AllFreeNovel
Share Us
KAIO
The snow was going to bury us alive.
I ran faster, scooping Gwen up and throwing her over my shoulder. The case she held onto like a precious child slammed against my back as she jolted up and down against my body.
“Just drop it!” I yelled, knowing even as I said the words that she would not. It was important to her, I realized that. And Dismor had made efforts to ensure it accompanied us on our journey. Still though, it was better to carry only what was necessary, especially at this point.
As we edged toward the end.
I knew in my gut that the final battle was coming, and the stakes had never been higher. Because now, I did not only risk losing the promises of Bloodworm’s contract, causing fifteen hundred of my citizens to pay the price in the next annual games, but I also risked the loss of Gwen.
And I could not lose her. I knew it would break me, when nothing else in my life had.
“I’m not dropping it! Not after we’ve brought it this far!” She gasped out the words as her chest and stomach knocked against me, pushing the breath out of her in violent exhalations.
“You are incredibly stubborn.”
The avalanche was a fury of sound now, barreling down the mountain. There was little chance of us beating it. But I had to try.
My legs pumped tirelessly, carrying us across the shifting snow beneath. As I moved, I looked furiously for an escape. Bloodworm would not let his prized marketing angle die in something so pedestrian as an avalanche.
Would he?
Just when I’d given up on saving myself, resigning myself to suffocating under layers upon layers of snow, the ground opened up beneath us and Gwen and I fell into a black, seemingly bottomless pit.
She screamed, trying to cling to me desperately. But her body floated away from mine as we spiraled into the darkness below.
Just when I worried we’d fall so far the impact would kill us instead of the avalanche, we hit a spongy surface that molded to our bodies and absorbed the pressure of the fall. Gwen rolled away from me, her bag momentarily forgotten, and struggled to her knees as she breathed erratically.
Dim lighting ran along the ceiling of the space we’d fallen into. When my vision adjusted, I could see it tracked a long way, eventually growing too dim to see down a tunnel. The space was tall enough to stand up and wide enough for three to walk side-by-side.
Above us, we heard the violence of the avalanche rush over the trap door that had saved our lives.
“Jesus,” Gwen breathed out, “that was close.”
“Too close,” I agreed, standing up and running my hands down the curving wall. The tunnel was bidirectional, running behind us and in front of us, but the lights were only working going one way.
“Where are we, anyway?” Gwen joined me at the wall, tracing her own fingers over the smooth surface. As if answering her question, as if he’d been listening the entire time, the tunnel became brighter thanks to the appearance of Bloodworm’s glowing, disembodied head.
“Kaio!” his drawling voice boomed, accent thick as he chewed something dark in his mouth. “Sorry about that! We’d primed the avalanche for another gladiator pair, but they were killed before making it to that zone. Our engineers saw movement and initiated without verifying identity.” He laughed, opening his mouth wide to reveal black stickiness clinging to his yellowing teeth. “Wouldn’t that have been the irony to end all ironies! My most important gladiator ever buried in snow and not able to face,” Bloodworm stopped talking abruptly, giving a wink. “Well, not able to fight the final battle!”
“How do we get out of here, Bloodworm?” Gwen moved into view, crossing her arms and glaring at the commissioner. I smirked, loving the way she liked to take charge even though her head barely came to my elbow and she was about as fierce as an Earth kitten.
I’d always wanted a kitten. They seemed so fluffy.
“Follow the yellow brick road,” Bloodworm grinned. The track lighting grew even brighter, revealing that the floor was painted a garish yellow.
“You think you’re really clever, don’t you?” Gwen rolled her eyes.
“Clever enough.” His hand came into view for a nanosecond as he shoved a wad of something in his mouth and started chomping noisily again. “Just follow the tunnel and you’ll end up where you need to be.”
Bloodworm’s glowing head began to fade. “And Kaio? Don’t go dying before the grand finale spectacle begins. I’ll void our contract if you do.” His bellowing laugh echoed through the tunnel long after his head was gone.
“Do we have to do what he says?” Gwen stared down the long tunnel that seemed to go on forever. “I hate confined spaces almost as much as I hate snow. Or heights. And we’re underground. Who’s to say the tunnel won’t collapse at any second?”
“Bloodworm wouldn’t save us from one catastrophe just to plunge us into another. He wants me in the final battle. He wants the ratings my victory or death will bring.”
“Your victory, Kaio. Not your death. You’re not going to die.” Gwen threw herself against me, hugging me tightly. I wrapped my arms around her, inhaling the scent of her. She still smelled of the Verukan sudsflower. I felt the world slow to a stop as we stood there and I realized I could live an entire lifetime right now, here, in this moment. Even if I died at the end, facing whatever horrible thing Bloodworm had planned for me, I’d be satisfied.
