Chapter Thirteen – Then there were Twelve

 

The Gemini HexBlade Master, Salem sits in the Bill’s Miller tavern with Christina and Emhril as people who were spectators of the Tagi Challenge occupy the tables around them. Salem’s twin is upstairs in Zealot’s room with Haiku as the HealthBlade treated and sews up Zealot’s wounds as he lies in bed. “The HealthBlade’s NanoSpiders are repairing your broken ribs but they will not be as good as new by tomorrow. Your quick regeneration helps a little but it is trying to replace your broken bones, not repair them. That is hard to do when your bones are still there,” said Haiku. “Who sent this child to medical school?” asked Zealot. “It is the HealthBlade talking through Haiku,” said Selene, as she sits on Zealot’s bed watching the HealthBlade do its work. In the tavern, Salem sulks over a mug of mead thinking how unfair it is for Selene to have Haiku repair Zealot’s injuries while the other fighters do not have such a thing to help them recover for tomorrow. Christina is busy giving her GullBlade a good cleaning when Jarody enters the tavern. “Jarody, where have you been? I was looking all over the arena floor for you,” said Christina as she quickly got up and ran to the arriving Jarody.

“My dear,” said Jarody as he stroked the bottom of Christina’s chin with his finger, “my job isn’t the kind of job to do in full view of a stadium full of people. Death has to be mysterious and unknown. Anyway, it scares people more when I only appear to them in my true form at the time of their death. It is so fucking cool.” “Were you ready to reap Zealot in his first match?” asked Salem. “Well I was until the ass cheated,” said Jarody as he sat with Christina at her table where she was cleaning her Blade, “Whoever heard of a tickle attack?” “It got him out of a jam,” said Selene as she came down the steps with Haiku and the HealthBlade. “Finished helping Zealot gain an advantage for tomorrow?” asked Salem. “Sister, you surprise me. Have you forgotten what you learned over the course of your life? Those other eleven champions will have some way of recovering as well,” said Selene. “Yeah, like that General Carcass,” said Christina, “All his victories were flawless. Not a single injury but he killed them all. General Carcass will be at his full strength tomorrow for sure.” 

“By the way, did Zealot tell you who that man we saw him talking to was?” asked Salem. “Oh, yes. He was a pirate named Lancer. He and 6 others from his ship were there to compete. This was the first time the Tagi Challenge was held so close to the sea and they had to move fast to attend because it seems that the city had changed at the last minute,” said Selene with the sound of a growing suspicion in her voice. “How many times must I tell you that this is only a coincidence?” asked Salem. “And on that note,” interrupted Christina before she heard this argument again, “we were there with Pawn sound asleep around your neck the whole time. Why did any of the Blades not choose a master from the hundreds of people and warriors there?” “My best guess is that the Blades are just as interested in who makes it to the last heat as we are,” guessed Selene. Salem reaches up to Pawn and gives him a scratch on the back of his neck. Pawn responds with a few happy squeaks and chirps. “The Blades act as if they had a mind of their own but Selene and I understand now that they only act on the subconscious of the people who use them or the masters that are chosen,” said Salem. “The only real time they look alive is when they choose a master. I figured this is due to a Blade interacting with a nearby person so well it lets everyone know by linking with that person making them it’s master and cutting off other people’s ability to use it,” said Selene. “Yet after all this time there are secrets about the Blades Selene and I have yet to discover,” said Salem as she gets up from the bar stool and walks over to the bar to have Emhril refill her mug with mead. “And how do we know the Blades are not alive?” asked Emhril as he refilled Salem’s mug. “Due to one fact; to be alive, the Blades must have a soul. Things with a soul can not be stored in the ThievesBlade’s void. Pawn now has six Blades stored in the ThievesBlade’s void,” said Selene as Salem downed her fresh mug of mead in one gulp. “I think it is time for bed,” said Salem. The group agreed and they all left for there rooms as Emhril discovers that his little girl had already fallen asleep and carries her to her room. 

The next day, the Gemini Twin HexBlade Masters, Salem and Selene were in line with Christina and Haiku to enter the Barter Arena for heat two of the Tagi Challenge. The line was not as long as yesterday. Selene figured that most of the fans had gone home seeing that their favorite Warrior had lost or was killed. It did not take long for the 4 Blade Masters to enter the Arena and find their seats. All the venders were there selling their souvenirs, drinks, and food to the crowd. The final 12 warriors including a healed and well rested Zealot were down on the arena floor practicing with sparring partners wearing silvery helmets and masks hiding their identities. The masks were in the shapes of the eight Caretakers of Colloquy and Gin. The Caretaker of War was a very popular mask among the sparring partners. The only one of the twelve who was not practicing was General Carcass. He was only leaning against the arena wall looking at each of his eleven opponents while his sparring partner helps another with a champion named Fist. Fist was well named for it looked like the Beast man was 70% fist. The arena floor had changed. There were now only three large rings on the arena floor with 4 tall chairs in equal distance from each other on opposite sides of each the large rings. The stage in the center was now high enough to jump from it into one of he rings. On the stage was a glass wheel filled with something that was very hard to see inside but there were not much of it. 

An event official started to hand out a list to everyone in the audience. Selene took a look at it. 

Selene started to read the names out loud for the other three to hear. “Lady Slambrawn,” read Selene. “I think she is that woman over there dressed in the expensive looking dress tossing her sparring partner with very little effort. “Vivien Leblanc,” read Selene skipping around the list. “I think it is that very shapely woman in black,” said Christina. Salem picked up her Magna Glasses to get a good look at the fighter. She was covered from head to foot in what looked to be a single body suit practicing with her sparring partner. “How come she is so covered up?” asked Christina. “I have a suspicion,” said Selene. 

“You always have a suspicion,” said Salem, “We should sew that sentence to the back of your uniform.” “Hey!” said Selene as she turned to look at another fighter. “I am only telling it as I see it,” defended Salem. “I am not saying ‘Hey’ to your half wit remark, said Selene, “I think I just found someone we know.” “Where?!” asked Salem as she picked up her Magna Glasses to look where Selene was looking. “Over there with the scimitar,” described Selene, “practicing those striking slices. Is that young David Koror?” “Capt. James Koror’s son?” said Salem trying to get a good look at the man. “He is fighting with a stagger of a person who has lived at sea most of his life,” said Selene. “But he is not dressed in his family’s uniform. He is dressed like a sea hopper,” observed Salem. “What is a sea hopper?” asked Haiku. “A sea hopper is a person who travels the seas by jumping from ship to ship at every port,” explains Selene. “The list does not have a David Koror as one of the fighters. He appears to be the human lightweight weapons combat champion. The name listed for that is Wayne Marcus,” said Christina. “Why would he change his name for the competition?” asked Salem. Selene puts down her Magna Glasses and says, “I have…” “I know, I know. You have a suspicion,” interrupted Salem. 

Arian comes out of a passageway and makes her way to the stage in the center. The fighters stop what they were doing and start to make their way to the stage behind Arian. They climb the steps to arrive at the top of the tall stage. Arian walks up to the cone as the warriors line up. Event officials, who where already on the stage, start to pass something out to the warriors. “Hello Tagi Challenge fans! Welcome back for day two of the Tagi Challenge. And here are our twelve Champions, soon to become three. Four warriors will enter each ring but only one will leave as a Tagi Challenge Finalist. Your Champions have just been given numbers from one to twelve. We will roll this glass wheel and draw a random number from it for each ring.” The announcement and beginning of the event took Salem by surprise for the stands had not filled up as they did the day before. The event officials start to turn the large glass wheel and the small balls inside bounce around. “We will now draw the numbers for ring number one,” announced Arian as she made her way to the turning glass wheel and pulled a lever. A wooden ball falls out of the wheel and rolls down a slot to come to a stop at the bottom. “Number seven, report to ring one,” said Arian. Tryfem, a female centaur walked over to the side of the stage and jumped down into the ring where Selene just realized that there is no other way in or out. This went on until the last five were left. General Carcass was one of the people still on the stage and Zealot was waiting in ring two to see who his last opponent is. Arian pulls the handle and a wooden ball rolls down the slot to the bottom. Arian picks up the ball and quickly closes her hand around it and walks to the cone on the stage, “and the last Champion for ring number two is, number eleven, please report to ring two.” Bulba Handris walked to the side where ring two was and jumped in. “General Carcass, Vivien Leblanc, Zoolack, and Luntran Axmon, all automatically report to the last ring,” announced Arian. 

“Let the Tagi Challenge begin!” Arian yelled into the cone, then she turned and walked off the stage as it started to lower again. There were a few event officials in the ring explaining a few rules to the fighters and the first two of each started their fight as the other two sat waiting in their seats. Zealot had Bulba Handris, Limzana of Amazonia, and Fist in his ring. Zealot was confident he can beat Limzana for one good reason; she was a woman, no matter how large her arms were. Bulba was the human heavyweight hand to hand combat champion, a simple person to beat especially since he has his Blade of Defiance with him. It was Fist he had to beat. The guy was very short but his two meat grabbers were very effective weapons. Zealot had a lot of time to think of how to beat the guy because Limzana was up first since she was the first in the ring and it was her choice who she wanted to face first. In a very deep man like voice, “I want him,” says Limzana as she chooses Bulba. Bulba got to his feet and faced his opponent. In the first ring was Tryfem, Hynthron of Trablin, Wayne Marcus, and Lady Slambrawn. It was Tryfem’s choice and she picked Hynthron to fight. Hynthron was a female version of Henry however she was more successful yesterday. In the last ring, General Carcass was the first to jump in and so was first to choose. He had picked Zoolack. Zoolack was the female wizard who turned into a small creature and changed back into something large while inside her opponent. “Well I think we can say goodbye to General Carcass,” said Christina as she saw what happened through her Magna Glasses. 

The fight was on the way and the announcers were once again being heard over the arena’s sound system. A voice says, “This is Ed.” “And Joe” said another voice, “here for day two of the Tagi Challenge.” “That is right, Joe. And already there is action going on in ring three. General Carcass is taking on the wizard from Marks,” said Ed. General Carcass was just standing there as the female wizard threw down something that creates a lot of smoke as she disappears from sight. “She must have turned into something too small for us to see,” said Christina as she watched the fight through her Magna Glasses. “What is the great general going to do?” asked Ed. “Not much,” said Joe, “He is just standing there.” General Carcass takes in a big breath and yawns. As soon as he was done yawning, his body began to shake. “There she is. Our one attack wonder is now changing into something else inside General Carcass!” yelled Ed. “Wonder what it will be this time?” asked Joe. The sound of cracking bones could be heard all over the arena but General Carcass did not look to be busting out like a balloon as Zoolack’s other opponents did when she made this attack. The general flexed his arms and was making a body movement as if he was trying to force a fart out. His body was starting to shake now but it still was not bulging out anywhere. The sound had stopped and General Carcass gave out a large belch like a man who just had a large meal. “General Carcass is the winner!” yelled Ed. “Who would have thought it possible!” yelled Joe as General Carcass’ army was cheering. Selene just noticed that General Carcass’ army had grown to include six more rows of seats. 

Selene’s attention then quickly turned back to Zealot’s ring where the Limzana and Bulba were now fighting. Bulba starts with a punch at Limzana but she takes his hand and pulls him towards her and used her leg to launch him off the ground sending him flying over her. While he was still over her she gave a hard punch to the groin, sending him even higher off the ground and his yelling became high pitched. Limzana turns with her punch and jumps up. Limzana grabs Bulba by the shoulders and pulls him under her then using her legs, she kicks him on the chest knocking the wind out if him and sending her even higher into the air. Bulba lands on the ground with a force that could be felt all over the ring floor. Bulba was trying to recover from this by getting his breath back into his body only to lose it again as the Amazonian lands on top of him from a good twenty feet off the ground. It was only six seconds into the match and already, Bulba laid passed out on the ground with no air in his body. An event official declared Limzana the winner and gave time for Bulba to recover. Zealot was thinking, “If he loses one more time, he is out and I will have one less person in my way. As the winner, Limzana had to pick who would be up next, and in turn they would pick who they want to face. Limzana picked Zealot to go up and seeing that it is better to eliminate now than wait for Bulba to fully recover, he chose the warrior. In ring one, Tryfem and her two claymore swords against Hynthron. Hynthron was the Beast-men lightweight hand to hand combat champion, but she has a new spear like attachment on the end of her tail today. The two fighters looked to be evenly matched. Tryfem started with a charge at Hynthron as she quickly uncoiled launching her new tail weapon to its target. Tryfem knocks the tail weapon out of the way with her two swords but is taken by surprise by Hynthron’s head as she strikes and sinks her teeth into Tryfem’s side. Hynthron’s poison rushes through Tryfem, stopping her in her tracks as she begins to look more like a statue then a living being. Hynthron was declared the winner. “That was a cheap victory,” said Salem. “Whatever works,” replied Selene. 

Zealot started with a charge with his Blade of Defiance to Bulba. Bulba made a quick duck move and escaped Zealot’s charging sword. Zealot was counting on this and quickly turned and tripped up Bulba as he was standing up. Bulba hit the ground hard as Zealot did a hard body slam on top of him. Bulba was not going down easily this time, at least he did not want to. He started to punch at Zealot on top of him but Zealot took an elbow to Bulba’s head, knocking out the determined warrior and winning the match. Event officials raised the stage again and then let down a ladder. Others officials got Bulba to his feet and escorted him up the ladder and onto the stage as it started to lower again. Bulba was eliminated. Zealot picked Limzana to fight in the next match, knowing that she may pick him to fight again. Limzana stood up and chooses Fist to fight. “Fist!” said the warrior as he stood up. Fist hands were so big and his legs were so short, Fist was using his hands to walk on. The match started and Fist took the first attack with a quick roundhouse punch in the air. Limzana jumped back but was knocked even farther back by a gust of air created by the open hand of Fist. “Fist, Fist!” yelled the warrior as he used his hands as feet again and jumped to get closer to Limzana. Limzana twisted on the ground and gave Fist a swift kick to the side but Fist was ready and caught Limzana’s leg. Standing on his small legs, Fist reels Limzana to him as she gives him a kick with her free leg. The kick hits Fist in the head but it did not phase the dwarf as he turned quickly and threw the large Amazonian into the air and then gave her a swift punch in the midsection from the opposite direction of her flight, sending her flying backwards and hitting the fence hard. “Fist! Fist Fist,” said the warrior as he was running on his hands to Limzana. Fist jumped into the air once again, “FIST!” he yelled as he put both of his large fists together and crashed the large Amazonian against the fence again, this time breaking the linkage and sending her flying into an empty part of the stands. Limzana was alive but she was not moving. “Fist!” said the warrior as he raised his left fist in triumph. Zealot’s eyes were as wide as wagon wheels. An official announced Fist to be the winner. 

In ring three, General Carcass had chosen Luntran Axmon for the next fight. Luntran Axmon is the Beast-men heavyweight weapons combat champion. The half spider half werewolf centaur like creature was a real unusual sight to behold, but what was very distracting from his form was the huge ax he had with him. The ax was a big as him and looked just as deadly. The handle was in the body of the blade and it looked hard to get around and attack the guy directly. Luntran chose Vivien Leblanc looking to eliminate the woman first before facing General Carcass. Vivian is the Magical beings weapons combat champion but she was still a very mysterious person. The woman was dressed in a very form fitting single piece bodysuit that left no skin uncovered and her eyes were protected by black bubble like lenses. There were Celtic armbands with long blades attached on her wrist. “I wonder if she is one of those ninjas I heard so much about,” said Haiku. “I do not think she is a ninja. They would prefer that their eyes not be blocked by anything and she would have a black belt on her with more weapons hidden inside. What really says that she is not a ninja is her name. Vivien Leblanc is a Parisian name and Ninjas are from the forbidden land of Ming,” said Selene. “Ming! That is where my mother is from!” said Haiku. “I would have guessed that that warrior was a ninja too,” said Salem, “Just because her name is Parisian does not mean she did not train in that art of fighting.” 

Luntran starts the fight with a huge swing of his enormous ax as Vivian leaps into the air and does a quick flip using the ax as a platform to stay in the air. It was clear that Luntran had great control of his ax but once the ax was in motion, it was hard to stop. Vivian started to strike with one of her wrist blades but Luntran was able to block the attack in time with his ax. “A weapon and a shield in one!” said Ed. “Will take some doing to get around that ax, Vivien Leblanc has her work cut out for her,” said Joe. Vivien faded back as Luntran raises his ax up high and pounds the ground with the blunt side shaking the ground. This attack almost knocks Vivien off her feet but she does all she can to keep her balance. The attack came too fast for her to react. The blunt end of the ax came around knocking Vivien off her feet and into the fence behind her. Luntran was charging at her with all eight of his legs pounding the ground and the ax in front of him making him look like a small army. “This match is over!” yelled Ed through the speakers. Luntran jumped forward to crush Vivien into the fence and slams in the linked metal. “Wow! Vivien makes a close escape!” yells Joe as Vivien continues to climb up the fence and jumps down on the spider half of Luntran. Luntran pulls back out of the bent fence as Vivien plunges one of her wrist blades into his back spilling the first drops of blood on the third ring floor. Luntran swung his heavy ax behind himself to try and get her off but she ducked low and dug her hands in the open wound. Luntran lets out a yell as Vivien starts to pull open the wound wider and wider. The twins were surprised. To be opening a wound like that on the back of a wolf-spider would take a large amount of strength. Luntran jumps and lands hard on his back and tries to squash her by dragging his back all over on the ground. Luntran gets back up but Vivien could not be seen anywhere. Even General Carcass was looking around confused on where she had gone. “If she had left the ring, she is disqualified,” said Ed. Suddenly, Luntran starts to scream and writhe around. It sounded like he was in pain. Amazingly, he starts to fall apart, His legs, his arms, as he hits the ground. Luntran stops yelling and lays motionless on the ground. “Is she invisible?” asked Christina. Vivien comes bursting out of the body of Luntran. His guts run all over the ground and they were shredded. Vivien was announced as the winner of the match. Christina quickly gets up and runs up the step holding her mouth with her right hand. “Excellent,” said a very entertained Haiku. 

Lady Slambrawn was chosen by the large female king cobra Hynthron to fight next. In turn, Lady Slambrawn picked Hynthron to fight her. Hynthron was a true female warrior. She was in armor with a full breast plate and shoulder guards. Lady Slambrawn however was dressed in silk and lace. She looked to be on her way to a tea party. She was in a white and blue dress with white lace at the seams with white gloves and to top it all off, a large straw hat with lace and a small stuffed bird on the extra wide brim. In her right hand was a white umbrella of lace made more to shade her from the sun then to be used in the rain. On her feet were white high heel shoes over lacey socks. Her face had more make-up on it than what could be in the tiny purse she had on her shoulder. She was a complete surprise to everyone. This dainty person is the human lightweight hand to hand combat champion. Lady Slambrawn closed her lace umbrella and walked very refined like to the center of the ring where Hynthron is standing. Hynthron makes the first move and launches her tail weapon to the delicate looking woman. Lady Slambrawn just takes a small step to the side and in one move, she grabs the tail, pulls it past herself and lets go as the momentum and weight of the weapon and tail pulled Hynthron to the ground and caused her to slide a few feet. Hynthron got back up again as Lady Slambrawn adjusted her gloved hand. “You insolent little bitchhhhhh,” said Hynthron as she came slithering back up to the woman. Hynthron throws a fast punch but Lady Slambrawn takes another sidestep and grabs Hynthron’s fist to pull it and lets go as the momentum of Hynthron’s attack pulls the large snake person to the ground once again. “The insolence is yours you monster. Women should always look their best no matter what they do,” said Lady Slambrawn in a very proper voice. “Oh yeah, she is dead,” said Salem. Hynthron gets up again and quickly does an off balance head strike with her poisoned tipped teeth out for the strike and her hood open with rage. Lady Slambrawn takes her umbrella and opens it in the mouth of the striking Hynthron keeping the large snake woman’s mouth wide open. Lady Slambrawn twists the curved handle of her umbrella and unsheathes the slender sword that was hidden inside as she grabs Hynthron’s hood and pulls her in the direction she was striking along with a short side step causing the large snake person to fall forward again. But this time Hynthron countered this by making for a grab for the woman to bring her to her poisoned teeth. Lady Slambrawn changes her direction by spinning on her right high heel, as she lets go of her sword. The hooked handle of Lady Slambrawn’s sword gets caught by one of the fingers of Hynthron’s very close passing hand and spins around as Hynthron brings it to her mouth. The sword goes into Hynthron’s mouth and the force from Hynthron’s hand pushes it onto the roof of her mouth and through her head. Blood gushes out of Hynthron’s open mouth and out of a small hole between the thick plates on her head. Hynthron thrashes around on the ground until she becomes motionless. Lady Slambrawn dusts off what little dirt got on her, and calls to someone outside the ring, “Dalton, parasol will you please!” A man in a butler’s outfit runs to the ring with two white lace umbrellas in his arms and tosses one over the fence as Lady Slambrawn holds out her arm. The white umbrella’s hook lands perfectly on the woman’s arm, as she puts it back down to stand at her seat. The event officials examine Hynthron and remove the now bloody umbrella and the sword from her mouth. Hynthron was declared dead and Lady Slambrawn the winner. Without notice, Arian had returned to the stage of which was now rising again as she announced that the last fights in each ring are about to begin after a quick clean-up. The event officials took two of the chairs and the bodies of the losing champions up ladders as others covered and removed blood and guts from the ring.

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