The Methusida was an entirely different animal to the Venopian. She was tall, strong, and wicked fast. Her tail had a habit of sweeping your legs out from under you if you weren’t careful.
She hissed at me as I edged closer.
The key to dealing with her was knowing which head performed which duties. Its brain was divided between the two heads. One half was more creative, the other more lateral. Physical attacks tended to come from one direction more than the other, the way a man might prefer to use his right hand more than his left.
The creature swung her tail out. I jumped over it and was quick to jump again when the tail came back toward me.
The creature hissed and burst forward, its swords striking at me. What it lacked in technical skill it made up with sheer numbers.
I parried its attacks and leaped back with my own. When I stepped back, the body on the right led the attack.
That was the aggressive sister.
Its tail swung across.
“Look out!” Alice screamed.
I barely brought my legs high enough as the tail swept to one side. I landed and thrust my blade out and swung down with the mace. The tail drove itself on the blade and the mace made a dull thud.
The right head hissed and swung at me with her blades. I expected the attack and met her with my sword. My mace caught her chin and knocked her unconscious.
The remaining sister screamed and dashed forward to skewer me.
I dived aside and rolled back up onto my feet. The tail swiped, but it was poorly aimed—it was largely controlled by the other sister.
The unconscious sister’s eyes fluttered.
She would be fully conscious soon. I needed to act fast.
I swung the mace around and swiped with my sword. The mace missed but the blade found its mark. I severed the left sister’s head from her shoulders.
It arced through the air and landed at Alice’s feet. She shied back and squealed.
I pushed ahead and struck the unconscious creature in the chest with the mace. The tail lashed out randomly and knocked me to the ground.
The Methusida spat and hissed in its death throes, so loud I could barely hear the crowd going wild.
I got to my feet and found my ankle was sore. I limped over to Alice.
“Are you all right?” I said. “Are you injured?”
“I’m fine!” she said. “But you’re hurt!”
I waved away her concerns. “It’s nothing. Just a twisted ankle.”
I sighed. “One more to go.”
I took the throwing knives from her and dropped the mace. It was too heavy and slow to use now.
Alice was left with the shield.
“I need you to head over there,” I said gesturing to the gate opposite the one yet to open. It would put her as far from danger as it was possible to get.
“I can help you,” Alice said, glancing at my injured foot. “Let me help.”
“You are helping,” I said. “The creature will see you when it comes out. It will move for you and I’ll be standing next to the gate when it does. The instant it comes out, I’ll decapitate it. Then this whole thing will be over.”
I kissed her again, gaining real strength from it.
“You just be careful,” she said with worried eyes.
Alice was gorgeous, no matter what she was wearing. I couldn’t take my eyes off her ass even though it was encased in armor.
The stagehands were almost done with removing the still-flailing creature. I hustled over and stood beside the still-shut gate. I felt the blade in my hand and drew it across my chest. In my other hand, the throwing knives. With any luck, they wouldn’t be necessary.
“Well, well, well, ladies and gentlemen,” the lizard man said returning to the dais.
The mayor and his guests were leaning forward in their seats now.
“The Methusida certainly gave them a little challenge, didn’t it?” he said.
The audience roared.
“No?” the lizard said, licking his thick lips again. “Then it’s about time we gave them a real challenge. It’s not every day someone wins such a big pot at the fighting pits. I can think of only one opponent who might challenge our brave warriors today.”
He waved his claws for dramatic effect. “I give you… the Rat King!”
Oh, shit.
I had hoped to end the last fight with a single swing of my sword… but decapitating the final beast wasn’t going to help me this time.
Unless I managed to decapitate all of its heads.
The gate squealed open. Even when it stopped moving, the squeals continued. Down the deep dark tunnel, squeaks issued up from a dozen torn throats, reverberating off the scratched walls.
The audience waited silently with bated breath.
Dozens of shining red points—what were its eyes—glowed as the creature drew closer, inching toward the sunlight, toward escape.
Toward me.
Just as the fuzzy dank fur of the Rat King appeared, I swung my sword, slicing off one of its hideous heads. Taking it by surprise like this was my best chance of success. So, I swung again and again. My blade finding heads, ugly claws, and gnashing chipped teeth.
The heads I removed were replaced by others. The bodies of headless comrades were dumped in the rat king’s wake.
The creature was not fast. Multiple rats fought to move in different directions. It only moved one way because enough rats wished it. It could attack in any direction, and all directions, at the same time.
The rats caught my scent and skittered toward me. I dashed backward and slashed again and again. Blood splattered and the giant rats only clawed harder.
A swipe tore gashes in my pants, across my forearms…
And then more of them sniffed the sweet intoxication of my blood.
I backed away, giving ground, but the rats were coordinated now. They came at me with snapping jaws and swirling claws.
Every attack I made resulted in a counterstrike. I couldn’t keep fighting like this. Not if I wanted to survive.
I turned and ran in the last direction I wanted to go.
Toward Alice.
“The shield!” I
