Chapter one
I thought that I was imagining it and that somehow I was seeing a hallucination. She was standing there and she was looking at me and I had to look back at Braden to see that his expression was exactly like mine. We were both stunned, completely taken aback by seeing Gemini walking like nothing had happened to her.
“What’s the matter, Shana? Are you are a bit surprised to see that Gemini is ready to take the fight to you? I have to admit that my medicine man did a great job of healing her wounds.” I saw that he was gloating and then looked to Gemini to see that she was not showing any ill affects of what my armor had done to her. That seemed almost impossible and I had literally beaten her to an inch of her life. There was no way that he could possibly get her back into fighting form in time for the tournament. Yet, the proof was in the way that she was now standing there with her hands to her side and waiting for me to make the first move.
I’m just a little surprised to see that she’s able to compete. She really did take a beating. I’m not you that she’s ready for something like this. I would hate to take advantage of somebody that wasn’t at 100%.” I knew that Braden was probably thinking the same thing. Gemini had seen who did this to her and I was curious of the fact that the guardsmen had not come into restrain me for prosecution.
“I can assure you that she’s fully capable. Her body is healed, but her mind is not completely unscathed. Apparently, the medicine has given her a clean bill of health, but it also left her with a case of amnesia. She remembers nothing of the last few days. In fact, she’s different, more focused and not at all interested in excuses. I think you can see that she’s not exactly the same woman that you remember, Shana.” I didn’t have the opportunity to look into her eyes, but when I did, I felt like this cold icicle being driven into my chest.
There was no emotion and she looked like she was some kind of drone doing the bidding of Lord Vadam. She stared me down, unblinking and I had this momentary thought that it would be nice to have my armor present. I wasn’t sure why I was thinking that, except that it felt good to punish her. My armor had taken the revenge in my heart and turned it on the woman that had become the bane of my existence.
“I’ve talked to her extensively and even though her answers were short and sweet, I became quite convinced that she was ready to step back into the tournament. Believe me, I was just, as shocked as all of you, but pleasantly so. She is my crown jewel, my secret weapon and now she is more of a warrior than I could ever hope for.” There was nothing there, but this pure rage that seemed to direct itself at me.
“I don’t think that she’s completely ready. It would be better that she had more time to compose herself. Maybe this memory loss is only temporary and that certain things will jog her memory back to the surface of her consciousness.” I’d always been fascinated by the human mind. It was capable of a lot more than most people even could imagine. With positive thoughts and envisioning things to happen, you could practically roadmap your life the way that you wanted it to go. I was all about meditation, controlling my thoughts and sending out to the universe a message of self confidence. I found that only a few minutes a day had made it easier to control my thoughts.
“Are we going to do this or not?” Her voice was cold and I got this funny feeling that whatever love that she had for Lord Vadam was gone. He was now seeing her as the perfect vessel to destroy my chance of winning this for the Red castle. “I don’t have all day.” I had to take a step back, realizing that she was not going to get caught up in any petty arguments that we had previously had. She wasn’t even looking at Braden and this time my death would not be stopped because of her latent feelings for Braden. Nothing was going to stop her and the only thing that could was going to be me.
“I like her attitude. She doesn’t think of anything besides the task at hand. I think that I’ve always been looking for somebody like her, but have never found her. I think that we are all going to be very surprised by the results of this contest.” I was beginning to think that maybe all was lost, but then my mindset switched and began to see that the only thing that was stopping me from vanquishing my foe was me. If I believed that she was going to beat me, then I would be on the ground looking up at her unemotional face.
“I know that you can beat her, Shana. I know that deep down you have the tools. Just reach in to where you keep them and pull them out when you need them the most. It’s like sex, you just have to show confidence and be ready for just about anything.” Braden was only trying to help. I was nervous, but not as nervous as I thought I was going to be. Something had changed and I was looking at her and she was looking at me and I think we both knew that this battle was going to be one for the ages.
She came after me, not saying a word. Where I was expecting a primal scream of some sort was more of a determined woman on a mission. I moved slightly, seeing her in my mind’s eye going by and then slamming my elbow down onto the back of her neck. It didn’t knock her out, but did momentarily stun her. She looked at me and was rubbing her neck. I think that she was getting the idea that I wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
The way that she was dressed had given her an air of mystery, but when I stripped all that away, all I saw was the vulnerable woman underneath. I didn’t have to worry about the warrior, because the warrior was just a myth, something that was placed there to make me feel like I was inferior. I worked on the premise that she was the one that was weak, unable to withstand the onslaught of my attack and then I perfected that into something that I could use against her.
She was already feeling the effect of my first counterattack. I’d heard all my life that the best offense was a good defense. If I were to strike out on my own, I’m sure that she would have seen it come. Instead, I stayed completely still and waited for her to react. I could see that she was getting antsy to the point of wanting to do something. She was almost willing me with her eyes to come after her and even that slight smile that was meant to be condescending did not get my goat.
I had centered myself, allowed the universe to surround me and keep me in its embrace. She went into these moves that looked very precise and intricate. Some of them impressed me. They could do some real damage and I think that she was trying to instill in me some kind of fear. At first, I felt ill equipped to deal with something like this, but then I stood there and narrowed my eyes and gave her no hope for a sneak attack.
I breathed deeply and watched her hands and suddenly they began to slow down, so that I was literally watching them go by. I don’t know what other people saw, but to me this was a well choreographed ballet. I could see all her movements, predict where they were going to go and I moved to make a concentrated effort to give her nothing to strike out against. She was the one that was feeling the effect of doing those moves and I hadn’t done anything, but move slightly to the side each time that she had decided to level a blow.
“Do something.” Her anger was evident by the way that she was gritting her teeth and breathing heavy after such an exhaustive display of expertise. “Why do you just stand there and do nothing? Why do you infuriate me to the point that I just want to kill you?” I could see that she was making slight mistakes. There were chinks in her armor that had never been seen before. “My purpose is to end you and by Lord Vadam’s decree, it will be done.”
She slashed across in a wide arc and caught my face. Her fingernails dug into the skin and caused the blood to come to the surface. She had only done it to make me angry and had I been wearing my armor, I was almost assured that it would have attacked on my overwhelming and demanding thoughts. It would feed on my desire for revenge. Without it getting in the way, I could concentrate on going further in the competition.
“I’m not going to give you the satisfaction of a response, Gemini.” I think that I was secretly happy that she didn’t remember a damn thing. It was possible that those memories would resurface, but for the time being, I had nothing to worry about. The only thing I had to do was make sure that she was incapacitated for 5 minutes and the best way to do that was to let her tire herself. That was when I would strike. This tactic was working like a charm and she was having a hard time trying to balance herself after putting such an effort forward.
“You will fight me, or you will die where you stand.” She came at me with her hands lethal weapons. I felt that numbing pain in my face and I think she had only done it to distract me and make me think about it and nothing else. It worked to a point, so that she could at least get a few good strikes in that made me feel like I was losing a step.
The shot to my kidneys made me twist against the attack, not quite knowing how I was supposed to avoid something like that. I gave in to my emotions, letting them carry me on a wave that would probably be detrimental to my health and well being.
“I never said that I wouldn’t fight you, Gemini. What I said was that I wasn’t going to give you the satisfaction of fighting you on your own terms. It’s obvious that I would probably be beaten quicker, if I were to stand here and fight back. You’d use that against me; try to find that opening that you could use to make me suffer. I know that you have never gotten over Braden. You may say that you did, but I think underneath it all that you still secretly harbored a desire to be with him. You wouldn’t have been with him in the first place had you not seen something that was worthy of your love. I have him now and that must burn into your very soul like a knife.”
“You talk a good game, Shana. You have no idea what you’re talking about. I don’t feel anything towards Braden. I don’t feel anything towards anybody. The only thing I know is that your death will make me smile and that’s more than enough to make me want to do it.” She came in with a knee and I moved, while bringing my hand up underneath her knee, so that I had her leg immobilized and was able to bring my elbow around to strike at the side of her head.
That resounding smack caused everybody to stand on their feet, watching, as she stumbled after feeling the effect of what I could bring to the table.
Chapter two
I had walked down this path with the express purpose of taking out my competition. Gemini was going to stand there and bring her best. She had not gone down, but she did slip to her knee and then back up on her feet. I had caused her to feel like her life was on the line. This was not going to be easy. To beat someone with no emotion meant that I had to use her hard focus against her.
I was smiling and I think that was getting her even angrier. She was slightly out of it, her eyes looking around like she didn’t know where she was. “I can’t believe that you just did that. I will be victorious and the sooner that you realize that, the better off all of us will be. This is a losing battle and by the time everything is said and done, I will be the one that is taking the place of one of the guardsmen. I will be the first woman to do it and I will take away the one thing that you desire most. It will give me infinite happiness, even though I don’t feel any more. I don’t know what happened, but I get this funny feeling like you’re responsible.” Her subconscious was telling her that I was the one that attacked her. I was lucking and it appeared that those memories were still currently out of reach.
“I know what you’re trying to do, Gemini. You’re trying to throw me off my game, but it’s not going to work.” I’d seen that she was not invincible, not some warrior that was going to destroy me and leave me vanquished in the sand for everybody to look down upon from the stands. “This is just a tactic and it’s not going to work. I really don’t care what you throw at me. I could be half dead and still beat you.” This was a very bold claim to make and not one that I was sure that I could back up with actions.
“I don’t think you know what you’re saying, Shana. It’s one thing to avoid attack, but it’s another thing to beat me in a fair fight. I don’t think anybody has been able to do that and that was when I had emotions to cloud my judgment. I have a vivid clarity, something that makes me look back at those times that I was strangled by emotions and wonder just what the hell I was doing. That accident had certainly showed me the right way.” The one thing that she didn’t know was that emotions were necessary and without them, we were basically robots. Without them, we didn’t have a mind of our own or any semblance of how to deal with certain aspects of humanity.
She was missing that piece of the evolutionary scale and I was going to capitalize on. Emotions were the one thing that we could hold onto.
I brought my leg straight out, but instead of catching her in the nose, I smashed into her shoulder. It made her moan, but she did not go down and I felt like I was in a fight for my life. I didn’t know how true that was, because in her eyes was this one track mind of killing me. This was a reward to Lord Vadam for taking her underneath his wing. She still had this need to please, even though she probably didn’t even realize that that was what she was doing. His bidding was her only thought and that was going to get her killed.
She was a consummate fighter and the way that she moved was conducive to somebody that had a lot of training. I think I was using the fact that she didn’t know anything about the person that attacked to give me a leg up on the competition.
“It’s not going to help you. If you’re going to beat me, then you’re going to have to become something that you’re not…a killer. I can see it in your eyes and you’re just not capable of snuffing out a life. You hold each life precious and that is going to be your ultimate downfall. Shana, Your kindness is your weakness. I’m going to take great pleasure in making you realize that emotions are for fools.” She rolled on the ground, coming up with sand in her hands that she threw into my eyes.
It was unpredictable and I wasn’t quite ready for it. I was trying my best to get my eyesight back, while knowing full well that she was going to use this. I felt her pound me and I was barely able to move away from the fist that had my name written on it.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Gemini. It’s my capacity for good that is going to make it easier to defeat you. You’re so caught up in feeling nothing that you don’t have any clue that that is the one thing that is going to hurt you the most. It’s those feelings that make us who we are. It’s that fear that makes us want to fight and it’s that nervous energy that makes us want to come out on top. You fight for the Lord and I fight for the masses. Women everywhere are looking to me to become their role model. They want me to be victorious, because that will give them a reason to stand up. That is not something to be afraid…it’s something to rejoice.”
“Shana, I really don’t care what you have to say. I don’t care that you want to give these women the rights that they deserve.” I think I was seeing something that she didn’t want me to see. “You just finished telling me that women deserve equal rights. If you really believe that, then maybe deep down you know that fighting me is wrong” It was a shot in the dark, but something that I had to try.
Using that newfound knowledge, I moved quickly to her side, while bringing back a straight kick into her ribs. They were the perfect target and the most vulnerable when it came to hurting the form of a human being.
Following it up, I held the back her head, while repeatedly smacking my elbow against her face. I didn’t know how long I had been doing it, but when I finally let go of her hair, her face looked like how I felt. She was swaying on her feet, looking like some kind of drunken person looking for a handout.
“This is what you get for coming after me, Gemini. Remember this day and I hope to god that we never have to have a repeat performance.” I ran towards her, leaping into the air and bringing down a superman punch. I made contact with the bridge of her nose, landing on one knee with my face looking down at the sand. I had my eyes closed and had she had anything left, she would have turned and most likely put her hands around my throat. I wasn’t putting up any kind of fight, turning or even facing her for that matter.
I didn’t even bother looking at her and that might’ve been the wrong thing to do, but I felt like it sent a message to those that would face me next.
I heard the soft thud and I glanced back. I was pleasantly surprised to see that she was on her knees. The last shot had taken her out of her boots and your entire body was swaying like a tree that was going to come down at any moment. Everybody was on their feet. All the women were hanging over the sides to get a better view.
Gemini’s hands came down into the sand and blood was now dripping onto her hands. She looked up with her eyes burning with rage and she managed to get on her feet, although I don’t think that was the most prudent course of action. The best that she could do was stay down and hope for the 5 minutes to elapse quickly. She didn’t do that, because she wasn’t thinking clearly.
“Get up…you damn fool. Don’t make me have to punish you.” Even though she didn’t remember the last few days, something was ingrained into her about the mark that was currently placed on her body. She turned her head abruptly, but she wasn’t looking at me. She was looking up at Lord Vadam and at that moment, I could see that her main focus was not on me anymore. “Don’t even think about it.” She ran towards the stands and I watched quite fascinated by the way that she seemed to move with the grace of a panther. She leaped over two guardsmen that were positioned underneath the parapet. Lord Vadam was standing with a look that I could only be described as fear. It looked good on him. I didn’t like feeling this way, but he had given me every reason to.
“I think that we should get you out of here, Lord.” He wasn’t budging. There was no way that he would be able to stand here in front of his people without looking like he had tucked his tail and ran away from a fight. Instead, he reached for something that was hidden from view, lifting it up and showing everybody the gleaming metal of this sword that looked like it could cut through just about anything. He looked confident, but I was betting the farm on Gemini. She looked like she was a woman possessed.
“I’m not going anywhere. She can come, but she better know what she’s doing or she’ll find out in a hurry that I’m not just going to stand here and take this insubordination.”
Gemini was only a few short feet away from her ultimate target. Her mind had been twisted by a man that only wanted her for the ultimate weapon. “You’re the one that did this to me.” She turned towards the people, showing the mark and then pointed toward Lord Vadam, as the culprit. It was widely known that there was a rumor going around that he did such a thing to those that he was displeased with. It was one thing to think that you knew it, but it was another thing entirely when you were forced to face it up close and personal.
Chapter three
They were staring each other down and Lord Vadam had his sword at the ready, but I think he even knew that he was up against a woman that wasn’t going to take no for an answer. “I need you to back down, before this escalates any further, Gemini. Remember your place.” That was the last thing he should have said, because she reached out and grabbed onto that sword and pulled it from his grasp. She held it out and then without warning drove it into his side. “NOOOOOOO.” The man that was standing beside him at the time had decided that a hasty retreat was in order. He was not concerned with his Lord and was more concerned with his own safety.
Using one hand, Gemini pulled herself up and was now standing on the parapet like some kind of animal about to attack its prey. “I’m through taking your orders. I am nobody’s slave and I will not be treated like one. This ends right here and right now. Your conditioning might have worked, had you not been, so hell bent on revenge against the woman that didn’t do anything to you. Shana has only done what she thought was right and for you to think otherwise has made you begin to think that you are superior. Believe me, you are not anything of the sort. You are a weak minded man with a god complex that needs to be taken down a peg.” The blood on the blade of the sword was now calling attention to it.
All I had to do was look around at the people in the stands and they were now glued to the spectacle of someone about to kill the Lord. I could see that they were afraid that their way of life was in jeopardy. Those that felt that way began to pelt Gemini with food and any other things that they could hold in their greedy little hands.
One look from her steely eyes and they stopped this form of ridicule. “Leave this to me and stop this petty nonsense. If he is meant to die, then he will by my hand. If he’s not, then somebody will come to his rescue, but it doesn’t have to be you people
“They are only trying to protect their way of life, Gemini. You would know that, if you were thinking straight.” I had begun to realize that she had gotten her memory back. It was in her eyes and the way that she looked at me with animosity, but also with respect at the same time. I thought that she would be angry with me, but I think any anger that she felt was directed towards Lord Vadam and his rule of tyranny.
She was about to make the final blow, when two arrows came out of nowhere and pierced both of her shoulder blades at the same time. To her credit, she did not scream, but she did drop the sword with a resounding clang that could be heard by all. Two guardsmen came through the doorway leading to the parapet. They were holding those bows tight with arrows ready to take down the enemy. They were acting like good loyal foot soldiers. You couldn’t expect anything different. This was the way things were.
They got on either side of her and escorted her from the terrified and wounded Lord Vadam. He was doubled over, but he had the semblance of mind to stand to address the crowd. “Gemini is not feeling well, so with that in mind, I have no choice but award the victory to Shana.” I knew that it was killing him to say that, but he had no choice. It was obvious that Gemini was not going to fight me any longer. “I will do my best to help Gemini and I hope that everybody prays for her.” There was a moment of silence and everybody was throwing their good wishes and vibes towards a woman that had shown that she wasn’t going to bow down.
Lord Vadam barely turned and started to fall before one of the guardsmen helped him up. He was slapping his hands away. He wasn’t going to show this kind of weakness in front of his loyal followers. He managed to stand on his own 2 feet, but you could see that it was a shaky beginning and most likely was going to a very shaky end. I still don’t know how he was able to leave on his own power, but that was a testament to the man that he was trying to project others.
“Lord Vadam is being taken care of at the moment. As his second in command, I will commence the next competitors to fight.” I’d heard from Braden and Lord Vadam’s second in command was named Rodham. He always stayed behind the scenes, but today he had to take front and center, whether he liked it or not. He had flowing black hair, which he had pulled back into a ponytail. He was wearing the customary black castle armor. Had Lord Vadam been wearing his armor at the time, he might not be in the position that he was right now.
Nicholas and Ansel prepared to go one on one. The battle commenced and there was no doubt in my mind that Nicholas would be the one that was standing victorious over his enemy by the end of it. The way that he fought showed no wasted motion and even though he was hurt several times with right crosses that probably would have brought down a rhino, he continued to persevere.
“I don’t know what’s keeping you standing, Nicholas. I’ve seen some amazing fighters in my day, but you take things to the next level. I’m not sure what you’re going to do next and that in itself makes you dangerous in my opinion. I have no choice. but to kill you, because I don’t think that you’re going to stay down any other way.” Ansel was bald, except for the strip in the back that he had held onto with grim death. This was his last vestige for having hair and he was not going to let anybody take it away from him. Unfortunately, Nicholas did not get that memo and he used it as leverage, pulling it back and literally ripping it from its roots. Only small bits of hair remained and I could see the look on Ansel’s face and I knew that he wasn’t going to take that lightly.
“What are you going to do about it, Ansel?” He had found something uniquely personal to Ansel and now he was using it to better formulate a plan of attack. “I just took the one thing that you hold the most dear in your life.” As proof to his prowess, Nicholas raised the ponytail into the air and swung it back and forth like a trophy. This brought forth a medley of laughter. It only infuriated Ansel, but of course that was going to make him careless and reckless. He had made the mistake of letting Nicholas goad him into doing something that was ill advised.
Ansel came forward with his hands outstretched with the express purpose of wrapping it around Nicholas’s throat. His anger blinded him and Nicholas separated his hands out, blocking both of Ansel’s hands and preventing him from getting a grip on his sinewy throat. With him wide open, Nicholas stepped forward and smacked his head repeatedly against the face and nose of Ansel. He did not stop and some of Ansel’s blood was now congealed in his hair.
He finally stepped out of the circle, dizzy from having to slam his head into Ansel’s face. Thankfully, he had used the strongest part of his head. His forehead showed the brunt force impact of what he had just done. The red welt was nothing compared to the blood that was now coming out of Ansel’s nose and face. It was obviously broken and he swung wildly, not quite knowing where he was, until finally collapsing onto the ground.
After the 5 minutes had elapsed, everybody looked around and they noticed that the winner by default was the Red castle. Myself, Braden and Nicholas stood tall, as the victors, but then Lord Vadam came back out on the parapet with the medicine man by his side. He didn’t look good, which meant he had forced himself to come out, but to what end.
“I’m calling for a writ of dissension. If there is anybody that stands against me, then do so now or forever hold your peace.” This was not how the saying went in my world. Marriages were made on vows, but it also allowed for somebody to deny them their happiness by stepping in and giving a reason why they couldn’t be married. Most often than not, it was because of a past love or possibly a dalliance the night before with a lover that just couldn’t take the answer no.
I had not heard of the writ of dissension. I could only assume that it was a very old rule that had never been used, until today.
“I’m not sure what you’re trying to pull, but it’s not going to work. As you and all of your loyal followers can see, the Red castle is the victor and there’s nothing that you can do about it. I would say that you should lick your wounds and go somewhere and stop meddling, but I don’t think that you’re going to do that. I will be one of the guardsmen and the three of us will take our rightful place, as members of the Black castle with Lord Russum, as the new Lord of the Black castle.”
“I’m afraid, Shana that you are mistaken. This rule states that there cannot be a clear-cut victory or winner after the first three stages of the competition. I have initiated the writ of dissension. This means that two of you are going to have to give your loyalties to another castle. If you cannot decide within a 24 hour period, then the decision will be made for you.” I didn’t know what quite to say. I’d no idea that that was even possible and I could tell that most of these people were a little loss for words. “I have made the decree. I will have a representative from each castle going forward.”
“This can’t be true. You’ve got to be joking and after everything that we’ve gone through and you throw this at us.” I was only voicing my opinion.
“I’m not going to stand here and defend myself, because I don’t have to. Trust me, this rule is real. I am exercising my right to bring it into play. If I had my choice, I would ask for Nicholas to stand with the Black castle, but that is his decision to make. I think that he should seriously consider my proposition. It’s not every day that the Lord of the Black castle singles somebody out to become part of the elite. Remember what you are betting on and think carefully on where your loyalty will lay at the end of the competition.” Lord Vadam was trying to influence Nicholas, although it appeared that one of us was going to have to give up our right to the Red castle. Actually, it would be two of us and we were going to have to figure out who was the best to lead the Red castle to victory.
There would be a 24 hour reprieve, but then the next part of the competition would begin. At that time, one of us would be in the white armor, another one in the red and the last, but not least would be in the black.
Lord Vadam had insisted on trying to stack the deck in his favor. It backfired in a big way and opened up a small door for the Red castle to step through, as the victor. It was a good thing that he knew about the writ of dissension. He probably did his research after finding out that I was going to be part of the competition. He wanted to know all the ins and outs of the rules, including anything that was innocuous that he could use to make others bend to his will.
All three competitors were not only from the Red castle, but they were also lovers. My heart would always belong to Braden, but I would always have a soft spot for Nicholas. I liked that both men were a little naïve and had no idea what kind of sexual delights that I could show them at any given time.
“I think that we should all get together and discuss this as adults. We need to make a consensus decision and not let Lord Vadam dictate the terms of where our loyalties lie. I know that Shana would agree with me, but I’m not sure what exactly is going on in your head, Nicholas.” Braden was trying his best to gauge Nicholas and find out what his initial response to this new wrinkle in the competition was going to be.
“I think you both know that I’ve always had the Red castle in my heart. What you don’t know is that I’m all about competition and I will jump on the first bandwagon that leads me to being declared the winner. It won’t matter to me which castle it is and I will make my decision with the only thing in mind that matters…victory.”