Fairy Opera Chapter 27: Pit Fight

 

Pit Fight

I stood in a smoke-filled room where five dangerous-looking men sat around a table. The place was illuminated with a chandelier and multiple torches along the walls. There were no windows.

One of the men puffed a cigar. “We have heard about you, Rock. Tracking you. After you pulled that stunt and turned the tables on an established slaving crew, we’ve been looking at you. You are a very interesting person. Did you ever wonder what happened to those slavers you sold into the very slavery they practiced?”

“No. I never wanted to.”

The man shrugged. “They really got the short end of the stick there.” He sighed. “Me and my comrades would like to test you. We own a fighting ring here on this island. Win a fight, and we’ll forgive you for beating up our thugs and stealing from our collector.”

“What were you going to use that woman for?”

“Which woman? Ah, you mean the body you took from our collector. Well, we use discarded slave matter for a variety of purposes, all of which are necessary.” He puffed his cigar. “The battle commences at dusk today. Good luck.” He waved his hand and two bulky guards grabbed me by the shoulders and dragged me away. Tae stepped up between them and the door.

“You can’t do this. There has to be another way.”

Another one of the mob bosses chuckled. “I appreciate your bravery, young lady. But your friend has chosen to accept our challenge. It is upon him and him alone to survive this.”

I nodded. “I have a plan, Tae. I’m not going to lose to whoever it is I’m fighting.”

Tae grimaced. “Okay. But keep Ruby with you.”

“I will.” I felt Ruby’s gem up against my chest.

The two thugs dragged me out of the room and down a set of stairs, to a small holding cell at the bottom of the building. They tossed me in without ceremony and tossed some bread in after me.

The bread was actually a nice, fresh-baked loaf. I took a bite and stared at the tiny cell window above me. Ruby came out from my pocket.

“You really screwed yourself over this time.” She landed on my shoulder. “But I think you can take whoever threatens you during this trial by combat.”

“I have some magic buffs.” I pulled out a number of scrolls, and modified them a bit to suit my situation. Scode flowed through me like usual.

About two hours later the door to my cell opened and the same two thugs dragged me out into the hallway, across the building, and into a large open room filled with cheering people, at the bottom of which was a fighting ring. In the ring’s center was a gigantic, buff man with long hair wearing nothing but overalls.

Tough hands pushed me into the ring.

“Next up, fighting our champion, is Rock the Red!” The announcer held up his hand and the crowd cheered.

The man cracked his knuckles, looking at me with a huge grin on his face.

I pulled out some scrolls. “Null Canus. Bring me strength. Null Canus, Bring me speed. Null Canus. Bring me power.” My body light up with magic light each time I cast a buff spell. I grinned at the man in front of me.

The man laughed. “You come at me with tricks? You’ll be dead within a minute!”

The gong rang. My opponent rushed towards me with open arms. I sidestepped him and drilled my fist into his stomach. The sound was like a rock hitting a wet pillow. Spittle flew from the man’s mouth and, for a moment, he was frozen. Then he collapsed to the ground.

The whole arena was dead quiet. Then everyone cheered louder than ever. The announcer, overcoming his surprise, came over to me and lifted my hand above me. “We have our winner! Rock the Red!”

The two thugs who had brought me in escorted me out of the arena, though with much more care this time. Two of the Syndicate leaders were waiting in the wings. The one on the right laughed when I came close.

“I was not expecting that.” He put his arm around me and walked me down the hallway. “How would you like to become a fighter? You really have a knack for this. We faced you against a weakling this time. My name is Lightning. You’re a lot stronger than I gave you credit for.”

The other leader chuckled. “The name’s Clack, kid. You’ll do good with us.”

“I suppose I have no way to refuse this.”

“We’ll let you keep that lady you stole from our collector. Plus we’ll pay you the big bucks.”

I sighed. “Right now I’m trying to rebuild the Rebellion. I don’t know if I’ll have time for this.”

“Yeah? The Syndicate has a vested interest in bringing down the God Emperor. Sign a deal with us and we’ll help you out with that.”

I grimaced. “Then I’ll have to accept. The Empire is going to finish its conquest of Illum in about a year. If the Rebellion isn’t ready by then, we’ll be doomed.”

Lightning looked at Clack. “Win a few more battles for us and we’ll discuss our terms.”

“Right. When’s my next fight?”

“We’ll send a messenger with you when we figure that out.” Lightning and Clack brought me to a small side room in the Syndicate building. There was a chair and a piece of paper on a table.

“Sign here.”

I read the contract in its entirety and, seeing no real way to get out of this, signed it. It stipulated that I would fight for the Syndicate in their underground arena three times a month and would get a portion of the bet money. There were also a few rules and non-compete agreements. It was surprisingly formal considering who wrote it.

After the documents were signed, Clack and Lightning took me upstairs into a giant banquet hall, which was already filled with partygoers.

Clack lifted my hand up. “Rock the Red has arrived!” The whole room cheered.

I ate my fill of surprisingly good food while people congratulated me for defeating my opponent, who I found out was named Big Bomb Ben. He had a ten-streak record when I faced him. I gathered from it that the Syndicate really hadn’t meant for me to win that fight. Now that I had, things were different.

After the party, feeling fuller than I ever had before, I returned to the Green Dagon Inn where Tae and Jak were waiting. Tae ran up to me and hugged me.

“You made it out alive.”

“They didn’t mean for me to, but I showed that other guy who was boss. I mean, he probably was stuck there just like I was, but I beat him.”

Tae pulled away. “What were you doing afterwards?”

“At a party. Apparently the Syndicate wants me to become one of their regular fighters.”

“What? You accepted?”

“I had a feeling they wouldn’t have liked it if I had refused.”

Tae sighed. “I guess. I mean, we’re planning on staying here for at least a year to gather funds for the Rebellion, but do you really need another obligation on top of what you have already?”

I shook my head. “It wasn’t my choice.”

Tae sighed again and sat down. “I know you don’t want to eat, but sit with us.”

Jak crossed his arms. “So how did you manage to beat this opponent?”

“I cast some buff spells before the fight. It was a really easy one, I punched him once and he collapsed.”

“I didn’t realize you were so powerful now.” Jak raised an eyebrow. “You showed you were capable in that fight with the thugs, but I thought that was a fluke.”

“Yeah. Magic flows through me and makes me powerful.” I flexed my hand. “There’s something strange about it. Like my muscles put more weight into my movements than before I learned magic.”

“Maybe Ruby has an explanation.”

Ruby flew out from my pocket and alighted on the table. “I do have an explanation. As you use magic, it begins to infuse into your essence. You’re a technomage and you’ve been using a lot of magic recently.” She put her hands on her hips, her face showing her pride.

“Thanks, Ruby. You’re the best.”

Ruby laughed and flew around my head. “That was amazing when you punched that man. I could feel his chi flowing out of his body.”

“Chi?”

“It’s bodily essence. The power that gives you strength and motion.”

“Hm.” I turned to Tae. “How is the girl we rescued?”

“She appears to be doing better, though she hasn’t regained consciousness yet.” Tae frowned. “It looks like she was heavily abused before being thrown out.”

“Yeah. I can imagine. If this is what happens to slaves after they’re sold, then I don’t regret selling all those slavers right back into their own business.”

Tae’s expression softened. “I agree with you on that one.”

I stood up. “I’m going to go check on the girl.” I left the table and climbed the stairs to the second floor, where I entered our room. The girl was laying on the bed, her chest rising and falling with each breath.

I walked up to her and brushed aside her hair. She was a very pretty woman, though her bruises obscured her full appearance.

The girl’s eyes fluttered open. When they locked with mine, she curled up and let out a soft scream.

“Don’t worry. Don’t worry, I’m here for you. You’re safe now.”

The girl started sobbing, cringing with each sob. I put my hand on her shoulder with utmost care. “You’re safe now.” I repeated the phrase several times.

The girl uncurled and looked up at me. “Who are you?”

“I’m Rock. You were supposed to go to the collector but I retrieved you.”

The girl sniffed. “Amber.” She rubbed her eyes. “Rock, do you have any food?”

I looked around the room. “Um, I’ll grab you something.”

The girl licked her lips. “Please, I’m hungry.”

“Right, right. I’ll be back soon.” I left the room, hurried down the stairs, and grabbed some bread from Tae’s table.

“Hey!” Tae tilted her head. “Is the girl up?”

“She is, and she’s hungry.”

“I would expect so.” Tae gave me some meat as well. “Take this too. She’ll appreciate it.”

I brought the food up the stairs and into the room. Amber was curled up on the corner of the bed. She looked up as I entered. I held out the bread.

“You want to eat?”

Amber grabbed the bread and devoured it. She gulped the last of it down and looked at me. “Rock.” She pointed to the meat in my hand.

I gave it to her. She finished it with as much gusto as the bread. When she was done, she burped. Then she wiped her eyes and looked at me. “Thank you.”

“It’s no problem. We’re going to take you to the doctor as soon as we can. We’ll get you fixed up.”

“Thank you.” Amber started sobbing. “Thank you so much.”

“Right.” I felt a little bit awkward. “You can stay with me and my crew for as long as you want. We’ll treat you right.”

Amber rubbed her eyes. “Really?”

“We’ll teach you how to sail a ship. And we’ll take you all over the world and feed you the best food.”

Amber swallowed. “Thanks, Rock.”

“It’s nothing.” I smiled.