Challenging the Arena

by Lily Thomas

  Evelyn rose up to her feet and turned in a tight circle, taking the room in. Then she paused as her eyes landed on a piece of color in the rather dull room.

  There on a table, she’d somehow missed, was a purple outfit.

  Walking over she skimmed her fingertips over the material. It was flimsy to say the least. Purple shoes were laid out under the desk. She was sure she was supposed to put them on. Why else would someone leave them out?

  “Like hell I’m putting these on.” She’d never been a purple person. “It looks like lingerie, and I’m not about to walk around in purple lingerie.” She scoffed at the dress. “I also don’t wear dresses. Impractical pieces of clothing.”

  Ignoring the clothing laid out on the table she moved around the edges of the room, trying to find a way out. No matter how she tried to scrape her nails over the wall, she could find nothing. The walls appeared seamless and it annoyed her to no end.

  As she messed with one wall, searching for a doorway, the wall split right in front of her eyes. A quick smile spread over her face, and then the door opened to reveal a Friren standing in her way. The smile slipped from her face.

  “You haven’t changed.” He stated as his silver eyes slid from her to the dress and then back to her again.

  She stepped back a little. “Into that skimpy thing?” She pointed at the purple frills. “No way I’ll change into that. I wouldn’t be caught dead in such a girly outfit.”

  “Put it on.”

  “Never.” She growled.

  She could see the fire burning in his eyes. He didn’t like her defiance.

  “If you don’t put it on you will most likely be killed.”

  “What do you mean by that?” She placed a hand on her hip and cocked it out a bit. “Are you threatening me?”

  “I am giving you a warning human.” He pointed to the purple dress with a slender finger. “If you wear the dress you are less likely to be killed by the contestants.”

  “Contestants?”

  “You will be offered up as a tribute to the best fighter, and they know that prizes were such flimsy clothing.”

  “I think I’ll take my chances.” Because she got the feeling she’d be thrown in the arena no matter what she wore and she rather be in the arena in pants than a dress.

  “You will not change?”

  Evelyn snorted. “No way.”

  “Fine then.” His fingers wrapped around her arm and he yanked her out of the room.

  “Where are we going?” She yelled at him as he dragged her after him.

  Silence greeted her as he continued at a hurried pace down the corridor.

  “Where are we going?” She asked more forcefully, less frantically.

  “Into here.”

  A door opened and he threw her in with force.

  “Have fun.” He shut the door after her.

  She lunged for the door that closed, but it’d blended back into the wall and she couldn’t open it.

  “Damn.” She glanced around the empty room, which looked like the one she’d just been taken out of except there was no cot or table.

  Nothing happened for a second, and then another wall opened. She waited for a second not sure she wanted to go out with all the disturbing sounds coming out of it. There was a roar from a crowd and a lot of clattering of metal on metal. It had to be the arena.

  “I’m not walking out there!” Something zapped her calf. “Ouch!”

  Something kept zapping her, and it zapped her right out of the room. She stumbled out, her muscles still twitching a bit.

  She heard the door close behind her, and she frowned at all the fighting that was happening right in front of her.

  “I’m so screwed.”

  The crowd kept roaring in excitement, almost to a deafening point. It was definitely a different experience down here in the arena rather than up there in the crowd.

  This had to be some sort of strange dream. It just had to be, but everything was so real. The pain, the sights and the sounds. Her stomach rolled. She was going to die.

  “And now comes the tribute to whoever the champion might be!” But the contestants never even spared her a second glance. They were too busy staying alive to give her much notice.

  She wasn’t sure what to do with herself. She was now in a life and death situation, like her sister, but she refused to die like her sister. If she died now, her sister’s death would still have no meaning and she wasn’t about to let that happen.

  Evelyn tossed a grin up at the Friren speaker. He wanted to throw her in here to kill her, but she would survive. There was a lot riding on her success. She was going to surprise everyone with her ability to adapt to this dangerous situation.

  A dead body was spread out on the ground next to her with a weapon still clutched in its hand. This was what she needed to keep herself alive.

  Reaching down she grabbed the sword and felt the weight in her hand. Something bumped her arm and she glanced down at her arm. The man’s hand was still clutching the sword hilt!

  “Yick!”

  The hand had been cut off at the wrist.

  “Oh, that is so disgusting! Get off!” She swatted at the severed hand until it fell off the end of the sword. Suppressing her gag reflex she calmed herself.

  Then she focused on the last two contestants who were in combat. Sucking in a breath she steeled herself for what she’d have to do. It was survival of the fittest and she was a survivor. It would go against everything she was fighting for, but these were some special circumstances she’d been thrown into.

  Marching forward she did her best to make sure they wouldn’t notice her creeping up on them. Her hand tightened around the sword hilt. She could do this. She could kill someone.

  One of the contestants grabbed the other and they went down in a mess of limbs as they hammered on each other.

  Evelyn made her move. It would probably be the only chance she got. She shoved the sword into the contestant closest to her. The sword slid easily through the flesh below her, and she cringed inside.

  The crowd went silent as the ball of contestants ceased moving. Evelyn backed up, not sure if she’d just killed both of them or not. None of them moved.

  Stepping closer she placed a foot against the top contestant and shoved, rolling him off the other.

  A smile spread over her face. They were both dead. She’d killed the top contestant and the top contestant had killed the one below him. She’d survived her first fight in the arena. Somehow, she’d been successful. Now she’d just have to live with the fact that she’d killed someone.

  The crowd was still silent, probably just as shocked as she was.

  “It appears our prize has killed the contestants,” the speaker began to tell the crowd, “making her the champion for this day. The question is, can she keep it up? Because she may have just changed her position in the eyes of the other contestants here in the arena from prize to contestant.”

  The crowd still waited with bated breath, their eyes glued to the speaker waiting for more information.

  “She will continue to be a prize, but she will have to watch herself, because now the contestants will know she might stab them in the back!”

  Evelyn frowned at the joke, but the crowd erupted into laughter at his oddly timed crack. She hadn’t meant to be a killer, but she also didn’t want to be killed. She had a lot to live for right now and she wasn’t the kind of person to roll over and die.

  The crowd cheered wildly at her. She was going to go out on a limb and assume most prizes didn’t kill contestants, so they were pretty excited about her success.

  She wasn’t sure what she was expected to do next. She wouldn’t prance around like that one Vrak’rir she’d watched. She wasn’t here to kill, she was just going to survive.

  A gate at the other end of the arena opened.

  “Go on in and find your new home.” The speaker told her.

  Great.

  She walked towards the open gate, and then had a thoug
ht. Looking around the arena she looked for what she needed. A couple bodies in she found it. A dagger. Something she could hide on her body and would be able to wield against these hulking contestants.

  Then she made her way through the gate, which closed behind her. Turning around she watched as Frirens dashed into the arena to drag away all the dead bodies and clean the dirt while the crowd slowly trickled out of the arena.

  It would go quiet until tomorrow when the arena would fill up again for another day of battles.

  She turned back to the tunnel she was now in. She was sure there would be other contestants in here and she wasn’t sure what type of reception she might receive from all of them. Just because she wasn’t in the arena didn’t mean she couldn’t still get killed.

  Walking further back she found another room off the corridor where she found contestants eating in a cafeteria. Interesting.

  A couple of them looked up and their eyes skimmed over her, but they went back to eating. If she had to guess, they just thought she was another contestant because she wasn’t wearing one of those ridiculous dresses that prizes of the arena were supposed to wear.

  Evelyn smiled. She was still alive. Then her smile faded. She had to wonder what happened to Connor. He could have been killed already. Maybe they had male prizes for the female contestants. It would only be fair in her mind, which meant he might still be alive.

  Striding into the cafeteria like she belonged she made her way to where the food was, grabbed a plate and sat down. She’d carve out a spot for herself and hopefully she’d be lucky enough to make it to the end.

  Chapter 4

  “Did you hear about the new human contestant?” Demard flung a leg around his seat as he sat down at the table with his plate of food.

  Raever shook his head. “Why would I care about a human?” He shoveled some food on his fork and then into his mouth.

  “It’s a human woman.”

  He raised a black eyebrow. “Yawn.”

  “She became the champion of an arena battle yesterday.” Demard said reverently.

  Raever rolled his onyx eyes. “She probably got lucky. Those human women are completely useless.” His claw tipped blue fingers grabbed the roll off his plate and he took a bite.

  “Don’t you remember that one human female champion we had not too long ago?”

  “In the end she teamed up with a Vrak’rir. If she hadn’t, she might’ve been killed.” Raever and Demard were Vrak’rir. The humans had come up with a fond term for them: the blue demons of the universe, except without the horns. They were one to label others. He thought they were the most useless species in the universe.

  “Or not.”

  Raever snorted. “She was a fluke, and I doubt this other human woman will get far.”

  “I think you give them too little credit.” Demard cracked his neck as he finished off the last bite on his plate.

  Raever watched his friend crack a few more joints. Both of them were tattooed to the max. The last tattoo missing on both of them was the one showing they were mated. He shook his head. He couldn’t think about that until he was out of this arena. “Getting ready for a fight?”

  “They posted my name for the next arena fight.” Demard sighed. “It’s just going to be another blood bath that I win, unless they throw in another Vrak’rir or Kellian.”

  “Wait until the day that we are pitted against each other.” Raever sent him a grin. He teased, but he was also being serious. One of these days they might be forced to go up against each other and Raever worried which one of them would win that fight.

  “Hopefully that day either won’t come or is a long way off. I’ve enjoyed our friendship, and I’d hate to kill you.”

  Raever let out a bellow of laughter and slammed a hand against the table jostling all the plates on the table and earning him a few dirty glances from other aliens at their table. “You think you’d win?”

  “You’re too soft hearted. You wouldn’t be able to make the kill.”

  “Want to bet?”

  “Yeah, I do.”

  Raever launched himself over the table where they proceeded to deck each other in the face. Other aliens in the cafeteria moved to give them room, but they were just trying to best the other, not kill each other.

  Demard landed a blow against his jaw and his head snapped back. He kicked out a leg and shoved Demard off of him. He took the opportunity to swipe a leg under Demard’s legs to bring him down and they began wrestling. Unfortunately, neither of them was able to get a hand over the other.

  “Call it a draw?” Demard grunted.

  “You calling it quits?”

  “No, I just have a fight to get to and the Frirens won’t be amused if I miss it.”

  “Fine then. A draw.”

  They separated and clapped each other on the back. “Until next time.”

  “Until next time.” Demard left the room on his way to his fight. “And then I’ll prove I’m better then you!” He tossed over his shoulder right before he disappeared.

  After sending a glare at the empty doorway, Raever heaved a sigh. He couldn’t wait to win his freedom and get out of this arena. He was ready to find his mate and start a life. He was tired of defeating inferior enemies.

  Evelyn stared at the screen in front of her not sure what she should do. She’d learned from another contestant that she should check the “board”. She hadn’t known what that meant, but now she knew.

  Her name was listed on the board, which meant she had to go into another arena fight. She was scheduled in just a few minutes for the afternoon fight.

  Good thing she’d been told about this, or bad thing she was, otherwise she never would’ve known and missed the fight. But then she might have gotten in trouble with the Frirens. She was sure they wouldn’t be happy if she didn’t go.

  The dagger was hidden in her pants, the hilt up under her shirt being held in place by the waistband of her pants. Its presence was a comfort, but she’d been hoping to never use it. She still couldn’t stop thinking about the man she’d killed yesterday. Now she might have to kill again and that bothered her a lot.

  She’d been tossing and turning all night long, not just because she feared someone might kill her in her sleep, but also because every time she closed her eyes all she saw was the dead alien. She wasn’t so sure she could do it again.

  Another contestant walked up to check the board.

  “Umm,” she smiled at the alien next to her, who looked like a giant bi-pedaled grasshopper, “if my name is on this board, where do I go?”

  The grasshopper alien turned to look at her, his antennas twitched, coming down almost touching her face, but she managed not to cringe. “The same gate you came in.” He told her with clicks in between his words, then he turned and left her standing there.

  Sucking in a deep breath she congratulated herself for not flinching away from the grasshopper alien. She’d never been a fan of bugs.

  She made her way to the gate where several other aliens were already waiting. She began sizing up the competition around her, and she came to only one conclusion, she was doomed.

  There were several of the grasshopper aliens, a couple aliens with scales on them, some Dallaski, and several Dekkarians. The Dekkarians were an interesting species with their spots and cat eyes, but they weren’t as friendly as a house cat.

  Evelyn wasn’t too sure how all of this would go, what the rules were and if she would win. She still had no idea where Connor was. If he was alive, he wasn’t inside her barracks. After grabbing something to eat last night, she’d checked the inside of her barracks for any sign of him to no avail.

  She really hoped he was still alive. The Frirens were killing so many innocents and it was heart wrenching to think Connor may have been killed without the chance to stay alive in the arena, then again it could be a blessing. She was about to be killed by some sort of primitive weapon, because there was no way she was going to make it out alive.

  The last arena
fight had been pure luck. She doubted she’d get that lucky again.

  Slowly, the gate to their barracks creaked open, and the warriors trickled out and into the arena. She tried to move her feet, but she could only go at a snail’s pace. She wasn’t eager to rush to her death.

  The moment she was in the arena, the gate slammed closed behind her causing her to jump out of her skin. Her heart thundered in her chest as she glanced around the arena with panicked eyes.

  “And here we have our contestants!” The speaker announced. “Now let’s not forget that the human woman is actually a prize for the champion of today’s fight!”

  All the warriors turned to take her in.

  Damn. But at least they wouldn’t think of her as a contestant, which could be good for her. She hoped.

  Evelyn pressed her back against the wall of the arena. She wanted to remain as far away from the warriors as possible. No need to rush in and get herself killed.

  A few of the men sent her winks, and even some of the female fighters wagged their fingers at her and blew her kisses.

  She grimaced. No offense to the female fighters, but she was into men, although she was flattered by the appreciation.

  “Be careful contestants, this human woman might be a prize but she has already killed one contestant and won an arena fight.”

  A lot of the warriors smirked or laughed. At least most of them didn’t seem to believe the Friren speaker.

  “Let the battle begin!” The speaker blew a horn, and the arena broke into frenzied chaos.

  Evelyn did her best to just blend in to the back ground. Her dagger remained hidden in her pants. There was no need to bring it out too early. If she wanted to kill someone, it would have to be a surprise attack, so appearing unarmed would be best.

  The fighting was gruesome and a few times she closed her eyes to skip especially bloody scenes. Once the fighting died down a bit, and there were only a few contestants left, she began to hope she could once again kill the last contestant and walk away her own woman instead of someone’s prize.