i'm not new to being tied up. I don't mean in a sexual sense, but my tormentor was quite fond of tying me up, hanging me from the ceiling, and hitting me with a stick until the, "Candy" came out.

...

Huh, that sounds much more sexual than I thought it would after thinking it in-loud. In-loud, as in the opposite of out-loud, which is speaking, so I mean thinking, not speaking.

...

It's interesting the kinds of thought go through your head when your upside-down and in an arena-like pit. Very enlightening.

...*gate opens*

It's also interesting the thoughts you have when a very large dog-wolf-horse-thing stares at you while slobbering with saliva. You'd think I'd scream, since all the terror and all, but with all the blood in my body,(not very much, to be honest) rushing to my head, I'm starting to find it hard to think at all. In fact, I'm starting to see a tunnel with a bright light at the end, and suddenly that huge, slobbering mouth seems quite welcoming...

...*Crowd screams in delight as the dog-wolf-horse-thing stalks towards me*

...

I look straight into that endless paradise of light, and for some reason...

....it makes me very, very, angry.

"God whom I love and fear above all else, bless your unworthy follower with the strength to carry your burdens."

I rip the ropes that bind me, and fall to the floor on my back. I stand up and hiss as the pain of my reopened hip, back, and shoulder hits me. On the bright-side, my kidney seems juuuuuust fine.

The dog-wolf-horse-thing howls as I turn to face it, and I groan inwardly, and outwardly, as I look at it.

The size of a horse, the fangs and claws of a wolf, and a hellish-black color, with a collar made of steel and broken dreams. At least it has adorable floppy ears.

I get into a crouch, and wait for the dog-wolf-horse-thing to make its' move. Without warning, it leaps the ten-feet between us, mouth wide open and fangs glistening. I roll forward under its' belly, coming up behind it. As the beast lands with a roar, I reach up and grab its' tail.

I yank down as hard as I can, and the dog-wolf-horse-thing spins around and tosses me through the air. Not empty handed, however.

I crash-land near the side of the arena, and wipe the sweat off my brow, then throw away the quickly disappearing tail. It vanishes into smoke and floats away, and I'm left with an angry, tailless, dog-wolf-horse-thing.

Why couldn't the tail take me with it?

The beast howls, long and hard, then turns its' red irises onto me. Then, it sprints with the speed of a stone falling through the air. I wait, then step to one side as the dog-wolf-horse-thing crashes into the wall of the arena with an earth-shaking crash. Not giving it a chance to recover, I jump onto its' back, and take hold of the large, floppy ears.

For half a minute, I scream for all I'm worth, and then the ears, too, come off with a gut-wrenching riiiip.

The dog-wolf-horse-thing turns toward me, a cold, burning hatred that seeks to swallow the whole world, or at least me. This time, it stalks forward while carefully boxing me into a corner. I back off, waiting for god to show me a sign that he's watching.

...*dog-wolf-horse-thing stalks closer.*

Any time now...

...*The crowd screams in delight at my inevitable doom*

Annnnnnnnnnny time....

...*I can smell the dog-wolf-horse-things' breath*

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

...Okay, I give up, I'm on my own.

Mom never wanted a dog around the house. Guess now is the only time I'll get to play with a, not quite dog, but a, dog-wolf-horse-thing.

Good enough.

"Come ere' Poochie, papas' got a hell've lot of childhood memories to make up for."

I step into slashing distance, jump back and let the dog-wolf-horse-things' claws graze my chest, then step forward while speaking each word like a sentence of death.

"God whom I love and fear above all else, bless your unworthy follower with the strength to carry your burdens."

Then I lifted my hand, and smacked the dog-wolf-horse-thing on the cheek.

It flew three feet to the right, rolling over and over until coming to a stop on its' side. For a couple seconds, all it can do is stay lying down. After a minute, it gets up and looks at where I was.

I'm standing in front of it, and it can see the whites of my eyes.

"Forgive me god, for I know not mercy."

The dog-wolf-horse-thing whimpered.

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

I sat in a small, five-by-five-by-five cell, and chewed on bread that was probably older than me. From outside, I heard footsteps, and Ren came into view on the other side of my bars.

For many moments, there was only awkward silence, then Ren spoke. "Um, about this...I'm really sorry, but chief said that I should find an unlucky sap and lure him here so that we could have a great gory show, and well, you were sorta the only one who doesn't know about this..."

I kept staring at the ceiling.

Ren kept talking. "I'm really sorry, I know you helped out of the goodness of your heart, but, well, the worlds' a hard place..."

I said nothing.

Ren was getting desperate. "Look, it's your own fault you ended up here, okay?! I'm just doing my job! I know that other people matter, but it's not like they matter more than me, right? So can you stop making me feel guilty!?"

I blinked, then looked at Ren. "Oh. Hey there, sorry, I wasn't paying attention. Blood-loss makes thinking very hard, you know, so could you just repeat what you sa-"

"Fuck you! I'm glad you're in here!"

I stared open-mouthed, my hand on my chest in a hurt posture. "Why the hostility? Oh, and thanks for the bandages, by the way. You even got me shelter, and food! So, what do you want me to do next?"

Ren stopped, then tried to talk but had to swallow. "What are you talking about? I sold you to an underground arena so you could die. Why are you asking me what I want?"

I put my hand to my chin, and scratch my beard. "You know, you must have a pretty short memory. Didn't we make a deal just a few hours ago?"

"What deal? I broke the deal, I sold you for fucks' sake-!"

I held up my hand, palm out. "Upupupup, let me stop you right there. It seems I made a mistake. You aren't "Beardless-not-idiot, you're just beardless-idiot. We agreed that you'd get me bandages-which you did-and then I'd do whatever you wanted for a week."

I held up seven fingers, then put one down. "Let's say this was day one. You have six left, so what do you want me to do?"

Ren looked at me as if I was crazy, and as far as I knew...

Crazy was a pretty accurate description of me.