Authors: Stuart Meczes
“The Merlake Magnificents!”
A deafening roar burst from the crowd as the Mermen shot out of the water like darts, twirling in the air and gracefully slipping back under the waves in a spectacular routine. I saw that each of them wore blue headbands and paint the same colour spread over their green-tinged skin in various markings. I also noticed – with a frown – that a few of them had a belt attached to their waist, holstering a sharp-looking blade.
The Mermen swam over to the rightmost area of the pool and sank to the bottom in a line, their bodies hunched over and foreheads pressed against the tiles, arms outstretched.
“Now for our second troupe, the Fractured Isle Furies!”
A second group of Mermen poured from the hole, performing their own acrobatic routine to the cheers of the crowd. Like the Magnificents, they eventually moved over to the opposite side of the pool and sank into the exact same position, silent and still, except from the slow expanding and constricting of their gills.
“For those new to the Kor-Istis, the rules are quite simple. It is a full-contact game played over four quarters, each lasting six minutes. The aim of the game is to shoot the Oris into the mouth of Cetus until it becomes full.
“However, each troupe’s statue is placed at the opposite end of the arena and is protected by two armed Sentinels, who are permitted to do anything beyond killing their opponents to prevent them from scoring if they enter the scoring zone. They cannot leave that zone, though, or they will sacrifice a water rise to the other troupe.
“The two unarmed Blazers from each troupe are the only ones permitted to score, and doing so with a head or a tail will double the amount that the statue fills! This is also the case outside of the scoring zone, but only with a tail, which is no easy feat!
“Lastly, each team features a Hunter, whose sole job is to try and steal the Oris before their opponent breaks into the scoring zone and pass it off to a Blazer. It is also their job to protect the Blazers from becoming wounded to the point that they cannot continue. Hunters are permitted to attack each other as well as the opponents Blazers. To win, either a troupe must fill their Cetus statue first or three of the other team’s members must be too injured to continue.”
I glanced at Gabriella and we frowned at each other.
Just how injured can they get?
The long explanation had lowered the energy of the crowd down to an acceptable level. The commentator seemed to be aware of this unacceptable fact, as his next words were loud and boomed through the speaker. “One minute left until the games begin. Activate the scoring zones!”
The crowd burst back into life as a run of red lights burst into life at either ends of the pool, creating a twenty-foot semicircle. The wavering water caught in each of the powerful beams looked like swirling blood.
“Troupes, to your positions!”
Every Merman reacted in unison, unfolding from their prayer positions and swimming over to specific points in the pool. The two Sentinels moved into wide positions at the rims of either scoring zones and unsheathed their blades, poised and ready to attack. The Hunters hugged either wall at the centre area of the pool, and they prepared their own weapons. Just beyond the Hunters floated the remaining Blazers – unarmed but looking just as focused and determined as all the others.
A flash of light from the walls bloomed into life on the arena walls, catching my attention. I glanced up to see that a massive electronic banner had activated – sweeping around the entirety of the Aquadome above our heads. Symbols bloomed into life and started switching every second, and in response the excited crowd started to say them aloud.
“D’hei!”
“Adris!”
“Hikah!”
“Zurin!”
My mind translated them from Qi’lern into English.
“Fifteen!”
“Fourteen!”
“Thirteen!”
“Twelve!”
When the countdown reached ten the commentator burst back into life to the clapping hands of the spectators.
“Release the Oris!”
Alex
What looked like a glowing red Frisbee with a large hollow in the centre shot out of the hole at the bottom of the pool, rotating on its axis like a spun coin. It slowed in the water until it stopped completely, its radiant glow turning the water around it a blood red. All of the Mermen’s eyes snapped to it, and their focus didn’t move, their gills going motionless as they held their breath in preparation.
“FIVE!”
Tails started to churn against the water, as each prepared to propel themselves forward.
“FOUR!”
Muscles twitched as they were held back from action.
“THREE!”
Eyes narrowed and shoulders were hunched.
“TWO!”
Scaled knuckles flexed against knife grips.
“ONE!”
Teeth grit together.
A siren blared out across the arena, and the Mermen burst forward in a torrent of water and action. The Magnificent’s Blazer reached the Oris first, spiraling around and avoiding a dagger slash from a chasing Hunter. He cast the Oris just like a Frisbee and it carved through the water and into the outstretched hand of his fellow Blazer. The receiving Merman swam hard through the water towards the scoring zone, with the Furies’ Hunter hot on his tail.
A knife swiped out towards him, but it was deflected by the shoulder of Magnificent’s own Hunter, on protection. The blade slid through scales and the crowd ‘oooohed’ as a plume of blueish blood clouded into the water. I grit my teeth together and glanced at Gabriella, who had her hand covering her mouth in horror. The two hunters went at it then, swiping blades at each other; their weapons let out dulled clanging sounds as they connected.
All eyes returned to the Blazer as he broke towards the scoring zone and turned sharply upwards, tail propelling him like a rocket. The action was mirrored by the defending Sentinels, some twenty feet beyond him. The Blazer let the Oris fall from his hand and somersaulted in the water, smacking the disc hard with his tail – a slap shot that screamed forward with unbelievable speed. It sped past the reaching hands of the Sentinels and towards the open mouth of Cetus. The whole crowd fell into stunned anticipation, which broke into disappointment when it connected with the edge of the statue’s maw and ricocheted back out into the playing field.
A hand snatched the Oris and the screen showed a close-up of the second Magnificent Blazer – who had snuck undetected into the scoring zone – flick his wrist and send the Oris flying straight into the statue’s mouth. A blaring siren rang out around the arena and a thundering cheer went up as the lower section of the translucent statue began to fill with dark red fluid.
“A triumphant goal by Blazer Carvel from the Merlake Magnificents puts his team in front!” shouted the commentator. Whistles and claps were added to the cheers from the engrossed crowd. The beaten Sentinels slapped at the water in anger and avoided narrow-eyed glances from their troupe, as the two Blazers swirled around each other and exchanged a celebratory high-five before moving back to the centre of the pool.
All the players moved back to their relevant positions, the Magnificent’s Hunter nursing a pretty bad wound on his shoulder, where he had intercepted the attack on his fellow Blazer. He opened a very small pouch on his belt I hadn’t noticed and smeared some kind of white, waterproof cream on the injury. After a few seconds, it stopped bleeding.
Grey leaned over towards Gabriella and me. “This is absolutely awesome!”
Gabriella said nothing in reply, so he shrugged and took a sip of his drink, then leaned over towards Danny on the opposite side to say the same thing. I was still on the fence. There was no denying the impressive spectacle, but it was a bit violent for my taste…like watching a boxing match where both boxers are suddenly given knives and told to go at it.
A second siren sounded and the Oris shot out of the hole once again. All Blazers went for it, but it was one of the Furies who collected it this time. He searched around for his teammate, but instead found the fist of an opposing Blazer, which slammed hard enough into his mouth that even I winced. The attacking Merman tried to snatch the Oris, but the Blazer recovered quickly, jerking his own elbow into his opponent’s gills. The shimmering eyes of the Merman glazed over as he was stunned.
Another one of the Furies caught sight of his fellow Blazer, who made some kind of hand gesture and started swimming hard towards the surface. The Oris-holding Merman arched his arm and threw upwards at an angle, seconds before a Hunter’s knife raked across his abdomen, creating a foot-long gash.
“Shit!” I gasped in alarm. At the same time, Gabriella’s hand grabbed my arm in a tight grip. The Merman doubled over and fell still, as thick plumes of blood spilled into the water around him. But no one else was checking to see if he was okay. The rest of the spectators were only concerned with the Oris, which was shooting upwards in parallel to the second Blazer. Oris and Merman broke surface at the same time, and in a display of pure skill, the Blazer sent his tail shooting over his own back and slapped the Oris back down. It screamed back into the water like a flaming comet, glancing the cheek of a Magnificent Sentinel and nestling straight into the mouth of Cetus.
The crowd went absolutely wild, standing up and clapping with their hands over their heads as the scoring Blazer slid back under the surface.
“Dear Elementals, what a
stunning
doublescore goal by Blazer Idrin of the Fractured Isle Furies! Citizens, it simply doesn’t get much better than that!”
The triumphant Blazer went to find his teammate and celebrate, but his grinning face broke into concern when he saw that the other Blazer was still floating face down, blood rolling out around him in a cloud of dark blue tendrils. As he tried to rouse his teammate, the others simply moved back to their positions.
Gabriella jumped to her feet. “Isn’t someone going to help him, for god’s sake!?” she yelled, an outburst that earned her nothing but odd glances from those around us.
I took hold of her arm. “Gabriella.”
She shook my hand off. “No, this is wrong.”
She’s right. It’s messed up. But…it’s their tradition and we’re in their city. Is it our place to say anything?
“Come on, sit down. I’m sure he’ll be fine.” I glanced back up at the floating Merman.
He certainly doesn’t look fine.
“I’m with Gabriella. This is a bit vicious,” said Hollie, a frown on her face.
“It is pretty hardcore, bro,” agreed Mikey. “I mean, knives are a bit extreme in a sporting event right?” Danny and Troy nodded in agreement.
“It seems that Blazer Gendrel from the Fractured Isle Furies has received quite the injury,” said the commentator, as if he had only noticed the blatant casualty for the first time. The crowd’s cheering settled slightly, but a handful of absolute assholes cheered, as if it were some kind of victory to be celebrated.
“Blazer Idrin, can you confirm if he is dead or not? If he is, it is automatic disqualification for the Merlake Magnificents.”
The Merman continued to check his friend’s vitals. The Hunter from the other team who had attacked him looked nervous – but I couldn’t tell if that was concern for the life he had potentially taken, or the possibility of losing the game for his troupe. Blazer Idrin smeared a ton of the substance from his pouch all over the wound and waited for a moment longer, one of his webbed hands placed behind Blazer Gendrel’s neck gills. After a moment the wounded Blazer started to make some signs of movement, shaking his head and then raising his chin upright. His teammates’ faces broke into smiles, and the other Blazer made a rolling gesture with his hand. A series of claps broke out in the crowd.
“Blazer Idrin has just given the signal that the game can continue!” boomed Henrick in a cheery voice. “Blazer Gendrel is still with us it seems, just temporarily unconscious. I was sure he was dead. What a tough contender!”
“See, look, he’s okay, Huntmaster,” said Grey through a mouthful of pork scratchings. “We all know that Merfolk are tough sons of bitches. Hell you remember how hard it was to take out that nutty bunch who’d taken to drowning swimmers in Hampstead ponds.”
Normally it was a given that Grey would say the wrong thing in any given situation, but for once his words had a calming effect on Gabriella. Her shoulders sagged and she sat back down, crossing her arms and wearing a sullen expression on her face. I leaned backwards and gave him a subtle nod. He gave a nod back.
It wasn’t that I didn’t care about what happened to the Mermen – Guardians were killers, but we only killed when it needed to be done. Life was a precious thing that should never be snatched away arbitrarily. It was just that we were all here on a dangerous and serious set of missions, and I wanted the guys to relax as much as they could and enjoy themselves before all the fun disappeared – which I knew it would. And as much as I loved her, Gabriella wasn’t the only one I had to look out for, and I knew that she was more than capable of looking after herself.
I’ll make it up to her later…maybe take her to see the parade.
I put my arm around her, and she tensed up for a moment before finally relaxing into my embrace, and resting her head against my shoulder. I kissed her on the cheek and she gave my knee a gentle squeeze.
The wounded Gendrel appeared to have recovered enough to continue. He swam over – albeit slowly – and joined his fellow troupe in position. A moment later, the Oris burst back into play, but he made no serious attempt to take possession. Instead Blazer Carvel from the opposing troupe grabbed it and started passing it back and forth between himself and the other Blazer whilst avoiding the desperate knife slashes of a chasing Hunter who was playing piggy in the middle.
The pair broke into the scoring zone and immediately the two Sentinels bore down on them, one of them smashing Carvel in between his eyes at the exact moment he was about to catch the Oris. The stunned Merman shrank backwards and the attacking Sentinel collected the Oris, throwing a long pass back into to play towards the struggling Gendrel. The Blazer grimaced as he was forced to stretch out and grab the disc.
“A marvelous block and counter by Sentinel Willok!” cheered the commentator, his amplified voice barely managing to rise above the thundering cheers of the crowds.
“Oh no, here comes Hunter Vadnir to cause some mischief!”
The Hunter who had almost killed Gendrel came at the Blazer like a torpedo, and I drew in a sharp breath. The Blazer motioned to the right and feigned left, swimming past his opponent and narrowly avoiding a blade swipe. He flicked a short pass to Idrin, who sped up, beating his tail furiously as he rocketed straight towards one of the Merlake Sentinels. The two collided with a resounding
crack
that echoed around the stadium even though they were all underwater. The Sentinel sank downwards towards the bottom of the pool, and Idrin used his tail as a springboard, pushing upwards and away from his opponent. The other Sentinel closed in on him, but he wasn’t quick enough. A moment later the Oris came carving towards him, in a furious pass that made the Blazer’s wound seep tendrils of blood into the water. Idrin drove his head forward and nodded the disc into the maw of the statue.
A thundering applause rang out around the stadium and even I had to clap. Some of the team stood up – including Grey, who almost spilt his drink in the process – and cheered along with the rest of the Aquadome. Grey put his fingers in his mouth and whistled, a sharp sound that pierced my ears. I glanced at Gabriella and was pleased to see that even she was nodding in approval.
“A perfect display of a Kor’Istis set piece!” shouted Henrick. “Wonderful!”
Gendrel nodded at his scoring teammate, clearly still too wounded to celebrate properly. I watched as the Fractured Isle Furies’ statue filled up even more with the dark red ink, making it look eerily like a bloodthirsty creature taking its fill. A moment later a long, low siren blared, signaling the end of the quarter. The crowd cheered and then dissolved into excited chatter as the Merfolk broke away from their positions, tending to their various wounds and congratulating each other. The display screen showed a timer counting down from 150 in Qi’lern.
“How long did the commentator say each game was?” asked Gabriella.
“About six minutes each quarter. With breaks, I’d say half an hour total, ” I replied.
Gabriella nodded her head and said nothing more.
She’s doing her best to take part, but she really isn’t enjoying this.
I felt bad, but I didn’t know what to do. I glanced at the others, who were talking animatedly amongst themselves, Grey dipping his hand as he re-demonstrated Idrin’s tailshot.
There’s nothing I can do.
So instead, I took a long sip of my lemonade, savouring the cool freshness as it poured down my throat. There were few things more comforting and satisfying than a cool drink on a hot day. I sank the whole thing and then set the empty bottle back into the box. Not long afterwards the counter reached zero and I glanced up to see that all of the Merfolk were back in their respective positions. Another siren rang out and a cheer went up; a moment later the Oris came shooting out of the hole.
That was when it all went very wrong.
All of the Blazers went for the Oris, and the two Hunters came along with them, ready to attack.