Champion(17)

Blaine heard something buried deep in Saff’s voice, coated with a sense of admiration for this young girl.

Soon, Duna shimmied up on her own tarnid, looking minuscule on the giant animal. But, she handled the beast with ease as she led their group out of Varus’ stables. The sound of hooves clicking on stone echoed around them.

The strange gait of the tarnid felt odd, but as they moved through the streets, he started to adjust. Still, Blaine knew the way his ass was slamming into the saddle, he was going to feel it tomorrow.

The stables were located at the edge of Kor Magna, and it didn’t take them long before they were stepping off the paved roads and onto the desert sand. Quickly, the roads gave way to worn desert tracks, the stone buildings gave way to a flat, rocky expanse with only sand dunes in the distance.

As he stared ahead at the pale-beige desert, the walls of the arena and the glitz of the District seemed light years away.

They rode in pairs, forming a line behind Galen and Duna. Harper and Raiden were ahead of Blaine and Saff, while Kace and Thorin, and Lore and Nero brought up the rear. Soon, Blaine couldn’t even pick out any sort of track in the rocky sand, but clearly Duna knew where she was going. How, Blaine wasn’t sure. She wasn’t using any tech, and he sure as hell couldn’t see any landmarks. The girl was happily chatting away to Galen, and apparently didn’t need the imperator to respond.

It didn’t take long for him to feel the searing heat of the suns. Sweat beaded on his brow and trickled down his spine. In the distance, he saw the faint purple smudge of a rocky mountain range.

“Keep hydrated,” Saff said, almost as though she’d read his mind. She pointed to the bladder of water hanging off the side of his saddle. Blaine nodded, lifted the bladder, and put the opening to his lips. He took a large gulp. He saw Duna move ahead of their group, kicking her tarnid into a fast, loping gallop. She rode like she’d been born doing it, light and easy on the animal. It made Blaine feel fucking awkward.

“So, what do you know about this Zaabha place?” he asked.

Saff gave him a flat stare. “It’s a myth.”

“Okay, well, what do the myths say?”

She heaved out a breath, sitting so tall and straight in her saddle. “They say it’s an arena carved into the rocks in a secret place in the desert, where the desert beasts call home. The local warlords send in their champions to fight to the death in the bloodiest, roughest battles on Carthago.” She glanced at him. “Their champions are usually slaves from far-off lands in the stories.”

Blaine’s gut curdled. It sounded so much like the underground fight rings he’d escaped.

“It’s not real, Blaine.” Her voice softened. “No one in Kor Magna has ever found it.”

His jaw creaked under the strain of gritting his teeth. “I don’t need you to tiptoe around me. I survived the fight rings. I can handle talking about it.”

She shot him a long glance before nodding.

Suddenly, the sound of pounding hooves made Blaine’s head snap up. He saw Duna galloping back toward them, leaning over the neck of her tarnid, her braids flying out behind her.

She pulled up in a spray of sand. “Fresh signs of the caravan ahead. They definitely passed this way, and aren’t far ahead. We can catch them.”

Galen nodded. “Let’s move.”

“We’ll have to ride hard,” Duna said with a glint in her eye.

Blaine swallowed a groan, but turned his thoughts to Dayna, Mia, and Winter. The gladiators all kicked their beasts into action and rode hard.

As their tarnids hammered across the desert, Blaine just focused on holding on to the reins. Soon, he was soaked with sweat, and had aches in far too many places for him to count. Beside him, Saff rode like some warrior queen, regal in the saddle.

Duna held up a hand and started to slow. They all followed suit.

“I’ll take a look around,” Duna said. “It looks like they went off the main caravan route. Everyone take a break.”

They stopped, drinking from their bladders, as the girl circled her tarnid around, staring at the ground.

She came close to Blaine and glanced his way. “You don’t like riding.”

It wasn’t a question. He looked at his tarnid. “Not really. I haven’t done much of it. I worked in space before I came here.”

The young girl’s golden eyes went round. “Space?” She glanced up at the sky and then back at Blaine. “That is so liquid.”

He suppressed a smile. “Does that mean good?”

“Any sort of liquid out here is good,” Duna replied.

“Yeah, well, it was a pretty good job.”

“So how did you end up here?”