De'rax shifted the conversation to business and I tuned out. After a few minutes Grib said something that triggered my attention.
"I wonder how your pet fights? Shall I find out?"
"My partner fights just fine. Why do you need to know?"
Uh oh. I know that tone. It's a warning to Grib to rethink his line of thought. Some how though I doubt he is going to listen.
"Now if our business had been concluded my partner and I will leave."
"Very well however you can not go out the door you came in. You will have to use the one over there."
De'rax and I look to where he is pointing. "Looks like a trap to me." I silently comment to De'rax.
The only appearance he gave that he received my thought was a tightening of his hand again.
"Alright Grib."
We went toward the door that was pointed out.
"Wherever we end up I need you to try to contact Fi'lo. Let him know what happened. If you can reach Griffin to that would be better but I do not know where we are going."
I tensed as we strolled through the door. It was black for a moment until we ended up somewhere. I heard screaming. I looked up and around to see we were in a colosseum of some type.
Across from us in a long line were many different species. There was just a long of a line standing next to us. I started at us and counted down the line. There was ten including us. It looked like some were in pairs like us as well. The same amount was in the other side. Again some were in pairs. I didn't get to see much more before a loud voice is heard.
"Welcome to the Colosseum of Power, Play and Pride. We have plenty of participants for you to wager on. We will begin our rounds with numbers eighteen and ten. The rest may return to their hold until their round."
With that announcement rooms behind each participant opened allowing entrance. As the bars of each closed a loud scraping sound could be heard. Each of the cells moved back allowing for more room. Since ours never opened I assumed we were number ten. Oh boy. I stepped back as I saw eighteen stomping towards us. When I say stomping I mean it. The ground shook as he came closer I splayed my paws just to keep my feet. A horrendous siren rang signaling the start. I observed our opponent. He had a human like upper torso with a crustacean lower half. He had four arms the upper two looked like pincers and the lower were hands with four fingers. In those two held a mace and a hammer.
"Any strategy for not dying?"
"His legs look armored. The only weak part I see is his chest but it is to high for me to reach. Do you think if I distracted him that you could attack his back?"
"I don't see why not. It could work of we do so quickly."
"Good let us begin."
With that we both sprung into action. De'rax charged drawing attention with his battle yell. As the crustacean swung his way I dodged between the legs. Scrambling behind I twisted in a leap onto his back. Landing on the shell I snapped at his neck. Digging my teeth in tight till heard a break. He came crashing down throwing me over his head as he landed.
I slid through the dirt and stood shaking. The roar of the crowd was deafening as I wandered to De'rax. Stepping up beside him I waited for his hand to grab me. As his hand dives into my fur our cell appears beside us. Helping each other inside we saw a big room with a bed in the center. A table off to the right and behind a door to the bathroom. I made a beeline for the bathroom. I needed to wash the blood and dirt from my fur.
I paused before I got to the table though as the loud voice boomed. "There is the first match and start of our glorious matches to come. The winners of the match will have time to rest before they are called again. May the best win."
I continued into the bathroom nosing the door shut. I quickly shifted stepping into the shower.The water was automatic and soap dispensed beside me. I washed as fast as I could knowing De'rax needed it as well. I shifted back carrying a towel into the room. I dropped it into De'rax hand and stood patiently as he dryed what he could.
"Thank you for that. I feel better. You better go take yours I will wait here on the bed."
He nods taking the towel with him he shuts the door. A minute later I hear the water start. I hop onto the bed laying my head down to wait. Surprisingly I don't have to wait long before De'rax came ambling out rubbing a towel across his head. He was wearing clean pants and no shirt so I guessed they left a pair for him. He stops to drop the towel on the chair before he climbs onto the bed. He lays back and I lay my head across his chest with his hand setting on my head. We fall asleep quickly our bodies exhausted.