by Hicks, Aaron
Liam and Baloce grinned at Laurilli, “Where are your troops now?”
She rotated her shoulder and said, “They’re around here somewhere.”
Baloce spat, “How mighty are you without your men to protect you?”
Liam curled his lip into a sneer, “This day will be the day you lose.”
She grinned at them in a way she knew would provoke them and said, “If this is to be the day I lose, it will not be to the likes of you two. Come at me separate or together I will beat you both.”
With a wordless battle cry they rushed forward, unable to contain the fury that had been building in them every time they lost, every time Laurilli was praised, every time their own troops looked to her troops with envy. They worked in unison, as if they’d practiced for this very moment, their rage adding strength to their swings. Even letting the blades slide off of her own blade, after so long fighting her hands were starting to hurt, and her arms had been growing heavier for the past several minutes. Still she blocked and parried all their attacks away from her body. Panting from exertion Laurilli leapt forward and focused solely on Baloce, then, when she saw an opening, she dropped her sword, grabbed Baloce’s hilt, spun around Baloce’s outstretched arms, and pushed his sword forward, then wrenched it away from his grasp.
With a smile, Laurilli tapped him on the head. She faced Liam with an unfamiliar sword. She had practiced with different type of swords against her shadow, but somehow only the rapier now felt right. Now, after all the physical training she’d gone through, her muscles were much better developed, and it felt natural. She remembered all the balanced sword stances as she ran at Liam and in a quick, almost too-fast-to-see blur, Liam was holding his wrist with Laurilli’s sword resting against his neck. After they saw both of their leaders go down so quickly the rest of the brown, and red troops rushed forward. Stepping--nearly constantly Stepping--Laurilli cut a swath through them, until she was simply by herself once again encircled by the enemy, only this time with no one willing to face her blade. Someone rushed at her back. Sensing him with the dragon’s help she spun past it, parrying it out of the way with her sword down, and after she completed her spin finished the man with her upward slash.
She quickly Stepped twice and two more were dead. The remaining red and brown soldiers collectively took a step back from her. Laurilli could feel her body becoming stronger and her fatigue fading away. Are you pumping my body with spirit?
No, you’re doing something with air and water.
You don’t know what I’m doing?
I’m not a mage, I just bend one element to my will at a time. The wind picked up and started howling around them. Into the gale she sprinted at the other recruits, and so intimidated were they that they actually ran from her. Laurilli laughed as she chased them down individually or grouped together. She was chasing after a group of six mixed brown and red troops when they were hit from the side by a group of nearly two hundred blue troops. Anan was leading this group and when he saw Laurilli he saluted and yelled over the sound of the wind, “Once the wind picked up we saw that a whole group of them--nearly three hundred--were breaking and running. That caused the rest to run, and it’s now a complete rout.
Laurilli shouted over the wind, “We may have won, but I’m the only one left of my two hundred fifty. In a real fight that would be too many of our friends slain.”
Anan nodded, then grinned, “That’s true. I guess next time we’ll just let only you out then.”
Laurilli allowed herself a small grin to let Anan know she caught the joke. Surveying the field, she said, “We should finish this before they regroup and we have a fight on our hands again.” They jogged into the closest group of enemies. Gradually they were finding more pockets of blue troops than brown or red, until the brown and red disappeared altogether.
Three was walking among the troops congratulating the victors and sympathizing with those who had been killed. When he reached Laurilli he shook his head and said, “Who would have thought that the only crippled one here would be the highest rank. We had originally thought to make the ranks attained here, simply for show. Those who rose higher would be given more responsibilities if the militia was ever called upon to fight. However, after he saw you marshal your troops and how you handled the tactics of a fight against twice as many men as you had we are convinced--or those of us who matter--to make the positions permanent. I’ll be announcing this at graduation, but congratulations are in order, Major Laurilli.”
Laurilli said, “I thought this was just training.”
Three said, “It is, but when you train you will be forced to take on the role more and more.”
She thought of the implications of keeping their ranks, and how would she be able to keep her troops training. She asked, “Does that mean that the trainees will be part of the a militia?”
Three shrugged and said, “Maybe as a substitute only, but maybe.”
Laurilli asked, “Do you feel that we will be needed in the upcoming fight?”
Three said, “I wouldn’t have trained you if I didn’t.”
Just then his golden trident tattoo seemed to glow in the afternoon light, and she asked, “How soon?”
Three said, “Who knows when the invaders will return, but I would expect only a few weeks of downtime. I think the main reason for this break is just so that the recruits don’t riot that they can’t participate in two week at the tournament. Then I’d guess back to training for another month.”
Laurilli hadn’t even thought about the tournament. She had no desire to take part in it without Uktesh. She shook her head, “Why the rush?”
Three growled at her, “Girl, if we didn’t need you we wouldn’t have trained you.”
Laurilli asked, “In your honest opinion, do you think we have a shot of winning?”
Three said, “Hells, girl we have more than a shot!”
Laurilli said, “I meant do you think that we, the recruits, have a shot at helping, more than being fodder for the archers.”
Three said, “When you arrived for training I would have said no, but now I think there’s a core group of a squad or so that would make fine soldiers, and outside of those probably nine or ten who would excel. Well, I should keep on moving, but that was a very impressive battle you won. Once again, congratulations Major.”
An arm slammed down around her shoulder, “Ah knew dat you would be de firs’ one ta be a Major. Jus’ as ah knew dat sticking wit you would be betta den figh’n against ya.” Enan steered her toward the rest of her officers, the majority of whom she’d just beaten. This will be an interesting job.
An Ultimate Rumble in the Life of
Five months and a day apart from Laurilli
“… The slayer of Tulxa, the master of movement, we present to you: Uktesh the unarmed!” Uktesh walked onto the sand for the fourteenth time since his first fight. Across from him were three people worth one, “kill,” each. It wasn’t their fault that they were wastes of Uktesh’s time; it was simply that no one was willing to fight him anymore. Hell, this fight wouldn’t have happened if I were allowed to be armed. After his spectacular first fight the Storm ludis had been flooded with requests from other Domini to have the champion of their ludis fight Uktesh. His second fight had added seven, “kills,” to his total. The next was worth seven. The eleven after those had been worth six, seven, six, five, five, five, four, three, one, two, and two.
That brought him to his current fight against the three first time gladiators who cowered before him. If I win I’ll have seventy-two, “kills.” Really it’s more like when I win. They circled him and he let them. Uktesh hadn’t been allowed to begin a fight with a weapon since his sixth fight, and after his tenth fight, they’d stopped leaving a weapon somewhere in the sand for him. Without a weapon he didn’t want to be cocky and get injured foolishly. He Stepped to his left and used a true form palm strike to kill the first gladiator. The remaining two sprinted at his unprotected back. He waited for them to close in, bef
ore he Stepped between them and lashed out with two spirit-enhanced true form Palm Strikes, one with each hand, that dented both helmets in and caused blood to freely flow. He turned to the Storm lord and saluted to the roar of the crowd, which had started to love him. He saw that sitting next to the Storm lord was Astiau, who was whispering in his father’s ear and glaring at Uktesh.
He walked out of the sandpit before the second body had been dragged away. Destus punched his shoulder and said, “Good attacks, honored champion.” Uktesh was glad that Destus had survived as long as he had, because their agreement still held true and Destus made sure that while he fought no one touched Talia. Uktesh felt Talia slide next to him and put her arm around his waist. He slid his arm around her shoulders and with the other surviving Storm ludis gladiators headed back to the Storm ludis with their dozens of guards.
Uktesh and the rest of the gladiators went to the kitchens and ate their fill. The only day they were fed what the Storm lord and his family ate was on the day of their victory in the coliseum. There was a fire and a spit of some animal roasting over it. As the champion Uktesh got first pick, so he grabbed a leg and ripped it off the creature. As they were eating, dozens of guards filed in and Astiau walked in after them. He wore a red cloak that billowed out behind him. He stood before Uktesh and those eating at the same table and said, “Move.” Everyone stood to move, but Astiau grabbled Uktesh and said, “No, you.”
Uktesh sat back down and continued to eat. He watched the nobilis and noticed that on his left shoulder he wore a pin of a mounted dinosaur and said, “Congratulations on your promotion, Equestrian.”
Astiau’s face turned red and he shouted, “I neither need nor want your congratulations! Thanks to you it took months longer than it should have!” Uktesh didn’t respond except to take another bite of the leg of meat he held. Astiau tried to slap the food away from Uktesh, but Uktesh moved his hand, causing Astiau said, “Slave, drop the food onto the sand.”
Uktesh did so. Astiau stood and used his food to roll the meat around in the sand. He grinned wickedly at Uktesh and said, “Now pick it up.” Uktesh did so and Astiau said, “Aren’t you hungry? Go ahead and eat it.”
Uktesh said, “This sand is disgusting, I will simply get another one later if I find myself hungry.”
Astiau said, “I order you to eat that piece of meat!”
Uktesh blinked and said, “My father once told me that a true leader knows to never give an order he knows won’t be followed.”
Astiau glared at Uktesh and said, “I still haven’t.” Uktesh stood and Astiau quickly stood too. Uktesh headed toward the exit and Astiau said, “I didn’t give you permission to leave! Guards!”
Uktesh glared at the guards, who backed up until they were blocking the exit, but not Uktesh himself. Which was fine, Uktesh wasn’t leaving. He grabbed a bowl, dunked it into the water basin, and then poured the water over the leg of meat until it was clear of sand. Uktesh returned to where he’d been sitting and ate his food. Astiau shook with fury and said, “Slave toss that meat away!” Uktesh grinned and tossed the leg of meat into the fire under the hanging meat. Astiau said, “What are you doing? Grab that piece of meat!”
Uktesh shook his head and said, “The Storm lord has told us to obey any nobilis, unless they order us to hurt ourselves.”
Astiau shouted, “Fine!” He pulled a piece of meat off the animal and threw it to the ground, “Pick that up, don’t move, and eat it!”
Uktesh stood up from where he was sitting and said, “If I can’t move after I pick it up, how can I put it in my mouth to eat it?”
Astiau shouted, “Pick it up! Don’t move your feet after you’ve picked it up! Then put it in your mouth, chew it, and swallow it!”
Uktesh concentrated, picked up the meat, used his water magic to bring a blob of water to clean the meat off, put the newly cleaned meat in his mouth, chewed, and swallowed it. Astiau pulled another piece from the animal and threw it on the ground and said, “Pick it up! Don’t clean it. Don’t move your feet after you’ve picked it up! Then put it in your mouth, chew it, and swallow it!”
Uktesh picked it up and shook it once, used his earth power to remove all the sand and other grit from it, put it in his mouth, chewed, and swallowed. Astiau pulled another piece from the animal and threw it to the sand, but before he could order Uktesh, Uktesh said, “We can do this all day if you’d like, but I really have more pressing things to do than horse around.”
Astiau cocked his head to the side and an insane gleam in his eye let Uktesh know he was winning.
Astiau said, “Pick it up! Don’t clean it. Don’t move your feet after you’ve picked it up! Don’t shake it. Then put it in your mouth, chew it, and swallow it!”
Uktesh picked it up, he slowly brought it to his mouth as he forced the sand and grit off it, he put it in his mouth, chewed it, and swallowed it.
Uktesh continued to eat the meat, grinned at Astiau, and raised a, “what else have you got?” eyebrow at him. Astiau stalked out of the kitchen and Uktesh sat back down with more meat. The other gladiators gathered around him, “What was that about?”
Uktesh said, “He’s probably still mad about his eye.”
One of the gladiators said, “You did that?”
Uktesh nodded and said, “During the invasion. He captured me, but I removed his eye before he did.”
The same gladiator said, “No wonder you’re so good. You beat an Equestrian.”
Or he beat me, and I hurt him while he was gloating. Uktesh had no intention of clearing up that misconception. They finished eating and Uktesh headed out to the training area to find Ceftin. Uktesh saw that of the dragons who’d been captured only three remained alive; Hailsby, who was grand master Dayho’s son; Yuros, a dragon who’d helped train Laurilli, and Royn, who had survived even with his ruined hand. The three of them were training in the corner away from the group. As a whole the dragons hadn’t mixed well with the other gladiators and viewed Uktesh as a traitor to the memory of the grand masters who’d been murdered by Neftalix. Uktesh had taken a different approach to the gladiators and figured that they, like him, were desperate to win their freedom, and not in league with those who owned them.
Uktesh didn’t know how or where all the gladiators came from, but since he’d arrived at the Storm lord’s ludis three months ago, they’d had new fighters added to their gladiatorial ranks each month. With that in mind it made even less sense that the dragons would view people enslaved after their own capture with hostility, but they did. Inly their proven prowess on the sands had saved them from any backlash.
The naga was in the middle of pushing Cielex, Omero, and Emexida hard.
“Cssielexss keep that ssshield up!
Omero do you plan to fight for the death cup?
Emexida move faster, of all three,
you’re the only one that could go free.”
Emexida has more than seventy-five, “kills?” Uktesh watched as the naga continued to yell at the three gladiators who would be fighting in the Ultimate Rumble. Each year every ludis in the city was required to send four gladiators to the Ultimate Rumble, and even though it was tomorrow, the fourth gladiator hadn’t yet been picked. Uktesh feared that it would be Ceftin, and that Uktesh would have to try to learn the titanic form on his own. The Rumble was usually considered a punishment, as it had been for the three that had lost to Uktesh, even though the winner would earn twenty-five, “kills.” Uktesh shook his head at that thought of surviving in a hug melee against three hundred and ninety-six people who wanted to kill you. That was, of course, assuming that your fellow gladiators didn’t stab you in the back.
Among those in the Storm lord’s ludis it was well known that the four protected each other until after the second round. If they betrayed someone before then and won, even if they were given freedom, the Storm lord would have them killed. Uktesh assumed it was because of the good reputation that would be gained if all four gladiators made it to the third, and last, round.
The first round, like all three rounds, pitted all the gladiators against each other until roughly half were dead. Once they’d been whittled down to roughly two hundred, they would receive a ten-minute break where wounds would be treated and the gladiators would be given food and drink. Then round two would continue along the same lines as round one. It would end when roughly one hundred gladiators remained.
Round three didn’t end until only one remained. Uktesh wouldn’t have volunteered to join that madness even if he had seventy-five, “kills.” I’m currently three, “kills,” short, but that mess is something I would want to avoid even if Cavavos hadn’t warned me about it on the ship here. The only part of the fight that tempted him, other than the twenty-five “kills” was that the winner earned one hundred Imperial platinum marks and the right to free a slave of his choice. It would be nice to be able to free Talia, but I have to be smart. She’s not my goal. Laurilli is the person who I’m fighting to get back to.
Uktesh had been surprised to learn was that each, “kill,” he had earned had also earned him a gold mark, and that if he earned his freedom he would be paid ten platinum marks, an amount equal to one hundred gold marks. Uktesh had yet to see a mark; copper, silver, or otherwise, but he assumed that the empire used coins too.
Uktesh began his training. He Stepped, used a true Palm Strike, then attempted a titanic Palm strike, but failed, Stepped again, and repeated the process.
When he had started last month, it was tough for him to be able to train for more than a few minutes without collapsing in exhaustion. Now, more than a month later, he was grateful to the giant snake for punishing him each time he’d failed to reach a goal that Ceftin had set.
Nearly an hour later his titanic Palm Strike thundered away from him to push back several of the gladiators practicing around him. Uktesh stopped, breathing hard, and looked at his hands.