The Battle of a Lifetime

As the trumpeter’s call split the early morning silence, it found Dakkoth moving through the intricate practice maneuvers that his craft demanded.

Clear on the other side of the arena, Silvaeya was just waking up. She rolled out of her meager bed, and reached for her weapons and armor and began to suit up. One of the unspoken rules of the arena was never to be without a weapon of some kind at all times. Accidents happened all the time, and the more prepared that you were, the better your chance of survival was. Many gladiators went so far as to sleep in their armor, and clutching their weapons.

Silvaeya had just finished lacing up her leather battle armor, when there was a knock at her door. Cracking it just a little, she noticed that it was just the arena master with the list of the battles to take place that afternoon. Passing the sheet of paper through the crack in the door, he immediately moved on to the next door to continue on with his work.

After the arena master left, she quickly scanned the list of fights. Two leapt out and grabbed her attention. The first one was her paired against one of the many novice fighters. The steady crime rate insured that there was always a supply of gladiators ready to fight in the arena. The other fight that caught her eye was with Dakkoth facing off against one of the many veteran fighters of the arena for the final fight of the evening.

Silvaeya felt a moment sense of pity for the fighter. It would be a waste of another great fighter, for all fights in the arena were to the death. The winning gladiator was not allowed out of the ring unless his or her opponent was lying dead at their feet. Dakkoth’s opponent didn’t stand a chance.

A few weeks ago she had happened upon one of Dakkoth’s fights and she was struck by the sheer grace and style of his sword craft. His movements were smooth, quick, and small. Designed to use the least amount of energy, but yet inflict the most damage possible. She had been going to watch his fights ever since.

Silvaeya snapped out of her thoughts and reached for her sword. Strapping that across her back, she then reached for her long dagger and attached that to her right thigh. Finally, she slid on a pair of specially designed leather bracers that she had created. Each bracer held five, thin little throwing daggers, which by a flick of her wrist could be released to drop into her waiting hands and thrown. One of Silvaeya’s favorite tactics was to launch a barrage of daggers at her opponents, and as they were recovering charge in and try to finish the fight quickly, while they were off guard.

Thus armed, Silvaeya walked out onto the arena floor and into the blaring sun. Even though it was still early morning, it was blazingly hot out.

Walking across the arena, Silvaeya headed for the Weapon smith. The arena boasted one of the best forges and weapon smith anywhere. After dropping off her bastard sword and long dagger to be sharpened, she walked around for a while, allowing her muscles to loosen and warm up.

As she walked around she eventually found herself at the sidelines of the battle ring, where the first fight of the afternoon was taking place. It was a fight between and slender, dark-haired woman; and a tall, fair-skinned man. The fight was quite even Silvaeya realized after watching for a few minutes. They would both throw themselves at each other with a clash of ringing steel, then separate and glare at one another for a while and then start the whole process over again.

This had gone on for quite sometime when, out of the corner of her eye, Silvaeya caught the slight movement as the female’s hand crept down her leg to grasp a dagger hidden there. Suddenly her hand made contact, and with a look of glee; hurled the dagger hidden there. It was all done with such grace and speed, that the man never saw it coming. He tried to bring his blade up to block the incoming missile, but to no avail. It struck the side of his head with a wet, sodden, bone-crunching thud and stuck there. Turning about to the crowed, she offered a smooth bow of her head and calmly walked off the stage.

As she walked past Silvaeya, she allowed a quick smile to come to her face, and then swept past, and Silvaeya thought no more of it. Silvaeya turned and left to go retrieve her blades from the weapon smith, and get a little bit of practice in before her big fight. After rearming herself she headed for the gym. When she arrived at the practice gym she noticed Dakkoth there still practicing, and her body came to an abrupt stop at being so close to the arena legend himself.

At her approach Dakkoth momentarily looked up from his sword routine. However, without a break in stride, he finished the exercise, threw his blades into the air, and let them drop home into the waiting sheaths at his side. Finished, he turned to face her fully and then spoke, ”can I help you?”

Realizing finally that he was speaking to her, Silvaeya at last found her voice. “I, I was looking for someone to practice with.”

With a kind smile Dakkoth responded, “I would be honored to practice with you.”

“No, no. I mean, you’re busy with your own routine. I don’t wish to interrupt…”

“Nonsense, it is no interruption at all. After all, practicing by oneself becomes tedious and boring after time. A flesh and blood opponent would do me good as well,” he finished.

“Well, as long as you’re sure…” she asked.

“Believe me, I’m sure. It would be a welcome break,” he explained.

Silvaeya nodded her acceptance as Dakkoth drew out his blades. They were beautiful pieces of craftsmanship, with etchings and runes all along the length of the blades, much more than the common mans blade. Many would never see the amount of money needed to purchase such a masterwork.

With a barely perceptible movement, Dakkoth motioned her forward with the tip of his lead blade. Signifying that he was ready, he dropped into a battle crouch and awaited the first attack.

Without blinking, Silvaeya launched the barrage of throwing daggers at Dakkoth, drew her other blades, and rushed in to attack on the heels of her maelstrom of daggers. With shock, Silvaeya watched Dakkoth’s blades sweep to and fro, knocking all of her daggers to the floor. Brought up short by the stunning display of swordsmanship, she was almost cleaved in two by the downswing of Dakkoth’s blade. Sensing it just in time, she swung her bastard sword up to parry the attack.

Sensing the parry Dakkoth flew into a whirlwind of attacks. Coming at Silvaeya from every side and every angle. At first it was all that she could do to stay out of harms way. In most cases she would have been, dead had Dakkoth not been pulling his attacks.

Soon she fell into a more easy rhythm as she observed and began to mimic Dakkoth’s unusual fighting stances and moves. After a while she even began to hold her own as her blades came to understand the unique patters of Dakkoth’s style. Before she knew it the sun had reached it’s zenith, and it was time for her fight.

As she packed away her things and got ready to leave Dakkoth grabbed her arm and stopped her.

“Now don’t go and die on me, you have more skill and promise than I have seen in anyone for quite some time. I look forward to more practice sessions. Be careful out there. Remember the things you have learned today and they will hold you in good stead,” he lectured.

Releasing her arm, she gave him a quick smile and then was out the door and off to her fight.

***

Later, as Silvaeya stood, facing her opponent and waiting for the battle to start; she allowed herself to drop into one of the meditative trances that he had taught her to use at the start of each battle. Silvaeya’s eyes flicked open as the announcer read off their names and the battle began in earnest.

She took stock of her opponent. The woman that stood before her was little more than a girl, and willow thin. She wielded a great two-handed sword that was way to big and awkward for someone of her size.

Silvaeya was brought out of her contemplations by the line of fiery agony that erupted along her side, and the feel of her warm blood as it coursed down her leg. She screamed as the flash of hot pain hit her, and doubled her up at the waist. The little wretch jumped back into a guard position, and struggled to bring her sword back up. By the gods she’s fast, Silvaeya thought to herself. Mastering her pain, Silvaeya gave a strangled cry of as she straightened.

The next time the little vixen came darting in, Silvaeya was ready. Drawing her sword, she swung it around in a great two-handed stroke meant to decapitate the girl and end the fight right there. The girl somehow brought up her sword in time to parry, but the force of Silvaeya’s swing ripped the blade from the little girl’s hands and sent it spinning across the arena floor. The crowd instantly went nuts screaming for the kill.

Silvaeya looked to the sidelines briefly and saw Dakkoth standing there, watching. He gave her a small smile of encouragement that quickly turned to a frown when he realized the extent of the wound in her side.

Silvaeya turned back to the fight and the arena became blurry and spun within her vision. She realized that she was loosing a lot of blood, and that she needed to end this fight quickly or she would be done for.

As the girl dove towards her sword, Silvaeya’s thoughts strayed to the daggers in her wrist sheaths. The girl came up with her sword just in time to see two of Silvaeya’s daggers come flashing in at her. Dropping the sword she back flipped away from the first dagger and tried to dive away from the second. Maybe she was off balance, or tired, but the second dagger lodged itself in the girls left forearm as she came out of her dive. Clutching at the damaged arm she still ran back for her sword.

Once again, Silvaeya became aware of the crowds yelling for more blood.

I must end this fight now, she thought to herself. The loss of blood was beginning to take its’ toll on her, and she started to sway on her feet.

The little girl, seeing what was probably her last chance, darted in with her sword leading, in one last, ditch attempt at killing Silvaeya. Silvaeya, coming out of her feint, brought her sword across and gutted her opponent.

The girl slowly sunk towards the arena floor, feeling her life fluids soak away into the earth, and ceased to move. The crowd erupted into wild cheering at the young girls death, and for a moment Silvaeya felt nothing but sorrow; for her opponent, for the crowd, for everyone. The brutality of the gladiatorial life was horrid, and for people to take such a perverse pleasure in it brought tears to her eyes.

Silvaeya thrust the tip of her sword into the sandy arena floor, and allowed her weight to sag against it, as a new wave of agony ripped through her, and her adrenaline rush left her. She made a small, half-bow to the crowd and began a slow shuffle out of the arena ring.

She limped down the last few steps that lead out of the arena, and saw Dakkoth coming towards her. Stumbling on one of the last steps she would have fallen, had Dakkoth, not been there to catch her.

Sweeping her up into his muscular arms, she allowed for her head to come to rest against his strong chest, and for the first time in many months allowed herself to relax and be comforted by the presence of another. Executing a crisp military turn, he began the walk back to his room.

Upon his return, he spoke the words to release the magic holding his room locked, and kicked the door open. Gently laying the unconscious girl down on his bed. At some point during the walk back to his room, she had slipped into unconsciousness. When his hands left her she started to thrash and moan, and Dakkoth, fearing for her safety, removed her weapons and placed them across the room, where she couldn’t hurt herself with them. Turning to a cabinet in the corner of his room, he opened it, removing the things that he would need to care for Silvaeya’s wound.

Pulling out a needle and thread, he placed these at the side of her bed, and then turned to fill a basin with water, and to retrieve a cloth on the other side of the room. Returning to here side, he realized that her armor was going to have to come off. Removing her armor proved to be the tricky part. Several times while in the process of pulling it off, she would began to thrash or moan and he was forced to stop for a minute while it ran its’ course.

Once he had her armor off, he reached behind his back a retrieved the dagger hidden in the secret sheath in his belt, and making a small cut in her pants, he was able to peel them away from the wound and get down to work.

He washed the wound and then quickly stitched it up with tender care, and with hands like that of a veteran surgeon. He had seen his fare share of battle wounds, and stitching came as second nature to him now.

After the cut was cleaned Dakkoth turned to another cabinet and removed a bowl and some herbs which he mashed into a paste and then spread over the stitching, so as to help the wound heal faster, and with a little bit of luck, leave no scar.

He made sure that she was resting comfortably and then grabbed his battle gear and rushed out the door to get to his fight.

Dakkoth’s mind was in utter turmoil as he walked to his fight. Never, in all the years that he had been here had he ever stopped to help anyone, nor taught them anything of his long forgotten craft. But for some reason he had done both for this woman. The rules of the arena were quite clear on this point, look after yourself, and yourself alone. Yet, he had just saved the life of someone who, could in the future, become an opponent.

With a start he realized he had arrived at the arena and was brought out of his private reverie. The announcer was calling his name, and he stepped into the ring of the arena, all thoughts of the beautiful, young gladiator asleep on his bed were put out of his mind and he turned fully to the fight.

***

When Silvaeya awoke she had no clue where she was. The next sensation to hit her was the dull throb in her hip. She gingerly reached down and felt the sticky paste that covered the stitching. Her brow wrinkled up in thought, and then it all came crashing back to her. The memories of Dakkoth catching her as she stumbled and passed out, and small parts of the journey back to his room. She carefully eased her way out of the bed. It was then that she realized that her armor and weapons were missing. She started to get frantic, until she noticed them resting up against the wall on the other side of the room.

She reached out for her armor and weapons to rearm herself. After accomplishing this she felt much better. The feel of her trusted companions was a welcome and familiar thing. She hastily made the bed up and left the room, slowly, staggering towards the battle arena.

The trip was made difficult because of the pain in her side, and the dizziness in her head from the lack of blood. She was forced to stop by her room and grab a walking stick to make the rest of the trip, and then continued on her way.

It was mid fight by the time Silvaeya finally made it to the gladiatorial arena, and she noticed that Dakkoth’s opponent bled from many numerous sword slashes. She also saw a nasty slice on Dakkoth’s leg that was bleeding profusely, but was being ignored as Dakkoth circled his opponent wearily.

The man facing Dakkoth suddenly let out a ringing battle cry, and charged in with his sword leading, and got it battered aside by a series of ringing blows from Dakkoth’s swords. The man rolled with the blows and came back up to his feet and then charged again.

Apparently Dakkoth had tired of the game, though, because at the mans next pass Dakkoth battered the man’s sword out of the way, and then gutted him with a splattering of blood, and let him fall to the arena floor.

As he walked off of the platform to thunderous cheers, his eyes lit up as he saw Silvaeya standing at the sidelines. He sheathed his blades and then walked to her side. As they walked away to go someplace a little more private Dakkoth made small talk.

“So I see you’re up and about. Feeling better I hop?”

“Yes, I suppose I have you to thank for it too,” she replied.

“Think nothing of it,” he replied gruffly.

Stopping, Silvaeya turned to face him and asked, “Why did you save?”

“As I told you when we first met in the gym, you fascinate me. I haven’t meet anyone with your skill and potential in a long time,” he explained.

“Obviously my skill was not great enough,” she replied wryly, with a glance at her injured side. She suddenly started to sway on her feet and would have fallen, had Dakkoth not moved to her side and slipped an arm around her, allowing her to fall against him.

Dakkoth grunted with the impact, and then swept her up into his arms. Silvaeya’s eyes rolled back in their sockets and her head slipped down against his chest, as her body went limp, and she lapsed into unconsciousness once again.

Dakkoth suddenly became very aware of the beautiful young woman he held in his arms. The feel and smell of her long, black hair, as it cascaded along his arm and shoulder was intoxicating. The heat of his desire arose within him and his breathing became deep and heavy. It was a good thing she was unconscious he thought to himself with a smirk. This would be a fun one to try and explain.

Dakkoth whispered the command word to open his door once he had gotten them back to his room. He opened the door and gently laid Silvaeya back on his bed again. Dakkoth walked over to his cabinet with all of hi medical supplies and got some creams to put on Silvaeya’s wound to help keep it clean.

After that was completed, he slipped out of his sweaty battle armor and into some more comfortable clothing, and stitched up his own slice. It was a stupid wound he thought, a mistake that never should have happened. When he was done taking care of himself he dropped into a chair across from Silvaeya and waited for her to regain consciousness. As he waited, his thoughts turned inward towards Silvaeya, and the growing feelings that she evoked in him.

He had never fallen for anyone like this before, and even though he had just met her, he realized that that’s what it was. He had fallen for her. For he realized that there was something special about this woman before him, and that something sparked an interest in him that few things in this world could.

He had been born to fight. He held a blade before he could walk, and his swords down through the years had been his constant companion, and the only thing that he could truly count on. He had been betrayed so many times in his young life, that he now found it hard to trust anyone.

He slowly came back from his reverie, looked out the window and noticed that night had descended upon the arena. The twinkling of the stars reminded him of the eyes of the young woman on his bed. She is so beautiful he thought to himself. Such fire, such spirit.

All of these thoughts were tumbling through his mind, when Silvaeya started to thrash and moan on the bed, as her body fought the infection that was slowly spreading through her body.

Dakkoth was out of his chair and at her side in an instant. He brushed her hair off to the side and bathed her sweat-covered brow with a cool, damp cloth.

Her terror-filled eyes fluttered open, and she sucked in a ragged gasp of air as she clutched his hand and struggled to sit up.

Dakkoth slipped an arm around her back and helped her up. Once he had her up he realized that her whole body shook from infection, as her body tried valiantly to fight back.

Dakkoth tightened his arm around her and drew her closer to him. Silvaeya’s head came to rest at his chest, and he could feel the tremor that ran through her body.