Chapter 26: Rumble In The Bloodworks

It was still dark when I reached the Arena. I scurried up to Owyn's office and locked the rings inside his safe, locking the office door behind me when I left. Entering the Bloodworks seemed strange, the door latch had been shattered by the guards when they busted in. The door just pushed open with an eerie creak. There was a sense of something not right in the air as I walked down the steps. The outer room was milling with Pit Dogs, the ones Owyn had rounded up from the prison just days before. It was a relief to see Gils standing there in the middle of the room. I called to him.

Gils turned at the sound of my voice, his face showed something was not right.

"What is it Gils?"

He looked back at the room then back at me. "Where is Owyn?"

"Has he not been released?"

"You're the first one that has come back." Gils face looked very tense, a muscle in his jaw was rippling.

I dropped my pack next to my mat and hurried back to the bathing pool, wanting to wash the memories of that filthy prison cell off me. I scrubbed myself almost raw, listening to the sounds coming from the outer room of the Bloodworks. Were they fighting in there? It sounded like shouting.

Something didn't feel right, and instinctively I put my armor back on and hurried out into the main room. A strong tension filled the air. The door swung shut behind me with a loud bang and suddenly it felt like something snapped. The new Pit Dogs Owyn had picked up from the prison were milling, restless…glances at me that didn't look right. An undercurrent mirrored from one to the next like lightning cutting a jagged path through them. I could sense the force of it. It was a feeling of danger, tangible implications of thought and intent. Palpable. Where was Gils?

Dormant instincts for self preservation welled up in me, pushing my feet to the corner so no one could flank me. I kicked my shoes off as I moved and my claws unsheathed and extended of their own volition. I was trembling, my eyes widened and my ears pinned to my head. I felt my hackles rising, the fur spiking out stiffly as the blood in my veins thickened and gelled. My tail slapped the walls behind me in a rapid beat.

They surged as a unit, a mob communicating through impulses that could be sensed emanating from them. I saw a very battered Gils charging through them to stand in front of me, trying to push them back. Several had begun taking their pants off. I felt rather than heard a sound rising up from deep within me that could only be the battle cry of my leopard ancestry.

"Look, she's got her claws out. What are you gonna' do with those claws, cat?" One of them sneered. He was naked and coming closer.

"Decapitate you, one head or the other." I hissed. Everyone hooted. He stepped back some, but then someone pushed him towards me from behind. I shoved him back off, but this time he came back of his own accord. I raised my arm like I was going to swat him and as he looked up at it I kicked, claws extended into his crotch area.

His scream was horrible, it echoed above the raucous taunting of the others and bounced off the stone walls. The others quieted down some and started milling, as if unsure of what to do next.

"Leave me alone and no one gets hurt." I growled it, trying to sound commanding but I was visibly shaking.

Gils was shoving as many back as he could but more would come. Then he started swinging at them. The tension in the air changed suddenly to an unbridled rage and they began attacking Gils, who had remained in front of me trying to block their attack. I cast my 'Eye of Khajiit' and the front line of them nearly climbed over the others to get away.

While we had that break I moved to the side of Gils. He was hurt already. I slid Agronak's ring off and grabbed his hand while we had a second to breathe. I slid it on Gils' finger and then pumped it once before the mob started attacking again. He moved beside me so he couldn't be flanked anymore.

It felt like the waves of attacks would never stop, and that was the last break we got till it was over. I kicked one in the head, digging my claws in and shredding a large chunk out of his scalp. Blood spurted wildly from his head. He reeled around screaming and leaving trails of it everywhere he went.

Head wounds bleed very heavily even when they are just superficial injuries. They are great for psychological warfare, terrorizing both the bleeder and their comrades with the sheer volume of blood flow. Khajiit claws are razor sharp, and can tear a scalp with ease.

"Pump that ring Gils! Pump it!" I yelled it, but I couldn't tell if he could hear me.

Gils' fist was like lightning. He was throwing knock-out punches at anyone he could reach. Two more swarmed in. I shredded one's scalp and face but the other I missed and only lightly clawed his abdomen. He snarled and charged in. Using the wall behind me as leverage I shot my foot out in a twisting kick. My claws caught on his manhood and tore it nearly off.

Another charged and Gils' fist smashed his eye socket hard enough that the bones could be heard crushing.

There was a turning point then, half the mob got into a blood lust rage and the rest backed off scared. Gils and I fought bare handed. It is against the rules to pull a weapon on another within the Bloodworks itself. If you are attacked you are only allowed to defend yourself using hand to hand. Some of the attackers broke that rule, pulling weapons on us. Gils and I were both cut up pretty badly. When a weapon was dropped we tried to kick it behind us so another couldn't pick it up.

Seventeen lay severely wounded at the end. I don't know how many of those Gils brought down with his fist because the ones whose scalps I tore bled all over so every one of the wounded was covered in blood. It looked like a war had taken place in the Bloodworks, wounded laying everywhere.

The key to the healing fount was with Owyn at the prison. With my claws I was able to keep the fight at a distance, but Gils just had his fists, and had taken the brunt of the damage between the two of us. He was flagging badly. I grabbed his hand and slid my ring on his finger several times to rally him, then pulled him with me to my pack.

"Cover me." I said, digging down for my healing potion and scrolls. I used Hannibal's trick to multiply the potion, hitting the enchanted scrolls against the bottle of potion. It causes magic without a spell to cling to the bottle. Then if you gently drop the bottle the magic bounces between the floor and bottle and poof, you have several bottles. I gave them to Gils till he said he was good. Then I started drinking them. I kept making them and dividing them after that, and we tucked them in our pockets for emergencies. The emergency came soon.

Some of the prisoners that gave up had escaped out the broken door but a few found us in the inner area and started the attack again. Some of the wounded ones got back up and attacked as well, but they were weak from their wounds or blood loss. Gils and I had both drank enough healing potion to rally us for the fight. Gils had just knocked one out when we heard the door flapping against the stone wall. Someone was coming slowly. We backed into the corner and I split the last few bottles of healing potion with Gils quickly. He drank one and pocketed the other two. I did the same.

Owyn's face loomed around the corner looking stunned.

"Owyn!" I squealed and ran to him, hugging him nearly to death.

"What in the hell happened in here?" He asked, for once not bellowing. His voice sounding like he may be going into shock.

"It was self defense Owyn, and we only used hand to hand, we didn't break any rules." I called out, nervous.

"Hand to hand…you tore that guys [censored] almost clean off!" Owyn was walking around looking at the wounded.

"It got caught in my claws when I was doing the decapitation on him. I'm sorry Owyn, but they attacked me, I had to defend myself. Gils risked his life protecting me, he only used his fists too. The prisoners used swords on us though, and some escaped."

Gils stepped forward. "If there is any blame to be laid I'll take it. I should have got her out of here as soon as she stepped in the door. You should have seen her when they attacked Owyn. She was like a wildcat, ripping and shredding anyone that came close to her. Then she made some healing potions somehow and got us both healed because the fount was locked up. We were in bad shape from the ones that used weapons against us."

Owyn set up a triage where he determined who needed healing most. The whole time he worked on the attackers he was notating their injuries in his logbook. Gils helped pull men to the fount for Owyn and also helped me clean up the bloody mess.

The chute door slammed and I looked up to see Jack Thompson had come in down the chute and was looking stunned. This was awfully early for him to be here, I wondered if it was over my escaping. I gave him an apologetic look and quickly went to work cleaning the blood while he talked to Owyn.

******* Jack Thompson

It was a relief to see Maxical alive, although she and Gils were both wounded.

"Owyn, have you got everything under control down here? I need to see you as soon as you get finished here."

Owyn had nodded briefly, continuing to work on a boy that appeared to have lost his appendage. Jack glanced over at Maxical, then at the wounded. There were clawed heads and crotches stretched out as far as the eye could see. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had occurred.

"Owyn. I have to know if she was harmed in the attack."

"Hell no she wasn't! She and Gils did all this fighting them off! I didn't get out till this morning."

"Just the two of them?"

"Yep."

"I want all the prisoners sent back that were here. I won't tolerate this kind of thing in the Bloodworks."

"Some of them escaped. Should I continue healing these? Some of these won't make it if I don't."

"Yes, go ahead. I'll contact the prison to come get them."

"Say Jack, they kicked in the door last night, can you requisition me a good stout door that can't be kicked in? And I want a new latch with a different key lock just in case that Agronak had himself one made. He was in the Bloodworks the other night after lockdown. I'm banning him from my Bloodworks, Haki can do what he wants."

"You got it Owyn. I'll have a rush put on it."

Jack caught my eye before leaving and flashed me the Arena sign for victory.