But when she had awoken she had become an enraged animal, she cursed and spit, even with the shackles around her arms and legs she still managed to become a danger, even with the four powerful guards holding her down they struggled. "Get the fuck off me you vermin!", Tira screamed, her face was red and full of anger, she kicked one of the guards in the face, he fell back bleeding, a guard holding her arms moved to strike her but the commander ordered that she not be harmed. "Hold her, she is but a little girl, and you call yourselves the Lord's guards, hah!" The guards grew angry, the commander knew not what power the girl had, were he not here they would show her what slave girls are born for. "Put her in her cell, shackle her facing the wall, NOW!" The commander was annoyed already, he still had many other matters to attend. "Are her articles clean?" A woman dressed in ratty clothing shuffled up," Yes sir, we have put them in her cell." The commander sneered," Very well, get back to work!" The woman shuffled off.
"Well mam, you are a fighter of immense potential, our Lord doesn't seem to notice or he does not care, but I have, and I wish to give you an edge on today's battle." The commander spoke sinisterly toward Tira, she was chained facing the wall naked, her body shivering in the night air. "I know what edge you want to give me you disgusting fool, release me now and I will not kill you.", Tira's heart burned with hatred at the thought of her losing her virginity to some roman vermin, to be violated in some dark and damp dungeon, she longed to see Nightmare, to see him ripping through the front gates to rescue her, to save her from this vile end.
"This is a gladiator arena, some of the best warriors are here today, along with some of the most powerful animals we could capture, prove yourself and become the victor, I know you can." He stood behind, she could feel his breathing on her back, then she felt his hands moving up her sides towards her arms, then her elbows. "Kill them and you shall be treated like a master, though your days of freedom are at an end, you may find that this life is better suited to you than scratching a living off of rocks." The commander spoke with soft but frightening words, his hand reached up to her hand, she gritted her teeth, waiting for him to penetrate her from behind, the sound of clicking, she closed her eyes.
To her surprise her arms and legs came free of the shackles, she stumbled backward and fell to the floor. The commander stood before her, holding a key he had inserted into a lock on the wall, he smiled then walked out of the cell, the door closing behind him then locking. She was at a loss, how could this vile man have just let her alone, she looked around the room, a mattress of hay lay in the corner, her cloths were folded neatly and placed on a wooden table to her right. She quickly got up and dressed, and she began to think. They have something more vile waiting for her than just a mere sex slave, he spoke of an upcoming battle and gladiators, and the fact that she was going to fight in this arena, maybe this wouldn't be so bad as she thought.
The morning after she was led in an iron collar to the surface, the sun was bright, many slaves surrounded her, she stood out among them for she was clean while the other slaves were dirty and wearing ratty clothing. She surveyed the area she was in, gladiators practiced with wooden swords, huge hulking men playing with fake swords caused her to smile. "Slaves! You are now the property of Lord Aziz, ruler of the border arena called Starcia, you belong to him and no other, you will live and die based on his word alone, do not forget it!" It was the roman commander that she had already become acquainted with, he was in his official uniform, he walked slowly, examining the slaves.
Tira remained the only female slave that was categorized into the gladiator section, she felt good about that, she smiled and narrowed her eyes as the commander passed by her. "Give them their weapons, the battle starts today!" The commander yelled and walked into a door,
Tira was pushed into a large stone hall way facing the arena along with all the other gladiators, a huge barred door stood between her and the arena, the arena ground itself was quite large, hundreds, perhaps thousands of spectators filled the surrounding seats, they were all cheering and waving, the sound of grinding iron could be heard as other free lance gladiators were already in the arena, they were massive men, one caught Tira's attention as soon as she saw him, he was the biggest man she had ever seen, if a man he was, he had the head of a mammoth, he welded a giant mace, he swung it around and around over his head, she could actually hear it from this side of the arena, the sound of its weight cutting through the air caused her adrenaline to start flowing, the other gladiators around her began to ready themselves, she could tell some were spoiling to get out there and battle, others she could smell their fear.
Behind her the commander was handing out weapons, mostly short stabbing swords and buckler shields, but to the larger men he gave lances and giant shields, when he got to her he handed her Aisel Nedrossel, her beloved ring blade. He smiled at her then walked away, Tira looked at him with mistrust, this man's vileness was without end.
The other gladiators began to yell and scream, they waved their weapons over their head, Tira too began to scream, the iron gate swung open and they all stampeded out of the corridor, the sun was hot and the ground was dusty and full of sand, she looked forward and saw the other gladiators charge toward the others, she locked her gaze upon a dark man holding a spear with a small axe head on its tip, she rushed toward him, Aisel in hand. When she reached him he laughed, "They send me a little girl to kill? Well your blood shall be the first to cover my lance!"
He charged forward, the long spear rushed toward her, she sidestepped then swung her ring blade around and cut into the man's unprotected side, his blood squirted out as he fell to his knees screaming. She held her head back, feeling the man's pain, it filled her with lovely feelings of pure pleasure, she wanted more.
She met another gladiator welding two battle axes, he swung at her, she dodged most of the blows as the gladiator began to tire, she jumped forward, kicking the man in the face, he fell back and she severed the man's arms with two quick movements. She ran across the arena killing left and right, Aisel was drenched in blood, she felt the eyes of the surging crowd following her every movement, she was in pure ecstasy.
All around the other gladiators fought, many fell under crushing blows and razor sharp blades, blood splashed everywhere. "Halt", It was the commander again," Now that the strongest of you has been determined, let us see how well you work together against some of the most powerful beasts in the world, Behold! the Great Bull of the South!" A gate slid open and a monstrous bull barreled out, it was three times the size of a normal bull, its head was covered with three sets of giant horns and its back was covered with a row of horns running back to its tail, it bellowed and stamped its feet. "Behold the Lord of the Echani Forest, the Blue Elephant!" Another gate swung open and a huge elephant rumbled out, its dry patchy skin blueish in color, it had four tusks, and small ears but its back was huge and muscular, much like the bull's, its front legs seemed longer than the back, its eyes glowed red, it reared up letting out a screeching roar, its trunk swinging high in the air. "And now the last, the Enchanted Protector of the Underground Labyrinth, the White Tiger!" Another gate opened and out walked a giant tiger, twice the size of the largest tigers, it too, was heavily musculared, its fur white with black stripes, its eyes glowed blue, it began to roar showing its white fangs.
"The last human standing shall be the victor, gladiators! Die with honor!" Then the beasts attacked, Tira was on the other side of the arena, she watched as a band of gladiators grouped together to try and ward off the bull, it crashed through them, trampling many, it swung its head up, catching many of them, their body's catapulted into the air. Another gladiator picked up a spear from the ground then lodged it at the giant elephant, the spear pierced the elephants skull, it roared, tearing the spear in half, it charged toward the gladiator, he jumped up trying to land at the top of its head, but the elephant swung its trunk down, smashing the gladiator to the ground, he was then crushed beneath its feet.
The tiger launched itself at four gladiators who had been working together, they all fell back attempting to block the tigers claws, but the tiger cut easily through the men's armor, they all fell bleeding. Tira saw the bull charging through the other gladiators toward her, she crouched down, ready to jump onto its back. It came up and she launched upward, landing on its back, she was almost impaled by its back spikes, the bull took no notice of her, already there were swords and spears sunk into its sides, blood flowed off and was trailing behind the bull, she climbed down toward its head, she lodged Aisel around the bull's head spikes, she yanked back, causing the bull to stop and rear up, it bellowed in the process.
She relinquished a bit, the bull began its charge again, she steered it toward the gladiators who were smart enough to have gotten out of its way before, now they had no chance, she used the bull to trample many, ahead of her the great elephant fought with the man with the mammoth head, the giant man was holding the elephant back by its tusks, using his giant mace, its front feet were actually lifting into the air, they both were roaring.
Tira steered the bull toward the two fighters, she pointed the bull at the elephant, she jumped off as the bull collided with the elephant, the bull pushing the elephant toward the wall, they crashed against the stone, denting the granite like soft clay, the elephant instantly got to its feet, it swung its head sideways, striking the bull's midsection, the bull fell sideways, crashing to the ground. The elephant reared up on its feet and stomped down on the stunned bull, crushing its ribcage, the bull bellowed as blood squirted out its mouth, it struggled and lay still. The elephant placed its right front leg on the bull's dead body, lifting its head it bellowed a victory cry.
"Beast, your battle is with me!", the man with the mammoth head roared. Tira watched as the Elephant roared and began to charge the man, he began to swing his mace around his head, faster and faster. The elephant was nearly upon the man when he swung it into the elephants head, the elephants head caved in with a sickening crunch, it still ran forward, passing the man, it crashed into the wall, blood spattering its surface, the elephant made a choking noise then fell over, it convulsed then died.
"Is that all you got Aziz?", the man roared. Tira heard a deep growl behind her, she turned and saw the tiger, it had made short work of the surviving gladiators, it had one wound, a slash across its left eye. It glared at the giant man, it stalked slowly forward keeping low. Tira hid herself behind the fallen elephant, watching the tiger hone in on the giant, he took no notice.
The tiger lunged forward, the giant barely guarded as the tiger fell upon him, he fell back, holding the tigers claws at bay using the hilt of his giant mace, the tiger's claws began to glow blue, they pierced into the iron haft of the mace, but before it could cut its way through, it snarled, lessening its pressure on the giant, he pushed forward, throwing the tiger off, he slowly got up, watching the tiger writhing on the ground, blood was spraying out of a wound in the back of its head, its eyes slowly stopped glowing as it died.
Tira stood up, she walked to the giant sweating man, she stared up at him, her height only to his waist, just one of his legs probably weighed more than her whole body, she looked up into his eyes," You owe me, help me escape and I shall call it even!" The giant looked down at the small girl, he slowly nodded his head. "Two warriors are left, kill each other and one of you shall be the victor, fight! NOW!", the commander yelled.
The giant man turned and came lifted a pile of crushed swords, he held them back and threw them all at the commander, the commander's eyes widened as two of the swords pierced into his chest, he looked down, unable to comprehend what just happened, to be killed by a gladiator, that was not the way he was supposed to die, he screamed," Execute them!" These were his last words, he kneeled down, falling forward he died.
The giant turned toward the front gates, he charged forward, using his body like a battering ram, he smashed through the bars, he stopped and yelled," Come, this is the way out!" Tira darted forward, running through the twisted bars, she followed the giant man through the city streets, the guards too, fearful to try and stop the giant, they hid themselves behind corners, the beggars and thieves all fled at his presence.
The giant came to the front gates, "Open the gates now or I will crush you!" He roared, the gates men quickly nodded their heads, they barely unlatched the doors when the giant pushed through them. "You are free, go now, we are even." The giant said, looking at Tira. "Before I go, what is your name?" Tira asked, her inquisitiveness seemed to relent the giant's hard nature, he bowed his head," I am Rock, I am from across the great sea." Tira tilted her head, she walked to Rock's side, placing her hand on his hip, she said in a soft voice," Thank you Rock, my name is Tira." Rock looked down at her again, he snorted, then walked away from the city.
Tira watched him with wonder, such a powerful being, this man was undoubtedly almost as strong as Nightmare was, but she couldn't sense any hate or evil from him, to see such power with out the help of darkness was truly wondrous, her young and innocent look disappeared from her face, then a sinister and dark smile crossed her lips, she narrowed her eyes, this man's soul must be the one that Nightmare wants, and it was up to Tira to take it, she walked toward Rock, following him.