The Mountains Rise (16 page)

“But everyone here seems to use it,” noted Daniel with some confusion.

“These humans are the result of some of our entertainments,” explained Thillmarius.
“The wardens patrol the wildling settlements to make sure that none of our genetic
alterations get loose into the wild population.” Thillmarius raised his golden eyebrows,
showcasing his brilliant red irises.

“You think I’m the result of one of your…,” Daniel hesitated to use the word, “…baratti
interbreeding with the people of Colne?”

“It has happened many times in the past,” said the She’Har. “Normally we simply kill
any wildlings
who
are found to be able to touch aythar. You are lucky to be here.”
Leaning forward Thillmarius sent a tendril of power out to touch the necklace around
Daniel’s neck.

He was paralyzed. The ‘chair’ beneath him rose, stretching outward to become a wooden
slab. In the span of less than a half a minute he had gone from sitting to lying
down—and he was utterly unable to move. His eyes rolled in their sockets as he sought
desperately to find some means of escape.

“Don’t panic, baratt. I don’t intend to hurt you, but after your victory
,
I’ve taken more of an interest in you. If you are to win fights
,
we need to know which grove your talent came from. You haven’t exhibited any specific
gift yet, but once we know what it
should
be we can see about exploiting it more properly.” As the She’Har spoke
,
vine
-
like tendrils appeared from the base of the ‘table’ that Daniel lay upon. One wrapped
around his arm before it drove a sharp thorn-shaped tip through the inside of his
elbow. Another snaked its way upward
,
entering his mouth, slipping past his tongue
,
and down his throat.

The power of the necklace prevented him from gagging reflexively. Fighting down his
panic
,
Daniel tried to calm his mind and almost succeeded, until he felt another tendril
run up his leg. He screamed mentally, but despite the terrible fear that consumed
his mind, his body refused to respond.

“It’s just taking samples, baratt.”

To Daniel it felt as though he was trapped there for hours. He could feel the movement
of the vine that had gone down his throat as it snaked its way to his stomach and
beyond. Surely at some point it must have met its mate, coming from the other direction.
Nausea swept over him, but his stomach was unable to respond. The necklace con
trolled even the muscles in his gut, keeping them still and quiet. After an eternity
they withdrew, leaving wet trails across his skin as they left his body. Something
smelled bad
,
and he suspected it was the result of the lower tendril. A drop of blood welled
from his arm
,
but he didn’t bleed any more than that.

Thillmarius restored movement to his arms and legs
,
and Daniel rolled off of the wooden slab to huddle near the door. He still felt
nauseous
,
but his stomach remained quiet.

“The wardens are waiting beyond the door. They’ll take you back to your room. Your
stomach will start working again in a few minutes,
so
make sure you’re outside before then,” said the She’Har waving him away dismissively.

The door opened on its own
,
and Daniel wasted no time leaving. He leapt to his feet and scurried, dignity was
a thing for other men. The wardens laughed when they saw the fear and disgust on
his face.

True to Thillmarius’ prediction
,
Daniel’s stomach began heaving not long after they exited the building. Bending
over
,
he vomited on the ground while the wardens waited.

“You have one minute to finish that and get moving,” said one of them. “Then we start
with the whips.”

Daniel was still fighting with the heaving of his belly when they drew out the magical
red whips, but he straightened and began walking anyway. Satisfied
,
they resumed their trip back to his room while he gagged. Along the way he began
throwing up once more, but he kept walking even as he doubled over.

The wardens seemed disappointed, as if they had hoped for another opportunity to punish
him.

The next morning Daniel was awoken by the same two wardens at his door.

“Get up, baratt! It’s time to earn your keep!”

Confused
,
Daniel nevertheless rose quickly, following them out into the narrow street. They
led him back toward the edge of town, where the god-trees loomed large. Eventually
he dared to ask, “Where are we going?”

“Today is to be a day of
trials,” said the first warden. “You will be placed in your first official fight…”
The warden paused, as if struggling to remember something. “What was your name again?”

“Daniel,” he answered.

The second warden drew out his whip and struck without warning. “Come again?” he
said afterward.

“T-tyrion,” Daniel replied quickly.

The walk took them over an hour
and
several miles into the She’Har forest, until they came to another opening. This
one was similar in size to the arena that he had
fought the girl in, back in what he now knew was called ‘Ellentrea’. Unlike that
arena however, this one was surrounded on all sides by god-trees. They had grown
massive balconies that faced the arena from every direction
,
and on them were She’Har in numbers that Daniel was unable to comprehend.

He knew they were She’Har by their distinctive auras, which were similar to those
of humans but different in a way that was hard to define. Their appearances varied
wildly though, some appeared almost normal, aside from having green hair, while others
had brown skin and red hair. There were a fair number
who
looked like Thillmarius, with black skin and golden hair and others
who
had a cerulean cast combined with raven black hair.
Whatever their coloring, they all had softly pointed ears.

There was only one
who
looked like Lyralliantha, though. He spotted her silver hair and fair skin almost
as soon as he entered the arena. She was too far away for his eyes to be certain
of her identity, but his special senses confirmed
that it was her by virtue of her unique aura. His perception had gotten good enough
now that he found it almost easier to identify people by their auras as opposed to
their physical features.

Before he could see more
,
Daniel was ushered into
a
small room along the side of the arena, one that was shielded to prevent his senses
from passing through its walls. “Wait here,” one of the warden’s told him. “We will
return for you when your name is called.”

“I won’t be able to see from here,” noted Daniel.

The second warden laughed, “That’s to make sure you don’t learn about anyone else’s
fighting techniques.” He closed the door.

Daniel waited for hours, growing more nervous as time passed. Outside he could hear
the crowd cheering as each match finished, the sound rose and fell like waves. Names
were called
,
and an announcer spoke in the strange tongue that the She’Har used. He understood
none of it.

The door opened at last
,
and the wardens led him out. The announcer was speaking
,
and the crowd was cheering.

“
They seem happy,” he pointed out darkly. “Are they cheering for my blood or the opponent’s?”

The first warden answered him, “They just announced your opponent, Carwyn of Centyr.
He’s popular.”

The announcer continued
,
and all that Daniel could recognize of its speech was his name, Tyrion, and the word
‘Illeniel’. The crowd grew silent
,
and he looked askance at the warden.

“The Illeniels have never kept
baratti. I think they’re surprised,” said the man with a shrug. “Good luck,” he
added
,
and then the two wardens left the arena.

“Thanks,” said Daniel.

“I meant in the next life, baratt. Carwyn will kill you,” the warden said over his
shoulder just before the barrier went up around the arena.

Standing across from him was a man
who
appeared to be in his mid-twenties, if his looks were to be trusted. Daniel had
learned that the hard life of the people owned by the She’Har meant they often looked
older than they were.

As before, there were blue lights arranged around the arena. A loud chime went up
,
and they shifted to red. It was time to fight. Daniel’s opponent surrounded himself
in a dense shield as soon as the light changed, just in time to deflect Daniel’s first
attack.

Gesturing with one hand
,
Carwyn created what appeared to be an animal of some sort, composed of nothing but
pure energy. After a second
,
he severed the link between himself and the creature and it began running toward
Daniel, apparently of its own accord.

How the hell did he do that?

Daniel didn’t have much time to speculate however, his opponent sent several stunning
blasts across the arena, striking his shield heavily. He was forced to put more of
his aythar into defense
,
even as Carwyn’s energy beast charged toward him.

“It’s a fucking bear,” said Daniel aloud as it drew closer.
I’m going to die being torn to shreds by a damn magic bear.
For some reason he failed to find the thought humorous.

Ignoring his opponent now, Daniel sent a powerful lance of force toward the bear,
hoping to disrupt whatever was holding it together. The attack knocked it sideways
but appeared to do little more than enrage the beast further.

In the distance, Carwyn was producing a new monster, even larger than the first.

“Come on!” said Daniel despairing. “That’s not even fair.” Even as he said it though
,
his inner spectator was already noting that fairness had little to do with slavery
or involuntary fights to the death.
You’re just here to die entertainingly.

The ‘bear’
,
as he had come to think of it, struck his shield like an avalanche, with speed and
power that he could hardly deny. It held for a moment, before he saw the monster’s
claws tearing through it, beginning a rapidly accelerating process of disintegration.
Wary of being stunned as some of those he had seen in the past
,
he leapt backward while releasing the shield. The bear rushed forward, not hesitating
to capitalize on his lack of defense
,
but he forced it back momentarily with a deliberately broad push of his no longer
divided power.

Before it could spring back
,
he bent down and traced a circle in the ground around him
and then used
his power to create a new shield based on the outline. This time
,
his shield held with hardly a tremor, firm and unyielding even against
the bear’s
terrible claws. Now he was only using a fraction of his strength, even though his
defense seemed much more powerful. He used the remainder to level a well-focused
lance of aythar at his enemy who was nearly finished with his latest creation.

Carwyn had neglected his defenses, keeping only a token shield while letting the bear
distract his opponent. Daniel’s attack tore through the light shield as if it were
tissue,
continuing on to pierce the man’s abdomen.

He’s dying now, unless he finds a way to kill me quick,
thought Daniel.

The second monster was charging toward him now, racing to join the first. This one
was twice the size of the first, though its basic construction was the same. Daniel
felt the shock of its assault in his bones when it struck, but somehow his shield
continued to hold.

Putting more of his effort into maintaining the shield, Daniel drew a second circle
inside the first and in the space between the two he added a wavy line, moving back
and forth between the two. It was a sloppy piece of work, as far as art went, but
once he finished and shifted his power into the supporting lines
,
he felt the load on him ease.

Daniel waited for what must have been two or three minutes, hoping his opponent would
weaken as he lost blood, but then he saw the impossible. Carwyn was walking across
the open ground, approaching him to get a better view of
Daniel’s defenses. The wound in his side was gone, leaving only a silvery scar.

One more thing I need to learn, although the timing is terrible,
thought Daniel.

“You blooded me, Tyrion,” said the other man, “for that I salute you! But it will
take more than a single wound and such a formidable defense to win the day.”

Looking at the other man
,
Daniel could see that
Carwyn
had used much of his strength creating the monsters that were now slowly wearing
down his defense, but while Daniel was growing slowly more tired, Carwyn seemed to
be recuperating.

So it’s not costing him anything to maintain them after he finishes them, although
it took much of his power to create them initially,
surmised Daniel. T
he conclusion was simple enough;
he had to kill Carwyn while he still had his own strength and before Carwyn recovered
his.

The other man had a stronger shield up now, but otherwise he merely watched while
his beasts tore at Daniel’s shield.

I need something like the lines to focus my attack,
observed Daniel silently. Looking downward he stared at his hands, and then he was
struck by an idea. Kneeling he drew a pair of lines across his double shield lines,
imagining them as the
defining edges of a doorway. Focusing his will he brought his vision into being while
leaping forward. The doorway let him pass even as the two monsters were beating at
the sides of his shield zone.

Carwyn was only ten feet away, staring at Daniel with surprise on his face. Daniel
released the shielded circle behind him and focused his power on his hands, ignoring
everything else. The beasts were already reorienting to attack him from behind anyway.
Holding his
arms
flat
,
he created two powerful sword-like blades
that extended
down his forearms and past his fingertips
.

The older man tried to strengthen his own defense
,
but he had spent too much on his pets. Daniel’s bladed
arms
sliced through his shield as if it was non-existent, and his body put up even less
resistance. His body fell in two directions as he came apart at his mid-section.
A look of horror crossed his features for a split second before shock rendered him
senseless. Carwyn was dead.

Unfortunately for Daniel, his opponent’s creations didn’t disappear with their creator’s
death. He felt their proximity and dove for the earth, trying to fall beneath their
raking
talons, but he couldn’t move quickly enough. Unshielded, the larger beast’s claw
caught his shoulder and sent him tumbling and bleeding twenty feet across the arena
floor.

The force of the blow saved him, though. The distance bought him time
,
and he used it to create another simple circle, filling it with his power even as
they charged him again. His right shoulder was numb, torn and bleeding, but he knew
he had won. Weak, he sat down on the ground, focusing his efforts entirely on maintaining
his shield while the
maddened
constructs raged outside.

“You blooded me, Carwyn, and for that I salute you! But it will take more than a
single wound and such formidable beasts to win the day,” he muttered to himself, rephrasing
his opponent’s words. That did strike him as humorous, and he began to laugh quietly
as he sat in the dirt, watching the monsters trying hopelessly to reach him.

A new chime echoed across the arena
,
and the lights changed from red to blue. Daniel kept his shield up, though. The
monsters seemed to care little for the rules of the arena. They kept at him until
Thillmarius appeared and used some strange type of magic to destroy them.

Daniel had seen that sort of magic produced only once before, when Lyralliantha had
produced his slave collar. Watching it, he was fascinated. Twin ropes of intricately
formed power emerged from Thillmarius’ hands and wound their way around the two magical
creatures before constricting and tearing them into smaller pieces.

If I could do that, this wouldn’t have even been a contest,
noted Daniel as he lowered his shield for the She’Har. Thillmarius took his hand
and held it high over his head, speaking in his native tongue.

There was no
applause or response
. The crowd remained silent, as if uncertain how to react.
Daniel could see Lyralliantha, though, standing on one of the balconies. She watched
him, but she did not cheer.