Chapter 10 #2
It was a terrible match. It opened with Sifuso lunging in for a quick stab, getting slapped for his efforts, and that must have scared him into timidity.
Sifuso was quick, but all that speed was good for was to scurry out of the way or clamber up the stone blocks to try and hide on top.
At one point, he even climbed our side’s scaffolding and clung there, thirty feet up as the kid shouted at him to come down and fight.
The angry audience threw trash and bottles at Sifuso.
Eventually, two goblins came down the ladders and poked at Sifuso with poles until he was forced back down into the quarry.
When he finally got caught, the human threw him down and beat him mercilessly until both charges activated, and then the goblins had to come out and break them up, because the kid wanted to beat him some more, just out of frustration.
The crowd seemed relieved it was over.
“Well, that was embarrassing.” Rade was barely audible over the booing. “Maybe lizard men are only bold when they can strike unseen.”
“I don’t know, but at oh-and-three… I’m sensing a disturbing trend developing with our students’ matches tonight.” It wasn’t looking like my new career of fight manager was going to work out.
There were a couple more fights before our next Outcast was up, so I studied the gladiators on the other side of the pit, trying to guess which one was Dathka Shadow Walker.
The name suggested a deadlander, but I didn’t see anyone that pale over there.
Except there were a few who—like me—hid their weapons under cloaks and their faces beneath hoods.
Better to keep the fighters mysterious, I suppose.
Though for me, the attempt at disguise was more about dodging vengeful Skerrets.
Then it was Rufus’ turn.
“Well, let’s see how our war mage does.”
“Don’t get too hopeful,” Rade pointed out. “His opponent’s favored four-to-one.”
Our dwarf was up against a muscular orc, who had a winning record, and carried a gigantic polearm with a nasty hook on the end. When they met in the center, Rufus only came up to the big green guy’s chest.
“I can see why.”
The announcer got out of the way. The challengers went to their respective scaffolds. The match started. And then Rufus surprised the hell out of me.
“FOR RUDNIK!”
Rufus ran across the arena floor, straight for the orc, who invoked a beam of fire.
Like me, the orc must have had an affinity for fire magic.
Rufus’ beard got singed as he rolled out of the way.
He popped right back up, launching his own spell.
A cloud of stinging sand flew into the orc’s face, causing his next fire spell to go wild, slashing across the scaffolding and setting nearby ropes on fire.
Rade yelped as we got hit by sparks. I smiled, because that just felt like home.
As Rufus slammed the end of his axe against the ground, he shouted, “Crush!”
A wave of dirt rose up and slammed into the orc’s legs, sending him stumbling.
That spell worked a lot better on bipeds than Elemental Earth Spirits!
That distraction was all it took for Rufus to be on him, swinging like he was chopping wood.
There was a flash as the orc’s own enchantment stopped a hit, followed by another, and then Rufus had hacked through the orc’s protective spells, and the goblin’s charm stopped the last blow.
The crowd all stood up at what would’ve been a disemboweling axe wound to the guts.
Rufus seemed stunned by the cheering, and from the look on his face, I realized this might be the first time in his life he’d heard anything like that. He lifted one fist and pumped it in the air. “FOR RUDNIK!”
Then the two of them went at it again, and it was a great match. They circled, continuously striking and blocking. Fire lanced and rocks flew. They went for five straight minutes like that, dripping sweat and burning element. I’d underestimated our dwarf, that was for sure.
“Go Rufus!”
The orc managed to hook one of Rufus’ legs with his polearm and yanked him off his feet.
Rufus landed on his back, and the orc slashed him hard across the chest. Unlike the orc, Rufus had no extra protective enchantments—that wasn’t one of the spells any of us Outcasts knew yet—and the hit went straight to the goblin charm.
It was now down to the last good blow, and both fighters were hurting. The crowd was loving it. So, I figured, why not? And started chanting, “Rudnik! Rudnik!” Rade joined in, and it caught on with the fans above. Quickly, the chant filled the quarry.
Rufus blinded the orc with more sand, slammed him sideways with a surge of dirt, then ran up a boulder to jump and put axe to neck so hard that if the goblin’s enchanter hadn’t done his job right, the orc’s head would’ve flown across the arena.
The mighty orc fell, and a star was born.
“Rudnik! Rudnik! Rudnik!” Crowds loved getting surprised by an underdog.
“That ought to be a nice payout.” When Rufus looked our way, I gave him the most respectful up-nod I could, brawler to brawler. There was no way he could hear me over the noise of the crowd chanting the name of his clan, so I said, “Well, now I feel bad for thinking he was a blustering dummy.”
“He’s still a dummy. You were just wrong on the blustering part. That boy can fight.”
A goblin swung his head over the scaffolding from above. They were even uglier upside down. “Put Down Tom, you’re on deck. Time to kit up.”
“Good luck, Carnavon. I promise to not place any bets against you in your absence.”