Bonded Spirits 2

by Jake Daniel

  I nodded and returned to the center of the arena. I’d completely depleted the spirit from my core with my last charge, and fatigue settled in.

  Guards rushed in to remove the orc’s body, breaking the angled flagpole in half to get him down and taking his cleaver along with them. I was still without a weapon, as well as pure spirit to use my skills, my shoulder hurt like hell, and I was bleeding like a son of a bitch. I took a deep breath and tore off my shirt. I wrapped it around the wound several times to slow the bleeding.

  Aether stepped forward, a smile plastered across his face. His eyes covered in a milky gloss. “Try to put up a good fight. These will be my people to lead one day, I don’t want them to think it was just handed to me.”

  I stared into his eyes, but said nothing. I could tell he was nervous and was doing everything in his power to throw me off, but it wouldn’t work. I knew if he hadn’t downed those potions he’d be shitting himself right now. I had one thing on my mind, bigger than any prize or prestige, I wanted revenge. No, not wanted, needed revenge. My bonded were still hanging from the arena wall. It was nearly impossible to focus on anything else with them there, and I know that was exactly what Striker, and the King, had intended.

  The guards cleared the arena and prepared for the final battle. I couldn’t wait any longer. I left my spot and walked toward the King’s box. Amos’s eyes went wide with worry as I approached. Two guards rushed forward and moved their swords in front of me to prevent me from taking another step.

  “Yes, is there something you need?” The King asked as I stared into his eyes.

  “Cut them down.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Cut them down, or you can just fucking kill me right now.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  The King’s face turned a dark shade of red as rumblings grew around him from the gathered spectators. “You win, and you can cut them down yourself. I don’t think you’re in any position to make demands.”

  I tried to steady my breaths and stuff my hatred for him down. “Cut them down. Or your little fucking show comes to a halt.”

  Amos’s expression remained the same mix of worry and awe as he turned his head toward his brother to see what he would say. Striker remained stoic, but I could tell he wanted nothing more in the world to be in Aether’s position to have a chance at killing me.

  A low chant rose throughout the crowd, starting as a murmur it transformed into a loud call to action. “Cut them down, cut them down, cut them down!”

  My heart raced as I waited for the King’s decision. I didn’t have to wait long. However, as it was apparent, he didn’t have a choice, at least not without starting a riot by not giving his people what they were here to see.

  He took a deep breath and forced a small smile as he nodded to the guards.

  A guard pulled out a knife and walked over to the women. I watched him intently as he neared. With a few swipes of his blade, the women dropped to the ground unceremoniously. It took everything I had from shoving the knife up the guard’s ass. His blatant disrespect for their bodies was almost too much to handle.

  I walked by to the center of the arena and stood facing Aether. “Okay, let’s get this over with.”

  The crowd was going wild again, and it almost felt like I had won a large portion of them over. I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths. This time, I refused to stop the tainted spirit from entering my body and cultivated it into my core. It was unruly and powerful, and felt like it was invading my body, shooting through each of my extremities faster than any other spirit that I’ve had in my core. The pain that followed was immense and dropped me to a knee. I stayed down for several seconds until I could finally shut off the flow of tainted spirit, which was much harder than I’d expected.

  I lifted my head slowly and opened my eyes. Everything around me was slightly blurry and tinted with a purple smokey haze. I couldn’t discern the crowd in the stands any longer, everything was pulsing and spinning around me. I shook my head and stood.

  Aether took a step back and furrowed his brow, his eyes had a hard time focusing on me. “What are you playing at?! What have you done?!”

  I felt stronger than I’d ever had in my life. I took a step forward, my eyes locked on his. “I said, let’s get this over with.”

  A few seconds later, the King’s amplified voice drowned out the excited murmur of the crowd. “Champions, are you ready?” Both Aether and I gave him a nod. “May the best champion win.” Several more fireworks exploded high in the sky, raining down colorful sparks that fizzled out as they reached the crowd.

  Aether made the first move, lunging forward with his sword and swiping only inches away from my chest. I dodged him easily and whipped my body around and landed a spinning backfist across his jaw, a move that Gwen had taught me while we were training together one morning.

  I rushed forward as I sensed his blade near my back. I turned and faced him again. His mouth hung slightly agape and his eyes darted back and forth. He looked in complete shock, and for a second, I thought if I could’ve seen myself, I would’ve had the same look.

  I swung my fist forward and he dodged, swinging his sword toward me in response.

  He swung wildly in frustration and I activated my Charge skill. I moved at twice the speed I’d ever had before, smashing into his chest and carrying him at least fifty feet before smashing him against the arena wall. The force of impact split his chest armor. He staggered forward and wiped a trail of blood from his nose. “Enough of the games.” He pulled out a small potion bottle and downed it.

  As he lowered the bottle, I pinned him back up against the arena wall and punched him in the kidneys several times. He pushed me back with unnatural strength and stood upright.

  His eyes flashed between purple and green before settling on a dark mixture of both. He rushed forward with incredible speed, knocking me back on my heels. Swinging his sword from overhead, he landed a direct hit on my exposed shoulder wound. For a moment I thought he had sliced my arm completely off, because I could no longer feel if it was attached. I’d lost a lot of blood by this point, and I knew the only thing currently holding me upright was the incredible amount of tainted spirit flowing through my body.

  I stepped forward and he brought his arm down to swipe at me again, but this time I caught his wrist with my good arm. I leveraged my body and spun with his arm firmly in my grasp, forcing the sword from his hand. As we rose, I brought my head forward as hard as I could, and headbutt him with enough force to send him staggering backward. He sprang up and tried to tackle me, but I was too quick for him. I dodged easily and picked up his blade. With a quick slash, I cut a deep scratch from his forehead, down his face, all the way to his neck.

  Blood rose to his wounds and he struggled to get back to his feet. I punched him again and again, knowing I had him exactly where I wanted him. “Time to finish this, you piece of shit.”

  I brought my sword screaming down but was struck by what felt like a baseball bat to the ribcage. The crowd was going absolutely bat shit and when I turned to see what hit me I knew why. Their King had left the safety of his box and held a spiked mace in one hand. He glared at me while I pushed back up to my feet. My left arm was rendered nearly useless because of the wound in my shoulder, and he’d definitely broken my ribs, making it increasingly harder to breathe.

  The King stepped forward and used his mace to knock the sword out of my hand. “Ignorant freak, you just don’t know when to quit, do you? My son will not die at your hand, I refuse it. You’ll fight me instead.” He removed his cloak and straightened.

  Aether struggled to speak from behind the King. “Father, you know stepping in for a champion is not allowed. All rewards will be forfeit.”

  The King turned and shook his head. “The Vale is drained anyway. It’s no longer of use to our kingdom.” He turned and refocused on me, his mace held firmly at the ready. “Now, fight me.”

  “So be it. I hope you’re ready to die.” I spit a g
lob of blood out onto the ground and activated my Charge skill. I took two steps and faltered. It felt as if my core was about to collapse in on itself as I stumbled forward.

  The King laughed and shook his head. “Missing something?” He held up his hand and turned it to show me a glowing purple ring. “Thanks for the spirit.”

  I stood and looked at the ring curiously. My body was completely fatigued, and any hope of using my skills to kill this son of a bitch was off the table, tainted spirit or not.

  Augustus raised his arms high in the air and laughed wildly. Aether slowly rose to his feet and tried to approach me but fell forward, too weak to go any further. The King ignored his son and continued to play to the crowd. The crowd roared with approval. I turned my head toward Amos and Mona. I met Amos’s eyes the man reached into his suit coat. He called out as he tossed my rifle toward me. “Logan, take it!”

  The King spun his head in Amos’s direction and snarled as he watched my rifle land on the ground only a few feet away. I leaned down and picked it up with my good arm. I only hoped that Amos didn’t leave me without ammunition. The king took a step forward. “Old fool.” He stopped and pointed at his brother. “Guards, bring him to me.”

  The crowd roared as they saw the gun in my hands, and an uneasy energy fell across the entire arena. Murmurings of discontentment filled the spectators and I knew if they didn’t see a fight resume soon they would rush down to us and make it happen.

  Two guards quickly apprehended Amos, leaving Mona behind as they dragged him out into the center of the arena to where we stood. More cheers and boos rose throughout the crowd. The King turned and met Amos’s eyes as they approached. “Brother, this is the last time you defy me. You’ve always been a disappointment.”

  I watched in stunned silence as the scene unfolded. I kept Augustus, Aether, and Amos all in front of me and took a few steps backwards.

  Amos scoffed. “If I had a dragon woman for each time you told me that, I’d die a lucky man. Give it up, brother. Fight fair for once in your life.”

  I took another step backward and watched King Augustus intently as he seethed. I reached into my pocket with my last bit of power in my left arm. Blood from my shoulder poured out and covered my hand. My skin was a sickly white color, and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to lose much more blood before I passed out.

  I wrapped my bloody hand around the three stones and closed my eyes. I concentrated on each one, visualizing them in my mind, and within seconds the spirit from each one rose through my hand and twisted into my skin and rushed toward my core. One by one, they released more spirit, and grew larger in my hand as the spirit swirled like a tornado around me. I pulled the stones out of my pocket and opened my eyes. They still looked like normal smooth stones sitting in the middle of my palm, but they rumbled as if they were about to explode.

  The only one to notice the stones shooting up out of my hand and into the sky was Amos. I exchanged a confused look with him and looked up to see where they went. My heart sank as the stones disappeared, and the spirit that was flowing around me dissipated.

  At least one hundred guards filed into the arena, weapons drawn, and surrounded us as the crowd became more unruly.

  I shifted my attention back to the King as he grabbed Aether’s sword off the ground and threw off his cloak. He spun and swung down toward Amos, taking the man off guard. Amos fell backward with a gasp. The king, his brother, had used the sword to slice off Amos’s arm just above the elbow. The gathered crowd let out a collective gasp, but followed it with cheers. Amos turned white and sank to his knees as blood poured out of his wound.

  Mona screamed and leapt over the railing, rushing toward Amos’s side. She collected him up and rushed away, pushing through the guards as they tried to stop her.

  Aether looked up, his face completely covered in blood. “Father, don’t. I can finish this. I will beat him.”

  The King barely turned his head toward his son and shook his head. “No, if you remember anything I’ve ever taught you, remember this. If you want something done right, do it yourself.” He readied his sword and stepped toward me.

  He swung down toward my head, but I brought my rifle up in time, blocking his swing with the barrel and sending a loud clank through the arena as the metals met. I pushed the King’s mace away with my barrel and jabbed the solid walnut stock of my rifle forward. It landed in the center of his nose with a loud crack.

  Augustus laughed as a small trail of blood appeared from his nostrils. “Savor that, it will be the last time that happens.”

  He rushed forward and I met him after a few steps. Brilliant red flashes shot up through my vision and my knees buckled as he plowed into my shoulder. The pain was overwhelming. He backed me into the arena wall and I knew he had me right where he wanted. His guards readied for impact along the wall and as I came into reach, one of them grabbed onto my back, pinning me in place. I looked down to my rifle and cracked the lever slightly. There’s a bullet already in the chamber. Maybe Amos was actually a man of his word.

  I twisted and lifted the 30-30. All I needed was one shot. I was sure I’d not be able to get another off. I used my remaining strength to lift the rifle slowly but a sharp pain rose by my kidney causing me to drop it back down. I glanced behind in time to see a guard hastily hide the small blood soaked dagger he had just stabbed me in the back with. I sank to a knee, giving the King time to step forward. He raised his knee and kicked down on my wound, ripping it open further and revealing the bone in my shoulder.

  He raised his arms again and gripped his mace with both hands. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The crowd held their collective breaths as I waited for the inevitable. I replayed the events in my head, disappointed that I let the king get the better of me. Although, I was more disappointed that I failed to save the women I loved. I concentrated on the swirling, tainted spirit that surrounded me. The dizzying array of colors consumed me and blocked everything else out. I focused on what I remembered each of my bonded’s faces looked like when they were full of life. Their willingness to lay their lives down for me, each of them, without hesitation, and I was just going to let Augustus finish the job.

  Not fucking today. I will not go out like this.

  I opened my eyes and stood, ignoring the searing pain that wracked my body. A smile rose to the king’s face as he reared back for another swing. I straightened and braced myself. If I was going to die, I was going to die looking this mother fucker right in the eyes. As I stared at him and watched his hand rise above his head, a wavy light appeared behind him. It was small but gained intensity quickly, like a train with its headlight on full blast, chugging toward me at top speed.

  I averted my eyes because of the bright light and saw the shadow of the King’s arms as he lowered them. A hundred thoughts rushed through my head, mostly of things I could’ve done differently. It was the same thing I did after hunts, both successful and unsuccessful. I’d retrace my steps, think about things that I could’ve done differently, where I could improve. I turned toward him and raised my rifle. I just needed one shot. The crowd fell eerily silent.

  My vision cleared, and I’d wondered why the King hadn’t already brought his sword down. Instead, the King’s contorted face came into view as he struggled against something preventing his arm from falling. His eyes widened as I stepped forward. The amount of blood I’d lost made it nearly impossible to focus on anything. I shifted my eyes to his wrist and saw a thick vine wrapped around it. I traced the path of the vine behind the King with my eyes, and I thought I had died for sure.

  Standing behind him, less than ten feet away, stood Dahlia, with Gwen and Isobel at her sides.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  The King struggled against Dahlia’s hold on him, but it was to no avail. Aether staggered back, staring in disbelief and shaking his head.

  I pointed my rifle at the King’s chest. “Game over.”

  The King let out a nervous laugh. “Congratulations, you’ve won t
he tournament, I guess. The prize money and land are yours.”

  “I haven’t won yet,” I said as my eyes remained locked on his.

  Augustus shook his head. “Logan, think about what you’re doing. You’re a human, don’t let these monsters infiltrate your mind.” He glanced nervously down to the barrel of the rifle before fixing his eyes back on mine. “You’ll single handedly send Aurilon into chaos. Their blood will be on your hands.”

  “It will still be better than a world under your control. I’ll take my chances.” I responded, my stare unwavering. I aimed my rifle and squeezed the trigger, hitting the king between the eyes.

  The arena went dead silent for several seconds before all hell broke loose.

  I rushed toward the girls and wrapped my arms around all three of them at once, ignoring the screaming pain in my shoulder. All three had tears in their eyes as I turned back toward Aether.

  Aether pushed himself up from his father’s body and picked up the mace. “Guards, kill them!”

  The guards rushed forward in every direction. Before they were even halfway to us, several shadows appeared overhead. I looked up and saw a pair of great wings as Alysain dropped and wrapped her arms around me from behind. Three other griffon women landed, each of them grabbing a hold of the women and lifting them up into the air. By the time the guards arrived, we were already over ten feet above them. A fifth and final griffon dropped on top of the golden treasure chest, grabbing it, along with the scroll, before lifting up high into the air with them firmly in her grasp.

  All throughout the stands fights broke out, and the tenuous peace treaty during the tournament was officially broken. Humans and monsters fought as many more fled for the exits, desperately trying to flee the melee.