Chapter 39

The ground again rumbled beneath him, and he saw Touwon sit up slowly behind Fox. The Kobold had a wide-eyed, but still curious look he could see through his old Goggles. Oskar exhaled without turning around.

Maybe it’ll go away if I ignore it.

He obviously knew better, but it was a nice thought.

He reached out to his PUB, So, let me get this straight. We ‘won’ an honor fight by beating the trust maze. And an honor fight is supposed to be like a celebration of our strength through a token battle.

// Sounds about right. //

“So, when I turn around, there’s traditionally supposed to be like an old Croc that’s instructed to take a hit or three, and then bow to our overwhelming power.”

// Man, right again. You’re really good at this, Ossy. //

Never call me that again or I’m gonna hold my breath until I die.

// I’m so tempted. That would be the manliest way to die ever. Just sheer stubbornness. Now turn around, we've got work to do and data to gather. //

Oskar rolled his eyes and turned around. Something broke the surface of the sand briefly and disappeared. It was the same color as the sand, but looked like Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, and Whoopi Goldberg all caked a bunch of pottery clay on one of those inflatable tube men you see dancing outside a car dealership and let it dry. If the tube man was the size of a subway train. His scan didn’t tell him anything he didn’t know... this thing could kill him and barely notice.

Better not get hit.

“I’m pretty sure that thing is here to participate in the fight, not to watch it. If I’m being honest, I’m starting to think Gramm has it out for us,” Oskar whispered. To his utter shock, Touwon replied with a “Yup.” Oskar turned around quickly, but Touwon was already fidgeting with his Bracer, fully concentrating on preparing for the upcoming battle.

Two words now. I think I'm growing on him.

Oskar himself should have been nervous, and he was, but he'd already accepted this whole thing was a long shot, and his newfound strength made him feel incredible. Fully unlocking Talau felt like he'd found a missing piece of his identity. He wasn’t thinking overtly about his usage of the elements, but his subconscious had caught onto something vital and was working overtime. Oskar felt like he’d woken up from his night’s sleep with the solution to a problem that had been driving him crazy for the last month.

He sat there, watching the huge worm thing as it thrashed in the center of the arena, watching not just the creature, but how it interacted with the patterns of the Magic Below. It had bumped and slammed against the inside of the walls a few times before it decided it couldn’t go below it or through it and was now trying to check out the opening it had just entered the Arena from. However, the guards there had been using a series of long spears stuck in the sand to keep it at bay. There were dozens blocking the gate, pointing inward at the inside of the arena. Guards were holding more of the long spears, walking them up in sections to further close the opening.

There was apparently too much rock below them for the beast to dive below the spears, and the spears looked to be specifically designed to herd and trap tunneling beasts. The spears were long, over three times taller than the Crocs that were holding them, and could anchor themselves in the sand using retractable rows of spikes. The guards would retract the spikes to pull them out of the ground, and then place them closer to the gate, extending the spikes to anchor them back in place.

This served the purpose of keeping beasts from simply tearing through them. Touwon watched them with some interest, his mind probably already working on improvements and shoring up flaws, despite him likely to never even lay a hand on one. They were expected to die soon, and even if they lived, they would not have to time to let the Kobold inspect everything that piqued his interest. Touwon was just that way, though. Maybe this was how he calmed himself down before a fight. Engineering and theory crafting.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Oskar looked at Fox and knew exactly what she was doing. Formulating a plan to keep this thing from having a Collective snack. Crocs, Hyena, and a few Drakon were making their way down to the seating area in mostly the same groups of species, pointing at the imprisoned group and chuckling amongst themselves. Oskar watched them closely, seeing the casual cruelty on many of their faces. He was glad to see no sign of Joker, who seemed like a decent sort as far as Crocs went.

I know not everyone here is bad, but there might not be a way out of this place that doesn't leave more than a few people dead.

Oskar was wondering how far he was willing to go, here, already thinking past this giant sandy worm thing- Fox was working on that problem- and towards the next problem.

Was he ready for what could be the nastiest fight of his life, even counting his wartime experience?

Going from the Sandwyrm to finding a way out of this place was going to be a long, sustained battle. He’d been in battle before, obviously, but this was face to face. No rifles, no platoon of Marines two streets over for backup and no sexy gunships overhead to back them up.

There would be no more fanfare. No more trials, no more attempted executions. There would be naked, open conflict. Battle. War.

Oskar was sick of reacting to threats, stuck in a new kind of survival cycle. He’d known Valla escaping was going to be a growing problem, and he wasn’t foolish enough to think the whole Gramm Collective would go through all this trouble on a random group of nobodies who just showed up. It couldn't just be a Croc species superiority thing, even if even the Hyena guards were warily watching the Point. Was there some historical context he was missing?

The many heads of the curiosity hydra were beginning to all ask the same question.

Why?

Why was it so important to tear his small Collective apart so visibly? Why make such a production out of breaking them down? In a place where every deal was taken with doubt and a look over their shoulder, Oskar was starting to think the Clinkers had the right of it, at least when it came to real estate. The Clinkers were opportunists, true, and took from those who’d built, made, or fought for their own way to survive, but it was done openly, and they were smart enough to stay outside the natural walls that trapped, rather than protected, those within.

Someone who lies to my face is something I can work around. I know their motivations… they can be bought.

// Pretty sure that’s illegal. //

I don't mean slavery, obviously. I mean I know their motivations. Can you feel pain? How can I hurt you?

// Words, Oss… I mean Oskar. Your words can hurt me. As my Ol’ Ma always said, ‘Attack us with a cactus and it’s considered malpractice, but words will always hurt me.’ //

What?! That…that doesn’t even make sense. And you’re AI, you don’t even have a mother!

// Ouch, Oskar. That was hurtful. She was so right. //

Oskar was more than a little dumbfounded by that exchange, and his face must have showed it, because Fox, having finished her mental preparations, gave him a look before she began to explain her plan in a low voice.

“It is a Sandwyrm. Not fully grown, but it is more than large enough to pose a very serious threat. I know the back side of the Plateau has a steep climb, and so I cannot imagine how they got it up here unless they somehow bred and raised it here."

She shook her head slowly, her brows lowered.

"Anyway, it will have some mastery over earth and sand. Notice the blow holes along the small ridge that continues down its back? It can blast sand from those. I have seen it sever limbs at close proximity. It suctions sand in through those holes and it is stored sub-dermally for just such an attack and also as a protective layer,” she paused for a moment, considering her next words and then continued.

“It is most vulnerable to piercing attacks following, and in the same location of, a sand blast attack of its own. It will attempt to slam us into the sand and batter us against the walls. Steer clear of the ridge and its blowholes. It will also attempt to come from beneath us and knock us down and then slam its head downward on the fallen. At this size, it cannot swallow us whole. Their mouths are proportionally small. So then. I shall be the bait.”

She quieted his obvious protest with a raised, furry hand.

“I am light enough on my feet to deal with the attacks from below. Fast enough to avoid being dashed into the walls, and have superior hearing to you, human. There is a hollow whistling sound denoting every sand blast. I will know the attack, and its location, in plenty of time to react. I will not be able to harm it and keep its attention at the same time, though. That is where you and Touwon come in."

"But..."

"Do not argue, we have not the time to formulate a secondary plan… unless you yourself have designed a magnificent counter to an enemy with no prior knowledge. I think most likely not. In fact, it looked suspiciously like you were just losing an argument with your PUB in your head. You make a certain face when you do that. It looks like shame.”

// She's insightful. //

You totally told her, didn’t you? You snitch.

// Yup! Gave her a Gambit to roast you with. You made fun of my Ma, Oskar. MY. MA! //

You don’t behave like someone who had a mother.

// Ok, that was pretty good. I’m gonna let you win this round because I don’t want you to be sulking when it’s wormy fight time. //

“Losing another internal fight?” Fox quipped.

“I actually won that one, thank you very much.”

“Oh, really? What is the score now?” Fox gave him a telling look.

“I don’t keep count.”

// I do. 21 to 1. //

*Click*

The bars to their small cell began to rise.