’d not wanted to consider it before because it made him feel dirty. Regardless Becko obeyed and he squeezed his eyes shut to deny himself the sight. He couldn’t block out the screech, the sudden silence of the crowd and the stunned spluttering’s of the stadium announcer, nor even what the radio commentators were probably describing for the benefit of those around the five kingdoms who didn’t have viewing screens.

  Blood was gushing from Becko’s ruined limbs, he was free of the web, but he wouldn’t last long. Somehow, a supreme effort on the part of the lizard, he leaped, landed hard on the head of the spider, claws digging in while at the same time he dug his blades hard and fast into the body, ripping and sawing away with no thought of his own safety, ichor and other gunk sputtering out under the cutting force. Scott tried to shut out the stunned silence, already aware what people were probably thinking about his desperate gambit, but it looked like it had worked. So why did he feel so worthless about doing it? Already Becko’s movements were slowing, he couldn’t keep it up and he could see the shattered body with the stumpy ends of the hind legs sliding down the great hairy body. As he landed in front of the dying spider, it had to be on its last legs, Scott groaned inwardly at his own pun, it skittered forward in its death throes and trampled over the stricken lizard, six legs leaving great puncture marks across green scales until it finally collapsed, legs curling up uselessly.

  Another draw. Three defeats for three. So far, they were proving evenly matched. Either that or Theo was fighting a war of attrition, wear away at him, ensure he didn’t get defeats and just go stronger as the bout went on. He couldn’t be sure, not just yet. The remains of Becko’s bloody feet, still stuck in the web vanished along with the lizard, sucked back into the container crystal. Still evenly matched. So far neither of them could claim domination. It could still swing either way and yet he knew it was important that he take some measure of control over the situation.

  Otherwise the circumstances could be dire for him.

  He let Theo pick first the next time, saw a bear of his own materialise into existence. It wasn’t as big as Snooze, just a plain old nasty looking grizzly who dropped to all fours and let out a bellow, a cacophony of pride and anger. Claws dug into the turf and Scott tried to ignore it. He’d faced it before. In retaliation for that defeat, he chose Herc, the stag bug fluttering to land. The patch of web had already dissolved; one less thing to worry about. The two combatants faced each other, the stag bug emotionally passive, the grizzly frothing with barely controlled rage. Herc’s arms swung loose at his side, the two pairs of eyes locked on each other, bear and bug desperate to see who would flinch first.

  The buzzer went, and it was the bear, deceptively quick as it moved across the space between them, raking claws down Herc’s front. Wings snapped out and Herc shot backwards swiftly, a deep gouge left in his carapace, but it wasn’t serious. The bug’s features broke into anger and Scott tapped into it, gave a command the bug could get on board with. Lowering his horn, Herc shot forward, propelled by his wings and landed the blow hard into the grizzly’s kidneys, breaking the skin. A sudden release of jeering escaped the crowd as crimson exploded out, covering Herc’s carapace. The bug wasn’t bothered, he spun and threw a punch upwards, an armoured fist connecting with the grizzly’s jaws. The roar that erupted in response startled even Theo by the looks of it, pain and absolute white fury ripping from that maw as it suddenly charged, checked Herc with its greater girth and weight, pushing the bug back hard. Scott tried to get him to push back, to no avail, the difference between their sizes and weights just too great, the bear had momentum and getting Herc to fight against it was an uphill task. All he could do was run and evade once more, a similar pattern.

  In moments, the two of them were at the edge of the field, the bear biting viciously at the armoured shell, still pushing hard. They went past the outlines of the field and through the advertising hoardings, he could almost hear anguished ICCC officials bemoaning the inevitable complaints from companies who’d paid good money for sponsorship, and hard into the energy shield protecting the crowd from harm. Herc hit it with a sickening crunch, Scott winced, the bug had been caught between an immovable object and a seemingly unstoppable force. Not an ideal situation for anyone. Even now, his arms, previously held in place made several false starts to move and then went limp.

  He reacted badly, he knew it with the way his eyes went wide, and his mouth dropped open, words failing him for the first time that day. He just… Herc! Four defeats to three, advantage Theo. That bear was powerful, he’d not guessed at
just how strong. Herc wasn’t a slouch and he’d cast him aside like he was nothing.

  A scowl crawled across his face, a deep feeling of bitter resentment rushing through him. He might have been smiling, he couldn’t tell through the numbness in his face. Oh, you’re going to pay for that, Theo! He could feel the anger bubbling underneath his surface, he knew it was a slippery slope getting like this, but he felt pissed, not just at Theo but just as much at himself. Permear! Now!

  The ghost appeared almost before Herc had vanished, stretching his arms out and yawning. “Oh, is it I? About bloody time, bagmeat. Hey, a bear!” The ghost waved at the bear who at least looked confused enough to halt appearing perennially pissed off, Scott noticed with a smirk. Probably not the best time to be caught smirking really. It might give the wrong impression.

  “You got this, Perm?”

  “Oh yeah, it be fun. I got this,” the ghost said confidently as the buzzer went off. He cocked a hand to the bear and gesticulated, wagging his fingers in a taunt. The bear went for him, bundled straight off towards him and brought back a clawed paw for a powerful swipe that passed straight through Permear’s body leaving him looking bemused. “That supposed to do something? Kinda tickled. And not in a fun, hey this is where he touched me way!”