His future mate

7 The arena

Nahla

  The lady let me through the dark corridors. They were lit by candles that hang at the walls. It was cold and moist in here. The stone walls didn’t allow any warmth in here. I’d probably get sick if I stay here long. If I wasn’t killed in the arena first of course.

  All of a sudden the lady stopped, grabbed my arm, opened a door, and threw me inside. She slammed the door shut behind me. I could barely see in the darkness of the room. There were iron bars at the top of the door. From there came the only light in the room. I looked around when my eyes had adjusted to the light. In the corner was some straw, I think to sleep on. There was no place to pee, unfortunately. I knew people peed in buckets at this time. At home, the poor still did that. But in my room, there was nothing for that. Unless the straw was for that. 

  I could split it obviously. Then I can both sleep and pee. So that is what I did. I needed to pee anyways so when I was done rearranging I went to my new toilet. When I was done I went on fixing my dress as best as I could. I was lucky my dress was dry again. The sun had dried the mud on it so I only had to whisk the sand off. I couldn't see If everything was off my dress though. 

  Laying on the straw I just waited for something to happen. For some reason, I still had my knife. I couldn’t open the door with it, unfortunately. I had tried it. But even if I had succeeded I didn’t know where to go. I didn’t even know how to get out of the arena. It was one big maze. I was doomed, whether I escaped or not. 

  I thought about what the old seer had said to me. It couldn’t be right. Not now that I was in the arena. And if my mate was really here, he couldn’t possibly save now, right. I doubted he was here at all. If he was he was so much older than me. He must be from a high family too. Only they can live forever. I certainly hadn’t met them all, but I had met most elders. Everyone who wasn’t mated I had met. The lady had most likely just lied to get some money. Lied about her gift to survive. Lots of people did that.

  I heard footsteps coming closer and my cell door opened to reveal a guard. In the stories, they always told us those arena guards wore blue uniforms and were big, dangerous men. I guess they were right. The guard was as big as the door and looked dangerous. 

  “Time to fight, little girl.” He gestured me to follow him so I stood up and almost needed to run to keep up with him. He let me through the arena to another door. He opened it for me, and behind it was a room. There were bars on the other side that looked out over a big field. The yellow sand sparkled in the sun.

  When I stepped inside the room, the door closed behind me. I stepped closer to the bars and saw that this was the center of the arena. Or the arena belly. Here will I fight for my life. I had a knife to defend me with. I had an advantage over the rest. It would be taken away from me after this fight. But maybe I could survive this fight.

  The bars moved all of a sudden. The people watching us from above cheered in enthusiasm. This was their pastime. They enjoyed these fights. Not everyone liked it but those people only came for the real big fights. This was just one of the many small fights.

  I saw people coming out of other cells and I stepped out too. I didn’t want to be locked up if something unexpected happened. People didn’t only fight with other people. Some had to fight against monsters and hungry animals. You could only defeat those if you had a useful gift. Shifters of big animals, if you could explode things, someone who could control an element like fire, or ice. And then you needed to control those gifts to win. So if by accident I would find out what my gift was, I still couldn’t win because I didn’t know how to use it.

  But this fight I had my knife, and I did know how to use that. A horn was heard and we began. I quickly grabbed my knife and saw the first person already running to me. It was a small boy, from around 10 years old. He started hitting me hard and I had to stop him before he beated me to death. I stabbed him in his neck and he made a gurgling sound before he fell dead on the ground.

  I had just killed my first person. I felt horrible about it. But with other people coming to me I had no time to think about that. A dirty girl from around my age ran screaming to me. I ducked her hit and turned around to put my knife in her back. I looked around and there was only one person left. She looked mean, while she creeps toward me.

  “Well, hello new girl,” Her voice was horrible sounding. “What shall I do to you today. With that knife, I could skin you alive. Eat your organs as a celebration.” The crowd screamed at her words. Clearly they liked the idea. She was probably one of the public favorites. A human monster who liked to torture. That is what this place did to you. It brought out the worst in people. 

  The girl made a move to hit the knife out of her hand. I pushed my arm forward to stab her in her arm. She screamed out in pain. The crowd cheered in joy at the sight of blood.

  “You nasty b***h. You will pay for this.” She said angrily. She ran to me in pure madness. I could duck just in time. We both turned around and her fist hit my face. I almost fell to the ground. She was close enough to stab her in her belly, so that is what I did. While she grabbed to her belly I put my knife in her throat. Loud applause filled the arena. I had won. I felt disgusting right now. I had just killed 3 people. 

  A guard came to me and we returned to my cell. I could only cry. The cost to survive this was killing. I didn’t want that life. I just felt awful about it. It didn’t matter that I would have been dead if I hadn’t done it. The price to survive this was just too much. Now that I didn’t have my knife anymore I would die the next time. My powers hadn’t revealed itself to me. 

  I started examining my body, I had to distract myself from my thoughts. This was the only distraction there was. I was covered with blood. I had some nasty bruises but I didn’t bleed myself. I would most likely get an infection if I was bleeding. The cold, moist and most important dirty place was the ideal place to get an infection. I wouldn’t be able to take care of a wound. 

  I started smelling a faint delicious smell. That was probably food. Obviously not for me. I don’t think prisoners get good food. I started rubbing the dried blood off my hands. Next was my face. I wish I had some water. It would go so much easier if I could just take a warm shower. Wash the memory of what I had done away. I would still remember afterward but at least there blood on my body and dress wouldn’t be a constant reminder. 

  My feet were in sturdy shoes. I pulled them off and shook the sand out of it. I put them in the corner and sat myself on the straw. 

  The smell was unbearable now. So intoxicating. It was forest and dominant man. If that had a smell it would be this. Not something you would expect food to smell. What was it then? My mind couldn't figure it out. Maybe I was still a little drunk from that whiskey from last night. Maybe it was just my imagination playing with me. Whatever it was, I hoped it wouldn’t go away. It distracted my mind from the horrible things I had done. The tears had slowed down but my eyes were still watery. My headache had intensified too. 

  The door opened and didn’t thought it was possible but the smell got even stronger. Overwhelmed me. Mate, mate, mate my mind screamed. I looked up and just wow. In the door was the most handsome man I had ever seen. He was as big as the guard behind him, if not bigger. Over the top muscular. Uncombed black hair, forest green hair, plump lips I wanted to kiss, and a straight nose. 

  He wore clothes that high families wear. Black pants and loose green blouse. The fashion sense of the rich hadn’t changed much. I had seen men in this kind of clothes thousands of times. He looked young. In his late twenties or early thirties, I would say. It didn’t say anything though. My mother was around 200 and still looked in her early twenties. We could be a twin. I was 23 and we looked so much alike. Only our eyes were different.

  I looked him in the eyes and saw shock. I was shocked too. My mate was here. The old lady was right, maybe I would survive then. I hope I would. And get out of here to get to know the handsome man more. 

  All of a sudden he turned around and walked away. The door was closed behind him and I was alone again.

  I saw that the guard had thrown some bread and water for me. I first cleaned myself further with some water. I ate the bread and drank the rest of the water. I lay down on the straw and hoped sleep would come soon.