Straight From Legend - Three

BEFORE

Nothing made sense.

I could keep my head in an arena filled with blood and death, but I couldn’t control even my own vision in the chaos that was circulating around me. I was moving, but not by my own choice. I was being shoved and pushed and scratched and bitten and clawed, but none of the cats ever stayed long enough for me to fight back before they moved onto their next victim. No one seemed to be attacking anyone else for any particular reason.

It didn’t take long before someone managed to latch onto me in a fit of fur and claws. I pushed and shoved and clawed and bit and I had no idea what was going on until I realized I had been holding the throat of a dead cat for longer than necessary. I let go and scrambled back. The cat who had attacked me was a snow leopard covered in scars, the signs he had survived in the arena for many years. But now he was lifeless and dead and covered in blood. And I was covered in his blood.

I had killed before. I had cut off lungs and cracked skulls and broken bones and let cats bleed out before my eyes but it had all been for a purpose. This cat’s death...was for no reason. I had killed him and I didn’t even know why he attacked me in the first place. He probably didn’t know why he had attacked me in the first place, either. Everyone seemed to be attacking each other and not really knowing why.

Another cat slammed into me and I fell weakly to the side. I tried to look up to see who my attacker was but a huge paw came down on my head and was pushing, pushing, pushing. I could swear my skull was about to make a dent in the hard stone floor but there was a gasp from the cat and whoever it was let go.

I sucked in a huge breath and laid there for a moment before finally lifting my head to look at my attacker—

“Hunter!” I breathed out, my voice raspy and struggling to make noise. I was lightheaded and everything felt kind of weak.

“Ben,” he replied and blinked. His paws were bloody, but it wasn’t his blood. He only had a thin scratch across his back. His eyes were confused and pained and conflicted.

I didn’t say anything for a while before asking, “Hunter, what’s going on?”

His eyes focused on me, fiery and intense. “We’re getting out of here, Ben. Come with us.”

“Come with you?” I repeated. “I don’t see anyone going anywhere except to death.”

His eyes found the dead snow leopard laying near us. He stared at him for a few moments then said, “It’s not a perfect plan, but some will escape, Ben. Let’s get out of here together, live a new life together.”

“Hunter, you’re crazy,” I told him, and his eyes filled with confusion again. “Cats are mindlessly dying for no reason everywhere.”

“Cats die for no reason every single day in this place, Ben,” he replied calmly. His tone scared me. “It’s not right. We’re not supposed to live like this. Let’s rule an Empire together, Ben.”

I shook my head. I couldn’t believe what he was saying. “This is about the Empires? All of these cats are dying because of a stupid fairy tale?”

“THEY AREN’T FAIRY TALES!!” he screamed, and I couldn’t help but flinch back. “They’re real and this stupid purpose that you are fighting so hard to preserve is NOT!!”

“Do you see me fighting?!?” I demanded. “I don’t want to fight you, Hunter! Not here! We’re partners, but you’re talking like you’re completely insane!”

Hunter pressed his lips together and frowned. “I’m not insane.” Then something inside of him snapped and he leapt at me, claws extended and fangs bared, ready to rip his best friend to pieces.

---

THREE

The next day, Scaeden started our training.

It was early when he ran through the hallways of the building we all slept in screaming, “GET UP, GET UP!” at the top of his lungs and kicking over metal objects to ring in our ears. I groaned and rolled up to my paws, glaring at the still-dark windows. Andra, a small and lean serval, glared at me, and said, “There is no way I’m putting up with this every morning.”

I shrugged and walked out. Other cats were emerging, confusion in their eyes, and Scaeden was already gone. Probably in the Garden, waiting for us.

“C’mon guys,” I said, my voice cracking from sleep. “Our leader wants us.” I turned and ran through the hall and felt a warm spot in my stomach at the sound of cats following me.

Scaeden was in the Garden, under a tree. He was glaring at me angrily, but a small smile was playing on his lips. When most of the cats were gathered in front of him, he yelled, “That was your first test! You all failed. You have to be ready for anything at any given moment. If the Defectors had broken in last night they would have killed you all before you even noticed they were there.”

Killed us? I thought to myself in shock. Did Scaeden’s Empires really break into Massilia to attack the Hunters sometimes? The thought turned my stomach cold.

“Right, then,” the lynx continued, standing up. I was taken aback at how tall he really was. He seemed short and skinny when he first arrived, but what I had mistaken for bones was actually lean muscle and height. He was almost as tall as I was. “Who am I going to fight first?”

He must have been asking himself, because he didn’t give anyone time to answer before he leaped at a tiger named Helga.

Helga yowled out in protest and flipped onto her back to try and avoid Scaeden’s claws, but it wasn’t any use. He had her pinned in seconds, but she was much larger and more muscular than him, so she quickly managed to shove him off. To my surprise, though, he didn’t fight it. He used her strength and momentum to launch himself off her body and land lightly on his paws a few meters away from her.

Someone’s breath caught in their throat behind me, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Scaeden. I had never seen these moves before, and Helga didn’t seem to know what to do about them.

“C’mere, tigress,” Scaeden taunted, balancing mostly on his toes and crouching down slightly. “I’m a stupid little Defector, and you are a brave warrior of the Emperor. What are you going to do about it?”

Again, what I had mistaken for bones and weakness on Scaeden was actually quick muscles and fast reflexes. He wasn’t strong, but he was agile and nimble and quick and sharp. Helga snarled and jumped at him, using a move I had taught her weeks earlier. Scaeden jumped back to avoid her claws, and it might have looked like he was scared if it weren’t for the little smirk on his scarred face. He had coiled back onto his hind paws and was now propelling himself forward, just over Helga’s head. His claws gripped the tiger’s rump and shoved her down, forcing her head straight up. Before she had time to snarl and snap back at his tail, he kicked his hind paws up and smacked Helga in the back of the head. Her head whipped forward and she collapsed, breathing heavily.

The lynx casually walked off of Helga’s body and took a deep breath. He looked more alive than I had seen him ever since he’d arrived. As Helga struggled to bring herself to her feet, Scaeden let out a light laugh. “Who is next?” he asked.

Some of the Hunters were agitated by what he had done to Helga, so a few lined up to take their turns. Even after being exhausted, he still managed to pin them all, even if it did take a little more time each time another cat came around. With each cat, he used a little bit different moves, a tad different tactic, and he won a little differently each time. I noticed a trend. He used power and overwhelmed the smaller cats, while he quickly shot around the paws of the bigger ones until they made a mistake and gave him a perfect opportunity to strike. It was perplexing to see him change and adapt to each new obstacle that rose to him.

I wasn’t going to fight him. I just wanted to watch. But I was fascinated by his fighting, and I had to get a feel for it up close.

As Andra was being pinned, I approached. Scaeden let her go and as she slunk off to join the others, Scaeden’s eyes found mine. He was breathing heavily and I could almost see the sweat soaking through his fur with the slowly rising sun, but his eyes were excited and the smile on his face said he was ready for more. He sort of terrified me, but in a good way.

“Aha, my great Silver has come to take a stand,” Scaeden announced, and I smiled. He took a few steps away from me and semi-turned his back, though I had no doubts that he ever took his eye off me. He was smart. “Would you like to make the first move?” he questioned tauntingly.

“I’m not very sure,” I admitted. “I’m thinking maybe I should, because you’ve never seen me fight before, and I know the basics of your moves. Then again, knowing the little about you that I do, I’d guess that you could tell my moves just by looking at my legs, right?”

Scaeden laughed and turned his head towards me. “You’ll never find out if you don’t try, I suppose.”

I jumped at him. He barely flinched. He turned his body to face me head-on and right before I collided with him, he ducked under my head and smashed his shoulders upwards, into my chest. The wind escaped my lungs and I fell to the side but managed to stay on my four paws. I jumped away from him to give myself some time to catch my breath.

“Tired already, Ben?” Scaeden demanded between breaths. “I’m impressed you stayed on your feet. Let’s see how much longer you’ll last.” He jumped at me this time. I tried to think quickly like he had been doing but I couldn’t do it. Scaeden was smaller than me and that meant I should be—

He slammed into me before I had a chance to even lift my paws or finish my thought. I rolled back and wrapped my paws around his torso. He must have realized what was happening because he pulled away, but I was stronger so I could hold him there. I rolled over so he was underneath me and I felt a grin spread across my face.

“Ha!” I exclaimed. “Gotch—!”

Scaeden’s hind paws slammed up into my gut and cut my words off, but I didn’t move. My back arched as his surprisingly powerful legs pushed against my stomach but I kept him pinned. “You’re persistent, aren’t you?” he laughed. Then suddenly his front paws were wrapped around my ankles and I was completely off the ground before I fell onto my side. I heard some laughter but I ignored it and stood up.

“You’re good,” Scaeden complimented me. “I know why you’re my Silver now. But there’s a reason you were named Silver and I wasn’t.”

He jumped at me again, but I was able to think quickly. I was bigger than him, so I jumped at him at the last second, too. We slammed against each other but I had more mass. It took about half a second for him to be pinned.

Surprisingly, Scaeden laughed. “Yes! Yes, good! That’s exactly what I was waiting for!” He pushed his paws against my chest lightly and I knew I had won. I stepped off of him, breathing heavily through a little smile. “You learned from watching me fight earlier, didn’t you?” he continued. “That’s perfect, I love that. You all need to learn to do that. Ben, you go ahead and fight Ariyn and Drusa—“

Something snapped in him. The smile disappeared and something mixed with confusion and horror filled his eyes. I quit smiling and the Garden got quiet. Scaeden frowned, closed his eyes, held still for a few seconds then said, “I’m sorry. I don’t know where those names came from.” He kept his eyes closed and his head turned down.

“They’re your old Bounty Hunters, right?” someone said. A female jaguar named Jax. “They’re from Massilia? Ariyn and Drusa?”

Scaeden’s eyes lifted to meet hers, and he seemed frozen for a while. Almost shocked. Then he said, “Yes, they are.” And left it at that.

No one said anything. They just stared and wondered. What was it like? How was Massilia different? Did he miss it? Were they stronger than us? Were they better? Did he like them more? Was it more exciting? Did he have friends? Did he have a family? Did he have allies or enemies or acquaintances? Were there cats back in Massilia that were missing Scaeden? Did he miss someone in particular? I could feel the questions pressing out of the bodies of the Hunters, but no one dared speak a word.

We stood there until the unspoken questions got silent enough for us to ignore them, then we continued training as if nothing had ever happened. Scaeden walked to the edge of the Garden and observed for a while as my Hunters battled each other. After a bit, he would occasionally call out suggestions or tips. None of it was rude, like I half-expected them to be. He wasn’t quite what you would call quiet, but he wasn’t snappy. He was patient, surprisingly. I realized after a while that he really liked to talk. He seemed to know how to use words to get cats to listen to him, remember what he said, and, most importantly, to be well-liked. I wondered for a moment if he knew how to use his words to make himself hated. I wondered if how he projected himself to different cats all depended on how he wanted them to see him.

I thought about the two Empires that Scaeden had gotten to hate each other. Watching him now, I couldn’t see it. He was so small and too patient and too kind to be so disliked amongst the Massilian Empires. But I didn’t think he was lying, either. The only conclusion I could come to was that Scaeden had a wicked silver tongue. And also that no one could ever base his personality on what they encounter. I didn’t think anyone really knew who the lynx was. I wasn’t quite sure if I had even learned his true personality.

I didn’t know if I ever would.