Chapter 26: Chapter 26

ISABELLE

Izzy tore the tip of her last fingernail off with her teeth. Mikhlas would fight soon.

Silian had joined them in the upper deck bar, where Vayth had at first told Silian off for deliberately losing, and then congratulated him on a masterful fight.

She couldn’t think about that. Soon Mikhlas would be down in an arena. ~He might die,~ and the thought twisted her up inside.

Izzy felt Amy take her hand and turned to her.

“He’s going to be fine. Badass, remember?” Amy said, but her words lacked conviction.

~Even she thinks he might die. Oh God,~ she thought, turning back to the screen that showed the bets for his fight.

Silian came to her. “He has faced a Gallobarean before. Do not dismiss the captain’s skill so lightly,” he said, looking up at the board, “even if the odds are against him.”

“Silian, if he dies—”

“He will not die. We do not know the nature of this fight yet. But if it comes to that, then I assure you he will fight with all his might to return to you.”

Izzy swallowed and nodded, not wanting to think of that outcome. The screen above her changed, and she saw Mikhlas enter the arena. He walked calmly to the other side, then his opponent entered.

She pulled in a breath, taking in the sight of the tall creature covered by light armor, and the sharp claws at the ends of its thin arms and legs. Its knees bent backward as it walked into the center of the ring.

“I’ve seen one of those before. Mikhlas showed it to me. It’s a…” She paused, her fearful mind looking for the word.

“A Gallobarean,” Silian said. “They are formidable. Strong and very fast. They possess the ability to jump great heights and distances due to the inverted shape of their legs.

“This one, Jounan, likes to fight dirty. He aims for the weak points of a being, cutting deep and forcing his opponent to bleed till they are weak. Then he moves in for the kill—”

“Stop. Please, Silian, just stop. I don’t want to hear it. For all we know this fight will be the same as yours, to first blood,” Izzy said as her eyes stung.

“Forgive me, what I meant is that Mikhlas is still in his disguise. Jounan will aim for the weak points of an Amphibian, not of a Homie. This may work to the captain’s advantage.

“If he can get him close enough for a killing blow, then this will be over quicker than my fight,” he said, giving her a smile.

~Well, that helps. A bit. Please be first blood~.

Vayth spoke from behind her, even though he sat at the bar, next to them, “You are so scared. For him. For his life. Why?”

Izzy turned to meet his eyes. “Shut up,” she muttered, scowling at him.

~Because I love him, that’s why!~ As the thought entered her mind, a small smile pulled at the corners of her lips. ~I DO love him, and he needs to know.~

“Please make it out of there, Mikhlas. I have something to tell you,” she mumbled to the image of him in the arena.

As before, a mechanical voice issued from within the arena. “Jounan challenged Mikhlas. Challenger, what is the nature of the bout?”

“You killed my cousin Kellille. We fight to the death!” Jounan shouted, and the arena erupted in loud cheers.

“Damn, that means Jounan knows the captain is a Homeworlder,” Silian said.

~No!~ Izzy’s heart dropped to her feet. ~You are NOT dying today! Come on, Mikhlas, I know you can be ruthless. I saw that back at the cabin. Do that again. Please, do that again.~

“Oh, dear me, how exciting,” Vayth mumbled.

“Hold your tongue, priest. This is not the time for jokes,” Silian barked, his voice filled with worry.

Izzy turned to Silian, hoping to get a feel for how badly this would end, but all she saw was the emotionless cover over his face.

“Defender. Any adjustments to the battle zone?”

Izzy felt her heart tear at the close-up picture of Mikhlas. His large frame looked small in the giant arena, with his impressive height matched equally by his opponent.

“You got this, big guy,” Amy said next to her. “Kick its ass!”

“Blackout. Pure darkness,” Mikhlas said. As the monster in front of Mikhlas shifted nervously at his words, removing some of his equipment and dropping it to the sand, her nerves eased, but only a fraction.

~What is he doing?~ Mikhlas calmly adjusted his force projectors, dialing down the light display until it winked out entirely. ~Why is Jounan taking his armor off? And why dark?~

She turned to ask Silian, but the mumbled response of the crowd drew her attention to the screen showing the odds. They were almost equal odds now. Izzy smiled as a sliver of hope that he might just get out of this in one piece filled her.

Vayth raised his chubby body and leaned over the bar, producing a gold card. “VIP mode, please my dear Quarma. This one will be worth the points,” he said.

The barman nodded and turned to the back of the bar to a small display screen.

He tapped at it for a moment, and Izzy gripped the sides of her chair, and with a sudden jerk as the entire bar moved, the ground below them moved closer through the glass floor.

“What the hell is going on?” Amy called out, her knuckles white on the bar as she held on.

“VIP mode, darling. This will be a fight to remember,” Vayth said, and Izzy grabbed Silian’s arm to stop him from hurting the worm.

Vayth flinched, then said, “Easy there, fun buns. I like your boy to win. I’m betting on him.”

Vayth dropped his voice. “Also, if someone comes looking at the mention of your captain’s name, they won’t find the bar in the usual place.”

Izzy turned to the large screen on the wall in front of them, and as the bar jerked again, stopping its descent, the screen faded out to clear glass and she saw the arena in front of her.

Mikhlas stood tall with his back to them, a little closer to the center. He briefly turned to look behind him, then back at his opponent again.

“Can he see us?” Izzy asked.

“No, dear. One-sided glass,” Vayth said, pushing the last of Mikhlas’s credit sticks toward the barman and adding a stack of his own.

Izzy twisted her hands, trying to relieve some of her tension as the view within the arena darkened. The walls of the bar, frost-white when they entered, now looked like dark volcanic glass.

The window into the arena took on a purple hue, and Izzy realized it employed some kind of night vision to enable the patrons to see clearly.

“I don’t understand why Mikhlas made the arena dark,” Amy said. “Can you see in perfect darkness?”

Silian shook his head and simply touched the side of his mask. “The captain is going to use his hearing to track Jounan.”

“WHAT?” Izzy breathed out, “Is he crazy? Oh God, he’s going to get himself killed.”

“Fight will commence on my mark,” the mechanical voice said, and Izzy stood to get a better view.

“Don’t you dare die on me, you hear me?” she said.

“Three…two…one…Mark!”

At the sound of the last word, Mikhlas dropped his head and took three large but quick steps to the side, shaking his arm to produce a black and deadly-looking double-edged sword on the end of a long polearm.

He stood still, his head down and his back turned to his opponent. Jounan ran forward, sliding to a stop on the dirt, and released a spray of small objects that looked like pebbles to where he saw Mikhlas last.

As they hit the sand they exploded, and Jounan moved again under the cover of the noise.

Mikhlas flinched at the noise, turning his head to one side, making no move as Jounan stopped where Mikhlas previously stood.

Jounan raised both arms to full extension at his sides and released a spray of bombs in a circular motion around him.

Mikhlas rolled forward at the sound of the tiny orbs being released, but not quickly enough. One hit his back, sending him flying forward onto the ground.

Izzy gasped and covered her mouth as his limp body rolled then stopped, the long-bladed weapon still in his hand. He didn’t move.

“Get up,” Izzy said as Jounan smiled and spun around, head tentacles flaring to the sound of Mikhlas’s heavy body hitting the ground.

He pulled a knife with blades on both ends from his belt and stalked toward Mikhlas.

“Jounan is using the vibration of the bombs to try and track Mikhlas,” Vayth said. “Smart.”

“Get up!” Izzy called louder, but Mikhlas showed no sign of movement. Jounan stopped when his foot hit Mikhlas’s leg and raised the blade above his head.

He brought it down with both hands, but in that moment, Mikhlas rolled away and to his feet in a blindingly quick move.

The knife hit the sand, and Mikhlas swung the long blade in his hand, narrowly missing Jounan’s neck, but catching two of the long tentacles that hung from the back of his head.

Jounan cried out as they fell to the ground, twitching in the sand and dark-blue blood oozing from them.

Mikhlas thrust the blade forward at the sound of the cries, but Jounan rolled away just in time to save himself, but was left with a small cut on his face.

Mikhlas went still again, his head tilted to the side, then as though the lights came on, he knew exactly where Jounan stood and ran for him, gripping the long pole in both hands.

“How does he know where he is?” Amy asked.

Izzy turned back at her words and found Silian chuckling. “Jounan’s heart is racing. He almost lost his head, and he’s close. Now the captain can track him.”

Izzy turned back to the window in time to see Mikhlas drop to his knees and slide under a thick fog of something Jounan shot from his arm and swipe the Gallobarean’s legs out from under him.

Jounan landed on his back with a huff, and Mikhlas got to his feet quickly, turning to the sound and pushed the end of the blade toward Jounan’s head, missing his eyes, but cutting off the tip of its feline ear.

Another roar of pain echoed in the arena and Mikhlas stood, shaking his other arm, then lifting it to the sound.

Jounan tapped his heels together like a horror movie version of Dorothy and two bright-red bursts of light pushed him away from a blast that erupted from Mikhlas’s arm and kicked up a crater of sand.

Mikhlas followed the red flames with quick bursts from his arm until one hit its target and Jounan rolled to a stop only a few feet away from the window Izzy looked out of.

Jounan sat up slowly, shaking his head as Mikhlas moved his arm in the direction of the window, but Jounan pulled out two small round disks from under his chest plate and threw them into the air.

They buzzed like angry frisbees, then the edges of the rings took on a yellow glow and they changed direction, coming back toward Mikhlas.

Serrated blades extended from the side like a table saw blade, spinning with a high-pitched buzz.

Mikhlas spun around to look at them, raising his arm just in time to deflect one from his face and stepped out of the path of the second one.

Mikhlas cried out as he tore off the force projector, throwing it to the ground in a sparking heap, and gripped the deep gash on his arm, a spurt of blood jetting through his fingers.

The yellow rings took off into the air again toward the other end of the arena, and as they turned back in his direction, they moved faster.

Izzy shut her eyes for a second, then opened them, unable to turn away. Jounan got to his feet silently, as Mikhlas turned to watch the disks come toward him, and with little effort, Jounan leaped into the air.

He moved so high, Izzy needed to duck down to see him through the window and came down behind Mikhlas, his tail whipping him on the side of the head, sending Mikhlas stumbling to the side with another cry of pain.

Mikhlas raised his bloodied hand to the side of his face and pressed it against his ear.

“Oh no,” Silian said, and Izzy spun around.

“What?”

“Jounan has damaged the captain’s hearing. A blow like that will leave his ears ringing far too loud to hear anything, let alone the silent movements of his opponent.

“Gallobareans can jump, as you saw, and now Jounan will use that to his advantage,” Silian said with worry in his voice and came to stand next to Izzy.

“Oh my god!” Izzy breathed, placing her hands over her mouth. She looked back out at the fight as Jounan flexed his long claw-tipped fingers and moved toward Mikhlas’ back.

With a swift move, Jounan bent his knees and sent himself soaring into the air high above Mikhlas, who still held his ear.

Jounan came down onto Mikhlas’s chest, digging his claws into the armor and tearing the metal and leather away as if it were paper.

One of his claws must have caught the captain, as a bleeding gash appeared, running halfway to his waist.

Mikhlas let out a heartbreaking cry and punched Jounan away with his good arm before shaking the force projector alive and releasing a wide pulse of energy that sent Jounan flying back a few feet.

The yellow disks came hurtling back toward Mikhlas, and he stood back on one leg as they approached.

As Jounan lay on the dirt, shaking his head, Mikhlas steadied himself and stepped back until he touched the window right in front of Izzy.

The yellow disks zipped through the air toward his head with incredible speed. Mikhlas stood still.

“Move,” Izzy said to his back, but he stayed motionless.

“MOVE!” she shouted as they got closer and in the last possible second, he dodged away.

With a jerk, Izzy squealed as the two disks embedded themselves deep into the walls right in front of her face, still spinning with that dangerous whine.

Mikhlas remained crouched on his knee, a dark pool collecting below him. ~He’s losing so much blood.~

Jounan got to his feet and glared at Mikhlas, now clearly visible under the lights of the yellow disks.

He raised one long claw to point at him. “Now you die!” he shouted and leaped into the air again.

Mikhlas turned his head up to watch him rise, and when Jounan reached the apex, his jaws opened wider than Izzy thought possible, showing a set of long sharp fangs.

He descended on Mikhlas, his claws ready to do more damage. Just before his feet hit the ground, Mikhlas stood, and with his bloodied arm, he caught Jounan by the throat, suspending him in the air.

Jounan flicked his tail around but Mikhlas caught it with his other arm, twisting it hard and a sickening crunch rang out, the strong tail bent and broken.

Jounan cried out, a muffled sound caught in his squeezed throat. Mikhlas held the struggling Jounan above his head for a second, and then dropped the Gallobarean across his knee with a sound like dry twigs breaking.

Jounan’s feet spasmed, the tip of one claw catching Mikhlas in the face and tearing half his mask away to reveal one glowing red eye. With two hands, Mikhlas lifted him up again.

“No! Now ~you~ die,” Mikhlas said, and spun to the yellow disks stuck in the glass behind him.

Izzy watched as Mikhlas took one step toward her, briefly looking up as though at her, then shoved Jounan against the still-spinning blades of the disks, sending blood streaming all over himself.

Jounan twitched for a moment, then his body fell away from his head. Mikhlas threw the head to the side as the lights in the arena came on, and stumbled away from the window.

“Thank God!” Izzy cried out, then saw how badly he was hurt, and she frowned.

“Challenger is dead. Mikhlas wins.”

“Shit!” Silian said as a flashing alarm began to ring in the bar.

“What’s happening?” Amy asked, getting to her feet and pulling Izzy up to stand next to her.

“Mikhlas lost his disguise. We need to get out of here.”

A mechanical voice sounded out as the patrons looked around in confusion, “This bar is under lockdown by order of the Justice Command. Please remain seated.”

Panic clutched at Izzy until she heard Prime’s reassuring voice. “Dakira, are you ready for transfer?”