There were soldiers arrayed all around the city and stationed strategically at the coliseum. Both Kajo and I had bodyguards, some of them from the neighboring city-states that had come into town to strengthen alliances with Kajo and the capital city. Delicha had hinted that Kajo was worried about an attack by Rhone and the disgruntled, racist Bordash. I assumed that is what had had Kajo tense in the few days leading up to the Day of Joy, but that morning, it seemed all Kajo could do was smile at me. He seemed to especially enjoy brushing back my blonde hair when it escaped the intricate braids and cradled my face. It was a close enough contact to sizzle a small spark, but not so much that we had any major physical reaction.
The open lust in his eyes when he saw me in the tight-fitting outfit for the Day of Joy made me want to drag him upstairs, for a fleeting moment. It seemed he was thinking the same thing when he took three quick steps, nearly grabbing me, but his bodyguards appeared and escorted us to the hovers. His hands couldn’t quit playing with my hair the whole ride to the coliseum and his eyes ventured a peak at my breasts every thirty seconds.
We touched down inside the giant, open air circle and the crowd roared. There was a suspended platform for Kajo to make his speech from. He left me with a slight nod and I followed Delicha to a place for nearby seating. Strange eight-legged horse-like animals with cat heads lined the coliseum floor, pulling wagons decorated in all colors. Curan and Bordash in splendid costumes were ready to ride in the carriages for the parade. Kajo stood up on the suspended platform, thirty feet in the air, and he began to speak, his voice amplified.
“My dear Farian brethren!” Cheers drowned out his opening. “Welcome to the Day of Joy!” Plummeting projectiles, clashing weapons, and angry cries drowned out his next words.
I spun around to look up at the coliseum walls. The Bordash soldiers from the nearby city-state were attacking!
Bodyguards had immediately floated up to Kajo, prepared to forcibly remove him from his station, but he was flinging back attackers, raining rocks and weapons, and suspending attacks as swift as they happened. He spun from side to side, a whirl of telekinetic power, never letting a weapon strike him, preventing many from striking others, holding a vast attention on where I was sitting, throwing aside any rock or weapon that rained down in my direction. I couldn’t believe his skill. He was so strong, composed, striking down the onslaught, showing no fear, just steady control. His hands were whipping every which way, and then I heard his voice, as clear as if it were my own thoughts: “Hide under the hovercraft, Daphne. Now!”
He had used telepathy to communicate with me and it was dizzying how clear his words were. He hadn’t tried that with me yet. My brain felt rocked, as if someone had reached in and squeezed out some of its wrinkles.
Delicha and I moved quickly to the underside of the hovercraft we had landed in. I hoped no one knew we were there, as it made quite the target for massive disruption. Every now and then, there was the thunk of something that had fallen down onto it, but it held steady over us.
Spectators were screaming, coliseum walls were collapsing as telekinetic warriors used pieces of the siding as weapons. I peered out from under the hovercraft and saw a figure that sent the same cold feeling up my spine that I felt every week handing in progress reports on my team: Rhone. Rhone was there, armed with his glowing sword, and he was fanned by dozens of other Bordash and they were all armed with guns.
“Guns!” Delicha gasped out the word beside me and I looked at her. “It is illegal to bring in guns from an outside world. We all use telekinetic power. There’s hardly anything stronger. But guns fire so quickly and repeatedly, that they give an unfair advantage. It’s a matter of honor.”
“Rhone has no honor!” I hissed back and Delicha nodded. We stayed hidden, but I peeked out enough to see five of the Bordash soldiers aiming their guns up at where Kajo was on the platform.
Just as the soldiers began to fire, other soldiers, on Kajo’s side, began to teleport in. Flashes of brilliant green and blue lit the arena, obscuring everyone’s sight for a matter of seconds. Then the hand-to-hand exploded. Rhone’s soldiers, all Bordash, fired guns while Kajo’s allies, made up of both Curan and Bordash, swept aside every bullet with either a glowing sword or a telekinetic motion.
Then, Kajo’s soldiers began to fall. The barrage of automatic gunfire was too much. They could only sweep aside so many bullets at a time, they could only anticipate the trajectory of so many at once. Now, Rhone’s soldiers were on all sides.
I dared to look out, trying to see Kajo, but his platform was empty. Had he fallen?
Right before I pulled back under the hovercraft, my heart beating fiercely, Rhone’s eyes scanned the battling field and, somehow beyond somehow, he caught my eye. I scrambled back beneath the shade of the hovercraft, but not before I heard him barking orders and ten sets of boots stopped right outside the hovercraft.
Delicha had a knife out in an instant and was preparing to impale feet with it when there was a heavy
