Tournament of Champions

Azuki and I rush out of the prison and head to the arena above ground. I pull the hood of my cloak over my head hoping it will disguise my face from the guards. Hopefully they don't recognize us.

The two of us head into the main entrance of the stadium to get a closer look of the fight. Maybe we can rescue Spector and Jet from the stands? Ugh, but how!?

“HEY!” A guard bellows his exclamation.

Crap they know us. We can't go back to jail!

“Can't you read? No armor, weapons, or outside food and beverages allowed in the arena,” the guard continues.

He gestures to a wooden sign above his head. Thank goodness they didn't spot us. Oh God, but this spelling is atrocious. Seriously weapons spelt w-e-h-p-u-n-s? Fodder really needs to invest in education.

Azuki begrudgingly leaves her dagger with the guards at the table.

“Oh and that.” The other guard gestures over to the wizard staff in my hand.

Ahh shoot! Without magic, how will I be able to help the boys? Azuki aggressively pushes my head lower to the ground, bending my back so much it looks like I had developed a sudden case of scoliosis.

“Ow-!”

Azuki steps on my foot. Ow! Seriously, what is she doing!?

“Oh I'm sorry, this is actually my grandmother’s walking stick. She'll need it to find her seat. Heaven knows she’s helpless without it. And without me.” Azuki says snidely.

Ah shoot, guess it’s time to improv. Can’t say I’m too thrilled with what Azuki gave me to work with, but dems the rules. A good actor says “yes and-” or so I’ve been told. So yes, that’s what I’m going to do AND I’m going to have fun with it.

I hunch over my body and give my best scratchy old lady voice. “Aah yes. Thank you dearie.” Although, a crotchedy old lady persona wouldn’t be complete without saying some out of pocket insult would she? “Say, isn’t it time you gave me some great grandkids? I’m not getting any younger!”

Azuki looks back up to the guards in shock. I caught her off her game with that one!

“You know what, after this let’s take you back to the apothecary for some medicinal herbs grandma…” Azuki sneers.

“Sorry if I took it too far Azuki…”

“Are you kidding? That was hilarious. I don’t mind. In case you didn’t notice, I usually only tease the people I like anyways.”

“Aww you like me?” I bat my eyes and push my face close to hers.

“Don’t let that feed your ego, your head is big enough as is.” She takes her hand and ruffles my thick mane of hair before pushing me aside.

Damn. She’s right though, I do have a rather large head. It’s a wonder my wizard hat is big enough to fit over my massive melon.

We stroll up the stairs to enter the stadium. This place is huge! The crowd is an eclectic mix of low-life barbarians craving violence and jovial locals who are just looking for something fun to do over the weekend. It’s amazing how desensitized the folks here are. A couple of moms and dads even brought their babies to watch the bloodbath. I guess they’re not looking to claim the Parent of the Year award any time soon. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I look, I can’t seem to find Jet or Spector anywhere.

“Oh God, where are they?” I look back and forth scanning the arena for their faces. Maybe they broke out of their jail cells too and they’re looking for us?

“Oh found ‘em!” Azuki says. It’s a bit hard to hear her. She’s got food in her mouth. Wait where did she nab that turkey leg from?! Now’s not the time to lecture her about stealing. I use my eyes to follow where her finger is pointing. Jet and Spector are now in the middle of the arena. Crap.

A master of ceremonies standing on a stage at the edge of the arena speaks into his staff, casting a spell to amplify his voice. With a booming bravado the man calls out, “LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! ARE YOU READY TO BE ENTERTAINED? GEEEET REEADY FOR THE MAAAIIN EVENT!!”

Oh no, they’re the headline act. Well maybe it’s not too bad? They’re pretty strong, the two of them. They can do this!

The speaker lowers his voice and continues, “Today, these criminals will get a second chance at life if and only if they can defeat the beast behind THAT cage! Ladies and gentlemen give it up for… THE CHIMERA!!”

Welp, they’re screwed.

“Hey Azuki… Azuki!!” She’s gone! Where did she go this time?! Oh no, did the guards catch her?!

I turn back to exit the main part of the stadium. Looking around frantically, I eventually spot Azuki in line at a small booth with a few gold coins in hand.

“AZUKI! What are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m placing a bet!”

“NOW is NOT the time!” I grab Azuki by the arm and pull her back into the stadium. I’m not sure what we can do from the stands, but hopefully I can use some magic to help them from the sidelines without attracting too much attention.

We head back up to our seats just in time. Good thing we didn’t miss anything. The gate on the cage slowly rises to unleash the chimera. This beast has three heads. One of a lion, one of a goat, and one of a snake forming the tail of the creature. All of them capable of spewing out a blaze of fire.

Jet tightens the grip on his sword readying himself for a difficult fight. Of all the things why did it have to be fire? At the very least, I’m glad they were allowed to use their personal weapons in the fight. Spector is right beside Jet wielding his trademark crossbow.

Spector raises his voice and speaks to the chimera, “Listen we don’t have to fight.”

Oh I forgot that the chimera is an intelligent species! The hero could communicate with it in Emperor of the Lantern! Maybe he can reason with it? If he can strike a bargain maybe we can get out of here?

“It won’t be a fight,” The chimera croons. “Because I’ll be tearing you boys apart limb by limb squeezing out your blood so I can chug it down like crimson wine.”

Holy crap. The crowd erupts in cheers at the intense battle declaration. They’re so dead. Unless we find a way to help them.

The chimera lets out a fiery blaze separating the two guys. Jet tucks and rolls to his left narrowly avoiding the flame. Spector dodges to his right using his moth form.

Jet slashes his sword at the chimera’s front paws while Spector fires a crossbow bolt narrowly missing the goat head’s eye.

The chimera lets out its flames once again in fury. The goat head releases a blast that barely catches Spector’s cloak. He throws the fabric behind him, fluttering down in a manner surprisingly flashily. Damn he looks cool.

The overuse of the chimera’s fire may be an oversight. In fact, it may be something we can exploit. I think I have an idea.

“Azuki! Can you get down there to help the boys?”

“WHAT!?” Azuki calls out in fear.

“Trust me. We’ll all make it out of this. I promise.”

“I hope you have a good plan June!” She says with a wink. Aww she has faith in me. That’s ill advised.

Azuki jumps down into the arena. The crowd erupts in a myriad of mixed reactions. Some scream in horror while others cheer on the new competitor. Either way, the show must go on.

Oh shoot! There’s something I needed to tell Azuki before she went in! What do I do? It’s so loud in here there’s no way they would hear me even if I screamed unless… I need to get to the master of ceremonies!

I listen to the vivid color commentary as I make my move around. The spaces are narrow, but I try to make myself as thin as possible as I slide in front of several angry tournament fanatics.

“HEY!”

“Move it!”

“Do you MIND?”

I aim to be as polite as possible by saying “excuse me” and “sorry” while making my way around, but there’s just no pleasing crazed sports fans is there? Whatever, I just have to get to the speaker as soon as possible. Hopefully, those three can stay alive until then.

As I walk, I watch the fight closely. Spector moths out disappearing and reappearing, firing a crossbow bolt at the chimera’s neck. The beast turns around to face him, opening an opportunity up for the others. Azuki climbs onto Jet’s shoulders and nimbly jumps up, slicing the head of the snake with his steel sword. Nicely done! One down, two to go. Thankfully these heads don’t grow back like the hydra.

Alright, I finally made it! I jump down to the platform where the announcer is standing and take the wizard staff from his hands. I interrupt his play by play commentary to speak some words of advice into the pseudo microphone.

“HEY AZUKI, JET, SPECTOR! CAN YOU HEAR ME?”

I scream into the magic staff a little bit louder than necessary. The crowd gasps, turning to look at me on the raised stage. Aw crap. Now’s not the time for stage fright though. I’ve got to give them instructions and then book it out of here so I don’t get caught.

Oh shoot, but chimeras are smart! If I give them advice the chimera will surely pick up on it and change their behavior. I need to be discreet. I sure hope Spector gets this reference. I take a deep breath and speak out into the staff once more.

“SPECTOR, DID YOU READ THE SECOND BOOK IN THE EMPEROR OF THE LANTERN SERIES?”

Spector raises a thumbs up and begins to signal Azuki and Jet for what he needs them to do. I knew he’d catch on!

Azuki leaps onto the chimera by the remaining length of its now headless snake tail. She helps pull Jet up with her and they begin to climb up to the lion’s head. Spector does his best to distract the beast by firing bolt after bolt though nothing seems to pierce through. The chimera cannot manage to shake off either Jet or Azuki despite its mad jumping. So, it decides to focus on killing Spector instead.

The chimera opens both of its mouths, ready to unleash a massive stream of flames. Spector stands as still as possible, hoping to win in a game of chicken. I certainly hope he does, otherwise he’ll be a fried chicken.

The fire releases. Spector transforms into moths in the nick of time and flies up to the lion. He fires one more crossbow bolt landing directly inside the lion’s tongue. Azuki and Jet, now in position, use all their strength to hold the lion’s jaw shut. The fire, unable to escape, heats up the metal bolt in its mouth, quickly causing it to weld closed. The flames destroy the lion from the inside out. The goat's head screams in terror. Damn that was brutal.

The chimera collapses to the ground, now lifeless.

The crowd stares in silence for a few seconds before a flurry of boos start heading in their direction. Some even start to throw tomatoes. Rude.

“CHEATERS!” The audience begins to scream.

Alright let’s get out of here. The three come running up to my platform. Jet helps Azuki up followed by Spector. He jumps and I use a bit of my levitation magic to pull his body. I’m getting better at that spell huh!

We run, trying to make our way out of the stadium. Some of the fans move away from us in fear while others are more than happy to tell us what they think of our performance. A couple guards start to claw their way through the people in an effort to have us re-arrested. Come on! The M.C. himself even said that the criminals would get a second chance at life if they make it out, but I guess we did “technically” cheat. The rules here are stupid anyways.

We finally make it outside. Azuki stops dead in her tracks to say something.

“Wait, I didn’t collect the money from my bet!” She chimes in.

“What are you talking about?!”

“Sheesh you have such little faith in me. Did you think I’d bet against these guys? I put my money on us. The house has to lose sometimes.” Azuki grins.

I’d let her run back into the arena to collect her money, but I know for a fact we’d get arrested for throwing the match if we don’t leave right now.

We head to the front parking lot if you will and untie some of the mounts stationed on a beam nearby. Jet and Spector each take their own steeds while Azuki and I share a camel with a double saddle. Thankfully the horses have some supplies on their haunches as well. We don’t have time to check what they have, but hopefully it will be enough.

“HEY!”

A couple of men shout out chasing after us as we gallop away. Oh, these must be their horses. Oops.

I shout out to them in vain, “I'm sorry, we’ll pay you back! Plus interest!”

I don’t think we’ll be paying them back. Hell, I don’t think we’ll be returning to Fodder period.

Continuing down the road, we eventually pass by a sign reading, “You are now leaving Fodder”. Good riddance! Thank you God. I’m genuinely shocked we made it out alive!

We continue our journey south into the driest parts of the region. We pass through many more miles of desert eventually leading to a temple which we were told might be a shortcut.

Upon reaching the mouth of the temple, we find a massive creature made of sand blocking our path. It has the face of a woman, but as you look down, the rest of it gets weird. She has carefully sculpted wings and beneath her feathers lies the ferocious body of lioness. Oh crap, it’s The Sphinx.