Axel stared at the delicate reed between his fingers, deciding he was satisfied with having made ten of these special tricks. He dropped it carefully into a leather pouch with the others, and tied the pouch at his side. He knelt to the creek to wash the materials from his hands before rejoining Marluxia at the training square in the school.
"Have you prepared your distraction?" Axel asked.
Marluxia patted a leather satchel twice the size of Axel's at his side. "But I would rather not resort to this method and stick to using my skill."
"Of course," Axel nodded, though he wanted to play as dirty as the other teams would.
Sol's chariot rested at the peak of the sky at the time of the chariot race.
At one of Marluxia's sides was a quiver of arrows, and at the other was his leather satchel.
Axel kept his small pouch concealed from view, in case of having it confiscated. As it turned out, Marluxia's satchel was not confiscated, but the contents of the pouch were far too precious to lose.
The requirements of the race were loose, therefore any tricks to guarantee victory could be pulled as long as there was no visible damage done to any chariots or horses to prevent a victory.
"Ready to lose to us?" Larxene called out to Marluxia.
"You're mistaken," Marluxia stated simply, gripping the reins of the horse.
There would be five chariots participating, each carrying a pair of gladiators. Most of them Axel didn't know personally, besides Larxene and Aqua, but perhaps that would make winning seem less like a celebratory occasion.
The chariots lined up at one end of the arena, the horses whinnying anxiously to wait for the whip to sting their skin.
Larxene rolled her chariot by the side of Axel and Marluxia's, grinning the way a snake does before striking.
"Let the chariot race begin!" Luxord announced, spreading his arms above the arena like a god spreading a malicious plague. The plague in this case would be the crowd's greed for violence.
"On your marks...get set...GO!"
Marluxia lashed the reins, and the pair of sleek black horses galloped forward.
Axel gripped the chariot, the bumpiness of the chariot speeding across the dirt making it difficult to retrieve one of his reeds.
"Is anyone gaining on us?" Marluxia shouted.
"Larxene and Aqua are arriving quickly! What should I do?" Axel replied.
"Take the reins!" Marluxia shoved them at Axel before letting go and gripping onto the side of the chariot as they made the first turn.
Marluxia stuffed his hand into the satchel, grabbing a handful of the contents.
Larxene and Aqua's chariot gained speed, almost so close that Marluxia could've reached out and touched their horses. Marluxia tore his hand from the satchel and let the contents flutter toward them on the wind: a flurry of white petals.
The petals clung to the girls' hair and faces, temporarily obscuring their vision. The chariot slowed slightly. Above the clamor, Larxene growled in annoyance. She reached for her side, producing a whip longer than the one used on the horses. She cracked the whip, and Marluxia stumbled back. His arms stung with tiny red webs creeping across them.
"What's wrong?" Axel demanded.
"Her whip is like lightning..." Marluxia seethed, "but they're further from us now..."
As they approached the first lap, Axel ducked his body down to feel the wind whipping though him. A blast of cold wetness bloomed on his shoulder, and he glanced in the direction it had come from.
Another chariot had gained enough speed to catch up with them, carrying two gladiators by the names of Zexion and Demyx. Demyx was often known to fill thinned animal skins with water that burst apart when they came in contact with something going at a perfect speed.
Axel delicately opened the pouch, pulling out one of the reeds. He brought the reed to his lips, blowing into it. From the reed bloomed tendrils of red flames. Demyx' eyes widened in surprise, and he pushed Zexion's shoulder to urge him to drive away from the flames. In return, Zexion yanked the reins toward himself, slowing the horses. Axel's chariot pulled ahead and completed the first of five laps.
The horses were growing restless at Axel's touch, and he soon passed the reins to Marluxia. Their hooves thudded against the dirt like Jupiter's thunderclaps.
Larxene and Aqua's chariot gained speed again, pulling up beside Axel and Marluxia's.
Marluxia crammed his hand into the satchel again, sprinkling the girls with another flurry of petals. Larxene lashed her whip at them, as if to stun them out of the air. One of the whip's tendrils slapped against Marluxia's hand, and he retracted it from the reins for a moment.
The chariot grew rickety and skittered back and forth.
"Marluxia!" Axel hollered, and Marluxia returned to his senses and gripped the reins.
Larxene lashed her whip again, striking Axel's chest. The pain flooded throughout his body, stinging him.
Axel dipped his fingers into the pouch again, pulling out another reed. He crouched behind the wall of the chariot before popping up and spraying flames at the opposing chariot.
Aqua lashed the reins, hoping to slip just out of the fire's grasp, but one of the flames licked the floor of the chariot. Larxene stamped it out furiously as Axel and Marluxia sped up again.
The chariot careened toward finishing another lap, with only three more to follow.
A chariot containing unrecognized gladiators to Axel picked up speed, and Marluxia hissed a strategy into Axel's ear.
Axel brought another reed up to his lips while Marluxia wrapped the reins around his wrist. He drew his bow, releasing the arrow just as Axel blew flames into the air. The arrow sliced through the flames, managing to catch fire and lodge itself into the front of the enemy chariot. The fire licked the arrow up first, but remained on the front of the chariot. The terrified gladiators slapped at the fire to extinguish it, but to no avail.
Another lap was successfully collected as Axel and Marluxia prepared to burst across the finish line to victory.
Marluxia's satchel of flower petals grew increasingly scarce in supply, and he used the last on a rather unimportant set of enemies.
The finish line seemed to reach out to them with invisible hands, yanking them closer and closer.
Out from nowhere, Larxene and Aqua pulled ahead. Larxene stuck her tongue out at the young men as they raced ahead.
Without thinking, Axel retrieved one of the reeds and brought it to his lips.
"Axel no!" Marluxia protested, but Axel blew forth the flames that were pushed back to them as the wind carried them. Marluxia gripped Axel's armor straps and dragged him down behind the chariot wall. The flames managed to singe the tips of their hair.
Another one of Demyx's water pouches burst against Axel's hip, drenching his pouch of reeds. Now it would be difficult for Axel to produce fire, a cunning plan even if Demyx hadn't been able to see the pouch of reeds.
Demyx whipped another water pouch, watching it burst between Larxene's eyes. Larxene squeezed her eyes shut, reeling back and knocking into Aqua. Aqua lost control of the reins and their chariot skittered.
Axel fumbled with the reeds, frantic to find one that was still dry before Demyx and Zexion crossed the finish line. At last he found one and pressed it to his lips. Fire blossomed out of the reed, but the flames came swooping back to Axel and Marluxia's chariot. Some of them attached themselves to the front. Marluxia hissed a curse and gripped the reins. The horses' eyes widened in panic, and were thrown out of control at the sight of the flames.
The flames licked away at the wood, increasing with each meter closer to the finish line they came.
With a loud cracking noise, a wheel snapped off and rolled away. The chariot crashed to the ground, being dragged a few meters with an awful scraping sound.
Marluxia's knuckles were white on the reins, but the horses were restless as the flames consumed the tethers. Soon the tethers ripped apart and the chariot skidded into the dirt, the horses thudding away. Axel and Marluxia were flung from the chariot, their bodies scraping against the dirt. The other chariots swerved to avoid them.
Axel and Marluxia watched as Demyx and Zexion's chariot crossed the finish line.
"It's your fault we lost to those two amateur gladiators!" Larxene screamed, storming up to Axel and grabbing him by his armor straps.
"What in Pluto's name do you mean?" Axel gripped Larxene's wrist and pushed her hand aside.
"We were so close, but you had to use your fancy flower and fire tricks!" Larxene accused. She struck Axel across the face, the red mark she created stinging.
Axel wasn't one to pick a fight, as many gladiators did in the school. The masters often encouraged it to test hand-to-hand combat in a non-supervised setting where the combatants wouldn't hold back, but still Axel refrained.
But as Axel's cheek stung, his anger grew. In a furious blur, he gripped Larxene's arm and bent it behind her back, pressing her to the wall. Larxene screeched in protest.
"Axel!" Lexaeus's voice barked from behind him.
The two craned their heads in Lexaeus's direction. His beefy arms were crossed in annoyance.
"I had my bets on you Axel, and yet you let the victory slip from you." Lexaeus growled, pinching Axel's ear.
"F-forgive me," Axel stammered out, but Lexaeus squeezed Axel's arm and threw him opposite of Larxene.
"Excuse me Lexaeus, but I was speaking to an interesting gentleman by the name of Ansem during the race. He's one of the finest scholars in the city, hired by many noblemen to teach their sons philosophy among other subjects." Luxord interrupted delicately.
"Yeah? What's your point?" Lexaeus grumbled.
"He says he was planning on purchasing a couple new slaves to replace two in his home after the races, though I suggested we sell him two of our best slaves." Luxord replied, his eyes drifting over to Axel and Larxene.
"He must be delirious if he thinks I'll hand over my most popular slaves, even if they are a pain in the ass most of the time." Lexaeus objected.
"But sir, he offered quite a large sum of money for them, especially..." Luxord's eyes flicked to Axel again, and Lexaeus's eyes drifted over to him as well.
"Him? What for?" Lexaeus hissed.
Luxord shrugged his broad shoulders, and Lexaeus glanced at Axel again.
"How much exactly did this Ansem offer?" Lexaeus wondered.
"Speak to him yourself, he's still here; I told him I'd have the head slave keeper speak to him personally and introduce his best." Luxord offered.
Lexaeus cursed and shook his head. Before leaving the three of them, he took one last look at Axel as if to assess how much gold he was actually worth.
Translations
- Amat victoria curam - Fortune favors the careful
Notes on Axel's fire reeds: This was based off the Ancient Greek weapon called "Greek fire", I couldn't find much on how it was made, though.