Lina was relieved, embarrassed, and grateful in equal measures. Since becoming a Vassal in Volcanus, kindness had become almost foreign to her.
-----o
Gavin's randomly chosen partner for the challenge was Karmal. Although he was relieved that he had a partner he trained with regularly, he was apprehensive that it was Karmal. They stood in the glowstone-lit marble corridor outside their arming room, idly talking about recent events. It was a rare occurrence to find them together alone; Gavin did not often seek the company of the abrasive and fiery tempered Gladiatrix.
"So is your little slave any good?" asked Karmal.
"Don't be ignorant Karmal," Gavin rolled his eyes. "She is a Vassal and as free as you or me."
"She gave up her magic; I have no sympathy for geldings," she smiled, green eyes full of scorn. "She was too weak to face the arena and so she let herself become a victim... but that isn't what I asked Gavin. You and Sadira have quite the love life, and I'm wondering how your new friend fits in."
"That's disgusting; I doubt she's even sixteen," said Gavin a little coldly. Karmal simply laughed at his discomfort. "Can we focus on the match please?"
"What's to know? We train together every day," Karmal shrugged her broad shoulders. "You defend me; I kill them. Easy. Now, back to my original question..."
"No one has touched Lina," he said indignantly, hoping the trumpets would sound soon. Karmal was a great fighter, but he could not help feel that she did not like him.
"Really?" she said, tartly. "I happen to know Sadira just loves young red-heads."
Gavin turned, eyes wide. The trumpets sounded. Karmal met his gaze, her green eyes penetrating.
"Time to do what we do," she said quietly, as she brushed past him on her way into the arena.
The crowd cheered, but not nearly as vigorously as they would have for their team-mate Sadira. Both of them noticed this, for their own reasons, and it pained them. They lifted their weapons in salute to the merciless audience.
The brass call of the trumpets rang out again and their opponents entered the fighting grounds. Gavin was secretly relieved when he did not see Shield-Splitter. They had drawn Steel Harmony and Bull Dangerous this match; the tiny Quickling woman ran circles around the massive Minotaur as he rumbled into the ring, his hefty two-handed battle-axe resting on his shoulder.
"YOU MESS WITH THE BULL YOU GET THE HORNS!" shouted the Minotaur in a magically amplified voice, pointing at Gavin.
"You really are a credit to your species Bull Baby," called Karmal in a sweet singsong voice. "Maybe you should change your arena name to Bullshit Tenderflank!"
Bull turned his focus to Karmal. The vicious Gladiatrix stood watching him, leaning on her war-cleaver. Gavin was just glad her venomous remarks were aimed at someone else. He moved a little closer to her, setting himself so his back foot was perpendicular to the front, shoulder length apart, ready to receive the inevitable charge from the two aggressive Blues. Bull out-massed him by a few hundred pounds, and Steel Harmony was blindingly fast; he would need to focus.
"I love a man who knows his role," said Karmal from very close behind him. Just her breath made the back of his neck tingle.
He shook his head; she laughed loudly. The trumpets rang again. The two Blues sprang forward, Steel Harmony moving in a blur of speed, while the much larger Bull Dangerous sent sprays of sand flying as he powered toward Gavin and Karmal. Gavin shifted forward to intercept them. Steel Harmony would be on them first, but Bull would hit with the force of a steam-wagon. He sensed Karmal channelling behind him. She had decided to let him hold them off while she tried a powerful spell. Lovely, he thought, now I know how Vintia feels.
The Quickling tried to move around Gavin, so fast that even his enhanced Gladiator's senses barely registered her movements. Most of the audience saw her only as a blur. Gavin could not let her get to Karmal. He turned, thrust his deadly barbed-headed war spear at her, forcing her to skip sideways to avoid its bite. At the same time, he placed his shield between his body and the incoming Minotaur. He did not, however, have enough time to brace himself against a charge of that magnitude from the side. He would have to roll with it.
Bull slammed into Gavin, metal-capped horns clanging as they glanced off his shield, lifting him into the air with a toss of his head. Gavin, expecting this, did not try to resist but rather moved with the impact. He flew backwards, righting himself in the air, landing at Karmal's side as the massive Minotaur buried his heavy-bladed greataxe in the sand, just missing him. Gavin thrust his spear again at Steel Harmony as she sped by. Bull was left facing fiery Karmal, who glowed with power. She smiled.
The massive Gladiator's eyes widened as he sensed his danger. "Oh sh...!"
Gavin could feel the tremendous power Karmal channelled into her spell, like a sudden, drastic change of pressure before a brutal storm, but the spell's effect was not immediately apparent. Bull pushed forward, desperately trying to get to the flame-haired Gladiatrix, but he was too late. Suddenly, the Blue Gladiator stopped in mid-stride, rearing back, screaming, bellowing flames as fire exploded deep within him. The audience roared.
"Roast beef anyone?" said Karmal, a vicious grin lighting up her face. "I think I'll carve off a slice for myself!"
Steel Harmony ran past Gavin, raining rapid blows onto his shield while shouting an incomprehensible stream of words at Karmal, "IdunoIdratherchopupsomehor!"
Gavin could not quite catch what the Quickling said, but Karmal turned away from Bull Dangerous with a rabid snarl, eyes blazing. Behind her, the Minotaur raised his head, struggling to stand. Smoke poured from his nose and mouth. Gavin cursed; Karmal should have finished him off instead of responding to the Quickling's taunts. He moved in on the massive Minotaur, hoping to finish him off before he could recover.
Now Steel Harmony ran toward Karmal, leaping to the side when the bigger woman swung her massive war-cleaver. Instead of counter-attacking though, the Quickling cast a healing spell on the wounded Minotaur, helping him overcome his wounds.
Too late, Karmal realized her mistake. She pivoted, channelling power into a spell-weave that sent a small shard of flaming rock hurtling through the air at the Minotaur. Reinvigorated by Steel Harmony’s healing, however, Bull Dangerous got his axe up in time. Shoving Gavin aside with a swift strong-arm, he charged Karmal. Although Gavin sprinted to intercept him, the Minotaur was too quick for him to outdistance. All Gavin could do was throw his shoulder into his massive opponent, pushing him just a little off course while grazing him with his spear.
Karmal, strong as she was, could not hope to match the charging Minotaur; he pushed her back with a roar, winding up for a colossal swing of his greataxe. Steel Harmony closed in from Karmal's flank just as Gavin arrived, yelling a warning to Karmal.
"Jump back!"
Gavin leaped high, pushing Karmal back with one hand, giving her the added momentum she needed to back out of the reach of Bull's powerful axe. He tucked his legs under him as he flew through the air, praying that the axe-blade would pass under him and not lop off his feet. Karmal's green eyes widened with alarm as the weapon kissed her. The crescent blade sparked against her armour but did not cut her flesh. Steel Harmony, her target suddenly replaced with the incoming axe blade, was forced to duck underneath Bull's massive swing, sliding flat along the ground. Her eyes met Gavin's, ever so briefly, as the blade passed between them. The Quickling smiled at him as she skidded by. The crowd roared, surprised and joyful, as all four Gladiators unexpectedly emerged from the tangle, unscathed.
Gavin landed, rolling, turning to see Bull take another swing at Karmal. The flame-haired Gladiatrix parried, blasting the huge Blue Gladiator with a spell of frost and ice. The powerful impact of his axe on her blade rang out, and she staggered back. Gavin was so concerned with his partner's safety that he lost sight of Steel Harmony who had recovered from her slide with alacrity. Without warning, the tiny Gladiatrix cut the back of his leg with her sickle, leaping, turning in mid-air and thrusti
ng the slim point of her rapier at his face. He flinched back, turning so that most of the thrust was deflected by his thick shoulder guard; the blade merely cut his scalp instead of taking his eye. He swung his shield, backhand, at his assailant.
"Where are you, Gavin?" shouted Karmal, sounding angry and desperate. The red-haired Gladiatrix continued to hammer at the Minotaur with her spells, while he pushed her back with powerful swings of his axe. He was pressing her hard, using his superior strength to hamper her offence. Karmal was uncomfortable on defence. Steel Harmony, leaving Gavin hobbled by her sickle slash through his hamstring, sped off toward them. Although Gavin could not give chase, he threw his grim war-spear, aiming at the broad back of Bull Dangerous, channelling power into a mind-blast spell aimed at the Quickling as he did so. Steel Harmony, caught off guard, staggered in mid-charge.
Gavin's throw was lucky and well timed. The spear-point hit the Minotaur squarely in the back, between the shoulder blades, just as he raised his axe for a mighty downward chop. Karmal, already raising her blade to parry, took advantage of her adversary's pause, and stepped in, raking the jagged edge of her war-cleaver down his chest and abdomen. Blood showered from the deep cut. The Minotaur staggered backwards, trying to get his blade up to parry her next swing. Vicious Karmal, laughing, slammed her heavy blade into his shoulder and forced him to his knees. Once again, Gavin staggered Steel Harmony with the force of another mental blast before she could reach Karmal. Then the trumpets sounded, signalling an end to the fight.
The Gladiators stopped moving and began to assess the damage. Gavin moved painfully as the muscles on his leg knit back together slowly. Steel Harmony had to support her much larger team-mate even to get him standing, Karmal's assault having wounded him terribly. She could not heal him now, the spectators needed to see the wounds in order to judge the victor, and the little Gladiatrix was getting drenched in her partner's blood. Both Gavin and the Minotaur stood as tall as they could, putting a brave face on for the crowd. In truth, Gavin was impressed that Bull could still stand.
They stepped forward as the announcer called out each of their names, in order, raising their weapons to salute the crowd. The patrons of the Scorpion's Oasis arena, thrilled by such a brutal fight cheered all of them, but when vicious, beautiful Karmal stepped forward, standing tall and unharmed, her fiery hair lit by the afternoon sun, all doubt as to whom they would proclaim the winner vanished. She raised her massive, gore-stained, war-cleaver, a look of fiendish triumph lighting up her face. Sated by victory, Karmal actually helped Gavin hobble out of the arena; she was surprisingly gentle.
-----o
Gavin undressed and began to work feeling back into his leg. The healer had mended it with a simple spell, but it still felt tender. It might take him a few days to condition the new muscle. He was surprised when Karmal walked into his dressing room, brazenly naked. Gladiators are not body-shy, and he had seen Karmal without clothes more than a few times after training, but Gavin still felt uncomfortable. Something in the way she moved spoke to him of seduction, and he struggled for a moment with arousal before mastering himself.
"Is Sadira joining you for the baths?" she asked with a languid smile at odds with her emerald eyes, predatory and piercing. What was she playing at? Perhaps he was just imagining her advances.
"She always does," he responded, not shying away from her gaze.
"Perhaps some other time, then," she said turning, gloriously naked, and walking slowly out of the room, her hips swaying. She was taller than Sadira and more muscular, a different variety of shapely. He watched her go, poisonous desire making it hard to tear his eyes away from her shapely posterior. He could not believe that she would try to steal him away from Sadira. Then again, she had not said which of them she was jealous of. He wondered if her strange behaviour was connected with the incident involving Meady Mox in Dreadwood Junction. As far as he knew, not even Sadira and Vintia had heard the full story of the events that had provoked Karmal into killing the abusive Arena Master, and why the Deliberative hadn't punished her.
Gavin let out a long sigh, shaking his head. He did not want to meet with his beloved with any traitorous thoughts of Karmal still infecting him. He hoped the emerald-eyed Gladiatrix was just being friendly. They did not need this kind of trouble. It was some time before he gathered himself and went to meet his love.
Chapter Twenty-Five: Old Friends
1144/07/01 AR, Scorpion's Oasis, test match for the Fifth Rank
"Corruption in the Deliberative is rare, but to think that it does not exist is foolish; every position of power will attract some who seek to exploit it for their own gain." Ordo Grevex
"The Keystones are relics of the Age of Wonders before the Reckoning. Their power will preserve the life of any who are attuned to them, so long as they stay within a certain distance. A Gladiator, whose body is conditioned to regenerate, is almost impossible to destroy if attuned properly. The few accidental deaths every year in the arena are mostly due to failure to use the stones properly. Any known magic that can kill an attuned Gladiator outright is too powerful to use in the warded confines of the arena. Rumours always abound of spells that can, but these are likely the product of the confusion of a handful of unsolved deaths over the thousand year history of the Great Games." Codex of Arms and the Arena.
"Keystones have been used occasionally in warfare, but with questionable results. Several tons of rock are hard to move around and the benefits are questionable; a horribly injured Warbound is just as useless in a battle as a dead one, and if the enemy really wants to kill her they only have to drag her body a few hundred measures to render the magic ineffective..." Warbound Deirdre Riverschild
"Half way to master level," said Sadira, smiling happily, lying languid on a massage table as Lina rubbed warm jasmine and rose-scented oil into her skin. "Just twenty five more matches to go. Then I'm eligible to get invited to Championships and join the Master's League. You're about to get your twenty-fifth too, beloved; are you excited?"
Gavin considered this. It seemed like ages since he had first stepped into the Campus Martius, twenty four fights and almost six years ago. He had visited interesting places, travelled across the breadth of the Domains, learned dangerous magics, proving himself against crazed Manticores, monstrous giants, and relentless clockworks. Along the way he had made some good friends and somehow earned the love of an incomparable woman who could one day become one of the Chosen. He had many reasons to be happy.
Yet many of the things the other citizens of the Domains took for granted were impossible for him. He was not free to go where he chose; Officers of the Deliberative tracked his every move. He wanted to travel, to learn, to live his own life as he felt it should be lived. He wanted to be free to visit those mysterious ruins and wondrous landmarks that he passed in his travels, and to be free to use his magic, all of it, without the restrictions placed on him by the Covenant.
Unlike Sadira, Gavin did not expect that he would be invited to any Championships after his fiftieth fight, even if he kept fighting for fifty more. Somewhere along the line he had come to the realization that he lacked some quality possessed by the Champions of the Great Games. Perhaps he questioned himself too much to ever make it into the ranks of the Chosen. He was not sure he wanted to, either, since he often felt out of place in the arena, even now. He wondered if the Chosen, with all their great power, were any less prisoners of the societal machinery of the Domains. Could he only achieve freedom by becoming an outcast, a Heretic? Such thoughts were dangerous.
Sadira chuckled, watching her beloved think while Lina's masterful fingers and verdant magic soothed her. She had gotten used to the long pauses in their conversations.
"I am excited. It is a real milestone; I'll feel better after I have passed though," he said. "The Deliberative always seem to want to play some kind of cruel mind game with me on my tests..."
"At least yours are interesting..." said Sadira. She had had to fight a monstrous tainted spike hound
that got stronger the more she hurt it for her latest ranking match. "And please don't brood about your career beloved; you are better than you think."
She knows me well, he thought, and smiled at her, although he did not believe her assessment of his skills.
"Karmal had to fight a swarm of blood bees," said Lina, with a hint of amusement. Gavin got the feeling that the young vassal could detect Karmal's contempt for her kind.
Lina looked up at him as she spoke, eyes meeting his. Although she was still decidedly timid, she had taken charge of their household quickly, organizing their apartment, bringing food to them on the training grounds, running errands, and acting as a personal massage therapist, assistant, and healer. Sadira had come to feel that the young woman was indispensable, freeing up more time for training. She did her best to make sure Lina felt like a friend instead of an indentured servant. Gavin wondered how he would feel in Lina's place, serving others instead of fighting in the arena. He would certainly not want to be a personal servant, especially an attractive young woman. That field was rife with abuse: even the seemingly omnipresent Grey-Robes had not been able to put an end to that. Perhaps too many among the Chosen enjoyed lording it over their lesser brethren.
He was about to ask Sadira what she thought the Deliberative would throw at him today when they heard a polite knock at the front door of their suite. Sadira groaned, turning her head to look at Gavin.
"Beloved, could you?" she implored, not wanting to end her massage. Gavin thought he could detect the faintest of smiles curve Lina's thin lips.
He grimaced petulantly, and walked quickly to the sitting room of their apartment. The peacock phoenix lit up as he entered the room, and he could not help but stop to admire the bird for a moment. Lina had begged them to take it out of its cage and they had built a nest for it in the sitting room. The phoenix seemed quite intelligent to Gavin, tame and easy to care for. The knock came again and he opened the door.
Bloodlust: A Gladiator's Tale (Domains of the Chosen Book One) Page 38