Chapter One Hundred and Four — The Bun in the Arena
Chapter One Hundred and Four — The Bun in the Arena “Thank you!” I said to the old shopkeep. The man grinned at me and pocketed the few coppers I’d left on his counter with a swipe.They were coppers well spent. I tossed one of the little sacks full of tea leaves I’d bought into the air and then caught it before turning to my friends.“Okay, so this is my plan,” I said.All four of us-the girls and Booksie... who was also a girl but not yet ‘one of the girls’— were a block away from the square where the tournament would take place. Even from as far as we were, I could hear the excited babble in the air as hundreds of people gathered for the show.“I’m gonna make some tea,” I said. “Lots of tea. And you three can sell that tea to the people watching the show for a few coppers each. I’ll betcha we’ll make tons of money in no time.”“You think that, huh?” Amaryllis asked.I was sensing some doubt. Lots of doubt. “It’s a dumb idea,” Amaryllis said. I slumped. “Not only will you only raise, at most, a few dozen sil, you’re also putting yourself at risk. Do you know how many grabby men will be in those stands? I don’t want to see Awen carried off to a cell because she placed a bolt into some young fool whose hands wandered further than his eyes.”Awen nodded. “That would be bad. Um. Not that I’d kill someone... in public like that.”I slumped. “Darn,” I said.Amaryllis rolled her eyes and patted my shoulder. “It’s not that big a deal. It’s not even that bad an idea. C’mon. We can get some tickets in one of the boxes and you can sell some tea to the people there, at least.”“Really?!” I asked. I felt my ears perking up on my head and rubbing against the two holes I had Awen drill into the top of my hat. I kept idly juggling my tea bag as I followed Amaryllis out of the general goods store and towards the centre of the town. There didn’t seem to be tickets or anything like that. Instead, a row of guards were blocking off the entrances to the square and demanding payment up front to allow people in. A flash of gold on Amaryllis’ part and we were let in and even escorted through the rougher parts of the crowd by a friendly young guardsman.There were so many people trying to fit into the square that moving was a bit of a chore, but as we arrived at the back of part of the stadium and were guided towards a wooden staircase, the crowds lessened a little.“Ohh,” I said as I stepped onto the top of a viewing platform. There were three rows of benches with enough room for maybe fifty or so people, though there were only half as many attendees in the box when we arrived. The back and sides had waist-high walls to keep people from falling, but the front only had a little rail across it.I could see the arena below, a ten by ten meter square of what looked like granite raised out of the middle of the town’s square, with rails all around it and, a few meters back, huge boxes built in tiers where people were standing and milling about. Unlike the stadiums back home, there wasn’t any seating down below. Chairs, apparently, were for the people able to afford the nicer boxed seats.“Awa, there has to be a thousand people here,” Awen said as she stared across the throng of people.I caught sight of harpies, cervids and sylphs, even a few grenoil standing tall to see the stage. And, of course, there were lots of humans. Amaryllis was quite smug as she sat down in the front row, and soon Awen and I joined her. Booksie paused for a moment before sitting down too. I was a little worried that she would feel bad, but she was smiling. Maybe she would be swept away in the fun and would forget her worries for a bit.I set down my pack halfway under my bit of the bench, pulled out my tea kettle, and started to warm up a few cupfulls of water. “Are you still doing that?” Amaryllis asked.I shrugged my shoulders. “Might as well grind the skill,” I said.I was just passing my friends some steaming hot mugs of their own when a shadow paused before me. When I looked up, it was to meet the wide eyes of the portly town mayor. He was standing next to a tall, skinny man who was all bones and who had a big bushy mustache riding his upper lip. “Um, hi?” I said.“Ah, yes, hello,” the mayor said as he doffed his hat. He looked to my friends, then back to me. “Are you... ah, but you didn’t have the ears. But... perhaps disguise magic?”“I’m sorry, but, what?”The mayor shook his head and plopped his hat back on. “Forgive me dear, but, ah, could you perhaps tell me.” He paused and licked his lips. “Did you happen to, um, converse with a dragon, say, yesterday afternoon.”“Oh, yeah, that was me,” I said with a nod.“Ah, yes, you... seemed familiar, but you weren’t wearing the same thing,” he said.“A girl can own multiple sets of clothing,” I said. Though... I wasn’t currently one of those girls. The mayor nodded along. “Of course, of course,” he said before looking at my head. I realized he was looking at my ears. “Oh. Yeah, those are new.”“Ah,” he said.“Now now, we’re hardly being polite, now are we,” said the man next to the mayor. “Hello my dearest and my dearest’s friends. I am Zac John Honenheim, but everyone calls me Zac.” He took my hand and gave the back of it a smooth kiss. “A pleasure to meet you!”“Hi!” I said. “I’m Broccoli Bunch, this is Awen, and that’s Amaryllis, and this is Booksie!” The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.“Gorgeous, all of you,” Zac said with a huge grin. “Why if I could parade you in front of these crowds I wouldn’t need to put on a show at all!”“Thanks? I think?”“Indeed! Tell me miss Bunch, are you a fighter? A bit of a daringdoer?” He asked with a waggle of his eyebrows. “A bit, I guess.” “My! Did you hear that, James my old pal! She’s got some fight in her yet!” Zac said to the mayor before turning back to me. “Tell me miss Bunch, how would you like to make a quick copper?” I blinked. “Um. That would be nice, but we’re looking for ways to make quick gold right now, not copper.”“Hah!” Zac barked. “Aren’t we all? Tell you what. You seem to be the subject of a lot of gossip right now. Lots of chit and chat and so on. Now, that’s an opportunity we can’t miss out on! I just so happen to be missing one of the lads that’s supposed to fight this morning. Fellow in the tenth level, ate something disagreeable. That means I have a slot in my tournament line up, a Bunch-shaped slot.”“Oh, I see,” I said. I was already shaking my head. “I’m not really into hurting people, I’m afraid.”“No one gets hurt in a Hohenheim tournament my dear; it injures me to even hear you say as much! No no, we have the very best healers from the Slyphfree mountains and our very stage is enchanted to prevent mortal wounds. You’ll be as safe as a rabbit in its burrow.”I looked at my friends. Booksie looked amused, and Awen was wide-eyed in either shock or awe at Zac’s presence. But it was Amaryllis’ reaction that I really wanted to know. She was smart, smarter than I was at least, and I trusted her judgment. “If you want to,” Amaryllis siad. “But not before discussing price.”“Oh, a shrewd one!” Zac said. “Five sil a fight. And of course the entire prize if you win your bracket.”“Single eliminations?” Amaryllis asked.“Indeed.”“Then that’s chump change. Two gold per fight.”“Tw— my dear lady,” Zac said as he slapped his hands over his heart. “As beautiful and blessed as Miss Bunch may be, is she truly worth so much gold?”“Ask the dragon she scared off.”Zac considered that for a moment. “One gold.”“One and five pure silver.” “One gold, and then five pures atop every fight she wins. So one gold in the first, then one and five, then one and ten and so on,” Zac said.Amaryllis hummed. “How many rounds?”“Four my dear,” was the quick reply.Amaryllis nodded. “If she wants it. Swindle us and we’re telling our dragon friend. You pay whether or not she wins. And if she’s injured after your precious little healers are done fixing up her bruises, I will copy any wounds onto your flesh.” She smiled even as her feathers puffed out and little snaps of electricity sparked in the air. Zac blinked, his smile growing a little faint, and the mayor looked a little pale. “P-pardon?” he mumbled.“Cool!” I said. “I never fought in an exhibition match, but I’m sure my experience will help,” I said.“Your experience with exhibiting yourself?” Amaryllis asked.I huffed at her. But when Zac extended a hand at me, I shook. That much gold could help Booksie a lot, and it did sound like a lot of fun. That, and if the fights were so civilised, then I was sure I could tap out if things became a little too hairy.I downed my cup of tea, then hopped to my feet. “Where to?” I asked. “Ah-hah, we have a room for our brave combatants to wait in! Follow me!”I waved goodbye to my friends and followed Zac as he rushed down the stairs two at a time. The mayor was left wringing his hands behind us, but Amaryllis was soon grilling him. “This year’s group is very exciting! Some real crowd pleasers. I think we’ll have ourselves a rousing success!”“That sounds great,” I said. I got to the bottom of the steps and straightened my skirts. I had to at least make an effort to look good. “Ah, I didn’t bring my shovel!” I said.“Your shovel?” Zac asked as he led me towards out of the area around the square and towards a large brick house set to the side of the square, the very one that had had a bell tower the day before.“My weapon,” I said.“No worries dear! The only weapons we allow our combatants to use are those enchanted to be quite harmless. Ah, I hope you’ll give the other fighters the same courtesy. We’re here to put on a show, not spill-too much-blood.”“I get it,” I said. “Kind of like boxing back home, I guess.”Zac nodded to two people standing by the doors to the building, then barged in without so much as a knock. “I return!” he cheered.The room was filled with people, nearly all of them-with the exception of three straight-back sylphs in one corner-were wearing armour of one sort or another. The men were bare chested, showing off oiled muscles, and the women were all huge amazons that looked like they could punch someone through a wall.There were a few mages, and one or two shifty looking folks wearing lots of loose clothes while they stalked the darker corners of the room.“Everyone, this is miss Bunch! She’s going to replace Jimmy today!”A lot of very unfriendly eyes turned my way.Part of me wanted to back off and nope out. But that part of me knew that I’d never make friends with that kind of attitude. I took a deep breath, made sure I was wearing my best smile, then stepped up. “Hello! I’m Broccoli!” I said. “Let’s have lots of fun!”
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Chapter One Hundred and Five — Altering the Deal
Chapter One Hundred and Five — Altering the Deal “Have you been a, um, fighter for long?” I asked one of the big amazon-looking women.She sighed and turned away from me. “Talk to me once you’ve cut your teeth, kid,” she said.“I cut things with my teeth just fine!” I pouted, but there were plenty of others to chat to. I skipped over to the shadow-y-est part of the room. “Hello!” I said to the two people in dark cloaks hiding in the dark. “You guys look really sneaky. That’s cool!”They turned towards each other, then edged deeper into the shadowed recesses of the room.Well, okay, that was a pretty clear message.I rocked back and forth on the balls of my feet and took in all the people in the room getting ready to fight. Some were stretching, others were standing and chatting in low tones. Some seemed to be praying or slowly going through katas or practicing with some magic, motes of mana swirling around them. A few of the calmer ones were reading or quietly smoking next to a window that was open a crack.The crowds outside were getting excited. I could hear the pop-pop of fireworks and what I suspected was Zac stoking the crowd into an uproar.I counted about sixty or so people across three rooms that were joined together by some corridors. There was a fourth room, a sort of armoury, but it was guarded by a pair of big guys who only let people in for a minute or so before they exited with a weapon.Was I supposed to grab one too?“Okay you nitwits!” someone called.I turned to find a chubby man in a long coat standing by the door, arms in the air to catch people’s attention.“You should know how this works by now. But for our newcomers, and those of you who got too plastered and forgot, let me explain right quick. We’re doing this by brackets. You get called up, you exit. A guard will bring you to your side of the arena. Zac says some nice things about how pretty your eyes are, and you wave to the crowds. Make a show of it. Then it’s on the stage and when the bell tolls, you handle your aggression between each other. You hear?” he asked.There was a mumble of assent. I nodded along. It sounded simple enough. I could do it.“Now remember, no decapitation!” What?“Broccoli, Arugula, you two are up!” the man shouted. He spun on a heel and stomped out of the building, the sounds of music and cheering loud for just a moment as the door opened and closed. I stood for a moment, feeling just a little faint.Then someone big and hard bumped my shoulder hard and I had to step fast not to fall. I looked up to a huge man wearing thick pauldrons and armoured greeves and little else. “Get going, girl,” he growled at me.I swallowed but resisted the temptation to shy away from him. I wasn’t someone just anyone could bully! And just because he was taller than I was... my eyes widened. With my new ears, I was technically taller than he was! I was now at model height! I followed Arugula out of the waiting area, then stopped as a wall of sound and scents hit me. There had to be some magic around the door keeping the worst of it out, because the sounds outside were crazy. We were behind one of the taller platforms where large trunk-sized pieces of wood held up the stalls that were trembling as people cheered. An explosion from above had me looking up in time to see a fireball the size of a house detonating some hundred meters up. Sparks and embers rained down from the sky, winking out a few dozen feet off the ground.Then a spiralling pillar of water shot into the air and burst apart, turning into a huge flower for just a moment before the image broke apart. A few scattered drops dripped across my face.“Miss Broccoli?” a young man with a clipboard asked. “Oh, yeah!” I said, snapping my attention back to the ground. It was busy behind all of the crowds. There were little stalls where cooks were working up a frenzy to make little hot-dog like treats and popping corn. Others were quickly filling some bottles from large wine kegs and giving them to younger people in colourful outfits with bells on who were carrying boxes with prices next to them.Guards were rushing around, and I saw a group of what had to be mages marching by. I caught a snippet about ‘magic flares’ and ‘illusions’ before they brushed by.“This way, miss!” the young man said. He tapped my shoulder and nodded ahead before he took off.I had to jog to keep up.I was never the sort to get nervous in front of a crowd. In school, whenever we did group stuff, I often got to be the one to present things. I was a bit of an extrovert sometimes. Still, stepping out from between two of the stadium’s stalls only to see what had to be well over a thousand people standing up and cheering had my heart beating fast and my tummy flip-flopped a few times.“Whoa,” I said, but the sound was lost as a familiar voice boomed out from above.Standing on a floating platform lined by runes, with Zac, his outfit looking fresh and his smile radiant as he gestured for the crowd to be quieter. “Everyone! Welcome to Rosenbells thirty-second annual grand tournament!”If I had thought it loud before, the noise now was outright deafening. I reached up and pulled my bun ears down. It helped a bit.The boy with the clipboard placed his hands on my shoulders and guided me to a ramp next to the stage. “Go up when he calls you!” he shouted.I nodded.“Ladies and Gentlemen! We are about to begin! We will rotate until all sixty-four of our fighters across four brackets have cycled through! You will see legends born, blood spilled, and entrails spread out across the ground!”Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.“What?” I asked the clipboard guy. He blinked at me as if he didn’t understand. “I want to keep my entrails,” I explained.“Then win!” he shouted back before tapping my shoulder and walking off a half dozen steps.I was alone next to the stage.When the cheering began to calm down a little, Zac gestured to the far end of the stage from me. “Our first brave warrior to enter the arena today! Arugula! The Bloodletter!”Arugula jumped onto the stage, spread his arms wide, then bent his back until he was facing the sky. He roared, a bestial sound that shook the air and that had some of the kids watching squeaking in terror.He beat his exposed chest and stomped around in a tight circle screaming to the crowds who screamed right back. He reached behind his belt and pulled out a foot-long piece of wood with a spikey ball at the end. A twist of his hand and the ball fell, only stopping when the braided cord holding it snapped taut. He spun the flail around, then smacked it into his own hand. Blood spurted out of his palm, coving the flail’s head and splashing onto the ground.“Magnificient!” Zac shouted. “It seems Arugula’s thirst for blood knows no bounds!”The man on stage wiped a bloody hand across his face, then roared again.I had a sudden pressing need to be elsewhere.Then someone shoved me from behind and I stumbled up the ramp and onto the stage. I turned, spotting the clipboard boy wearing a blank expression as he betrayed me. A glowing semi-transparent wall appeared before me, blocking me from exiting the arena, then another appeared to one side, then the other. Soon there were walls all around and I was stuck on the stage with a grinning Arugula. “Hailing from mysterious lands comes today’s strangest contestant! The Dragons speaker, the happiest Bun in the West! Broccoli Bunch!”The crowd cheered.I smiled weakly and waved.“Aww, isn’t she just adorable?” Zac asked. “Like a bunny smiling at a wolf! Let us see how she fares! Arugula pointed at me with his bloody hand. “I am going to end you!” he shouted.“C-can’t we just be friends?” I asked.ArugulaDesired Quality: A punching bag.Dream: To rip an opponent in half before a crowd of horrified onlookers.I wanted to run, but there were walls all around. Arugula didn’t seem keen on negotiating. I... I had to fight? No, there had to be a time limit. I could drag it out. But that would be hard. Really hard. But I could do it! People would see that I didn’t wanna fight, and they’d stop it! “Begin!” Zac shouted.I stared up at the man. Wasn’t he meant to explain the rules? To rile up the crowd some more?It was only the crowd screaming that gave me the time to react. I dove to the side, barely avoiding the head of the flail as it swiped through where I’d just been. Arugula twisted around and his flail spun a quick orbit around him to come whipping back at me. I hopped over the swing, then landed and rolled as far from the man as I could.“Just stand still!” he roared.Swallowing, I back up towards the middle of one wall, then tapped it with a closed fist. It was as hard as stone, but slicker. No good. Arugula ran at me, charging headlong like a mad bull. I jumped up, planted a foot on his head, and skipped over him to land in the middle of the arena. The extra shove at the back of Arugula’s head sent him sprawling into the wall with a dull thud.The crowd roared with laughter. “Oh hoh! The bunny is mocking Arugula! Is he too weak for her tastes?” Zac asked. “We can only hope that the man caught an eyeful from under that pretty skirt in passing!” I glared up at Zac. That man was rude. My glare turned into wide-eyed shock as Arugula turned and came rushing back at me. His flail was glowing now.I spun out of its path, then gasped as I watched the head smack into the ground so hard it left a crater. Some sort of flail skill? Oh, that wasn’t good.“Are your friends watching, little bunny?” Arugula growled as he began to pace around me, he held his flail by the rope, spinning in around and around with helicopter-beats. A glance up and to the side showed Amaryllis, Awen and Booksie standing by the edge of their box. They looked worried.“I wonder, will they be disappointed that you’re so weak?” He grinned. “I could make it easy for you. No more dodging, just me, and your blood, and this arena covered in it.”I tightened my jaw. “You don’t want to be my friend, do you?” I asked.Arugula snorted. “Sure I do. You can become friends with my flail.”I felt a frown pulling my brows together. “No. That’s not what friendship is like. And this isn’t what I thought these fights would be like.”“Oh, did you think they’d be fun and ga-” Arugula paused mid word to lunge forwards, his flair a glowing line that tried to connect with my gut. I danced around the head, spun closer to Arugula, stepped around a poorly aimed kick, then ducked under an attempt to grab me by the throat. Another few quick steps and I was behind and past him. The crowd applauded whooped and hollered. “Fine, I’ll show you that we can fight, and have fun at the same time,” I said. “It might hurt a little, but there won’t be anything too bad. It’s like sparring, kinda,” Arugula rushed at me again.I shook my head. The man lacked imagination, that was his biggest problem. Maybe I could show him a few tricks?
