Chapter Twenty-Three

 

A ziggurat had been built at the center of the arena. Made of wood and steel, it rose four levels above the sands. At the top, a red sheet covered a large cube. Pandora, along with the other sixty-seven competitors, gawked at the structure, wondering how it would affect the grand melee.

"Now we know what all the hammering was about," said Kuma in maetrie.

The others around them frowned at the unusual language.

"It seems our host has a surprise planned," she said curtly. Pandora spotted the imposing form of Noctus Prime, grinning at the updated arena like kid staring through the glass at a room full of puppies. "Are you sure we can trust him? Brodarians aren't exactly known for being loyal."

Kuma's non-response left her stomach in a twist. They'd been over this point numerous times since he'd come back with the announcement of cooperation. He probably didn't want to rehash the same arguments. As the competitors filed onto the sands, they joined Noctus near the corner of the enormous structure.

"Lady Saha. I look forward to fighting alongside you."

The nearby competitors went wide-eyed with surprise, which was probably his intent, though Pandora couldn't figure why he would reveal it before the grand melee. A taller warrior with pockmarked cheeks shifted towards another group to warn them of the alliance.

"Any ideas? A knockoff of an Eternal City competition?" asked Kuma.

"Nothing I recognize. But I can assume that there will be a twist," she said.

The Brodarian crossed his arms as he studied the structure. "It will require us to climb the ziggurat. Maybe a Lord of the Mountain game." He put a massive hand on Kuma's shoulder, making him lean under the weight. "Your excellent jumping ability should prove decisive."

They didn't have to wait long to find out, as Dominion climbed onto the viewing platform. Pandora sucked in a breath when she saw her mother joining him. Noctus Prime checked back at her reaction, but said nothing.

"Who's the hottie golem?" asked a competitor from behind, eliciting a round of laughter from those nearby.

Her mother stood defiantly on the platform. The half of her head that had been replaced by silvery and gold metals glimmered in the warm lights of the arena. On the surface, Selena was striking. To many, she would be beautiful in her own strange way, but not to Pandora. She knew the why, and that made the changes perverse. Her mother wasn't changing for herself, but to please her grandfather, who couldn't care less. Pandora had watched Dominion ignore her mother back at his estate, treating her like a child who was being tolerated at the adult table.

"Greetings, competitors, and congratulations on winning your first two rounds!" announced Dominion to the cheers of the packed audience. The entire arena was filled. People were standing in the aisles. Pandora wasn't sure that many people had ever been in the Undercity in one place. It was a sign of how much it had changed.

"Here in the shadows, much like my birthplace, the Eternal City, warriors are prized. We live in a hard world. As the Halls experienced only a few short years ago, peace and prosperity can be threatened by forces beyond our control. It's up to us as men and women of action to prepare ourselves for that eventuality. We cannot trust anyone but our own flesh and bone."

A smattering of applause came as the crowd tried to make sense of the hard turn. Her grandfather seemed to sense the mood and shifted into a brighter tone.

"That is why we are celebrating the power of will with this tournament. The third round will be a little different than the first two. Now that we've whittled the competitors down to a more manageable number, we're going to let them battle it out for the final thirty-two spots in a grand melee!"

The crowd cheered as he raised his arms in triumph.

"But to keep things interesting, and to make sure that not everything was decided before," he said, chuckling, "I've added a kink into the competition."

When he raised his hand, invisible wires yanked the crimson covering from the top of the ziggurat, revealing a flat piece of steel mesh, beneath which hung dozens of rods.

"Thirty-two," she said right away. "There are thirty-two rods."

"To pass the grand melee, one not only has to survive your fellow competitors, but you must retrieve a rod from the ziggurat and bring it to the red gate beneath the platform."

Pandora hadn't noticed before, but there was an exit to the arena floor as he described. Walls had been built around the entire sand area. The nature of the game would force them into close combat with each other. Their group of three seemed laughably small compared to the other allied teams.

"Before we can start, every competitor must move to the outer wall. Once everyone is in place, there will be a short countdown and then the grand melee will begin, continuing until thirty-two rods have been carried through the crimson gate."

Pandora jogged to the outer wall with Kuma and Noctus Prime. There was at least a hundred feet between them and the ziggurat. A cluster of fifteen stood to their left and another group of eight was to the right. There were similarly sized teams along the circumference of the arena. They were the smallest team at three, the next biggest being the group to their right and the groupings numbering seven. A few of the teams had added colored arm bands to their uniforms to make their allegiances clear.

"Watch out for the team to the right," said Kuma. "Valor Drux recruited some of the top competitors—most of them have real-world experience. Mercenaries, ex-military, a few Hall mages, including the Botez twins. Avoid them if possible. The other one I'm worried about is headed by Angel Chen. She has a few on her team that have been quietly effective during their matches. The other teams are made of the chaff."

"This setup is quite interesting," mused Noctus as if he were deciding which brand of tea to drink. "Shall we attack the rods immediately, or wait until the chaos has reduced?"

"We could wait by the gate," said Kuma.

"No," said Pandora right away. Lady Saha would never take that approach. It was too passive. "We'll set up on the platform beneath the top and prepare to make our move when the time is right."

"Lady Saha is wise," said Noctus, grunting with approval. "Perhaps we can eliminate some of our opponents."

Dominion Thule raised his hand. "The competition will begin in five, four, three—"

"Good luck," said Kuma.

"—two, one, begin!"

Some of the competitors started running before the final command was given, but it was too late to have them start over. Half the teams made a mad rush for the ziggurat, climbing up the angled platforms or leaping onto them with supernatural strength.

By the time Pandora reached the edge, three teams were battling on the top, including Valor Drux's group. They fought like a well-oiled machine, keeping in formation and striking hard at nearby opponents. The mesh holding the rods was much higher than anticipated, forcing those on the top to use each other to climb up. Each rod was wired to the mesh, so it took time for the teams to remove them.

"There's a team at the gate," said Kuma, checking over his shoulder. "The largest, but weakest group."

Pandora's blood pumped with excitement. She wanted to get into the mix, but the chaos at the top had competitors getting knocked off as there wasn't enough room. Two of the groups had taken control and were removing the rods. As they pulled them down, other groups attacked their flanks, but the high ground made it difficult to break their ranks.

As it appeared the first group led by Valor Drux had gathered enough rods, other teams collected beneath their position, preparing to attack them during the escape to the crimson gate. A straggler got knocked off the top, sliding down to rest at Noctus' feet. The Brodarian calmly knocked him out with one punch, much to the cheers of the crowd. Kuma took the unconscious competitor and pushed him over the slope to the second level.

"We shouldn't wait much longer," said Pandora. "Once there are few rods it will only get harder."

Valor Drux's team rushed down the slope, smashing into the team waiting for them. She thought about joining in, but decided there was easier prey.

"I have an idea," said Kuma.

"Does it involve revisiting our contest?" asked Noctus.

"Come on, Lady Saha. We can bypass the battle beneath," said Kuma.

She saw what they were intending. Noctus crouched, holding his hands in cupped form. Pandora placed her foot in his hand, facing the hanging rods while Kuma joined her.

"Ready," said Pandora.

A wave of lightness hit her as Kuma extended his emerald. "Ready!"

Noctus threw them upward, grunting despite their negligible weight. Pandora flew upward, almost too high, landing hard on top of the mesh. A small number of rods had yet to be claimed as the melee beneath was pure chaos. Feet and fists found any exposed flesh. At least a few competitors were unconscious beneath the all-out brawl.

She threw herself to her knees, reaching through a gap to grab a rod. The wire was easy enough to snap with a good tug. She was about to go for a second when Kuma held up two. He tossed one down to Noctus and they prepared to leap when the whole structure shifted, knocking them off their feet. On the right side, a group had grabbed the edge of the mesh and their collective weight was forcing the structure to lean. The metal groaned, and her only warning of the collapse was the snapping of wires.

The entire structure flipped up, sending them rolling down the side into the mass of combatants, followed by the mesh landing atop them. The entire group fell over the side, sliding down to land in a collective heap, trapped under the structure. The wires smashed against her ear, sending flashes of pain through her vision. Someone punched her in the throat, and fingers gouged for her eyes. She fought back but the mass of people scrambling for the rods made picking out a single enemy impossible. It wasn't fighting, but mass wrestling. Pandora didn't know when she lost the rod, but it was no longer in her hands. She was trapped near the center of the pile and feared that there was no way to get her rod back.