The Hunter on Arena (15 page)

“I don’t know what happened to me,” groaned the dwarf, burying his overlarge head in his broad palms. “Every bit of smarts
I ever had went out of my head, I were that mad. I jerked my pouch off my belt, opened the drawstring, an’ emptied it onto
the ground at ’er feet. ’Er eyes got so big she actually choked an’ couldn’t say a word. It were worth it to see the look
on ’er face. Me, I just turned an’ walked away like it didn’t mean nothin’. I never felt so good in my whole life. I felt…
big.

“Well, she couldn’t let me go, you know? She scooped up what was on the ground an’ come after me. An’ that were the start
of it. The start of the end, even if I didn’t know it then. Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t pretend to think that she liked
me, I never fooled myself into believin’ that. I always knowed it were the money an’ the gems. But it were nice to ’ave a
woman be good to me, even if it were just pretend.

“But she were expensive. First, mum’s ’ouse weren’t good for ’er, so she found a bigger place, one that suited ’er better.
Then, she ’ad to ’ave new stuff to put in it. All the things that ’ad been good enough for me an’ mum was garbage to ’er an’
she tossed ’em out when I were gone salvaging an’ bought new stuff that I ’ad to pay for. An’ clothes! I never knew a woman
could wear so many things or that they could cost so much! An’ of course, there was jewelry an’ presents, most of which she
bought for herself any time somethin’ took ’er fancy. But I ain’t complainin’, you understand,” the little man said with an
uptilted chin. “It were worth everythin’ I gived. It were
wonderful walkin’ down the center of the chambers with a woman like that on my arm. Seein’ all the others lookin’ at me, wonderin’
what I ’ad that could keep a woman like that ’appy. Seein’ ’er smile at me like she really cared. It were worth it all. Even
this.”

“So what went wrong?” Braldt asked softly, breaking into the dwarf’s reverie of remembrance.

“Huh? Oh, well you know, she kept askin’ for more of this an’ more o’ that an’ I didn’t ’ave no way of gettin’ everything
she wanted. I couldn’t take too much at any one time or they was sure to catch on to me. I was down to the last of what I
had put aside, an’ Mirna, that were ’er name, Mirna, it were like she sensed it somehow an’ she started to get restless, spent
a lot of time talkin’ to the captain of the guards, rollin’ her eyes an’ twitchin’ ’er ’ips. I weren’t dumb, I could see what
was comin’. It’s not like I couldn’t ’ave let her go, you understand, go back to the way things ’ad been before, it’s just,
well, it’s just I got used to having ’er around.

“So when this Thane came to me in the middle of the night with ’is big idea that were supposed to be so easy an’ earn me lots
of credits, why, you can see ’ow I had to say yes.”

“What was it that this Thane wanted you to do?” asked Allo.

“Nothin’ so very ’ard, at least it didn’t seem so in the tellin’. I were to sneak into the ’ome of the ’Igh Thane when ’e
were gone an’ find the program key for the ’bots.”

Randi and Allo murmured their understanding and exchanged meaningful glances. But Braldt was totally
lost, failing to comprehend what Septua was talking about. It was like so much that had happened to him since his capture.
He could hear the words, sometimes even put meaning to them, but they were seldom the right meaning and he was adrift on a
sea of confusion, feeling no smarter than the dumbest of beasts who trained in the arena. How could this vast world filled
with so many diverse life forms have existed without his knowledge? It made him feel small and insignificant.

“I do not understand what you are speaking of. Please explain the meaning of this program key,” he said quietly.

“Oh, Braldt, I’m sorry, I should have explained,” said Randi. “There’s no way you could know. Programs are the brains of the
’bots, it’s what tells them what to do and how to do it.”

“I see,” Braldt said, even though he was still very unclear about how such a thing might work. “What does this program look
like? Is it difficult to build one?”

Randi could not stop herself from smiling, but there was no malice in her expression nor in Allo’s chuckle. “Permit me,” he
said to Randi.

“I will try to explain, my young friend, even though it will be difficult to comprehend, coming as you do from a world that
apparently has not advanced beyond the Bronze Age.

“I am what is known as a programmer, or I was before I was promoted to involuntary gladiator. It is my job to write the programs
that the ’bots and other such wonders need to exist. I will not bore you with the details; perhaps at another time. Let it
suffice to say that
without these programs the robots and their fellow machines will not function.”

“You mean they will die?” Braldt asked incredulously. “All of these fancy machines and the hard ones will die, just like that!”

“It is a little more complex than that, but essentially that is correct,” said Allo.

“Then why would this Scandi Master want Septua to steal the program?” Braldt asked.

“That’s a very good question. Why would a Scandi want you to steal it?” Randi asked, turning her attention back to the dwarf.

“Don’t know,” replied Septua, raising his palms and shrugging broadly. ’E never said. Just told me where the programs was
put an’ gived me a time when the ’Igh Thane would be gone. ’Course ’e never mentioned no sensor beams nor no silent alarms.
Caught me with a handful of programs an’ a pocketful of saladium bars an’ rough-cut zourmalines.

“As for the Thane what ’ired me, well, ’e were right there beside the ’Igh Thane when they sentenced me. Never said a word
on my behalf. Not that I expected ’im to. An’ Mirna, she were there, too, draped on the arm of the captain of the guards.
Didn’t waste no time a’tall. Got to hand it to ’er, she be enterprisin’!”

“Didn’t you tell them about the Thane’s role in the matter?” asked Allo. “Surely that would have helped you.”

“Get serious—what kind of world do you come from anyway,” hooted the dwarf, shaking with laughter. “Tell ’em a lord put me
up to it. C’mon, who are they
gonna believe, one of their own or a dwarf who spent ’is life thievin’ for ’em? It weren’t ’ard to guess ’ow it would go down.
So I’m tellin’ you, Big Guy, don’t go trustin’ ’im like I did ’cause ’e won’t be there for you when things go wrong. An’ I
be livin’ proof of that! An’ for that matter, I ain’t so sure I trust you! Ain’t you the livin’, breathin’ copy of ’em? Tell
me that’s just a trick o’ fate!”

“I can’t tell you that, for I do not know myself,” Braldt replied slowly. “I do not know how it is that we come to look so
much alike. It troubles me more than you can know.”

“Your parents?” asked Randi. “Do you not resemble them and are they from your home world?”

“Those that I call parents are not of my blood,” said Braldt, his mind wandering back over the years to the little bit of
information that had been told to him about his origins. “I was found in the desert as an infant, wrapped in a blue robe and
shielded from the sun by my father’s body. He was dead when they were found. My mother was still alive, although badly burned
by the sun and the wind and she died without conveying any information.

“They carried nothing that would have given any hint of their origins for they were without any possessions other than the
clothes that they wore. And a ring. A large, silver ring with a blue stone, worn in the manner of my people, at the shoulder,
girding the ends of the robe together. There was nothing else.”

“And your people…” queried Randi.

“Look nothing like me at all. They are short of
stature and dark of skin with curly, brown hair and eyes. There is no one on our world who looks like me. Although our priests,
who have much to say about how the world is run, bear just such a device as this,” he said, touching the silver implant in
his skull.

“Is it possible that they are ’bots?” mused Allo.

“It is hard to believe, for I was taught to fear if not revere them,” muttered Braldt, “and yet it would explain much that
has puzzled me. They are always draped in heavy robes, their features never seen. If they are hard ones in disguise and not
live, that would answer many questions. They are spared from death, that we know. Some of them are many lifetimes old. This
is a thought that will take some getting used to.”

“What do you think it means?” Randi asked, turning to Allo. “Why would they go to all the trouble of planting the ’bots on
his world and giving them such an elaborate identity?”

“I don’t know,” he replied, shaking his furry head. “It could be that they colonized the planet with the ’bots, although it’s
strictly forbidden to colonize a planet that is inhabited by any sentient life form.”

“That could not be!” Randi said in disbelief. “The Council would learn of it and censure them harshly.”

The dwarf barked a mirthless chuckle. “Look around you, pretty lady. Does it look like they’re worried about being censured?
The Scandis, they do what they want, an’ right now, lady, they wants us!”

“What you have told us will give us something to think on,” said Braldt. “There is much here that must be puzzled out. But
I still feel that one of those men was
trying to send me a message, to hold out some form of hope. We must hold onto that belief and explore the possibility if it
is so, for it is doubtful that we can escape this place without some form of outside help.”

Braldt’s comments were interrupted by the dwarf’s rude laughter. He laughed until he doubled over, sputtering with tears wetting
his cheeks. “That one,” he said, “the one you are looking to for ’elp… that one be the Thane who betrayed me!”

Batta Flor and Ken’s existence took a strange, new
turn. They were armed and outfitted with protective leather to which neither of them were accustomed, but recognizing their
obvious value, they did their best to wear them without complaint. The weapons were exceptional in quality and staggering
in the multitude of choice. In the end, both settled for weapons they were most familiar with—swords, knives, and shields.
Batta Flor also chose a heavy club with a leather thong that wrapped securely around his thick wrist.

The two of them shared a cell with the lupebeast pup, a cell that had been carved out of the same red rock that everything
else was built of. It was large and had a single, barred opening set high in the wall, and two broad, sleeping platforms laid
with some sort of silvery fabric that was light and bouyant as well as warm. They were fed on a regular basis. It was strange
food, unfamiliar to them in taste, texture, and origin, but it was hot and filling and the ewers of hot liquid imparted a
tingling energy to their limbs. Other than their initial contact with the Masters, those who so looked like Braldt, they dealt
entirely with the hard ones and a surly reptilian servant class that went about its business without speaking.

Keri was filled with a sense of shocked disbelief that stayed with her throughout her days and nights. She felt betrayed as
well as bereft, but now there was the numbing ache of loss as well, for she truly felt as though Braldt had been taken from
her forever. She could not explain how it was that the Masters looked so much like him, nor could Batta Flor offer any explanation,
for he himself had never dealt with the Masters on their home world, only their minions, the hard ones. After his initial
confrontation, he had sunk back into his silence and although he remained close to Keri, he had few if any words to offer.

On their fourth day of confinement, they were wakened by the roaring of beasts somewhere nearby and the woeful shrieks of
a creature in mortal terror. Beast threw back his head and began a mournful accompaniment of his own. So unnerving were the
eerie sounds, that Keri’s stomach roiled and twisted and she was unable to eat her morning rations or even sip her cup of
hot brew. Batta Flor lifted his shaggy head once, listened, and then returned to feeding, cramming the food in his mouth with
both hands and downing Keri’s portion as well when it became obvious that she had no interest in it.

When the guards came for them, even Batta Flor guessed that something was different. They donned their leather armor and received
their weapons, but instead of being taken to the practice ring as they had been on previous days, they were led out into an
immense arena, surrounded on all sides with tiers and tiers of redstone seats filled shoulder to shoulder with blond-haired,
blue-eyed visages of Braldt. Beast pressed himself against
Keri’s legs and slunk forward with his jaw nearly scraping the ground and his long, thin tail curled up beneath his belly.

She did not have long to contemplate her discomfort. There was a hideous scream behind her and turning, she saw a horrifying
creature, neither animal nor human, but a strange combination of both, coming toward them at a swift lope.

It had six appendages on which it hurled itself over the loose sands of the arena, although all were not necessary for locomotion
for one or more were frequently in the air waving long-hooked claws that flashed in the bloody sunlight. It was a grotesque
thing with a semi-upright, man-like physique, but covered with coarse, mottled fur and possessing fangs and a horned protuberance
on its forehead.