The Colosseum

Surprise Surrender

Kova

With their numbers and skill, I figured the north would swarm Ezra and I and maul us in a flash. If my life is going to end, I'd prefer my death be swift, anyways. But I'm surprised when they start to attack us in an orderly fashion, three soldiers to each outsider.

Instantly, I'm cut off from Ezra, backpaddling with the rush of the soldiers, with him doing the same in the opposite direction. In unison, the nine soldiers unsheathe their weapons, the song of their swords ringing as loud as Ten's gunshots. My three attackers circle around me, their postures the same, their movements synchronized, and their identities totally indistinguishable. The fact that they move as if connected is eerie and unsettling, leading me to believe that when one of them strikes, they'll all strike in similar fashion.

Taking a deep breath, I tread in a precarious circle, trying to block out every outside distraction. This includes Ezra, who's already let his sword fly through the air, parrying attacks, delivering a few, and taking a few. I can't tell if he's struggling against his foes, straining through early-dealt pain, or simply putting his all into staying alive. Meanwhile, Ten fights with more brutish attacks, shooting for low blows and cheap shots, although, is anything really "cheap" when it comes to saving your life?

I contemplate ditching my spear in favor of the daggers, which I can handle better and have had better luck with. I fought off two gladiators in the pitch darkness with a set of daggers and a bum knee – I can do this. But the mental war on which weapon to pick is made for me when a soldier to my right makes the first move.

Swinging their sword horizontally, they aim to slice me in half. Jumping to the side, I use the lowered end of my staff to uppercut the first attacker. Though when I jumped to the side, I jumped right into the vicinity of another soldier, who takes advantage of my mistake. They form a fist and slam it down on the other end of my staff as I'm using all my strength to bring it up. The shift of momentum forces me to waver and I temporarily lose balance, with the spear loosely in limbo in my hands.

Disarming me, the third soldier behind me kicks the spear out of my grasp, their strength catapulting the staff far out of reach. Hissing, I lunge for my daggers, the gun's handle odd in my grasp, but manageable. Holding them gives me some sort of second wind or rejuvenation – a confidence earned by clutching the echo of personal victories past. "Are we just going to dance in a circle or are we going to have fun anytime soon?" I snipe.

The soldier behind me snidely chuckles, their vocals brief but audible – and it's a she. I swear I feel the air around her move out of her way so she can execute an attack, and without questioning these 7th-sense sensations anymore, I let my body do all the thinking for me. Ducking, I narrowly avoid a swipe for my neck, the shamshir whistling in the wind. Using a dagger, I hold it vertically and charge it at her sword, using it as a second-long blockage against a subsequent strike.

With the brief window of time, I swing my arm in an arc, just hoping to do some sort of visible damage to this woman so I know who is who. With everyone behaving as clones, it disorients me. My mission is successful, with a slice splitting the skin of her right shoulder.

Though the instant the metal of my blade shreds through her clothes, the butt of another sword drives deep into the crook of my neck. Something so simply forces my body to reflexively scrunch up and drop to the ground, curling like a dying spider. That was some sort of pressure point and I didn't like it. But now I'm on the ground and on the defense, an if the arena has taught me anything, it's that with me – that's when everyone else is most vulnerable.

Gritting my teeth and overcoming the nerve-blinding pain, I explode into action. My right dagger launches into the shin of an unmarked shoulder while my leg kicks at the legs of the final unmarked soldier. The man I stuck grunts and kicks me in the face, sending me back on the ground. I land by the man whose feet I swept out from under him, and taking the golden opportunity, I saw a dagger through their throat. With my building strength and the adrenaline of the fight, I manage to insert the dagger in one side of their neck and see the tip of it out the other.