The Great Game

by O. J. Lowe

Scott leaned forward in his seat and studied the field. Pete was doing well so far, nobody had seen that coming. Okay, well maybe he’d had faith in his friend he wouldn’t be a complete embarrassment. Probably. He’d got a tough group to try and negotiate, he doubted he’d have gotten through Pete’s group any easier. Of course, he wasn’t about to tell him that.

  At least the prickling had stopped in his skin, with Drax down it wasn’t going to be firing off any more of those blue orbs. Weird how he’d felt that when the anubian had let them go, like insects chewing on the inside of his skin. It wasn’t like he was close to them either. He hadn’t been able to get a top-class seat for this bout. They said the competitors in the tournament got access to every single bout but they said nothing about the quality of the location. Sounded about right.

  You know, unless you’re related to one of the combatants or something. He knew Nick Roper was here somewhere, probably up in one of the private boxes. All because he had the fortune to be marrying Pete’s sister. Still, looking down at Sharon, he couldn’t help but be a bit envious. She did look good in jeans and a backless vest, her blond hair cascading loose down her back.

  That was when he felt the hand on his and the lips on his cheeks, the sensations enough to jerk him out of his thoughts. He glanced to his side, saw Jess slide into the seat next to him. For a moment, he felt relief it wasn’t Mia. It might sound arrogant to think it, but he got the impression she was properly wet for him and well, as much as he liked that idea, as much as he thought there was a sort of unbeatable cuteness about her, he still did technically have a thing going with Jess. And he had said he wasn’t going to sort it out while he was here. He didn’t need the distraction.

  “Hey sweetie,” she said, with very un-Jess-like words, it startled him.

  “Jess,” he replied, leaning in clumsily to kiss her back. Someone behind him muttered a complaint, he shot them an annoyed look, as if to say, ‘hey I’m having a moment here’.

  They shut up, or at least lowered their complaints so he couldn’t hear them. “I haven’t seen you around much.” The bed is cold, he wanted to add, but didn’t. It probably wouldn’t have gone down well.

  “Scott, can we get out of here and talk?”

  Oh…

  Eight small worlds but they felt almost disgracefully effective in their impact. He swallowed, gave the battlefield a look. Pete wasn’t going to like this. Screw it, Pete wasn’t going to know. And he’d see some of it no doubt. There were viewing screens everywhere on the island showing the bout.

  “I think we need to,” he said. They fell like an anvil.

  “Okay Basil,” Pete muttered. “We’ve faced tougher. We’ve faced bigger. About the only thing it has on everything else is ugliness so come on. Let’s do this!” Gamorra hissed at the ugly comment and bared dagger shaped yellow teeth at him and Basil. Pete raised an eyebrow.

  “Not disproving my point,” he said.

  “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, little brother,” Sharon said coyly. “You know what beauty is? It is power and grace, it is confidence and compassion. It is everything that is good in the world.”

  “It’s subjective,” Pete retorted. “We’ll see who has the last laugh.”

  “Indeed, we will,” Sharon said, glancing over to Gamorra and smiling. It was not a pleasant smile, he knew that from experience. It hinted at mischief and usually it came just before she spanked him all over the battlefield in a bout, practice or otherwise. He tried to ignore it. “We will indeed.”

  He heard the video referee authorising them to get the bout underway and he didn’t hesitate, giving Basil the command to fire seeds again. The orbs around her neck split open once again, they sailed towards Gamorra who didn’t even move to dodge, the blasts crashing against the scaled black body with explosive force. The lizard didn’t even flinch, instead tilting her head to the side at Basil and Pete as if to say ‘really’?

  That was something he and Sharon had in common. They did attribute gender to their spirits. Although he only knew Gamorra was female, the others she had under her command he didn’t know. In the shark lizards, the females were usually bigger and had cuts etched into their dorsal fins across their back. Bigger and more dominant. No wonder Sharon had wanted a female one, it said everything about her personality.

  With a flare of her wings, Gamorra took to the skies, hovering listlessly up into the air where she stared hungrily at Basil for several moments. Pete knew what was coming in that moment and his first thought was how best to dodge it. Except he knew that he couldn’t. Basil was tired, Gamorra was fresh and fast. Those shark lizards fed on things about Basil’s size for breakfast in the wild. He smiled. Okay, ready when you are.

  Gamorra swooped and Basil charged straight towards her, head lowered and horns outstretched. It was doubtful how much damage they’d do to that thick scaled body but he might get a lucky shot in. Better to go down with a bang than with a whimper. The two collided with a sickening bang, Gamorra rose above the debris with a shriek and his heart fell as he saw Basil laid out in the dirt, neck twisted at an awkward angle.

  Scott didn’t doubt the logic that had gone into what Jess had had planned here, it couldn’t be a coincidence she’d jumped on him during the middle of Pete’s bout. His best friend, in the middle of the thing they both loved. He might be reading too much into the situation but it felt like she was saying, ‘I want to talk now, take it or leave it.’ In a way that annoyed him in a fashion that set hot fury coiling in the pit of his stomach.

  Why should I choose?

  Some of that anger must have shown on his face as he sat down across the picnic table from Jess, she raised an eyebrow in bemusement and said, “you don’t want to be here, do you?”

  “I am though, aren’t I?” It wasn’t really an answer to the question, he knew it, she knew it and he knew she was going to call him on it. Except she didn’t. She placed her hands on the table and sighed. She looked like she was about to cry. It was a very unsettling look for her. Jesseka Blake didn’t look like she was ready to cry. She just looked, in his experience, like she was going to get madder. But not now. She looked suddenly so small and vulnerable and it tore him apart inside just a little bit.

  Part of him regretted that it had come to this. Sure, there’d been times in recent weeks where he’d considered breaking up with her. And he’d guessed that she’d be fine with that. In fact, he’d often got the impression she’d welcome it. But here, for the first time he realised, maybe just maybe she wouldn’t be so fine with it.

  “What happened to us, Jess?” he asked, trying to keep calm. It wasn’t easy, his heart was pounding in his ears and he felt sick inside. “We never used to fight this much, did we?”

  She shook her head sadly, her lips trembling. He reached out and took her hand in his, fighting the urge to hug her. It likely wouldn’t go down well. Or it might do. He couldn’t say.

  The truth was, he didn’t know anymore.

  Pete’s next spirit came emerging from the crystal and took to the sky immediately, a giant pair of wings momentarily blocking out the sun for him before Rush took back down to the ground and preened his burnt brown feathers with a wicked yellow beak. Black eyes flickered first to Pete and then to Gamorra. Rush shrieked proudly, the sound ripping from the curve of the beak as Pete smiled at Sharon.

  “Shall we then, dear sister?” he said pleasantly. “I’m ready if you are.”

  She returned the smile, the crowd laughed as one as the announcer said something Pete couldn’t quite entirely make out about sibling banter and the video referee trilled, giving them the sign to get it underway. Once more he grinned at her and Rush took to the sky with a flare of the wings. It didn’t take long for Gamorra to be up in the sky as well, lizard and eagle circling the arena, staring each other down with equally intense eyes.

  This time Gamorra went first, lunging in first with the brutal fang filled jaws going for the feathered body, Rush swooped up and evaded, raking talons across the serpen
t-like neck. Gamorra hissed, snapped upwards and nearly took one of the taloned feet off at the ankle, only for Rush to go for an eye with the beak, missing but not by much. Scales and blood came away in a thick chunk from Gamorra’s cheek and the shark lizard roared angrily. This close, it was almost deafening.

  This couldn’t stay like this, Pete noted, seeing the two of them close together. Rush wasn’t so much quicker than Gamorra that they could evade attacks forever. Plus, Gamorra had so much size on the eagle, it negated a fraction of the speed. Going talon to claw was only going to end badly.

  He grimaced, gave the order and Rush swung out a powerful wing to smack a blow into the great body, the crack of it landing filling the arena with the sound of a sudden exhalation of breath from the shark lizard, it gave Rush enough time to retreat.

  Sharon jabbed a finger towards Rush and the wicked jaws opened, Pete barely saw the uniblast before it erupted out from within the great lizard. Barely but just enough, Rush rolled out underneath the blast and swung out both wings towards Gamorra. A flurry of feathers ripped out from them, hung in the air for a moment before taking on a metallic tint and rushing towards Gamorra. Iron coated down slashed across her scales, sharp enough to leave several shallow cuts across the great body, many tiny streams of blood spattering down to the grass below.

  All in all, Pete had to concede, he could be doing worse than he was right now. Keep it up and he might have a chance. One simply couldn’t overwhelm a foe like the one in front of him with extreme force. Well he couldn’t anyway. There were undoubtedly those here in the tournament that could take Sharon head on and give as much out as they got. It had never been his strategy. She had heavier hitters than him. He had to play it smart and that was what he intended to do.

  That was the key really. Strategy. It trumped anything else. A smart caller with a good strategy trumped a strong one with no plan every single time.

  That was the theory anyway. Sometimes brute force was enough. He hoped that this wouldn’t be one of those times.

  They’d sat in silence for a few moments, before Jess spoke aloud, her voice calmer now but still with a hint of a tremble beneath it. “Do you remember the first time we met?”

  Scott nodded. “Yeah, that club. You were doing that dance with that centaur. I saw you from across the floor, you were on stage and I was in love.” He sighed, cast his mind back. “Mind you the centaur looked pretty happy as well.”

  She ignored him. “That was… I didn’t like my life back then. I wanted an escape. That was the final straw that night, I wanted out and I had that argument with my boss. He didn’t like letting things go.” She shuddered at the memories.

  “That’s all we were to him. Possessions. We came and went as he pleased. We didn’t stay if he didn’t want us, we didn’t go if he didn’t want us to. I walked out and he tried to kill me. But you and Pete… You saved me. You fought him off and I haven’t looked back since. Until the last few weeks anyway. I’ve been looking back and wondering if it was so bad. I mean it was easier. I had more focus. I didn’t have all the crap I worry about now. And in a way, I miss that.”

  “I miss those days,” Scott said. “Everything was simpler back then. We were different people. You think we’ve changed too much?”

  He found himself drifting back to those days when he’d first started his journey, when he’d met John Cyris, his benefactor. Despite what the media had said about him afterwards, about how he was one of the biggest criminals in the five kingdoms, he’d always found Cyris a friendly figure. At least until that final time they’d met anyway. He’d wanted his investment back in the form of one of Scott’s spirits and Scott hadn’t been willing to pay up. Not after everything he’d put in to get that spirit. Cyris had been arrested shortly afterwards.

  She shook her head. “I think the more you try to change, the more you stay the same. You’ve always been ambitious. You want to be the best and you’ll keep going until you do that or you die, whichever comes first. I mean look what drew us here. You interrupted our vacation!”

  “For starters, I didn’t know I was going to get invited here,” Scott said, his temper threatening to rise once more. “And what was I supposed to do, turn it down? I already apologised for this.”

  “And I’m not sure you mean it! I think you’re just saying it because it’s what I want to hear! I think you’d do it again in a heartbeat if it meant you’d get one step closer to the top.”

  That hurt, he took several deep breaths and looked at her through weary eyes. It made it even worse that it was probably true. “You know what, I probably would. You know what else I’d probably do? Want some support. I didn’t hear you complaining about my drive to be the best paying for that vacation in the first place. Because if I don’t do stuff like this then there’s nothing like that.”

  “Yeah and I never said I cared what we do together. As long as we’re together!” Jess almost yelled. “Look at since we got here. I’ve barely seen you. You’ve probably spent more time with Mia fucking Arnholt than with me!”

  “That’s not even close to being true! And even if it was, whose fault is that? You’re the one who keeps avoiding me!”

  Gamorra was getting too close for comfort, the great body closed in once more and snapped out at Rush. Pete had a horrible feeling he knew what was going to come if there were too many more of those attacks. Rush could only evade so long at this range, the two of them were almost neck and neck. Gamorra lashed out with her tail, Rush ducked underneath it and rose higher into the sky, the great black lizard rushing up after him. The eagle lunged in, jabbed out with a beak and the blow bounced off the scaled face.

  Pete could feel the disturbance in the air billowing down to him as Rush pulled off a neat turn to evade a slash from one of the giant claws that would have cut him in two had it landed. As it was, only the feathers in his tail were nicked. Gamorra went after him, Pete gulped as he saw those jaws snapping after Rush, desperate to clamp down on the much smaller opponent.

  Rush braked suddenly, let his wings flare out and he fell through the air straight to the ground, gliding on the winds before executing a barrel roll and slashing his talons across Gamorra’s stomach which brought a shriek from her. All until one of her hind legs kicked out, almost involuntarily and caught Rush in the face. Pete winced as there was a snap, the sound of claw meeting beak and Gamorra swung her great neck around and plucked Rush out of the air with her jaws. There was a great crack and rip of flesh as the jaws clamped down, a momentary squawk of shock from Rush before silence as Gamorra let him go, sending the body dropping down through the air towards the ground.

  Even before Rush came to land, Pete knew what was coming. There wasn’t any chance of survival to that. Still falling, Rush was twitching in the air, like he was trying to straighten his wings out and resume. Not enough air left, he was going to…

  Pete groaned as Rush landed on his back in the dirt, legs twitching in the air, mangled belly exposed to the air where Gamorra still hovered. Already he was fiddling out his summoner, summoning Rush back to a container crystal as he debated what to do next.

  Mermari might be able to defeat Gamorra but whether she’d be able to hold out against Sharon’s last spirit as well would be debateable. Embers or Snips would struggle against Gamorra never mind the last one. That left either Spector or Curzon. Either would be his last hope of the tournament.

  No pressure.

  Screw it. Curzon, it is.

  His final gambit. Last chance saloon. After all, they all had to fail at some point. Be it today or tomorrow, he wasn’t going to let it paralyse him.

  Curzon erupted from the crystal, the lightning-shaped stripes on his dark orange body lining up nice with the grass beneath the four great paws. The tail twitched listlessly before at Pete’s silent insisting the tiger let out a great bellowing roar, a challenge to Gamorra.

  Scott was sure he’d just heard a roar. Maybe he was mistaken. Either way, it was far from the most important thing on his mi
nd.

  “I didn’t want it to go like this,” he said. “Jess, I do care about you. I care about you a lot. I have done for a long time.”

  “You care about me? I loved you. I would have done anything for you.”

  Yeah, except give me a break over stuff I have no control over! He almost said it aloud, he wanted to but it wouldn’t go down well. “You loved me? Not anymore?”

  She didn’t react beyond one long sigh of distress. “Scott. I… I just don’t know anymore. You asked how we ended up like this. I don’t know. I don’t think there’s one specific point where I stopped loving you, I don’t think I can explain it. I just think that…”

  “No, I don’t accept that!” He was on his feet in an instant. “You don’t just wake up one morning and decide you don’t love someone. There’s always something specific. And if you don’t know what it is then… Then you’re just being stupid.” It was a lame finish and he knew it. “You know what, I think you’re looking for an excuse!”

  “And you haven’t been?! Tell me you haven’t wanted this conversation for a while now because I won’t believe you. I’ve seen it in your eyes. Look me in mine and tell me without a flicker of doubt that you want us to stay together and I’ll believe you. Because I don’t think you will. I don’t think you can.”

  In that horrible moment, Scott realised the truth. He realised she might just be right.

  “That’s a new one,” Sharon mused as she stared down at Curzon, a playful smile on her face. “Who’s a pretty boy then? Yes, it’s you. You are.”

  Pete ignored her. Curzon looked a little bemused. As much as a thunder tiger could anyway. It was an interesting look that appeared on his face. And that was when the video referee gave the signal. Gamorra didn’t hesitate, straight down towards Curzon with a bloodthirsty shriek, a great shadow falling through the sky.

  Pete smiled. Brilliant. Give it to her, Curzon.