The Games Ch. 7 - 8

Ch. 7 Teamwork



         Lyle woke up early the next weekend.  His week had been rather uneventful.  He had been in the infirmary for two days after the fight with Anika, recovering, but his wounds healed fast.  The rest of the week, he trained in the Parena with Phillip and Antony, his trainer.  They were only honing skills, staying fit and in shape.

         Phillip was already awake and eating breakfast; Schnee was with him at the table.  Lyle got out of his bed and went to join them at the table for breakfast.  He only ate some bread and water; he didn’t want to starve, but he didn’t want to over fill himself either.  While they were eating, the door opened and in walked Sir Vincent.

         “Good morning, boys,” said Vincent.

         “Good morning, sir,” they said in unison.

         “I have something to tell you,” Vincent started, “Today, you will not be fighting one person, but instead, you will be fighting two.”

         Both Lyle and Phillip looked concerned and doubtful of their abilities to take on two opponents.

         “But,” continued Vincent, “you two, will be fighting as one.”

         At this, both of the young men’s smiles lit up, and they turned to look at each other.

         They had been practicing together since they were twelve years old.  Their fighting styles complemented each other.  Lyle was usually on the defensive and Phillip was usually assailing his opponents with magical attacks.  This was an excellent combination, because Phillip could easily attack their adversaries while Lyle kept them away from Phillip.

         “You need to be in the antechamber of the Arena in one hour,” Vincent told them as he left and shut the door behind him.

         Lyle and Phillip finished their breakfast and set about getting ready for the day’s battle.  Lyle sharpened both Phillip’s knife and his own weapons, while Phillip read over his spells.  Afterword, they both donned their armor; Lyle with his dark leather pants, boots, and black cape.  Phillip wore light leather armor: shirt and pants. They were bleached white and covered in light blue snowflakes.  He also had a white cape, with a hood, that was decorated with a large, light blue and silvery snowflake.

         After getting ready, they both walked together down the many corridors leading to the antechamber of the Arena with Schnee following close behind.

         They entered the antechamber and continued onward up the left path to the Arena.  As they reached the gate one of the guards told them to wait.  They leaned against opposite walls that had dried blood from previous bloodied fighters.  They waited for about fifteen minutes before the guard told them to get ready.

         Lyle, Phillip, and Schnee all walked up to the caste iron gate and looked into the Arena.  Sir Vincent, the Vendor, was entering the Arena from the opposite gate.  He waited for the crowd to settle down before he started his speech.

         “Ladies and gentlemen! As you may know today is our special doubles matches,” Vincent began.  “The next battle will be strange mixing of teams. The first team is a shapeshifter and a troll; both species known to hold hostilities toward each other.  Welcome Swift and Mongo!” boomed Vincent.

         The crowd cheered crazily.  Swift and Mongo entered the Arena, both trying to gain the crowd’s favor.  Swift twirled his double-ended sword around in an amazing feat of dexterity.  Mongo flexed his massive muscles.  These got the crowd going crazier still.

         Vincent continued his introductions, “And the other team is a shapeshifter and a mage.  An unlikely pair, but companionship runs deep.  Welcome the Raven and Frost!”

         Lyle and Phillip walked into the Arena with Schnee gliding alongside Phillip.

         Vincent finished up his speech, “Let the Games begin!”  He walked past Lyle and Phillip and wished them good luck before he exited out the gate.

         Lyle and Phillip put their backs together, as Swift and Mongo circled them in opposite directions like wolves surrounding their prey.

         Swift was a human shapeshifter.  He had fair skin, and he wore leather armor that had been bleached white.  Swift wore a plain white cloak on his back.  His hair was cropped, white with brown streaks through it.  As he circled Lyle and Phillip, he twirled his double-ended sword; it was made from aged silver and had a white cloth wrapped around the handle.

         Mongo was a troll; therefore his skin was a moldy green color.  He had plain leather breeches and no shirt.  He was bald and had no facial hair.  Because he was a troll, Mongo had tusks that pointed upward from his lower jaw; they jutted up just past his nose.  His left tusk had broken when he was younger.  Mongo carried a wooden club with large nails drilled through it in all directions.  Lyle could tell Mongo was deadly with that spiked club, because of the troll’s massive chest and arm muscles.

         When Swift and Mongo got to opposite sides and when Lyle and Phillip were back to back, the combat started.  Both Swift and Mongo came, arms and weapons flailing, at Lyle and Phillip.  Swift attacked Lyle; he swung his sword in a wild downward stroke.  Lyle blocked it with the staff of his scythe, because the blade is a poor blocking tool.  Mongo also swung his spiked club in a wide arc; Phillip ducked and rolled out of the way.

         Lyle continued his fight with Swift; as usual, Lyle was mainly on the defensive with a few parries here and there.  After about five minutes, Swift was able to fling Lyle’s scythe out of his hands.  They stood facing each other, Swift with his double-ended sword and Lyle weaponless.  Swift capitalized on Lyle’s disadvantage by charging forward like he carried a spear.  Lyle waited until the last moment to draw his knives.  When he did, he easily knocked Swift’s sword away and then countered by rolling behind Swift and slicing the back of his legs.

         Meanwhile Phillip was having difficulties casting any spells against Mongo, because he didn’t have time to say the full spell before he had to get out of Mongo’s range again.  Schnee tried to distract Mongo, but Mongo knew who the marionette was and who the puppeteer was.  Schnee managed to cut deep wounds with his claws, but these deep wounds are only a nuisance to a troll and not a hampering.  Mongo eventually succeeded to trap Phillip against a wall.

         Swift shapeshifted into a hawk. His feet changed into sharp talons.  His skin browned and feathered out.  His feathers were mainly brown and white.  His arms transformed into wings and his face into a razor sharp beak.  His eyes became dull and beady.  After he finished shapeshifting, Swift quickly flew into the air to get away; Lyle followed suit.

         Phillip pulled out his knife as a last defense, since Mongo seemed to charge whenever Phillip started to cast his spells.  Mongo started his advance, spiked club at the ready.

         Schnee saw that his master was about to die, so he did the most desperate and only, thing possible; he jumped on Mongo’s bare back and raked his claws across it.  Mongo howled in pain and easily shook Schnee off him.  He wheeled around with his club and bashed Schnee.  Schnee crumpled under the force of the blow into a pile of slowly melting ice, two sticks, an orange vegetable, a cylindrical hat, and a pile of pebbles.

         High in the air, Lyle was chasing after Swift; this was hard to do since hawks are faster then ravens.  Although Swift was faster than Lyle, ravens are cleverer than hawks.  Lyle slowed down and reacted slowly to Swift’s maneuvers.  He did this to give Swift the illusion that he was getting away from him.

         Swift started to fly around low above the Arena.  Lyle took his time and flew high above Swift.  Swift looked behind himself to see if he had lost Lyle yet; when he did this he slowed down.  Swift didn’t see anyone behind him, but almost instantly he felt the sharpness of talons in his back.

         Lyle and Swift tumbled from the sky in a fury of talons, beaks, and feathers.  Scratch here, peck there, wing buffet now, and bite next.  Right before they hit the ground, Lyle managed to get on top of Swift.  He landed hard on Swift.  The cracking of bones could be heard throughout the Arena.

         Lyle recovered first and stood up on his bird legs over Swift.  Swift was in extreme pain with five broken ribs and cut and bleeding legs.  He managed to turn his head to look up at Lyle.

         The crowd started to chant, “KILL!  KILL!  KILL!”

         Lyle turned from looking at the crowd to looking down at Swift.  Swift looked at him with pleading eyes to be spared, but Lyle knew if he refused to kill, then he would be killed.  He killed Swift swiftly with a beak through the neck.

         During Swift’s final moments, Mongo started towards Phillip yet again.  He had Phillip pinned against the wall; it was giant spiked club versus small ice dagger.  Mongo swung left then right.  Phillip managed to jump out of the way of both attacks, but he didn’t get away from the wall.  Mongo swung a third time in a circular motion and hit Phillip in the chest impaling a few nails into him.

         Phillip’s eyes went wide; his knife fell out of his hands and he dropped to the ground with a thud.  Mongo moved over to finish Phillip off.

         “Hey!” yelled Lyle, “Come fight me you big dolt!”

         Mongo turned around to see Lyle with scythe in hand ready to fight.  Lyle charged at him in a blind rage, screaming unintelligible words.  Mongo stared to run towards him, too, but something grabbed his foot, stopping his forward progress.  He turned his head and looked down; one of the stick hands of Schnee had grabbed his foot in a death grip as a final act of defiance against death.  He turned around just in time to see Lyle jump into the air.

         Lyle gracefully landed in front of Mongo and swung his scythe in a beautiful arc, removing Mongo’s head from his shoulders.  The crowd erupted in cheers.

         Lyle threw his scythe to the ground and ran to see if Phillip was still alive.  He rushed to Phillips’s side, sliding down on his knees.  He took Phillip’s head into his arms; Phillip opened his eyes and stared up into Lyle’s.

         “It will be all right,” lied Lyle.  He looked down at Phillip’s wounds.  He had three bloody holes in his chest.  Lyle tried to comfort Phillip, but both knew the end was near.  Lyle started to sob.

         Phillip started to cough out words, “Hey, mon… Don’t you cry.  I go to see my dad now.  You gonna be good, mon.  I be hoping not to see you again for a long time, mon…” And those were the last words of Phillip Johnson III, an ice mage and Lyle’s best friend.





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Ch. 8 Beasts Of Enetolie

         Lyle awoke to Sir Vincent entering his room; in fact, he slept very little that night.  It was only yesterday that his best friend was killed.  Lyle spent most of the night crying alone in his room.

         “Get up and get ready for the Arena,” commanded Sir Vincent.  “I will explain everything in the Arena antechamber.”  He left the room to tell the rest of the fighters.

         Lyle got up and dressed in his armor.  While dressing, he took bites out of his bread.  Lyle buckled the silver buckles on his black leather pants and boots.  He placed his curved knives on his belt and slung his cloak over his shoulders.  Lyle carried his scythe in his hand as he exited the room and headed to the antechamber.

         When Lyle arrived in the Arena antechamber, he saw all the other fighters waiting for Sir Vincent.  Lyle picked a spot on the wall and sat with his back up against it.

         There were eight fighters in the room, including Lyle.  Felix was standing, talking to his roommate.  Lyle couldn’t remember his name, but he thought it was Vladimir or something; Lyle did know he was a werewolf, though.  Vladimir was tall, well-built man, mostly from being a lycanthrope.

         In another part of the Arena antechamber stood two cloaked girls.  Lyle remembered their names to be Megan and Ann.  Megan was a dark mage with black hair.  She had fair skin and a small frame.  Ann was even shorter and smaller.  She had bright red hair.  She was a follower of the Holy and therefore specializes in healing magic.

         In the middle of the room, Lyle saw two more fighters warming up on each other.  One was donned in padded red armor.  His skin was yellowish and slanted eyes.  He was bald except for a black ponytail on the top of his head.  His name was Qin.

         Facing Qin was another vampire named John IV.  He was bald and had very pale skin.  He was a very large man who appeared even bigger in his full black plate mail.

         The eighth fighter was a cloaked and hooded person who sat all by itself.  Lyle couldn’t discern any other details about that person.

         Just then Sir Vincent walked into the antechamber.  The fighters gathered together around him in a semi-circle.  They waited quietly for Sir Vincent to explain the situation.

         “Ladies and gentlemen, today will be a very big day.  Many of you will die, and most likely you all will die,” Vincent began.  “Now follow me!”

         Vincent led them up the path up to the Arena.  The guards opened the gates and the fighters and Sir Vincent walked out on to the Arena.

         Even though everything in the cities usually closed on the day after the Games, today was a special holiday.  It was the holiday of Feast. It was exactly one week before All Royal’s Day.  On Feast, all the Games Chapters narrowed down their eligible fighters to compete in the Games at the capital city.

         Sir Vincent addressed the crowd who was cheering and applauding for the fighters.  “Welcome!  Ladies and gentlemen!” boomed Vincent.  “As you know this is the day of Feast, and that means we have the second most exciting match of the Games today.  The Beasts of Enetolie!”  The crowd erupted into even louder cheers and chants.  Vincent walked out the gate and the guards closed it behind him.

         Two smaller side gates opened, and grunts, growls, and other animal noises came out of the darkness.  The fighters grouped together in ones and twos: Felix & Vladimir, John IV & Qin, Ann & Megan, Lyle, and the cloaked figure.  The fighters could see glowing eyes in the darkness.

         The first things to come out of the darkness were two large cats.  One was large and bulky, but moved gracefully; it had orange fur with black stripes.  The other was lithe and certain of its strength; it had yellowish fur, and if it had been a male, then it would have had a bushy red mane around its neck.  The tiger stalked toward Qin and John IV.  The lioness moved toward Felix and Vladimir.

         Out of the second gate flew a giant eagle.  It had black feathers everywhere except on its head, which was white.  It had massive talons and a wingspan of about fifteen feet.  It cawed loudly then flew up into the air.

         Then growls could be heard from both gates.  Three skinny dogs with a pattern of black and dark brown fur and wide snarls came out of the first gate.  They growled and snarled at the fighters, and then all three ran and circled around Ann and Megan.  A gigantic, brown, furry creature lumbered out of the other gate.  It stood up on its hind legs and roared in protest; it was taller than any of the fighters and definitely more powerful.  It dropped back down on all fours and lumbered toward Vladimir.

         The second gate closed behind the bear, but a wild boar came out of the original gate.  It was very large and had tusks similar to those of small elephants.  It snorted and headed for Lyle.  The gate closed behind it and the Games began.

         Lyle quickly changed into a raven and flew into the air to escape the boar.  The cloaked figure drew an arrow on its bow and fired two quick shots into the boars back; the arrowheads combusted as they struck, setting the boar on fire.  This sent the boar into frenzy. 

         The boar turned towards the cloaked figure and started to charge, fully ablaze.  Qin moved in with his two swords towards the boar.  He jumped up and over the boar as it was charging at the cloaked figure.  Qin landed and brought one sword down into the back of the boar’s neck.

         The blow didn’t kill the boar, but the sword stayed lodged in its neck; the boar stopped its advance on the cloaked figure, though.  The boar, still on fire, started towards Qin.

         The growling and snapping dogs circled Ann and Megan.  Megan and Ann were back to back; Megan with magical spells on her lips and Ann with her knife and healing spells.  The dogs continued to tighten the circle.  One of the dogs jumped at Megan, who quickly dodged and fired a dark magic spell at the dog.  The dog moved narrowly out of the way.  The other two dogs both jumped on Ann.  They tore at her face and neck, causing her to bleed to death.  Megan tried to save her roommate with a few magical bolts at the dogs, but the damage had already been done.  Most of the bolts missed the dogs, but one managed to level and finish off the boar.  It made a final squeal of life.  Qin and Megan became circled by the three vicious dogs.

         Meanwhile, the giant, brown, shaggy bear lumbered towards Vladimir.  It rose up on its hind legs and roared deep like the long thunder in the night.  Vladimir started to transform into his animalistic state.  He grew dark brown hair all over his body.  His limbs grew long and lithe.  His face took on the shape of a wolf; his nose and mouth grew into a long snout.  His eyes dulled and went completely black; Vladimir could no longer tell the difference between friend and foe.

         Vladimir and the bear squared off.  They paused for only a heartbeat, before they charged and slammed into each other.  Their claws raked each other’s backs.  The bear pinned Vladimir the ground.  Then it rose up and slammed its weight back down on him.  The utter force managed to break every rib and the spine of Vladimir, who howled in pain.  Two of Vladmir's broken ribs punctured his left lung.  Somehow Vladimir rolled out from under the bear.

         The bear and Vladimir collided again, but this time with Vladimir on top.  The bear beat on Vladimir’s injured chest, causing much pain.  Vladimir managed to get the bear’s arms pinned.  After that he bit out the bear’s jugular, causing instant death.  Vladimir howled in victory and defeat.  He collapsed on top of the bear, dead from his injured lungs.

         The three dogs circled around Qin and Megan.  Megan slipped past the dogs to get away; Qin looked at her in a stunned and angry way.  After attacking the boar, all Qin had left was one sword.  So far he was keeping the dogs at bay, but they were inching closer and closer.  Lyle, who had shifted back, saw that Qin was in a predicament.

         Lyle started towards Qin precisely as the dogs attacked.  One distracted Qin in the front, while the other two jumped on his back.  Qin fell from the sudden force of the vicious dogs on his back; he landed on his stomach facedown.

         One dog latched its teeth onto Qin’s barefoot and started to tug on it.  Another dog jumped on Qin’s back and scratched and clawed at him.  Qin managed to roll over, which removed the second dog from his back.  But as soon as he did that, the last dog jumped onto Qin’s chest.  Before Qin could react, the dog clamped its jaws around Qin throat.  The jaws snapped shut, ending Qin’s life.

         Lyle got there just as Qin was killed.  He took one dog, the one chewing on Qin’s foot, by surprise as he swung his scythe in an upward arc; the blade separated head from neck.  The lifeless head remained attached to Qin’s foot the rest of the battle.

         Meanwhile Megan had escaped the circle of dogs to find herself squared off with the tiger.  The tiger’s original victims had left to battle with other targets.  The tiger leered into her eyes and growled.  Truth be told, Megan knew she was more than outmatched.

         Before Megan could blink the tiger had pounced onto her and broke her neck by swiping its claw across her face.  Maybe she shouldn’t have abandoned Qin to fight the dogs alone.  Now the only contenders left were Lyle, Felix, John IV, and the cloaked figure and the only beasts left were the lioness, the tiger, two of the dogs, and the giant eagle.  The lioness was facing off with Felix, the dogs with Lyle, John IV with the tiger, and the eagle and the cloaked figure were not engaged with anyone.

         The lioness paced back and forth in front of Felix who twirled his sword in one hand while flexing his fist in the other.  Unlike everyone else, the beast didn’t attack the man; the man attacked the beast.  Felix, sword extended, charged at the lioness.  The lioness turned to confront Felix.  The lioness jumped as Felix swung.

         The lioness landed on top of Felix with only a cut across the paws.  They commenced wrestling.  The lioness appeared to be having the upper hand.  But somehow, probably from his superhuman strength, Felix got his hands around the lioness’s neck and squeezed until the lioness stopped breathing.  Felix rolled the lioness off of him but stayed on the ground.

         The tiger finished with its last victim; it now moved on to John IV.  John IV was a vampire just like Felix except he preferred direct combat to Felix’s lithe style.  He calmly waited while the tiger walked to him.

         The tiger, who considered itself the king of the arena, roared with all its might.  John IV only smirked and beckoned the tiger with his index finger.  The tiger jumped towards John IV; John IV caught and kept the tiger at arm’s length.  The tiger tried to claw at John IV’s arm but to no avail; his armor was made out of impenetrable, blackened steel.

         John IV laughed aloud at the pitiful animal’s attempt to live; he could see the fear of death in the tiger’s eyes.  He quickly, but surely, stabbed his greatsword repeatedly up and through the tiger’s chest, ending its life.  John IV flung the corpse away with disgust.  As he turned around, John IV heard the deafening screech of the giant eagle.  The eagle picked John IV up in its talons and flew up into the air.

         Meanwhile Lyle was busy with the two remaining dogs.  Lyle swung his scythe at one of the dogs; the blade narrowly grazed the dog’s side, leaving a noticeable gash.  The other dog jumped on Lyle.  They toppled to the ground.  He quickly drew one of his curved knives while holding the dog’s snapping jaws at bay.  He slid the blade across the dog’s neck and tossed the body aside.  He jumped to his feet and drew his other knife. 

         The other dog was slowly limping towards Lyle; Lyle could see it was already dying.  The dog collapsed right in front of Lyle but was still breathing.  Lyle quickly stabbed it in its heart to put it out of its misery.

         John IV hit the eagle’s talons and moved around to try to get out of its grip.  The eagle got tired of holding him, so it dropped him.  John IV plummeted on top of his head in the center of the Arena.  The crumpling sound of bones made everyone flinch.

          The eagle began to swoop towards Lyle to kill him, too.  Lyle turned to see the eagle bearing down on him.  Before Lyle could react, the eagle caught fire, screamed, and fell out the sky.  It skidded to a stop in front of Lyle, burning to death.  There were two long arrows its skull.

         Lyle looked over to where the arrows came from.  The arrows came from the bow of the cloaked figure.  But the figure was no longer hooded, in fact, to Lyle’s surprise, it was a girl.  She had flowing bright red hair with blonde streaks through it.  She had emerald green eyes.  Lyle smiled dumbly because he thought she was the most beautiful he had ever seen.  Lyle looked around; the only people that were left were Felix, the girl, and himself.