As Sophie and the Harpy twisted and rolled about, the razor sharp claws of each cut into the other. Sophie screamed out and the Harpy screeched as it moved its body to avoid the deadly snake bites. The vipers struck again and again but the Harpy avoided the strikes by shifting its body areas into a haze of mist at just the right time in order to avoid the bites. Yet its claws continued to cut into Sophie. She in turn sank her long sharp claws into the Harpy as it appeared to be more concerned with avoiding the serpents than the Gorgon's claws.
Troy held his shield and sword in a ready position as he and the Dragon moved around each other in a brief standoff. The blood dripped to the arena floor from the wound on his back. The colorful but deadly Dragon slithered around causing Troy to watch closely for the anticipated attack. Suddenly the Dragon pounced and Troy braced for the impact. The full weight of the beast landed against the large metal shield and caused Troy to take several steps backward. As he tried to recover and maneuver his sword for a strike, the Dragon slithered around to the side with the shield and this prevented Troy from having a clear strike. Now the teeth of the Dragon searched for another exposed area of Troy's lower horse body. Troy turned and tried to lower the shield to protect himself.
Blood dripped readily from Eliot's wounded body as he faced the Griffin a few yards away from him. The Griffin tried to raise its wing and screeched again in pain. The huge bird head moved about as if in anger and it turned to the side slightly in order to view the Minotaur better. Eliot grunted and raised the battle-axe in a ready position; this time making sure the blade was the striking side. As he kept an eye on the Griffin, it moved its massive lion body about in the way a large cat would as it prepares to attack.
Across the arena floor, Troy successfully freed himself from the dragon and backed away. He now became defensive as the dragon had done much damage.
As these things happened, the Harpy also managed to free itself from Sophie's grasp, but not before inflicting deep cuts to her upper body. It screeched out as it flew up into the air with the grace of the wind. Sophie tried to recover and also keep track of the beast that now moved about overhead. With a sudden ferocity the Harpy dove down towards the arena floor. Like a dive-bombing plane it came in fast and with a violent furry. It flew over Eliot and clawed his head and face as it passed. Then it darted in the direction of Troy and before Troy could move defensively the Harpy ran its razor sharp claws along his hindquarters, leaving long gashes. Troy and Eliot both stumbled and cried out in pain from the lightening fast attacks.
Sophie moved closer to Troy and Eliot in order to help defend them, but now the Griffin and Dragon attacked as the two were still reeling from the Harpy's attack. The Dragon hit Troy with such ferocity that he fell onto the hard arena floor. The Griffin also landed as a cat would onto Eliot, causing him to fall backwards onto his back.
Being closer to Eliot than Troy, Sophie slithered quickly to where the Griffin had Eliot pinned down, just as the Harpy was high in the air preparing for another dive.
The Griffin snapped and clawed at Eliot now that he had him on the floor.
Sophie leapt into the air and attacked the back of the Griffin. As she landed on him she dug her claws into his back. Immediately the vipers began biting the back of the Griffin again and again. The beast reared back, stumbled and then fell backwards landing on Sophie with a heavy thud. She clung tightly and now the serpents rapidly inflicted lethal venom into the beast. Finally, after she could bear the weight of the Griffin no longer, she slithered out from under him. The wounded beast stood up, but began to immediately show signs of the viper bites as it staggered and tried to regain its footing.
Sophie had little time to recover from the weight of the Griffin landing on her. The Harpy landed on her back and its deadly claws dug in with painful precision. Sophie screamed out in agony and the spectators yelled with joy at her obvious torment. She writhed around in an effort to throw the Harpy from her back, but the winged creature held on and continued to claw, inflicting brutal damage to the Gorgon.
Eliot had stood up just as the Harpy landed on Sophie's back. The Griffin now faltered on its huge paws as the poison from the vipers infiltrated its veins. Eliot ran towards Sophie and the Harpy just as Sophie screamed out in pain. As he passed the Griffin he slowed down and with one swing of his battle-axe removed the Griffins head from the large lion body. The beast fell, quivering as the head bounced across the arena floor. The spectators immediately erupted in angry shouts, but again the three paid little attention as the pain and violence of the arena commanded all their attention.
Troy struggled franticly as the Dragon attacked him again and again. He wasn't able stand back up as the massive horse body now became cumbersome while on the floor. He kicked and tried to avoid breaking the human back as he could sense it would if he placed the weight of the horse body on it. The armor that had protected him before now caused him trouble in trying to use his sword. He maneuvered his shield to blunt the attack but the Dragon clawed and bit aggressively and the pain shot into Troy's side.
After slowing just enough to behead the Griffin, Eliot quickly moved towards Sophie. The Harpy had her claws buried deep into Sophie's back and was avoiding the serpents. With this flesh entrenched grip, the bird woman attempted to pick Sophie up into the air.
Eliot came close to the two female beasts; he swung his battle-axe in a desperate bid to help Sophie. He thought the blow would remove the Harpy's leg. Instead the beast's leg seemed to evaporate just as the blow would have made impact. This caused him to lose his balance, tumble and fall onto the floor. The Harpy had used its shape shifting ability to avoid the axe blow, but this maneuver also caused it to lose its hold on Sophie with that leg. But she continued in an effort to lift Sophie off the floor with the leg she still held her with. As her wings beat with great effort, Sophie twisted and the vipers again tried to bite the bird woman, but again their strikes hit the tough legs and couldn't penetrate.
Eliot stood up, turned and tried to strike the Harpy, and again the creature's leg briefly became as a mist and caused the axe blow to miss its target. This time the Harpy let go completely of Sophie and as she fell to the arena floor the Harpy flew straight up, high over the arena battleground.
With no thoughts of recovery Sophie shouted. "Come on, we've got to help Troy!"
Eliot grunted and followed her. He glanced back and noticed the Harpy moving into a dive position.
Sophie slithered quickly as she could see the Dragon was ripping Troy up. Troy increased his effort and pushed the shield lower to his side in an effort to protect the exposed horse body. But the Dragon now attacked with a renewed ferocity, as Troy lay on his side, unable to stand back up. Sophie moved with desperation and lunged forward the last few feet, landing on the Dragon's back with her sharp claws extracted.
At the same time that Sophie lunged towards the Dragon, the Harpy came down fast from the air. She swooped down onto Eliot's back with the intensity of a rock breaking a glass window. Eliot fell hard to the ground as the Harpy's claws penetrated his skin and hide. Now that she had Eliot down she attempted to lift him into the air, possibly to drop him from a disabling height. Eliot struggled as he slowly arose from the arena floor. The Harpy beat its wings faster but Eliot's massive body now worked to his advantage. Finally the Harpy concluded she couldn't lift him from the ground, but she wouldn't let go of his back; this prevented Eliot from turning and fighting. The Harpy began using her claw like fingers to attack Eliot's back and succeeded in ripping gashes into him. Eliot grunted loudly as a huge bull would in pain and the sound resonated through the arena causing an instant roar of joy from the crowd.
Sophie tried to dig her claws into the Dragon's hide. The colorful scales proved to be like mini armor plates and all she could do was get a grip and hold onto the Dragon's back. Her vipers struck the Dragon's body again and again but couldn't bite through the tough scales. The beast now attempted to turn and bite Sophie. She moved to the side but the Dragon clamped
onto one of the viper heads and bit down. Sophie screamed. Again the crowd roared with delight. Now the Dragon moved away from Troy and became entangled with Sophie. She wrapped her long tail around the beast in order to remain on its back. The Dragon twisted and turned in efforts to get Sophie in front where its sharp teeth could deal more damage.
As Sophie and the Dragon entered into close combat and Eliot and the Harpy fought, Troy tried unsuccessfully to get back onto his feet. The Dragon had inflicted terrific damage and Troy could only maneuver his sword to a defense position. He held his shield in front of him as the Dragon stood up and began shaking about. Soon Sophie was being slung around as a rag doll. She tried to hold on but soon lost her grip and flew through the air towards Troy. She slammed into his shield almost moving his entire body backwards.
Eliot grunted out again and again in agony as the Harpy wouldn't release him. He tried to stand up but the Harpy would flap its wings and cause him to lose his balance. The roar of the crowd increased as the three outsiders appeared to be in defeat.
Sophie slowly moved up in front of Troy's metal shield. She was battered and bleeding from various places on her head and face. One of the vipers lay hanging down lifeless and mangled. The other five moved about on her head as if they too were in bad shape. Troy gazed into her eyes as she used the edge of the shield to help pick her up.
Behind her the Dragon regained its footing and Troy could see it was preparing to charge them. He realized he had his sword in an advantageous position but he also realized Sophie would be taking the brunt of the Dragon’s attack. As the beast began its charge, he knew what he must do though it might be their final act of defiance. As he glanced into Sophie's battered eyes, he wanted to tell her something to let her know how he felt about her. He had no time to think about it though, and he simply said the first thing that came to mind...
"You're the only woman I know that can be so beautiful, even with snakes on her head."
When Troy said this she became obviously surprised and confused by this apparent flirting in the middle of a deadly struggle. She leaned back a little. She didn't realize the Dragon was about to jump on her from behind. Troy seized this slight momentum and pushed on the shield causing her to fall away along with the shield. Just as she fell, the Dragon was in the air flying towards them, Troy held the sword out and into the air towards the Dragon. The Dragon fell into the blade and the cold steel cut thought the beast. It landed almost directly on top of Troy who got a whiff of its final vile breath. He then struggled to push the quivering beast off of him enough to breathe himself.
The arena became hushed with the sudden turn of events. Sophie moved over to help Troy push the Dragon off of him. She then began to help him stand up. As she did this the Harpy screeched out with a chilling cry. Now they both realized Eliot was still in the battle.
"Go help Eliot. I'll be alright." After Troy told her this Sophie slithered quickly to where the Harpy continued to attack her bleeding and battered friend.
The bird woman struck his back relentlessly and Eliot had deep gashes all over. He continued to try and turn around but couldn't.
Recalling the Harpy’s ability to shift parts of her body, Sophie slithered quietly and slowly around to the bird woman's backside. The spectators became animated again as they attempted to warn the Harpy. The beast appeared unaware of the increased noise as it focused on eliminating Eliot, who grunted and brayed out in agony. This in turn seemed to increase the Harpy’s desire to inflict lethal damage.
Sophie moved closer and closer. She lowered herself to barely off the arena floor. As she slithered along with her snake body, the dead viper dangled across the arena floor as she crept closer to her prey. Suddenly the Harpy appeared to realize the crowd was attempting to get her attention. She looked around and as she did this the spectators pointed behind her and yelled in an excited voice. The Harpy turned just as Sophie lunged towards her. She tried to move away but Sophie landed directly onto her chest and both fell entangled onto the arena floor.
With Troy and Eliot still on the floor the crowd roared to life again with this new fight. Sophie and the Harpy rolled several times before the bird woman spread her long wings and took flight with Sophie holding onto her. With Sophie hanging down and desperately trying to hang on, the vipers couldn't get to the Harpy. She in turn struggled fiercely to gain altitude and keep the five living vipers from striking her.
Sophie worked to pull herself closer as the winged woman rose higher and higher into the air. With a tremendous effort She moved her serpent tail up and between the Harpy’s legs, then anchored it around her body. The Harpy screeched and struggled more. Digging her long claws deeper into the Harpy’s body, Sophie pulled herself up until a single viper landed a strike directly on the Harpy’s face. The bird creature shook desperately, but the serpent had already delivered its lethal venom.
The Harpy’s flight began to falter. It swept this way and that as the venom began to drain life from the beast. Sophie knew a sudden fall from this height could be deadly; she held on as the bird woman began to glide into a crashing fall.
Troy watched in horror as the two flipped and fell through the air like a large feather or damaged kite. Just as the Harpy came closer to the ground she flipped backwards as the venom killed her. With the Harpy's wings still spread, the dead bird woman and Sophie slid violently along the floor of the arena and then with several rough flips and tumbles Sophie finally came to a violent stop and lay motionless.
An eerie silence filled the arena.
Troy put his hand to his head as he thought Sophie must surely be dead. He also had no idea of Eliot's condition. He couldn't get up from the floor and his side had gashes and wounds that caused him considerable pain. He could feel the Jovacian drug losing its power inside him and with this the terror of the situation began to return. He struggled again to stand up but the pain was too much.
As his hopes began to falter Troy glanced back to where Sophie lay. It seemed he could do nothing now but stare with dismay at the Gorgon body. As a tear broke free from his eye and rolled down his cheek he felt more alone than anytime in his life. The ordeal he had just gone through with Sophie and Eliot strengthened their bond and yet now it seemed they would all perish on this arena floor, four miles below the ocean surface.
After a long moment of this quiet agony Troy noticed slight movement from Sophie. His heart leapt with excitement as he saw her snake tail slide around once and then after a second it moved again. He rose up and could now see her body struggling up slowly from the floor. "Sophie!" He called out with desperation.
Then he heard a grunting sound from another part of the arena. The sound came from the other side of the dead Griffin, where Troy couldn't see.
"Eliot, is that you Eliot?" Troy struggled even more to see around the dead Griffin. He then glanced back to Sophie and could see she was now wearily recovering from the violent landing.
"Sophie, are you alright?" He again tried to stand up and with the renewed sense of hope he slowly struggled to his feet. After a few seconds of instability he began moving towards the battered Gorgon.
As Sophie pushed with her arms to raise herself up she glanced over to Troy who now stumbled up close to her.
"Eliot, is he alright?" She sounded weak but was able to get back up and as Troy helped her she put her arm around his waist area.
"I don't know. I think I heard him." They now turned to where Eliot lay and began to slowly move towards him. Troy glanced out to the audience in the stands and realized they all stared out to the arena floor as if in a silent trance.
As Troy limped and Sophie slithered beside him the two could see Eliot struggling to get onto his feet. His back was cut and bloody. He grunted as the pain penetrated his body.
"Eliot!" Sophie moved over to him and taking his arm helped him stand up. He breathed laboriously and leaned wearily as Troy moved to his other side and took hold of his arm.
The lights around the arena began to dim and slowl
y the stands and spectators could no longer be seen. From a dark area Carzoc approached the three bloodied warriors. They watched him with apprehension as he casually walked up to them and then stood quietly in front them. He looked them over for a few seconds but showed no emotion or clue as to what his thoughts were. Finally Troy spoke with a voice that cracked from the pain.
"You said we could leave if we won."
Carzoc glanced down at some unseen item on the arena floor and appeared to be rethinking this statement. Eliot almost fell over from his wounds and Troy took a better hold of him. Sophie stared at Carzoc with her serpent eyes while the one dead viper dangled lifeless as a large lock of hair might hang down.
Carzoc looked back up and again examined the three before speaking. Finally he spoke. "Actually, I said we would 'consider' allowing you to leave and I said that because I didn't believe you would survive the battle."
When Carzoc said this Eliot grunted in anguish and again slipped a little from Troy's hold. Troy reached down and lifted Eliot up again. The effects of the drug were wearing off rapidly now and all three began to feel the pain and exhaustion from the battle.
"We won the fight; you've got to let us go!" Sophie almost shouted now as she too appeared unstable and weary.
Carzoc appeared annoyed by this and again glanced down at the arena floor. He then turned his head up and gazed out over the darkened arena at something in the darkness, as if he were investigating it while in thought. Then he looked back at them and spoke.
"If I allow the three of you to leave this facility, others will come."
As the pain in their bodies increased and slowly became almost unbearable Troy searched for a way out. He spoke quickly and with obvious pain in his voice.
"If you don't allow us to leave others will come to search for us."
Carzoc appeared to grimace a little as he examined them again. "That may be, but this facility won't be found as easily. We'll be prepared when they do come."
Where the Strangers Live Page 6