12

The Reckless Killer

The crowd was still applauding and uproaring loudly after Pat’s performance, when I looked towards the king. He was smiling faintly, just so faintly which makes one realise, how fake it is.
    Certainly, if he was expecting Pat to perish, for reasons of his own, the plan didn’t work out that well, did it? I smiled to myself as this thought occured to me.
    Even the emperor can’t always get whatever he desires. Others are also given their chance.
    Suddenly, I saw two soldiers quickly approaching Jon and Pat. Each soldier grabbed one of the kids and took them out of eyes’ reach.
    Nat was smiling since then but now her face turned grave after her brother was taken away for no reason that she could think of.
    For a moment, I couldn’t understand anything too but then it struck me.
    What just happened in the field was pure cheating as per the game’s rules. Surely, no participants were expected to rescue each other from danger when they have got to kill each other in the end, after all. It was a totally unexpected action from Jon and obviously, the monarchy couldn’t just ignore it. I felt very upset for the kids who were now going to pay the penalty for befriending each other.
    The next name picked up, was Jon himself, who was currently unavailable, so another slip was taken out.

– – – – – – – – – – – –

    This lidog creature literally seemed uncoquerable. All the four individual participants besides Pat, who won only because of a moment’s luck and Jon, who was yet to participate, couldn’t manage to stand against it and received a painful death.
    It was now turn for the partners to give a show of their skills in the battlefield.
    The emperor moved to the second bowl consisting of the duo names and picked up one. My heart was beating very fast and a wave of adrenaline rushed up inside me. “The Inseparable Duo,” he called out.
    My heartbeat slowly descended to normal but as I saw Neel beside me, I realised his pulse rate must have increased even more, after this terrible announcement.
    As Augusta and Kaveri came forward, they were led inside the inner field. The 6th cage opened and another lidog came into sight.
    Every year, they brought a new creature for the event to catch the participants unsuspecting of what dangers they were going to face in the competition. And this time, it was just so hard to defeat the lidogs.
    The lidog against them seemed a bit uninterested and didn’t want to attack first. So strategically, both of them went to cover it from each side and attack together. But just then, on a sudden impulse, the lidog jumped on it’s right side in Augusta’s direction. She was hit hard in the ribs and collapsed to the ground. Kaveri immediately jumped on it from the other side to prevent Augusta from any further damage. The lidog retreated a few steps, meanwhile, Augusta regained her balance. It again went for her, but this time she was prepared and successfuly dodged the upcoming attack.
    They made their next move without a moment’s loss and caught it off guard this time. Some damage was definitely done but not enough to finish off things in their favour. The lidog was still strong enough to fight back.
    It again went for Augusta and successfully got her in it’s grasp this time. Before Kaveri could come and rescue her friend, the lidog had already made a deep wound on her left shoulder using its claws. She screamed high due to the unbearable pain.
    Kaveri hit the huge creature with her shield and it went back, shocked by the sudden blow. Augusta was badly injured and couldn’t even stand up properly this time.
    So, Kaveri decided to take it on herself from here. But the lidog was just too strong for her to face alone. She also got pinned to the ground as it tackled her. Then suddenly, I noticed some movement on the other side.
    Augusta was running at her top speed, even in her injured condition, towards the massive creature. She swung her sword wildly causing the lidog to step back from further attacking her friend. She didn’t stop to check on her and again went for one of its hind-legs this time.
    The lidog still not completely recovered from the last blow, couldn’t offer any defence and one of it’s legs, was cut apart from the body. It howled in pain and collapsed to the ground.
    The battle was finished, but not yet for Augusta. She walked towards the already moaning creature and pointed her sword towards it’s neck, desperate to kill.
    Kaveri shouted, “No!”, but too late. The lidog’s throat was slit apart by the sword of the enraged Augusta. She walked back to Kaveri and helped her to her feet. They came outside as the worthy qualifiers for the next round.
    By this fight, I realised, the usually smiling and humourous Augusta could turn into a real and reckless killer if things got personal for her. An attribute which had the power to turn the unlikeliest things into her favour but not without an imminent danger of causing harm to her close ones too.

– – – – – – – – – – – –

    Both of them were sent back to their  tents for getting their wounds healed before the beginning of the second round.
    The next pair managed to win without any casualties whereas both of the partners perished in the third. The fourth one was, “The Futile Warriors” and surprisingly they were able to defeat their lidog. However, only one of them survived to see another day. He had to sustain a lot of injuries but atleast, his heart was still beating unlike his brother, who couldn’t make it out alive from the battlefield.
    I felt empathetic when I saw the upset winner being led to get the medication he required.
    Both of us had lost our brothers because of this pleasure-game of the kingdom. This needed to end! For how long shall we keep losing people we care about?
    These thoughts were still disturbing my mind when the next name, “The Dreaming Mates,” was called out.
    I went inside the inner field, along with Neel, to face the 10th lidog. We took our positions and the cage was opened.

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