We joined a short queue of fellow warriors. Some were big and strong, others bent and old and weak. Bigger prizes tended to attract more applicants. Even the ones that stood no chance. One guy was so old, his scraggly white beard almost touched the ground. I’d seen more meat on a chicken carcass.
“What are we doing here?” Alice hissed.
“We’re enrolling in the fighting pit competition,” I said.
She stared at me like I was crazy. “I thought you hated the fighting pits?”
“I do.”
“Then what are we doing here?”
“Just because I hate them doesn’t mean we can’t use them.”
“What if you die?” she said. “I’ll be stuck on this planet with no way of getting home!”
“Don’t be silly,” I said. “You’re coming with me.”
I’d never seen her speechless before. Her mouth fell open and she just stared at me. She stared for a long time.
“You’re crazy!” she said. “I can’t fight! I lost in a fight with Nancy Nedry and she only had one arm!”
“You don’t need to fight,” I said. “But you can give me a hand. Two people maximum per entry. It means we can take in twice as many weapons. We’ll need them to defeat the three challenges.”
She gaped in horror. “I’m a weapon stand?”
“You’ll be helping me. I won this competition years ago. The prize money was enough to set me free. It can do it again.”
“How?” Alice said, still panicking.
“The prize money is huge,” I said. “Enough to buy a small ship. Nothing fancy, but enough to get us off this planet. I know where my crew will go. The one place they’ve been trying to get me to pillage this whole time.”
“How can you be so sure?” Alice said. “The galaxy is a huge place. They could have gone anywhere.”
I kissed her on the forehead. “Trust me. You’ll realize why they chose it when we get there.”
“Next!”
It was our turn. But Alice didn’t look convinced.
“I need you to believe we can do this,” I said. “If you’re really against it, we won’t do it. But I’m telling you, this is our best shot.”
Alice ran a nervous hand through her dirty hair and let out a deep breath. “Okay. But don’t expect me to bond with you in front of thousands of people. I don’t care how hurt you get.”
I chuckled and kissed her again. “I don’t need you to bond with me to feel stronger. I only need you by my side.”
“That’s not what you said in the captain’s quarters…”
“Next!” the creature at the table barked.
He was a lizard with sinister yellow eyes and sharp teeth. He tapped his claws on the table, his head balanced on his chin. His tail turned around a table leg.
“Name?” he said, bored already.
“Zaydor,” I said, spurting the first name that came to mind.
“How many in your team?”
“Two.” I brought Alice around. “She’s the other one.”
The lizard looked her over and his long tongue licked his thick lips. “And what’s this morsel’s name?”
“Al—”
“Alzore,” I said. We didn’t need to be using our real names. Not when there might be Enforcers in the crowd.
The lizard looked Alice over. “Are you sure you want her as part of your team? She looks like she would do far better in the pleasure houses.”
“Pleasure houses?” Alice said, disgusted.
“Thank you for the compliment,” I said. It was never a good idea to irritate the workers. They had a lot of input over how well—or how badly—you performed in the pit. “That’s how I met her.”
“Stamp here,” the lizard said, holding the contract out for me.
I planted my palm on a large square ink pad and pressed it to the paper.
“By signing this document, you assign all rights to the illustrious owners of the fighting pit,” the lizard said in a bored voice.
“What?” Alice said.
I took her hand and stamped it first on the ink pad and then to the contract page. “We agree.”
“Congratulations,” the lizard said, snatching the contract away and tucking it in a thick folder. “May your death be slow and entertaining. Food, beverages, beds, and showers are available inside. Use them at your leisure. Next!”
I took Alice’s hand and dragged her inside. She was so shocked, her legs were hardly working.
The interior was different from the last time I was there. It was cleaner, with fewer blood stains and singe marks on the ceiling. The layout was identical.
I led Alice through the largely empty hallways to the dining hall. The other gladiators were busy conversing with one another. They looked me over with interest and snorted and shook their heads when they saw my partner. Alice turned her nose up at them.
I loved her spirit.
Few of the fighters had their own armor and weapons. Fewer still had the battle-hardened physique of former military personnel.
They looked more competent than I’d like.
We loaded up our plates with food and sat down at a quiet table in the corner. Alice looked pale.
“Eat up,” I said. “You’re going to need your strength.”
She glanced at the other tables. “I’m not sure I can do this.”
“Of course you can,” I said. “You just need to keep your wits about you. I know you’re not a fighter. That’s why I’m going to protect you.
“I can’t kill people,” Alice said. “I have trouble killing a fly.”
“Kill people?” I said. “We’re not here to fight the other gladiators.”
She perked up. “We’re not?”
“No. We’re here to kill the monsters.”
She looked surprised by that. And pleased. A little.
“We have to face three challenges,” I said. “One at a time. Beat them, and we move onto the next stage.”
Alice relaxed. “That’s a relief. What sort of things will we be fighting?”
“Monsters from lots of different worlds. We won’t know until we get out there.”
“Are they big and scary?”
I couldn’t lie to her. “Yes. But don’t worry. I’ve seen these monsters before. I know how to defeat them. I’ll do the fighting. I just need you to hand me the weapons when I ask.”
“I know. I’m the weapon stand,”
