Chapter Thirty-Three

 

Pandora stayed in the suite during the morning of the fight, receiving updates from Tick, who returned after the first two fights. Valor Drux defeated the male Botez twin after a twelve-minute duel that had delighted the crowd and solidified the winner as the fan favorite. The second match between Angel Chen and Laird Green proved less enjoyable as she won in a short twenty-second contest that ended with her saber in his shoulder, after which he tapped out.

She intended to watch the third match, but hadn't mustered the energy to get up from the edge of the bed. The ornate box holding the wraithhawk mask sat next to her. She pulled it into her lap, running her palm across the smooth wood before unclasping the metal latch and lifting the lid with both hands.

The mask was an exquisite work of art. She gently fit her fingers beneath and pulled it out before cradling it in her hands. The material was unknown to her, but it was warm and the edge shifted with shadowy purpose. It was an ancient maetrie artifact. She imagined Hylakane standing in his garden surrounded by the ethereal creatures wearing the mask.

"Do not forget from which it came, or why it was made," she repeated, hearing Hylakane's stern voice in her head. It was a gift to help with her grandfather, though he'd never elaborated why. Was he afraid of wraithhawks? Pandora didn't think so. She'd never heard of such a fear, and in truth, all maetrie were wary of the strange birds due to their untouchable existence.

After caressing the mask for inspiration, she returned it to its home, closing the box and readying herself for the match.

She carried the stalbyka in its sheath and wore the metal-lined crimson cloak as she walked through the Terreno. The crowd parted around her, whispers rising like wings. She felt weighed down by the expectations of the fight. Her opponent, Jack Sugihara, was an expert swordsman with a past that suggested unusual magical origins. Videos of him running up thin wires or across short stretches of water made it clear that it would be no ordinary fight. She had every intention of using her sapphire, but feared her relative inexperience with her weapons would prove decisive.

The arena was packed. She bypassed the heavy crowds standing outside the gate hoping for someone to leave so they could take their place. The guards let her through a side door. The judges were preparing the floor for the third match. This round the terrain was simple. A flat wooden platform that extended a good distance, providing ample area to scrap.

On the way to the competitor area, she briefly spied Dominion and her mother, standing on the platform with the mercenary Titus Cabone. For once, seeing them didn't bring a tightness to her chest, but she was so focused on the upcoming match, the larger concerns felt distant.

Pandora took her spot next to Kuma, who was sitting at the end of a bench by himself, bouncing his knees and looking more like he was the one about enter the arena. He inclined his head, but said nothing. A lot rested on them reaching the next round and earning bloodstones.

The two competitors took to the wooden stage. Darian Orpheum in a dark blue uniform reached it first, idly spinning a metal staff with the ease of a master. He took his position on the far side, performing a series of intense, speedy maneuvers and flips with his weapon, before tossing it high into the air and catching it behind his back to the applause of the crowd.

In contrast, Sophia Botez marched onto the platform like the headsman preparing for the first beheading of the day. She had the intensity of a live bomb. Unlike Darian, she held her sword stiffly at her side, performing no tricks, not giving the crowd any indication of her skill. The simmering anger seemed in reaction to her twin's earlier loss, leaving this match as the only chance for them to earn a bloodstone.

Bets were being thrown around in the crowd and amongst the competitors, with Darian receiving the higher totals, but Pandora wasn't sure that was correct. The stylish tricks that worked in performance competitions weren't the same as a real fight. On the other hand, the staff was a good weapon against a single saber. The smooth metal bar had more reach and attacked faster, making it like a dual weapon and single weapon in the same breath.

"Begin!"

The start of the match had her heart climbing into her chest, despite not being on the stage. The two competitors approached cautiously, Darian spinning the staff while Sophia stared back with the blade at her side. Pandora didn't see what triggered the start, but they threw themselves at each other, saber and staff ringing against each other in a furious display of attack and defense. The pass lasted five seconds at most, but involved dozens of parried strikes.

Having tested each other's defenses, the two circled like predators looking for a weakness. The next attack came from Sophia, leaping high with what at first looked like a blindly aggressive attack that left her open to counters. But when she landed on the opposite side of Darian, he touched his chest, pulling away his hand to reveal it was covered in blood. The crowd, ripe with tension, erupted in applause. A minor cut, but a cut nonetheless.

Darian wiped his hand on his pants before facing off with Sophia. She slammed her foot on the wooden platform, sending a ripple of energy through the surface. The wave put Darian off-balance as she threw herself forward, blade in a high strike position. He spun his staff to block, but the undulating floor kept him uneven. When his staff clattered onto the wood, a gasp shot through the crowd as they saw the saber deep in Darian's chest. He fell to his knees, mouth agape, the life quickly draining from his expression as medics ran onto the stage. Pandora had seen what had happened though it'd been so quick that it made it hard to process.

Everyone in the arena was standing as the medics fell to their knees to work on a prone Darian. Flashes of magic bounced over his fallen form, but Pandora knew exactly where that blade had been thrust, making it unlikely he would ever get up. In the matter of half a minute, the medics stopped their attempts to revive him. A sheet was laid over Darian.

"There will be a thirty-minute break before the next match."

Sophia returned to the competitor area without her weapon and sat by her twin. No one moved until Noctus banged his fists together.

"For Darian Orpheum. May he never lose another battle."

A few matched Noctus' gesture, or added ones particular to them. As Pandora contemplated her fight, it wasn't the prospect of death that concerned her. She'd faced worse in the shadows of the Undercity, or the streets of her grandfather's home. What concerned her was that everything she'd done thus far might be nullified by a failure in the arena. Only with a bloodstone and then a black diamond for winning the entire tournament could she even conceive of a world in which she could take down her grandfather's rule.

The time passed painfully slow. She'd expected to step into the arena not long after the third fight, but Darian's death had changed the timing. She felt bad that she was more perturbed about the delay than his death, but in her eyes, more than one life weighed on her reaching the final eight. The crowd stayed in the stands during the wait, no one wanting to give up their seat.

When the body had been removed and the blood on the wooden platform cleaned as best as possible, the judge ushered her into the arena. She kept her weapon in its sheath, crossing to her appointed spot. Jack Sugihara stood opposite her. Their weapons were of similar nature, a curved blade made to kill and not get trapped. But she came with an additional weapon, the metal-weighted cloak that acted as both shield and distraction.

Unlike during her previous matches, Pandora felt completely attuned to the battle. She watched the rise and fall of Sugihara's chest, felt the calmness of her heart, and prepared herself for the fight.

"Begin!"

Pandora met him at the midpoint, blades clashing in a testing advance. They struck and defended cleanly. She sensed his strikes were superior, but not so much that she felt outclassed. The second pass was a high-low stratagem that she saw clearly. When Sugihara followed with the cut towards her legs, she threw a block, but at the last moment, he twisted his hand and a gust of wind punched her in the gut. Her block glanced against his blade, which still sliced through the fabric of her pant leg. She retreated quickly to assess the new information.

The corner of Sugihara's mouth curled upward. He'd hidden his ability thus far in the tournament, but she could see in his gaze that he was angry that it hadn't been the decisive blow that he'd hoped.

When they met again, swords clashing, their bright sounds ringing through the air, she waited for his hand to twitch and slammed him with a Push at the same time, following up with an angled attack. He stumbled backwards, barely getting his weapon up in time, but she switched to a Pull on his legs. The blade kissed off the other and caught him in the upper arm. Sugihara retreated to open space, checking his arm when he saw that she was not pursuing. The crowd whistled and softly applauded at the exchange.

The third pass began cautiously. Sugihara approached, clearly apprehensive about her surprise.

But she wasn't finished.

He blasted her with a wave of air that felt like getting hit by a mini-hurricane. Squinting through the wind, she knew he was coming too fast, so she let the gust twirl her backwards, flinging her cloak into a high arc. The metal-lined material slammed into his blade, and as she curled around, she hit his legs with a heavy Push. Sugihara stumbled to a knee, and she continued through the spin, halting with her blade against the back of his neck.

"Do you yield?"

Sugihara's eyes closed and his chin dipped towards his chest as he exhaled with disappointment.

"I yield."

She pulled the blade from his neck as the judge announced her as the winner. The applause was muted, but she didn’t care as she returned to the competitor area under the watchful gaze of her grandfather and mother.