The Slaver King exploded out of the icy prison.

Precious seconds gave Alexandria more space.

Close to a hundred yards.

Blurring hands, a steady stream of arrows almost as fast as a semi-automatic gun.

Mundane. No spells nor Skills. Had to start managing her stamina and mana supply.

Distraction.

Shit aim to the side quickly.

“Back Piercing Shot, Spell Arrow: Viper Venom.”

As silent as the serpent, her arrow arced to one side in a wide circle.

She emptied her first quiver as the Slaver King contemptuously slapped or took the mundane arrows on his arms.

His eyes widened as the venomous arrow struck him in the back and just managed to kiss his heart. He dropped to his knees gasping and choking as his veins visibly bulged with sickly green light pulsing in time with each rapid beat.

Did she dare to hope?

No.

Hope had no place on the field.

There was only the fight.

And this one could only end when one of them was a rapidly cooling corpse.

She loosed an arrow.

The Slaver King caught it an inch from his eye. He spat a disgusting mixture of bloody biological matter and green venom and shook his head.

He rose and flicked his arm.

Enhanced Reflexes barely saved her life.

Her own arrow struck her bow right above her hand.

The wood splintered.

Her old one wouldn’t have broken as easily the standard replacement. It had taken the king’s own hands to rip it to pieces.

She ran as far away as the arena walls allowed.

The Slaver King laughed.

She still had her machete, tomahawk and a number of knives. Those might have been good enough for weaker opponents, but not the king.

The king charged. Great puffs of dirt flying with each bounding step.

She hurled the tomahawk.

He caught it with contemptuous ease.

She dived out of its return path.

It shattered against the arena wall showering her in steel shards that sparked against her mail and cut her through her clothing.

I Am The Bow, she thought.

The ghostly outline of her old weapon appeared in her hand. A sight for only her eyes.

The king was close.

She ran up the side of the wall.

Five steps before leaping out and contorting her body as she pulled an arrow from her second quiver, nocked it to a ghostly bowstring, drew and loosed.

The king flinched as the arrow took him in the eye.

Sadly, he managed to catch it before it penetrated through to his brain.

Though, she wasn’t sure if that would’ve been enough.

The king could heal from tremendous amounts of damage.

She had no idea how he did it. Though what little she had managed to learn in recent months gave her suspicions.

The king pulled out the arrow and the eye and held both up to the crowd. “The greatest champion in our history! Alexandria Ortega Cortez!” he roared as he stuck his tongue out and swallowed the eye like a meatball. “Are you not entertained!” he bared a bloody mouth in a ghastly display.

The crowd’s cheering reached a frenzied pitch in response.

The arena rocked beneath ten’s of thousands of stomping feet.

They chanted for the king.

For her.

How deplorable, she thought, how have we lost our way?

She wanted to scream out in repudiation of their obscenity.

Instead, she ran.

Her breathing grew labored, her limbs heavier. Her clock ran down faster.

Her best Skill was also the most draining.

Correction… her second best Skill.

That had been her last hope… she laughed bitterly… there was no hope.

Only victory or death.

Her last chance for victory was gone.

Death.

Make it matter, she thought.

She sent arrows flowing at the king as she ran.

Each shot echoed the ticking of the clock.

The Slaver King batted the arrows aside. He basked in the adoration of the crowd. His skin had healed from fires, the explosions, the ice, the acid, the venom. Even his eye was back. He stood in all his naked glory. Unashamed. Arrogance beyond belief. He knew he was the greatest of them all.

He spoke and she knew that it was only for her.

“Alex, it’s time. I hope you’ve got something special for the fans. You don’t want to go out like a weakling. Give them and me something special to remember.”

She stopped running.

She stood in the center of the arena.

The greatest champion understood the show.

She pulled her last arrow. Slowly, deliberately she nocked it on the string only she could see.

She raised the bow only she could see to the sky.

Dark now.

The stars swallowed by the arena lights.

It would’ve been nice to see them twinkling.

“When my bow sings, freedom rings,” Alexandria intoned.

A hush fell over the crowd as her voice reached each and every one of them.

The Slaver King’s eyes widened, a snarl spread out over his face. He moved toward Alexandria as time slowed.

What did this champion rebel against?

She knew it in her heart and soul.

No one lives in chains.

If only she had more time perhaps she could’ve seen an end to the slave kingdom.

Instead, this was the best she could do.

Such a small gesture, maybe futile in the end.

She would never know.

Alexandria drew and loosed in one smooth motion.

The arrow shot straight into the sky.

It glowed for a moment before splitting into dozens. Twinkling stars that weaved through the air in search of their targets.

She didn’t see them hit their targets.

The Slaver King’s hand speared through her armor and out her back.

Each of her stars found a collar. Struck it. Broke it.

“What did you do?” the Slaver King snarled.

Once enslaved, dozens of freed men and women howled in collective rage over what had been done to them. The truth of their memories returned. They lashed out at anyone within reach.

“My triumphant moment,” she coughed blood in the king’s face, “their triumph.”

“A thief to the end. I’m disappointed,” the Slaver King sighed. “All you’ve managed to do is kill people.”

One by one, they died inside the arena and out on the streets.

If only she had been stronger she could’ve freed hundreds, thousands.

“They were happy and you’ve killed them.”

“It’s all a lie. You’re a lie,” she spat.

“All of this…” the Slaver King pulled her close to whisper in her ear. “You’ve hurt them. Not saved them.” He released her then. Let her fall to ground as he looked to the stunned crowd. “King’s Decree: Listen to me!”

Eyes and ears only for him.

The brief and violent chaos forgotten.

“And so falls our once champion,” he said solemnly. “A traitor to the end. I know not what made her betray us, but I promise to find out why so that it can never happen again. She was a traitor, but we can’t forget the good she did for us. She always fought bravely. We must honor that,” he pointed at Alexandria. The spotlight followed.

She didn’t hear his words as the blood flowed out of her body to stain the dirt where she had bled so many other people.

It was just, she decided, that she end the same way.

“Are you proud of me?” she whispered weakly. “Papa did I do good?”

Yes, Mija…

She thought she could hear his voice in her head.

Tears flowed from her eyes.

She had forgotten what he sounded like.

“I messed up… didn’t try to fight this from the beginning…”

You strayed from the right path, but you found your way back. That’s all we can do.

“I did, didn’t I…”

You saved over a hundred people from slavery. Did your best. Gave your life. You couldn’t have done anymore.

“Not all of them, I ki—” she choked on her own blood. She blinked up through blurred vision. A bright golden disk was all she could see shining down upon her. “I’m sorry… I never won…”

We never cared about winning. We just wanted you to be happy.

“I’m sorry… did I do good? Papa, tell Mama I’m sorry… I messed up…”

No, Mija, you didn’t. We’re proud of you, always and forever… now, close your eyes.

“I wanted to win for you…” she reached for the golden disk as a dark shadow slowly loomed over her blocking it from her vision.

Close your eyes!

Her father’s voice was insistent. So she did what a good girl does and listened.

“Papa, Mama… I— I did it… I’ll see you soon…”

She didn’t feel the boot smashing her head into the ground.

Didn’t hear the frenzied roar of the crowd as their king pranced around her body.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Did the king know?

Did he realize?

How his actions marked him for death in dozens of eyes?

You should’ve been paying attention king. Should’ve marked the ones watching you in silence.

----------------------------------------

“That was a waste,” Kim said.

The other members of the king’s council sucked in their breaths.

They had finally gotten to the elephant in the room.

And to think they had almost gone all the way through the meeting without the subject being broached.

King drummed his fingers on the oak table.

“Explain your thoughts,” he said lightly.

“They were more useful alive, especially Alexandria, she was our second highest-leveled person. Why not collar her? Use her abilities for our benefit?”

“I thought about it, but she was a Rebel. Doesn’t that suggest that the collar might have failed? Perhaps, when I least expected it to? Perhaps, to fatal effect for me? Which is why I decided death was better for all involved. Some of her lackeys also had the rebel prefix. I’m not blind. We are the empire in this analogy and they lost to the rebellion. Killing Alexandria Skywalker before she really got going was the right call. I mean, shit, you all saw what that Skill of her did. Imagine that, but powered up and on a wider scale,” he spread his arms wide. “But, please, I want you all to share your thoughts on how we could’ve proceeded differently. It’ll be a good exercise for the future.”

“Cut off her fingers,” Eric said.

“That would’ve made her useless,” Kim said.

“For fighting, sure… but not for the breeding program,” he leered.

Next to the balding man, Malcolm bristled.

“Your thoughts, Champion?” King prodded.

“Alex would never have bowed her head. You did the only thing you could,” Malcolm said after a moment.

“Well said.”

“Execute the ones with rebel in their class, use the rest as fodder to spearhead dungeon operations,” Mark said.

“Thank you, general.”

“Give them to the Cabal. They’ve been pressing for more bodies,” Meadow, the liaison to said cult, ventured.

The king nodded.

“I said my peace on it,” Kim said.

“Noel?” King said.

“Er… more test subjects for me, I guess? If you didn’t care about what happened to them then I can really experiment. Wish I could’ve gotten some data from Alex’s Skill. That’s the thing with them. You never know what’s gonna pop out. Hard to build safeguards, you know?”

“That, I do,” King sighed. “Right, that’ll conclude this meeting. I’d like to watch some of today’s events. I suggest you all do the same. I know we’ve got talent scouts and appraisers, but I want my inner council to have thoughts of their own. Dismissed.”

The room cleared quickly with one exception.

“What is it, Kim?”

“Last night cost us.”

“I know that better than anyone.”

“You lost close to 500.”

“I did,” he agreed. “Although…” a smile slowly crossed his face.

“You leveled,” Kim’s expression remained steady.

“Can’t ever surprise you,” he sighed.

“Well, what did you get?”

“I think I need to keep that a secret for now. Too many unknowns out there in my nation right now. Perhaps, after the championships.”

“Then I have to proceed with the knowledge that you’re 500 weaker right now and I’m concerned because it looks like domestic supply is running low. Going international will need a lot of lead up time. Which means, if we want to keep up with attrition and grow our supply numbers then we need to start now.”

“After the championships.”

“Two months delay on the front end can set us back years on the back end with all the unknowns of the potential the international market.”

“The magus gave us some good info about the places she’s traveled through.”

“Suspect information… and she’s definitely holding a lot back about whatever happened in New York three years ago.”

“Our truth spells and interrogators thought otherwise.”

“She has ten monster eyes. We don’t know what she’s truly capable of. She’s only playing along because we have what’s left of her group dangling over a pit of spikes. I mean, we all saw that explosion from here! It turned night into day!”

“Hmm… why have I never thought of that,” he mused. “Perhaps, a literal pit of spikes would be more persuasive than a figurative one?”

“I will have that prepared right away,” she said flatly.

“Listen, it was probably a nuke,” King waved it away. “And forget the pit spikes, too crude… listen, Kim, I think you’re being too premature on the supply issues. There are, after all, other large communities out in our soon to be reclaimed lands. 30K in Seattle, 50K in that mess in Kansas, 100K in Northern California, a bit more in Texas, a few thousand to ten plus in scattered locations. Atlanta. And close to half a mil in Southern California. And that’s not even going into what we can find in Canada and Mexico.”

“There is a thin line between opportunity and threat. Southern California and the rangers are an outright threat. I don’t understand why you’re allowing them to walk around our city. They arrested our people for Christ’s sake!” she snapped. “We should’ve arrested them as soon as they arrived.”

“I want to see how good these rangers are in a fight,” he shrugged, “besides, it’s a good thing.”

“How? You’ve lost contact with the hundred essential soldiers we sent with the diplomatic team.”

“And I’ll learn how when we question the rangers… after the championships are over,” he explained.

“We can’t ignore the insult—”

“And we haven’t. We’re just taking our time to formulate a response. Besides, it’s a perfect cassus belli. We demand they return our people. They refuse. We are left with no choice but to defend our sovereignty against a belligerent, rogue nation… or something like that.”

“The military and old government remnants?”

“And how many are there? I lost count. They’re irrelevant. The last gasps of a dying man. Let them force the issue. We have the most people, the strongest people. We have thousands of soldiers that fight without fear. They are happy to shed the blood of our enemies without regard for their own.”

“Okay, okay, you don’t need to shove my own words into my face. In case you forgot, I write most of your speeches.”

“Which, I’m forever grateful for. So, try to relax a bit, enjoy the events. Scout out any potential that you’d want for yourself.”

“The general’s concerns?”

“Are his business. Not yours.”

“Excuse me? I should be concerned if he thinks that there are hidden forces somewhere on the edges of our territory.”

“Let him do his job. If they’re out there, he’ll find them.”

“And Atlanta?”

“what about those losers? It looks like they’re getting ready for something, but they’re always doing that. Probably, something to do with our late Alexandria’s underground railroad. They don’t have the numbers to openly attack us. The best they can do are those annoying raids. They can’t commit any more forces. They need to keep enough back to deal with monsters, raiders, cannibal or otherwise. Kim, I’m starting to feel like a broken record. This is partially why we’re holding the championships.”

“I know. We show them all how strong we are. Show them what they can have by joining us. I believe I wrote the prospectus?” Kim said. “Yeah, yeah, I did, didn’t I?”

“No need for sarcasm,” King sighed. “We show them how strong we are and I show them how strong I am. They’ll have no choice but to bow down to the New America Republic. One citizen at a time,” he grinned. “I can feel it, Kim! We’re on the cusp of great things. A past cruelly taken from us, becomes a future reclaimed!”

“I’ll workshop it. We’ll get you a better statement. You planning to say it to close out the championships? Or after you win the last fight?”

“Why not both?” he mused. “Yeah, I’ll let the words flow for right after the fight. That’s how you put on a show. It’s got to come from the heart. The official speech later, well, I’ll leave that to you.”

“I’ll add it to my list,” she sighed.

“Thanks, Kim. You’re the best! I don’t know what I’d do without you, truly,” King smiled.

Kim sighed as she gathered her things.

“Oh, Kim?”

“Yes, my king?”

“I think I’m going to watch the events from here.”

“A good idea. Since they’re preliminaries it sends a message that your time is valuable if you only attend matches of consequence. Although, a public appearance in the next few days would also be good. You don’t want the last sight of you being a naked and bloody mess.”

“Agree to disagree. I think I’ve never looked stronger,” he grinned. “After all, there I was… exploded, burned, frozen, shot, poisoned and yet I stood triumphant over my foe’s corpse. It sends the right message to my potential enemies. That they can hurt me, but I’ll keep coming. Unrelenting, unstoppable… until I’ve bathed in their blood.”

“Charming… enjoy the events.”

“And Kim…”

“Yes, my king?”

“Please let the Queen know that I want her here.”

“Of course.”

----------------------------------------

“Can’t you just, like… I don’t know… kill him?” Jayde said.

“He’s strong, fast and heals quick,” Dayana ticked each attribute off with her fingers, “but we’ve seen you deal with worse.”

“The collars…” Hayden said. “Did you at least learn something new about them? You were there, weren’t you?”

“I was,” Cal said, “and I did.”

“But, no closer to what we need to do away with this farce and just kill the bastard,” Jayde sighed.

“Right, so what this about. Risky meeting in person,” Hayden said.

Cal eyed the opulent hotel suite.

The benefits of being Gold Division contestants.

“As far as eyes and ears are concerned, a local nobleman, Don Wynn, is extending an offer of patronage,” he said. “Oh, you don’t have to decide right now. This is merely a prelude. You’ll probably get an invitation to his mansion at a later date, especially as you continue to advance in the tournament. The three on three matches? I would’ve thought you would’ve gone with the MOBA-style event with Prim and Drake.”

“Our average level would’ve been high enough for gold, but that would’ve put the kids up against forty pluses. Too risky. They’re better off in the Silver Division. They’re at the upper ranges of that,” Hayden said.

“Didn’t want to babysit,” Jayde shrugged.

“Drake’s doing the one on ones. Prim’s doing the MOBA with some of her ranger squad. They know how to work together,” Dayana said.

Silence.

“We almost jumped in, you know,” Hayden said.

“Like, six times,” Jayde added.

“Instead, we stood and watched. We did nothing as that woman died to free dozens of enslaved people only for them to be killed in the aisles and on the streets.”

“Hayden, you did exactly what you should’ve done.”

“Sacrifice the few to save the many,” Dayana nodded.

“Still feels wrong,”Jayde added.

“Because it is and you have consciences. Good ones… mostly.”

“Yeah, well, my conscience is going to be free when I can finally start killing these slaver shits,” Jayde said.

“Don’t take too long, Boss,” Dayana said.

“We don’t know how long we can keep standing by and watching,” Hayden said.

“Two months at the longest.”

With that Cal left the Furies to get ready for the first match later in the afternoon.

He quickly flew to the next group on his list.

“Bro, that was some gnarly shit,” Jake said. “Almost jumped in, but then saw that Rino and Kare were about to and I had to grab them.”

“Perv!” Rino snapped as she walked through the suite’s living room into the kitchen.

“I accidentally, grabbed boob,” Jake whispered.

“Accidents happen,” Cal said.

“Accident my ass,” Rino came back with a cold beer and plopped down on the couch.

“Uh… shouldn’t you get dressed?” Jake ventured.

“Towel’s covering all my bits… why’re you looking anyways… perv,” she smirked.

“Whatever!” Jake threw his hands up and fixed his eyes on Cal. “Everything’s good, all things considered. Most of us are used to traumatizing things, so that wasn’t all that bad considering. We’re sticking to the plan. Watch Commander Lawrence is with our guys at their first event. Kare and Ginessa are scoping out the targets you set. Bennett’s under a bed, but he’ll start once the sun goes down. I’m just here monitoring the equipment. Trying to zero in on the strongest magical signature like you said.”

“And?”

“It’s somewhere in a five mile radius centered on the king’s castle,” Jake handed Cal a tablet.

An aerial view of the enormous mansion was mostly obscured by a bright yellow glow, like the glare from the sun.

“Zoom out.”

Cal did as instructed.

Sure as Jake had said.

A five mile radius covered by that bright glare.

“There’s a few other glowing spots if you go max zoom out.”

There were about a dozen scattered sites throughout Miami that glowed faintly compared to the area around the king’s castle

“I see, I think I know what those are,” Cal mused.

Silence.

“You going to share?” Rino scowled.

“Something I learned last night from the fight. Can you send Bennett to those sites? Just to look.”

“Sure, but what’s he looking for?” Jake said.

“Tell him to expect enslaved.”

“I don’t get it. Those poor bastards are everywhere,” Rino said.

“I think these ones might be in a different situation.”

“Hey, so any word on the rest of our backup?” Jake said.

“They’ve set up base outside the city and remain hidden. “

He flew to his next impromptu meeting.

The rangers were in a kill box.

Just as expected, just as planned.

The slaver kingdom soldiers saw nothing, heard nothing of his presence.

“Fuck!” Mouthy snapped. “You do that on purpose, asshole!”

Cal had appeared in their midst. “Yeah,” he shrugged.

“Something changed?” Hardhat said. “Thought you were going to keep quiet for a while.”

“It’s a fluid situation.”

“Nothing to worry about, Sir. We know the plan, as much of it as you’ve shared,” Aims said.

“So… did it change?” Dastardly said.

“No. I just wanted to inform you that a nobleman, Don Wynn, may, upon seeing your rangers’ performances in the championships, decide to approach you with an offer of employment.”

“And, you want us to accept this offer?” Hardhat said.

“Yeah.”

“That’s it?” Aims said.

“Yeah,” Cal turned to leave.

“Ghost Sorcerer still alive?” Mouthy said.

“Fin’s getting ready for his match. He’s focused on his goal. On what he was promised.”

“Good, we’ve put a lot of work into that little prick. Hate for it to be a waste,” she said.

“You think this is a waste, Sergeant?”

“Only if we don’t save more people than we lose.”

“Trading lives?”

“That’s usually what it comes down to.”

“What would you say to that woman in the arena last night?”

“I heard she and her people got over a hundred out,” Mouthy said. “They won… barely.”

“Well, we don’t intend to barely win, do we?”

“Fuck no!” Mouthy bared her teeth. “We’re tearing this shit hole place to the ground.”

“We’re going to free people… alive, Sergeant.”

“Well, no shit, but we’re also doing the other thing.”

He had a few more people to see, but he did it quickly.

He had a secret to find and the events of last night had finally given him a clue.

It was a razor’s edge he trod.

Find his target without alerting the enemy that he was even looking.

That he was right inside their house.

The others had been right though.

He too had almost jumped down on the field to save the doomed woman.

Yet, at her end all he had to give her had been a cruel lie.