Baited (Gladiators of the Gryn #2)

Blayn

BLAYN

T he procurator has been promising an event to end all events, and today half of the dome is being flooded. The other half will be mined for our pleasure .

Rych holds up a map cube, then tosses it to Maxym, who grins.

“Not going to ask how or where you got this,” he says. “But at least we all get to keep our wings and limbs.”

Rych folds his arms and leans against the wall of the dining hall, feathers pricking with amusement.

“Let’s just say the procurator might be short a cube or two,” he says. “After he decided to inspect our quarters yesterday.” He shrugs. “Why carry something so important with you anyway?”

If it’s not speared to the ground with a dagger, Rych will take it. He especially likes pretty, bright things. I make sure mine are in my pocket.

I am not nesting. I don’t even know what a nest is. I have some things for my Izzy, that’s all. This time, after these games, I will give them to her.

Maxym tosses me the cube, and I give it a cursory glance. The locations of the mines are marked, but I wasn’t intending on spending much time on the ground, not with a dozen challengers on the water and the land. It is still useful to know where they might stand on a mine, to avoid the flying body parts.

I throw it at Klynn who catches it in one hand, not even looking at me. I’ve vrexed him off after the training session this morning and he wants me to know it.

He’ll still join me in the undercroft when I go chasing the dark and the light, regardless of how he feels now.

“Gladiators!” The captain stands in the doorway. “The games await.”

“And they’ll carry on after we’re gone.” Rych mutters darkly, indicating for Klynn to get rid of the map cube.

He swallows it, smacking his lips. Maxym shakes his head and leads the way out of the dining hall.

As we exit, I see our challengers being taken another way. Some of them spot us and shout out what could be insults. As usual, we ignore them. So far, we are all unbeaten. So far, after more games than I can count, we are all alive.

The ante-chamber is buzzing with noise and life. I cringe at the bustle, wanting to shrink into the background, but there is nowhere to go. Weapons are being honed, armor ready for those who use it, and already I can scent the dome itself, this time tinged with the metallic scent of water.

“There are live capa in the flooded areas,” the clerk holding my life force monitor says as I snatch it from him and pull it over my head, where it glows against my chest, sending my statistics to the monitors.

“Good.” I growl. “I’m hungry.”

Across from me, Klynn barks a laugh as he’s being strapped into his armoured breast plate and handed a trident.

I can’t bear anything against my flesh, and even the life force monitor is on me under sufferance. I could not wear armor if I wanted to.

The clerk gets as close as he dares. “You have a mark. A thousand credits if the Natar warrior with the red armor is killed and his right lower arm severed,” he murmurs before raising his voice again. “Gladius or broadsword?” he queries

“Both,” I reply, the word rasping in my throat.

I haven’t had a mark for a long time.

The nova-minutes are counting down, and the games are almost ready to begin. The mood in the ante chamber is darkening, the scent of what is to come burning in my nostrils.

“In three,” the captain bellows.

Swords are placed in my hands, and the huge doorway slides open, revealing a shimmering forcefield beyond. All four of us step out as the door slams shut behind us. The noise of the crowd is deafening, but unlike the ante-chamber, this is a noise I can manage.

It is the dark and the light. It is the thing I have to defeat. It is everything in my head I cannot see, do not understand.

It is what I will defeat to get to my Izzy.

With a sizzle, the electrified barrier drops away, and we’re all in the air, swinging around the dome in search for our prey, to take in the lay of the battle ground. All except me. I have marked out my challenger, and I dive for the mined area where multiple males wait for us. Some are fighting each other. A lumbering Habosu sets off one of the mines, and I dodge the plume of dirt and debris, spinning in the air as below me fighters scatter and freeze.

My mark is attempting to get to the water’s edge where floating platforms have been placed just out of reach. With a single horn protruding from his head, he, like all Natar, is unbalanced in weight, and his multiple limbs make him slow rather than swift. The bright red of his skin makes him an easy target.

I don’t even know what a thousand credits is or how much it will buy me, but I want to nest for Izzy, and I want the credits so I can.

Capa leap from the water, their teeth humming with blue flame. They snap at my feathers as I skim over them and get to the Natar.

He sees me, rearing up, sword trembling in one of his five hands, his armor glinting in the light. As I reach him, a capa beaches itself and clamps onto his leg, tearing the bottom half away. He screams out in agony, his mauve blood covering the ground and causing more capa to force their way out of their natural habitat.

I hack and slice at them, knowing I have to be the one to make the kill, not the capa. When I’ve disposed of them all, he is a bloody mess. I take his arm, the one I’m tasked with removing and then glare down at his ruined body.

“Kill me,” he moans. “Just kill me and be done.”

I lift my gladius to the crowd, waiting for their chant to let him die, and when it comes, I bring down my sword to dispatch him into the dark and the light, only for it to be stopped by another blade, one which plunges deep into the chest of my mark.

The bulk of a second Natar fills my vision.

“Not your kill,” I growl.

“Go gak yourself, gladiator,” he sneers. “There are plenty in this arena for you.”

I stand swiftly to one side as yet another capa leaps from the water, latching onto the Natar’s head, nearly swallowing him whole. His sword arm flails at nothing, his cries of horror muffled.

And I feel the cold hard slide of steel into my gut.

My mark’s final passing gift.

With a roar, I’m in the air again, joining in the mayhem, the killing, the very end of it all. If the dark and the light are to take me, it won’t be today.