Chapter 247: Chapter 244: Thorny Embrace

 

“One-star knight, huh?” Vienlin hummed, patting me on the head. “Watch and learn, kid.”

I snarled in response. “Don’t call me kid.” It took a while to get Deckard to stop calling me a girl, and now this? I was fucking twenty-nine!

“Oh, did I hit a sore spot?”

“No,” I denied. “It’s just annoying.”

“Then you get the point,” Vienlin grinned.

“Shut up, you two, and watch,” Geran growled, his eyes fixed on the bottom of the pit.

Down there, the knight and the beast clashed. Now that I was more focused on the fight, I could see that the knight’s movements were graceful and precise in spite of his injuries, his shield glowing with a powerful aura that deflected the beast’s attacks. But it was his swordplay that was truly impressive. With each swing of his blade, he infused his strikes with a burst of magic, causing a faint blue aura to emanate from his weapon. And as it seemed, with each successful strike, the aura grew stronger, fueling the knight’s attacks with even more power. It reminded me of Stella and our fight. The longer it went on, the stronger it became.

Surprisingly, at least to me, the one-star beast, the long-legged alligator, was not without its own magical prowess. As the knight lunged forward with his sword, the creature conjured a thick mist that enveloped them both. Even with my eyes wrapped in mana, a trick Rairok had taught me, I couldn’t see a thing. But the sound of metal clashing against scales and the occasional roar of pain from the knight told me that the battle raged on. 

Then suddenly, the mist lifted. The knight was badly wounded. His armor was dented, and blood oozed from several wounds. The crowd roared; some cheered for the knight, others for the beast, and then, from what I could hear, there were those who cheered just for the fun of it.

As the battle raged on, the knight’s aura began to flicker. The injuries were taking their toll. He was growing weaker by the minute. His wounds were deep and blood flowed freely from his cuts and bruises. Sensing its chance, the beast launched a fierce attack, its jaws snapping dangerously close to the knight’s face. Too close to my liking.

Driven by whatever it was, most likely the crowd’s cheers and his pride, the knight was not one to give up. With a burst of resolve, he imbued his sword with a final burst of aura and drove it deep into the beast’s chest just as it was about to sink its teeth into his neck. The creature, the long-legged alligator, let out a final roar before collapsing to the ground, its mist magic dissipating into the air. 

For a moment, complete silence fell over the Pit, before the entire underground hole erupted in a deafening cheer. No matter how close I got to my beast and how much I learned to handle my hearing, I was not prepared for this. Like a wimp, I pressed my ears to my head and whimpered.

Seeing me like that, the two bastards, meaning my mentors, grinned.

“This is also a good place to train your hearing,” Geran remarked. He put his hand on my head and leaned closer to me, more serious this time. “Maybe not as loud, but battles can be damn noisy.”

“Seriously, I went deaf in my first one,” Vienlin admitted bluntly, trying to shout over the crowd. “Learn from my mistakes.”

“I’m not sure I’ll have time for that down there,” I replied, gesturing to the pit where the carcass of the beast was now being removed and the knight was enjoying his moment of glory.

“Speaking of which, where the hell is Taiult?” Geran grumbled, looking around. The obnoxious Knight Commander was nowhere to be seen.

“I bet he’s already gone to the Pit Master to set you up with a beast. I don’t know what you did to him, but he doesn’t like you very much.”

Actually, I was wondering about that myself. Sure, our first few run-ins weren’t ideal, and I could understand his dislike for Stella and me. But over the cycles, we found a way to annoy the man as little as possible. Unfortunately, he seemed to be naturally grumpy. That, or he had a serious beef with Dia Eichenralke.

“That guy doesn’t like a lot of people,” Geran remarked, motioning for us to follow.

“True. Last time he told me to keep my snout out of his business or he’d chop my tail off.”

Inevitably, as Geran made a path for us through the crowded Pit, my gaze fell on Sage. The thought of my tail being cut off made me shudder. That, or the fact that it was getting colder the deeper we went. 

“Could he do it?”

“Do what?”

“If he would be able to cut it off you?”

She actually thought about it, only to shrug. “Probably, but let’s just say I’d leave a few scratches on him, too, if he tried.”

“Taiult may not look like it, but he’s not weak, Korra.”

That wasn’t what I thought of him. If he was in charge of so many beasts, the man must have had the strength to handle them. Only my instincts were confused about him, sometimes putting him on the same level as me, sometimes at three stars. Still, the fact that he could face Vienlin and defeat her was a bit of a surprise to me.

“Ah, there you are,” the stronger than I thought Knight Commander growled as we reached the entrance to the pit floor. “I was beginning to think you had chickened out.”

“Have you ever seen a shifter do that?” Vienlin shot back in the same tone.

“Fair enough,” he admitted, then smirked. “But I’ve seen enough of them lose their heads and turn on their own.”

While Vienlin let out a warning growl, Geran seemed to grow taller as he straightened. “What do you imply?”

Despite the cold down here, a bead of sweat rolled down the Knight Commander’s forehead to his brow. “Nothing at all. Just stating the facts.”

Despite his higher rank in the army, Geran was obviously someone he didn’t want to mess with.

“Is that her?” a rather young fellow, not much older than me and quite handsome, I might add, chimed in. “Pretty weird, huh?”

Even though I had somehow gotten used to people looking at me that way, my answer was a growl. The cheeky guy grinned back. “Was that a yes? Anyway, the Pit Master has no problem with her, so the gal who was about to step in. She said she’d like to see a shifter with the guts to come down here. Her words,” the guy added quickly when he saw the look Geran and Vienlin gave him.

“They better be,” she warned him.

To his credit, he didn’t let them throw him off. “As I said, everything is ready. You can hit the fighting floor as soon as you’re ready.”

“Wait a minute!” Geran stopped him as the guy was about to disappear again. “A one and a quarter star shifter, a beast to match? Right?”

The cheeky fellow glanced questioningly at the Knight Commander and back. “Sure, that’s what I was told.”

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“Good. Because if not, . . . and I have to step in . . .”

“Look, we’re all here to have some fun, not to maim the knights. Sure, we’ve had a few accidents, but no deaths. That bitch is waiting for us out there on the front lines, right?”

After Geran nodded, the guy disappeared. 

“Well, I’m going to place some bets,” the Knight Commander rubbed his hands together excitedly and gave me a last look, weighing the odds. Honestly, I’d be surprised if he bet on me, but who knows? The fact that he didn’t try to pit me against a stronger beast than I should have been able to handle was already quite a shock to me.

“Okay, Korra. Once you think you’re ready, take this corridor,” Geran pointed to the entrance of the fighting floor. “Just keep your focus on the fight, on the beast you’re facing, and most of all, on your own beast. Let it lead you, just like when we practiced.”

“Yeah, don’t give a shit what the motherfuckers around here say. Just tune them out and enjoy your hunt.”

With these words of advice, they left me alone to my own thoughts. That was not good. I tended to get lost in them, the dark side of my thoughts then tending to eat away at my courage. On the other hand, what did I expect? That they would hold my hand as if I were a little girl? A kid? I laughed at the irony. Was that why Vienlin called me that? Because they were showing me all over the place today? In any case, I wasn’t a kid anymore, and so with a deep breath, I forged ahead.

A short, dark tunnel quickly opened onto the fighting floor, and I found myself in the middle of the arena. The moment I stepped in, the entire Pit erupted in excitement.

“Gals and guys, bastards and bitches, there she is . . .” the host, a woman, announced my arrival, her follow-up rant stirring up the Pit crowd even more. Following the advice, I tuned her out, my focus on the opposite entrance, the place where my foe would emerge at any moment. My prey.

Northern eagles and slavers aside, I always sort of knew who I was going to fight, whether it was mossbears, beasts in the labyrinth, or city guards in the barracks. Not now, though. And the uncertainty of what kind of beast I would be facing ate away at my resolve the longer the bars of the entrance remained down.

When the barred door on the other side finally moved, I flinched and even took a step back. With a hiss, a snake several meters long slithered out. It could be worse. Spiders, I hated spiders, but snakes were definitely not on my list of favorite animals, either.

The Thorn Serpent, the name of the beast the host had mentioned and for some reason, made it through my mental defenses I had put up so I wouldn’t hear her bullshit.

The beast had a long, sinewy body, the width of my waist in parts, covered in razor-sharp thorns. Its scales were a deep green that would have blended in well with the dense foliage of the forest, but down here in the pit among the packed mud, its otherwise clever coloring was useless. Not that it put me at ease. I flinched a second time as the mouth of its narrow, pointy head, with its piercing red eyes full of needle-like teeth, opened and the beast hissed at me, angry, my resolve waning.

In that brief moment, the roar of the crowd that echoed through the arena reached my ears, drowned out by the rain that fell on its uncovered midst, creating a murky mist that shrouded the edges of the fighting floor. I watch as the Thorn Serpent emerges whole from the entrance, its scales glistening in the rainwater. Its eyes locked on me. A chill ran through my body.

I crouched down, feeling the urge to pounce, to strike the first blow, but I resisted. I knew better now. Instead, I waited as the Thorn Serpent slithered toward me, its head raised high, its tongue flicking out to taste the air.

A closer look at the sharp thorns protruding from its scales made me even more aware that this fight wasn’t going to be easy, and it was going to hurt - a lot. I tensed my muscles, ready to move at any moment.

The Thorn Serpent was almost upon me now. Hell, I could see the madness in its eyes. It lunged forward, its jaws wide open, ready to bite into my flesh.

To the beast’s fury, its jaws snapped shut over nothing but empty air as I narrowly evaded its attack. The serpent doesn’t give me time to catch my breath, though, forcing me to twist and turn as, unexpectedly for me, it unleashed its thorns, its long body coiling and twisting as it struck at me again, hissing: »Ssssubmit.«

I sprang out of the way, feeling the sharp prick of a thorn grazing my fur as I moved. My heart pounded in my chest and my muscles tensed with effort as I dodged and weaved through the onslaught of thorns. The serpent slithered after me, its eyes fixed on me as it continued its relentless thorn attack. To my surprise, possibly caused by a misconception about snakes, the Thorn Serpent seemed slow and clumsy compared to me. So I circled around it, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike, while trying to ignore both the cheers of the crowd, muffled by the rain, and the whispers of Eleaden through the beast.

‘Shit!’ I cursed as I leapt aside, barely dodging the thorn serpent’s lunge. Its jaws snapped shut over empty air again, the sound of it sending shivers through my body. This couldn’t go on forever. I knew it; my hunter’s instincts were screaming the same thing. This was the moment, the one where I wanted to think a little more, while my beast self was eager to act. “You think too much,” the words of my mentors flashed through my mind. And so, with a mighty flap of my wings, I relied on my beastly instincts and leaped over the serpent’s head, my claws sinking into its back as I landed on its thorny scales.

A sharp pain shot through my paws as the thorns dug into my flesh. I ignored it, focusing on the serpent beneath me. »You dare to resissssst?!« it hissed in anger, trying to shake me off, but I held on, sinking my teeth into its flesh. »Join ussss . . .«

The Thorn Serpent twisted and turned, its thorns scraping against my fur, drawing blood. With wings spread wide to keep my balance, gritting my teeth and pushing through the pain, I dug my claws deeper into its scales, tearing at its flesh with my teeth, mindful of the thorns. I certainly wouldn’t want one in my mouth.

»Thiss isssss not necessssary, thiss pain, all thissss can go away,« the beast hissed as it began to twist and writhe in a way that made me uneasy. Its thorns seemed to grow even faster, sprouting from its scales like deadly spikes. My instincts alerted me too late to the mistake I had made in latching onto its back. I left myself open to being impaled by the thorns.

I was wrong.

Surprisingly swiftly, the Thorn Serpent coiled around me, its grip tightening with incredible force. As my bones creaked in its deadly grip, the thorns, despite all my skills, dug deeper into my flesh all over my body. A painful howl escaped my throat as I felt warm blood run down my sides. »Get off me!« I growled, struggling to free myself, but it was useless and only made things worse. The serpent’s grip was too strong.

My mind raced as I tried to think of a way out. I couldn’t shift back to my human form; the thorns and the beast’s grip would tear me apart. But maybe . . . it was risky, but it was my only chance. 

With no other option and no further hesitation, I took a deep breath and unleashed my 500-level presence. The serpent froze in fear at that moment, giving me the chance I had hoped for. Using everything I had, my wings, my legs, and my will to live, I pushed off the serpent’s body, creating just enough space to slip out of its grasp. It certainly wasn’t easy or painless. I felt the thorns tearing through my skin as I wriggled out, but I didn’t stop. This was my only chance. So I pushed and twisted, ignoring the pain as I fought to escape the serpent’s deadly embrace. And finally, with a burst of effort, I broke free, rolling to the side as the serpent’s coils slithered away from me. With the serpent still cowering in fear of me, I made space between us, panting heavily, my body shaking with pain. I could feel a few cracked bones and the sensation of thorns embedded in my flesh - some of them still were.

»You sssstill resssissst?« The Thorn Serpent hissed, its eyes blazing with anger as it launched another barrage of deadly thorns at me. This time I had to think fast - or at all, as my mentors would say. However, regardless of the approach, my injuries robbed me of the speed and agility I needed to dodge the thorns. What’s worse, there was nowhere to hide in the arena, no shield or cover to protect me. But as the thorns hurtled toward me, my mind lost and in panic, my instincts kicked in. I flicked my bushy tail and curled it around me like a shield to hide behind. The thorns then buried themselves in his long fine hair, now soaked with blood and water. I was safe - Sage had saved me. 

»Don’t ressissst me. Join ussss. The pain goessss away . . .« The hiss of the serpent as it realized its attack had failed reached my ears.

»Never!« I snarled back defiantly, knowing I was hardly out of danger. The thorns in my body were causing me agony, and despite my regeneration, eating away at my strength. I couldn’t hold out much longer. 

With my tail still wrapped around me like a shield, I sprang to circle around, looking for an opportunity, a weakness. The beast, apparently doing the same, pelted me with a barrage of thorns from a distance. Some of the thorns that came my way ended up harmlessly buried in Sage’s hair, the rest in the walls of the Pit, and quite possibly hitting some of the onlookers.

It was a dangerous game, a hunt, and I knew I couldn’t keep it up for long. I was hurt, bleeding, and exhausted, but I refused to give up. To admit defeat would be so humiliating. 

»Come on, show me what you’ve got,« I taunted the Thorn Serpent as I circled around it, my tail still shielding me from the thorns, my eyes searching for every crack in its thorny armor. Its rage was an almost palpable force that threatened to overwhelm me. 

»You have ssseen nothing of me. But I can ssshow you. Sssubmit and . . .«

»Submit to you? I’d rather die,« I growled back, my voice laced with venom as I tightened my grip on my tail.

»Thiss issss the inevitable fate of thossse who do not sssubmit,« the serpent hissed back, releasing another shower of thorns.

I didn’t back down. Instead, hiding behind Sage, I bared my teeth, claws at the ready, waiting for the right moment. And then I saw it - a small patch of exposed flesh on its belly, or neck, or whatever, just below its head, where I’d already wounded the beast just enough to sink my teeth and claws into. Without hesitation, I pounced on the Thorn Serpent, my fangs sinking deep into its flesh as my claws tore at its belly hide. The beast thrashed and writhed, trying to dislodge me, but I held on, refusing to let go. The taste of blood filled my mouth, spurring me on as I tore deeper into the beast’s flesh. 

The serpent’s coils flailed wildly, the beast’s wrath and Eleaden’s lure pressing on my mind. I ignored it, my mind only on the fight. This time, well aware of the danger of getting caught in its grip, I kept moving, avoiding the serpent’s body as best I could. For what seemed like an eternity, we fought, my will to live driving me forward even as my body screamed in agony.

But eventually, with a final roar of defiance and what sounded to my ears like the joy of freedom reclaimed, the Thorn Serpent collapsed to the ground, defeated. I stood there in the silence that reigned in the Pit, panting and bleeding, triumphant, yet knowing that I had come nowhere near the reason I’d come to the Pit. My battle with Thorn Serpent was burdened with too much thinking.

 

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