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The first orc that comes at me is one of the younger ones. I might be half blind and still weak, but fighting is in my blood, and there are buckets of blood on my hands to prove this.
Fighting is a second language to me. Something I can do without thinking.
The orc slams his fist into my stomach, and I stagger backward, but I keep a hand around his arm and force myself forward while the knife in my other hand goes into his stomach.
He gasps in surprise.
Blood spurts from him. I know that it is only adrenaline, but I feel my strength return with every drop of blood that spills from him. I kick out at him, and my foot finds his groin. I twist the knife in his gut.
But I am not lucky for long. Because two of the orcs come at me, and while I stab them in several places, they’re all glancing wounds.
They punch and beat me, twisting my arms away from my body. My father’s knife falls to the ground with a clatter as they punch me in the face. I know that my face must be broken by the time they’re finished with me.
I sink to the floor again as they walk away.
They clearly think they have won.
I crawl towards the knife, which is about a foot away, as quietly as I can.
If I kill two more of them, I can die happily.
2
KIAN
Breath in. Breathe out.
You’ve been beaten worse than this before.
“I am Kian! The Undefeated Gladiator!” I roar, though I’m not sure it makes it out of my throat.
My left eye has swollen shut. I am quite sure that both my cheekbones are broken. I have lost two of my back teeth. Blood streams from the cuts on my face and head and from the wounds on my arms and legs.
I’ll go down fighting or I won’t go down at all,I think to myself and wince as I clench my teeth.
Pain radiates from my jaw to the back of my head. This is the first pain I am really feeling. It seems the adrenaline has protected me from pain until now.
But the adrenaline fades with each blow dealt to me. And I am still weak from the poison.
It’s not all bad. You’ve done some damage too.
I think this as I drop to my knees. I have lost the knife again, and earlier the orcs took turns beating me. They walked away to take a break, and I stood again. But they didn’t even bother to restrain me.
Any fool can see how weak you are! The question now is whether you’re going to give up or not.
The idea of giving up in a fight is foreign to me. That is not how my father raised me.
He raised me to be a warrior. He raised me to be undefeated.
But Father never showed you how to take on four orcs while poisoned with an unknown substance.
The voice in my head is not my own. Instead, it belongs to Uli. I clench my jaw again, ignoring the pain, as I think about my brother.
His voice resounds through my head, wise and slow and kind.
It is not your fault, Brother. Giving up isn’t something to be ashamed of. I am proud of how far you’ve come.
My eyes sting with tears of pain, and I groan as I roll onto my back. I reach down to feel my abdomen with my right hand, the only appendage that isn’t damaged beyond repair. My abdomen feels soft and tender, and I let out a surprised gasp of pain when my hand brushes against my ribcage.
