by Peter Glenn
I was taken aback. I think that was the first time he’d honestly thanked me for anything. Sure, I’d heard the words leave his mouth a few times, but I’d never believed him to be sincere about it. But this time?
I extended my hand to help him get back to his feet. “For what? Not killing you?” It came out a little harsher than I intended.
“For showing me a good fight.”
Damn my brother. Even faced with death, he was an asshole.
“Well, whatever,” I huffed.
“I guess you’re right,” Taio said with another cough. Some blood came out with that one. “I should not underestimate the tiger, even if he is my little brother.”
A compliment? I could scarcely believe it. A thank you and a compliment all in the same day. Maybe he was changing…
“Yeah, well, the tiger will strike again in two days’ time if you’re not careful,” I told him. I hoped he’d get the hidden meaning in what I was telling him, but he was impossible to read, so I had no way to be sure.
Taio tried to walk off, but he stumbled. I grabbed onto him, and blood seeped all over my hand. That wound was worse than I thought.
I tore off part of his shirt sleeve to make a makeshift bandage and helped secure it on his wound. I hoped the guards would give him some sort of care. Tinny Voice had stopped me from killing him, so someone must want him alive.
“Indeed, little brother,” Taio said, coughing again. More blood shot out of his mouth, and he collapsed to the ground.
All at once, there was chaos as the platform opposite mine opened up, and two guards rushed over to my fallen brother. One of them injected him with some sort of serum, and then they both grabbed him and started to drag him off. One of them stopped to pick up his sword along the way, too.
Good. He was going to get some care. He’d live to torment me another day.
Solemnly, I headed over to my own platform. I was starting to feel pretty weak from the exertion, but I knew I’d be given ample time to rest it off. Then they’d come for me again.
And when they did, they’d find a surprise in store for them.
“Come on, come on,” I said to the tiger claw as I wielded it against the last of the hinges, willing it to cut faster.
It had been almost two days since the last battle. At least, I was pretty sure it had been. I’d only gotten one bag of food since I fought Taio, and my stomach was starting to growl. I was pretty sure they gave me exactly one bag of food per day.
Which would make sense. The food was very filling, and it worked wonders on my system. It must therefore be very expensive to produce. They wouldn’t want to waste more of the precious stuff on their imprisoned gladiators than they had to.
I’d told Taio to expect me to come for him in two days so we could escape together. I was ninety percent sure he’d understood me. That meant I had to come today. If I didn’t, there was no telling what would happen.
Best case, he’d rot in prison a little longer. That thought actually made me snicker just a little. I still didn’t like him very much. Our history was long and tortured.
Worst case, he’d try to do something stupid and ruin the whole operation. This plan of mine depended on me getting out the next time they delivered the food. That would be when they were at their weakest.
They’d expect me to try something when they took me for battle. That’s when they came in with two burly guards. But the food delivery? That was just a robot and one guy. At least I thought that was all it was. I had only ever seen the robot arm. I could totally take a robot and a lone guardsman, though.
So I had to get this hinge off before they came to deliver food today, and my gut told me that’d be any minute now.
“Come on, stupid thing! Get off already!” I yelled at it.
As if in response, the final hinge slinked to the floor a second later, clattering to the ground. I smiled at my handiwork and kept the tiger claw ready. Grax’thor had had no effect on the robot delivering food. Maybe something with fae magic in it would have better luck.
Then I waited. And waited. And waited some more.
My hand itched where it held onto the tiger claw and was starting to get sweaty. My legs were starting to ache because I was staying in a crouched position, ready to strike, but I did my best to ignore it as I kept waiting and staring at the door. I would get one shot at this and one shot only. I had to make it count.
A screeching noise came then, along with the sound of metal grating on metal.
I grinned even broader. It was time.
The door pushed inward slightly, then shuddered and fell to the ground, slamming into it with such force that it shook my whole body, making a sound so harsh and loud that my ears rang for several seconds afterward.
Well, so much for keeping my escape quiet.
Light poured in from the hallway beyond, and I saw one small man standing next to the food robot, looking about as stunned as possible.
I pounced. I leapt over the fallen door, claw out and ready, aiming for the steely robot arm. I raked at it with the claw, and it sliced through the metallic appendage like I was cutting through a stick of butter.
Finally, I’d had a spot of luck.
The robot bleeped and whirred as sparks flew out of its arm, scattering down the hallway. I turned my attention to the robot’s attendant. I pointed my claw at his throat, the tip of it just barely grazing his skin.
“You’ve got one shot at this,” I told the small man. “Let me go without a fight, and I won’t kill you.”
It wasn’t him I wanted dead. He was just a henchman. I wanted whoever was in charge. Luke, probably. Or whoever was in charge of him. I didn’t know for sure that Luke was responsible for the underground arena, even if he seemingly condoned it.
But this guy? This guy could live, so long as he didn’t muck up my escape.
The attendant uttered something unintelligible and held his hands up over his head.
“Good.” I nodded at him and pulled the claw away but left it close to his throat. “Now where are they holding my friends? Which way?”
The attendant paused for a moment, looking confused, and I pressed the claw into the skin of his throat again, making him gag slightly from the pressure as a tiny pinprick of red appeared underneath the tip of it.
“I don’t have time for this!”
How long had it been since the door had fallen? How long would it be before more guards came? I wasn’t sure.
I pressed on his throat a little harder. “Which way!”
The attendant’s eyes darted toward the left and one of his hands pointed vaguely in that direction.
“See? That wasn’t so hard.”
I smacked him on the back of the neck with my bare hand hard enough to make him pass out, but not hard enough to do any lasting damage. I didn’t want him dead, but I still couldn’t take any chances. There was a lot left to do before I could get out of here.
The robot fizzled behind me, and I spared it another glance. It could open the prison doors somehow. I needed to know how.
I took stock of the robot. It looked an awful lot like a food cart with a skeletal metal arm for delivery and googly eyes. There wasn’t anything obvious on it that would let it open a door.
Must be on the attendant, then. I rummaged through his pockets, moving quickly. It didn’t take long to find what I needed—a small device that looked something like a TV remote, only with fewer buttons. It must be what opened and closed the doors.
I snatched up the device and held it in one hand. In the other, I held the tiger claw. Somehow, I felt safer with it than I did with Grax’thor. Then I made my way down the left hallway. It was the one I hadn’t gone through before, so it kind of made sense that my friends would be down that way.
As I went along the hallway, I looked at all the nameplates on the prison doors, searching for my friends’ names. They just had to be down here somewhere. I was sure of it. Briefly, I considered just opening all the doors as I passed them, but I
didn’t have the time to waste, and it would only end up causing more confusion. And that was the last thing I needed.
Finally, I came across a door that was labeled simply “Blue Fairy”. Was that LaLuna? Or some other creature that would mistakenly want me dead?
With a big gulp to work down the knot in my stomach, I pressed the button. The door lurched inward, and I readied myself for anything.
“Hey, stranger,” the welcome call came from within the bowels of the room.
I let out a huge sigh of relief. That was how we greeted one another. It was LaLuna after all.
“Hey, you. How are things?” I asked with a big dopey grin on my face.
LaLuna rushed forward and flung herself into my arms. Her warmth melted into me, and I held her for a moment, not thinking about anything but her and how nice it was to be near her again.
My mind raced. I had so many things I wanted to say to her right then and there. But it had to wait. We weren’t safe yet. Wouldn’t be until the boss was dead, and we were far away from this accursed place.
“How did you…?” LaLuna asked.
I shook my head and put a hand to her lips. “Not now. We have to get out of here first,” I whispered in her ear.
She nodded.
I put the remote in my pocket and took her hand in mine, then we made our way down the hallway together. I glanced back at her several times as we ran along the passageway, barely able to believe I was seeing her again, and in one piece at that.
What could I say? Occasionally, fate was kind to me. Law of averages and all that.
A commotion from in front of us made me freeze in place. I dropped LaLuna’s hand and wrapped it around Grax’thor instead, then waited a few seconds.
Nothing came.
I breathed a sigh of relief and started walking again, only to slam face first into the chest of First Guard from before. He gasped and fumbled for his electric prod as he shoved me backward, no happier to see me than I was to see him.
First Guard scowled at me. “You cost me a hundred fifty bucks!” he screamed. In the same breath, he backhanded me across the face.
I hadn’t been expecting the blow, and I reeled from it, staggering backward into one of the big metal doors that covered the walls. Pain raced across my back, and I thought I heard something crack, but I got back into a fighting position quickly enough.
“Yeah, well, it’s not my fault you don’t know how to bet!”
He lowered his prod and advanced on me, but this time, I was ready for it. I dodged to the side and raked at the prod with the tiger claw. It severed the tip of the prod just as easily as it had the robot from before.
Sparks flew out of the tip of First Guard’s now defunct prod as it sputtered and hissed.
First Guard had a shocked expression on his face as he stared down at the tip of his weapon. He let out a growl, then threw it to the ground and put up his fists, advancing on me.
But if the tiger claw was good against metal, it was downright deadly against Kevlar armor. First Guard came in with a lumbering punch to my head, and I ducked under it, then struck out with the claw, aiming for his kidney.
My blow struck true, and as I pulled back the claw, a spurt of blood came with it.
First Guard groaned and fell to his knees. Apparently, he could dish out the pain but not take it. I punched him right in the eye with my armed hand and the tiger claw did the rest of the work, ending his life pretty quickly.
“That’s what you get for betting on the wrong guy,” I spat as I gave him one last kick for good measure. Seriously, what had he been thinking?
Meanwhile, all around me was chaos. Fighting had erupted further down the hall, and LaLuna was now stuck in combat with what I could only assume was Second Guard. I couldn’t quite see his face, but the two had always traveled as a pair.
I pulled out Grax’thor to help her fend him off, but her hands glowed a bright blue, and a bolt of blue fire engulfed the man a second later. I’d almost forgotten we’d all gotten to keep our weapons.
“That’s my girl!” I called after her.
LaLuna spun to look at me and flashed me a big grin, then we both turned our attention to where the bulk of the noise was coming from, just a little bit further down the corridor. I couldn’t see it yet, but it sounded like a fierce battle was raging.
We rounded the corner, and it was indeed crazy, but not the way I’d expected. There was a pile of broken, bloody bodies lying in front of a mangled door, with another of those food robots lying in a smoking pile nearby. In the middle of the bloody pile stood a lone figure with a katana, fending off five more guards that were all trying their best to get at him and failing miserably. It was clear the guards were no match for the lone warrior.
“Brother?” Taio called over his shoulder. He didn’t even turn to face me, just parried a jab from one of the guard’s prods and proceeded to skewer the guy with minimal effort.
“Taio?” I replied, cocking my head to the side. “What are you doing?”
“It’s the second night,” he said matter-of-factly. “I’m staging our escape.”
As he spoke, one of the guards came at him with what looked like a broadsword, but a little thinner. Taio blocked the lunge with ease, barely moving as he did so. Another quick flash of his katana, and he’d cut the man’s arm off at the elbow. The guard screamed and fell away from the combat, clutching his stump of an arm.
“What?” I stood tall and put one hand on my hip. “I’m the one leading the escape, not you!”
“Nonsense, brother.” There was a hint of a smile on Taio’s face. “You were very specific. Two days until the breakout.”
He thrust out with his sword, skewering another of the guards. That one slumped over and fell on top of the body of one of the other dead guards. Taio looked like he hadn’t even broken a sweat.
“No, no,” I said. “I was very clear on this. I was the one to stage the escape and come rescue you. The whole tiger bit, it referred to me, remember?”
The remaining two guards looked to be wary of Taio at this point. One of them turned to face me instead. He rushed me, prod weapon held out in front as he made a wild swipe at my midsection.
Apparently, he thought I was easier prey. I’d be only too happy to correct his error.
I blocked the guard’s strike with Grax’thor, then swept my weapon low to cut at his exposed legs. My blade cut deep into his skin, and he howled and fell to the ground. A well-placed slice to the back of his neck ended his existence quick enough.
At almost the same time, Taio felled his last opponent. He nodded at their corpses, then sheathed his sword and came over to where I was standing.
“Not bad, eh?” he said, grinning.
I took in the carnage. There were at least a dozen bodies, each with harrowing wounds, bleeding out behind him. And my brother didn’t even look sweaty.
Just how badly did I underestimate my older brother, anyway?
“Decent,” I lied. I shrugged. “I could have done better.” I heard LaLuna bark out a laugh, and my face reddened. “Fine, it was good, okay?”
That seemed to pacify her. At the very least, she didn’t laugh again.
“Let us get out of here, brother,” Taio said, placing a hand on my shoulder.
Now there was something I could agree with whole-heartedly. “Come with me. I have an idea for how to get to Bao.”
That was all the urging my brother needed. All three of us stepped over the bodies of the fallen guards and kept going down the hallway. No one else seemed to be on this level left to stop us, or if they were, they smartly stayed put. I couldn’t blame them.
Finally, we made our way to one of the doors to the arena chamber. I flung it open. “In here, both of you!” I told my brother and LaLuna.
“The arena?” Taio raised one of his eyebrows. “What do you have planned, Li?”
“Did you see an elevator around here?”
Recognition dawned on his face, and he nodded, then they b
oth headed into the arena room.
I almost entered with them, but I stuck behind for just a moment. I pulled out the remote again and pressed it in front of a random door. The prisoner inside looked haggard and quite a bit older than I expected and cowered away from the door.
“Don’t worry,” I said to him. “I’m not here to kill you.” I pressed the remote into his hand. “Here. Take this. Open all the doors. Let everyone out. Together, you should be able to take on any other guards that might come after you down here. If there are any left to begin with.”
The cowed gentleman nodded and accepted the remote in shaky hands.
“Quickly,” I told him. “I don’t know how long it’ll be before they send reinforcements.”
He looked up into my eyes, and I saw something there. Determination. Fighting spirit. The remote would be in good hands.
With that, I turned and left, following my brother and LaLuna into the arena room.
Inside, I searched the walls for some sort of switch that would send the platforms upward. Thankfully, it was right next to the door. I flicked the switch, then jumped onto the nearest platform alongside my companions as the machinery rumbled and came to life.
The three of us ascended into the arena. The platform moved slowly. Too slowly for my liking. It occurred to me only then that we were basically sitting ducks on there, without any real way to defend ourselves should someone want to attack us.
But it was too late to switch course now. Besides, we made it into the arena without any trouble. It was almost too easy, really.
I leapt from the platform as soon as it was high enough for me to do so and landed on the arena floor, weapon held at the ready, eyes darting about in every direction.
No one was there. We were alone in the arena. There weren’t even that many spectators about at the moment. But then, this wasn’t a scheduled fight, so that kind of made sense. Another spot of luck, I supposed.
“So how do we get out of here, Li?” Taio asked.
“Umm, there should be a door in the glass somewhere,” I told him. I scanned for one while I spoke, but I knew the words were false. I’d been here twice myself now and had never seen one. What had I been thinking? They wouldn’t have built an escape hatch into the arena. That would have put all the spectators in danger.