24. RHYDIAN
24
RHYDIAN
T omas called the fighters to the centre of the ring. Both of their hands strapped, hair braided back off their faces, both wearing clothes fit for a fight. Whilst Eleen had donned her training gear, Rieka had repurposed the shirt I had traded for her into some kind of body wrap. She’d torn the shirt and wrapped it around her breasts, leaving all the skin above and below bare. The muscles in her arms flexed as she closed her fists.
I took up a position along the east line of the crowd, in perfect view of Rieka.
The heartbeat of my sister, only recognisable due to years of proximity rushed up beside me, her husband not far behind. “She’s not serious, is she?” Worry lined Lily’s features when she voiced her concern. “Why didn’t you stop her?”
“Would you really expect me to marry a woman who didn’t know her own mind?” The lie came so easily it hurt. Lily didn’t know the truth about Rieka, about why she was really on the train.
I had contemplated telling them all the truth, but then I would have to reveal how I found out about Rieka and from whom and I knew they wouldn’t have approved. There was a reason we compartmentalized information amongst the Runners. We each had our own methods of obtaining information, and we never shared them. Not if it helped with the ultimate goal. Freeing the passengers.
But Lily and Jae were Runners as well, and they both knew Rieka was a T'eiryash, yet the expression on my sister’s face wasn’t one of fear, it was guilt.
Lily’s lips pursed. In a terrified whisper, she said, “Eleen’s going to kill her and it’s my fault.”
When I asked why, she answered, “Rieka was asking about the marks, so I told her the law of personal property and the fights. Damnit!”
I wanted to reassure my sister that it wasn’t her fault. That this was Eleen’s doing and in turn mine. But Tomas stepped into the centre of the ring and as Train Justice, announced the fight’s conditions.
Winner takes the claimed item. Loser accepts defeat and the topic is never brought up again. Fight ends when one fighter submits. Or dies was the omitted part. An acceptable result as well.
Both women performed the traditional greeting, took a step back and waited for Tomas’ signal.
I took a deep breath, steadying myself as I listened for Rieka’s heartbeat.
Lily’s voice cut through my concentration. “What are you doing?” she whispered harshly, her voice reminding me of our mothers right before she would scold me. Even presenting as human, Lily could still detect when another Hemopath performed bloodwork as I was now.
“Quiet,” I ordered her. She fell silent instantly and I knew as much as she disapproved of what I was about to do, she would not draw any attention to it. Not if she thought I was trying to protect my wife.
I sensed Rieka’s heartbeat, strong and steady. It was unexpected. Most fights elevated heart rates. Even Eleen’s was beating faster than usual. I pushed that feeling aside. Felt my heartbeat between hers.
They fell into sync right when Tomas yelled, “Begin.”
Eleen moved first. An attempt to strike at Rieka’s face fast, to knock her out quickly and end the fight. Rieka ducked and moved aside. Eleen quickly spun, slightly perplexed at missing the shot. She readjusted herself as Rieka turned on the floor to face her again. Eleen waited for Rieka to attempt a strike. To attack as she had done at training. Rieka did nothing, just slowly slid her bare feet across the mat, hands positioned before her in a protective stance.
Eleen attempted to punch Rieka again. This time as Rieka ducked, she braced her arm across Eleen’s chest and swept her foot behind one of Eleen’s legs. Rieka was instantly on top of her, pinning Eleen to the ground. She punched her once and then stood and backed away.
“What’s she playing at?” Jae commented from beside me, confusion in his tone.
Eleen, pissed at being struck and then abandoned, jumped back into a fighting stance. The women circled one another again. Rieka continued to do nothing but circle the ring, a choice which made Eleen grow impatient. She charged at Rieka.
I held the sensation of her heartbeat, preparing myself for the moment the creature revealed itself.
Instead, as Eleen threw another punch to strike at Rieka, she blocked it. And another strike. And another.
In Eleen’s rush to strike, she miscalculated her footing. Rieka bounced on her back foot, spun and kicked Eleen square in the chest. Eleen caught the brunt of it on her arm. She fell back four feet.
The crowd’s excitement picked up. The odds had started to change.
Rieka struck whilst Eleen defended. They moved across the ring like two dancers caught in a trance. Rieka would twist and crouch, Eleen would glide and strike. Hits landed, blood splattered from split lips and cut brows. Neither woman willing to go easy on the other.
“Did you know she could fight like that?” Jae asked. I couldn’t answer. Not when I was linked to her. Not when I was trying to protect Eleen. But was I still trying to do that? I’d made the decision to puppet Rieka to prevent even a hint of the woman from the clearing from emerging, to protect not only everyone on the train from her but also Rieka from herself.
But was that even necessary?
Rieka knew how to fight, the display before me made that obvious. Likely a calculated deception. She’d duped me during sparring. For whatever reason, she’d chosen to play the incapable woman, and I’d believed her. But could I still believe her words now? Could I believe the words of a woman whose very existence was dangerous? What else was she hiding?
The crowd couldn’t contain their disappointment when Eleen caught Rieka in the same position as their last fight. Rieka had missed a strike, allowing Eleen to wrap an arm around her neck, forcing her once again into a headlock. The fight was about to be over.
Rieka suddenly struck back with an elbow into Eleen’s stomach. She dug her foot into the ground hard beside Eleen’s, where she pushed out, dislodging her footing, sending Eleen off balance. The hold on Rieka’s head was released, and both women fell to the floor.
Rieka had retained a hold on Eleen as they had fallen. Whilst Eleen had been prone on the ground, Rieka—with Eleen’s hand clasped in her own—rolled until the arm was twisted acutely. Eleen’s scream was visceral as Rieka jerked up, popping Eleen’s shoulder from the socket. The arm fell to the hardwood like a dead fish.
Puzzled, Jae said, “That move, I’ve never seen it before.”
Rieka attempted to attack from behind, to crouch atop Eleen’s back, but Eleen twisted and used her legs to bind Rieka into place on the floor.
“I have.”
I kept my eyes on Rieka at hearing my grandfather’s voice. He’d know what I was doing, just not why. I couldn’t give him any more ammunition with the council than he already had. I let Kosha inform Jae of what I’d already deduced from the fight.
“The Celestial Guard teach it.”
I could feel his eyes on me as he added, “Don’t they Rhydian?” I kept silent, played the worried husband, the husband willing to break a centuries-old law to protect his wife, regardless of the consequences. My only saving grace was that he’d be exposing not only himself but Lily as well if he revealed my transgression.
The crowd cheered as Rieka braced herself and stood, Eleen’s body still twisted around her own. Then she dropped, both colliding with the floor. With the wind knocked out of Eleen, Rieka skittered backward, spun on her knee and struck out with a leg, her foot connecting with Eleen’s chin.
My best friend fell back with a crunch, her scream ripping through the carriage. Rieka ran forward and I prepared myself to strike. But as Rieka landed on Eleen, she moved her leg forward, connecting with Rieka’s chest. Gripping her with her working arm, Eleen sent Rieka flying overhead, landing with a mighty thud on her back. The Brutes in the room flinched. Something in Rieka’s back had cracked.
Even pained, noses bleeding, and a broken jaw judging by the way Eleen’s face looked, the two women both rose again.
Eleen wasn’t a stubborn woman. She let most people have their way. And she rarely picked fights unless someone really pissed her off. She could be as changeable as the sea, one moment she was mad at you for stealing the last mince pie at dinner and wouldn’t talk to you for a week, the next she was sneaking into your bunk because your mutual friend was snoring the roof off her sleeper cabin.
So it shouldn’t have been unexpected that she would suddenly burst out laughing during a fight.
But with her face swelling from bruises, and with her chest heaving from both laughter and exhaustion, for her to raise her hand to her chest in the Seja way and submit to Rieka—that I had not expected.