1 The Dream Rider (16 page)

I sniffled again and wiped my nose a second time. “Yeah.
I’m just thinking.”
 

“Don’t think too much. Once your mission here is done, you
will wake up back on your planet like nothing ever happened.”
 
He reassured. I wished I could share
his confidence.

“So tell me,” I tried to get away from the subject of
home, “why would the emperor make me fight again in three days?”
 

Jonas’s face instantly expressed surprised concern. “What
do you mean? The law says you have to wait 21 days until your next fight.”
 

Suddenly, the game master appeared on the wall nearby. I
looked around and noticed the projection was in several locations throughout
the facility.

“Greetings, detainees. I have a special announcement to
make on behalf of our beloved emperor.”
 
The guy was clearly a slime ball. No question about it. And he was
definitely Mallock’s lackey. “In honor of our fallen champion, Darwinius, we
will be hosting another round of games in three days. And as a special treat,
The Emperor has changed the law to allow our newest champion, Finn McClaren, to
get another turn in the ring!”
 
He
ended his statement as if he was expecting applause. All he received was
silence in the giant training room. There were a few annoyed grumbles from
other corners of the room, but that was about all.

Jonas looked at the screen in disbelief. The rest of the
team had stopped eating and were also looking on, confused expressions on their
faces.

“The fight schedules will be posted tomorrow,” he ended
his announcement and the projection disappeared.

Everyone at the table looked over at me, trying to gauge
my demeanor. Jonas’s eyes locked with mine.

“What does that mean, that he changed the rules?” I asked
innocently.

He bit his lower lip for a second before speaking. “It
means he knows why you are here, which we already suspected. But it also means
he knows you’re a threat.”
 

“Threat?”
 

“Yes,” Jonas nodded. “And it means he wants you dead as
quickly as possible.”

 
The next
day, I stared at the digital projection of the schedule on the wall. Jonas
stood next to me; his eyes were also fixed on the matchup. I was pitted against
a man from the black banner named Sten. If I’d seen him in the prison, I didn’t
remember it. When the list went live, no one in my group said anything at
first. I asked who the guy was,
but,
I only received
silence. They just went back to what they were doing with their exercises.
Finally, Jonas walked over to where I stood.

“Sten was part of a rogue group of assassins during the
king’s reign called the Deru. Their only goal in life is to bring chaos to
society by any means necessary. On more than one occasion, they made an attempt
on the king’s life. Fortunately, his security personnel snuffed it out every
time.”
 
He became reflective for a
moment before going on. “The irony is that they detest the emperor as much as
they did the king. Mallock’s rule is the antithesis of chaos, and, when he took
over, their little movement was squashed. Most of them were executed. Many were
brought here to fight in the games. Mallock recognized their usefulness as
fighters and they would be some of the more entertaining of the games. Their
leader remains at large. Some say he died in the war, but no body was ever
identified. Others believe he is deep in the forests to the west, building his
own army. No one is certain. Make no mistake, Finn. The Deru are highly
trained, expert killers. Sten will not be anything like Darwinius.”

His words weren’t exactly encouraging. I considered what
he was saying while I stared at the board. “How many fights has he won?” I
asked, trying to sound more casual than concerned.

“Nine,” Jonas answered. “Where Darwinius was a brute, Sten
will be tactical and precise. You will have to use caution with him. And now
that he knows what you can do, you cannot rely on the element of
surprise.”
 

“I’ll keep that in mind.”
 
Jonas nodded at my and walked back to where some of the
others were training with the wooden swords.

My eyes drifted to Nela. She wore a tunic with a wide
leather belt in the midsection. Her thin, sculpted legs glistened with
perspiration. As she spun and struck with her weapon, her brown hair whipped
around like a cyclone swirling over her head and shoulders. She was the rose,
blooming in this desert wasteland of a place. Even while she fought and
perspired, she was beautiful, elegant, and terrifying on many levels. There
certainly weren’t any girls like her back in college.

She paused for a moment and looked in my direction. I
shifted my gaze, hoping she hadn’t noticed me staring at her. I risked a peek
back towards her and thought I saw her smiling slightly out of the corner of
her mouth. The smirk only lasted a second, though, and she let out a yell as
she swung her sword once more at her sparring partner.

A rose with thorns.
I laughed shortly at the thought.

That night I had returned to the little prison cell and
the uncomfortable cot in its corner. Taurus had watched from his own cell as I
shuffled back to our area of the prison. I could tell he wanted to say
something, maybe ask questions, but for some reason he held back. Instead, he
just gave a single nod. I’d noticed him serving food and carrying various heavy
objects around throughout the day. He would never be given the chance to fight
his way to freedom, which might have been a blessing and a curse. Part of me
wondered if dying in the arena was preferable to life as a slave in prison.

The next few days crawled by. There wasn’t much for me to do
in what I now called the gym. Jonas was insistent that I not learn any of the
techniques the others were using. He claimed that if I learned those things, I
would try to rely on them during the battle rather than letting my mysterious
power take over. And this plan left me generally bored.

I spent most of my time trying to meditate in the corner,
something that was easier said than done in a room full of battle noise. I was
also surprised to realize that my thoughts of home became less and less
frequent. I still missed Earth, but here, I was somebody. And for better or
worse, that meant something.

I tried to sneak glances towards the black banner’s
training area to see if I could get a look at my next opponent, but I wasn’t
sure which one he was. Many of their group had a similar, lean
appearance,
much like their representatives I’d seen in the
prior games. Their hair was all cut the same, and they all had pasty white
skin. They reminded me of skinheads I’d seen in documentaries and television
shows.

The last day before the next round of fights, I was
sitting alone in the corner with my eyes closed, focusing on breathing.
Meditation wasn’t something I’d done much of back on Earth. I’d read about it a
few times on some popular blog sites but never really done a lot with it. I
figured getting my mind calm and working through the avalanche of thoughts
might be a good way to pass the time. My mind’s eye drifted to a peaceful lake
in the mountains. It was a place I’d visited often since my youth. The smell of
pine, fir, and poplar trees filled my senses as I looked out upon the perfectly
still water. It seemed almost like glass, reflecting the surrounding mountain
peaks. Suddenly, the setting was interrupted by the sense that someone was
sitting next to me. I opened my eyes and found Nela to my right, leaning up
against the wall. Beads of sweat rolled down her forehead and her hair was
clumped in a few places from her workout. She stared straight ahead with the
back of her head against the stone.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked in a vacant tone.

I smiled at her as kindly as I could. “The mountains,” I
said evenly.

She raised an eyebrow. “Mountains?”
 

I gave a lazy nod. “Yeah. Not the mountains here. The ones
back home, on Earth. I was thinking about a place on the lake. The water is so
clean there you can almost see all the way to the bottom. It’s a beautiful
spot, and so peaceful.”
 

“It sounds wonderful,” she said genuinely.

“Well, it’s better than this prison,” I half-joked.

There was an uneasy silence for a few minutes as we both
just stared across the room, resting our heads against the wall.

“You love Earth, don’t you?” she
asked
 
apprehensively
.

“It’s okay,” I shrugged. “There are a lot of places with
nice scenery. Some of the people are nice.
Others, not so
much.
I guess it just depends on where you are.”
 

“I have seen your planet. That is not what I asked. I want
to know, do you love it there?” she pressed.

“I guess so. It’s my home. Everyone loves
their
home. I love my city and the area of the country I
live in.”
 
I wasn’t sure where the
conversation was going at this point, but I was glad I had someone to talk to.
“And of course, I love my family and friends.”

“I have not seen my home in a long time,” she sighed. “We
lived in a place surrounded by thick forests. It was so beautiful there. In the
evenings, our
rooms was
filled with the sounds of
insects and nocturnal animals. The mornings brought the songs of birds and
smells of flowers. It was a wonderful place.”
 

“It sounds lovely,” I said a little more awkwardly than I
wanted.

She nodded. “It was,” her voice answered with quiet
sadness. “Though, I fear it has all been destroyed. Mallock’s only use for our
world is its resources and its people.”
 

I took a deep breath after she finished. I wanted to say
something comforting or maybe clever. But I couldn’t think of anything. “I
don’t know if I’m the person you guys think I am. But I will do everything I
can to bring Mallock and his reign to an end.”
 
The words sounded feeble coming from my mouth and my throat
caught a little after I said them. Still, she smiled weakly at my attempt.

“I know, Finn. And you are the one we have been waiting
for,” she added with confidence. “There is no one in all of Sideros who can do
what you did against Darwinius. You are not bound by the laws of Earth
here.”
 

I didn’t respond. I honestly didn’t know how. So, I
clumsily changed the subject. “I saw that Tota is fighting tomorrow night,
too.”
 
It was something she
appeared concerned about.

“He is not one of the better warriors. He’s been fortunate
so far, and his speed has saved him up to this point. But I don’t know how much
longer his good fortune can last.”
 
She looked down at the ground as her voice trailed off.

I wasn’t doing very well in the conversation department,
but I kept trying. “Why did you paralyze me the night you came to the party on
Earth?

She smiled a little at the question. I was relieved to see
her relax for a few seconds. “Would you have listened to what I had to say if I
had not?”
 

I thought about it for a second. “No,” I resigned. “I
would have probably thought you were crazy. In fact, I did think you were
crazy. The paralysis thing didn’t really help you much in that regard.”
 
I returned her smile.

“You’re here, aren’t you?” she shrugged. “I had to get
your attention somehow. And you needed to see the power first hand.”
 

I considered what she said. “Does that mean on my planet,
you can do the things I can do here?”
 

She nodded. “Yes. And you saw a small taste of that.”
 

“Do you go to other planets often? I mean if I was you,
I’d be traveling all over the place.”
 
The implications were extremely intriguing.

“It doesn’t work that way,” she explained. “I am needed here.
My people are enslaved. How can I help other worlds when my own is being
ravaged by a tyrant?”
 

“I understand what you’re saying. Some people have it
tough back on my planet, too. Their lives are a total wreck.”
 
I stared off at some of the other fighters
in the yellow corner, working out and sloppily doing their drills. “Yet those
same people go out and feed the homeless, volunteer for all kinds of activities
to help people, and constantly give of themselves.”
 

Her eyebrows knit together. “How do you mean?”
 

“You’re suggesting that you’re too busy with what is going
on here to get out into the galaxy and see who else you can help. I’d bet there
are thousands of worlds in the universe that have it as bad or worse than
Sideros. Maybe more.”
 
She cast me
a questioning glance. “I mean no offense. But on Earth, it seems like no matter
how bad you have it someone else always has it worse. Maybe it’s our
responsibility to help those people,” I pointed a thumb between to the two of
us.

She seemed to understand what I was trying to say. “I see
your point, Finn. Interesting point.”
 

“You came to me at that party. You knew you needed to find
me. And you chose to do so. You could have chosen not to.”
 
She turned her eyes back to the ground
considering it. “You can also choose to help someone else, no matter how bad
your life may be.”
 

“Nela,” Jonas called to her, waving one hand in a motion
for her to return to the group.

“I have to go,” she said apologetically. “Good luck
tomorrow, Finn.”
 
Her eyes gleamed
at me as she got up and jogged away.

I watched as she joined the others in a circle with Tota
in the center. Each one had a mock weapon and would lunge out from a random
spot in the circle and attack him. His job was to defend the strike and ready
himself for the next one, which would come from a different member of the
group. Nela was right about him. His technique was a little sloppy. I didn’t
know anything about swordplay, but even I could tell that. Yet he blocked each
attack with relative success.

I let my eyes drift over to the red corner where Tota’s
opponent was preparing. Darwinius’s cronies were busy lifting massive amounts
of weights, lowering them down then pushing them back up again. I thought about
athletic training back on Earth. We would have never worked out the day before
a game of any kind. I guess things were different here. Or maybe those guys
were so ‘roided up it didn’t matter. They definitely seemed to have the anger
issues that would accompany using some sort of illegal substance. One of them
finished his set and let the bar down onto its holders. He stood up breathing
hard and grunted heavily, letting the whole area know of his strength. He
wasn’t as large as Darwinius had been, but he was still an imposing figure.

I looked back over at Tota who was still fighting off the
others in the ring of death. He was definitely going to have problems, and even
though I didn’t know him, worry seeped into my mind for the young man.

My thoughts were cut off by a familiar voice from beside
me. “Would you like some water?”