Ch. 27
The soldiers chained their arms and legs to a splintering wooden wall. Over thirty other Evergreeners were chained up in the same room. Oliver didn’t have the energy to try and break out.
“Since we now have thirty five prisoners. We can start some entertainment. The King and Queen are sitting in the audience awaiting a great and bloody fight. You all will have to fight each other. Whoever is left last will die the shortest death at the hands of the King himself, but you’ll still be remembered as a hero for winning” the larger soldier announced. He grabbed a lever and pulled the ruined gates open and revealed a large arena with weapons scattered all around the court. There were thousands of well-dressed people sitting in the audience. Several knights had bow and arrows just in case one of the contenders decided to attack the audience, or if they got bored they could shoot someone.
“What a terrible way to die” Oliver whispered. An elderly woman’s eyes bulged with fear as she gazed into the arena.
“I’m not killing anybody” Evelyn muttered. A whistle sounded and the contenders raced to grab the weapons. Oliver grabbed a nearby shield and a spear. Evelyn used a wooded staff. He still stood without a feeling.
“Ollie, fight for your parents” she whispered in his ear. This sparked an inner flame within him and he was ready to fight.
She charged and tried hard to knock out her opponents instead of killing them. Oliver did the same with his shield and spear.
A woman went down to a thrown axe. Evelyn blocked a sword strike with a quick movement and flip kicked the opponent in the chest.
“You know what Dylan… I don’t like this. How about we change the outcome” a loud voice called.
“Ok bro” another voice called. A bright flash went off and all the Evergreen soldiers were burnt and dead.
Two lines of wire were shot down into the arena for the contenders to escape from. Oliver grabbed the old woman and helped her climb the rope. When he reached the top with her, he slid back down to help anymore contenders.
Only after they were all safe did he and Evelyn climb to safety. Two younger men met them at the top.
One had spiky black hair and more tattoos than skin; the other was younger and had blonde hair. He had no tattoos but he had a jacket full with several pockets which held strange devices.
They two men were probably a little over Oliver’s age or right at it.
“I’m Dylan” the tattooed guy said, with a strange accent. He shook their hands. The other man smiled and bowed. “He’s Bryan” Dylan added.
He circled Evelyn like a shark and circled his finger in her blonde hair.
“Hello love, when we find a secluded place I’m gonna… uhh” he didn’t finish his sentence due to an elbow in his stomach.
“Not gonna happen” she hissed.
“It really isn’t” Oliver added. “But thanks for saving everyone. How’d you get all your cool gadgets?”
“We get modern world devices and combine them with Evergreen weapons” Brian answered.
“How do you get the modern world technology?” Oliver asked.
“Does it matter?” Dylan snapped. He thought it over for a couple of minutes.
“I guess not”.
“We should destroy the arena. Everyone that was here is gone so it’s safe” Evelyn suggested.
“Anything you say babe” Dylan agreed and pulled out a metal ball and threw it. As soon as it collided with a solid object, a large circumference of the building disappeared in a blue flash.
Oliver searched the battlefield for his hammer and luckily spotted it in a few seconds. He took a daring leap over the coliseum edge and landed a fantastic landing on the sandy floor. He smiled and picked up his hammer.
He went to work smashing any part of the arena he could.
Soon the coliseum was just a pile of rubble and ruins. They escaped safety out of the decimated building.
“I have a feeling you guys don’t like the King” Oliver said, wondering about Dylan and Brian. They both agreed.
“Come with us to the rebellion’s castle” he invited. Evelyn didn’t seem to happy but she was silent and looked distracted.
Dylan tried to take the opportunity but she was more aware then he thought… Dylan was on the ground now.
“Sorry, I was just thinking about something. It doesn’t matter” she explained. “You guys go ahead, I need to talk to Oliver about something” she ordered the inventors.
Oliver stayed behind with a confused look on his face and raised his eyebrows.
“I wanted to make a bet with you. Whoever kills King Luther will get something of the other persons, I’m not clear on what that will be yet but…” she explained.
“That’s a great idea. We both have terrible tragedies in our pasts and it will be fun to put a little light heartedness into such a serious war” Oliver replied. She pulled out two beautiful gemstones from a pocket in the neck part of her jacket.
“These were given to me by my mother when I was six. She said to use these in an inspirational way. I didn’t know what she meant back then but I thought since we have our bet… they could be useful” she said and handed him a sea blue colored rock. Hers was golden, like her armor.
“Is that how you choose the color of your armor?” he asked.
“It helps inspire me” she replied. They smiled and caught up with the rest of their group.
