'Mooo.'
'I am trying to sleep, Raef.' Vallum rebuked the bull.
'Moo.'
'Fine. Our first match together should start pretty soon, so I will go ahead and get up. Is that what you want?'
Raef answered with a satisfied 'moo' and Vallum got up from his bed.
'I wonder what this match will be like.' Vallum yawned, 'What will it be like facing another human?'
Raef butted the door to his stall open and walked into Vallum's room, eating hay.
"How come you get food? We haven't even fought yet, much less won a match."
"Mroo."
"Sassy." Vallum retorted to the bull's mooing as if it held meaning.
"I guess you are more important to them, if I die then they get their overgrown bull back."
The one-sided conversation fizzled out and the two of them waited in silence until the huge door swung open.
"Ready for the debut? Don't say I told you this but I hear that you're going up against Taris. He uses a mace and is contracted with a lion. He has been fighting for a while, so you should be careful." One of the guards said.
"What's your name?" Vallum asked the guard.
"I'm Brick and this lug," he pointed at the shorter and thicker built guard, "Is Pony."
"Well, thank you Brick and Pony. You two are the only small break in monotony I've had aside from the fights themselves. Before I knew you were slaves, I didn't care to know your names, but it's nice to be introduced finally."
Vallum and Raef followed the guards all the way until they were in the corridor that has become familiar to Vallum. They reached the end and stared out into the arena. Vallum put his hand on his new companion and sized up the duo in the center. He was very thankful that Raef had been cooperative this morning and followed him without incident. In the center a large man in light plate armor stood waving a mace at the crowd while his battle-scarred lion prowled around him.
Vallum hopped on top of his bull and gave him a simple command.
'Raef, charge.'
This time the bull was happy to follow the command. Vallum held on for his life as the bull charged the two men in the middle. He didn't know if he was supposed to say a greeting or something first, but the animals he faced never did. Raef was charging toward the lion which bounded out of the way, looking to attack as the bull passed by. The scarred cat swiped, but Vallum dove off of his steed to meet it. He tackled the big cat and rolled in the sandy floor.
'Raef, stay away from the man until I can deal with the cat.'
To Vallum's chagrin, his companion decided to charge the man who was staring in disbelief at the idiot who just tackled his lion barehanded.
One cat was no threat when compared to the group of cats or Bruce, so he put it out of the fight quickly. He got up to find Raef with blood trickling down his side where the mace had grazed him as he passed by. The man was now starting to lay into the bull while it tried to turn around and face its opponent.
'Start bucking Raef, just try to distract him till I can get over there.' Vallum pushed himself off the ground and started running toward the remaining opponent. Raef decided to listen and started going crazy, which delayed the man a second before he started swinging his mace. The mace connected one good time before Vallum launched himself like a rocket to bring the man down. He brought the man down and knocked him out with a punch.
'Still, Raef.' Vallum said to the bull who was still going berserk. When the bull didn't calm down, he enforced his words. 'Be still, Raef.'
He crumpled to the ground, and the bull finally calmed down. After a moment of the crowd going silent, he stood and claimed victory.
'We won, Raef. Good job.' He patted the bull and they met up with the guards in the corridor.
"Amazing," Brick said, "You didn't even need that bull out there."
'I needed you, Raef. That man with the mace would have been deadly for me to take head on.'
"That's not true, but anyway, why did he get a weapon?" Vallum asked the question that he had been too preoccupied to ask earlier.
"Because you are the only freak who is strong enough to make an entertaining fight with your bare hands." Pony laughed.
Vallum smiled sheepishly and they escorted him back to his room. Both of them had a good-sized meal waiting for them. They ate and Vallum talked with Raef a bit to work on communication. He was about to send him to his stall when a thought came to mind.
'I can't wait to introduce you to Kenra. She's smaller than me, but still super strong. She has blonde hair and a super great smile. You'll love her when you see her. I'll tell you a quick story about this time she saved this calf in a big storm.' Vallum got excited as he started talking about his friend.
'We were around 13 years old, so neither of us were very strong. Our dads were at a cattle show, so they weren't home. Kenra came and beat on the door of my house in the middle of a downpour. When mom opened the door, she was soaked and out of breath.
"Val! Is Val here? I was feeding our cows and noticed that one of the calves was lying in a mud puddle. I think it's leg might be broken." She said.
I was in the living room so I could hear everything she said. I jumped up, put my boots on and dashed out the door, "I'll be back mom." I shouted as I passed her.
"Let's go! Where is he?" I called to her as I ran by. We ran together to her father's field and found the calf. We worked together for over an hour, pulling and slipping to get the calf to the barn so it could be taken care of. She is so nice. I know you barely know me, but you'll love her.' Raef could feel the affection in Vallum's words and gave a contented moo before shuffling into his stall.
'Night Raef.' Vallum called before his head hit the pillow.