Galdoni (24 page)

“
They beat me.” His voice
quivered. “I had to tell them. They would have killed me. I’m
sorry, Kale.”

A pit formed in my stomach at the fear in
his voice. “What did you tell them?”

He put his face in his hands. “About not
fighting. They heard that you pulled the fire alarm to organize
some sort of rebellion, and they tortured me until I told them
about it. They’re coming for you.”

Everyone had fallen silent at David’s
entrance. I glanced up and spotted Blade across the room. He met my
eyes, his own carefully expressionless, then he and his followers
returned to their eating.

“
You should kill me. Kill
me now,” David pleaded.

I reached out. Goliath moved as if to stop
me, but at my glance he backed down. I set a hand on David’s
shoulder. It trembled under my touch. “I won’t hurt you,” I
promised him quietly. “Look at me.” When he refused to look up, I
softened my tone. “David, look at me brother.”

He glanced up and tear marks trailed through
the blood on his face.

“
I don’t blame you. You did
the right thing. It’s okay.” I waited until he nodded, then I rose
and stepped onto the table. The chain around my ankle rattled
against the hard surface.

“
Of course they’ll try to
stop us,” I said, lifting my voice so it echoed around the room. I
felt the eyes of one hundred and fifty Galdoni watching me. “They
don’t want you to be free, to live your own lives. But you deserve
every second of it.”

I glanced around the room, meeting as many
eyes as I could. “You deserve to feel the wind in your wings, to
smell the cool ocean breeze, to feel grass under your feet and the
rain in your hair. You deserve these things, and they know it.”

“
Get down!” a guard yelled
from across the room.

I clenched a fist. “Do you know why they
treat us like animals? Because if they admit that we are part
human, then they’ll also have to admit they’re being inhumane.” I
raised the fist into the air. “But you deserve better, and don’t
let them convince you otherwise. You live, you breathe, you dream
the same as me, and the same as them. Outside of these walls
there’s a life out there waiting for each of us.” A few Galdoni by
the back wall rose to their feet, listening.

The guards in the lunchroom tried to reach
me, but Galdoni stepped in front of them, blocking their path.

I held out my wings, gaining strength from
the eagerness on their faces. “Prove to them that you’re not
animals. Don’t fight at the Blood Match. My friends on the outside
are working to free you, to undermine this system that is based on
lies. Don’t fight, and let them see that we are not the animals
they’ve tried to turn us into.”

Fifteen armed guards burst through the mess
hall doors. They swarmed the table where I stood, pushing Galdoni
out of the way with their sticks and whips. I glanced at Blade one
more time. He met my eyes with a sneer. ‘I’ll fight,’ he
mouthed.

I opened my mouth to retaliate, but a guard
swept my legs out from under me with a nightstick and I landed hard
on my back on the table. They beat me with their clubs. I didn’t
resist when they hauled me out of the cafeteria. The faint hope
that my own lack of aggression might fuel the Galdoni who had
listened was the last thought in my mind before they threw me into
solitary confinement.

***

I realized while waiting in the cell that
they would make me fight no matter what, unless I was willing to
just lie down and die. An unfair death match would be the best way
to get rid of me, and one that would be profitable for the Academy.
Brie’s pleading eyes came to my mind and I rubbed my bruised face.
I wasn’t willing to just lie down and die.

I rolled my shoulders to ease the ache left
from the most recent beating. It had been several days since the
cafeteria, and I was still in solitary with no sign of being let
out. Hard bread, bits of old meat, and occasionally a piece of
dried fruit or moldy cheese were shoved through the door slot along
with a deluge of water that went straight to the floor if I forgot
to leave my bucket in the right place. I was beaten occasionally,
but ignored for the most part.

The obvious plan was to leave me in solitary
until the Blood Match. I wouldn’t have the chance to train, and I
would be put in the first round as an example to the others. I
wouldn’t be given a true chance to fight, and whether I tried to or
not, I would be killed by other Galdoni who were willing to stay,
who thirsted for the kill. The realization solidified. I would be
killed by Blade and his minions. It would completely destroy
everything I had been trying to accomplish.

I rose and walked the seven feet to the far
wall. The line of light that came through the side of the door fell
a foot short of the ceiling which brushed the top of my head if I
stood on my tiptoes. My wingspan full out was roughly eight feet,
and my wings ached to stretch to their full length. I put a hand on
the cold brick wall and debated my response to their scheme.

The solitary confinement cell was too small
to be an efficient training room, but I had to make it work. The
Blood Match was in less than a month, but I could lose a great deal
of muscle and strength by then, especially on my current diet and
if I stopped training completely. I put my back to the wall and
surveyed my dark cell.

The camera was in its usual place behind
thick glass in a corner where the ceiling met the wall. I put a
hand on the glass, picturing Brie's face, the worry in her eyes,
the pain in her smile, pain I had caused because I loved her.

“
I love you, Brie,” I
whispered. “Trust me. Everything is going to be okay.”

I tore a piece of the worn sheet that served
as my only blanket and forced it between the caulked edge and the
glass. It would keep Brie and the others from seeing me, which I
regretted, but it would also prevent the guards from watching me
train. It wouldn’t be long before they realized I had caught on to
their little plan, but I would do what I could in the meantime.

I had little to work with. There was no bed.
The sheet wadded in the corner made up my sleeping quarters. I had
a bucket for water, a bucket for waste, and the dim light that came
through one side of the heavy metal door for nine hours a day from
the hallway beyond. After that, it was the pitch black of a cave
deep in the earth. I could prop the flap over the door slot open
for a bit more light during the day, but it only made a slight
difference.

I sat in the middle of the floor and turned
to face one of the corners so that I could stretch my wings. It was
the only way I had found where I could draw them out to their full
length, and it felt good to stretch them after such a long
confinement. I then proceeded to map out an exercise program that
would keep my muscles from weakening.

The walls were just wide enough that,
stretched out, I could put my feet on one side and use my hands on
the other side to lift myself off the floor. I got to where I could
move myself all the way up the wall to the ceiling and back down,
and then I learned to do it with my back to the floor. I did
hundreds of crunches, pushups, sit-ups, stretches, and yoga
exercises to keep my body limber, then I turned to cardiovascular
training.

I created an intensive workout of
hand-to-hand combat techniques and kickboxing mixed with Chinese
scrapping. The result was a rigorous fighting workout that honed my
skills in close combat.

I had always excelled at weapons arts,
leaving close defense to basic wrestling and kickboxing moves. With
the limits of the confined space and the lack of distractions, I
practiced each day until I reached the point where I would be more
lethal at a close encounter than long range.

I spent a lot of time visualizing fights,
thrusts, blocks, attacks, and countering them until the motions
became instinctive and my body reacted fluidly to every encounter I
could imagine. My goal wasn’t to kill, just to defend in a way that
I could wear them out, protect myself, and hopefully make them look
stupid in the process. I just hoped it was enough.

The guards came irregularly to pull me out
to the blood room for beatings. The sensitivity my eyes formed to
the light in the rooms outside my dark cell alarmed me, but I
didn’t know what to do to counterbalance it. That would have to be
a bridge I crossed when I came to it. They took the cloth down from
the camera the first few times they came into my cell, then gave
up. I assumed they decided that whatever I was doing wasn’t worth
worrying over, and they would be rid of me soon enough.

Chapter Nineteen

The last beating was different. They avoided
my head and wings and instead focused on my ribs and stomach until
I felt the ribs give under their gauntleted knuckles and organs
bruise until I worried that they wouldn’t function correctly
afterwards. When they finally released the chains that bound my
wrists above my head, I fell to the floor in a daze of pain. I
didn’t realize until they dragged me into the cage that today was
the Blood Match.

A guard grabbed my hair and yanked my head
painfully back. “Now be sure to put on a good show. We don’t want
you dying without a fight.” He gave a cruel laugh and spit on my
face before releasing me. I crashed back to the cage floor and lay
there trying to gather my strength. A few minutes later, guards
entered the cage with the armor I would wear for the fight. They
strapped it on while others held whips and spears ready in case I
put up a struggle; then they backed away without a word and left me
in the small, empty gray room in silence.

I fought back an ironic chuckle. The guards
didn’t even bother with the pretense that this fight was for honor.
After our brief jaunt of freedom, we all knew the fights were for a
television show. I couldn’t decide if it was good or bad that the
guards gave up the lie. I shook my head and tried to focus past the
pain of my beating.

This was it. I didn’t know what to expect up
there, only that it would be different than any other Blood Match.
Most states had gambling halls that had been legalized for the
Arena battles. No doubt they were filled to the brim today.

I took several slow breaths to clear the fog
from the throbbing pain of my broken ribs and aching stomach, then
pushed myself to my feet to survey my armor in the hopes that the
guards hadn’t found yet another way to sabotage me.

The armor was light and looked more
intimidating than it was functional. Deep etches outlined feathers
in the light silver that barely covered my chest, ending at the
bottom edge of my rib cage and leaving my stomach bare. Gauntlets
ran from the middle of my forearm to my fingers, ending in clawed
tips like eagle talons that would protect my fingers but left me
free to use my sword.

The armor that covered my wings to the joint
and my back was also etched with feathers burnished light and dark
silver. The mask that had been fastened on fit well and didn’t
obscure my vision.

In all, the thin armor would do little more
than protect me from glancing blows, but at least it was something.
I had to give the Arena credit for making us look more like animals
than humans, something definitely in their favor if they wished to
continue the battles. An echo of my instructors’ words from when I
was young repeated in my head.

“
The Arena is sacred. You
fight for much more than honor, you fight for your place in the
heavens. An honorable death is the only way to ensure that you live
beyond the Arena walls. Do your duty to all of us and wear your
mask with pride. The Arena sands are sacred; covering your face is
a sign of respect for the honor you have been given.”

The gong rang, tearing my thoughts back to
the present and signaling the start of the match. The door to my
cage opened, revealing a short, steep walk to a hatch that opened
slowly, giving access to the Arena above. I gritted my teeth and
pushed my pain to the back of my mind. There would be no time for
weakness when I reached the square of light.

I rose slowly to the top and squinted in the
suddenly bright light. It took a few seconds of precious time for
my eyes to adjust to the light of the Arena. I crouched low
expecting an attack, but was surprised when my vision cleared
enough for me to make out David, Goliath, and another Galdoni I had
sparred with a few times. I wasn’t sure what he called himself. The
Academy name VZ790 came to mind from our encounters.

Goliath and David hurried to my side.

“
Kale! It’s so good to see
you! We thought you were dead!” David said excitedly.

I gave them a relieved smile even though it
was hidden behind my mask. “I thought the same about you. Looks
like we get to enjoy this together.”

David’s eyes creased with humor behind his
mask at the sarcasm in my words, which surprised me. As my eyes
adjusted, I got a better look at him. He appeared stronger, wirier.
He walked with the lethal grace of a hunting cat instead of the
gangly youth amble I remembered. “You’ve been training hard,” I
surmised.

He nodded. “Fighting to not fight,” he
whispered with a wink.

By this time, Goliath and the other Galdoni
had reached us. Goliath looked me over. I stood casually in an
effort to hide my bruises, but his brow furrowed. “You’re not in
any shape to fight.”

I shrugged and shook out my wings, enjoying
the added space. “Not like we have much choice, is there?”

A rare smile touched his eyes. “No, I guess
not.” He backed off a few paces into a defensive position, but I
caught his bass chuckle as he settled himself.

“
Where do you suppose they
are?” David asked, only the slight tremor in his voice giving away
his fear. His eyes, the only thing I could see behind a hunting cat
mask, darted from side to side. I glanced in his armor and saw the
reflection of my own mask; I had to fight back a grim smile. A
falcon’s sleek head, smooth brow, and wickedly curved beak
glittered in the light; with my armor, it looked especially
intimidating.