He watched as the Kwin’s chair was lowered to the ground, his slightly pinned ears the only sign of his thoughts.
One of the sytos hurried forward with an umbrella and parked himself beside the Kwin to shield her from the sun.My bare toes curled against the burning hot asphalt and I wrapped my arms around myself as I waited for whatever ‘amusement’ the Kwin had devised.
Two more sytos appeared, carrying huge recycling bins and plonked them down between the Kwin and the staked out prisoners.
“We’re going to have a little tournament,” she announced cheerily.“First round is target practice.Whoever gets the most points earns double rations for the night.”She clasped her hands in front of her chest and shot me a beaming smile.“It’s not as entertaining as a good arena duel, but I have been so deprived of fun since these slaves destroyed my beautiful cruiser.”
I stared at her in horrified disbelief.Sometimes she truly acted like I was supposed to be in on her version of fun.When I didn’t do a little dance for joy, she pouted and flicked her ring covered fingers at me.
“Truly, you’re a waste of space.Any one of these males would fight to the death to be considered my companion, and yet here you are, acting as if I am not doing you a great honor.”
I hate you, I wanted to say.Nothing about this is an honor, you narcissistic psycho.I kept the words behind my teeth though, because she’d just use them as an opportunity to torture Tovis again.
“Begin!”She clapped her hands and everyone rushed the recycling bins.
Within seconds, dozens of empty beer bottles were sailing through the air toward Tovis and Jiith.
Tovis managed to dodge the first volley, but the second came too fast and two bottles shattered against his head.Glass went everywhere and I covered my face as bottle after bottle landed.
Most missed, some he batted away, but too many made contact.By the time the bins were empty, he’d been hit dozens of times and broken glass covered the ground under his hooves.
Jiith didn’t even bother to defend himself, he turned his back to the bombardment, hunching his shoulders and simply letting the bottles hit him until he was on his knees in the glass, bleeding everywhere and shivering with pain.
The sytos turned to face the Kwin, making their dumb little salute and bowing their heads as they waited for her to pick a winner.
“Oh dear,” she said.“I believe that was a tie.You four.”She pointed at random, and the four sytos stepped forward.“If you want to earn your prize, you’ll have to compete amongst yourselves.Battle the turoch, whoever gets him to his knees first will earn their rations.”
My heart sank.This was a game no one was meant to win and the sytos knew it.Their tentacles coiled up tight at her orders, but they all obediently strode toward Tovis.
Four against one, the one already injured and restrained was clearly rigged odds, but I could already see that the sytos didn’t stand a chance.They didn’t have their shock sticks for one thing, but Tovis was already bristling with rage, and I could tell that even getting bludgeoned with glass hadn’t done anything but piss him off.
I felt a little sick as I watched the unlucky sytos hurl themselves at Tovis.I didn’t want them to win, I didn’t want Tovis to get hurt anymore, but I was starting to see that the blue aliens weren’t really the enemy here.
The Kwin was the evil little mastermind behind all this suffering.The males were nothing but brainwashed, desperate pawns.Tovis landed a vicious kick to one of the sytos legs and I heard the bone crack.The male collapsed with an agonized scream and Tovis stomped on his head.
The scream cut off and I closed my eyes, unable to watch the violence.For five gut churning minutes, the fight continued.I flinched at every sound, every blow, every crack, every scream.
When it was over, I looked just long enough to see that Tovis was still standing and then stared at my feet.
None of the sytos had survived.The only comfort was that Tovis had ended them quickly enough they hadn’t suffered too much, and the Kwin couldn’t torment them any further.
“What a disappointing show,” the Kwin muttered.“It’s nearly impossible to have a decent fight with only one turoch.”
There was a beat of silence as the remaining sytos waited for her to speak again.
“Glorious Kwin?”One of them took a hesitant step toward her.“May I offer a suggestion?”
She turned her attention to the male and he physically cringed back.
“You may, but if your words are a waste of my time, be prepared to join Jiith at his stake.”
His tentacles flared out in alarm, and I was betting he regretted speaking up.
“We came across a percer boar when we were returning to you.Perhaps if we captured the beast you could watch a proper fight?”
I couldfeelthe furious attention the other sytos were radiating at the speaker.In his quest to get on the Kwin’s good side, he’d just signed up his buddies to fight a huge monster and drag it back to camp.
The Kwin cocked her head to the side and beamed at him.
