Chapter 58: All’s Fair…

“He’s doomed,” said Claire.

“Yeah, can’t really see a way out of this,” muttered Chase.

“Can he head butt him?” Asked Amelie.

Brent wanted to place his face in his hands. Alex was still standing, mouth agape and arms paralyzed from Bellis’ enchanted sword strikes. The old man was laughing maniacally and talking to the crowd.

“What shall I do, eh? Want me to carve him up?”

“DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!” chanted the crowed.

Bellis cackled and slapped his knee.

“Well, Alexander?” Said the old man. He pointed rudely at Alex and spoke as though to a child. “Are you gonna forfeit like a baby or are you gonna let me knock you out?”

“I’m far from done,” said Alex. He began walking away from Bellis to his opponent amusement. Alex seemed to want to get some distance between the two of them but for what reason Brent could not say. Had it been him up there he could have charged him with everything he had.

“Yeah, I can see that,” chuckled Berris. He ran a hand across his thinning white hair and sighed.

“KNOCK HIM OUT! DO IT DO IT.”

“You heard them, Alex,” said Bellis. He began to slowly walk toward Alex, sword casually leaning against his shoulder. “If you won’t give up then I gotta tap you on the head with this magic sword and knock you out.”

“It’s Alexander, to you, old man.”

A flash of annoyance crossed Bellis’ face. He spit on the arena. Before he could retort Markon cut him off.

“Oi! Don’t spit on the arena, Argo has to mop this thing after you’re done.” Markon crossed his arms and his bored features were a contrast to the exhilarated crowd around the arena. Brent could barely make out what he said.

“Whatever,” said Bellis with a smirk. He leveled his blade at Alex and winked. “Ready?”

“Do your worst,” said Alex. He slightly bent his legs. He looked like half a gorilla with his arms swinging before him.

“Alright,” said Bellis, shrugging his massive shoulders. He raised the sword, ready to strike Alex on the head. Brent and the guild watched the sword reach it’s zenith. Claire sighed, Amelie covered her eyes, and Chase drummed a tattoo on the fence before him.

“And away we go—-AH!” Bellis screamed. He was frozen on the spot, sword still in the air. His face was a rictus of pain and shock and his eyes darting left and right. “My…my…my back!”

With a crash, Bellis fell backward upon the arena, sword dropping from his hand. The crowd gasped in shock, some scattered and confused laughter rang about the place. Even Markon looked perplexed, and raised an eyebrow.

“ALEX!” Shouted Chase. “End it!”

“How?” Said Alex in alarm. Despite his opponents infirmity he was still unable to use his arms. In the back of his mind Brent thought the moment might have been comical and if Marlon or Thomas were around they could easily find the humor in all this.

“You need to get him to forfeit!”

“But I can’t use my arms, Chase,” said Alex in exasperation. He shook his body and his arms jiggled uselessly. “Remember?”

“You don’t need your arms to make him forfeit! Just do something, Alex!”

“Oh dear,” murmured Amelie.

Alex stood there, wide eyed, staring at Chase, and then at Bellis. The old man was groaning on the ground and seemed no where close to being able to get back up anytime soon.

“Old man,” began Alex. Bellis groaned in response. “I mean…Bellis. Do you forfeit?”

“I…I…AH,” another twinged caused Bellis to writhe in agony. “I’d never give up to a young…young…FAT ASS like you!”

Something snapped within Alex. A dark cloud seemed to pass over his face and Brent felt a coldness within even himself. There had never been a time that he feared his friend, but there were moments which gave him pause. During particularly tough training times Alex would sometimes get a distant look in his eyes, and his rage would build to a point that the others gave him a wide berth. Thomas had tested him enough to see this first hand, and Chase had told him about what happened with the spider on training island.

“What did you call me?”

“You heard me…punk!” Said Bellis. “I said you’re a fat—AH!”

Alex kicked the old man in the ribs. The crowd grew silent.

“DON’T. CALL. ME. FAAAAAT.” He roared each word and punctuated each syllable with a savage kick. “YOU. ARE. A. STUPID. OLD. MAN!”

“Ouch! Oh! Ooh! Oof!” Bellis flailed about. Despite the obvious pain of Alex’s kicks coupled with his back he tried to hold himself together.

“YEILD!”

KICK

“No!”

“FORFEIT!”

KICK.

“Ow!”

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Now Markon was walking over, and even he looked disturbed by what he saw. Brent glanced at Claire who was stuck between shock and covering her mouth, seemingly about to burst out laughing.

“Bellis!” Said Markon. He rubbed his eyes with one hand and looked as though he wanted to be anywhere else than in the arena. “Just give up, man. You had a good show, but it’s over.”

People around Brent began muttering. They didn’t seem to be happy with Alex’s strategy, but even less happy that Markon was trying to put a stop to yet another fight.

“Just let him do it, Markon!” Shouted someone.

“Yeah,” came another. “The old man can take it. Look at ‘em! He must weigh 300 pounds!”

KICK.

“Ah!” Bellis cried out. He slapped the ground a dozen times. “Okokokokok…OK! Ouch! Enough, I said! I forfeit!”

Markon took one of Alex’s limp arms and raised it in the air. Alex’s face was red and just as he was about to kick Bellis again Markon leaned close and whispered something in his ear. He quickly turned sheet white and nodded his head.

“Alexander wins by forfeit!”

The crowed seemed split, and half cheered loudly while the others limply clapped their hands, muttering among themselves at the outcome of the match.

“Well then,” said Chase with a smile, turning to Brent and the others. “That is two for two! Only have to wait to see how Claire does in her match.”

Amelie swatted his arm.

“Chase! That was a shameful display and you know it.”

“Yeah, well, a wins a win, Amelie,” said Chase, rubbing his arm where she had hit him. “You heard the folks in the crowd. Bellis may by old but he’s half a giant, too. He knew what he was signing up for in a contract tournament.”

“I thought it was brilliant,” said Claire.

“Claire!” Said Amelie in shock.

“What? You don’t understand because you’ve never had a fight,” said Claire, suddenly becoming serious. “You get to sit around and read your book while the rest of us go out and fight for our levels. Do you know how many times we nearly died when a pack of goblins ambushed us? Times like that you don’t get a chance to be nice. You kill, or you get killed. Alex did what he had to do up there, and if you don’t understand that then I don’t know what to tell you.”

And with that Claire crossed her arms and refused to say more. Amelie’s face dropped and she turned around, not wanting to face Claire anymore. What she had said made perfect sense to Brent, but he wished she had not have been so rude about it. Then again, it was kind of annoying hearing someone who had never had a fight in their life give their opinion on fighting.

“I’m with Claire on this one,” said Brent. “And it’s not just fighting, either. Alone, you have to do whatever you can to stay alive—and when it comes to your friends— you give it your all. Even if you have to give your life.”

“Well said, Brent,” said Chase. “Claire? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she said, but her face betrayed her. For a moment her lip quivered and then just like Amelie she turned around herself. “I’m going to go for a walk. The women’s round isn’t for sometime, anyway.”

She sped off through the crowd and quickly disappeared.

What was that all about? Thought Brent.

“I hope it wasn’t something I said,” murmured Amelie sadly.

“Let her go,” said Chase. “Everyone needs alone time sometimes. Hey, look whose back!”

Alex came trudging up to them. The crowd let him pass and few spoke a word to him. He was rubbing his arms gingerly.

“Turns out the spell to make your arms work again is really painful,” said Alex. “I thought it would be really simple, like tapping me again with a sword or something. Nope. That Argo NPC basically electrified me with something.”

“Well, good job on the win, anyway,” said Brent, slapping Alex’s back. “That’s two of us are going to the next round.”

“Where is Claire?” Alex looked around.

“She went for a walk,” said Brent, not wanting to get into what had been said. “Hey, what did Markon say to you up there?”

“You look petrified,” laughed Chase.

“Oh, yeah,” said Alex. He looked back at the arena where Bellis was still being moved by some NPCs. He was arguing with them and Argo was trying to direct his workers on how best to move the old man. “He told me if I kicked him again he was going to shove Bellis’ blade up my—.”

“Enough!” Said Amelie, shuddering. “I can guess where that is going. Is Bellis going to be okay?”

“I dunno,” said Alex, glumly. “Do you think I went too far?”

“Not at all,” said Chase, cutting Amelie off. “All is fair in a contract tournament. Basically everything, I guess. Don’t beat yourself up over it.”

Bellis screamed in pain again, but whether it was his back or his ribs Brent could not tell. In the back of his mind he wondered what the other guilds and players would think of the Seven Banes.

“I’m going to go check on Claire,” said Amelie at last.

“Suit yourself,” said Chase.

Brent watched as she left. Over the months he had seen little improvement in their relationship. From the beginning he had sensed Claire did not like Amelie for whatever reason. Anytime she spoke up Claire was always there with an eye roll or a snide comment. Overall, it didn’t really bother him. But sometimes he wondered whether their dynamic might negatively effect the guild in some way eventually.

“Oi! Seven Banes! There you are.”

Meredith, her red hair streaming behind her, pushed her way through the crowd. She looked worse than Chase and had dark bags under her eyes. Her face was red and Brent got the impression they were about to get into an argument. He braced himself for whatever was about to happen.

“Good morning, Meredith,” said Chase. “What’s up?”

“What’s up?” She said, crossing her arms and scowling. “Don’t you ‘what’s up’ me, Chase. Where is Seb? I know you and Thomas are up to something.”

“Seb?” Chase frowned and waved her away. “No idea. He’s your responsibility. Thomas left this morning to get some training in. I saw him off myself.”

Meredith stopped, breathing hard. She clenched her fists and stared at all of them, watching for any indication that they knew where her thief was. Other players were beginning to stop what they were doing and watch them.

“Where did you see him last, Meredith?” Said Amelie. She had been focusing on Bellis being hauled off the arena floor until the red haired guild leader had stormed over.

“Last night,” she said. Then she sighed, and the energy seemed to leave her. “I sent him to bed but I couldn’t find him this morning. Look, you really don’t know where he is?”

“I promise,” said Chase. “I have no idea. But Thomas is in no way involved, trust me.”

“Because I know they have a history,” said Meredith.

“True,” said Chase, nodding his head. “I mean, it’s not impossible that Thomas has some hard feelings. But I’m telling you that it’s impossible Thomas messed with Seb. Thomas left the Inn before anyone else got up to get some training in. Said he wanted to rob some NPCs around the market.”

“I told Seb I would take him out to do the same,” said Meredith. She looked away. “Alright, I believe you. Can you guys promise to keep an eye out for him? Tell him to report to the inn if you see him around.”

“You got it,” said Chase.

“Of course,” said Amelie.

“Will do,” said Brent.

Alex grunted.

Meredith left and Amelie turned around and punched Chase’s shoulder again.

“What did you do?”

“Ow! Amelie!” Chase rubbed his arm. “I don’t know where he is. Do you really think I would touch that little slime ball?”

“I know that you didn’t ‘see him off’,” said Amelie under her breath.

“Alright, that part was a lie,” acknowledged Chase. “It’s called providing cover.”

“Maybe one of us should go back to the inn to check on him,” said Brent before Amelie could continue arguing. “He was still in bed when we left.”

“He’s always causing trouble,” said Alex, shaking his head. “I’ll go back and give him a piece of my mind.”

“Stop, Alex,” said Chase. “I’ll go. I am sure this is all just some misunderstanding. Thomas would never…what? What are you guys looking at?”

Brent, along with the rest of the guild were staring at Chase. Sometimes Brent realized he had a huge blind spot towards Thomas. He wasn’t called the Hellion of Training Island for no reason, after all.

“You guys really think Thomas did something to Seb?” Chase rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

“I mean, Seb did beat him up a couple times,” said Alex.

“True,” said Chase. “Fine, I’ll go back to the inn.”

They watched Chase leave and suddenly it was only the three of them. Amelie looked like she wanted to say something.

“Guys?” Said Amelie.

“What is it?” Said Brent.

“I’m going to go find Claire. Would that be alright? I think I really upset her.”

Sounds like a bad idea, thought Brent. Whenever Claire got like that he had learned to just leave her alone. Once after he had said he liked how another player threw a spear on the island Claire had not talked to him until dinner time. He had tried to find her to practice the obstacle course and she had only gotten even angrier. Claire definitely liked her alone time.

“Go for it,” said Brent.

“You know,” said Alex, as yet another of their guild departed. “Claire might end up smacking her if she goes too far.”

“Come on, Alex,” said Brent, rolling his eyes. “Seriously?”

Now Alex was staring at him.

Brent sighed.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. But the next fight is about to begin.”

Bellis had finally left the arena, and Markon was raising his hands. Argo was back with his helmet. The crowd fell quiet.

“ALRIGHT, NOW THAT THAT IS OVER. TIME FOR THE NEXT MATCH.”

Just as Markon began to pull out a name from the helmet, he frowned, and then shielded his eyes from the sun. He peered into the crowed and a grim look crossed his face.

“BUT FIRST, LOOKS LIKE WE HAVE A SPECIAL VISITOR!”

Brent looked around. The crowd was confused, and even Argo didn’t seem sure what Markon was talking about.

Markon stretched his hand out and pointed.

“EVERYONE WELCOME THE OLD GUARD! CAME ALL THE WAY TO BIRCHTOWN!”