Tanys Gladiatrix (The Chronicles of Tanys Book 2) (5 page)

"So this is what they're feeding us now," a harsh feminine voice roused Tanys from her reverie. She looked up to find a trio of naked women standing at the edge of the pool. These girls were no soft love slaves but hardened fighters, their bodies well toned. Corded muscle rippled beneath bronzed skin laced with countless scars. All of them wore the prominent golden nipple rings that marked them as gladiatrices. The tallest of them stood at their center, her curly brown hair cascading down over broad shoulders. Jade green eyes regarded Tanys from a face that had once been beautiful. A jagged scar now ran from hairline to chin, lending a crooked symmetry to lips that had doubtless been full and perfect once. These sundered lips curved cruelly as she spoke again.

"You are Tanys?"

"I am."

The girls laughed in response. The two shorter women, wearing their black hair closely cropped and oiled, crossed their arms and turned their backs to the pool, standing guard. Their brunette leader narrowed her eyes and watched Tanys with an indolent expression. "May I join you?"

"It will cost you a name," Tanys said, maintaining her calm, despite the tension in her muscles, her body sensing the presence of another predator.

"You are new here," the scar-faced warrior scoffed, "Very well then, you can call me Varkaa. I am the greatest fighter of House Malchesse."

"I thought that was Baran?" Tanys asked as the gladiatrix lowered herself into the water at the far side of the pool.

Varkaa's eyes flashed dangerously. "That clown? Hardly! Oh, I heard about the way he raped you in the arena, but..."

"He did not!" Tanys' voice carried across the bathhouse as she half rose from the water, her fists balled. The whispered gossiping of the bathers fell silent as every widened eye fell on her.

"Don't make a scene!" Varkaa shushed. Her eyes betrayed her pleasure at Tanys' wrath. "That little humiliation won't matter much longer anyway."

Tanys regained control of herself, her voice raspy and low when she spoke again, "What do you want?"

"I just wanted you to know who you are facing in the arena next week, and how you are going to die."

"You want a fight?" Tanys said, "How about right now?" In a flash she stood, ready for battle, legs apart and dripping. The two dark-haired gladiatrices turned, wary and waiting for Tanys to make a move.

"Seriously!" Varkaa's laugh rang out like the sound of a cracked bell. "You don't have the pedigree to fight me!"

"Who then?"

"You're being given to Brecia. The Prince loves her, or rather, he loves her work," Varkaa said, "Your little healer there might want to slip you some pain-numbing herbs before the match. You'll be grateful for it once Brecia starts cutting. The Prince enjoys it when she makes her victims last a very long time. I'd recommend tanglewort. Its effects last for hours... and you may last that long, if she desires it."

"Keep your advice," Tanys said, "and tell Brecia to enjoy her last week of life!"

"Oh, I'm not your messenger," Varkaa said, rising from the pool, "I just thought you might want to get as much use as possible out of your pretty little body before Brecia serves it, strip by strip, to the Prince's dinner guests."

Tanys ground her teeth, watching Varkaa step from the pool. Danella's hand rested on her arm, urging restraint.

"I think we'll take our baths elsewhere this week," Varkaa spoke loudly as she walked away, "I just hope they've managed to scrub the smell of cheap whore out of here by the end of the month." Laughter erupted from the other bathers.

Tanys lunged from the bath, but the dark-haired warriors were ready for her. They turned, crouched, and spread their hands to grapple with her when she came. Tanys saw too late the trap they set for her and could not arrest her momentum as she hurtled toward the grim-faced warrior women. A moment before closing with them, Tanys threw herself headlong upon the bathhouse floor, almost as though she had slipped and lost her footing. Indeed the wet stone proved slippery enough, and she slid, headfirst along the marble walkway between the two startled women. As she passed between them, Tanys hooked one of the girl's ankles with her arm, yanking her foot from beneath her. The woman's face hit the walkway with a meaty smack. Tanys spun to her feet behind the other combatant, even as she turned.

The gladiatrix's fist ripped past Tanys' nose, missing by an inch. Tanys drove an elbow hard into the woman's ribs, expecting the sweet crack of broken bones. The blow had as little effect as if she'd slapped Haru's ox. The woman's left fist slammed into Tanys' abdomen lifting her feet momentarily from the ground. She came down, wobbly-legged and breathless. The gladiatrix delivered a solid round kick to the center of Tanys' chest, knocking her off the walkway into the cold water of a large bathing pool.

Tanys swallowed water and came up sputtering. Wet dancing girls scattered in fear as the wild-eyed raven girl spun around, looking for a target. Tanys saw the glowering warrioress lower herself into the water at the edge of the pool. Behind her, the other woman rose to her knees with a bloody hand over her mouth and hatred in her eyes. The thought of running away suddenly entered Tanys' mind and found a comfortable home there. Varkaa was long gone, having left her attendants to deal a beating to the upstart foreign girl.

"Danella," Tanys called out, "time to go."

Tanys splashed her way through the shallow pool, aiming for the farthest edge away from the advancing thugs. The waist-high pool slowed the chase, but her well-muscled opponents powered through the water, reaching the edge of the bath only a moment after Tanys had scrambled out of the water. A massive hand closed around Tanys' ankle, pulling her down. Tanys' ass slapped painfully on the stone edge of the pool, and she cursed, kicking out with her free foot. The attacker turned her head, taking Tanys' kicks on her rapidly bruising cheek. Undeterred, the gladiatrix pulled hard on Tanys' foot, and Tanys fell flat on the walkway. As Tanys tried to rise, a fist hammered into her face. Her vision exploded into an unbearably bright light followed swiftly by gray shadows.

Tanys regained her senses to find the taste of blood on her tongue, and the pain of someone driving repeated blows into her stomach. It took a moment to realize why her arms wouldn't move. They were pinned behind her. Another fist rammed into her abdomen, and she slumped forward as far as the woman holding her would allow. They had dragged her to the shallow end of the bathing pool. Tanys watched with fascinated detachment as a drop of blood fell from her lip to splash and swirl into a pink cloud in the knee-deep water. She gasped, managing a single breath before the next blow pushed it from her lungs.

"I want a turn at her," came a sinister voice from behind Tanys' left ear.

"Fair enough," the grinning gladiatrix in front of her said, rubbing her knuckles, "I'm getting tired of hitting this bitch."

Tanys tried to strike out when she was shoved roughly between them, but her balance seemed off. A single drunken blow sailed well clear of the mark, and then she was pinned again. In front of her now stood the girl whom she'd tripped before. The gladiatrix grinned at Tanys through bloody teeth.

"She's gonna piss blood for the rest of her life after I'm finished with her," said Varkaa's thug.

The sound of bare feet slapping on stone sounded behind the woman, and she turned, just in time to see Danella swinging a heavy ceramic urn at her face. The splintering crash sent the woman ass-first into the shallow pool. A tremendous splash drenched Tanys and the girl holding her, and Tanys smiled at the sight of Danella, eyes blazing, standing over the muscular woman who floundered comically in the shallows. With a mighty heave, Tanys struggled to free herself from the standing woman's hold, but all efforts proved fruitless.

Danella raised the urn again, finding that only a broken fragment remained of it. The injured warrioress regained her feet and leapt from the pool, knocking Danella to the ground. Tanys screamed in rage as the berserk woman rained blow after blow on the defenseless girl.

"That little trick's gonna die," the voice behind her whispered, "I've never seen Berra so mad."

A rushing noise filled Tanys' ears. A heat like the fire of Troll wine filled her breast, and the world snapped into absolute clarity around her. Tanys' muscles flexed, and her body jerked forward suddenly against the hold of the arm lock. A roar of pain filled the bathhouse as Tanys dislocated the woman's shoulders. Tanys shrieked incoherently as she spun, driving her fist into the woman's face. Bones and cartilage shattered, and the woman dropped, senseless, into the water.

Then Tanys was beside the second woman. Taking a handful of oily black hair, she ripped her away from the cowering form of Danella. The woman named Berra stumbled and recovered, staring in wordless rage at the twisted clump of hair in Tanys' fist. She charged with all the grace of a wild beast, but neither was there was any trace of human reason in the raven girl who stood against her.

Tanys' lithe body stretched as she raised her arms above her head, letting the gladiatrix tackle her. Falling backwards, Tanys brought her fists down together with savage strength, smashing into the woman's back, just above her kidneys. They hit the walkway together and slid across the wet marble. Tanys' shoulder burned from the friction of the stone, as the woman's weight pressed down on her. There was little art or technique to their grappling, just a sweaty tangle of arms and legs as each woman clawed and fought to master the other.

Tanys locked her long legs around the Berra's waist, pushing against her chest to create enough space to deliver a quick blow to the woman's face. Berra, one eye rapidly swelling shut, managed to get an arm up through the gap between Tanys' shoulder and neck. Interlacing the fingers of both hands behind Tanys' back, Berra brought her strength to bear, forcing Tanys down to the side until the raven-haired girl could no longer maintain her hold around Berra's waist. Her ankles slipped apart as Berra forced her way out of the lock.

Berra moved quickly, bringing her right arm up between Tanys' legs, lifting her butt off the ground in an attempt to upend her. Tanys' nails raked red gouges across Berra's tight buttocks, but Berra ignored the pain as she struggled to control the writhing barbarian girl. With a grunt of effort, Berra jerked Tanys' body upwards momentarily, then brought her knee down across Tanys' free arm, pinning it to the floor. Tanys found herself pressed, face-first against Berra's meaty thigh. Jorva would have been proud, had he been there to see Tanys sink her teeth in.

Berra screamed, her body spasming with shock. Tanys tasted the blood of her enemy, surprisingly sweet in her mouth. Tanys wrested her elbow free from beneath Berra's weakened leg and soon twisted her other arm free as well. Berra shoved Tanys away with all her strength, falling sideways on the marble, and clutching at her gory leg with a look of horror on her battered face.

Tanys crouched on all fours, low to the ground, watching Berra the way the wolf watches its wounded prey. Tanys felt something thick and wet between her lips, and she hesitated a moment before spitting out the little piece of Berra. Tanys fixed the gladiatrix with a red grin and advanced.

Berra scrambled backwards, her eyes full of fear. Her feet and hands slipped in the widening pool of her own blood as she tried to get away, and she fell backward, legs apart. A moment later Tanys was astride her, driving her fist into Berra's face again and again.

Berra's body slowly surrendered, going slack as Tanys poured her rage into the yielding gladiatrix. Tanys gasped for breath. Her head ached with the return of reason and the protests of her countless wounds could at last be heard over the subsiding roar of hatred in her brain. Tanys wiped the blood from her throbbing knuckles onto Berra's quivering breasts. Berra moaned. Tanys knew what Jorva would say about leaving an enemy alive, but the sight of what she had done already to the woman sickened Tanys. She had drunk too deeply at the cup of war this day.

What was this place doing to her?

A gentle touch on her shoulder pulled Tanys back from the shadow. Danella smiled through her pain. Her face as well bore the swollen reminders of the day's violence. "Thank you, Tanys."

"No," Tanys said, her voice rasping and thin, "Your bravery saved both of us."

Tanys' ribs felt as though she had been sat upon by a dinghast, and a large purple bruise drooped below her left eye, but, apart from that, she felt wonderful. She sat across the enormous ebony table from Haru'Luk, sipping her wine, half-listening to his latest tirade.

"You could have gotten Danella killed! Don't you even care about that?"

"She did alright for herself," Tanys laughed, "You should have seen her!"

Danella smiled as she looked up from her work. The girl's face showed nary a trace of the beating she had received defending Tanys from the two thugs. Her dark eyes fell again to the mortar and pestle with which she ground a fresh batch of the painkillers that were, in part, responsible for Tanys' good mood.

"The worst part..." Haru fumed as he paced around the villa's dining hall, "Do you know what the worst part is? We didn't get paid for it! You risked yourselves over a pointless... profitless brawl in an empty bathhouse!"

Tanys ignored him, probing thoughtfully at one of her teeth with her tongue. It felt a little loose.

"Your only priority is getting ready for the match before the Prince." Haru said, "I was going to let you do a few easy matches before then, but now I think I'm going to stable you until the Prince's match. I need you to look your healthiest."