by Ruby Ryan
The immense dragon lurched forward, pulling its restraints taut. It was eager to fight, a creature of only primal instinct. I found myself wishing that I were matched against a dozen enemies instead.
I looked up to the Dominion Lord's place, and felt the pulsing of satisfaction there. He gazed down at me with loathing in his mind, ready to watch the Karak stain that I was die for all to see.
I cannot defeat this.
I was going to die. I knew that with a certainty stronger than anything I'd ever felt in my life. The only hope I had was to survive as long as possible, restoring honor to myself by not perishing in the first ten seconds.
Dyonarix roared again, and my human mind trembled.
And then the chains clasped to his legs fell away, shift-removed by his Karak handlers. He tested one leg, then the other, realizing that he was now free.
BEGIN, boomed the Dominion Lord, body twinkling with joy.
*
I hadn't considered what to do, so when I heard the Dominion Lord's command, I did what felt natural.
I shifted into my Borelisk form, the slithering shape settling onto the ground. Instantly the creature's instincts attempted to seize control of my mind.
MAIN KILL CARNAGE SHREDDING BLEEDING TEARING.
Upon seeing me in this form, Dyonarix stretched out its long neck and roared once more, and I could see the fires deep within its throat.
I opened my jaw wide and shot forth a volley of acid-spikes, hoping to do some quick damage. The crowd gasped as the spikes struck the dragon across the neck and face, green splashes of acid spreading along its scales. But the beast shook its head once, and the acid sloughed off harmlessly, sizzling on the floor of the Pit.
And now the dragon was full of fury.
It charged me on its legs, and I fired another five acid-spikes in futility. Again they did little damage, not even to the dragon's eyes as I'd hoped, and then it had crossed half the distance to me.
Do something! I coaxed myself.
With few options, I shifted into the form of a gryphon. The transformation felt agonizingly slow while my opponent neared, long fangs hanging from its mouth, fangs like human swords. The moment my gryphon wings shifted into place I leaped into the air, beating them furiously to escape the oncoming jaws.
The dragon whipped its head sideways after me, snapping them in the air mere feet from my body. It roared with fury, then unfolded its own wings from its body, paper-thin and almost translucent in the night. They beat with incredible strength, pulling the dragon up into the air to follow.
I soared around the arena, brushing up against the invisible barrier that separated--and protected--the crowd beyond. There wasn't nearly enough room; all I could do was circle the arena, unable to escape the incoming dragon.
Again, the knowledge that I was going to die pulsed in my head, and I beat it back down before it could overwhelm me.
Despite my practice, I was clumsy in this gryphon body. I could feel the great gusts of Dyonarix's wings beating, his proximity just behind. At any moment...
FWOOSH. Immense heat burst into the air behind me, and I twisted my eagle's head to watch a gushing of orange and black flame shoot across the sky. It missed, scouring the space just behind me before roiling into the invisible Pit wall. The crowd screamed in fear, recoiling from the wall instinctively.
Urged on by greater fear, I beat my wings faster.
I did what I could: darting up, then diving down, trying to randomize my movements so the dragon could not cut me off. But I was flying methodically, the will to survive quickly fading. Without Leslie, my love, what was the point? A life without her was not worth living, I now knew.
I might as well die. I even desired death, because it was better than living without her.
Dyonarix belched another burst of flame, which ricocheted off the invisible wall of the Pit and rolled dangerously close to my body. I darted away, back toward the center of the arena. The feathers of my right wing were singed, black and trailing smoke.
How could I fight such a beast? The fire was too strong to shift my own barrier of air against it; the flame would smash through it like paper. There was no honor in merely surviving, I realized. Fleeing around the Pit like a terrified animal before being burned alive. That was worse than accepting my fate.
I should refuse to fight, my Karak mind thought. Surrender to the center of the Pit, stand tall and proud and allow my fiery fate to wash over me. There was more resistance in that action than what I was doing now.
But for now, instinct forced me to continue to survive.
Circling the arena, I fled the rabid beast that would soon be my death.
19
LESLIE
"Oh my God," I whispered when I saw that thing.
A dragon. A goddamn dragon, alive and in the flesh. Or the scales. Whatever it was made of.
And it was chasing Jerix, the man I loved more than anything in the world.
I stood at the back of the Sunken Pit viewing area, half hidden behind the doorway to the benches. I was afraid to watch. I was hiding, from Jerix and the Dominion Lord and the reality of the situation.
I loved a Karak prisoner, and he was about to die.
It was a different sort of anguish than the first two fights. In those, Jerix at least stood a chance. And at the time I'd thought he was a great warrior, for whom such fights should be easy.
But now that I knew what he was, and the futility of his match against this dragon, I felt the agony of knowing what was about to happen.
Jerix flew around the arena, curving along the edge of the crowd. The dragon followed, and neared, and when it was close it opened its mouth and spoke with fire and flame.
A thousand spectators sucked in their breath as one, and I gasped with them. The orange and black fire roiled across the air, a flash of light that briefly banished the darkness and created a thousand new shadows. The fire missed Jerix, but only barely, and the dragon still followed.
My love is about to die.
The moment was here. There was no more delaying. Every action I'd made in the past two weeks, helping Jerix do his research on earth and selling Joanna's land and then stealing aboard the goddamn alien spacecraft, had led to this moment. This cliff we were about to leap from.
As if they had a mind of their own, my legs moved.
I sprinted down the steps of the aisle, screaming a wordless scream for my love. Jerix could not hear me, not in the noise and chaos of the crowd, but there was no logic to my actions right then. I moved faster, intending to leap the waist-high barrier and land in the Pit with him. I wanted nothing more than to perish with him, because if he died there would be no use in living anyways.
But as I reached the edge, I struck an invisible barrier. A wall of air blocked my way, cushioning me like pillows while being as strong as steel.
My stomach sank: I could not join him. I was doomed to watch from afar.
Overwhelmed with desperation, I slammed my fists against the barrier and screamed my lover's name. Creatures all around me watched with shock, cats and crab-monsters and everything in between, but I had eyes only for my lover as he soared away from the beast.
"JERIX," I screamed, with my throat and mind. "JERIX, I LOVE YOU!"
The gryphon rose and dove through the air, not hearing me.
I forgive you, I thought, more for myself than him. I'm sorry, and I love you, and I forgive you, and all I want is for you to be safe.
I pressed my body against the barrier and sent my futile thoughts.
20
JERIX
I forgive you, came a thought, invading my mind. I'm sorry, and I love you, and I forgive you, and all I want is for you to be safe.
It was Leslie. It was Leslie!
I turned my head and found her instantly, pressed against the wall of the arena. She looked so beautiful in that moment, face flushed and hair streaming down her shoulders. My human lover, watching me battle a great Karak warrior.
Watchi
ng me die to a great Karak warrior.
And like a supernova, new strength blossomed in my chest. The urgent need to survive for Leslie.
I can do it, my human brain insisted. Illogical and irrational in that special human way.
Because love was illogical and irrational. A combination of thoughts, and emotions, and hormones all intermingled. A ridiculous concept for a ridiculous species.
And I didn't care one bit.
I love you, I said to Leslie, and I felt her hear my voice. I will survive for you.
Imbued with new resolve, I flapped my wings harder.
Dyonarix shot forth another burst of blame, smaller and more careful. It was realizing that I could only fly this way for so long before tiring; it could simply follow until that moment, then seize upon my weakness.
But what else could I do but flee?
I felt strongest when Leslie's touch was in my mind. Already, the memory of her thoughts were fading again, the gryphon in me taking over as I flew around the arena. If I was going to defeat this dragon, this legendary Karak warrior here and now, I was going to need that strength.
It was stupid. It was ridiculous. But so was love itself.
Abruptly, I cut to the left, toward the center of the arena. I felt the passing of air as Dyonarix missed me, caught off guard by my sudden turn. I dove rapidly, landing in the center of the arena, and shifted.
I felt the crowd's shock, and then I heard it with human ears.
I stood in the arena in my human form, a bronze shield on my left arm and a short sword in my right. Instantly, I could feel Leslie's love pulsing in the back of my brain, a star all its own on this dark night. I stood strong, and tall, and as proud as any human.
Dyonarix saw my new form, and roared.
He landed on the opposite side of the arena, the force of which made the ground shake and my knees buckle. But still I stood strong.
"Come," I commanded.
The beast did.
It charged forward as it had at the beginning of the match, four legs working together in a long stride. It folded its wings close to its body as it came, and pulled back its neck like a coiled snake. I stood strong, and waited, and focused only on my love for Leslie.
When Dyonarix was close enough, its head snapped forward and its jaws opened wide. The candle within its throat gushed with flammable air from its belly, pouring forth a wave of fire toward me.
I knelt down low, and raised my shield high.
The flame hit the shield with immense power. The bronze metal began to glow from the heat, and I shifted the air behind and around it, a cooling power to desperately try to negate the heat from the other side. The remaining fire soared around the shield and scalded my skin, and rather than try to block it with air I cooled my body with ice, shifted from the ground around me.
The fire ceased, and I stood again.
My skin burned painfully, but was still intact. Embers sizzled in my hair, making me look and feel like a Medusa of ash, but I did not care. Molten bronze dripped along the outside of the shield, but the center stayed solid.
The dragon considered me with confusion.
Seizing on the moment, I tore the straps from the shield and tossed it aside as if it pained me. Dyonarix watched it roll, clatter to the ground, and become still. He returned his glowing eyes to me, and I raised my arms out to either side, surrendering.
NO! Leslie screamed in my head, but I ignored it.
I love you.
Now that Dyonarix was close, his instincts took over once again. Without the need to disarm me with flame, it leaned forward slowly, preparing to strike.
I waited, and waited, and waited for my moment.
The instant the dragon struck forward like a snake, jaws widening, I finally moved. I took one step and leaped forward like I was diving from a cliff. The dragon's jaws snapped forward, brushing against my belly but missing underneath, and for an agonizing second I was parallel to the ground above his neck.
And in one smooth motion, I pulled the sword from its sheath and stabbed downward with all my human strength.
The motion sent me tumbling away, rolling off the dragon's spiked neck to fall roughly to the Pit floor. I turned, waiting for the dragon's fangs to pierce my body.
They did not.
Dyonarix roared with pain as the muscles in his neck contracted. His head reared back and then slammed down into the ground, jaws snapping randomly while its body spasmed behind.
Cautiously, I stood and approached. I needed to dart to the side to avoid the animal's limbs lashing out, but it was growing weaker with every second, the shrieking cries more high-pitched and almost pitiful. I climbed onto the dragon's neck while the crowd screamed and undulated.
I gripped the sword with both hands, locking eyes with Leslie high above. And then I twisted the blade, jerking it inside the dragon's spine, and its body abruptly crashed onto the ground.
Dust fell all around, and then everything was still.
21
LESLIE
The crowd roared their adoration at my lover, and I joined my voice to theirs.
He did it. He did it!
Jerix left the sword in the dragon's neck, and deftly hopped to the ground. He stood very tall while the Karak and other creatures of the audience showered him with praise, and through our bond I felt his pride swell.
I did it, he said to me, affection pouring through. I did it thanks to you.
The warmth and love I felt in that moment shut out everything else--the sounds of the ground, the Karak viewers flicking and shimmering with pleasure like the stars above. Somehow, my presence had helped Jerix. My love had given him the strength he needed.
I wasn't a mistake. I was his everything.
Something cold snapped onto my arm. An iron shackle, connected to a chain that disappeared into the glowing form of a Karak guard.
Come with me, it demanded, and as he moved away I was forced to follow. Iron shackles seemed like a bad omen.
He didn't take me back to Jerix's cell. He didn't even take me up to the Dominion Lord's viewing place, like I expected. Instead, we jumped on the transport platform and crossed the city, back to the place where it all began, the huge spherical building at the center of the city.
Through narrow halls the guard took me, the shackle on my wrist adding a pang of fear to my heart.
We passed through an archway, and then we were in a round, tall room like the inside of a glass golf ball. Jerix stood in the center of the room, in his glistening Karak body. I tried to go to him, but the guard held me back.
That's when I noticed the others.
On the far side of the room was a tall platform, where seven Karak shapes floated. The one in the middle stood a foot taller than the rest, with a body made of thicker photons.
The Dominion Lord. Which meant the others were probably the Council Jerix told me of.
You have fought three trials in the Sunken Pit, the Dominion Lord spoke into our minds. And you have emerged victorious. Much of your honor has been restored.
Jerix pulsed with pride, but said nothing.
Further, your claim that humans are robust intellectual beings has thus far been proven correct. The human Leslie has not yet succumbed to her inevitable madness, a fact which has shocked myself and this Council.
I stood up a little straighter, and almost yelled out, "Damn right!" but held back at the last instant.
However, the Dominion Lord began, and I felt his tone and mood change.
Oh no.
You have still disgraced yourself by being with this human woman. You allowed yourself to be weak in her presence during your research on earth, tainting the data you have provided. You have mated with her while a prisoner here on Karak. It is clear you cannot be trusted to remain with her, or for her to remain in your protection. We now know the danger is not to her, but of her to you.
The Council shimmered in agreement.
You will be restored to your place of honor, scout Jerix, a
nd this human will be returned home. And the--
NO!
The Dominion Lord cut off at my lover's outburst. And then, before everyone, Jerix shifted.
I knew what he was doing before he finished, because I could feel it in him. The bright photons morphed into bronze skin, with lithe muscles underneath. Thighs like tree trunks, ribs of muscle and a chest full of power. And a beautiful face, with a hard jaw and brown hair and eyes like the stormy sea.
Jerix stood before his leaders as a human, defiant.
"No!" he repeated, a human word spoken with a human throat. "This woman does not taint me in the way that you think. Humans are wonderful and unique creatures, unlike any I have seen in my vast and long tour across the universe."
Jerix... one of the Councilors said, but there was no stopping him now.
"Humans are bundles of life. Emotion and humor and intelligence and so much more. It must be true, for it is as you have said: Leslie has survived in this place so foreign to her, and she has survived it without fear. Humans can withstand more than we can comprehend! It is such flexibility that has allowed them to thrive on their planet, rising to apex predator even before becoming technologically advanced."
He look back at me, and smiled.
"And it is their emotions that give them this power. Especially the emotion of love. The bond humans have for one another is the most powerful thing I've ever experienced. It is the reason scout Arix chose to remain on their planet, and the reason I have striven to protect Leslie here. It is what gave me the strength, and the courage, to defeat the great warrior Dyonarix, as you all have seen this night!"
The last word echoed in the chamber. His hands were balled into fists at his side, as if he might stride up to the platform and fight the Council themselves.
"We should not be avoiding the humans. We should be nurturing them, learning from them. Speeding our alliance with them. To move cautiously toward them would be to waste an incredible opportunity!"