Gladiator

Chapter Two

     As Setro had suggested they might, the flier dropped her some way away from Khufa, where it was unlikely to attract attention. Although the crew pointed her in the right direction, she was afraid she'd become lost; she'd been walking aimlessly down narrow, windy, often weed-choked paths through the trees for a good two hours or so before by some fluke she chanced upon a wider, sandy track and a waymarker. It was grimy, moss-grown - she scuffed some of the overgrowth away with a broken stick, squinted at it to try and make out some words; there was an arrow, clear enough, of inlaid white stone, but the words were of a softer stone and had grown indistinct over time. She frowned; there was no way of knowing what it meant, for all she knew it could be a "this way to town" sign, but it could equally be one that read "beware of the scalded lirks!"
     Deciding to take a chance, she turned down the path in the direction of the arrow. As luck would have it, after another walk of a half an hour or so she came upon a broader path, with a bigger waymarker. Its stone surface was polished flat and horizontal, like a table, and three bright arrows with bright white writing pointed into the three forks in the path. The one heading off to her right read "Bunest, 19 le", and a second arrow pointing in the direction she'd just come from said "Anupen, 13 le". The third arrow had the information she wanted - "Khufa", luckily only one and a half leagues away, its arrow pointing off to her left. She headed off down the path.
     It was a broader track than she'd just walked down, and rocky, looked well-used... There was the occasional splayed pattern of a haulage-beast’s footprint near the side of the path where a mud puddle had been and dried, preserving the track, and the impression of cart-wheels. She found someone's satchel lying discarded in the longer grass at the side of the road a little further on.
     However, the path looked deserted, in spite of the well-trodden surface, and she wondered if she'd actually meet anyone... She questioned briefly whether this town was the place she was meant to be looking for, as if it was as busy as Setro had suggested, surely she'd have seen someone...? Guessing even if the place was a ghost town it didn't hurt to just keep going anyway, and just get the flier to pick her up when she got there, so she carried on.
     Some time later, her sharp ears caught the sound of rushing water up ahead. She automatically headed towards it - it took her off the path, but she wasn't overly concerned. Being part amphibian, although she could live easily without water she didn't like her skin getting too dry, and right now it was dusty and uncomfortable after several hours walking, down long sandy tracks. She wanted to see about washing and getting more comfortable before braving town...
     She pushed her way through the foliage; the closer she got, the louder the boom of water grew - a waterfall, she guessed. Finally her bright eyes caught the sparkle of water between the trees - there was a stream, running swiftly away in a direction she assumed was roughly parallel to the path she'd just been walking; she followed it in the direction it was flowing from. After a few minutes tramp through the undergrowth, she finally caught sight of the foamy gleam of falling water up ahead - there was her waterfall...
     ...and there he was, as well. She startled and ducked backward into the foliage, hoping against hope he hadn't seen her...
     How very convenient... she mused, peering between the large, flat leaves, then scrambled up to a branch for a better, hopefully less visible, vantage point...
     He was rather considerably more handsome in the flesh than she'd been expecting, from his photographs, in spite of his sharp, scarred face. Lean almost to the point of being bony, but graceful, and elegant, his movements as fluid as the water he was bathing in. He stood waist-deep under the hammering streams of falling water, that brilliant red crest slicked down against his dark skin, scrubbing roughly at his skin with some kind of dry old seed-pod.
     She cocked her head, and watched, wondering if she should make her presence known and approach him, as he might suspect her, if he saw her, sitting there not making any sound... but... no, she didn't want to risk it, not yet. She merely sat, and watched; she'd approach him when he was less... vulnerable? Sounded silly, calling a trained killer vulnerable...
     Eventually he finished his bath, and emerged from under the waterfall, carefully, apparently picking his way across uneven stones on the stream-bed. He paused just out from under the spray and gave his crest a vigorous shake; she had to stifle a giggle as it subsequently decided it wanted to stick out from his head at somewhat ridiculous angles. He scowled at his reflection in the ripples, lifted a hand and patted it straight...
     She raised an eyebrow, watching him emerge from the waist deep water. He was taller than he'd at first looked, likely because of those long digitigrade legs - perhaps an inch shy of eight feet - and his tailtip was missing. Where it should have probably been half a foot longer and tapered, it ended somewhat abruptly, and the two barbs were gone as well - a fight had taken that bit off, she guessed. Although none of that was what caught her eye - he was somewhat, well... "generously endowed." She smiled; he couldn't possibly have known she was there, after all... Then he bent, scooped up his towel, and turned his back to her... Eventually he was dressed - light, loose cloth trousers over a simple loincloth - and ready to leave; idly flung the seed-pod into the bushes, gathered his meagre belongings, and headed off, following the direction of the stream.
     Aileena dropped off her tree-branch and slunk after him, hoping to get back to the sandy-track before he did and before he noticed her following, as she guessed he eventually would...
     Her head was rather up in the clouds, though, and she wasn't watching where she was putting her feet as well as she should have been; she trod squarely on a stick. The "snap!" was as clear as any gunshot - she dropped straight to her knees and ducked behind a treetrunk, peering cautiously out from the foliage and wondering what he'd do, hoping he'd think it was just a wild animal and go on...
     At the sound he'd stopped dead in his tracks, one foot still raised; as she watched, he turned, smoothly, seemingly looking straight at her for a second; she clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle a startled squeak...
     "Who's there?" he demanded, clearly, scouring the under-tree gloom with those piercing eyes.
     She hunkered down in the bracken, hoping if he'd give up looking for her and go on.
     "Speak up!" he said, calmly. "I know there's someone in there somewhere. If you're friend you have no reason to fear me; if you're foe, then at least have the courage to face me as an equal..."
     He's bluffing, he's bluffing.
     "Don't make me come in there and find you," the crystal tones had a note of warning in them, now. "If you continue hiding, I must assume you have a reason to be..."
     He's a gladiator, gladiators have no need to bluff, the sensible part of her mind piped up, scornfully. Oh, what the hell. He's said I have nothing to fear...
     She stood up behind her treetrunk, brushed leaf litter off her trousers and picked her way over to the path, trying to make it look like she'd been some way behind. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," she said, calmly. "I'm lost. Can you help me?"

     He watched her walk over, warily. She was a hybrid, like him - primarily Corvian, but with a longer face, and her eyes didn't bulge so much. There was a good deal of some kind of amphibian in her as well, though, as a trio of flat crests arced backwards over her head, and her skin was a dramatic dark bluey-grey on top, rich cream-white underneath. Like a Corvian, she walked plantigrade; most hybrids, Yaaren had noticed, had a digitigrade gait, like his. Presumably because a lot were Skelna-based, and the Yen-toh team in charge were usually reluctant to use Corvian genetics - likely because of those mind-powers, which Industrials found unsettlingly frightening, hence used another species for the lower limb genetics.
     In spite of her hybrid nature, though, she was neatly dressed in very Industrial-design clothing - and shoes, infrequently seen out here, most of the people that had feet went barefoot - which immediately set off warning bells. "You're from the cities," he stated, warily.
     Let's see if I can still act like I used to be able to... She nodded, sadly. "Yes. I was employed by one of the big corporations down south..."
     "And that brings you here... why?" he had a cold, challenging look in his eyes.
     She looked away, sadly, curled one hand around the other arm. "I didn't like the way they treated me," she replied, in a husk of a voice. "I was like..." she shook her head, and sighed, frustratedly. "I was like just a piece of meat, to them, for them to use and abuse as they wanted. So I ran away, and now here I am. And I'm lost, and scared and... Would you help me?"
     He still had that cold look in his eyes, but it seemed less challenging - he looked like he was measuring her up, now, trying to figure out whether or not she was a threat. "Where were you trying to get?" he asked; his voice was gruff, but not so unfriendly, now.
     "I'm not sure... I heard there were towns near here -Anupen, and... I forget the others. Do you know them? Could you help me get there?"
     "I know them," he nodded. "Anupen's thirteen leagues away, though, over mountainous terrain, it'd take you days to get there, and even then it's small and they don't like visitors much. Khufa's nearest - only a few minutes walk from here, I suppose. I'm heading back there myself, I could show you the way."
     "You would?" she brightened. Things were going well...

     Khufa was not the ghost town she'd been half expecting, but neither was it the quiet little village she'd imagined either. For one, it was big - looking down from the hill she and Yaaren had emerged from the forest at the crest of, she found town was... well, it was not so much big as sprawling, with big gaps between most houses giving the illusion of size. The buildings at the centre of town were close-packed, the streets narrow, but she could see small breaks every now and then where there looked to be small parks, grassy areas and trees. As you headed out from the centre, the houses got more spread out; there were wide, sandy streets with street-lamps, and big grassy or paved squares with trees and benches. And trees, yes, lots of them... relatively mature specimens, with the occasional house nestling in the branches. Eventually the housing got quite sparse, with very wide grass tracks between them and even more of the ubiquitous trees. In the distance - on the opposite side of town to where she stood - she could see the bright gleam of what she guessed was a lake, next to which were large fields with accompanying flat-roofed sheds, housing what looked like a variety of species of walkers.
     "This is Khufa?" she asked.
     Yaaren looked back at her; he'd headed off some distance down the track to town, watched as she trotted to catch up. "Yes."
     "It's bigger than I thought it'd be," she observed.
     He nodded, silently, at first, then agreed; "Bigger than most people think. We have people arriving every day."
     "Oh right? When did you arrive here?"
     "Not long ago," he admitted. "A couple of months, at most. I wasn't intending coming here, it just... happened."
     She fell into step beside him; his stride was long, and rather elastic, he had to walk slowly so she didn't have to run to keep up. "Where did you live before?"
     "It's not there now, but I stayed at the Arena. Someone blew the place up a while ago."
     "I read about that in the newspaper," she nodded; at least that was bearing out Setro's story. "Did you work there? What was it like?"
     "For a while," he replied, guardedly. "I didn't like it much, though. Everyone was always stringing each other a line, trying to catch each other out with some unpleasant trick or another. Besides," he shrugged. "Didn't have any choices over anything. They used to give me stimulants before big fights, supposedly to make me fight better, but they used to make me jumpy. They changed the formulation a few times, too, and nearly killed me with it a couple of times - but they'd never tell you they were going to do something before they did it, that was the most annoying part..." his words petered off and he sighed. "Enough of my whining. How about yourself?"
     "There's not a lot to tell, really," she replied, evasively, hoping he wouldn't pick up on it. "I was just on the staff of a corporation down South... got treated like most females do, got fed up of it and made a run for it when a friendly courier offered to give me a lift out. I stowed away, he dropped me off some way into the forest, I got lost then met you, so... here I am."
     "Hm," he made an indecipherable noise and she couldn't tell if he was satisfied or just more suspicious. "Were you valuable?" he asked, looking down at her.
     "Valuable?" What a strange question. "What difference does it make?" she asked, hoping inwardly he wasn't going to try and sell her back to the Industrial nations or something - small towns like this probably needed the money, after all. It worried her a little - it'd blow Setro's game wide open, and if she got rumbled like that the old Vykker wouldn't want her back, that was a given.
     "Khufa's a nice place but it's not always safe," he replied, solemnly. "If you were valuable they'll most likely send Hunters out after you, and we have enough trouble with bounty hunters as it is. You might get short shrift with the Council."
     Well, at least he wasn't planning on selling her - not obviously, anyway. "Well, I can't say I was worth a lot..." she replied, thoughtfully. To be truthful she didn't really know what she was worth.
     "Well, Council's just down the main street," he gestured, changing the subject. "They'll decide if you can stay."

To be continued