“I don’t know what to tell you,” I said. “Maybe they’re waiting for later in the competition. You know, to see how things are going.”
“You had better be right!” she snapped as she turned and walked toward LaBerge.
Fourteen said, “I have never seen her so angry.”
“Stick around,” I said. “It’s early.”
When she got to the center of the field, Veego motioned for Challenger Green and me to join her and LaBerge. The two of us strode to the center of the grassy playing field from opposite pegs on. They were, of course, green. Duh. His eyes were locked on mine. He was doing his best to psyche me. I kept my face blank.
“I will explain the rules,” Veego said.
“Don’t bother,” I said. “I know how to play.”
I saw Green stiffen slightly. Oops. Maybe I had been too cocky. I didn’t want to tip my hand.
He snarled, “I know too. Let’s go.”
“Very well,” Veego said. “Begin on the horn.”
Veego and LaBerge walked away, but as they left, LaBerge stopped and gave me a confused look. “How do you know this game?” he asked.
“Didn’t you know? I’m an honorary Batu,” I said.
“You are?” LaBerge said with shock. He looked quickly to Veego for a reaction. She didn’t give any. Obviously LaBerge didn’t remember me from Veelox, and Veego didn’t bother to remind him.
I focused on Challenger Green. The guy had no idea what he was in for. I almost felt sorry for him. Almost. I had seen the Batu warriors of Zadaa play this game many times. I had watched Loor triumph. When she put me through training at the Mooraj camp, we played this game constantly. You know the rules. The idea is to use your wooden stave to knock the wooden pegs off your opponent. The first one to knock off all the pegs wins. Simple as that.
Green and I locked eyes. He said, “You shouldn’t have come back.”
“Why?” I asked. “Are you afraid of losing?”
I saw his eyes widen. I had touched a nerve. This was going to be fun. I clutched my stave and bent my legs slightly. I felt totally comfortable. It was like riding a bike.
The horn sounded, and Green charged me so hard and fast that I didn’t have time to react. He drilled his head into my chest and knocked me flat on my back, hammering the air out of my lungs. Green tossed aside his stave and wrestled me to get at the pegs. I guess I could say that he wasn’t playing fair, but I didn’t think there was any such thing as fair in these games. If I didn’t do something fast, this fight would be over before it even got started. He had already pulled off two pegs and was going for the third, when I drilled my elbow into his jaw. He wasn’t expecting that and rolled off. I rolled the other way and scrambled to get back to my feet.
Green didn’t give me time to recover. He charged again, without his stave. This guy wasn’t about finesse. His plan was to use brute force to beat me. He was like an angry charging bull. I bent over as if trying to get my breath, but I was waiting for him. He screamed as he lunged. I drove my staye forward and caught him in the gut.
“Oooph,” he grunted in pain.
I pulled my stave back and expertly spun it left, then right, knocking off both his arm pegs. It was pretty clear how this fight would go. It was style versus strength. Green wisely backed away or it would have been over right there. He clutched at his gut and looked at me with fiery eyes.
“You use that weapon like you’ve been trained,” he said.
“You think?” I shot back.
Green scooped up his stave and came at me, more cautiously this time. He held the stave low, pointing one end at me like he was going to poke me with it. I almost laughed. The guy didn’t have a clue. He jabbed at me a few times, but I flicked his attacks away easily. I was getting my breath back now. All I had to do was wait for him to make a mistake, which he did pretty quickly. He took a few steps back, then threw the stave at me like a spear. He followed right behind it, charging at me while screaming out a horrifying war cry. Yeah, right. Nice try.
I knocked the spear away easily. When he lunged at me, I faked a swing, which made him falter. I then jammed the end of the stave between his knees and pushed. Green’s legs got tangled and he hit the grass hard. Before he had the chance to get up, I flicked away both pegs from his legs. AH he had left was the peg on his head. He was about to roll and get up, when I jammed the end of the stave into his neck, pinning him to the ground.
“It’s done,” I said. “Drop the last peg and I won’t hurt you.”
It was like I had thrown acid on him. He let out an angry scream and pushed to get up. Too little, too late. I held the stave to his throat and kicked the final peg off his helmet.
A horn sounded. The match was over. Winner- Challenger Red!
I backed away from him, still holding the stave ready in case he tried coming after me. He lay there for a second, breathing hard. When he sat up, he gasped, “This will just make my victory even sweeter.”
“Yeah, whatever,” I said as I backed away. I didn’t dare turn my back on him. I walked backward all the way until I got to Fourteen.
“That was very good,” he said with no emotion.
“You think he’s mad?” I asked with a chuckle.
Fourteen said, “That was the first time Challenger Green has been defeated. Ever. I would say yes, he is angry.”
Green got up and stormed off the field toward his own dado. Round one went to me. I was happy that it was a fight I was familiar with, but the idea that it was brought there from Zadaa was disturbing.
Round two proved to be just as disturbing. We were brought in separate carts deep into the forest. When we finally broke out of the trees, I saw that we had come upon a giant round aboveground water tank. The thing was huge. It had to be three stories high and fifty yards in diameter. I knew it was a water tank because the sides were clear.
“What’s this?” I asked Fourteen. “A swimming race?’
“Not exactly,” he said. He led me to an open elevator that brought us up to the top. I was feeling nervous because, once again, Nevva hadn’t told me about any games that had to do with a giant tank of water.
“Have you spoken to Nevva Winter?” I asked Fourteen.
“I am afraid not,” he answered. “I have been with you the whole time.”
Oh. Right. As we rose higher in the air, I looked around to see if I could catch sight of Nevva. She was supposed to be here in case the worst happened. I figured she was nearby, watching closely, ready to jump in if things went south.
The elevator reached the top, where a bridge led to a platform in the dead center of the tank. Waiting for me there were Veego, LaBerge, and ChaUenger Green.
“Find Miss Winter,” I said to Fourteen. “Now.”
I walked across the bridge to meet my opponent while Fourteen went back down in the elevator. The three watched me with sour expressions. We had only finished one event, and I was already proving to be a pain. I liked that.
“Kind of a Sea World thing you got going on here,” I said.
Nobody reacted. I wasn’t surprised.
“This is a timed contest,” Veego explained to me, and probably to the rest of Quillan at the same time. “Whoever remains on top the longest is the winner.”
I figured this would be some kind of fight on the platform where we had to try to dunk our opponent.
It wasn’t.
LaBerge produced two clear globes that were very familiar to me, unfortunately.
“Where did you get those?” I asked with surprise.
They didn’t answer. They didn’t have to. I knew the answer. They were air globes from Cloral. This was even more disturbing than the game from Zadaa. You guys know how these air globes work. The material is created from minerals on Cloral. When you put it over your head, it becomes soft and formfitting, with an airtight seal. The silver device attached to the top is a breathing apparatus that converts carbon dioxide into oxygen. With these air globes you can breathe and communicate underwater. Having them on Quillan meant that Veego and LaBerge weren’t only bringing in ideas from other territories, they were introducing technology and material. These things shouldn’t exist on Quillan.