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The Arena
Chapter 14: The Rank Match IIIf I had any plan at all it was to wear the two men down by making them chase me. If I could catch one alone we would clash and break apart (because I ran like a banshee when I saw the second man nearing). Once I got far enough away I would stand still long enough to swivel my ears or do something with my tail, trying to get the crowds screaming for me.
This was the first time I really had to fight for my life, and I was not prepared for it. Knowing the right moves doesn't mean you win, it just increases your chances. You still need to learn to actually fight, and all that sparring I did was just a game, no one was really trying to hurt me. This was the real thing, and I was scared. The only thing keeping me from wallowing on the floor of that Arena and crying like a child was the crowd up there screaming my name. My name.
It is a powerful force that pushes you beyond yourself and your own capacity and capabilities; you are suddenly there only for them. Owyn made us repeat it daily in our training, "you live for that crowd out there, you die for that crowd out there." Suddenly I knew what he meant by that. I had shouted it out with the others so many times in training sessions, but this was the first time I really understood what it meant.
I was trying to see where the man with the blade was, I could see Mr. Sledgehammer easily. Where did the other go? I put my tail straight up and scratched my own head with it. The crowd went wild over that. They were roaring and it looked like some may tumble over the balcony railing.
The man with the heavy sledgehammer was tiring from chasing me, I could see it. I thought I spotted the other man behind one of the large pillars. I had managed to pierce him with my longsword as I ran by him. They could call me hit and run, or stop and pop - that was the fighting technique I was using. Dart in and strike and run like wind the heck out of there. Either by my youth or being a Khajiit I was faster than the men, had more stamina.
I made a question mark with my tail and then pointed my tail at the man with the sledgehammer. The crowd started stomping their feet in unison and chanting my name. Everyone was standing up. I gave the Arena signal for finishing him and then put my tail in a question mark again. They screamed and pressed themselves against the balcony railing, everyone was pounding their feet till it sounded like thunder rumbling.
I still couldn't see the one with the sword. I was saving him for last because one on one I can look good against an opponent with swords. I charged the man with the sledgehammer, making my tale twirl as I ran toward him. I wanted it to look like I was being propelled toward him by my tail.
I had picked the wrong pillar as the one the bladesman was behind, or he moved while I clowned with the crowds. He darted out and caught me with his sword in a thrust that felt like it went all the way through me.
It felt like an icicle pierced me, the steel was cold inside me. A second later the pain came, but for that blessed second I didn't feel anything but the cold of the blade. The crowd gasped and screamed.
He was too close to me for my longsword to be of much use unless I used the hilt in his face, but he was too tall and I wasn't strong enough for a move like that to be effective. Alix taught me to always carry a dagger if I was going to use a longsword. I yanked the dagger out and for the first time did what turned out to be my signature move. I gouged it into his crotch and twisted it, then shoved him back to get his sword out of me so I could run, Mr. Sledgehammer had arrived on the scene and was raising that huge thing. I wanted out before it started falling, but didn't make it. I felt his hammer glance off my left shoulder with a crunching sound. It barely missed my head, the smell of steel clung in my nostrils.
Oh dear gods, oh dear gods that hurt. I screamed in pain as I ran, and then tried to turn it into a battle cry. The crowd was silent, and it is hard to fight off pain and injury without them backing you. I swirled my tail to get them cheering again, but it was the hardest thing to do when I felt like I wanted to drop to the Arena floor instead and writhe from the pain. They started screaming again. I needed that to get through this fight. Thank goodness they were on my side.
The man whose crotch I gored was struggling to get up from his knees. I had run the perimeter of the Arena to get away from the lug with the sledgehammer, crying the whole way from the pain and alternately pressing my hand over the hole in my stomach, afraid my entrails would start coming out.
When I was behind the man I had gored I darted towards him and raised my sword. With a full sweep and as strong a follow-through as I could muster with that shoulder crushed I beheaded him. The man never knew what hit him. His head rolled, and I almost lost my stomach seeing it.
It was my life or his, it was my life or his. The action of moving that shoulder made me scream, and I tried to turn it into words so it would sound like a battle cry, but the only ones that came out were extreme curses from the pain. I guess Owyn was right that we needed to come up with our own battle cry for these moments. The gash in my side suddenly wasn't that painful compared to the shoulder.
A steady trickle of blood was pulsing from that piercing in my side and I could feel air hitting my back. His sword had to have gone through me. Tears were rolling down my cheeks from the pain and I was not playing with my tail anymore. I felt like I may vomit. I wasn't sure if it wouldn't be blood that came up, we don't ever eat before a match.
I had to get through that giant with the hammer so I could get to the healing fount, I couldn't stand much more. A roaring sound filled my ears and my vision was edged in darkness. I circled him with my sword raised high to trick him, and it worked. He raised his hammer up to block and I swept his ankle with the blade and then ran. After that it was a lot easier. He couldn't walk on that leg at all, his ankle was shattered. Still, he had a huge hammer and I just had a sword. The hammer was two handed, if I could just take out one arm...
Standing as far away as I could on the opposite side of the Arena from him was a good place to rest, and I needed it desperately. I tried to heal myself but wasn't making much progress. My breathing was ragged and labored.
The crowds were too quiet, I needed them to charge me up for the finish or may not be able to do it. I gave the Arena signal to finish him and tried to make a question mark with my tail but couldn't. The crowd started calling my name again, but they could tell that I was spent. The frenzied atmosphere had become hesitant. If they lost faith I would not make it.
I need you now more than ever.Bent over and propping my hands on my knees got my tail up into the air pretty well just by the position, so I did that and made it snake dance a bit. It was taking all my strength, but I needed their support to get me through this.
They roared and started calling my name and stomping their feet again. That was what I needed to give me the strength to go over and finish the big guy. My shoulder was the worst for pain, but blood loss from my side had me feeling weak. I clutched the hilt of my sword tightly. Weakness can make you drop it, and that would be considered giving up in the Arena.
Needing to conserve what little strength I had left, I didn't run up to him. I walked up and stood facing him, my breath coming in heaving gasps. Finally, gathering my strength up I raised my sword again as if I was going to trick him and sweep his other ankle. He fell for it, this time he raised his hammer to aim it low and block my sword. He obviously thought I was stupid enough to try the same thing twice. I held off long enough so his arms would be stressed holding the heavy hammer up in that position. I could see his arm muscles straining. I deliberately looked at his ankle then feinted with the blade before swinging it fully. He fell for it, his arms stretched out long and low as he swung with the hammer and I swept his arm, severing it just above the wrist. With a quick motion I thrust the blade into his abdomen while he was still roaring. He still held the hammer in his other hand, but the head of it lay on the ground. If he had dropped it I would have won by default.
His teammate's error had been to thrust through me, burying his sword. That is a mistake amateurs make. Alix taught me better than that. I didn't run mine through the big guy. Instead I shoved it into his liver and swept it across to sever the main artery and disembowel him. In one quick motion I drew back slightly and rammed it upwards to pop his lung. I heard the soft hiss of air escaping the lung and the blood that poured out of his wound was filled with bubbles. A spurt of blood ran out of his mouth. He was done then, even if it took a few minutes for him to actually die of blood loss.
I didn't have the strength to sweep his head and take it off, and I doubted my blade was in good enough shape to do it either. I just stood there and waited for the Arena announcer to declare him killed. It didn't take long. He toppled face first into the dirty Arena floor.
While I waited for the Arena Announcer to give me the okay to leave the Arena I played with the crowd a bit, bowing and flagging my tail.
Dear gods please hurry announcer! I didn't know if I would last long enough for him to call it. It seemed an eternity before he finally called, "Contestant from the Blue team, leave the Arena." I staggered across to the chute,
dear gods please let me make it to the fount. Stumbling down the chute the blackness was hedging into my vision, taking over and the roaring in my ears was deafening. I bumped into the healing fount unseeing and fell across it.
Owyn ran up and activated the fount and was checking me over. He wedged the sword out of my hand and worked over me while I slid into unconsciousness.
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******* After Blow From Hammer:******* Wounded:*
This post has been edited by mALX: Jul 29 2016, 07:38 AM