Page 29 of Beast Unburdened

Still, as I accepted the adulation of the crowd, raising my arms high and roaring all my thoughts went to my Abigail. I hoped she hadn’t been watching the fight on the viewscreen, I didn’t want her to see this. If she had been watching, was she now worried because I’d leaned into that limp when I left the arena? I’d played it up to make the next fighters underestimate me but it could well have frightened her.

They announced my opponents, each one receiving even more cheering from the audience than the last and I appraised them as they stepped onto the sands. The Tarkan was the most worrisome, he had flight capabilities and stone skin, which made him hard to hurt. The other two were the Asrai twins Pu’il and Kitan were supposed to fight, newcomers to the circuit no one aboard the ship had known what kind of psychic gift the two might have.

With their death-mask markings, they looked terrifying and angry but the serene look in their eyes told me they had mind-linked and would work as a cohesive unit. I needed to watch out for them and with their nictitating membranes, the sun wouldn’t bother them nearly as much as it had my previous set of opponents.

I circled anyway, putting my back against the sinking sun, it didn’t bother me much either but maybe it would surprise them at some point. At that Drameil, my previous owner had at least worked hard, as I was one of his greatest sources of white-washed money. Many of my less noticeable advantages had been kept hidden, such as my third eye or the membrane.

The Asrai twins were kitted out with a shield and short sword and they worked to protect each other’s flanks as we exchanged blows. I caught their swords’ swings on my arm blades or with my tail, ducked others, and had to avoid spear jabs from the Tarkan male who’d either jump in at my back or try and swoop in from above with well-timed dives as he spread his big leathery wings for some airlift.

We were at a stalemate, none of us giving ground and I struggled to find an opening to take one out, they worked well as a single unit. Even the Tarkan had found a way to integrate into the duo’s fighting style, a testament to his skill as I knew he’d never worked with these two before. They weren’t even owned by the same person.

I couldn’t sustain combat like this for much longer, muscle fatigue was a serious risk and while I could fight through that kind of pain for some time it wasn’t conducive to a good outcome. I needed to take out one of the twins, that would destabilize the entire grouping.

My opening came when I ducked to avoid a spear coming down on me from one of the Tarkan’s aerial attacks. Likely the male thought I was more vulnerable from above but my parietal eye gave me ample warning each time. As I ducked the attack I happened to be sweeping my tail round to parry the blades of both twins. It brought my head low and I went into a dive, rolling my entire body underneath the Asrai twin shields.

There was no breath to spare for a gust of flame so I did the next best thing, clamping my fanged mouth around the nearest ankle. I didn’t have the best control over the amount of venom I could inject but I tried to keep the dose low, ripping my mouth lose after only a short second. It did the trick though, the Asrai male gave a hoarse shout and stumbled back.

I barely avoided a blow to the head from the other one’s shield and then managed to rally to my hands and knees. This was a bad spot to be in, nearly prone on the sand and between the Tarkan and the remaining Asrai. Especially since I still didn’t know what kind of psychic gift these two might have.

I caught a sideways blow from the Tarkan’s spear to my hip, the same one I’d hurt before which was not a coincidence. This was not a little bump though, this hurt, and I went down again. Knowing I needed to move I rolled, for a moment unaware as to where my opponents were located. I thought the one Asrai was down, for now, but that didn’t leave the other one harmless.

Sliding my nictitating membranes over my eyes to protect them from the sand I came up, blades bared. It was a good choice as the Asrai had unleashed their psychic gift, whipping the sand into a dust devil around us. The forces were not enough to bother me much and with my thick scales and the membranes covering my eyes I was protected from the sting too.

I caught movement up above, just a flash of dark and heat from my third eye and I ducked a swipe from the spear, lashing out with my tail and yanking and cutting the shaft till it splintered. Flicking my ears back at the sound of approach from behind I twisted to the side just in time to avoid the stab of a short sword, it glanced across my ribs, managing a thin slice.

Slamming my arm down hard on the blade arm I heard the Asrai male’s wrist snap and the blade clattered to the ground. There was a rage-filled howl and then the sand devil died down again. I managed a quick glance around, noting the location of each of them. One Asrai backed away, cradling his broken wrist, the other on his knees on the ground several feet away, eyes clenched in pain as he fought the advance of my venom through his veins.

The Tarkan was swooping above me on his massive leathery wings, broken spear still in hand as he circled to try and decide the best approach. I didn’t wait, I picked up the broken spear tip with my tail and transferred it to my dominant hand. Taking aim I launched it at the massive target his wing was, hoping to clip him so he’d have to fight from the ground.

Whether the Asrai had tried to interfere or the Tarkan himself had lightning reflexes I’d never know, but the blade scraped the top of the wing, hurting but not debilitating. The Tarkan came down to engage me with his spear shaft in a series of blows though, wanting to bring the fight to me. While the Asrai with the broken wrist attacked me with his sword, letting it dance through the air with his psychic gift while he remained at a distance.

I needed to end this fight, fast, there had to be a way. I was flagging and while I’d dealt them blows they were fresher than I was and determined to win. I eyed the Tarkan male, flicking my ears toward him, his skin was thicker than mine. Taking a calculated risk I changed the angle of my blows, letting him hit me on the shoulder with that spear shaft, hard enough to make my fingers go numb.

I was under his guard now though and I sliced out with the blades on my forearms, slicing open his chest. Not deep because his stone skin absorbed much of the blow, but enough to make him bleed and bleed a lot.

As the Tarkan staggered back out of range I knew I had to deal with the Asrai quick, the other one was rallying and if they could work in unison again I knew I was done for. I ran, surprising my opponents with a burst of speed, dodging the swinging, floating sword as I went. I was on the weaponless Asrai before he could get his shield up for defense. I tore it from his hand and then landed an uppercut to his chin hard enough to send him flying off his feet. He didn’t get up again.

Enraged the other Asrai let out a bloodcurdling scream, raising his arms and sending both his shield and sword spinning my way. I batted the shield out of the air with my tail by the skin of my teeth but I was too slow to avoid the sword, only managing to slide to the side to avoid a fatal blow. It sank into my already numbed shoulder nearly to the hilt.

Biting back my groan of pain I tried to keep my opponents in focus, I had to win. I knew I had to because I had a feeling these guys might not let me live if they had the chance, I’d terrorized the arena for three years. Killing the Beast would net them a lot of goodwill with their owners.

The Asrai I’d bitten had staggered to his feet, his face contorted in anger as he started my way; likely thinking he could finish me off. The Tarkan had also recovered though he kept one hand pressed to the bloody lacerations covering his chest and belly. I flicked the shield up that lay near me and considered getting to my feet but then gave up on the idea. I would be more steady kneeling and neither opponent was at full strength.

My pierced shoulder rendered the entire arm useless but I made a show of struggling to lift the shield to protect myself with my other arm. The Asrai was grinning viciously and it was only now that I could see that his teeth had been filed into sharp points. He was closest to me and I had a feeling he was about to yank the sword from my body and try to stab me again. He wasn’t doing so with his gift which probably meant he couldn’t muster up the mental strength to do so; a win for sure.

I waited till the last moment, aware the Tarkan was closing in on me in a flanking position. When the Asrai was in range, grinning as if he could already taste victory, I propelled the shield up, bashing him in the jaw. Unsteady from my venom he went sprawling backward and I finished knocking him out with a hard blow from the tip of my tail.

The Tarkan roared, leaped at me and I threw myself to the side, painfully landing on my impaled shoulder. He landed on me though thankfully not on the blade and I twisted my head sideways hard, knocking my horn into his head. I saw his shocked look a moment before they rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed.

Of course, the heavy fucker landed on me and this time I didn’t hold back the angry pain-filled groan. The crowd was deadly quiet and I knew I had to get up, get to my feet right now or the game organizer might try to declare this a damn tie.

With a growl, I heaved the Tarkan off me one-armed, and then I had to dig deep to find the strength to get to my feet. The moment I did though the crowd came out of stunned silence and started cheering and screaming in celebration. That felt good, familiar, I even felt a surge of pride. I’d beaten the impossible odds and I was alive to return to Abigail.

When the accepted time had passed for me to be declared winner and receive the customary accolades I staggered toward the exit where my brothers were waiting. I never removed the sword from my shoulder, it was in too deep and I’d likely bleed out without immediate assistance. I could tell this detail was very much loved by the blood-hungry crowd.

The moment I stepped into the dark and much cooler corridor where my friends waited I felt my knees go a little weak but then Fierce was there on one side and Jakar on the other. Thorin, I noted, was absent and only the injured Kertinal from the previous bout was still lying on the stretcher where he’d been left, the handler was gone.

Luka didn’t say anything, he’d already pulled out everything he needed and was quickly hooking up an IV bag for fluids. Moments later I’d gotten a shot for the pain and my brain went a bit fuzzy though I certainly remembered how Jakar had struggled to pull the blade out. They worked on stopping the bleeding and patching up the wound quickly but the real fixing would have to happen on the ship.