Blood and Sand

An Iron Age Media Prompt - The Duel

In the fighting pits of Vark, the voice of a single onlooker cannot be heard; voices of the crowd blend together into a melody that quickens the heart and quells the soul. It intoxicates all within the area—fighter and spectator alike—with a thirst for blood. Quin felt it-the blood pulsing through his body, the savage rhythm beating in time with his heart. He shouted with the throng, adding his voice to the chorus asking for the blood of those fighting below. He became one with the crowd, their thirst became his thirst. The sun's rays made a cruel spotlight for the pit, turning the sand-covered floor into a canvas for fighters to paint with the glistening blood of their foes. The fights started with twelve warriors fighting wild beasts: wolves, a bear, some predatory cats, and two enraged bulls. Two warriors fell in this first round, one gored by a bull the other picked apart by the wolves, this hardly satisfied the crowd’s bloodlust. The crowd died down as the bodies were dragged out of the area, temporarily slaking the blood thirst of the crowd. The silence gave the remaining combatants a slight reprieve while they waited for the next round. Quin felt disappointed by this first round, the crowd had shared its thirst with him that had not yet been quenched. He wanted more. The next round was said to be some horrific monster that mercenaries had caught in the southern jungles. No one knew what manner of beast it was but only that it was guaranteed to excite.

As the second round began the fighters formed a circle in the center of the area and the crowd began their chorus. Out of the ten that remained two fighters stood out to Quin: a West Historian using a large curved sword named San and Elio, a Fortian who wielded a rapier. Quin noted that out of all the fighters, they seemed familiar with one another, as they had worked together to slay one of the bulls. Alongside these two were several human fighters using a variety of weapons, a tabaxi who had entered the area unarmed, and an orc wielding an ax. The clattering of a large iron gate at the edge of the area signaled the start of the second round. A large creature charged out of there as soon as there was room for it to squeeze its sagging form. The creature was a four-legged maw ringed by a crown of serpent heads. At the end of its tail was a large pincer like that of a shellfish. It moved with speed that did not match its form which is best described as half filled wine skin. A mixture of gas and liquid supported its leathery frame. The fighters scattered as the creatures charged into them. Its bulk crushed two into the sand, while the serpents tore into a third, dragging him into the maw. He was devoured feet first so his screams lasted for a while which only made the audience roar with delight. The remaining seven faced the beast. Quin noticed how they were hanging back, as if to see how the others would try their luck.

The orc and along with two other fighters rushed the creature. The two humans flanked the beast from either side. They wielded spears providing some way of herding the beast into the wall of the area. A fourth fighter, an archer from the southlands, narrow-eyed and slim, loosed a volley of arrows at the beast. A mixture of hisses and roars erupted from the beast as the arrows sunk into its flesh: it turned with surprising dexterity to face the onslaught of warriors catching the spearmen on its right with one of its front claws sending him flying into the wall. This provided the orc used this to leap into the air with his axe posed to cleave the beast's mouth and body in two, but the heads of the snakes sank their teeth into him, his hideous screams were muffled by the wreath of reptiles engulfing him. The second attempted to stab the beast but grabbed by its claw-like tail, the sound of snapping of bones filled the area. With the snake heads and tail distracted, the pair of fighters Quin was watching attacked. San swung the great blade and cut several of the heads from the creature’s mane. With a gap in the ring of snakes open, Elio jumped into the fanged maw, rapier first. Quin saw the figure of Elio disappearing into the maw of the beast, swallowed whole apparently. The creature now turned to strike Sen with its claws but as soon as the beast had reared to strike him, a long thin blade sprouted from its back. Elio had attacked the monster from inside, causing it to fall and breathe its last.

As Elio began to carve himself free from the beast's guts, the smell of exposed guts and gore made the crowd closest to the arena's edge gagged, with some throwing up all over the place. As Quin had suspected the insides of the beast were of a semi liquid state. The casualties and corpses were taken out of the area along with the beast. The orc was cut out from dead beast’s mane was found alive, despite his wounds. Now only four remained: Sen, Elio, the narrow-eyed archer, and a tabaxi that Quin had not seen use any weapons for the whole fight. After resting for a bit the fighters returned for the final round, which would determine who would fight the champion in the next round. The four were placed into teams: San and the archer versus Elio and the tabaxi. The two swordsmen immediately clashed, leaving the tabaxi and the archer to fight one another.. The tabaxi dodged arrow after arrow, moving closer and closer to the archer. Tabaxi are quite fast when they run on all fours. The archer dropped his bow and reached for his knife, but it was too late. Blood dripping from its teeth, the tabaxi ran back to join in the swordplay. He watched carefully as the two swordsmen danced with each other, looking for an opportunity to join in, but finding none. San found himself driven to the wall of the area by Elio’s superior footwork. Seeing this saw his predicament, San leapt onto the wall. Using his large sword as leverage to propel him away from Elio. This was the opening the cat was waiting for; started to pounce with predatory grace upon the exposed San. The crowd’s roar reached a deafening volume as the moment of victory came for Elio’s team. Then the tabaxi crumpled to the ground, and the crowd grew silent. Quin could see the glint of a dagger, thrown with deadly precision in the tabaxi's chest .

The grinning Elio walked over and took the blade from the tabaxi’s warm corpse. The crowd cheered at the betrayal. The two warriors waved to the crowd; it seems that they planned this from the start. A voice, enhanced by magic, drowned out the crowd, “Patrons of the Red Sands, it is my pleasure to announce the finalists: San of the Whispering Blade and Sir Elio Redward. These two will now be facing the champion! Thrane! The! Avalanche!” The crowd abandoned its usual wild clamor for a unified chant: “AVALANCHE!, AVALANCHE!, AVALANCHE!” Soon Quinn saw a large figure emerging from one side of the arena; the form of a large white lizard approached on two legs, two heavy blades on its back reminded Quin of butcher’s cleavers, except they were much larger than any cleaver he had seen, larger than actual swords even.

The Avalanche let out a thunderous roar and charged. San blocked the first blows of the champion while Elio flanked them. Quin saw their strategy was to distract the Avalanche with one fighter while the other went in for the attack. Elio’s rapier made several wounds on the back of Thrane. San then went on the attack. He swung his sword at Thrane’s neck; it stuck home, and a flourish of dark red blood colored onto the sand. Quin noticed that San was struggling with his blade. It would not move. Thrane had used his shoulder to block the blow. Clenching his muscular shoulder, the champion had trapped San’s blade, leaving him open. With a roar, Thrane pulled out one his butcher blades and cleaved San in two. The crowd's roar was drowned out by the roar of the lizard as it tore the blade from its shoulder. Elio took this opportunity to give the Avalanche numerous smaller blows with his rapier. With speed he ran circles around Thrane, all the while the Champion’s blood drained out into the golden sands. Quin saw Elio’s strategy, but he had seen how a drakin fights and Elio obviously had not. While Elio was running around Thrane, the Champion had led Elio up against a wall. Elio anticipated an onslaught and prepared to deliver his own smaller counterattack. The drakin took in a deep breath, and a torrent of white flames suddenly streamed from his mouth. The flames engulfed the swordsman before he could even react and Quin lost sight of Elio as he was engulfed by a silver mist. The crowd grew quite as the mists began to clear, showing Elio rooted to the ground as half of his body was encased in ice. Thrane walked forward and began to let out a deep laugh like snow falling down a hill as the crowd began to chant: “AVALANCHE!, AVALANCHE!, AVALANCHE!”