Chapter 9

It was rather surreal. A few minutes ago, I had been scared shitless. Now I feel nothing. Just nothing, and not much more. I had been scared but determined to go ahead and try, to fight for my life.

I had barley heard Vi's voice, or the cheering of the crowd, or Damas telling me to begin. All I really remember about the whole ordeal was the first guy. I'm not a good fighter. If anything, I'm a sharp-shooter, not a frontline grunt. The guy was massive and he got the better of me.

Then all I remember after that is standing in front of Damas, my head hurting and hands feeling they were caught on fire then mashed with a boulder. The king was giving a strange look, one that spoke of both caution and acceptance. Come to think about it, I was as much of a freak as Jak and he accepted him…

He gave me my amulet, telling me I did well. Then I left the arena as the next fight started. Vi was the one that really struck me out of my haze. "Damas loved ya!" She hugged me.

"What?" Except is came out more like, 'whup'.

She pulled me away to look at me. "What ya did in arena. I thought ya was fuck'd there fer a minute, but then ya started ta kick ass. People were getting fried like chicken! And then that answer. If I wasn't gay before, I am now. That was so sexy!" She finished her gushing and hugged me again.

What? The hell? "What answer?"

She looked at me for a moment. "The answer ya gave His Majesty."

"To what question?"

"How ya was electrifying people."

"And what was the answer?"

She was becoming increasingly worried for me but I had to know. "You were just talented like that…" So she can talk normally… "Ya had this big grin on yer face an' looked ready ta eat someone. It was so cool. Yur gunna fit in real well here." So much for proper grammar. As she picked up the previous speech pattern, her voice grew all gushy again. It was creepy, to say the least. And yet I was curious about her.

/-/-/

As an honorary wastelander until I get my other amulets, I get a house, a job, and a payment. The system is pretty simple really. When you only have parts of the amulet, then you are considered a newb. That when you get training and everyone wants to meet you. It's rather surprising how friendly these people are. They're not overly so but they aren't selfish either. If you have something they want, they'll ask for and give you something of equal value. But they know when you have nothing. Nothing is free, but they will except a slip of paper that says how much I owe them. Everyone calls it the Fresh Promise.

Another thing that surprised me is the unity in the people. If someone needs help, a bunch of people will come running without a moment's hesitation. It nothing like Haven, it's better.

I remember Krow telling me back when we still lived there, that Spargus was what civilization should look like. The citizens have to prove that they are strong enough to survive, and it gets nasty sometimes. But if you make it, the rewards are great. I have to admit, the fighting is worth it to be here. Krow was right when he said I belong in the desert.

/-/-/

"Up there," Vi pointed to a watch tower I don't remember being the game. It had a spiral staircase up it's center and a crown of head. It rose above the wall, but I noticed a ledge that fanned out. "Those towers are what record storms and the like."

She led me up. We were looking for a job for me. It was fun. I got to try the market place, but the merchant who was trying to teach me got fed up with my distracted nature. I kept asking what the items were called. He told me to make names up, as most didn't have any. They were all artifacts found out in the desert. The best I came up was this 'triangle shaped doo-hicky'. Vi thought it was hilarious, Nevin didn't; he just scowled.

We moved on and I tried the turret. The guy, Letem, just yelled at me with his weird accent and started cursing me in some other language when I accidently shot a squid and it rammed the tower. They had to throw flash bombs at it and cause a general ruckus to make it go away. It was also funny, once I was back on the ground…

Next we tried the monks, but Seem simply didn't like me. For that I relieved. I didn't want to wear rubber…

Now we are going to the car port to try out some other stuff. She tried to get me into a vehicle but I am terribly afraid of them. So we are going up to the tower to try and see if I'll make a good watchman.

We climbed up to the ledge, where the stairs broke off, then started again. I looked over the landing and saw what looked like white metal birds. I halted in my step and stared at the closest one, and the rider.

He was standing on top of, holding a lever and pumping it back and forth, trying to, for the life of him, make the machine start. At least that's what I was guessing he was trying to do. He was about my height, which was four foot three, maybe a little taller, really skinny, dark hair that was braided into a million little strings and brushing against his shoulders. He had that sharpest blue eyes I had ever seen on a person.

He noticed me watching him, and looked over. When he realized I was the newb, his face broke into a smile. I nearly choked.

"Hey," he called. I melted.

"Ma name's Zeljeko."

I giggled, couldn't help it. I've heard some really cool names in my time here but that was the top of cake. "Tox."

I could almost feel Vi roll her eyes as she dragged me up the stairs. Once we were out of earshot, she turned to me. "Stop flirting with ma brother."

"Brother? And I wasn't flirting!"

She made a good impression of a giggling school girl. "Tox," she mimicked in a flirty voice.

"I don't sound like that!" Oh crap, I did sound like an idiot!

She must have read my face and laughed. "Tha's okay. I'm sure he didn't notice with the way his eyes were practically molestin' ya."

I glared but felt my face heat up anyway. First encounter with a somewhat cute boy, I lose my cool. Who am I kidding, he was a god! Now to see if his personality is as nice as his face… "Your brother, eh?"

She said nothing as we made it to the top of the tower and looked out into the desert. The view was absolutely amazing. The guy that was already up there smiled as he watched me take everything in. "On a really clear night, you can even see the lights of Haven to the south, and Kras in the north." He pointed to each direction as he spoke, looking prideful in his work.

"That's amazing."

Just then, something shiny in the sky caught my attention and I watched something that had been hiding in the clouds make a dive to the ground then dive back up again. I pointed at it as it disappeared again into the clouds. "What was that?"

For a second, I thought he was going to tell me I was crazy but then he pointed down to the ledge where Zeljeko was still working on the bird machine. "A glider probably."

"What do they do?"

"Look for stuff out in the desert for the car to come pick up."

"That's how you was found." Vi broke in. "Ma big brother."

"Zeljeko," that was really a cool name…

"Yup." Vi suddenly seemed to get an idea. "Ya ain't afraid a heights, are ya?"

I looked at, then to make my point, I sat on the railing that stopped people from falling.

She smiled and then waved me over. We walked down to the platform again, where Zel finally got the glider working. He pushed down the lever and with a gout of blue flames the machine rocketed off the ledge and into the air.

"I want to do that!" I yelled as I watched him soar into the sky and disappear into the clouds.

"I was hoping," Vi said. "We lost a pilot a few weeks ago and have been short ever since. Pilots are hard to come by."

"What happened to them?"

"Stayed too close ta the ground for too long. Number one mistake. Never land in the desert; if the metal head don't get ya, the maries will."

I nodded. "Do I still get to fly one?"

"If what I just said don't scare ya away, then yes."

I grinned. "Let's fly then."

She pulled out a glider for me from a rotating rack that rested in the wall, showed me how to start one, then let me loose.

It was both frightening and so much fun. I had never felt so alive in my entire life. Once we were in the air, she was a pilot too, she taught me how to steer, what clouds to stay away from, and how to spot stuff on the ground. Then she showed me how to land. By the time we were back on ground level, the sun was setting and I was ready to collapse in a bed.

XXX

Broken Wolf/D.R.M.