Post
by Xalsin » Tue Oct 13, 2009 8:16 pm
Kendra collapsed to the sands of the arena under the debilitating pain of the shock collar, the zapping sound of the electrical discharge almost drowning out the roar of the crowd and announcer's thunder.
"Unbelievable! The human girl has won! Tundra has won the bout!"
She felt two strong sets of arms grab her and hoist her out of the arena bodily, leaving her victim still laying in the sand with a bloody face. Kendra hadn't even been sure what race he was, but he was certainly a lot bulkier than she was. She had relied on her stunstick's painful jolt along with her speed and agility to best the creature.
The crowd had loved it. The young female in the revealing outfit gracefully staying one step ahead of the lumbering brute. She had taken a couple of nasty hits, but had managed to avoid most of the brute's power swings, which was fortunate for her; one solid hit would have probably sent her sprawling.
Once her hulking opponent had been stung enough times by the stunstick, he began to slow, which made it easier and easier for her to smack him roughly in the face, resulting in a broken, bleeding nose. By that time, there was very little fight left in him. Eventually, Kendra had been able to trip him and pummeled his face several more times before the shock collar had been activated and match declared officially over.
Kendra was still shaking her head, trying to clear it from the hazy, black mist that seemed to accompany the fights. She saw Oromi nearby, talking with some creature she couldn't even begin to identify. She was no expert on Vydeki body language, but she was quite sure that Oromi was happy. Very happy. The other creature, conversely, did not look so happy.
After several moments of talking to the creature, Oromi waddled in typical Vydeki fashion over to her.
"Hee! You fight good! Make me rich! Now, one more fight tonight... We make good show so everyone bet, hee?"
Kendra just eyed the greedy little Vydeki with a steely gaze. Another fight? Still tired from her first round, but determined not to show it, she merely nodded. "Bring it."
Before she could move from the stool she'd be set on, someone approached from behind, pouring a pitcher of cooled cooking oil over her. She jumped to her feet angrily, wiping at the oil that coated her face and saturated her hair. Oromi just laughed.
"Hee! Now you look good for menfolk and they bet more! And you taste good too!" He gave another whistling laugh at his own joke, then gestured towards the arena gate. "Time now. Time now."
The gate from the staging area to the arena opened. Kendra glared at Oromi with a smoldering gaze, but finally decided to take out her anger in the combat ring. There were a handful of ready guards with stun sticks that helped enforce this decision. Turning she walked out into the arena, which cheered and whistled at her appearance.
"Now, witness the epic struggle of sentient versus primal rage." The announcers voice was low this deep, steeped in drama. The crowd quieted down, buying in to the scene the announcer was painting. "One human female, alone and afraid, left to her fend for herself. Unknown to her, a pack of murderous Seebiun wolves has been stalking her..."
Kendra was getting a little nervous now. She was alone in the ring at the moment, but the idea of fighting multiple beasts did not overly appeal to her. She was already tired from her first bout, and now this?
The gate on the far end of the arena ground open and a pack of three animals appeared. Wolves; it was an accurate description in that they had four legs and moved like wolves, but the similarities petered out after that. These wolves were furless, covered instead with a leathery looking skin. They had arrow shaped heads which ended in a fang filled point. Along the side of their heads were serrated looking hooks made of some sort of bony growth.
Kendra grimaced just at the sight, her grip on the knife she had been waiting in the ring for her this bout tightening. This would not be easy, knife notwithstanding.
"And now, the wolves attack!" The announcer finished his dramatic set up for the bout with this final phrase, which brought a loud cheer from the crowd.
The chains that had been holding the wolves back snapped off of each of their necks in turn, and the beasts snarled and began advancing forward purposefully.
As the wolves began to fan, Kendra began circling to put her back to the wall. This is not good, this will not end well... A steady stream of negativisms trickled through her mind like the cold sweat that was trickling down her back, still chilled by the oil put over her head. So, that had been the point of that, some distant part of her mind realized: make her more interesting to the wolves, not the audience. Well, maybe both.
The beasts had glinting purple eyes that seemed to shine at her as they approached their flapped nostrils flaring as they deeply scented the cooking fat on her.
Kendra gritted her teeth and made her decision. They were coming for her, so she had to strike first and fast.
The fight was fast and furious, an endless blur of snapping jaws, slashing knives and snarling wolves. Kendra had never experienced anything like this. While she had previously had more than her fair share of fights against people, fighting against animals was something entirely different.
The first wolf actually died surprisingly easily, the blade sliding up into its throat and tearing sideways. While Kendra's weapon was entangled, however, the other wolves were not idle. They acted in concert, each one grabbing a separate leg and pulling, as if trying to quarter her.
Kendra tried to kick them off, but they were strong, and only sank their teeth in deeper as she struggled. Likewise, everytime she tried to contort herself so as to stab down at one of beasts gripping her calf, its counterpart would simply yank even harder to deny her effort. It was something for a stalemate for perhaps thirty seconds, she unable to reach them, and them holding stationary on her legs.
Even as she considered how best to dislodge them without tearing up her legs, the wolves apparently decided they had waited long enough. Whether by design or accident, they both began pulling on her in the same direction. The crowd roared at this, but not so much as they roared and laughed when being dragged across the hard packed sand proved to be too much for the skimpy outfit she had been provided and the top came off. She made a grab for it before she realized she had bigger problems than modesty at the moment. These beasts were showing no signs of being tired, and it wouldn't be long before the ground started ripping up the exposed skin.
In an adrenalized surge of near panic, Kendra kicked both her legs up while bringing the knife down as far and as hard as she could. The effort was successful. The blade sank deep into the wolf's head, who didn't even have time to whimper before dying.
Wiggling her foot free from the dead wolf, she kicked the other wolf in the eye, forcing it to relinquish its grip in order to get away. Before she could get her feet under her, however, the beast attacked again, leaping with mouth wide open. She held up her left arm to block the bite while her right arm slid the blade into the beasts chest.
She couldn't even hear the screaming crowds any more. Whether it was because they had stopped screaming or the loud ringing in her ears had replaced the noise, she didn't know. All she knew is that she was sitting half naked in the dirt with three dead wolves. And she was pretty sure that some of the pools of blood on the ground were her own.
Some one grabbed her by the shoulders and helped her up while someone else pried the knife out of her hands. Still a little too shocked to bother fighting, she allowed herself to be led out of the combat ring. Oromi was waiting in the staging area, looking more happy than Kendra could even imagine.
"Human girl make Oromi rich rich!" He gave a high pitched wheeze that Kendra really couldn't interpret, other than to say that he was happy. She just stared at him blankly while a medic did a rush job of slapping bacta patches roughly on her wounds. "Take her to cell. Make sure she eat good food. Hee! No fair if you get sick now, Tundra. Too much more money to make, hee?"
Kendra just blinked a few times, a wave of fatigue hitting her quiet suddenly. She slumped back in her chair, exhaling heavily.
"She's fine. Just keep her off her feet for a day or two so the bacta can work on the leg wounds." The medic declared, than immediately left after giving his diagnosis.
Oromi, not wanting to risk his new money maker, and two of the guards brought a stretcher which they used to transport Kendra, still half dressed, back to her cell. Once she was moved to her bed, the guards left, promising her that food would be brought shortly.
Kendra didn't even acknowledge this, but simply stared at the roof, waiting for her still thumping heart to slow down enough for her to go to sleep. Food sounded pretty good, but sleep sounded even better.
As far as the character, I have pages of bio and background information, but I was just going to introduce it all in the story. Cheers!
