Chapter 15
Valen took up his position next to Ren and said calmly, “I have a proposition for you, General Ren.”
“I’m still not a general, but I’m willing to listen,” Ren replied, his eyes fixed on the other three fighters. Two of them appeared to be from kingdoms over the sea; they had odd clothing, and the sword and spear that they held respectively also had unusual designs on the hilt and shaft. The other one was a woman from Navinor. From her cloak, Ren guessed that she was a Viper, but instead of the usual double daggers, she was using a short sword in one hand and a knife in the other.
Valen said, “You and I will outlast these other three. I can tell you because I paid attention yesterday. But if we try to fight them while also going against each other, we will sustain more injuries. That won’t do either of us any good.”
“Are you suggesting we team up?”
“Exactly. And we won’t try to surprise each other or stab each other in the back afterwards; we’ll fight each other when we agree to do so, on my honor. How does it sound?”
“Well, I don’t really need your help, but…” Ren glanced over at Kathryn once more. Maybe teaming up with Valen wasn’t such a high price to pay for worrying her a little less. “I s’pose it’s not such a bad idea. Sure; let’s do it.”
When the trumpet sounded for the fight to begin, Ren and Valen instantly took up positions back-to-back, startling their opponents.
The spearman attacked first, lunging at Ren. He was thinking the big warrior would duck and the man behind him would receive the blow. Instead, Ren lightly tossed the spear aside, stepped forward, and slammed his staff into the spearman’s chin, sending him staggering back.
Valen slammed his sword against the other swordsman’s shield, using his own shield to block a slash from the Viper. “Why’d I get two and you only ended up with one?” he complained.
Ren grinned. “Feels like old times sparring against the royal guard, doesn’t it?”
Valen was shocked when Ren, apparently without looking behind him, slammed the butt of his staff against the Viper. She brought up her arms just in time to shield her chest, but the blow sent her flying back violently.
“I see you’ve gotten over your issue with hitting women,” Valen muttered.
“She’s not a woman. She’s a Viper.” Ren was somewhat surprised when the spearman stepped forward into close quarters, using the spear like a staff, and attacked him with left and right hooking motions.
Ren used pure physical power to shove him back and then kicked him in the chest, sending him sprawling. Valen had suffered a shallow cut in his shoulder from the swordsman, but his opponent couldn’t overcome the difference in skill. A moment later, Valen stepped forward with a violent thrust, and his sword went deep into his enemy’s shoulder.
The man howled in pain and staggered as Valen withdrew the weapon while using his shield to bat away a feeble counterattack. “I’m nearly done here,” Valen said calmly. “You?”
“Almost.” Ren stomped on the spearman’s chest, pinning him down, and pressed the staff against his throat. “Wanna give up?” he asked him.
“Y-yes, I yield,” the man gasped.
The Viper had regained her footing and was already coming for Ren again, but he’d had enough with poisonous attacks recently. He dodged, knocked her feet out from under her with his staff, and disarmed her by striking both her hands in quick succession. She cried out in pain and he winced, but stood his ground, saying, “Give up already.” She glared up at him, but nodded.
Ren glanced over his shoulder just in time to see that Valen had gone for a fatal blow. The other swordsman slowly sank to the ground with blood pouring from the wound in his chest. Ren felt a bit ill at the sight in spite of himself, but he only said, “I guess we’re done with them. Ready to fight?”
“Let’s talk for a second first.” Valen sheathed his sword while the watchers booed, confused as to why the exciting fight was taking a pause.
Ren lowered the staff. “What are we supposed to talk about? I thought we already tried this,” he pointed out.
“I have something to tell you. I know it’s shameless, but I wanted to ask you not to kill me. And I’m asking you at the same time that I have to tell you I will be doing my best to finish you off permanently.”
“That is pretty shameless.” Ren’s face darkened with annoyance. “Why can’t we both agree to try not to kill each other and then do what we have to do?”
“You know I have a wife and child back home, Ren. Illian is not the man you think he is. He is…terrifying. And now that he’s working hand-in-hand with Navinor, the danger is even worse. I won’t risk them for you, and that is just what I would be doing by putting my loyalty in question.”
“Then why shouldn’t I try to kill you as well?” Ren shot back.
“Because. You’ve met my child. And you don’t want him to be an orphan. I know I’m being unfair. But this is the best I can do; I know I probably won’t win against you.”
“You’re a fool, Valen.” Ren raised his staff. “Draw your sword. I’m done talking.”
Valen sighed and drew his sword. “Very well. Let’s fight,” he said.
Hardly had the words left his mouth when Ren sprang towards him, stabbing directly towards his face with the staff.
Valen blocked with the shield, muttering, “So much for not trying to kill me.”
The shield temporarily obstructed his vision, and Ren took advantage of that to do a diagonal strike towards his sword hand. But at the last second, Valen saw the movement and pulled back before thrusting directly towards Ren’s chest.
Ren dropped the staff, grabbing his wrist in an iron grip. “You know,” he said, “This whole ‘fight to the death’ thing isn’t really the way I planned to spend my day. But if it’s what you really want, maybe I should oblige.”
He twisted his wrist hard, eliciting a grunt of pain. But Valen slammed his shield against the side of his head, and he staggered back, bleeding from a cut over the temple.
“You shouldn’t have agreed to this fight,” Valen said grimly. “I know you’ll do anything for her. It will bring you to your grave.” He lunged forward, aiming at Ren’s neck.
Ren ducked under the slash and slammed the full weight of his shoulder and upper body against Valen’s shield. The strength of the blow was like a battering ram. Valen nearly lost his balance, but he stomped both feet firmly in the sand and unleashed a flurry of strikes towards his opponent.
Ren jumped back, ducking desperately and trying to find an opening to grab his staff. But the nearest weapon was the sword that the dead man had dropped. Ren snatched it up and blocked Valen’s downward slash from a crouched position. The force behind the blow drove him down into the soft sand.
Ren said, “Don’t make me kill you, old man.”
“Do what you think you have to, Ren.” Valen hit him in the face with the shield. As he fell backwards into the sand, the older man raised his sword to deal the finishing blow.
Ren kicked him in the stomach with both feet. He crashed backwards, dropping his sword.
Ren struggled to his feet with his face covered in blood and his eyes flaming. “You pushed your luck,” he said. He stomped hard on Valen’s arm as the man reached for his sword.
“AAAGH!” Valen gave a shout of agony which was cut off in the middle as Ren kicked him in the face.
Ren bent over him and grabbed him by the throat, raising his sword. His face was twisted with both anguish and rage. “I hate you for making me do this.”
Valen closed his eyes as the sword flashed downward towards his throat.
There was a soft “thump,” but strangely, there was no pain. When Valen opened his eyes, he realized Ren’s sword was buried nearly up to its hilt in the sand next to his head. And Ren had fallen to his knees next to him, panting and wiping the blood from his face. “Get out of here. You’re still alive, aren’t ya? So go home to your wife and kid and leave me alone!”
Valen could hear the pain and anger in his voice. The older man slowly stood up, saying, “Thank you, Ren.”
“Just leave me be, blast you. I don’t want anything to do with you, or anyone else.”
“I understand. But Ren, you do realize that you won’t be able to avoid killing forever. It will happen sooner or later…you have to be willing for it to happen if you want to survive on the path you’ve chosen for yourself.”
“I don’t want your advice!” Ren glared up at him. “Just go away, or I swear you will be the first person I kill here in Tephraya.”
Valen flinched and nodded. “I’ll leave you alone. There’s just one more thing that I know you will want to hear. I have contacts here that have told me your friend Chance is in danger. Someone is looking into his past…and it seems they have every intention of doing him as much harm as possible. I don’t know who it is, but if I find out, I’ll let you know. It’s the least I can do for letting me go home.”
Ren said nothing. Valen left the arena amid a mixture of cheers and howls of disappointment. Many in the crowd had been hoping for a fight to the death.
Ren and four others had won their brawls. One of those four was Xian. Another was a woman named Helga from Hirahja. The third was a general from over the sea who used a strange sword with only one sharp edge. And the fourth was a man who used some kind of horned helmet and a battle axe while fighting.
Ren was somewhat disappointed to realize that he wasn’t going to be fighting any of them. From what Zafiyah had said, each would have to fight a champion of King Tarik. So he was completely shocked when the arena announcer called, “Tomorrow will see an exceptional new event! After the other three candidates have fought King Tarik’s champions, General Ren from Iridalys and General Xian from Navinor will do battle in a special exhibition match. The winner will automatically gain a title, land, and the prize money and become one of Tarik’s champions should he so desire.”
From the sidelines, Kathryn exclaimed, “What?!”
She turned to Chance with a horrified expression on her face, her lips tightly pressed together with anxiety. “What is he talking about? Why would they have a special exhibition match?”
“Well, I certainly don’t have the slightest idea,” he said calmly. “But wasn’t that what they both wanted anyway? An opportunity to finish things for good?”
Kathryn hesitated. She knew Ren had been hoping to fight Xian again. But a part of her had desperately hoped that they wouldn’t have to.
For his part, Ren looked pretty happy about the whole thing. He glanced over at Xian with a triumphant smirk. Xian only gave him a grave nod in return.
As Ren left the arena, Kathryn rushed to meet him. She exclaimed, “You’re covered in blood! How bad is it? I couldn’t see very well from where we were sitting.” She fidgeted anxiously as she spoke.
Ren grinned at her. “It’s not as bad as it looked. I just got smacked in the head a couple times. But I think we both know that won’t do me much harm.”
“That’s what I was going to say,” Chance broke in cheerfully. “They couldn’t have hit you in a less vulnerable spot. So, you’re fighting Xian, huh? That’s convenient.”
“A bit too convenient. It seems that this whole thing was being manipulated from the start,” Kathryn said quietly. “I had suspected it. It was just too strange that a famous and powerful fighter like Bjorn was your first opponent. And Valen just happened to be in your group. It seems like King Tarik either has reason to dislike you simply because you’re from Iridalys and Illian has managed to utterly destroy trade relations, or he simply finds it amusing, which is entirely possible as well given his highly unpredictable and capricious reputation.”
Brenin nodded agreement and added helpfully, “You could always back out.” He glowered at Ren’s surprised face. “Don’t give me that look. He’s already beat you twice.”
“Maybe I’ll get lucky.” Ren grinned at him. “You shouldn’t worry about me, old man. You know what I’m capable of.”
Kathryn interjected, “At least we have a strong plan in place. If you follow-”
“Actually, Kat…” Ren seemed to be struggling to speak. “I was thinking, I might go a bit of a different direction.”
“What?!” Kathryn was shocked. Even Brenin looked surprised. Ren had never rejected one of her plans before.
“I don’t know why exactly, but I just have this feeling….I want to do this in my own way.”
“Ren, do you realize how small your chances of success are? You’ve already lost against him more than once; you can’t afford to-”
“The thing is, Kat, it’s up to me.” Ren put his hand on her shoulder solemnly. “I know you’re worried. But you’re not the one who’s gotta go out there and fight him. I am. So this time…I need to do it in my own way.”
Chance’s words from the other evening still rang in his ears: “In your whole life, how many decisions have you made that were according to your own wishes, that didn’t involve her?”
Kathryn reddened. “Don’t be stupid,” she said sharply. It was the first time she’d ever spoken those words to him, and she could see that it hurt him. But it hurt more to think of him dying at the hands of Xian. “I told you, if you do what we planned, you can win against him!”
“I’m not stupid, Kat.” Ren’s tone was sharp. “Maybe the real problem between us is that you still think I am. But this time, you’re going to have to trust me, because I’m going to make my own choice. This one isn’t on you. It’s all on me. And tomorrow, whether I live or die, that’s gonna be on me too.” With that, he turned his back on her and walked away.
Chance whistled in awe. “You two really know how to rile each other up,” he remarked.
Kathryn glared at him and he put up his hands defensively. “Okay, okay, I’ll stop teasing.”
Brenin put a hand on her shoulder. “Let him go,” he said. “Ren may not have your analytical mind, but he has an instinct for fighting like few I’ve ever seen.” This was high praise from the grizzled old soldier.
Before she could reply, Chance put in, “So now that that’s settled, do either of you know where we’re going to sleep tonight?”
Kathryn didn’t have an answer for him. He sighed. “Guess that’s a no,” he muttered.
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