“This is what you get for coming after me, Gemini. Remember this day and I hope to god that we never have to have a repeat performance.” I ran towards her, leaping into the air and bringing down a superman punch. I made contact with the bridge of her nose, landing on one knee with my face looking down at the sand. I had my eyes closed and had she had anything left, she would have turned and most likely put her hands around my throat. I wasn’t putting up any kind of fight, turning or even facing her for that matter.
I didn’t even bother looking at her and that might’ve been the wrong thing to do, but I felt like it sent a message to those that would face me next.
I heard the soft thud and I glanced back. I was pleasantly surprised to see that she was on her knees. The last shot had taken her out of her boots and your entire body was swaying like a tree that was going to come down at any moment. Everybody was on their feet. All the women were hanging over the sides to get a better view.
Gemini’s hands came down into the sand and blood was now dripping onto her hands. She looked up with her eyes burning with rage and she managed to get on her feet, although I don’t think that was the most prudent course of action. The best that she could do was stay down and hope for the 5 minutes to elapse quickly. She didn’t do that, because she wasn’t thinking clearly.
“Get up…you damn fool. Don’t make me have to punish you.” Even though she didn’t remember the last few days, something was ingrained into her about the mark that was currently placed on her body. She turned her head abruptly, but she wasn’t looking at me. She was looking up at Lord Vadam and at that moment, I could see that her main focus was not on me anymore. “Don’t even think about it.” She ran towards the stands and I watched quite fascinated by the way that she seemed to move with the grace of a panther. She leaped over two guardsmen that were positioned underneath the parapet. Lord Vadam was standing with a look that I could only be described as fear. It looked good on him. I didn’t like feeling this way, but he had given me every reason to.
“I think that we should get you out of here, Lord.” He wasn’t budging. There was no way that he would be able to stand here in front of his people without looking like he had tucked his tail and ran away from a fight. Instead, he reached for something that was hidden from view, lifting it up and showing everybody the gleaming metal of this sword that looked like it could cut through just about anything. He looked confident, but I was betting the farm on Gemini. She looked like she was a woman possessed.
“I’m not going anywhere. She can come, but she better know what she’s doing or she’ll find out in a hurry that I’m not just going to stand here and take this insubordination.”
Gemini was only a few short feet away from her ultimate target. Her mind had been twisted by a man that only wanted her for the ultimate weapon. “You’re the one that did this to me.” She turned towards the people, showing the mark and then pointed toward Lord Vadam, as the culprit. It was widely known that there was a rumor going around that he did such a thing to those that he was displeased with. It was one thing to think that you knew it, but it was another thing entirely when you were forced to face it up close and personal.
Chapter three
They were staring each other down and Lord Vadam had his sword at the ready, but I think he even knew that he was up against a woman that wasn’t going to take no for an answer. “I need you to back down, before this escalates any further, Gemini. Remember your place.” That was the last thing he should have said, because she reached out and grabbed onto that sword and pulled it from his grasp. She held it out and then without warning drove it into his side. “NOOOOOOO.” The man that was standing beside him at the time had decided that a hasty retreat was in order. He was not concerned with his Lord and was more concerned with his own safety.
Using one hand, Gemini pulled herself up and was now standing on the parapet like some kind of animal about to attack its prey. “I’m through taking your orders. I am nobody’s slave and I will not be treated like one. This ends right here and right now. Your conditioning might have worked, had you not been, so hell bent on revenge against the woman that didn’t do anything to you. Shana has only done what she thought was right and for you to think otherwise has made you begin to think that you are superior. Believe me, you are not anything of the sort. You are a weak minded man with a god complex that needs to be taken down a peg.” The blood on the blade of the sword was now calling attention to it.
All I had to do was look around at the people in the stands and they were now glued to the spectacle of someone about to kill the Lord. I could see that they were afraid that their way of life was in jeopardy. Those that felt that way began to pelt Gemini with food and any other things that they could hold in their greedy little hands.
One look from her steely eyes and they stopped this form of ridicule. “Leave this to me and stop this petty nonsense. If he is meant to die, then he will by my hand. If he’s not, then somebody will come to his rescue, but it doesn’t have to be you people
“They are only trying to protect their way of life, Gemini. You would know that, if you were thinking straight.” I had begun to realize that she had gotten her memory back. It was in her eyes and the way that she looked at me with animosity, but also with respect at the same time. I thought that she would be angry with me, but I think any anger that she felt was directed towards Lord Vadam and his rule of tyranny.
She was about to make the final blow, when two arrows came out of nowhere and pierced both of her shoulder blades at the same time. To her credit, she did not scream, but she did drop the sword with a resounding clang that could be heard by all. Two guardsmen came through the doorway leading to the parapet. They were holding those bows tight with arrows ready to take down the enemy. They were acting like good loyal foot soldiers. You couldn’t expect anything different. This was the way things were.
They got on either side of her and escorted her from the terrified and wounded Lord Vadam. He was doubled over, but he had the semblance of mind to stand to address the crowd. “Gemini is not feeling well, so with that in mind, I have no choice but award the victory to Shana.” I knew that it was killing him to say that, but he had no choice. It was obvious that Gemini was not going to fight me any longer. “I will do my best to help Gemini and I hope that everybody prays for her.” There was a moment of silence and everybody was throwing their good wishes and vibes towards a woman that had shown that she wasn’t going to bow down.
Lord Vadam barely turned and started to fall before one of the guardsmen helped him up. He was slapping his hands away. He wasn’t going to show this kind of weakness in front of his loyal followers. He managed to stand on his own 2 feet, but you could see that it was a shaky beginning and most likely was going to a very shaky end. I still don’t know how he was able to leave on his own power, but that was a testament to the man that he was trying to project others.
“Lord Vadam is being taken care of at the moment. As his second in command, I will commence the next competitors to fight.” I’d heard from Braden and Lord Vadam’s second in command was named Rodham. He always stayed behind the scenes, but today he had to take front and center, whether he liked it or not. He had flowing black hair, which he had pulled back into a ponytail. He was wearing the customary black castle armor. Had Lord Vadam been wearing his armor at the time, he might not be in the position that he was right now.
Nicholas and Ansel prepared to go one on one. The battle commenced and there was no doubt in my mind that Nicholas would be the one that was standing victorious over his enemy by the end of it. The way that he fought showed no wasted motion and even though he was hurt several times with right crosses that probably would have brought down a rhino, he continued to persevere.
“I don’t know what’s keeping you standing, Nicholas. I’ve seen some amazing fighters in my day, but you take things to the next level. I’m not sure what you’re going to do next and that in itself makes you dangerous in my opi
nion. I have no choice. but to kill you, because I don’t think that you’re going to stay down any other way.” Ansel was bald, except for the strip in the back that he had held onto with grim death. This was his last vestige for having hair and he was not going to let anybody take it away from him. Unfortunately, Nicholas did not get that memo and he used it as leverage, pulling it back and literally ripping it from its roots. Only small bits of hair remained and I could see the look on Ansel’s face and I knew that he wasn’t going to take that lightly.
“What are you going to do about it, Ansel?” He had found something uniquely personal to Ansel and now he was using it to better formulate a plan of attack. “I just took the one thing that you hold the most dear in your life.” As proof to his prowess, Nicholas raised the ponytail into the air and swung it back and forth like a trophy. This brought forth a medley of laughter. It only infuriated Ansel, but of course that was going to make him careless and reckless. He had made the mistake of letting Nicholas goad him into doing something that was ill advised.
Ansel came forward with his hands outstretched with the express purpose of wrapping it around Nicholas’s throat. His anger blinded him and Nicholas separated his hands out, blocking both of Ansel’s hands and preventing him from getting a grip on his sinewy throat. With him wide open, Nicholas stepped forward and smacked his head repeatedly against the face and nose of Ansel. He did not stop and some of Ansel’s blood was now congealed in his hair.
He finally stepped out of the circle, dizzy from having to slam his head into Ansel’s face. Thankfully, he had used the strongest part of his head. His forehead showed the brunt force impact of what he had just done. The red welt was nothing compared to the blood that was now coming out of Ansel’s nose and face. It was obviously broken and he swung wildly, not quite knowing where he was, until finally collapsing onto the ground.
After the 5 minutes had elapsed, everybody looked around and they noticed that the winner by default was the Red castle. Myself, Braden and Nicholas stood tall, as the victors, but then Lord Vadam came back out on the parapet with the medicine man by his side. He didn’t look good, which meant he had forced himself to come out, but to what end.
“I’m calling for a writ of dissension. If there is anybody that stands against me, then do so now or forever hold your peace.” This was not how the saying went in my world. Marriages were made on vows, but it also allowed for somebody to deny them their happiness by stepping in and giving a reason why they couldn’t be married. Most often than not, it was because of a past love or possibly a dalliance the night before with a lover that just couldn’t take the answer no.
I had not heard of the writ of dissension. I could only assume that it was a very old rule that had never been used, until today.
“I’m not sure what you’re trying to pull, but it’s not going to work. As you and all of your loyal followers can see, the Red castle is the victor and there’s nothing that you can do about it. I would say that you should lick your wounds and go somewhere and stop meddling, but I don’t think that you’re going to do that. I will be one of the guardsmen and the three of us will take our rightful place, as members of the Black castle with Lord Russum, as the new Lord of the Black castle.”
“I’m afraid, Shana that you are mistaken. This rule states that there cannot be a clear-cut victory or winner after the first three stages of the competition. I have initiated the writ of dissension. This means that two of you are going to have to give your loyalties to another castle. If you cannot decide within a 24 hour period, then the decision will be made for you.” I didn’t know what quite to say. I’d no idea that that was even possible and I could tell that most of these people were a little loss for words. “I have made the decree. I will have a representative from each castle going forward.”
“This can’t be true. You’ve got to be joking and after everything that we’ve gone through and you throw this at us.” I was only voicing my opinion.
“I’m not going to stand here and defend myself, because I don’t have to. Trust me, this rule is real. I am exercising my right to bring it into play. If I had my choice, I would ask for Nicholas to stand with the Black castle, but that is his decision to make. I think that he should seriously consider my proposition. It’s not every day that the Lord of the Black castle singles somebody out to become part of the elite. Remember what you are betting on and think carefully on where your loyalty will lay at the end of the competition.” Lord Vadam was trying to influence Nicholas, although it appeared that one of us was going to have to give up our right to the Red castle. Actually, it would be two of us and we were going to have to figure out who was the best to lead the Red castle to victory.
There would be a 24 hour reprieve, but then the next part of the competition would begin. At that time, one of us would be in the white armor, another one in the red and the last, but not least would be in the black.
Lord Vadam had insisted on trying to stack the deck in his favor. It backfired in a big way and opened up a small door for the Red castle to step through, as the victor. It was a good thing that he knew about the writ of dissension. He probably did his research after finding out that I was going to be part of the competition. He wanted to know all the ins and outs of the rules, including anything that was innocuous that he could use to make others bend to his will.
All three competitors were not only from the Red castle, but they were also lovers. My heart would always belong to Braden, but I would always have a soft spot for Nicholas. I liked that both men were a little naïve and had no idea what kind of sexual delights that I could show them at any given time.
“I think that we should all get together and discuss this as adults. We need to make a consensus decision and not let Lord Vadam dictate the terms of where our loyalties lie. I know that Shana would agree with me, but I’m not sure what exactly is going on in your head, Nicholas.” Braden was trying his best to gauge Nicholas and find out what his initial response to this new wrinkle in the competition was going to be.
“I think you both know that I’ve always had the Red castle in my heart. What you don’t know is that I’m all about competition and I will jump on the first bandwagon that leads me to being declared the winner. It won’t matter to me which castle it is and I will make my decision with the only thing in mind that matters…victory.”
Chapter four
“I don’t know what to tell you, Shana. All I know about this rule is that everybody has to make a decision at the start of the next phase of this competition. We can discuss it between all three of us, but ultimately it is our decision which way we decide to go. Each one of us will stand one after the other and declare our loyalties to the castle of our choosing. The first one to stand will be random and once their decision is made, the other two will have to make their decision from the other two castles. The might sound confusing, but it does make sense if you think about it.”
I was pacing back and forth not quite knowing how this was going to play. I knew that Lord Vadam was getting what he wanted, regardless if we wanted something else. He would have a representative in the tournament. He had all his bases covered. We should’ve realized that he would have a contingency plan.
“Braden, your loyalty is with the Red castle and I don’t think that is going to change. Unfortunately, I also have this need to fight for the Red castle. I doubt that Nicholas is going to have this problem. He has already stated that he would make his decision on what was right for him and for the victory at hand.” Nicholas was sitting across from us and I could sense that he was there, but that his mind was occupied with something more pleasurable. It didn’t hurt that I was only wearing one of Braden’s shirts. I liked the way that it felt against my skin, but also left a little mystery of what lie underneath.
“Don’t let me get in the way of a spirited debate. Every time that Shana talks, I see her nipples poking out against that shirt. I’m sure that she would rather make this decision in private. I have my ow
n choice to make, but I also know that the first person to stand is going to be the one that gets first pickings. Either way, I will tell you that I have no real loyalty to any one of the castles. I only went with the Red one, because my father was one of the loyals. I guess, I felt compelled to follow in his footsteps.” He suddenly saw himself, as a little boy and a woman’s hand was ruffling his hair. He had a ball in his hand, but as far as he could remember, there was no such thing in his childhood with his parents. It was very confusing and he had had several of these flashes, like something was awakening inside of him that had been lying dormant for too long as it is.
“I suppose Shana has the right idea, but that doesn’t make me feel any better about any of this. Either myself or Shana is going to be left to decide on a different castle to give our loyalties to. Then again, it’s also possible that Nicholas will be chosen at random and we will be forced to become either part of the White castle or the Black. If I had my choice, I would go with the White castle. After all, Lord Wallace has been trying to recruit me into his crusade for as long as I can remember.”
“We really won’t know anything until morning. With that in mind, I suggest that I give you two a crash course in another form of sex that you haven’t even thought of before.” They looked at each other, but it didn’t look like they were going to fight me in any way. I went over to them and produced two blindfolds that I had made out of the cloth of one of Braden’s shirts. He looked at me with suspicion, but he did not try to chastise me for ruining one of his shirts.
“What exactly do you expect to do with that, Shana?” I should’ve known that Nicholas would be the one to put up an argument. I’d already shown him what a bow job was and I’m sure that he was willing and able to let me do that again. “I really don’t like having my freedom taken away from me. I won’t be able to see what’s going on.”
Another Uoria Holiday: A Sci-Fi Alien Warrior Holiday Romance Page 75