“I…” I couldn’t speak; I had too much to say and no time to say any of it. It wasn’t the first time we had been staring down death together, but the other times were different. This was Danio just… walking down a flight of steps to his doom and me sitting here, helpless to stop him or help him. Me watching.
“I know,” he said, gently freeing his wrist. “If…”
We may not have been magically bonded, but I knew he did know, as sure as I knew all of the things he wanted to say and what he needed to hear.
“I’ll take care of him. All of them.”
He nodded once and swallowed hard.
“Last chance, Delta!” Victor snapped.
“Finish this,” Danio whispered to me, meeting my eyes for maybe one last time.
I nodded again. If it was the last thing I did, I was going to make sure this place was shut down and everyone responsible was taken care of.
With that, he turned and started down the stairs toward the arena.
“Delta!” I called, just before he jumped over the edge. He paused and turned back. “Kick his ass!”
Everyone who heard me over the sound of the cheering laughed, but all that mattered to me was the way Danio’s mouth twitched into a familiar grin.
I let out a shuddering breath and sagged back into my seat as he vanished. I sucked in a deep lungful of air and tried to breathe calmly and slowly, forcing myself to stay put. I couldn’t help him. If I did, they’d just kill me for interfering in a fight and he was dead anyway.
Danio was right. It was up to me now to finish this. If I got myself killed for him, then there would be nobody to get back to Jon, to let him and MES know what was happening here. To stop it.
But right now, if I was honest, I didn’t care how many more people Victor brought here or how many died here… as long as Danio wasn’t one of them.
“Begin,” Victor said.
His command started the fight and stopped my hearts.
I clenched my fists and watched as Danio sprinted to choose a weapon, casting several nervous looks over his shoulder at Cleaver. The berserker seemed content to stand and wait; his calm was making me want to panic, I couldn’t imagine how Danio felt.
After a few moments, Danio chose a pair of swords. I couldn’t recall ever seeing him actually use a sword, let alone two, but wouldn’t be surprised if he had picked up the skill somewhere. I also doubted he’d risk facing a berserker with a weapon he wasn’t comfortable with.
The crowd fell silent, watching as Danio joined Cleaver near the middle of the arena. Cleaver shifted, stretching into his strange, terrifying form. I swallowed nervously as he stood there, arms awkwardly dangling, flexing his deadly claws.
Neither moved, but I knew it wouldn’t be long before Victor forced the fight to really start. It seemed that Danio knew it too because, all at once, he lunged.
I held my breath as he charged right at Cleaver. Danio gathered himself like he was going to jump and I could have screamed at him; the only outcome to a move like that was a set of claws through the chest. I shuddered at the memory of the minotaur goring me, fingernails digging into my palms as I watched helplessly
The berserker was fast, but not so fast I couldn’t easily follow everything he did. A different story, maybe, while actually fighting him, but it was all too easy to see him raise his arm to strike the moment Danio’s feet left the ground.
But Danio didn’t jump up. Cleaver swung his vicious claws through empty air as Danio dove to the ground and rolled between his too-long legs. As he did, he slashed both swords across the back of Cleaver’s legs. The cuts looked easily deep enough to have damaged, if not severed, the berserker’s tendons.
Cleaver should have at least stumbled, but instead he turned around and took another swing at Danio, luckily he chose to roll a second time and sprang to his feet safely away from Cleaver’s long reach; the berserker snarled in annoyance, but didn’t seem like the injuries to his legs were bothering him at all.
They faced off for a moment, then Cleaver sprang forward. Danio dodged a slash from his claws. Barely. Cleaver struck again, driving Danio backward with each swing of his long arms. Several times my breath caught as the claws swiped at Danio’s shirt. Once Cleaver got close enough for his claws to tear it.
He swung again and this time I was sure Danio was too close. Everyone was stunned as Danio stopped in his tracks and held his ground; my breath hitched as Cleaver’s claws slammed into one of Danio’s swords, but Danio held him off and avoided being cut, Cleaver arched back, looking shocked. Before he could recover, Danio brought the other sword up and went straight for Cleaver’s eyes.
Cleaver jerked away, but Danio successfully cut a deep slash across his face; he roared angrily and Danio darted safely across the arena. Cleaver wiped the blood off his face, then dropped to his hands and raced toward Danio. He was much faster on all four limbs and closed the distance in a flash.
Danio scrambled away, but his attempt to blind the berserker had only enraged him instead. Cleaver’s arm still wasn’t fully extended, but I knew Danio was too close. The audience gasped and I cried out as the claws connected with Danio’s thigh. Blue blood sprayed onto the sand and Cleaver whirled and kicked, slamming both feet into Danio and hurling him halfway across the arena.
I clapped a hand over my mouth, watching in horror as Danio got back on his feet while Cleaver slowly circled closer. Danio pressed a hand against his thigh and held it there for a moment. Then, he slowly removed his hand and I spotted a swirling ball of blood in his palm.
“Clever bastard,” exclaimed a nearby water elemental.
I spared a glance in his direction.
“What’s he doing?” asked someone else.
“He’s drawing out the venom,” said the water elemental.
“Will it work?!” I demanded before I could stop myself.
They both looked at me, surprised I was listening, but then the water elemental shrugged. “He’ll never get it all, not without taking too much blood. But it might buy him some time.”
Movement caught my eye and I jerked my attention back to the arena, just in time to see Cleaver charging again. Danio shifted his weight but held his ground.
“Run, you idiot,” I breathed.
Not that it mattered; there was nowhere he could run. No way to escape the arena or the berserker raging within it. No help, no rescue… One of them was going to die; Cleaver wouldn’t stop until Danio was dead and Danio couldn’t risk leaving him alive. I didn’t doubt for a second that Cleaver could be incapacitated long enough for Victor to end the fight, not that Cleaver would even listen once Victor called it.
Cleaver lunged and curled his arm up behind him, ready to strike. Danio hurled the ball of blood into his face. The unexpected attack caused Cleaver to turn his head to the side, just enough to throw him off his target. Danio dropped, ducking beneath the berserker’s arm as it lashed toward him. As he did, he swung his sword around, cutting deep into Cleaver’s stomach while simultaneously grabbing his other sword from the ground.
The moment he was up he jumped and flipped away from the second slash, accurately predicting that Cleaver would have figured out his strategy and start striking low.
Roaring furiously, Cleaver whirled to face him, but Danio dove in the same direction. Cleaver turned again, pivoting awkwardly on his long legs, obviously frustrated as Danio tried to stay off to the side. When it happened again, Cleaver turned farther, ready to catch Danio off guard. Instead, Danio suddenly sprang backward, putting himself behind Cleaver.
I half-stood, holding my breath as Danio dropped one sword and grabbed the other with both hands, driving it forward into Cleaver’s back.
Cleaver’s legs may have been ungainly and clumsy when moving in place, but they obviously had their advantages. Cleaver abruptly straightened his knees and effortlessly launched several feet off the ground. Danio stumbled forward as his sword hit empty air and barely managed to throw himself to the side as Cleaver came d
own almost on top of him.
“No!” I screamed as Cleaver bounded forward, easily catching Danio and slamming him down; my cry was drowned out by shouts and cheers echoing around the arena.
Cleaver smacked him across the face, then stood, easily lifting Danio above him, and hurled him as far as he could. Danio hit the ground hard and tumbled and rolled several yards, kicking up a cloud of dust that momentarily obscured him. I didn’t breathe until the dust cleared enough that I could see he was standing.
But even as the cloud thinned, I could tell something was wrong. The moment I saw I bit back a gasp; Cleaver hadn’t just hit him in the face, he had clawed him! I couldn’t gauge how bad the wound was with all the blood and dust; Danio didn’t stay still long enough for me to get a good look either, he glanced over his shoulder to the nearby weapons rack and I realized in alarm his sword was gone.
The sound of Cleaver growling echoed eerily, forebodingly, around the arena as Danio sprinted toward the weapons, throwing a single, almost panicked, look over his shoulder at Cleaver.
Danio yanked the closest blade off the rack and turned to face Cleaver. He stood there for a moment, wiping the blood off his face with his free hand, while he kept the sword ready. Cleaver slowly stalked closer, still growling.
Then Danio’s injured leg gave out and he collapsed.
The venom!
Cleaver’s snarls turned into laughter as Danio struggled back to his feet, face contorted in pain. He managed to grab the side of the weapons rack to steady himself, but I could tell from the way he was leaning on it that he wasn’t going to be able to put any weight on the leg.
I felt myself shaking as I clutched the arms of my chair; staying in my seat just might have been the hardest thing I had even done. Every inch of me wanted to rush between my best friend and the berserker, but I couldn’t. Not that I would have had a chance against Cleaver anyway, let alone Victor and the others.
As the crowd chanted his name, Cleaver broke into a run before launching himself into the air. This was it. Just like with Olivia. I wanted to close my eyes, but I forced myself to watch.
Danio reached up and grabbed the weapons rack as close to the top as he could, then raised his good leg and swung himself up. I wasn’t sure what he was trying to do, but the entire thing began to fall! I gasped in horror as it fell to the ground, clanging and clattering, sending a huge cloud of dust up around it.
It wasn’t an accident!
I could see the confusion on Cleaver’s face, just as he vanished from sight in the cloud. Unless I was just at a bad angle, he couldn’t see Danio either.
For once, the crowd was so silent I could hear what was happening in the arena, although I wasn’t sure I wanted to. It was too easy to hear Danio’s scream of pain, even over the sound of Cleaver roaring.
Slowly, slowly the dust began to clear. I could see a shadow on the ground. Was it both of them? Just one of them?
Even though I didn’t think anyone else could see the outcome, the crowd suddenly burst to life, screaming, cheering, and standing. The first thing to come to mind was that Danio would give me so much crap for being short; the thought made my eyes tear up, even though I was still praying I’d see him standing when the dust cloud dissipated.
I elbowed my way through the crowd, but everyone had rushed for the rails and it was slow going. I was torn between not drawing attention to myself and just shoving everyone forcibly out of my way. The crowd parted and I started to hurry to the front, when I spotted Victor and stopped short. I couldn’t blow it now. Not if…
Did it really even matter how quickly I knew how the fight ended? There was still nothing I could do, no matter how it turned out.
But when I finally got down to the railing, I regretted taking my time. They were gone. A couple of witches and wizards were collecting the fallen weapons and putting them away, avoiding a large patch of dirt stained with red and blue blood.
I clenched my hands around the rail, unable to take my eyes off the blood. It seemed like there was so much…
I was so lost in my thoughts it took me a moment to realize that someone had said Delta and to connect the name with Danio. I spun toward the speaker.
“What about Delta?” I demanded.
“Oh, just that…” He trailed off and looked at me. Had I seemed too concerned? “Oh, Joe… you guys came in together didn’t you? I’m sorry.”
I wanted to ask what the hell he had to be sorry about, but couldn’t form the words.
“That was intense wasn’t it?” asked someone else, joining us. He was a vampire, but I couldn’t recall his name, not that I cared at the moment. “Never thought I’d see someone take out Cleaver! Unreal!”
“D-did he?!” I asked.
“Yeah, chopped his fucking head off with that sword! Amazing!”
“Is Delta…” I couldn’t finish.
“Dead?” he suggested. I forced myself to nod. “After that? Of course, he is! Clever got him good, you know, before his head came off,” he laughed.
Bile rose up in my throat and the room seemed to spin.
“No, he’s not,” a nearby werewolf protested. “I think he was alive when they left the arena.”
“Not for long,” the vampire snorted. “You don’t get that much berserker venom in the chest and live.”
I didn’t need to hear any more, not if they couldn’t tell me what actually happened.
Slowly, painfully slowly, we left the arena. I overheard several conversations, but none were any more enlightening. I heard a dozen different outcomes by the time I got clear of the crowd. Both alive, both dead, just one alive…
I broke away from the group and made my way down to the exit from the recovery room. Maybe I could get in after all… I crept toward the door and eased it open. The first thing I saw was a body on the ground covered in a sheet. Before I could do more than gasp, I realized the blood seeping through the fabric and pooling on the floor was red.
“Hey!” called an angry voice.
I turned and spotted a wizard hurrying toward me.
“No one is allowed back here,” he said in annoyance.
“I just—” I started.
“No exceptions.” He yanked the door shut in my face and I heard it lock.
If I didn’t think it would risk drawing too much attention to myself and threaten Danio, assuming he was alive, I would have smashed it right back open.
Instead, I stood there for a moment, clenching my fists and talking myself out of destroying the door. Maybe, maybe Danio was already in his room.
With no other choice, I headed there. The moment I opened the door I knew the room was empty. I sagged down onto the bed, feeling sick. How was I supposed to do this by myself? I could barely even sense Tethys; I wasn’t sure I had ever felt this alone. Certainly not since I was first turned. Before I realized Tethys and I had bonded. Before I ever met Danio. Long, long before Jen…
Had I really just watched him… No, I couldn’t even think it.
Chapter Nine
Thomas
I was so lost in my own miserable thoughts I didn’t even realize people were in the hallway at all, not until the door began to open. There was nowhere else to go, so I flung myself off the far side of the bed and then rolled under it, hoping the people entering weren’t the type of magics who would be able to tell I was there.
“—going to be furious her berserker is dead,” a voice was saying.
I peered out from under the bed and watched several sets of feet entering. The door swung shut and I inhaled, trying to figure out what sort of magics they were. Instead, my nose was assaulted by the scent of healing potions and water elemental blood.
Hope surged within me. Please, please, please.
“Can we just dump him on the bed and go?” asked a different voice.
“No, you fool, he’s a water elemental. He has to be in water. Go start the shower.”
“We don’t even need a water elemental,” a third voice protested.
<
br /> “That’s not for you to decide!”
“He did kill a berserker. I have to confess, I’m impressed.”
I heard the shower start and the remaining feet moved toward the bathroom. All four sets were wearing the standard-issue brown pants that wizards wore and now that they were closer, I could smell them. I let out a silent sigh of relief; unless their familiars were with them or they decided to look under the bed, I was safe.
I snarled under my breath as I heard the thud of a body – roughly in my opinion – hitting the bathtub.
“What do we do with his clothes? They’re in pretty bad shape,” asked a voice.
“He's in pretty bad shape,” someone answered disdainfully. “It doesn’t matter. Get rid of them if you want. Come on, we're leaving.”
One of them, it sounded like the somewhat concerned one, muttered a spell as three sets of feet left the bathroom.
“Well?” demanded one in irritation, stopping and turning back. “What are you doing in there?”
“He sounds like he's having trouble breathing,” said the wizard still in the bathroom.
“Use your eyes,” the impatient one snorted. “The berserker got him right in the chest. With all that venom, I'm surprised he's breathing at all; he's lucky his heart isn’t paralyzed. Come on.”
“Shouldn’t we do something?”
“We gave him some healing potions and put him in water. There's nothing else we have to do.”
“Do you think he'll be okay?”
“Who cares? Either he'll heal faster than the venom works or he'll slowly suffocate or something. You’re welcome to stay here if you like. But I don't see any point in wasting my time over an elemental.”
“Yeah,” said another with a laugh. “Don't get too attached to any of them.”
The three started to leave and a moment later the fourth set of feet came into view, hurrying after them. I heard the door close, then waited, hearts pounding wildly, straining my ears to listen as they walked down the hall. The moment their footsteps were too far away to hear I shot out from under the bed and threw myself into the bathroom.
Rise of the Arcanist Series: Books 1 - 6 Page 50