Tanys Gladiatrix (The Chronicles of Tanys Book 2) (8 page)

The Prince of the satyrs sat in a heavily cushioned seat with twin tables curving away to either side at which his guests lounged. The Prince's wispy blonde fur covered pale, splotchy skin that sagged loosely over his thin frame. His skinny legs terminated in small black hooves, and his delicate curving horns sported tiny ornaments of threadlike golden filigree. His large, blue eyes regarded Tanys languidly for a moment before turning his attention to an offered wine cup.

Tanys watched in detachment as Haru made her introduction to the assembled nobles, her eyes scanning the crowd for Brecia, but seeing only beastmen and a few attendant slaves. She spotted Torke lurking in a corner. The one-eared satyr, clad in yellow silk, smiled at her until she looked away.

Haru led her to the center of the room. The center of the banquet hall was a shallow, circular pit, its marble floor polished smooth. Small iron grates served as drains in the miniature arena. Haru stood her directly over the largest grate and whipped away her robe with theatrical aplomb.

"Before you, stands the wild girl of the North!" Haru said, "Slayer of monsters and mages, her skill is unmatched among the barbarian folk, and her beauty unrivaled. She awaits your pleasure."

Tanys calmed herself, standing, legs apart and silent, with her hands at her sides. The assembled satyrs' eyes crawled over her body. Some of them licked their lips in anticipation of the show to come.

"Have her turn around," the Prince said.

Haru barked an order, and Tanys obeyed, turning her back to the Prince and his guests, grateful at least to not have to see their leering eyes.

"Bend over," The Prince's voice quavered a little.

Tanys' lip curled in anger, but she obeyed, bending forward to grab her ankles, exposing her sex to the chortling beastmen.

"I'll have some of that," a guest chuckled, and the others laughed along.

"Enough," the Prince said, "She'll do."

Tanys stood and turned again to face them. Between her and the Prince now stood a slim girl, nearly a foot shorter than Tanys. A fine lacework of pale scars covered every inch of her brown skin. She wore her silvery hair cropped into short bangs above hollow, dark eyes. A necklace adorned with many small gold rings hung above her small, pouty breasts. From some of the rings still hung scraps of withered flesh, leaving little doubt from where the girl had collected them. Tanys eyes fell to her own breast and the golden ring transfixing her russet nipple. That was one ring that Brecia would not be adding to her collection tonight.

A pair of slave girls brought forth the weapons and knelt before the Prince. He shooed them along, anxious for the match to be started. One of the girls moved quickly to deliver a fine dagger to Tanys' hand. Tanys thanked the girl as she took the blade, eliciting a nervous twitch at the corner of the slave girl's frozen smile.

The other slave bowed before Brecia, holding the twin razors out to the stony-faced gladiatrix. Brecia made no move to take them, her dark eyes playing over the slave's naked body. The slave began to tremble as long moments passed with no move from Brecia. Suddenly, one of the razors slipped from the girl's grasp and fell toward the floor. The girl gasped, her hand fumbling to catch the falling knife, but it was already in Brecia's hand.

Brecia caught the girl's curly red hair in her free hand, yanking her head back as she flicked the blade to the girl's trembling lips. "You stopped smiling," Brecia hissed, "but I can fix that for you."

"Please, no!" the girl sobbed as Brecia stroked the flat of her razor over the slave girl's cheek.

"Brecia!" Tanys shouted, "Why don't you bring that little knife over here so I can shove it up your ass?"

Brecia snarled and whipped the slave girl's head around. She plucked the other razor from the girl's grasp, leaving the slave's hands free to clutch uselessly at her slashed throat. Brecia grinned as she licked clean her blade, stepping over the girl's writhing body and the spreading pool of blood.

Tanys waited until Brecia was well clear of the dying slave girl. With a mighty roar, Tanys charged. Brecia's eyes flared hungrily as Tanys lunged across the arena toward her. The razors stood poised on Brecia's fingertips, waiting to taste Tanys' flesh.

In the step before the flash of blades, time seemed to slow for Tanys. She called upon the spirit within herself, and it answered, rushing like the surge of a river in her chest. She saw Brecia sidestepping her charge with the twin razors arcing to intercept Tanys' body. Tanys leaned forward and twisted her body as she passed, letting the tip of a razor pass between her breasts. The other blade glanced against her shoulder, drawing out flecks of blood but causing no real harm. Tanys' backwards cut dragged across Brecia's skin, laying open the flesh of the girl's shoulder blade.

A hiss of astonishment rose from the satyr guests. Brecia glared in wonder over her shoulder at the wound, and then her sinister smile returned. The two women dodged and slashed at one another, blades swishing and glinting but finding no mark. At last Tanys laid a minor cut across Brecia's ear, and the girl repaid with an upwards slash that flicked the rim of Tanys' nipple ring as she leapt back, barely in time to save her breast. A metallic ringing accompanied the stinging pain in the tip of Tanys' nipple, and she cupped her breast with her free hand. Brecia giggled.

"It hurts less to cut them off if you stand still," Brecia said, "Did you know that? It's true. Before I'm done with you, I think you will stand still and let me take that ring off for you."

"How about you stand still and let me take that head off for you?" Tanys growled, jabbing her blade at the maniacal girl.

Brecia stepped back to avoid the cut and then moved in again with blurring speed. In an instant, she was behind Tanys, tracing a half circle across Tanys' right buttock with her knife. Tanys gasped, feeling the sweat of her exertion stinging in the shallow cut.

"Now we're getting started properly," Brecia said, "Left calf next." She darted out of Tanys' range and back behind her again. Tanys gritted her teeth as Brecia's razor pulled a deep incision vertically up the back of her calf muscle.

"Any requests, gentlemen?" Brecia called out as Tanys hopped away, splashing bloody footprints on the marble floor.

"An eye!" "An ear!" the satyrs cried out, "Give us a tit!"

"Patience, nobles!" Brecia said, "All in due time."

"Brecia," the Prince spoke at last, "I want you to give me her scream."

"As you wish, my Prince," Brecia's voice was adoring.

Brecia smiled sweetly as she turned again to face Tanys. The girl leapt forward, but Tanys was ready, turning aside the razor's cut with a flick of her dagger. Tanys' blade thrust out, sinking into Brecia's toned thigh. The girl withdrew, her brows furrowing as she examined her new wound.

"Well then," Brecia said, "you do have teeth. No matter." Brecia shifted her weight from foot to foot a few times as though testing her injured leg. Satisfied, she sprung, delivering a raking cut across Tanys' abdomen, just below her navel.

Tanys stepped back, grunting in pain, recovering in time to turn aside the next attack and counter with one of her own. Brecia's upper arm showed the mark of Tanys' blade, but she took no notice of it as she advanced again.

"Do you even know what you're here for?" Brecia asked. Her razor slashed at Tanys' face.

"To kill you," Tanys answered, feeling a warm tear roll down her cheek. She wiped it away and saw blood on the back of her hand.

Brecia laughed. "Do you see what the guests are eating for their supper?" she asked, watching Tanys' eyes, which narrowed but did not move from her. "I'll save you the trouble of looking. Their plates are empty... for now."

Tanys growled, driving her dagger toward the girl's black heart. Brecia turned to the side, shuddering as Tanys' blade opened a gash in her small left breast.

"You understand now?" Brecia said, "You are keeping the guests waiting for their dinner, and they grow impatient." The girl stepped in, dragging a long cut up Tanys' side.

Tanys roared as she staggered back, clutching at her slashed ribs. "You sick freak!"

"Not quite a scream, I'm afraid... but we're getting closer."

Tanys stumbled mid-attack as her wounded leg crumpled beneath her, and Brecia easily avoided the wild thrust of Tanys' blade. The girl opened a savage cut across the back of Tanys' knuckles, and Tanys' weapon fell from her grasp. Brecia kicked the dagger away before Tanys could recover it.

Tanys leapt forward, grappling with the girl, knowing, even as she did, that this was a mistake. Brecia's knives pressed firmly against the taught skin of Tanys' buttocks as the raven girl struggled to crush the breath from the girl's slight frame. "Let me go." Brecia hissed in Tanys' ear. When Tanys did not relent, the knives sank in, cutting with deliberate slowness until Tanys whimpered, releasing the sadistic girl from the hold.

"You don't get to touch me!" Brecia shouted, her eyes wild, "No one gets to touch me!"

Tanys wavered. Disoriented by pain and blood loss, she fell to the floor, looking up at the cruel girl who stood over her, knives wet with Tanys' blood. Tanys' breasts heaved, her eyes smoldering with hate.

"If you ever touch me again, I'll cut your eyes out!" Brecia shouted, "You don't ever touch me!"

Brecia was visibly shaken. Tanys had not injured her that badly. Tanys knew now what she must do beat her.

Tanys' eyes fell. Her body slumped in defeat on the bloodied marble. "I can't..." she gasped, "I can't go on. Please make it quick." Tanys lifted her eyes to see the twisted smile return to Brecia's face.

"You know it won't be quick," Brecia said.

"I won't move," Tanys said, "Do with me what you will."

"I'll take that ring now," Brecia said, just loud enough for Tanys to hear.

Tanys closed her eyes tightly then arched her back to offer up her breast and its golden nipple ring.

Brecia's breath quickened in anticipation as she moved forward, straddling Tanys' body with her feet planted to either side of Tanys' hips. Casting aside one of her razors, Brecia stooped to pinch Tanys' nipple between the fingers of her left hand. Tanys winced as she stretched it, letting the golden ring dangle in the gap between fingers and quivering breast. Brecia's tongue darted across her lips, her eyes filled with mad passion as she raised the knife in her right hand.

Tanys fell backwards, yanking her nipple free of the girl's grasp as she thrust her body down further between Brecia's legs. Tanys brought her own legs up, quickly wrapping them around Brecia's skinny hips and locking her ankles together beneath the girl's small breasts. With a mighty heave, Tanys threw Brecia's body backwards and down onto the floor, banging the girl's head against the stone.

Tanys sat up between the fallen girl's thighs, prying the razor from Brecia's dainty fingers. A moment later, she straddled the girl, seizing her by the hair.

"Don't touch..." Brecia managed to shriek before Tanys slit her throat.

Tanys rose, shakily to her feet, watching Brecia die. The girl looked up at her, eyes filled with confusion and pain, and, at last, peace. The gore-slick razor clattered on the floor. Tanys raised her head to regard the dumbstruck satyrs with all the hate she could no longer feel for the dead girl at her feet.

The Prince's jaw moved, but no sound came out. His cold blue eyes darted from Tanys to the lifeless body of his favorite killer and back again. Haru'Luk stood motionless with a stunned grin on his face. The other nobles murmured darkly at the outrage of Tanys' continued vitality and Brecia's lack thereof. Behind them all moved the yellow-clad satyr named Torke, stooping to whisper something in the ear of a fat faun who could only be the Duke. The heavyset satyr smiled to hear whatever was said, and he nodded. Standing, the Duke began to applaud. The black-furred Malchesse looked startled, but quickly followed the Duke's example, the look of rage on his face swiftly replaced with magnanimous approval. Soon every satyr in the room, save the Prince, was on their feet and joining in praise of Tanys' victory. At last, even the Prince consented to tilt his head to Tanys.

"A great victory for our new friend Thelas Vin Haru'Luk!" the Duke said, "He has brought before us a rare spectacle indeed."

Haru bowed, too flustered for words.

"A great victory indeed for good Haru'Luk," the Duke said, turning then to face Brecia's former master, "and a tragic loss for the noble Malchesse. Our hearts weep for your misfortune."

The Malchesse lowered his head and answered, "Any loss in the service of my Prince is counted as a gain."

"Nevertheless," the Duke said, "I do feel terrible about the loss of Brecia. A fighter of her talents will be difficult to replace."

"Indeed," Haru said, recovering some of his composure, "she fought quite well. Fortunately for me, not as well as my slave." He smiled politely at his own joke, flinching slightly at the Malchesse's dark look.

"Quite so," the Duke said, "surely the word of this Tanys' skill must already be spreading throughout the city. She will be worth quite a lot of money tomorrow."

Tanys' cheeks flushed hotly and her glare fell upon Haru'Luk.

"I..." Haru said, "I'm afraid she's not..."

"Of course," the Duke interrupted, "it is only good form that you offer the Malchesse first chance at bidding on her... given the situation."