From Ashes and Dust (Book One)

Chapter 23.2

Hisato and Vatra weaved and dodged Ares' strikes. Not all were so easily missed, though. At one point, Vatra caught the glancing blow of Ares' knuckles as he swung upward. She stumbled away, leaving Hisato to gain some ground.

Exhaustion screamed at Vatra. It weighed down her arms and legs, cementing her into the sand. She inhaled deeply, pausing for a moment to look up. She allowed her gaze to narrow on the hologram dancing above the arena.

Pink lights flickered across Vatra's face. The half-naked image of the woman bent down at one part of the dance, looking down. An expressive, practically mocking, smile appeared on the hologram's face. It was as if the image was calling Vatra a joke. Laughing at her poor attempt to defeat Ares.

Vatra wiped the sweat from her forehead. No, we can do this.

She watched Hisato and Ares exchange attacks before the former backed off. His preferred style. Attack, retreat. But Ares didn't necessarily have a method to his fighting style. He used strikes and defensive blocks from various techniques.

Enyalius and his father truly are more different than I thought. Enyalius could never fight like this.

Once Vatra caught her breath, she waited for her moment to attack. If they were going to bring Ares down, it had to be with one strike. They needed to knock him unconscious with a single blow. Hisato's attack and retreat wasn't working, nor was Vatra's long game of grappling.

Vatra knew her own strength, but she wasn't sure if Hisato had more in him. There wasn't time to spend trying to relay the plan to him. She had to trust that Hisato would understand what was going to happen. Either she would land the final blow, or Hisato would be able to predict the plan and he would do it.

We'll only have one chance at this. 

They both made a final go at Ares. Hisato focused on quick strikes with kicks, moving with a speed that the god himself could barely keep up with. Using the distraction to her advantage, Vatra moved in and charged into the only opening Hisato left for her. A direct hit to Ares' left temple.

Using all of the strength she could muster in her right hook, Vatra drove her knuckles into the god's face with no restraint. Every ounce of rage let loose from her muscles. She could feel her own bones crack, buckling against the force of her attack. A scream of pain and fury ripped from her lungs.

Ares' eyes rolled back as his body soared into the sand. He fell in a heap, limbs splayed about with no control. A single groan escaped his lips, but the god didn't move a muscle.

Vatra allowed her arm to drop back to her side. The pain of her broken hand shot pins and needles up her arm. She felt like she was about to vomit. Vatra inhaled slowly, trying to suppress the need to spew out everything she'd eaten before the fight.

"Holy shit," Hisato said. His words were nearly drowned out by the rising shouts and racket from the crowd.

An unsteady breath exhaled through Vatra's dried and cracking lips. She forced a smile. "You didn't think I could do it?"

"I knew we could manage it," Hisato paused as he looked around at the crowd, "but I didn't think you had that in you. If that wasn't Ares, I think you would have knocked his head off." He pointed at Vatra's hand at his last words.

Glancing at her already swelling fingers, Vatra sighed. "It hurts like a bitch, though. I think his head's made of steel or something."

The speakers overhead crackled, and a voice droned out in a muffled speech that Vatra could barely understand. She wasn't even sure what language the announcer was speaking. Though, it was obvious the crowd understood them. Not long after, the crowd cheered even louder.

Lorenzo appeared at the edge of the arena. A handful of people also entered from the other side. Those Vatra didn't recognize rushed over to Ares, a medical team she assumed. Turning her attention to Lorenzo, she noticed the wide grin beaming on his face. The man folded his arms and started to walk slowly over to them.

"I knew you two could do it! And wow, what a fight that was," Lorenzo said. His tone matched the energy of the spectators around them. Fired up, and ready for another fight.

I hope he doesn't expect us to fight for him again, Vatra thought. She made it a point to have her broken hand as visible as possible.

"Oh, are you injured? We'll get you to medical as soon as possible," Lorenzo said, the excitement dropping from his voice.

"That can wait. What about our companions? Where are they?" Vatra asked. She wondered if Enyalius had seen the fight. After what he'd told her, he probably wouldn't be so happy to know his father was on Tau Honnor.

Lorenzo chuckled. "Selfless, aren't you? Your friends are in Tau Honnor's holdings cells. They were practically arrested, remember? I'll go have them released for you, though. Now that you've held up your end of the deal. You and your friend won me quite a bit of money. Maybe we can-"

"Save it," Vatra interrupted. "We won't fight for you again. It was a one time deal. Take us to our friends after we get changed."

"Of course, though I do insist you visit medical before you see your friends. You don't want to damage a hand like yours. I also believe they take every injured fighter to medical after a fight, in case you need to check on that opponent you so brutally injured," Lorenzo said, winking at his last words.

Vatra's eyes widened, and she looked at Hisato. Her plan had been to just find Ares on her own, but Lorenzo had somehow weaseled his way into their personal matters.

"How much do you know?" Hisato inquired.

The three of them started toward the locker rooms. Lorenzo looked back over his shoulder with a mischievous grin.

"I know all that goes on around Tau Honnor. Plus, I'm pretty good about reading people. I knew something was going on between the three of you during that fight. Just don't cause any more trouble for me, all right?" Lorenzo directed his last question to Vatra.

She cut a look to the side and blew a raspberry. "I'm a model citizen, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Regardless," Lorenzo started, "I'm serious about it. I don't want any trouble. I told you about it as a favor. Now, get cleaned up and take yourselves over to medical. Let them know you were Lorenzo's fighters. They won't charge you credits for any services. If you do decide to speak with your friend, I expect talking is all you will do. If not, I expect to see all of your names signed up for another round here."

"Yessir," Vatra mocked. She pushed past Lorenzo once he stopped just short of the locker room door.

"Thank you for the help," Hisato said, following Vatra inside.

The two of them were closed inside the locker room. All noises were immediately muted. Vatra looked down at her bare feet, then at her throbbing hand. She frowned and walked over to her locker.

"How bad is it?" Hisato asked, trailing after her. He leaned against the lockers with a look of worry on his face.

Vatra met his concerned, brown eyes. She wanted to spew out a line of explicit words in an attempt to curb the pain, but it wasn't in her to act out in such a way. "I've had worse," Vatra said.

"I don't doubt it," Hisato said, "but it doesn't change the fact you're in pain now. You punched a war god in the face with enough force to knock out an elephant. I wouldn't be surprised if you shot your metacarpals up into your shoulder."

"Look at you, sounding so smart." Vatra grabbed her clothes from her locker and turned to go change. "Fair warning, I might take a while to change with one hand."

"I'm not in a rush," Hisato said. He opened his locker and shuffled around for his own belongings. "Plus, I think those gods can wait a little longer."