“Looks like someone’s charm didn’t work.”
“Don’t fret, human. That was stupid Blork’s spell. Blork does shoddy work. You have good charm from Bruxt. They’re brothers, but Bruxt’s the smart one.” The goblin closed the gate behind me. “Wait. Maybe I mix those two up? Eh. You’re good.”
I should have asked Ketekunan to keep me from getting hit at all, because goblins suck, and I was an idiot for trusting them. But I wasn’t going to turn back now. My patron saint despised that kind of quitter attitude!
My opponent hadn’t come out yet. Despite the magically augmented voice, I barely even heard the announcer say my introduction, because I was too busy watching that opposite gate, curious to see what I was going to be up against.
When he got to the drawn outPut Down Tom,I raised one hand in salute toward the audience above. There were some isolated cheers from the handful who’d seen my previous fights. I was no Rufus, but you’ve got to give the people what they want. The ones who were calling over goblins to put coin on me winning had probably been there when I’d beaten Krachma.
The gate opened and another cloaked figure walked out, hood down, limbs hidden, face averted. I was going to laugh if it turned out I’d been worried Clotz had brought in a ringer, but instead, he’d picked my opponent because we were dressed the same.
This time, I paid attention to the announcer. “And fighting from the south scaffold, with her first appearance in the Under Slump?—”
Her?Surely the announcer misspoke.
“All the way from the skull fields of Surnod Lin upon the Plane of Death, an enchanter of the first rank, I give youDathka Shadow Walker!”
He made that last word last for a long time, and the instant the announcer was done, my opponent threw back the hood, revealing that I was in fact fighting a deadlander, because the eerily colorless skin and solid black eyes were unmistakable features of that haunted realm, but this one was actually a female.
And a rather striking one at that.
“I can’t hit a girl.”
“Not with that attitude you won’t,” my goblin shouted through the gate. “Don’t just stand there. Do the face-off! That’s when the hesitating gamblers get off their ass and decide who to bet on. Walk to the middle and greet your enemy, stupid human!”
I did so, seething the whole way, because what kind of nasty goblin trick was Clotz pulling here? Different kingdoms had different customs, like Azarin’s people were fine with girls riding giant eagles and dangerous storm-chasing business I didn’t entirely understand, but the arena was for brutish men to beat the ever-living shit out of each other, and while death and serious permanent injury was rare, it wasn’t uncommon, as demonstrated by Rade’s neck scar or the fact these goblins were so proficient at cleaning up blood spills.
I’d never seen a female deadlander before. Azarin was pretty. This girl was downright stunning. I’d thought everyone from her realm had stark white hair, because that was what I’d seen in Acheron, but her hair was as pitch-black as her eyes and her skin was the color of the snow clouds you could see once you got out from under the Slump. Eerie beauty aside, I was also several inches taller, and though I was lean from going hungry so oftenover the last few months, I still probably outweighed her by fifty pounds or more of Red miner muscle. There was no way I could in good conscience hit her, let alone shoot her or set her on fire.
We stopped fifteen feet apart with the announcer between us. Unlike his boss, the announcer was human, and from the eye patch and general disfigurement, was himself a veteran of the arena. “You know the rules. Normal weapons are fine. Normal spells are fine. You’re both rank ones, so you can’t do much anyway. You quit after two protective charges go off or your opponent yields. No endangering the audience or I’ll shoot you myself. Now you’ll return to your corners, I’ll get out of the way, and upon my command, you shall proceed to harm each other to the best of your abilities. Any questions?”
“Yeah.” I gestured toward the girl. “What’s this?”
“It’s your demise,” she answered before the announcer could. “That feeling you’re experiencing is the sense of impending doom.”
“Clotz’s arena, mate. Clotz’s rules,” the old timer told me as he backed up. “Good luck.”
“Maybe goblins beat their women, but we don’t do that where I’m from.”
“Don’t worry, hotlander. You’ll be out long before you get close enough to lay a hand on me.” She spun around with a dramatic cloak flip and walked back toward her gate.
“Shit…” What was I supposed to do now? My saint rewarded stubborn determination, but I suspected Ketekunan—being as he was from Fogo before being promoted by the gods—would frown upon me striking a woman.
As I walked to my start position, I saw Rade sitting above, and shouted at him, “You didn’t tell me Dathka is a girl’s name.”
“How would I know? I’ve never been to Surnod Lin. It’s on the other side of the plane. I hear they’re odd there.”
So the fake noble from a town built on top of an ancient tomb city found someoneodd? “I can’t hit a lady, Rade.”
“If she wanted to be ladylike, she wouldn’t be here, Carnavon. Get your head right.”
The announcer had his own little bunker carved into the wall to duck into during the fight. He looked toward Dathka—who was ready—then toward me—who clearly was not—and shouted “Fight!”anyway.
She drew a pistol, lightning fast, and plugged me square in the chest.
Twelve
The impact staggered me. Through the cloud of hanging smoke, I spotted Dathka coming up with asecondpistol in her off hand, and instinctively threw myself to the side, landing behind a stone block.
