The Sharp Edge Of Steel : Part One

1

The Beginning & an End

“Hey you... hey bitch wake up already.”
Someone kicked me gently in the stomach. I groaned and rolled onto my back staring at an unfamiliar ceiling.
“What the hell?...”
“Give the girl a prize.” A voice scoffed sarcastically, I looked up at its owner. He was tall with dark eyes and hair. He wore a vest that at some point in its early life had been white, faded grey trousers and a pair of tough equally well worn leather boots. He had a nasty looking half healed bruise under his eye and a few cuts across his face and hands, his nose even looked like it had been broken a few times, but strangely he didn’t look unkind.
“Names Felix.” He held his hand out to me, I took the offer and managed to sit up with a little help.
“ Varu.”
“Well you hit the nail on the head there Varu, welcome to hell.” His held both arms aloft gesturing grandly at our surroundings.
I didn’t need more than a glance to take it all in, looming bleak concrete walls, a sink, complete with cracked mirror, a toilet which I scrambled towards to throw up in. I felt like death. My vision was off and my head felt like it was on fire, the faint sound of someone screaming far off carried to the cell.
I tried to remember how I had gotten here, but all my memories were jumbled together, the last thing I could remember clearly was walking through Kaharian city... dust, wind, the yell of traders...a face ..nothing solid.
“How did I..?” I tried to push down the rising panic.
“How did you get here, what the fuck am I physic?” He was quick to anger but he cooled almost as fast, suddenly seeming apologetic “Tell me something, you got any family, anyone you’re close to, steady work?”
He struck me as the rough cut honest type. I didn’t see a reason to lie.
“No, I move around a lot.”
“shht, no shit. So the questions not really how you got here, but why you’re here, and that my friend is ‘cuse nobody is gona miss you.”The bitter edge in his voice told me he didn’t exclude himself from that evaluation. I tugged at a thin metal collar around my neck.
“I wouldn’t mess with that collar if I were you,” He said touching the identical silvered band encircling his own neck. “If you tamper with it, it’ll explode, if you give the guards any hassle they won’t hesitate to trigger it. The entire perimeter of this place is surrounded by sensors, set a foot past one and...well you get the picture, it’s the same set up in the ring, separates us from the crowd.” He sighed heavily, and ran his fingers through his short hair, “Look you seem like a nice kid and all but the cold reality of it is I’m more than likely gona end you in awhile..So let’s just forget the small talk ‘kay.”
He walked away from me and slunk down against the wall. “HEY! Who do I have to kill to get a cigarette around here! ” I backed into the opposite corner of the tiny cell, sinking down I hugged my knees to my chest. A guard passed, running a metal baton along the bars.
“Quit your whining Felix, here.” He passed a single cigarette through the bars and lit it for him.
Felix exhaled heavily, the smoke coiling out around him.
“Cheers Capita.” Felix must have glanced in my direction then. “Hey hey kid, look at me, don’t lose it okay. I guess you figured out where you are then.”

I had no idea of how much time had passed before another rattle along the bars jolted me into a state of alertness. A guard push two plates of food under the bars and a pitcher of water.
“Here Eat, You’ll need the strength.” Felix pushed a plate towards me.
“What for if I’m going to die anyway?” I retorted bitterly. Felix said nothing, refusing to meet my eye. I tore a piece of dry bread and forced myself to chew, the darkness of the world seemed to crush down upon me, it was painful to swallow. I gave up and pushed the food away, a soft wail escaped before I could stop it, the tears I’d been suppressing slipped unbidden over my face.
“No, no! Quit that right now!” The shock as Felix slapped me hard across the face stopped me mid sob, his expression looked tortured. “Don’t, please. I’ll hear that wailing in my dreams...” he ran his hand over his face. “Anyway the way I see it you get the better deal.”
“Ya? Well if death is the better option then why don’t you just give up! Why keep fighting?” I snapped back at him.
He threw himself down in the corner again with a heavy sigh.
“Don’t you think I’ve asked myself that question a thousand times?” He looked up at me holding my eye fiercely, “I guess.. to be honest, I’m afraid. I can’t just let go, every time I tell myself that I won’t fight, won’t kill anymore, I get into the arena and see a weapon cutting down towards me..” He dropped his eyes studying the ground. “Something else just takes over, you know survival instinct...nothing else matters, just living, to breath for one more hour, one more day, to escape that blackness, the unknown. Better the devils you know, kind’a deal.” Felix looked to me, I didn’t even know what kind of response he expected, I stared back at him, my face still damp with tears, until he dropped his gaze.
“Ah hell who gives a damn! I don’t know why I’m even still talking to you.” To me the silence seemed a sort of reluctant truce between us; it kept up until the sound of approaching footsteps interrupted my staring match with the air.
A guard passed a black bag through the bars; reaching in Felix pulled out a small piece of paper before cursing.
“You! Are you stupid pick one out.” The guard shook the bag in my direction. I stood up feeling unsteady and reached into the black. Unfolding a tattered piece of paper I could just make out the word sword was scrawled across it in faded ink. I suddenly felt nauseous again.
“So?” Felix questioned me.
“...Sword.”
“Care to swap.” He laughed, “I got cutlery! Fucking cruel bastards. You might have a chance after all Kid.” The cell door opened and we were lead along a corridor to a vast room. My feet didn’t feel like they were my own.
“Hey I’m talking to you!” I snapped to attention. The man shouting at me was pointing to the scrap of paper I still clutched. I scowled at him pushing it into his waiting hand. “Beginners luck huh,” He laughed revealing a set of rotten teeth interspersed with gold fillings, he smelled like he’d died a few years ago without anyone noticing. Hefting a crudely fashioned sword out the mess of weapons filling the room he tossed it at me. “Felix?”
“I don’t even want to hear it, just hand it over alright.” The man roared with laughter as he read the slip of paper, and handed a small silver fork over to Felix.
We were taken along a corridor, just a dark dreamscape, until we finally stopped to wait before an iron gate, Felix griped the bars his knuckles turning white. I noticed the metal was spattered in dried blood. The sword felt heavy and award in my hand.
“Felix?” I spoke in a hushed tone. He wouldn’t look at me, only murmured under his breath, I caught the gist.
“..Making me murder a girl..”
My part in this was beginning to make sense, I was being used to challenge Felix, not his strength or ability to fight but to toy with what little shred of humanity he had left.
The gate suddenly lifted and I was pushed forward, the roar of the crowd was overwhelming. Rows of faces in ascending tiers surrounded me on every side. From the crowd my gaze was drawn upward to the ceiling which arched high above into a glass dome. I was suddenly aware the entire complex must be underground as only the uppermost part of the dome reached above the surface. I could make out the bright blaze of the day lit world outside. The light pooled down from the ceiling into the centre of the ring, the rest was illuminated by blue orbs which hung suspended in the air in a wide circle. The arena itself was far smaller than I had imagined. Intimate almost, the first row of the spectators could have heard the hitch in my breath as my guts turned to razor blades.
Felix shrugged his shoulders forward a few times and rolled his head from side to side in ritual familiarity. I watched the fork tumble discarded into the sand at his feet. Sand, I guess it made it easier to clear the blood away. I crouched slipping the fork into my boot, Felix’s attention was on the gate at the other side of the arena. Two black shapes slunk out of the tunnel, I’d heard plenty of rumours before but I never believed them until this moment. Panthers had been extinct for over two hundred years, what kind of power did these people have to get their hands on that type of DNA? I was captivated for a brief moment by their deadly beauty, the way their velvet black fur moved with the slink of their shoulder blades, piercing yellow eyes tracking every move. I never seen creatures of their ilk before but even I could tell they were poor examples, half starved and driven mad by it.
Felix sent an elbow sharply into the side of my face knocking me to the ground, he lifted the sword right out my hand. I was on my feet a second later, tasting blood. It had been a long time since I’d felt pain like that. I had expected Felix to turn on me and finish me off but instead he was rushing at the panthers. The roar from the creatures sent a rush of ice through my blood, and I stood frozen in place. As one of the panthers leaped at him Felix threw his whole body into a powerful stroke with the sword which bit deep into the animal’s neck. There was a roar from the crowd I had forgotten about, shortly followed but a synchronised gasp as the second panther clawed at Felix’s arm, leaving bloody tracks. For a second Felix struggled to pull the sword from the first creature, as soon as it was free he wasted no time, wheeling the blade around and taking a chunk out of the animal’s side. It roared in anger and lunged for him, Felix thrust the sword into its chest, the weight of the creature still pinned him to the ground as it fell but it was dead.
I felt sick. Felix was right, this place had an aura of hell about it, it saturated the very air. I wanted to sink to the ground but somehow remained standing.
Felix had pushed the panther’s body off himself and was advancing on me, blood stained sword still griped tightly in his hand. I glanced at the carnage behind him. The black fur and blood stood out vividly against the tawny sand. None of this felt real. Felix stopped a few feet before me, he was breathing heavily and blood poured over the tensed muscles of his arm.
“Come on Varu don’t just stand there, fight me!” He didn’t want to cut me down as I stood defenceless, but he would. The hollow resignation in my eyes was my only reply. He gritted his teeth and raised the sword to strike. I chose that moment to move, as his sword was raised I lunged at him throwing my all my weight into it, shoulder to his chest. The element of surprise was enough to knock him off balance and sent us both tumbling into the dirt. Before he recovered I connected a solid punch with his face, breaking his nose for what was surely not the first time.
His yell was closely followed by a string of curses. Grabbing my wrist as I went for a second punch he rolled on top of me, pushing the blade of the sword down on my throat. I just managed to brace my arm under his and fought against his strength with everything I had. He was stronger by far and the blade inched steadily and closer. The sword was old and nearly blunt but it ripped through the surface of my skin all the same, the sudden pain sharp and burning. I reached desperately with my free hand towards my boot and felt my hand close over the cold metal handle of the fork. Gripping it tightly I stabbed it into Felix’s neck above the thin metal collar. He made a terrible gurgling noise, his eyes widening in disbelief. I was still gripping fork, so I twisted it and pulled it free. There was blood everywhere. It ran over my hand and fell in drops onto my face. I pushed Felix off, and rising to my feet took the sword he had let slip from his grip. He was struggling to breathe, clutching the wound at his throat, his feverish eyes locked on mine, terror and surprise fighting for precedence. Death comes in many forms but no one expects it to come it the guise of a slim, five foot nothing woman wielding a fork. I let the sword point rest on his chest, above the heart and waited. The fear in his eyes slowly abated, his expression shifting to one of acceptance, he made the slightest nod before I pushed the blade down.
It was hard for me to understand what I had just done, what I’d just become. It all seemed to rush into me at once. I let the sword fall to the sand. I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the coat of blood covering my hands. I was still holding the fork and something impulse made me slip it back into my boot. I felt like an empted shell, slave to my most base instincts. Human kind...all the beauty of our creativity and intellect, yet we were still capable of taking a life with a blunt utensil, It was almost like dropping a glass or some treasured fragile possession. I knew it was too late to save it, yet it was still startling when it shattered. A small part of me refused to come to terms with what I’d just done. If I could only take back the slightest movement, it would still be full and whole, unbroken, held safely in my hands. A strange roaring filled my ears, it took me moment before I registered it was people cheering.