16
Alti hissed in pain as another sting of the guard's whip cracked against her back, rending the flesh open and bloody. For the last month, the guards had taken extreme pleasure in punishing her any way they could find, including throwing her to more than one volatile gladiator intent on raping her to within a breath of life. They'd even tried to tell her that Ariana was dead, killed in the infirmary during a miscarriage, and took pleasure as grief and horror danced in spades across her eyes. If not for her friend, the Steel Wolf- or Ciro as she called him when the guards were gone- she would have lost herself to grief.
It only took a week for her to realize they'd lied to her after overhearing a quiet conversation between two of the newer faces in the guard rotation. She'd fought them at every turn after that, refusing to cry out or scream at any measure of torture they threw her way. Even the gladiators grudgingly gave her steel resolve some measure of respect.
The stadium had come close to breaking her, but she'd proven she wouldn't be that easy to break.
"Is that all you've got? It tickles." She rasped when the whip stopped, sagging against the chains holding her in place.
"Don't get too close! Remember! She's still able to kill you. Kill the fire before you go near her. The bitch can still use magic."
Alti smirked, her eyes flashing with amusement when they landed on two of the newer guards in what she'd dubbed her torture rotation. She'd killed a few over the last month; They'd finally gotten it into their heads that the magic canceling cuffs didn't keep her magic from her entirely- her hatred of them kept the magic fires nicely lit within her body. She'd even killed a fighter or two that they'd tried to use in an effort to subdue her and they'd taken to keeping the lighting as low as possible in order to keep shadows from forming along the walls. Now any time they wanted to move her, a contingent of at least six guards entered her cell together. Two for her feet, two for her hands, one to hold her head in place and the last to blindfold her.
"Why the hell can't we just kill her?"
"That would solve everyone's problems wouldn't it!" Another of the guards agreed.
Alti rolled her eyes. She'd heard this complaint plenty over the last month too.
"We're to keep her alive. The king himself wants to use her in an event he's putting together at the end of the summer. In the meantime, we get to have fun watching her bleed."
The sudden bite of cold steel against her left hip wrung an unexpected hiss from her lips before she had the sense to force herself silent. "That's cute. You've changed from a feather duster to a toothpick. What's wrong boys… couldn't get it up for the fighters so you have to practice with me?"
"You little bitch!"
She chuckled even as her head whipped to the side with the force of the fist connecting to her jaw. "Was that supposed to hurt? It was nothing more than a love tap."
Alti's muscles tensed when she felt the tip of a steel blade pressed to her belly, the tip digging in enough to pull blood from the scratch it made. One of the guards had moved close to her before she was deemed safe and sneered down into her face. "I'll gut you like a fucking pig if you don't shut your mouth, you filthy little bitch."
She snorted. "You'd die first. I'd take so much pleasure in watching your carcass sink into the dirt."
"You fucking worm!" He snarled raising his sword.
"Anhaern Step away! Calm yourself and keep your distance from her. She's just baiting you. Leave her to rot, we've got rounds to cover. They're bringing fresh fighters in and we need to inspect them."
"She wasn't worth it anyways." Alti grunted as she was dropped unceremoniously onto the floor of her cage, the guards in a hurry to take their pleasures out on the new fighters.
The slamming of the cell door echoed around her, fading with the sounds of booted footsteps as the cellblock was locked again. Ciro sighed and shook his head, taking in the state of the woman next to him. He wasn't the only one, either. In the cell to her left, a gladiator with long black hair and purple eyes watched the two without saying a word.
"You can't keep baiting them like that." He huffed, even if his eyes gave his amusement away.
Alti struggled to sit up and shrugged. "They won't kill me. You heard them."
"They might not have to." The dark-haired fighter mused.
"Meaning?" Both Ciro and Alti eyed him. This fighter in particular rarely ever made a sound.
"Your wounds could kill you for them. They'd have a valid excuse at that point. The king would spare their lives if you were to die due to infection."
Ciro frowned at the threat in those words. "He's right. That might be their intention at the very least." He eyed the other man- one he'd fought with in a four- way match just a month ago and grimaced.
"They'll have poisoned blades next. I've seen them carelessly use those blades on other women here who have been defiant of their wishes."
Alti arched an eyebrow. "I'm not afraid of them…"
"No one is saying you are afraid. The guards and some of the other fighters are actually afraid of you."
She smirked. "But not you?"
The man shrugged. "Death and I are old friends I guess. It seems you are a friend as well."
She shrugged. "It's possible. So, you're a decent fighter then?"
Ciro snorted. "He's the only one I've ever walked away from thankful to be alive."
"You fought well, were we to actually have fought against one another I think things would have been different."
Even Ciro nodded. "I'd imagine they would be. You won me a night with a dear friend though and allowed us to move her plan for freedom into motion. I'm forever thankful for that."
"You're a worthy opponent." He mused. "While I didn't know about such plans, I'm happy to annoy the man who calls himself king."
"I wish they would let females fight. I'd show them worthy." Alti sighed.
"You'd probably rival the Dark Eagle." Ciro snorted.
Her eyes rolled but she grinned at her friend. "Mmm… that could be fun. Defeating the fabled unkillable gladiator."
The man beside them snorted in amusement. "He might not be so easy to defeat."
"I think I'd stand a decent chance. Gladiators fight in the sunshine. Sunshine means shadows. They'd not be able to stop me."
"No?" He'd only recently been moved closer to her cell. He'd heard rumors of her breaking her magic canceling cuffs, but he'd seen no evidence of it as of yet.
"No, these stupid cuffs take away most of my power, but I can still feel the shadows… not very well, but I can feel them." Her eyes closed and a frown danced over her lips. "It's a comfort for me, to feel my magic even for a moment anymore."
"I think I understand completely." He mused.
Ciro sighed and nodded his head in agreement, though the thought of her life finally being snuffed out disheartened him greatly. "I think you would fight until your heart burst."
"Imagine the look on king Karadin's face were you to win." The other fighter grinned.
They all snickered at the idea. "He'd be furious."
"He'd order you both killed." Ciro huffed after a moment.
"He'd have just as much trouble killing me as he would your friend there." Their companion snorted.
"What do they call you then?" Alti asked.
"In the ring, they call me the Dark Eagle. But here, between us… please, call me Zen."
Alti's eyes went wide in surprise. "You… you're the Dark Eagle?" She took in his appearance, trying to reconcile her friends description of the man she'd claimed was doting and gentle with her when they'd spent the night together in his cell.
"I am."
She snorted and shook her head in amusement. "Our friend told me to give you my respect. You gave her a son."
Zen arched an eyebrow towards her. "I'm sure Karadin loved that."
"She's alive for that reason alone." Ciro sighed. "Any females who produce a daughter after time spent with you are slated to die."
"All the more reason to leave this place in ruins." She hissed.
"Alti, please, be cautious. I couldn't bare losing you… you're something wild and precious…a friend to be sure. Don't give the guards a reason to kill you." Ciro's voice was pleading as she turned her attention back to him.
"As much trouble as I've caused for king Karadin? If I die before he's had a chance to publicly execute me, heads are going to roll." She grinned when the Dark Eagle himself chuckled.
"You think that's what'll happen?"
She winced when she shrugged again. "Since I've been in this place, I've caused no less than thirty deaths."
"Quite the number you've claimed." Zen mused.
She nodded. "It's no less a fact. Sixteen of those number were guards- the idiot replacements eager to prove themselves, seven of them were berserkers they have patrolling the halls and the last seven were fighters they placed into my cell before Ariana was taken away."
"That was the night they found out your magic isn't as suppressed as it should be." Ciro grinned. "They also made the choice to keep you down here even after Ari left."
Alti nodded. "They think that by leaving me down here with the fighters it'll scare me. Truth is, I'm not really afraid of much. I was born free in Bosco to Clan Aranea, I won't back down from them. It'll take more than what they've done already to scare me."
"You're either fearless or you've resigned yourself to death before this all ends." Ciro mused.
"Exactly. Only, I don't plan on dying any time soon, Ciro."
He held up his bed roll and ripped a few long strips from it. "Come here, let me help you."
Alti smiled and slowly moved closer to him. "We'll get out of here, Ciro. I promise." She looked to her left catching Zen's eyes, "We'll all get out of here alive, and soon at that. I can feel it."
"Somehow, when you say it with such conviction, I believe we will." Ciro smiled.
Even Zen sighed and a soft smile danced across his lips at the thought of freedom. It was a novelty to him he'd never thought to picture; that kind of hope was dangerous. He could only wonder what the feeling of sunshine on his back would feel like without the shackles of slavery clapped tightly around his wrists. He'd forget the feeling in the morning, but for the moment, he'd indulge his companions.
Freedom was just another lie fed to the dying, after all.