Chapter 296: The Arena
I pulled Bob as my partner for the ride over.
Without any intents, hopping on without a single shred of purpose, a unifying neigh, and the turn of a wheel later, there his curious gaze silently stared, hovering across from only but three feet away.
With a bright yellow hard hat swallowing most of his head and hair, tight-fitting suspenders lifting tattered, oil-stained jeans, and small tools for every scenario hoisted up his belt buckle... I say he was pretty much as bizarre of a sight as I was to everybody else, and that’s quite a substantial remark considering he ain’t the one with tinkling bells on his head chinking ever so faintly with every swivel of the carriage wheel.
He really was a stranger to behold.
A little while later, I’d find that he was also a stranger looking to befriend me as well. Bob raised a gloved hand, his stare suddenly accompanied by a little smile.
“Hey,” He said. “I’m Bob.”
Or so it would seem.
.....
“Hi Bob,” I replied, keeping up with the formalities. “I’m – ”
“Don’t worry, I know that already,” He jutted his hand out further, his smile a wry one. “Big Man, right?”
“Yep,” I shook his hand at his insistence, feeling the sleek hardness of leather brushed against my palms. “Big Man, indeed.”
He gave a firm shake, a tight squeeze, and a loud breathy squeal. “It seems like you’re kinda fucked here, Big Man.”
A shaken composure is one way to break a person’s concentration. I suppose Bob here knows a fair bit about playing dirty. Something tells me I’m gonna have to keep my eye on this one on top of the usual suspects already.
However, if he really wanted me quaking in my boots here, he’s gonna have to try a whole lot harder than just outright stating the obvious, and besides...
“Game hasn’t even started yet,” I said, slowly retracting my hand back to my side. “Let’s not jump to conclusions right yet, alright?”
“But you can’t deny the stakes, can you?” He remarked, feigning a lax casualness to his tone. “I mean if I were you... yikes. Would winning even be worth all the trouble? All those people after me? Those sinister eyes on me? Ugh, I wouldn’t think so.”
“See, and that’s where you’ll never be me, Bob, because I would certainly think so,” I said, feigning an amiability of my own, in my smile, in my gaze, “And they are most certainly worth all the trouble, all the people... and all those sinister stares, yes.”
He didn’t answer, he kept silent, his helmet in a wobble, tilting forward, briefly obscuring that lingering stare of his. Wasn’t sure exactly what he was thinking, but if I knew anything about anything, I do know this one thing for certain...
“It’s quite rude to stare,” I muttered.
Then before either of us could do any more, the carriage came to a slow, gradual halt. Bob’s helmet stopped wobbling, and my bells stopped chiming. From beyond the carriage walls, I could hear the distinct muffled noises of excitement.
Loud Cheering. Incessant Yellings. A rowdy crowd in abundance...
Suddenly the carriage doors swung wide open, and with a courteous bow, the carriage driver motioned us to promptly disembark. I took the first step forward and out of the rickety space, as did many of the other champions it seemed... each and every one of us were simply a stone’s throw away from one another.
The starting point for the race was something I thought briefly about doing the short ride over. I’ve stumbled upon many points of interest doing my stroll around the town with the others, and many of those points also seem to fit the bill just right.
Theater building has a large expansive field just right across its premises. I also noticed the Library in particular had wider roads around the block. But if we’re talking horses, and if we’re talking races... then there was only that one other place that comes to mind, wasn’t there?
And seeing the rows and rows of bleachers jam-packed with a hectic audience abuzz numbering in the hundreds, and the small wooden stages on either side of a long expansive stretch of dirt that our feet have now trodden upon, I was glad to see that I was right on the money.
The jousting arena. Seems plenty obvious in hindsight.
Seeing the number of people that came to gawk and goggle, I pretty much abandoned all hope in trying to spot either Adalia or Sera among all the chaos.
But I know they’re here somewhere. They each have their own reasons to watch things unfold, whether it be out in the open or lurking among the shadows...
They’re watching.
Looking around, I noticed everything around the place mostly stayed unchanged, with only the slight changes here and there to better fit the special occasion.
The arena itself was retrofitted with a grander space, the fence all around disassembled and whisked away, as was the narrow beam in the center. In its place were thirteen sturdy steeds with thirteen roofless wagons laden to their reins, kicking dirt into the air with their restless hooves.
Elsewhere, I noticed the judges were given a special place, a bigger place, to better oversee us in the stands. A special compartment with a high vantage point, they sat in leather-padded seats, looking as ever as high and mighty as they do.
If you’ve ever seen or been in an arena before, then you pretty much know how it goes... this fair was just your typical standard affair.
As for where the princesses’ were... I was prime to believe that I’d only see them here as like, small little beautiful specks from afar, staring down at us from up high, similar to the judges.
But they weren’t. They weren’t specks, and nor were they afar... in fact, locating them was so easy, it was almost bizarre.
They came forth, emerging out the rows of horses, pacing forward prim and proper towards us champions, stopping just short of a few steps to coming into contact, before they lowered their heads in a graceful bow.
Now, no one gave me the damn memo that we were supposed to bow back, so when I noticed that everyone else around me had their heads slanted too, I was already a solid three seconds later than everyone else to properly reciprocate the greeting.
Still did it anyway, regardless... garnering a few stifled chuckles from all around at my expense.
Then from up the old announcer’s podium in the distance came a familiar voice, magnified to a hundredfold by hidden speakers strewn about the vicinity.
“LADIES AND GENTS!” It proclaimed, booming so hard and loud, I’m surprised my heart didn’t immediately rupture by just the force of the sound waves alone. “THE TIME HAD COMETH FOR SOME RACETH!”
Tyler welcomed the explosion of revelry sounding from all around with open arms, his smile euphoric, and his euphoric contagious.
“TWENTY-FIVE CHAMPIONS! THIRTEEN CARRIAGES! AND A WHOLE BIG ASS TOWN TO HAUL THEM AROUND IN! CAN YOU FEEL THE EXCITEMENT? CAN YOU FEEL THE TENSION? MY BONES ARE QUAKING!”
He went off on a long tangent of build-up and hype, I could have paid attention... but I was kinda focused on not having broken eardrums for a change... so...
But midway through trying to enter a state of zen, I caught a glance of somebody else glancing... or should I say glancings. Ash and Amanda were a subtle pair, but not too subtle...
Pretty sure they were prohibited from talking to any of the champions unless permitted, but that didn’t stop them from trying anyway – their eyes spoke volumes larger than any dictionary volume with just one furtive stare.
My time playing charades with Sera has prepared me for this very occasion, and eye-language was pretty much my second tongue.
Amanda’s dark hazel eyes were the tenser of the two, and so easily I could hear her voice echoing in my head already.
‘What do you think you’re doing? Are you mad? This is not what I thought you’d do! Why did you do this the way that you did?’
But there’s also an inkling of joy in the batter of her eyelids, a sort of pleased one, a giddy-looking one... like I just paid her a compliment, and she hasn’t a single clue how to react to such bold shameless flattery.
‘Are you really doing this for us both?’
Meanwhile, Ash’s gaze was more on the line of concern than it was anything else. She blinked light blinks, her sparkling emerald eyes searching for assurance.
‘Will you be alright, Master?’
To both of them, I tried to give an answer, the same answer, blinking, staring, ‘Yes’.
“Alright!” Tyler dramatically dropped his voice, his grand magnificent speech was coming to an end. “Enough with the chit-chat, let’s get some races going, eh?!”
The crowd cheered in agreement, and he was only happy to please them even further.
“Okay, okay, now... our champions are to be sorted into two teams, one from either camp, as one, they will together come out on top of the others. Sorting the champions to their designated teams, well... our lovely princesses here are more than happy to be up to the task.”
Oh, so that’s why they’re down here with us in the first place. Gonna lead us personally one by one to our carriage, it seems. Probably as a way to remind us what we’re fighting for... the carrot on the stick held inches above the tip of our noses.
“As for who gets sorted first,” Tyler continued. “That’s up to the princesses’ themselves I guess. Don’t really got a chart or anything, so – Yo! You two beauties down there! Pick someone from your team to escort, and make it flashy! Say their names so the audience can hear too!”
Hearing that, barely even a moment after Tyler had finished his sentence, Amanda was already taking in a breath. Ash already had her lips parted open.
“Big Man!”
“Master!”
They proclaimed together in unison. Then, gradually – silence.
“Ah!” Ash shot a hand up to her lips, her eyes wide in surprise. “My apologies, I mean – Big Man, yes.”
Alright. That’s... I’m pretty sure no one was expecting both to suddenly say my name, judging by the glances I was getting from the other champions at least.
Dirty, sinister glances at that.
I forgot how offensive eye language can get.
Maybe I should pick up another language to learn instead...
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