But a duel in these games did not allow just any weapons one wished. A battler had to choose two weapons (a staff counted as two) from a selection of wooden ones. For protection, the rules commanded that each dueler use an oaken shield along with whatever armor he or she deemed necessary.
“So, tell it to me straight,” Fu Xi said as he stood and began to stretch. “What are they saying about my chances to beat her?”
“Nothing you could not have already guessed,” Adamarcus answered. “Speaking of bets – odds are 4 to 1.”
Fu Xi whistled as if impressed. “Wow, 4 to 1! Do they think a scorpion will sting me again or that maybe Marseea will curse me on my way into the pit?”
“There is no need to worry about the old queen; Penthesilea her favorite, Marseea won’t go out of her way to help Melanippe. And Penthesilea will not cheat either – she has too much confidence in her sister.” Adamarcus stepped close to Fu Xi. He then pulled out a handful of gold pieces and jingled them in his hand. “I don’t usually think about betting, but these are just begging me to do so? Any ideas on what or who I should bet on?”
Fu Xi sighed. Adamarcus had hoped to cheer him up, but seemed to have done just the opposite. Their eyes met and Fu Xi forced out a smile that looked painful enough to leave a lesser Centaur writhing on the ground in anguish.
“If you bet on her, don’t worry about it. I won’t be ––”
“HA!” Adamarcus crowed. “Are you kidding? If the bet makers are going to be stupid enough to give me 4 to 1 odds on the most cunning Centaur I know, then I am going to be smart enough to take them!”
“Me too!” They turned to see the handsome dreadlocked head of Taharqa peeking past the cloth door. The joyful Nubian stepped in with a large basket of food and drinks and set them on top of a chest. Next, he pulled out a few gold pieces of his own and shoved them into Adamarcus’ free hand. “Here are five more!”
His sixteenth birthday having just passed, a hunt lasting nearly a week with his father was Taharqa’s reward. Since he had returned, his shoulders appeared broader and his voice sounded deeper. Even the dreadlocks his father loathed looked longer.
The three now all smiles, they dug into their food and drinks – just maybe the laughs and belches they shared would make the beating Fu Xi was about to endure a little less horrid!
“Did you hear about Yishuo?” Taharqa asked. Adamarcus and Fu Xi just shook their heads. “I heard that she is running not against the females in the short race, but against the males.”
This stunned Adamarcus, but Fu Xi just nodded his head and kept stuffing his face.
“I’m not surprised,” Fu Xi said dryly after he swallowed a whole roll in one gulp. “I mean, come on, she is so much faster than any Centauress – everyone already knows this. The longer races she cannot win, but because she is so fast from the start, I can see her doing well in the short race. Only a third of a league from start to finish,” he gulped down another roll, “she just might win.”
A proud look overtook Fu Xi as they continued to talk about Yishuo. Adamarcus was well aware that Fu Xi fancied his sister’s lady-in-waiting, but he had seen them together less and less lately. Maybe it had something to do with her new duties or maybe something else; Adamarcus resisted the urge to pry.
When it came to females, Taharqa was the expert.
After more laughs and a bit of rest, the gong of the clepsydra close to the dueling pit announced that the fifteenth full turn of the day had arrived. The trio exited the tent and made their way toward the hundreds already gathered around the pit. Once in sight, cheers rang out for Fu Xi. He raised a hand high and turned to Adamarcus.
“If I do beat her,” their champion shouted over the sudden noise around them, “how bad do you think the curse Penthesilea puts on me will be?”
*****
As Nüwa helped Fu Xi put his armor on over a brilliant red caparison – crimson like a medic’s cloak, maybe not a good omen – Melanippe approached. Her arm wrapped in that of her sister and their mother, Komnena, trailing them, the Sapien champion dressed in nothing but silver and gold. Fu Xi marched in place as his mother continued to help. Melanippe was as still as a log and simply stalked him with her eyes as Penthesilea and Komnena helped with her armor. Finished and with their helmets in hand, Queen Marseea bid them to approach.
Standing beside Nüwa, Adamarcus could hear but faint whispers as Melanippe took her weapon and shield. Fu Xi groaned as the warrior twin walked away and he shot them a disbelieving look.
“By his surprised look, I take it you did not tell him she would choose the staff?” Nüwa asked as she leaned into Adamarcus.
“Not a word. As he is already scared half to death just by the thought of facing her, I thought it good manners not to scare him the rest of the way.” Taharqa and Persepolis nodded their agreement.
Fu Xi took the favored weapon of the Huaxia – thin twin swords – and his shield. He sheathed one of the swords and then made his way back toward them.
“I can’t believe she took the staff!” he fumed.
“Then do something about it!” Nüwa lectured. She then lowered her voice. “Do you have your forearm guards?”
“Yes, Mother.”
The only shields a Huaxia used in real battle were thick bronze plates lacquered in black and strapped around the forearms. Under these bronze plates were threaded many thin layers of Arachna silk to absorb the shock of a weapon. Years of training needed before a warrior trusted this armor to keep his arm from shattering upon the direct strike of a sword or ax ––
Had Fu Xi learned to trust these forearm guards? And not just halfheartedly, did he UNQUESTIONABLY trust them?
“You have mastered the most crucial elements of the art of war, my son. Now go get her!”
Fu Xi strapped on his helmet and took his place at one end of the dueling pit. Melanippe stood across from him. A rope across her body much like a tight sash would keep her shield pinned to her back until she needed it. The wispy warrior now began to twirl her staff to show off.
“He was supposed to choose the staff too, wasn’t he?” Adamarcus whispered. Nüwa nodded and rolled her eyes.
Having told Adamarcus and Taharqa earlier this morning that she would be in the stands with her family for today’s events, Evagoria was not with them. And just as he was about to turn in the direction of the southern stands to look for her.…
“She is going to make him pay for it,” a cheery voice chimed from below. Adamarcus’ sister, Ixchelene, now stood next to him.
“Sneaking up on me again?” Adamarcus asked as he leaned down. Ixchelene’s proud smile was his answer. “I know the twins are your new best friends and that you want Melanippe to win, but try not to make it so obvious. You are still a Centauress after all.”
Ixchelene just gave him her typical smirk. “Well, duh! I may not be as smart as you, but I’m not stupid.”
The best part of being the son and daughter of the Chiron was the many journeys they took with their father as he travelled around Terra Australis. These journeys included many stops at the Sapien palace. Ixchelene almost thirteen and creeping ever closer to the twins’ ‘Centaur age’, the three had become closer with each visit.
Marseea now stepped into the middle of the pit. “You both know the only two rules,” she announced, “but I will repeat them. No magic and, if more than a single hoof leaves the ground at any one time,” she looked directly at Fu Xi, “you will exit the dueling pit with four defeated ones. For as long as you are still able to stand, of course. Aside from these rules,” she smiled wide, “there are no others.”
Marseea stepped out. With the sudden blow of a horn, the final duel began.
A bloodcurdling screech shot out of Melanippe’s mouth and she exploded toward Fu Xi. Her staff spun so fast, Adamarcus could not even see it.
Just how would Fu Xi?
It struck his shield hard and he stumbled back a bit. The extra sword sheathed behind his back, Fu Xi chose to fight with a si
ngle sword and shield.
A smack, and then another, then another, Melanippe attacked furiously. Fu Xi just did what he could to keep her at bay. Finally, he rushed her. She dipped out of the way – with an ease that was just not fair – and he sped right past her. Once he swung around, her staff again sought to pound away at him. Fu Xi on defense once more, Melanippe began to make some headway. This headway then turned into a full-fledged beating.
“Someone needs to do something before she kills him!” Nüwa and Taharqa shot Persepolis the dirtiest of looks. “I mean, I meant before he kills her. Come on, Fu Xi!” He leaned into Adamarcus. “We need our friend to kick it up a notch here. I didn’t come to these games to spin funerary wrappings.”
“We are halfway through the duel, but on the threshold of victory!” Komnena shouted proudly from across the pit.
Those watching both on the field and in the stands cheered loudly – they seemed to love it all just as much as Komnena did. Wide-eyed and open-mouthed every time Adamarcus glanced down at her, Ixchelene just seemed enthralled by it all.
Most of Fu Xi’s armor had already fallen off or was about to from so many smashes. Trickles of blood snaked their way from one end of the dueling pit sands to the other … and there went his helmet. His dazed eyes looked at Adamarcus, Taharqa, and Persepolis as if it might be the last time they did so. Yishuo now next to Fu Xi’s mother, she leaned into Nüwa’s shoulder and sobbed.
As if time stood still, Adamarcus watched those beaten eyes set themselves on Yishuo – they then came alive with fury. With a final gasp using whatever willful energy he had left, Fu Xi again rushed Melanippe. Just as before, she easily ducked away. His rump now nearly in her face, she swung her staff for it. This swing missed, but the next one struck true and cracked his shield. The two halves fell apart and landed with a dull thud onto the dirt.
Fu Xi stumbled backward and withdrew his second sword. Both now in hand, Melanippe dispatched these two swords with a single swing and he fell to his knees. Her prey now ready for slaughter, Melanippe raised the staff over her head and came down hard with it. No weapons, no shield; Fu Xi crossed both forearms and thrust them skyward. The staff then slammed into his forearm guards and broke cleanly in half.
Melanippe held one shattered half in her left hand and just stared at it – for longer than she should have. Fu Xi snatched it out of her hand. Next, he hit her upside the head with it. This strike knocking her helmet clean off, as she stumbled backward, he threw the broken piece of the staff at her face. This throw missed, but it did not matter. In an instant, he leapt for Melanippe, wrapped his hands around her throat, and shoved her to the ground. Now on all four knees, he hovered over her.
Fu Xi’s eyes were as if obsidian; Adamarcus had never seen anything like it. There was no color, no mercy, only hate. The crowd gasped and Melanippe choked on her own blood as Fu Xi held her down. A horn proclaiming victory blew loud and clear, yet he continued to squeeze as she struggled frantically to free herself.
“You have won – LET HER GO!” Penthesilea screamed as she stepped into the pit with her hand deep inside a silk pouch.
The sinister shade of the pouch easy to see despite the blue robes she wore – the sight of this alarmed Adamarcus. He instinctively swung his hand in front of Ixchelene and she bumped into it. Their eyes met and his sister now thought better of whatever foolishness she had been ready to act upon.
Fu Xi looked up. The crowd was both as silent and still as stone. Mouth agape and turning his head ever so slowly, the stunned Huaxia took in every face. Finally, he released Melanippe.
“We … we have our champion,” Queen Marseea said in a soft tone that suggested she was just as shocked at the result as the rest of them.
Centaurs watching cheered like mad and jumped up and down, but Fu Xi did not. He just slowly rose and stood in place. He extended his hand in the hope Melanippe would take it, but she angrily waved him off. She got up on her own, ripped of her breastplate, and threw it to the ground; the breastplate landed at Fu Xi’s front hooves. Conquering eyes with a glint of remorse clashed into enraged defeated ones.
Melanippe bowed a sarcastic curtsy with flailing arms held out wide. She took a couple of steps back, but then stopped, and pointed angrily at him. “If we ever meet again with real weapons,” she spit a chunk of blood to the ground, “you won’t be walking away then!” Her voice hoarse, Adamarcus could see clearly every bright red finger mark around her pale throat. She finally twirled around, and with her mother and sister, stomped away.
Fu Xi still standing where Melanippe’s scathing words had left him, Queen Marseea now approached. Those smoky grey eyes gave a subtle hint that a spot of mischief might be on its way, but her curious swagger made this a certainty.
“Congratulations, Fu Xi. You are this Summer Game’s dueling champion.”
“T-Thank you, Queen ––”
“And to think you only had to beat up one girl to win it – well done!” Not even Nüwa’s frosty glare could wipe that snarky smirk from Marseea’s face as she paraded past them. “Enjoy the rest of the games,” the queen called back cheerfully and then she too was gone.
This not so subtle insult chased Fu Xi’s blank expression away and replaced it with a hard frown. Despite his stunned state – not to mention the blood and filth that covered him – Nüwa, Yishuo, and the three friends hugged him.
“I have shamed you, Mother,” Fu Xi said sadly. “I have shamed us all.” Although his head tipped downward, Fu Xi’s eyes wandered as if searching for someone. His father – the only one Adamarcus could think of whom he would seek out – was nowhere in sight.
“How ridiculous!” Nüwa shot back as she tended to Fu Xi’s many scrapes and scratches. “You are this year’s dueling champion and I could not be more proud of you! True, things did get a bit messy toward the end, but she entered the pit willingly.”
These were kind words by a kind mother. A mother who was also a hardened warrior and had taught Melanippe many of the skills she had so skillfully smashed her son around with. There would be a good deal of smoothing over needed between the son and star pupil in the days ahead.
“But, I’m not a ––” a stern look from Nüwa silenced him. ‘Girl’, Adamarcus was sure about to come next, Fu Xi very wisely did not complete this thought. Had he done so, his mother might have finished what Melanippe started.
Adamarcus’ parents and Viracocha congratulated Fu Xi next. Many other Centaurs now gathered around their champion, but as far as Adamarcus could see, Buzhou was not one of them.
With an arm in his, Nüwa led Fu Xi away from the dueling pit. Yishuo took the other arm, peeked back at Adamarcus, raised her chin high, and turned away. She had done this to him a handful of times since the episode with the scorpion last year, but he had no idea as to why. Perhaps one of the tradeoffs to being a polymath, Adamarcus understood females about as well as a rock understood the heavens. One of these days, he needed to find the right moment to ask Taharqa why Yishuo did such things.
“Does this mean Fu Xi is going to have to stay away from studies?” Persepolis asked. “The twins always helping, there will be plenty of opportunities for Melanippe to make good on her promise.”
“Probably not,” Adamarcus replied as he shared a worried look with Taharqa. “But now might be a good time to start worrying about that spell.”
*****
Fu Xi still appeared as if in a daze as Adamarcus and Taharqa dragged him into the stands. A bit of time needed to clean and stitch him up enough to be presentable, a rewound topknot, clean caparison, and long sleeve tunic helped a great deal. They had missed all of the longer foot races, but were just in time for the short race. Luckily, those who organized the games had saved the best race for last.
The stadium had both a western and eastern gate. So that spectators inside the arena could watch races many times longer than the stadium was wide, Gryphons in charge of these gates had raised them both. The eastern side the trio now gazed in the directi
on of had much shorter walls – they were a pike length tall at most – than those on the western side. Because the short race only lasted a single league and the eastern side of the stadium was largely open, spectators could see nearly the entire race that would end just before the runners smashed into the western gates.
“OH WOW!” Fu Xi howled as Yishuo exploded past the other four runners in a qualifying race. “Look – at – her – go!”
“When Yishuo runs,” Carolinica once told Adamarcus, “she does not merely trample across the plains nor even glide just above them. This one beckons the wind to gather close, to mold itself around her, and she rides it as if a chariot none can see, but all are in awe of.”
Few words more appropriate than these, Yishuo and a male finished neck and neck at least two pike lengths ahead of the other three – all males.
The top two Centaurs would race the top two kinds from the next heats. The Gryphons went next and then up came the Arachna. As the five stampeded past them, Adamarcus just shook his head and shared a sympathetic grin with Fu Xi and Taharqa.
“Poor Persepolis,” Adamarcus said. “He looks faster than that when I run next to him, but he cannot even finish better than last against his own.”
“He still has ax throwing,” Taharqa reminded them. “Persepolis is a good deal better at that than running I think.”
A quarter of a turn or so after the last heat, the time to determine a champion had arrived. The six finalists lined up far outside the eastern gates of the stadium, crouched into their starting positions, and were now ready. A horn blared and the six bolted for the stadium.
As Centaurs could start faster than any other kind, Yishuo was naturally first. She kept this position until the racers passed through the eastern gate. A Gryphon suddenly exploded into the lead, overtook Yishuo and two Arachna, and made for the western gate. As if those behind him stopped to gawk in awe, this Gryphon’s lead grew larger with each stride.
The Gift From Poseidon: When Gods Walked Among Us (Volume 2) Page 34