The Beast Within

Champion of the Pit: Chapter Five

I spent every waking moment waiting for opportunity to come.

The Hag Dancer's words lit a fire inside me, and that fire grew with my anticipation. Every time I entered the pit for a fight, there was a moment when I looked around and thought:

This is not my destiny. This is only a chapter.

What I never expected was for opportunity to be heralded by chaos and destruction. My escape would not be done quietly, or by my own making. 

It began with a warning from Myranda as she was preparing me for a fight. 

"Someone special is in the audience."

"The Hag Dancer?"

She laughed and hit the back of my head playfully. 

"He's a powerful human king, and a personal guest of the Authority. You're expected to put on a good show for him. There's been rumors you'll be matched with someone especially brutal."

"You haven't heard who I'll be fighting?"

"Have I ever before? If I had to wager gold, I'd put it on Srax, the Great One."

As he had a thousand times, the gangly introduced me to a roaring crowd. I scanned the audience to see if I could spy the king but only saw the usual blur of faces.

He's probably in the Authority's viewing box, I thought.

At Myranda's insistence that I put on the best show possible, I waited until my introduction to transform. The audience hummed their approval, still pleased to witness it, and when the wolf appeared it released a howl to delight its admirers. A shower of bones and trinkets was thrown into the pit.

Then the gangly man spoke the name of my opponent. Myranda's wager would have been a winning one. It took a dozen crow men to pull Srax into the pit, and with a snap of her teeth the enormous serpent made quick work of the chains around her body.

I'd seen her fight only once before, on the night of my first battle. Confidence surged through the wolf, but I was terrified. It might have been the champion, but compared to a giant that could spit fire the wolf looked like a snack. 

This wasn't a fight. It was an execution.

Maybe the Authority had grown bored and thought it was my time to die. Give the king a fight where the champion falls. That would certainly be something to remember.

The sand trembled as Srax moved across the pit. The wolf began to pace, convinced in its arrogance that it would make easy work of its opponent.

"Champion," I heard Myranda shout, "the Authority wouldn't match you against something you can't kill! Remember that!"

Her eyes betrayed her confident words. She wanted the wolf to feel proud so it would give a good show before its end.

Doom gathered like storm clouds in my head.

I was supposed to escape, I thought. The Hag Dancer said I would.

All it would take is for Srax to corner her opponent and spew fire. Unlike the horses I'd watched her kill, the wolf had no wings to fly away. The moment the horns gave their shout, flames would erupt from the beast's throat and—

A shrill note cut through the air, signaling the start of the fight.

Srax opened her mouth and spoke in a language I could not understand, then bent her neck and thrust her face in the wolf's direction, covering a great distance at alarming speed. Her jaws opened to catch her prey. At the last second the wolf moved from the path of her teeth, leaping high into the air. Four paws landed on the serpent's head and dug their claws in deep.