Chapter 62: Duel of the Fates (Alex)

To her word, she put an end to the violence. Though even from the safety of my room, I can sense the hostilities and tension between both sides. Even when they clean the streets of our dead, it is only a matter of time before another fight breaks out. The only thing holding this city together is a promise of their leaders fighting to the death to determine who should rule. It’s dreadful to think that I am the only thing keeping my ideals alive, that only I will have the responsibility to ensure a better future can be made.
Down below, a Dog escorts a young Cinari woman and her people back to their homes. Ever since the conflict has calmed, the Dogs of the city round the remaining Cinari in the city like cattle back into their homes, unsure what will happen to them when the duel takes place. The city is a lot emptier now, evident as most of the Cinari have fled when given a chance. But I can’t help but speculate that some are killed in the crossfire, horrible, but something that is bound to happen in a coup, I suppose.
If there is something I can say about the Cinari, are they aware of what is going to happen? Besides Simon, I regret never interacting with the Cinari below to understand what their situation is. Yet none of them fought for me! None took up arms for what I am fighting for. Perhaps they understand what I am fighting for and are in support of it. Maybe they…
No…
I don’t think they know. Maybe they are equally as terrified of me as they are of Max. Because if they really understand what I am fighting for, maybe I can talk to the Cinari below. They would’ve fought alongside me when the coup happened. At the same time, even during my rule, I made them slaves. Even if they know what I want for the future, are they entitled to fight alongside me? Do I even deserve their support?
I guess not. Since Simon and his group championed my rights before we broke free from slavery and fought their Empire, I had no idea people like him existed. Instead, I assume none ever existed. It is not far from reality to know that it is the same case with them.
It is strange. Perhaps it is another parallel between us and them. Maybe that isn’t right. That is something that makes us one and the same. This goes beyond the boundaries of species or culture. I guess it comes down to power. Loyalty can only come with how power is enforced and distributed.
Meaning, this coup or conflict will happen either way, not because of Max’s ambitions. But because the people who supported her felt they were not listened to. Maybe my ideals cause them to feel alienated, that their pain is ignored under the guise of something better. In some cases, Max is right. I didn’t meet the needs of my people like I should. This conflict, and generations of slavery, have caused a divide and wound that can’t be healed overnight like I wanted it to. I’m wrong.
This war, our pain. I doubt even in my lifetime we can find a common ground between Dog and Cinari. This isn’t just the fault of Marak, or Max, or I. This is just the reality we all live in. All of us are hurt. I desire peace, one where all of us must come together to build a future. But I feel… I believe that we can’t occupy the same space. We might have to find a new place to live, a new home away from the Cinari.
One day, we'll come together and cooperate and make something better. But I need to focus on my people first. We need something so we can heal from our collective pain. I don’t know where, but I know it can’t be on this island.
Syndy shuffles into my room after lightly knocking on the wooden door, wearing an all black dress and a veil that conceals her face. In her hands is a sword. A weapon I will have to use against Max. She avoids eye contact with me as she raises my sword so I can take it from her shaking hands. It’s time.
I grab the sword and put it to the side so I can look at her. There is no need to exchange words, nor is there a need to give each other false hope. I can die today, and so will she if Max wins. I reach down to grab her hands, holding them firmly before I lean down to kiss her forehead as a way to say goodbye.
As I let go of her and made my way to the exit to meet Max at the city centre. Syndy calls out to me with a whimper. ‘I love you.’
My lips curl to form a subtle smile. ‘I love you too.’ I gaze upon her for a while longer, but I turn away the moment her eyes begin to water.
If I have a chance of winning, I can’t let her grief cloud my focus. But… I hope our last words to each other fills her worried heart.

...

Hundreds gather around the city centre. Dogs of all shapes, sizes, and allegiances gather to watch their leaders fight it out in their place. Some are eager to continue the fight, to battle for the ideals Max and I have. But that won’t be necessary. Only Max and I can finish what we have started.
Looking down below from their homes. The Cinari gather from their windows to watch. All silent so as not to grab the attention of the Dogs below. Though I doubt their curiosity is concealed, everyone is aware they are looking at us. Watching to see how this feud can finally come to an end.
The clouds grow dark, the air wet and heavy. The sun disappears as if it doesn’t wish to witness the conflict about to commence. Either because the world is ashamed of what we are fighting for, or perhaps it doesn’t wish to witness any more death.
My head hangs low as the crowd moves away from me. Allowing me entrance into the arena where I will fight and die. No one speaks to me, nor do they reach out to touch my shoulders as a sign of respect or to comfort me. An old tradition back in the mines where the chief had to face their challenger in a life or death situation to determine who could rule our people during the time of our slavery. A subtle way to say I am unworthy to rule, or they are holding back to not show their support out of fear that doing so will bring about terrible consequences.
I turn back to Simon and Syndy, watching from the safety of the palace. They are too far for me to tell what their expressions are. But if I can guess, they are scared. If I die, I just hope they can flee just in time before Max’s forces get to them. They don’t deserve this, none of them do.
Max soon enters the arena as well, wearing no armour and wielding a sword as we agreed. Her white fur picks up as the wind brushes over. It seems no one even touches her shoulders as well. Perhaps everyone is unsure who will win. Or worse, not one believes in either of us. That either option is equally bad, as the leadership we have shown only proves to everyone that we are unfit.
Max smirks at me. I doubt she even notices or cares about what our people think of us.
I unsheathe my sword from its scabbard and cast it aside. Revealing the black iron blade to her and everyone watching. She needs to know that I will not back down here, that this fight will truly be the last.
‘Well, I thought you would walk away, Alex. Glad to see you are not a coward like we all thought you were.’ Max chuckles to herself as she pulls out her sword. A short silver blade that is similar in design to the one the Cinari use. Ironic, seeing how she despises their kind. But appropriate due to her being the same height as them.
She isn’t as strong as I am. Every white mane is the weakest compared to any Dog. But they are quick and flexible. If I want to win this, I need to be quick on my feet and not give her an inch of ground. Perhaps I can try to break her weapon? No, that will only make things more difficult. She will use that broken blade to…
‘What’s wrong? Cold feet?’ Max chuckles.
I shake my head. I need to focus. ‘We are here now, Max. This is what you wanted.’ I bark back at her as we begin to circle one another. Looking over each other’s stances to find a weakness.
‘Yes, to kill each other.’ She bluntly replies before rushing to fight.
With a single huff, I charge towards her. Our blades clash against one another, sparks fly off as we engage one another. Max dodges my attacks, ducking and weaving under every blow. But I keep my distance, trying everything to make her slip up.
However, she finds an opening. She ducks under my guard and lunges her sword in the direction of my neck. I leap to the side, thankfully only having my left arm sliced open. I grunt as I take a few steps back, patting the wound to confirm that she has drawn first blood.
Max laughs at me while she points her sword. ‘It seems the luxury of the throne made you rusty. Did the Cinari make you weak on purpose so they can take over at a later point?’
‘I focused on ruling, not engaging in duels or training. My strength lies in ensuring we don’t starve during the winter. Which I have succeeded,’ I clap back. ‘What are your achievements? Your only action as a military leader was staging a coup to gain power. I, on the other hand, focused on the survival of everyone! Yet besides succeeding in overthrowing me, I still stand!’
Furious, she takes the offensive. Reading her sword so she can pierce my chest. I use the broad side of my weapon to hit her blade away, giving me a chance to get up close to knock her to the ground with a swift kick to the chest. Max winces the moment her back slams against the cobble road. It seems she was taken by surprise
She rolls out of the way as I strike at her. My sword bounces off the ground just in time for me to raise it to defend myself against her barrage of attacks. Forcing me to take steps back as I deflect her killing blows, but only for those attacks to strike against my arms and legs. Seeing that I need to regain control, I step to the side and use the momentum to knee her in the stomach to force her back.
I hiss as my own blood coats my arms and legs with a series of nonlethal cuts. I get into a defensive posture, raising my sword to be at the ready as blood drips down from my hands.
Max coughs as she holds onto her stomach. She growls as she turns to me, trying to stand up straight as she ignores the pain inflicted upon her. ‘All you did was make our enemies’ lives comfortable. The people who enslaved us! Made us work in the mines and fields. What did we get from our enslavement? Nothing! We suffered while they grew fat and arrogant.’
I look around, every Dog is silent as they eagerly listen to both of us. I doubt anyone will cheer or utter a word during our engagement. It is clear I am not just fighting Max, I am fighting for their support.
‘No, Max! They are no longer our enemy; they are our captives and, potentially, our people. I am showing them that we are better, that we are not like them in any way, shape or form! Unlike you, I desire to end the barbarity of slavery. Unlike you, I can prove that we are better than they can imagine. That our pain and suffering will not define us and will not entrap us in the past!’
Max scoffs while we begin to circle one another. ‘Our pain isn’t in the past. It is recent! The scars of their evil still linger, and the wounds they’ve inflicted are fresh on everyone’s minds. They deserve what they get, every last one of them. They need to understand our pain, and they deserve to live through every second of it!’
‘The ones who kept us in chains deserve…’
‘All deserve it!’ Max swiftly cuts me off. ‘Every man, woman, and Cinari child. All deserve it! They benefited from our enslavement. They did nothing while we suffered in bondage. All of them are complacent in one form or another. Yet you ignore that fact! How convenient. A traitor who couldn’t understand that it is their entire species that is rotten to its core. And is too ignorant about our suffering.’
That bitch! How dare she say I am ignorant! I sprint towards her, roaring at the top of my lungs. I lunge my sword at her to kill the white hair cunt. She is quick to dodge my attacks. The stone on the ground splits and cracks with every blow that strikes the ground.
However, she manages to knock my sword out of my hand by cutting the back of my right wrist.
Yet I keep my momentum! Taking a step towards her to punch her in the face. Causing her snout to bleed as she stumbles back.
Max growls, spitting out a tooth to reveal her blood-soaked mouth. I snarl back, though I may not have my own sword. I will take pleasure in beating the shit out of her with my bare hands.
We bolt towards each other, our fangs showing like we are willing to tear each other’s throats out. I swipe at her head, but she ducks and thrusts her sword inside of my shirt and pierces my left cheek and out of my left eye socket. I yelp in pain before grabbing her from her head and kneeing her in the face.
Max rolls on the ground in a daze. I pull her sword out of me. Blood coats her silver blade and pours out of my face. The vision from my left eye is now gone. But I know I have the advantage. I wedge the blade of her sword in the ground to snap the blade from the hilt before tossing out of the arena. The crowd moves out of the way as the broken sword flies in their general direction. I will make her fight on my level, she has to pay!
But we need to regain our strength. As we both catch our breaths, it rains. The water washes away the blood from my body. Max struggles to stand up, wobbling a bit before she can regain her balance.
‘I… am not ignorant!’ I shout at her while my left hand rests over my left eye. ‘You forget. I also slaved away! Don’t pretend that my life is easy.’
I pull down the left side of my pants to reveal my birth number to her. R-12:9. Those letters and numbers were branded on my flesh almost two years ago.
‘I am like everyone! I am one of us!’ I shout as I pull my pants back up.
‘No, you are nothing like me.’ She pulls up her shirt to reveal not a brand, but a tattoo on her lower abdomen, barely visible under her white fur, but it is evident that the mark is there. 14-300-51. ‘My age, the cost in gold, and the year they raped me.’
She lets go of her shirt, her expression a fiery anger at what she has revealed to me. It is a mark of sale, a bidding mark the Cinari placed on her when they auctioned off her innocence.
‘You only know what it is like in the mines.’ Max continues. ‘You know nothing about the people you lead and how they endured. While you are allowed to explore the mines at a young age, free of most of the responsibility. I was forced to work the moment I got out of my mother’s womb. I was nothing but a tool, an item they used to make their homes feel lively, a toy to satisfy the desires of curious men. No, Alex, you are nothing like me. Yet here you are, demanding me to forgive and live alongside a species of terror. And you say I have to be better than them? Alex, I am better than them. I don’t lust over the young the moment they bled, I don’t make bets on who should bed them first. I am better! Always am, always will be! None should live after what they have done to me or anyone like me. Those creatures, the monsters you are so eager to keep alive and are merciful towards, deserve nothing but an agonising death!’
I look down to notice my black sword between us. ‘Killing them or making them suffer will not put anything right. All it will do is repeat this cycle of evil!’
‘The cycle ends when we kill them all!’ She says while we circle each other, both of us eyeing the weapon. ‘They can’t live without us, but we can survive without those vermin.’
‘I know we can. We are far more capable than the world gives us credit. We have proven that we can fend for ourselves and rule our own people!’
‘Then why stand for them? Why do you bother standing for those who will never stand for us?’
‘Because I am their leader!’ I shout back, my voice radiating with vindication as much as my anger. ‘I stand for them because I rule over them. Just because they are not one of us doesn’t mean they have to be ignored. Doing so will make me repeat their mistakes. I refuse to rule like them, to make the cowardly choices their masters made on our people. I refuse to follow their wrongs! Because I believe in a future when we rule under our own accords and not follow the examples that they have given us.’
Max scoffs at me, wiping away the blood from her snout. ‘Yet you ignore us. The needs of our people.’
‘No, not anymore.’
We clench our fists, our knuckles crack as we charge at each other for one last fight. She leans down to reach for the sword, but before she can pick up the sword, I slam my foot on the side of the sword to pin it down, and then I punch her in the side of her head. I jump on top of her, repeatedly beating her down with every blow. Every punch is harder than the last. Every strike cracks bones and breaks teeth. I keep going, and going. The crunch of her skull morphs into something squishy.
I want her dead! I want her dead! I want her fucking dead!
Someone grabs my hand from behind, stopping me from continuing. My face softens as I notice Syndy holding my bloodied hand. ‘Enough,’ she whispers. ‘It’s over now.’
The rain pours down to wash away the gunk and gore from her face. Max’s face is a pulp. Her lower jaw dislodged from her face, and her upper snout is nothing but what resembles a bag of broken bones and meat. Her left eye pops out of her skull… well, what remains of it.
How long have I been doing this? What have I done?
I step away from her corpse to become aware of the killing I’ve displayed. I terrified everyone. They know someone is going to die, but not like this. My hands shake as the realisation of my capabilities floods into my mind. I killed someone. I killed Max in such a way that I will never do to anyone else. It is sickening!
‘Alex!’ One Dog approaches me with a crossbow at hand. ‘What are your orders? What do we do with the traitors?’
Every Dog eyeing me, demanding a straight answer. They all want justice, something to make them answer for their treachery. The traitors, those loyal to Max, look at me in horror.
No, I will be better. In a way, they all have the right to stand up to me. ‘This ends now!’ I announce as I make my way to a box to stand on overlooking the crowd. ‘Those who fought against me, you were all ignored. I neglected our needs in pursuit of a better future. But I realise now that we can’t build anything if we can’t address what is irking in our minds. We were slaves! All of us were in bondage, and we can’t take that fact away. We suffered for so long that we have no idea what life will be like when it ends. When I focus on ending the sin of slavery, I turn away from the unhealed wound that scarred all of our souls. And that, I am sorry. Those who fought against me, you were angry. And that, I forgive you all. None will be punished.’
‘They were traitors! They killed one of our own!’ A few Dogs shout at me.
‘We killed our own! We reverted to how we fought against the Cinari, and we killed one another. It doesn’t matter what we fought for, whose side anyone was on. We did the unthinkable, and we killed each other.’
The crowd lies silent. Dogs of all sides and manes look at me. Wanting to know why, why I will not punish those who have wronged me.
‘The last bloodshed ends with me and Max. I fought so no more blood could be spilled in the capitol we have made for ourselves. I didn’t win so I can lay down judgment on every Dog who supported the coup. I won, so I can lead us all to something better! It is true, I extend my mercy to the Cinari, but I will also extend mercy to those who stood against me. Even if they disagreed, they are my people, and I also lead them! We all wanted a future without slavery, a world where we are free. And I will give us that world. But I will not follow what the Cinari has taught us. I refuse to be the image they paint us as.’
The corpse of Max lies next to me, as if it is calling me. This war, this fight, is caused by my inability to do what is required. I can change it, I can change all of it.
‘From this day forth, we will show the world what we are!’ I continue, my voice louder than before. ‘We are not slaves, we are not barbarians deserving of servitude or a people burdened by our suffering. We are a people of the future! Every one of us, not just I, shall look ahead to build our own prosperity and follow our own path. Not one given to us by the Cinari. But to do that, we have to be united as one. Our future is uncertain, and it will be difficult. Yet I know we will push through. Because if we can unite to stand against the Cinaris Empire, we can unite to build a destiny of our own making.’
I pant, catching my breath while the rain continues pouring down on all of us. A Dog takes a step towards me, wearing the green colours of Max’s military. Someone who stood against me, a traitor to me and my cause. He takes a knee, bowing before me. One by one, every Dog bows to show their support. Even Syndy bows, takes a knee to bow before me.
Their hearts have been won, but it isn’t a battle I take pride in. They need a leader, someone who can stand for them. I don’t know if it will be easy, and I know there will be challenges I have to face. But from now on, I will be better for them. I promise to never let my people be unheard ever again.