Chapter Twenty-Nine

 

The platform above the packed bleachers was empty. The Alliance banners hung on the front railing. She felt stupid for expecting either her grandfather or mother to be there, as if they were proud parents about to watch their child compete in a meaningless competition.

"Lady Saha?"

"Don't talk to me."

The attendant took a step back and shook his head before hesitantly opening his mouth.

"Your match is next."

"Match? Yes, of course. Lead the way."

The competitor area was on the edge of the arena. Her match was the third of the day. The stands were full, everywhere except the platform. She checked back to see if they'd arrived before removing her crimson cloak with a flourish and tossing it on the bench.

As she stepped onto the stands, she knew she should have been paying attention to the previous matches. The scenes had passed before her eyes, but she'd barely registered them. She'd been too busy thinking about if she could kill her grandfather should the opportunity present itself.

"Twenty-nine pillars. Thirteen rings."

"Excuse me?" asked her attendant. "Did you say thirteen rings? There are fifteen."

Pandora checked back to the arena. She knew the attendant was correct. The ziggurat that had been the focus of the grand melee had been deconstructed and replaced with an obstacle course of pillars, rings, seesaws, and other objects that would make the battle unusual. They stopped at the head judge for the match. Her opponent, Adriana, was waiting, shaking out her arms and stretching her neck like a boxer before a match.

"I'll go over the rules one more time before you begin. The object ball is at the center of the arena. Competitors will begin on the blue and red pillars on opposite sides. When the horn blows, the contest will start. It'll last five minutes, or until someone is unconscious for more than thirty seconds. The competitor with the object ball at the end of the five minutes or thirty seconds of unconsciousness is the winner."

"What if my opponent is dead?" asked Pandora.

Everyone but Adriana reacted with horror. The head judge cleared his throat. "Purposeful killing is outlawed and you will be removed from the contest. But if the death is accidental..."

"I understand. Let's get this over with," said Pandora, marching towards the blue pillar before the judge had dismissed them. Her behavior was chalked up to the peculiarities of Lady Saha, but Pandora knew that wasn't the real reason.

"Get your shit together or you're going to lose this," she muttered under her breath.

The crowd was clearly on her opponent's side. They were already chanting her name. Pandora took her spot on the pillar as the judges moved into their positions. She'd given little thought to her strategy for the contest.

"Begin!"

Pandora was caught in her thoughts, and left the pillar a quarter second after Adriana. A series of posts led to a hanging platform at the center where the object ball was waiting. To Pandora's surprise, her opponent skipped across the obstacles at great speed and snatched the heavy ball off before she'd even reached the platform. Adriana leapt to a hanging ring and with the agility of a squirrel bounding across the branches in a forest, reached the highest level of the arena. The speed at which Adriana moved left Pandora concerned. She followed the path that her opponent had taken, but by the time she neared her position, she'd already traveled to the other side of the arena. The jeers from the crowd burned in Pandora's ears.

She quickly regretted not spending her time memorizing the arena's obstacles. Adriana moved through them as if she'd already scouted the best ways to escape. While Pandora knew her opponent was no match in a stand-up fight, what would it matter if she could never catch her? The cat-and-mouse game continued unabated, with Pandora rarely coming within thirty feet of her opponent. The first two matches of the day had been grueling brawls on the main platform until the last thirty seconds, when one of the competitors grabbed the ball and fled for the remaining time. She'd mistakenly thought her match would be the same.

Pandora pushed the limits of her stones—opal for speed and sapphire to give herself boosts as she leapt. But Adriana was faster. The woman moved like lightning.

The match clock read less than a minute. Pandora paused on a lower post while Adriana rocked on a ring forty feet diagonal from her position. If she was going to catch her, it had to be in the next sequence. There wasn't enough time remaining for another shot.

The crowd's chants broke through Pandora's concentration.

"Saha Sucks! Saha Sucks!"

She recalled the duel with Kuma years ago. While the cavern had changed—only the base of the stalactites remained on the ceiling where Kuma had run through—the mood was drastically different. The duel had been one of honor and the crowd had been silent, waiting to see who would emerge victorious. This was a spectacle. It burned to think how the clans of the Undercity had been cheapened and turned into sideshows at a carnival.

Pandora reviewed the paths that Adriana had followed. She'd picked her paths well. There were three major routes she regularly took. Pandora saw there was no way to catch her. She was too quick and knew her terrain well. Pandora tried not to think of the harsh words spat from Hylakane's lips for her failure to imagine more than her victory. In a fight between knavth and faeila, it's the terrain that decides the winner. She'd thought she was neither, a wraithhawk flying over both, but now she knew she was as dumb as a dolgant wandering into a cloud of the sharp death. Or had this been self-sabotage? The cruel and comfortable skin of the maetrie had worn well. Maybe it was best to lose and forget the Undercity forever.

"Saha Sucks! Saha Sucks! Saha Sucks!"

She ground her foot upon the sands. This was not the way she wanted it to end. Not when her grandfather was poised to do unspeakable things. The paths of her opponent danced in her mind. She saw the routes like strings. If I run here, she goes there. If I take this path, then she uses this to escape.

Pandora was running before her mind had caught up with the strategy. When Adriana took the route that would lead them to cross paths, albeit her opponent would do it thirty feet above on the tops of a pillar, Pandora veered left, building up as much speed as possible. At the precise moment Adriana's foot touched the top, Pandora flung herself at the wooden pole, using her sapphire to Push off like a rocket. Her feet hit the heavy structure like a missile. The crack was like a bomb going off. It snapped at the base, exploding into splinters, leaving a jagged spike. The stable pole Adriana was expecting fell away from her foot at the last possible moment, the heavy ball flinging from her hands. She tipped awkwardly, hitting the falling wood and pinwheeling her arms as she dropped directly onto the sharp remains.

The death would be accidental. Despite her words at the beginning of the fight, Pandora felt no ill will towards Adriana. If she died, it would only make her opponents fear her more. It was what Lady Saha would do. It was the maetrie way.

At the last moment, Pandora sent a sapphire Push, deflecting Adriana's falling body to spin away from the tip of the spear. As her opponent hit the sands hard, Pandora scrambled to the leather ball, which had rolled nearby. The bright horns of the match ending left the arena in stunned silence. Medics ran onto the field to care for Adriana, who was bleeding from the mouth, a clear sign of internal injuries, as she coughed and sputtered.

As Pandora strolled from the sands, handing the ball to the judge, she saw a figure upon the platform. Her grandfather stood like a sentinel, a crooked grin announcing his pleasure about the match. He gave her a nod as she exited the grounds, taking her position on the bench next to her body servant. Kuma wouldn't make eye contact, which hurt worse than the knowledge that she'd almost lost.