Escana (58 page)

Hern dove out of the way of the
next strike, he thought he had measured it comfortably but felt the
surface of the wood brushing against him painfully as it cracked down
on the arena floor. He righted himself just in time to see the foot
sweeping out toward him.

It was a strange sensation, he
felt his entire upper body go numb and the leg seemed to hang there,
as if attached to him somehow. Then with a lurch he flew across the
arena and crashed into the doors of Re'tak's pen.

Help.

An unexpected cushion of air
stopped the doors from snapping him in half, he was too dazed to
think of where it could have come from. Staggering to his feet and
spitting out sand from his mouth, he tried to pry his eyes open and
get a fix on where the stranger was.

The man stood right in front of
him, watching him with his expressionless features.

Stay
down.

The voice in his head wasn't
Re'tak's. It came from the stranger, was he imploring that he
surrender?

A crashing noise came from the
doors behind him, Re'tak was trying to get out and help him.

He shook his head, it may have
been the most frustrating quality that the masters had to contend
with, he never gave up.

He aimed a punch-drunk swipe at
the stranger, more in defiance than out of any hope he'd hit him. He
received a knee to the gut that dropped him into the sand.

A second crash strained the
hinges of the doors behind them, he had felt those doors thoroughly
in the dark of the cell, Re'tak could cause horrendous amounts of
damage when whipped into a frenzy. He wearily wondered if the extra
food that had been given the lizard would be enough to...

A hand grabbed his torn rags and
hoisted him out of the sound and into the air, he vaguely heard a
swell of anticipation from the crowd. He beat ineffectively at the
man's arm but he may as well have been punching the arena wall for
all the good it did.

In his hearing the crowd again,
it appeared that the last strike had been enough to dislodge his
self-control. The sun blinded his sight as he tried to force his eyes
open again, he started to struggle frantically as fear finally took
hold.

Re'tak felt the fear escalate in
Hern, he was stood just beyond the door of his prison, though the
waves of exhaustion he could feel from him suggested it was barely by
his own power.

The had heard the hinges screech
on his last charge, they were definitely starting to give way. It
didn't ease his anxiety any, he had no idea if the doors would buckle
in time to protect his only way out of here, his friend.

The frustration and suffocation
in this confinement reached boiling point within him, he let out a
roar and charged at the doors with everything he had left.

They cannoned outward and sailed
through the air, one of them leaving a dent in the arena wall before
coming to rest in a cloud of sand and splintered wood. Re'tak righted
himself, opening his second lids and searching for his prey.

Hern lay in a heap to the left of
the entrance, some debris from the gate had just fallen shy of him
and it would appear that both combatants had the good sense to get
clear of the door when they heard him charging at it.

Re'tak spotted the pale-skin
standing stock still in the centre of the arena, this time he made no
attempt to read him, instead he moved to Hern's aid.

We
need to flee.

Why?
Re'tak
asked,
surely
now
that
he
was
here
they
could
take
this
solitary
pale-skin.
None
of
the
others
appeared
to
be
making
a
move
in
his
defence
now
that
Re'tak
had
appeared.
They
were
all
waiting
in
expectation,
it
was
tangible
and
washed
over
him
unprompted.

The
pale-skin is no ordinary creature, do not fight him.

He
hurt you, I must avenge you.

Re'tak,
no, please listen.

Re'tak was done listening, he
wasn't so fool-hardy as to not believe his friend, there must be
something extraordinary about this pale-skin if he were to best Hern
with ease. Re'tak had listened eagerly to Hern's recalling of his
past life and from what he could gather the man had been formidable
by his people's standards.

The pale-skin seemed unassuming,
it stood there watching Re'tak passively but Re'tak was not fooled.
He had made the mistake of misjudging these... humans before and it
had cost him his freedom, what if the very piece of wood the man was
carrying had the same as the weapon that incapacitated him? They
looked completely different in his memory but he was wary of it all
the same.

His opponent held up his hand and
Re'tak's initial approach slowed, he was wise to this kind of
manipulation and shut his mind off entirely. It had taken him days to
understand Hern's mind enough to send a message, this pale-skin had
seconds.

Feigning subservience to the
human and his power, Re'tak slowed and mimicked a struggle forward,
when he came within rushing distance the human put up a second hand
and he stopped altogether.

Seeing that his opponent was
off-guard, Re'tak rushed forward with all the speed he could muster
and leapt at the human with his front claws extended.

He heard a faint intake of breath
and a humming noise in his ears, the world went white as the extended
arms shot upward to meet him.

Hern blinked the sand out of his
bleary eyes, just in time to catch Re'tak approaching the stranger.
The grace and power of the stranger's movements belied any
understanding. Long had his people studied the art of fighting and
undertaken many endeavours to increase the speed and power of their
assassins should they face open combat which they invariably did. The
stranger would make the greatest of masters seem like a child, or so
Hern had felt as he had fought the man.

Was he really that weakened by
his ordeals that a fresh and clearly experienced warrior seemed akin
to a fighting deity? No, while his body may have surrendered to the
relentless march of exhaustion, his mind had been clear during the
fight. Even if he had been in possession of his full reserves there
had been no opportunity to withstand the assault.

He watched powerlessly as Re'tak
drew closer to the stranger, who had positioned himself well clear of
the blast radius of the doors and had returned to his previous spot.
Standing in the centre of the arena floor as if nothing had happened,
he faced off against this new challenge.

Hern found his feet once more,
the sand seeming to shift with each treacherous step, nevertheless he
grew inexorably closer to the conflict. He wasn't going to make it to
the centre of the arena in time to do anything, in fact he hadn't
given any thought as to whether he could do anything. He just knew
that his friend couldn't fight this foe unaided and he was the only
one who could lend assistance.

Mercifully Re'tak had decided to
come to a halt, perhaps he had sensed the power of the stranger and
thought better of attacking him now. Hern knew he wasn't thinking
clearly, fatigue and concussion had robbed him of his wits and
everything seemed entirely straightforward when before it was complex
in the extremity. Instead he focused on placing one foot in front of
the next and guiding himself toward the conflict, keeping his eyes on
the lizard at all times and waiting for a move.

It didn't take Re'tak long to
make up his mind, Hern watched the lizard's rear legs tense and bunch
in preparation for a leap at the man. Although wary of the man's
power, Hern had witnessed the speed and agility of a giant lizard
through the eyes of his dreams.

When Re'tak leapt, it wasn't high
in the air like Hern was expecting. It was more of a low lunge,
propelled forward with claws out and death in mind. As his friend
crashed forward, he stopped again. Was it a feint? Had he been trying
to break the nerve of this hereto implacable enemy?

It was the crowd's reaction that
gave him an answer, he had grown accustomed to their screaming and
shouting after Re'tak had broken free of his confines, even if he
could no longer tune it out. Everyone standing beyond the arena wall
knew they were safe from this monster, things were very different
when they knew someone else wasn't. Even C-Company had heard rumours
of the beast that dwells in the depths of the arena, devouring those
that displease Dyson. While nobody living aside from possibly Dyson
and Yalem had seen this beast, everyone had been subjected to the
sounds of the men it tore to pieces. There was a horrified
fascination and something utterly primal about this encounter, the
stranger was undoubtedly a member of A-Company and from what Hern had
heard they looked after their own. Nobody would wish harm upon him
but then again they did want to see what happened to a real fighter
when put up against a creature like this.

The crowd had gone completely
still now, it was that strange silence that was still audible because
of the laboured breaths of those in attendance. A wave of
bewilderment hit Hern, the crowd had a far better view of what was
going on than he did, his view of the stranger was completely
obscured by Re'tak. What had happened? Why was Re'tak's body
expanding to obscure the field of view?

Hern had a split second as
comprehension dawned on him and he dove to the side with all the
energy he could will forth. Re'tak's body flew past him and crashed
into the Arena wall with a resounding thud.

Hern knew that a lizard's hide
was tougher than the rock faces of the very canyons they inhabited,
it seemed that the arena wall had come off worse in that collision.

The crowd erupted in cheers, as
if collectively coming to terms with what they had just witnessed.
Hern crawled his way over to Re'tak while the full attention was on
the triumph of the stranger.

Are
you alive?

Re'tak righted himself, shaking
his head from side to side, Hern couldn't blame him for his
grogginess.

I
am unhurt, merely dazed. You were right about your opponent, we
should flee while their attentions are diverted.

Flee? To where exactly? The
concept itself was largely alien to Hern, though these circumstances
may have merited it more than any other he had encountered.

The
door of our former prison is propped against the wall of the arena.
Stay very still and trust me.

If it was one thing Hern was
exceptional at it was staying very still, even in such a battered
state. He immediately played dead and hoped the crowd would assume
him unconscious.

Re'tak opened his jaws.

Trust
me.

J
immy blinked
numbly at the carnage he had just witnessed. The lizard had to be
twice as large as the one they had encountered in the desert yet The
Hermit had grabbed its front legs as it pounced and held it in place.
He couldn't tell exactly what had happened at this distance but the
next thing he saw it was being hurled into the wall.

The last few moments had been
ones of elation, the sheer power and majesty of The Hermit's every
move sent a thrill through him unlike anything he had ever felt
before. That it came at the expense of the very villain who had
pressed him up against the door of C-Company's room made it all the
sweeter.

Now the cloaked enigma stood in
the centre of the ring as if nothing had happened, staring at the
destruction he had caused but betraying no visible reaction. Tub
appeared out of hiding and crossed the arena reluctantly and raised
The Hermit's hand.

Jimmy cheered, then cut short
with his celebrations when he realised he was the only one doing so,
everyone else was staring fearfully at his idol. The whole crowd
appeared to be in a state of either shock or incomprehension over
what had just occurred.

'It would appear that your
immediate placing in A-Company was good judgement on the part of the
guard that brought you here,' Dyson said, refusing to show any
intimidation at the display of unmitigated power. 'It's a shame you
are mute, or I would ask you your name.'

Jimmy spotted Tub retreating as
Dyson spoke, clearly uncomfortable at being on the arena floor with
the lizard. Or was it The Hermit that he was frightened by? No, he
was definitely looking past The Hermit at the lizard, his legs were
starting to break into a run too. Why was he openly displaying fear
in front almost the entire population of the fort?