"Because of the number of contenders, we are changing things up this time." The voice of the counselor floated over the crowds of demons who had streamed into the arena to watch. They were all different shades, from a dark red all the way to a dark blue. Even purples and pinks could be seen sprinkled among the crowd.Aella felt out of place with her brownish colored skin. She stood among a crowd of demons whose muscles rippled in the sunlight. Their horns towered over them, and they sneered at her. She barely came up to their chests.
Honestly, she didn"t mind. Some of them had very nice chests, that were very nice to look at, and made her job of stabbing them in just the right spot much easier.
"This time around, we will have one on one battles randomly chosen between the compet.i.tors, until there is only one left standing. That last one will be crowned our king!"
Cheers rang out with whistles mixed in. Aella gazed around amazed. She never thought people would be excited and pleased to have her fight. Her whole life, it seemed, had revolved around killing her opponents.
"The survivors of today"s battles, will be given the opportunity to join our army, to lead our soldiers into battle against the humans who dare invade and kill our people. Today we shall have our king!"
Again, cheers rang out. Aella could see the eight counselors talking together, probably trying to figure out who was going to fight who.
She glanced around at the demons she would have to fight, and knew that she didn"t want any of them as her generals. They were trained to fight one on one, not to lead a group into battle that might have hundreds or thousands of fighters. They had no experience leading or using tactics. Of course, she knew she had no experience being a king either. The difference was, she knew there would be advisors waiting to tell her how to do things.
"The first fight will be between Aella, the Small, and Torrod, the Mighty!"
The other demons snorted in amus.e.m.e.nt, and jogged over to a bench on the side of the arena. Aella turned to see a tall, muscled demon with flaming red eyes glaring at her. She wasn"t sure what his problem was, but as long as she only had to fight one of them at a time, she didn"t have a prayer of losing.
The crowd laughed when they saw her, since she had mostly been hidden amongst the other demons. She knew they all underestimated her because of her size.
"The compet.i.tors will be allowed to pick their weapons, and then the fight will begin with the sound of the gong!"
A couple of smaller demons pushed a rack over for them to choose what weapons they wanted to use. Torrod immediately grabbed the heaviest hammer and grinned at her as he turned to return to the arena. She looked for her favorite blades and realized they weren"t there. In fact, all of the weapons on the rack were far too big for her to wield, or too small to do much damage.
Glancing around, she tried to see if there was another rack of weapons that she might have missed, but the demons who had pushed the rack over, grinned at her.
"There"s not any others to choose from. Hurry up or forfeit already."
She studied her options. They were intent on not letting her have a fair fight? All right then. Grabbing up two of the longest daggers, she returned to the arena. The laughter from the crowd grew as they saw what she had grabbed. She could hear the other fighters laughing from their bench too.
"The gong will signal the beginning of the fight," said a demon standing on the sidelines. He looked at both of them to make sure they were paying attention to him.
"No killing blows, but your goal is to disable your opponent until they give or cannot continue. As long as your opponent is alive at the end of the fight, they can be healed. If they die by accident, it can"t be helped. There will be no rest between fights. Whoever wins will immediately have to fight the next person."
Aella suddenly realized what they had done. They had taken away every opportunity she had of winning. She couldn"t use her favored weapon, she couldn"t do her killing blows that ended the fights quickly, and if she won, she would have to fight every single other demon here. There were eighteen of them. They did not want her to win, and that was why she was going to.
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Torrod frowned. He didn"t like the idea of having to fight every other demon either.
Setting themselves to take out their opponents quickly, Aella thought carefully over her options. She had never fought any of these demons, but it was obvious they were all focused on heavy weapons, stressing their power. She imagined the demon they really wanted to be king would be the one they had her fight last.
The gong sounded and Torrod charged towards her. She was actually a bit surprised. Not because he was fast, but because he was burning so much energy to try and take her out, knowing that if he won he would have to fight so many others.
She dodged his first swing, stepping into his body and sliding her knives in as far as they would go, and slicing his stomach open. It wasn"t a killing blow, but it had the same effect. He dropped his hammer and started trying to scoop up his entrails as they spilled out onto the dirt. He was too busy to notice when she stepped up behind him and placed her daggers at his throat.
"Yield," she said softly in his ear.
Only a whimper escaped his lips as the intestines slipped from his slimy fingers.
She glanced at the judge, who just shook his head and called the match. The crowd booed her, but she didn"t care. She returned to her corner and watched as two medics rushed to help him off the arena.
"Winner of this match is Aella! Her upcoming opponent is Paeral, the Strong!"
Paeral stood and raised his arms, causing the crowd to cheer as he strutted over to the weapons rack. Taking a great sword, he gave it a couple of practice swings, before joining her on the arena floor.
Aella could tell that he was very familiar with the sword, and took an odd stance, to throw him off. Again, the crowd laughed at her. She focused on him, noting which foot he chose to put forward, and where he seemed to rest the sword in his hand.
When he came for her, she leaned back to miss the first swing, but then jumped into the air as he swung quickly back at her legs, kicking him in the face. He stepped back, touching his nose. Instead of the pretty thing it had been, it was crooked and blood poured down his face. Spitting in anger, he swung his sword in a complex way, keeping her at bay as he carefully moved towards her. She would have been impressed, except the move was incredibly taxing. As he started to slow down, she feinted to the left, then dashed right, into the opening he made as he swung at her.
Her small daggers buried themselves into his knees. She danced out of the way as he fell screaming to the ground, his sword skittering across the ground as he grabbed at the daggers. She watched carefully as he pulled them out and threw them at her. It was nothing to dodge the clumsily thrown daggers. Walking slowly over to them, she picked them up and cleaned them off. Glancing at the judge who shook his head no, she sighed. He wouldn"t call this match so easily.
Shrugging, she walked over to his sword, and kicked it out of the arena, then moved to stand in front of him, just out of his reach.
"Give up, or I"ll hurt you more."
"Never! I"ll rip you apart, limb from limb!" She could see madness in his eyes, and wondered if the healers could heal a broken mind.
Walking around him, she got just close enough for him to lunge at her, and she cut off his fingers, moving just outside of his reach.
"Aaaggghhhh!" he screamed, clutching his hands to his chest.
"Give up," she repeated, shaking the blood off her daggers onto the ground. The crowd was silent.
He growled at her, and she couldn"t help but laugh. That had been her answer so many times, she had to respect him for that. Stepping behind him, she started to slash at him, causing his blood to splash down his muscled skin, again and again, moving out of his reach whenever he attempted to swing at her. She moved around him, looking for a fresh spot to slash, when the judge surprised her by calling the match.
Moving back over to her corner, she glanced at the remaining seventeen demons sitting on the sidelines. None of them were jeering at her now. They were watching her as they should. She was a threat.