Tales from the Arena

Child's Play

The two guards dumped Conch unceremoniously on the hot sands of the arena. The SeaWing let out a quiet growl, flicking his claws to shake off the rough grains. It was a strange thing to be concerned with, given that he was about to be forced into a life-or-death battle for a murderous queen's entertainment. But who would judge him for it.

"We have something a little different today," Vermillion called from the center of the arena. "Conch's opponent is– or was– a member of the Talons of Peace! Found here, in this very kingdom, posing as a loyal SandWing while instead passing information to the underground peacemongers. Hyena of the SandWings. Claws up, teeth ready! Fight!"

He took off, leaving a clear path across the arena. Conch looked past him, expecting some unassuming or tough-looking desert dragon, one who could blend in with the pockets of Burn's soldiers in the Sky Kingdom.

Oh, no, he thought in horror. Moons, no.

Hyena crouched on the sand, wings flared as much as the clamps would allow in an instinctive attempt to look bigger. His tail arched up defensively behind him, and he gave a warning hiss at Conch.

But nothing he did could disguise the fact that Hyena was a dragonet, his tail barb still forming and clearly with no fighting experience.

Even the crowd was affected. The cheering, usually excited and raving for blood, was muted. There were a few loud cries from the most sadistic among them, but Conch heard some quieter mutters of distaste beneath them. Conch looked up at the queen's balcony. Even Burn and Scarlet didn't send soldiers this young into battle, if only because they knew they'd have no chance. But the SkyWing queen only watched in sick anticipation, destroying any hope Conch had that this was some twisted joke. Queen Scarlet fully intended to force this dragonet to either kill or die.

Conch took a step forward, the sand hot beneath his talons. He heard more sounds of discontent, but low enough that Scarlet couldn't have identified the speakers.

Speak up, Conch thought desperately. Don't stand for this. You know this is wrong.

But he knew nothing would happen, even as he caught sight of a nauseated-looking SandWing in the stands. Even if the audience did take a stand, they had no power to force Scarlet to stop.

He saw a blur of motion from the corner of his eye. His head whipped around just in time for Hyena to launch himself onto his face. The dragonet grabbed Conch's snout and beat his bound wings against the SeaWing's head, his back talons scrabbling against Conch's gills. Conch let out a muffled yell of surprise and shook the SandWing off. Hyena hit the sand and scrambled away, lashing his tail at Conch. Conch instinctively recoiled. The venom in the SandWing's tail would be weak or nonexistent, in no way fatal. But battlefield instincts died hard.

Hyena backed away, muscles tense. Upon seeing Conch's reaction he had turned broadside to him, holding his tail between the two but making himself a larger target.

Kill or die. That was the law of the arena, even more so than on the battlefield. But this was twisted.

This wasn't Conch's first battle in the arena. He'd fought two opponents before this, trained soldiers who'd fought as hard as he had. Conch had been able to kill then, for the sake of extending his own life. But by no stretch of the imagination would winning this fight be self-defense. Hyena wasn't even a third his size, had almost none of the ability to fight that a soldier or even an adult SandWing would have. To kill him would be nothing less than murder.

Conch touched the cuts Hyena had left. Scratches, really, unlikely to even scar. The dragonet was trying to put forward a brave face, but there was no mistaking his desperation for any kind of competence. Even if Conch were to throw the fight, let his opponent win, then Hyena would just be put back into the arena again.

Apparently bored by the lack of blood, Vermillion swooped over the arena.

"Scared, SeaWing?" he called. "I thought Coral's soldiers were better than this! Can't handle a dragonet?"

Conch's head shot up and he let out a vicious snarl at the prince. If SeaWings had fire, Vermillion would have plunged to the sand in flames. But alas, that wasn't among the sea dragons' abilities.

Conch looked back at Hyena, ducking his head slightly as he spoke in a low voice. "I don't want to hurt you."

"Then don't," Hyena said, his voice wavering with fear. "How hard is it?"

Conch stepped to the side, circling the SandWing. Hyena crouched low, keeping his tail pointed at him.

"I have an idea," Conch whispered. He gestured subtly at himself. "Fake it."

Hyena hesitated, then ran at Conch. Conch swung his claws at the dragonet, making sure to miss. Hyena scrambled over his shoulder and wrapped his arms around Conch's neck. Conch let out an exaggerated roar of surprise and spun, as though trying to throw Hyena off. A few more cheers echoed from the stands, and Conch spoke under the noise.

"I'll pretend to kill you. They take the bindings off of dead prisoners. You'll have to play dead until they take you away."

He ducked his head and arched his back, the force flinging Hyena off him. He snapped at the dragonet's wing, and Hyena yelped in fake pain and ran through his legs. Conch grabbed at his belly as though Hyena had clawed him, and whipped around towards the dragonet again.

"What do you say?" he whispered.

"Come on!" a dragon yelled from the crowd. "Stop waiting and fight!"

"Claw him!"

"Break his neck!"

"Use your fire!"

Hyena glanced up at the crowd. Conch realized that some were cheering for him, shouting out advice to the dragonet. But win or lose, to fight in Scarlet's arena was a death sentence.

Most dragons Conch knew would be reluctant to trust a dragon from another tribe, especially so quickly. But maybe having lived in the multi-tribe Talons of Peace, Hyena didn't have such hesitation, as the dragonet nodded slightly and brought his wings back. He spoke so the crowd could hear, his voice carrying across the arena.

"Make it fast."

Conch spoke into the hushed silence. "I will."

Conch stepped forward and swung his tail into Hyena's side. The dragonet leaped aside at the exact moment of impact, landing on his side in the sand. He lay still, wings akimbo and neck craned at a strange angle.

Usually the SkyWing crowd would cheer at the conclusion of a fight. But this had been no spectacle for them. There was only a swell of muttering as Conch bowed his head, letting his bound wings droop.

"Well, that was pathetic."

Queen Scarlet had stood from her throne, staring down at Conch with a cold gaze. "I expected more than that from you, SeaWing."

Conch's anger flared again and he lashed his tail, digging his webbed claws into the sand.

"You want a good fight?" he called. "Maybe next time you won't throw a two-year-old in here!"

Scarlet wrinkled her nose in disapproval, and flicked her wing for her guards to take Conch back to his prison. Two large SkyWings emerged from the tunnel under the stands, and Conch bowed his head over Hyena's still form.

"Good luck," he breathed.

"You, too," the SandWing whispered.

Conch backed away from the dragonet as the guards approached, letting them lift him away.