The Zero Hour | #Wattys2016

Chapter 13 - To the Death (Part 2)

"Wait Amady, I not finish!" Badaboom's voice faded through the frenzied yells of the crowd.

Not long later, Amadeus had managed to reach the bottom of Chief Dabos' throne. Large Rokuth with larger boulders strapped to their backs guarded the steps to the throne. The boulders were larger than any Amadeus had seen before – these must be the elite guards; the best of the best.

Amadeus stumbled up three steps before being yanked down effortlessly by one guard.

"No one see Chief until fight over. You go!"

Amadeus did not give up easily. He rushed up again only to be lifted up by the scruff of his neck. As he continued to struggle and argue with the guards, it created quite a ruckus. Chief Dabos, already bored by the one-sided fight in the pits leaned his face on his hand. What a waste of time, he thought as he gazed down the steps of his throne to find a little runt trying relentlessly to reach him. This is interesting.

His voice boomed loudly above all the other noises throughout the arena. "Who dares interrupt Chief Dabos?"

In that moment, the entire arena fell silent. Even the two Rokuth battling to the death inside the arena froze in place and looked towards the Chief. The entire arena focused their attention at Chief Dabos first, before examining the source of his outburst – Amadeus, who was held up with his limbs flailing.

The two elite Rokuth guards looked up at Chief Dabos, awaiting instructions. Chief Dabos nodded and gestured them to bring Amadeus to him. The guards strode up the giant steps effortlessly and plopped Amadeus down before his enormous feet.

Chief Dabos was larger than the other Rokuth, but the most outstanding feature about him was the ridiculously large boulder on his back. It rivalled all the other Rokuth around him. The Rokuth were known to only respect one thing – strength. It only made sense that their Chief would be the strongest of them all. Except for the boulder straps which kept the boulder on their backs, the other Rokuth were all naked from the waist up. The Chief however had a gold shoulder plate attached on one shoulder. As Chief Dabos got up from his throne, his gold shoulder plate glinted in the sunlight.

"Five seconds," the Chief said, his voice rough.

Amadeus look puzzled. Five seconds of what?

"Five seconds to explain. Then Chief squash you like bug."

Amadeus opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. He considered his words carefully.

"Three seconds."

Not being able to find the words to say, Amadeus fiddled nervously with the strings to the leather pouch on his belt. Shiny well-cut gems poured out onto his palm.

Chief Dabos' eyes brightened. He was intrigued. The look on his face renewed Amadeus' confidence. "Biznas!" Chief Dabos exclaimed. "You come to do big biznas. Chief is smart. Chief see it."

Amadeus nodded. "I'd like to buy No-One. Stop the fight and I will pay for him."

The Chief guffawed loudly with one hand on his belly. "This Rokuth is most useless of all. He not fight, not punch, not kick. He is useless. Even name is funny – No-one. You want to buy this Rokuth? He not make decent bodyguard!"

"I have my reasons."

"Silly humie. Your hair is not white, means you not a tree-hugger. Are you a nob? We not sell Rokuth to nobs either. Rokuth and nobs, we be big enemies."

"I'm a commoner, not a Noble," Amadeus explained.

The Chief considered this for a moment. He looked suspiciously at Amadeus; scanning him from top to toe.

"Okay humie. Chief make big biznas. All gems in hand for No-One. Deal?"

"Deal," Amadeus replied quickly.

"Humie sure? This Rokuth no fight good. Is Useless. No take-back."Chief Dabos warned, waggling his finger.

"I'm sure."

Chief Dabos rubbed his hands gleefully. He looked enraptured by the shining jewels. He bent down and opened up his palm. "Bring shinies here."

Amadeus tiptoed and poured the remnants of his jewels onto the Chief's palm. The Chief rolled the jewels around, examining them closely. Looking up slowly, he scanned for Rokuth guards stationed at key positions of the arena. The two guards nearest to him stood at attention, waiting for his command.

"Bring No-One to Chief!" he commanded authoritatively.

The two arena guards marched towards the fighting pit. Thudza stepped back warily as the guards stepped forward and lifted up the limp body of the battered and bleeding Rokuth. They lifted him up by the arms and carried him towards the throne. The Rokuth – known as No-One, truly looked dazed and confused as they carried him up the steps of the throne.

No-one coughed at the cloud of dust that lingered as the guards dropped him off at the foot of the Chief's throne. What had just transpired was starting to dawn upon Thudza, which greatly puzzled him. Who would be so stupid as to buy No-One? Every Rokuth knew that No-One was destined for death. He was to be discarded; it was just part of their culture. The weak die, the strong survive.

Chief Dabos took a moment to inspect the Rokuth known as No-One, prodding him with his foot every now and then. "There, still in one piece. No-One is humie's problem now. You take weak one away from here," the Chief grinned widely, showing gold fillings in his teeth. "This provided you survive, of course."

Amadeus raised his eyebrows. This was new to him. "Survive?"

"Yes, of course" Chief Dabos replied. "Who else finish fight? Many come here to see trial. Two go in one come out; no matter what."

"B-b-but I'm only buying him. I never volunteered to REPLACE him!"

"This is Rokuth way. If someone buy Rokuth before fight over, he take place in trial. Only dum-dum not know that," Chief Dabos said flatly, leaving no room for argument.

It only took about a second before Amadeus realized what he had just gotten himself into. He started to protest, thrashing his arms wildly. Unfortunately for him, his pleas fell on deaf ears. The same arena guards who brought No-One to Chief Dabos now had an iron grip on Amadeus. They dragged Amadeus with his tiny arms flailing all the way down to the arena's fighting pit.

Author's Note: Uh-oh... looks like he bit off more than he could chew... or did he? If you enjoyed reading so far, don't forget to follow to get updates and find out the latest things I'm working on. Thanks for reading!