Chapter Forty-Eight – Sixblood

  Gray stood with his squad in the center of the field. Fieldkeepers held a red ribbon which encircled the last remaining eighteen squads. When the Fieldkeepers dropped the red ribbon, the game of Sixblood would begin.

  Freek was nearby, and he caught Gray’s eye. “Should’ve run more, I guess. Nice job winning the Crush Rush. Orcs were made to fight, not run.”

  “Running is another way of fighting,” Ames murmured to no one in particular. “Run, run, run away to fight, fight, fight another day.”

  Gray approached them, and Froggy was nearby.

  Froggy nodded at him. “With only five in your squad, your chances are for shit in Sixblood. Running isn’t going to help you.”

  Rynn glared at the frog-faced woman and didn’t say a word.

  Froggy only smiled. “I’d suggest we three summer program squads form a coalition, but I figure that went out the window. We didn’t steal your shit, angelhead. We were just messing with you.”

  Rynn shrugged. That all felt like ancient history.

  For whatever reason, Gray believed her.

  Freek was oblivious to the drama. “Coalitions never work anyway. We’re all here to win the top spots. Only the top three ever really get noticed, unless someone shines along the way.”

  Gray glanced at Rynn, to see what she thought, and she frowned.

  Midj charged forward. “Now, that’s not always the case. Five years ago, there was an alliance of squads that didn’t place in the top three, but those folks got good spots in different families. Folks who can work together are always stronger than those who go it alone.”

  Gray thought of something that Blind John used to say. “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

  Freek smirked. “Sounds nice, but not here. This is First Field. We have to go fast, and we have to go far, and nothing else will do. Lucky we got our squads, all seven of us. It’s a shame that you only got five. Then again, you’re working for Captain Failsworth. She hasn’t had a squad do well in decades.”

  “Centuries,” Froggy coughed.

  Gray ignored the trash talk. “This year’s different.”

  “Yes, it is!” Rynn exploded. “Captain Sevanya has spent several lifetimes running squads through

  First Field, and she’s scoured all of Midmere to find the best. Aunt Florence would say that you’re teasing us because you’re jealous.” She winced. “Not that I think you have an envy resonance.” She soon recovered, and she was about to really go on a ramble when Gray moved in front of her.

  He put out a hand. “Good luck.”

  Freek’s smile was quizzical. “Okay. Yeah. We’re floormates. Not the same squad, but Third Barracks rule.”

  He shook Gray’s hand. As did Froggy.

  “Third barracks for life!” Froggy added.

  “Hopefully not,” Gray said with a laugh. There was no use making enemies, and while Freek and Froggy had tried to mess with him, they’d stopped. Pinch, though, was a different deal.

  “Squads ready?” a voice boomed out.

  “Squads ready!” the recruits barked.

  Floating in a cloud of yellow mana, Crewel drifted from the boxed seats of the orcish royal family. It was interesting he was there with the Rabbia clan, but then again, Pit City was under their control—or was it the other way around? In Crewel’s skeletal hand, he held a glowing ball that changed colors—from red to purple to blue and down through all the colors of the rainbow. Hanging from the six hoops were six ribbons of different colors. Those didn’t change.

  Crewel briefly explained the rules, though there weren’t that many. “The fire numbers above shall count down the minutes of the game.” He motioned to two giant zeroes made from flame, visible in the shade of the canopies. “We’ll play for fifteen minutes. In that time, your squads must score points by passing the ball through the matching hoop. Now, this ball has all the colors and any hoop will do. And that may or may not change. Sixblood can be played in any number of ways…as you’ll soon see. The squad that scores the most points will win the gold. Squads that score zero points will be culled. Those that murder will be murdered in return. This game will end in exactly fifteen minutes. Now, why are we here? Say it with me!”

  The entire coliseum changed along. “All is the Testing! All is the Test! We bloody our recruits to find the best!”

  “Bloody, but not murder,” Crewel said with a sharp smile. “Now, squads, take hold of your magic and believe in the strength of your squad. Begin!”

  He threw the ball into the air and the guards dropped the red ribbon.

  Pinch flew up, caught the ball, and spun around. Her fae squad had already dropped back to guard the red hoop which was on the left in the middle of the field.

  Pinch threw the ball, but Blythe, in her dragon form, soared up and caught it, making the fairy shriek. The dragon girl was alone for a second, until several catkin leapt into the air, trying to scratch the ball out of her claws. It was almost as if the cat people could fly because they could jump so well. Blythe, though, flew through cats.

  Other recruits from the beastkin squad fell back to guard the blue hoop. Other groups followed the same tactic. Freek and his orcs had claimed the green hoop while Froggy’s base was yellow. Blythe’s team chose purple while the dwarven team claimed the orange hoop. Captain Sevanya had said that most of the time, squads found a hoop, guarded it closely while the rest of their team went out to capture the ball to pass it to their squad, so they could score the hoop. Already, other teams were battling it out to get access to the last remaining hoop.

  With only five in his squad, Gray knew they didn’t have the manpower to guard and hold a base. He shouted, “Remember the plan!”

  Blythe threw her ball back to Sindara, who then tossed it through their hoop. One of their squad mates caught it.

  Crewel’s voice boomed across the field. “First point scored to Squad 49! Second ball added. The color is red for now, though that will change with each point!”

  If Blythe’s team was Squad 49, they’d been added right before Culling Day. That made sense, given the timing of their betrayal. Gray, though, was taken back. Having balls that had to match the hoops added such chaos to the already chaotic game.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  A second ball dropped out of thin air and into the middle of the field. The sphere gleamed a bright scarlet. A fae zoomed through the air and caught it and went buzzing back to where Pinch was by the red hoop.

  Gray shouted, “A red ball won’t help us. We’re sticking with the plan.”

  Blythe’s hoop was overwhelmed by attackers, and soon, a dwarf boy was speeding past them clutching the rainbow ball to his chest.

  Midj made a fist and her manahand slam down in front of him. He bounced off it, knocked senseless. The multi-colored ball went rolling across the field.

  A dog man scooped it up running toward where the beastkin had set up their base.

  Midj blurred as she sped over and snatched the ball from him. She went to throw it to Gray but the dog man was faster. He leapt onto the goblin girl, ripping into her shoulder with his fangs. The dog man then tossed her aside, and she went rolling across the grass and flinging blood everywhere.

  Crewel’s voice boomed, “Point scored to Squad 1! Second ball color is now blue!”

  Squad 1 had to be Pinch’s team, but now that the red ball was blue, it was totally useless to the fae. They would be coming after the beastkin and the rainbow ball. But Rynn had beat them to it. She snatched the ball from the dog man and tossed it to Gray, who caught it easily.

  He had a ball. Now, he just needed a hoop. “Now, Tomi!”

  Tomi shifted into her giant cat girl form, and he followed her, racing toward Froggy’s yellow hoop. Rynn sped over to join them while Ames went to heal Midj.

  Tomi bashed through both bearkin and Rynn took care of both the big orc girl and Froggy herself. They were about to score when Pinch soared down and slammed her shoulder into Gray’s face. She flew up and tossed the rainbow ball to her team. A second later, Blythe slammed into the fae, smacking pinch senseless with her long, serpentine tail.

  Crewel again. “Point for Squad 7. Second ball’s new color is now green!”

  Squad 7 were the beastkin with the vicious dog man and the very speedy cat girl who had placed in the top three of the Crush Rush. They’d managed to get the blue ball away from the fae.

  A second later, “Fourth point scored to Team Seven. Second ball’s new color is green!”

  Freek’s orc let out a howl as the big orc himself thundered across the field, heading toward the beastkin’s hoop to get the green ball. With him were two big bruisers, including Kade, but they had their work cut out for them. It wasn’t like the beastkin were going to let go of the ball even though it did them no good.

  Meanwhile, Pinch’s squad scored again, and then again, because their rainbow ball could be used multiple times without changing color.

  All the squads converged on the fae, who had formed a phalanx to keep invaders away. It was clear that Squad 1 was going to win, but that didn’t change Gray’s need to get at least one hoop, or else his squad would be culled.

  Crewel’s voice thundered over the field. “Point to the orcs of Squad 19! A third ball is now on the field, yellow for now. The ball will change at next point.”

  Freek let out a victorious cry and the rest of his orcs screamed with him.

  The bears on Froggy’s team roared from their yellow hoop while the rest of their team went after the new ball.

  Gray was back behind Tomi as they ran toward the fae’s hope, but they arrived too late. Squad 33, the dwarves, had already managed to get the rainbow ball away from the fae, but it was soon grabbed by Blythe again, who seemed to be the only dragon on the field.

  “To the purple hoop!” Gray called out. “Go!”

  Tomi switched course and he ran behind her as they broke through the lines of the human squad just as Blythe tossed Sindara the rainbow ball. Sindara tossed it through the hoop with a grin and some bald guy caught it and tossed it back through to her.

  “Point to Squad 49!”

  “Another point to Squad 49!”

  Blythe’s squad was racking up the points, but they were still behind the fae squad.

  A manahand slammed into the bald guy, thanks to Midj, and Ames came out of nowhere. She tossed the ball to Gray.

  He caught it. “This is our chance, Tomi. Lead the way to the purple hoop! Go!”

  Tomi lowered her head and started for the hoop, bashing her way through the humans.

  Sindara leapt at Gray, but he dodged the redheads attack. Gray was about to toss the ball through the hoop when an invisible wall slammed down in front of him. He ran into the goblin’s mana, face first, and he felt his nose burst. The ball went flying.

  The minutes were ticking down. Score after score was being made, but Gray’s team couldn’t find a way in. Having only five players was a true liability, but it wasn’t just that. Pinch’s fae were coming after them, making sure they didn’t have the ball. The fae had spent the first part of the game racking up points. Now, they could just pester the other squads. Blythe made sure the fae squad didn’t spend the entire rest of the game tossing the ball to each other high in the air. Other beast kin leapt up as well to steal the balls away.

  On the ground, Tomi took another hit, this time from one of Froggy’s bearkin, and she went down, hard. She spat blood, and there were tears in her eyes, but worse than her despair was her core. It was dangerously low on mana.

  He ran to her while Rynn, Midj, and Ames chased after the rainbow ball. Crewel kept calling out that other teams were scoring with the other two balls. Squad 23 was running out of time.

  Gray bent down. “Tomi, we can do this. Don’t give up.”

  Tears tumbled down her furry cheeks. Her eyes showed pure agony. “I knew the game was pointless. We can’t win because I’m not strong enough. I’m weak, stupid, useless.”

  Gray grabbed her chin. “No. You’re my squad mate, and I need you. I can’t go home and neither can you. So we have to get a point. One fucking point. I’m going to carry the ball, and you’re going to charge in, because I’m going to overcharge you with mana. At the last minute, I’m tossing you the ball. Do you understand me? You’ll shift human, and I’ll give you a shot. You have to make it. You have to!”

  “Gray!”

  Rynn, face bleeding, hurled the rainbow ball at him from across field. She gave it everything she had and collapsed to the ground, out of mana.

  Gray caught the ball, changing colors faster and faster now that the fire numbers were counting down the last minutes of the game.

  Tomi was up in a flash. The closest hoop was the one with the red ribbon, unguarded for the moment because the fae didn’t seem to be interested in winning.

  Or maybe not. Three fae landed to block their way. The other four—including Pinch—were coming in on whirring wings.

  Once again, Gray was behind Tomi, running, feeling her heat, smelling her scent, the pair going in for that one last point.

  The countdown began to count down the seconds as the fire numbers ticked down. “Thirty, twenty-nine, twenty-eight…”

  Froggy’s two huge bearkin thundered across the ground, coming for the ball.

  “I’m giving you mana, Tomi. Don’t go down.” Gray searched for her core but couldn’t find it. Dammit. She kept herself so hidden. “Tomi, I need you to—”

  She let out a strangled scream, running as fast as she could, clearly losing control of her emotions.

  At that last possible moment, Gray found her core, and he infused her with mana. She grew larger, ran faster, and Gray had to sprint to keep up with her. His head was spinning, and he felt like he might throw up, but he couldn’t let himself. It was pure willpower that kept him on his feet behind the cat girl.

  The bear men slammed into her, but she shook them off, and somehow, Gray ran through their slashing claws.

  Still, they had three fae warriors in front of them, the toughest warriors at First Field. Getting through them was unlikely.

  Midj sprinted over, becoming thinner, using up every bit of her mana, as she smashed into one of the fae, throwing into the wall. She’d taken out one, but two were left, and they fell into a defensive position, one going high one going low.

  Tomi didn’t stand a chance.

  Only at the last minute, she shifted.

  Gray handed her the ball and then threw himself in front of the fae. One tripped over him, and the other slammed his fist into Gray’s face. His world became pain and confusion.

  Wiping the blood from his eyes, he managed to see Tomi toss the ball through the hoop as the crowd changed: “Ten, nine, eight…”

  The ball went through the hoop.

  Crewel finally had some good news for them. “Point to Squad 23!”

  And the crowd counted down to zero.

  The game of Sixblood was over. Gray’s squad hadn’t won, not by a long shot, but they hadn’t been culled. Three teams hadn’t scored any points, and so, only fifteen squads remained.

  Tomi, still human, had her back against the wall, and she was sobbing. Gray went to her and held her. He wasn’t sure what the tears were about, maybe relief, maybe something else, but either way, she could cry all she wanted. She had earned it.