Tanys Gladiatrix (The Chronicles of Tanys Book 2) (13 page)

Varkaa screamed and flung herself upon Tanys with the fury of a wild beast. Tanys tumbled backwards, losing her grip on the stool as Varkaa's nails raked over her naked skin, leaving red trails of fiery pain.

Tanys drove her knee up into Varkaa's ribs, stunning her. Tanys smashed the heel of her palm against Varkaa's face, and Varkaa staggered back, bloodied.

Varkaa ducked beneath a high kick, catching Tanys' foot and driving an elbow into the side of Tanys' leg, just above the knee. Tanys crumpled to the floor, nauseous from pain. Her vision swam with stars as Varkaa kicked her in the head. With Varkaa's fist came blackness.

Tanys felt pressure on her chest as consciousness returned. Varkaa straddled her, knife in hand. The scar-faced gladiatrix ignored the shouted protests of the onlookers.

"Don't worry," Varkaa said, "I'm not going to kill her. I'm just going to take a little trophy... nothing that anyone's going to miss."

Varkaa leaned close, resting the cold blade against Tanys' cheek. "I'm going to nail your fucking tongue to my bedroom wall," she whispered, "right next to Naietta's"

Tanys' body surged upward beneath Varkaa, lifting her momentarily. Varkaa swayed, off balance. A look of annoyance darkened her once beautiful face and then her head snapped back as Tanys' fist knocked her senseless.

Tanys squirmed out from beneath Varkaa and stood up. Varkaa swung drunkenly at the air then fell over.

"Berra, Tyll!" Varkaa cried out, her voice slurred, "Kill this bitch!"

Tanys looked to the sisters who stood at the edge of the human ring of spectators. Tyll sneered in disgust. Berra only shook her head. The sisters turned their backs and pushed their way through the crowd, leaving the room.

Varkaa watched them go with growing horror. She looked back at Tanys, and her eyes went wide with fear. Varkaa turned to crawl away on all fours as Tanys stooped to retrieve the table knife.

Stepping behind Varkaa, Tanys looked down at the woman's broad, swaying rump. For a moment, she considered planting the blade somewhere very unpleasant, at least for Varkaa. She opted instead to kick the woman hard in the ass, driving Varkaa face first into the floor.

Varkaa rolled onto her side, blinking several times as she looked up at Tanys. She saw the knife in Tanys' hand and raised a shaking hand defensively.

"Listen very carefully Varkaa," Tanys said, "I never, ever want to see you again. You will make it your life's mission to stay the hell out of my sight. You will stay away from Naietta too. If you do not, I will nail your fucking head to my bedroom wall! Do you understand?"

Varkaa nodded mutely.

Tanys wiped a smudge of blood from her lip, flinging the knife to the floor behind her. She watched as Varkaa pulled herself upright, using an overturned table for balance.

Tanys heard a strangled cry from behind, and leapt aside at the sound of bare feet running across the floor. The attack was not aimed at her.

Naietta sprang upon Varkaa, the discarded knife now clenched in her small white fist. The girl had no tongue to give form to the curses that shrieked from her lips, but her blade spoke with crimson eloquence.

Varkaa screamed for mercy as Naietta's knife sank again and again into her back. Then her cries of agony mingled with Naietta's wordless howls of rage. At last, Varkaa made no more sound, lying motionless in a spreading pool of blood. A low, warbling whimper trailed from Naietta's trembling lips as she collapsed, exhausted beside the body of her tormentor. The crowd of gladiators looked on in silence.

"Guards!" someone shouted.

Tanys' mind raced. Whatever the consequences, the blame for Varkaa's death lay with her. She moved quickly, snatching the bloody blade from Naietta's grasp and pushing the frail girl away from the body. Tanys seized a handful of Varkaa's gore-soaked hair and drew back her lifeless head. Tanys looked up in time to see two armored guardsmen, one human and one beastman, enter the room. Tanys made certain they saw her cut Varkaa's throat.

She offered no resistance as the guards clubbed her to the floor and dragged her from the dining hall. Naietta was crying out in protest, slapping her red-stained hand to her breast by way of confession. The guards ignored the girl, as the other gladiators pulled her gently away.

"Do you know the penalty for killing a gladiator outside of a sanctioned match?" Torke asked, leaning his chair back on two legs against the cell wall.

Tanys said nothing as she hung, suspended above the floor by wrist shackles. Her chains creaked slightly as she twisted her body to look at the one-eared satyr.

"Hmn, no answer? Well, I was hoping you could tell me, because I'm sure it's deliciously sadistic," Torke laughed, a high-pitched inane twitter. "Ah... to be perfectly honest, I really don't care about you creatures butchering one another. I mean it's what you do, isn't it? It's why we keep you around. We enjoy watching you kill each other. Really, the only crime committed here was that no one important got to watch you do it."

Tanys twisted slowly to face the wall again.

"Whatever it is they do to rebellious slaves, I'm sure they're doing it to that poor little mute girl right now."

"Naietta had nothing to do with this!"

"Now, now," Torke chided, "You should really leave the lying to experts... like me. The look on your face was precious! You honestly thought that someone was off somewhere stuffing your little friend's backside full of hot irons."

Tanys glared at him.

"Then again," he added, chair legs thumping on the floor as he leaned forward, "perhaps it wasn't a lie after all."

"You sick bastard."

Torke grinned, "Forgive me dear heart, but I am bored and must invent my own amusements."

A knock sounded at the cell door, and Torke called out for an explanation. "He's here," the guard answered.

Torke's eyes glittered. "Send him in!"

The door opened to admit Baran into the room. His eyes went immediately to Tanys, full of concern, turning to anguish when he saw her untreated wounds and bruises that covered her naked body. He turned angrily toward the one-eared satyr. "Why hasn't she seen a medic?"

"Come now, boy, she's barely scratched."

"Have you forgotten that she is here at the Prince's command?" Baran demanded.

Torke's eyes flashed. "Have you forgotten your place, slave?"

Baran mastered himself and was silent.

"Naietta?" Tanys asked.

"She is well... "

"Silence!" Torke shouted.

Baran watched with burning gaze as the satyr rose and crossed the room to him. Tanys twisted in her chains to see the Duke's henchman run his hands over Baran's shoulders.

"You are much too tense, sweet boy," Torke whispered, "You know how I hate to raise my voice."

Baran's lips hardened, his eyes narrowing as the satyr leaned close, breathing in the scent of the gladiator's auburn hair. Torke circled behind Baran, trailing his fingers down Baran's chest as he stepped away. Baran remained silent, watching the beastman, his face betraying no emotion.

"I'm only here to inquire about the progress of your fiery charge. That she fed Varkaa to the worms today speaks well for her physical training. Her obedience training... somewhat lacking I am afraid.

"Nevertheless," he continued, "the time for such formalities rapidly drains from the glass."

Baran eyed him questioningly.

"The Prince grows impatient, as is his right," Torke said, taking his seat again, "His mighty loins burn for the spectacle of death once more. In short, the Prince would know if Tanys will prove a suitable replacement for Brecia. Failing that, he would love to see her begging for mercy as she is slowly roasted for his supper."

"What would you have of us?" Baran asked.

"You have two days to prepare her," Torke said, "Make her pretty and teach her to keep her pretty mouth shut in the presence of the Prince."

Tanys scoffed. "And who am I supposed to fight this time?" she asked.

"I don't know," Torke shrugged his hairy shoulders, "but, whomever she is, you had better make her death exquisite... or your death most certainly will be."

"I have to get out of here," Tanys whispered to Baran in the hallway leading back to the slave quarters.

Baran remained silent for a moment, his face troubled. "I won't help you escape before the match," he said.

"What?"

Baran placed his hands on her shoulders, his touch soothing and warm. "I am sworn to House Malchesse. I will not allow it to be disgraced before the Prince."

"You expect me to do what they want?"

"No," he said, "I just... We'll think of a way that you can..."

"Just pretend to torture someone to death?"

Baran looked away. "I will speak to the Malchesse about this. The Duke oversteps his bounds."

Tanys had little hope of finding the Malchesse a sympathetic ally. Even though she was considered the property of the black satyr, Tanys had little doubt that he would gladly sacrifice her life at the Duke's slightest whim. Still, she said nothing. Perhaps it was time that Baran learned his true place in the hierarchy of the beastmen.

They reached Tanys' quarters where Naietta and the sisters were waiting. Naietta leapt up the moment she saw Tanys and flung her arms around her. Berra and Tyll smiled from where they sat on their cots.

Naietta mouthed a thank you to Baran as he took his leave, and Tanys showed her gratitude as well. She did not believe his intercession would accomplish much, but he risked himself on her behalf, and that mattered to her.

Tanys waited until he was gone and then took a moment to comfort and reassure Naietta that none of this was her fault. Afterward, she checked the hallway to assure privacy and then huddled her feminine allies at the foot of Berra's cot.

Tanys leaned close and whispered, "I think the time has come for us to become our own masters."

Berra furrowed her brow. Tyll grinned.

****

The beasts kept in the understables beneath House Malchesse were much in demand. No finer menagerie could be found in all the Holy City. At least once a day, one of the creatures would be packed up and carted out to assist in a public execution or to be set loose in a maze after some hapless serving girl who had displeased her master. The beastmen's sympathies lay predominately with the animals, and thus most matches were weighted heavily, if not overwhelmingly, in favor of the creature. Rare was the cage that returned empty or bearing a wounded animal.

The tiger that Tanys had named Ghodn was a favorite for the maze hunts and kept a regular schedule of them. Once a week, he would be carted away to the arena, returning later that evening. Ghodn seldom required any attention from the healers, and was usually gnawing contentedly on a fleshy souvenir of the match. Tanys tried not to think about what he might be eating. It was enough that she knew he was all right.

She had grown to love this fearsome beast over the past few weeks. It was for this reason that Tanys had decided to plan her escape around Ghodn's weekly outing, and, fortunately for Tanys, his next journey would be on the following day, hours before she would be taken before the Prince.

As trusted slaves, Berra and Tyll could ask to accompany the house beastmaster to the arena without drawing suspicion. The trick lay in finding a way to conceal Tanys in the cart before it left the building. Naietta could be sent to the market on an errand and meet with the others after they had gotten free of the cart.

The beastmaster and his assistant would probably have to be killed, but Tanys had little love for the sadistic satyr. All she needed to do was open Ghodn's cage in the back of the cart and let the big cat take his vengeance for countless beatings received at the hands of his cruel master.

Once outside the city, Tanys would try to contact Jorva and Danella. Whether she found them or not, she would have little time to wait before fleeing the land of the Satyrs. The thought of leaving her friends behind, especially Jorva, sickened her. Still, she could not risk the lives of new friends for the companionships of old.

Tanys had seen nothing of Baran since he had gone to speak with the Malchesse. It tore at her heart to think she might not see him again before she left, and his prolonged absence worried her greatly.

Returning from the stables, having visited Ghodn for the second time of the day, Tanys met Berra in the hallway. The gladiatrix pulled her aside, waiting for others to pass before she spoke.

"We have made the arrangements," Berra said, "We convinced the beastmaster that he should take the large wagon to the city tomorrow, that we can bring back wine and food for a feast. We've promised him a share of the goods if he helps us. Tyll and I will hide you among the empty sacks in the back of the wagon."

"Thank you," Tanys said, "Have you heard anything from Baran?"

Berra shook her head, and then hastily moved away at the sound of hoof steps in the hallway.

Tanys continued on her way, ducking her head and standing aside as a trio of satyrs passed by. The center of the three wore a yellow doublet... Torke. The satyrs continued down the hallway a few steps before Torke suddenly stopped. His guards did the same.