thunk
The cantina doors swung open with the wildclaw’s kick. Nobody turned to look at the newcomer, but that was okay. The satisfaction of kicking a door open was just for Tide’s enjoyment.
Tide pulled his hat down to obscure his eyes and marched through the busy establishment. The local population were mostly various beastclans, but the occasional dragon wasn’t an uncommon sight. He wandered past tables of card-playing raptorik and serthis. Some mith played music up on stage; a combination of string instruments and the industrial sounds of heavy metal objects and machinery. It matched the fire flight ambience of the place pretty well, even if the music was definitely the miths’ invention.
What had definitely come from the fire flight was the banner hanging over the expansive back area of the cantina. Emblazoned with the fire flight’s sigil, the enchanted banner had been flown over many a battle — passing from victor to victor, the original owners being long lost to history. And now it was here, serving as the trophy granted to the next champion of this underground fighting circuit.
Tide approached a railing and craned his neck to look into the sunken arena below. It was far enough down that flying wouldn’t be out of the question. And they’d gone with the classics when decorating it. A layer of sand covered the ground, and there were a few clusters of stacked steel crates to add a bit of terrain to the ring. Tide studied it for a few minutes. He didn’t see any hidden traps or other excitement increasers, but there were occasional blackened patches of sand, along with scorch marks on the crates. Fire was clearly involved here, somewhere.
A bored looking raptorik perched nearby a desk looked up at Tide as he approached. “We’re not taking any bets right now,” they said. “Looks like the Inferno scared off all other challengers, so there’s nothing scheduled until tomorrow, since the banner challenge is officially over at the end of the night.”
“What If I want to bet on myself?” Tide asked.
“You?” The raptorik tilted their head to scrutinize Tide. “Well, there’s no turning you wildclaws away from a fight. And you look a bit more fireproof than the last one, so that’s good enough for me. Do you know the event’s rules?”
“Winner gets the Victory Banner?” Tide suggested.
“I was more so referring to the arena rules,” the raptorik said. “They’re simple enough. Anything goes as long as you’re not trying to kill — half of you dragons can throw fireballs at each other, so there’s no point in banning weapons. Just make sure you stop if your opponent yields, and we’ll have no issues.”
“Understood.”
“Oh, and try not to lose too quickly. Give the audience a show and you might get some consolation pay. They’ve certainly been waiting long enough.”
“I’ll give them something to watch,” Tide boasted.
Tide had been standing around in the waiting room for a while. The cantina needed some time to take bets, and also to go fetch his opponent. The banner challenge event meant that they were supposed to be sitting around waiting for their next match, but it seemed that after a few days without anyone willing to challenge the Inferno, they’d gotten bored and left.
That was unfortunate. He’d been hoping to be able to watch some matches and learn anything at all about them and their weaknesses.
Tide was absent-mindedly juggling his blaster when he heard the raptorik’s voice over the sound system.
“It’s time, everyone! The final fight of the Banner Challenge is upon us. Nobody has dared to challenge the reigning champ for days, but we weren’t going to let them have their prize without giving you one last show.”
Tide gave his wings one last stretch as the crowd cheered outside.
“Up first is our latest challenger! A wildclaw bounty hunter from off-planet, will his water element protect him from the flames or will he go up in steam? It’s… someone who didn’t tell me his name!”
Tide entered the arena, the audience’s shouting too cacophonous to make out any words. There were at least a hundred spectators, if he had to estimate. Maybe two hundred. The Victory Banner glowed like a dim sun far above him, its magic influencing him to fight for glory and honour. He shook his head to clear his mind of that. No need for foolhardy bravery here — victory would be seized through skill and cunning.
“And now, cast your eyes upon the current lord of the arena. If you were here last week, you were lucky enough to see her take down all who dared to face her. All she has to do is win this battle and the banner is hers. It’s the forged in fire banescale, the smith who never fails to craft victory. She probably has a different name back home, but in this arena, she’s the Inferno!”
The Inferno’s entrance certainly earned more cheers than Tide’s did. She entered from a door on the far side of the area, apparently so eager for battle that there was already smoke trailing from the tips of her wings. Unlike Tide, she wore actual armour — gleaming metal covered with menacing spikes. No helmet, though. Not that Tide couldn’t have guessed she was fire-born even if her eyes were covered. Tide was already waiting near the centre of the arena, and she spent no time showboating, instead simply walking right up to him.
They made eye contact for a moment, and then the Inferno gave Tide a deep bow. He returned the gesture. Everything was quiet for a moment.
“Begin!” shouted the raptorik. One of the miths who’d been playing music hit a gong, which echoed throughout the arena.
Tide reacted quickly, but his opponent was faster. By the time he had charged a few steps forwards, the banescale was already in the air, breathing a gout of flame where he’d been standing. He kept running, head down and planning to circle back and re-engage. He wasn’t going to fly after her. She definitely had the advantage in the air.
By the time he had put some distance between himself and his foe, she was already circling up above. But not that high up — she was still below the level that the crowd was watching from. That spiked armour she wore must have been heavy, yet didn’t seem to impede her flight at all. Tide drew his blaster and tried to aim at her. Blasters were allowed as long as they were using the weakest battery packs possible, only strong enough to stun and maybe cause light burns. Apparently the crowds were completely fine with the dangers of maybe being hit by an errant shot.
Still, Tide didn’t want to hit a spectator if he could help it. Thus, there would be no firing wildly here. He crouched, ready to jump out of the way when the Inferno came in for her next attack. He trained his weapon upon her as she swooped down, claws outstretched.
Tide was unnerved that she’d seemingly given up on the fire already, but he took the shot. It hit the Inferno in some of her leg armour and didn’t slow her down at all. Her claws caught him in the shoulder, knocking Tide to the ground and sending his weapon skidding across the sand.
He rolled, quickly getting back to his feet and shaking sand from his wings. The Inferno was already on the way to grab his blaster, and there was no way he’d make it to his weapon first. Mostly because Tide was already running in the other direction.
The banescale laughed when she noticed this, securely grabbing Tide’s weapon with one claw before spreading her wings and getting back into the air. He was already on the far side of the area, trying to put the largest stack of crates between himself and the Inferno.
Of course, such an obstacle provided Tide no shelter against someone who could fly. He looked up, to where the banescale was taking a deep breath and preparing to strafe the arena with fire. He took a deep breath of his own, calling upon elemental water to protect him. A powerful spell, condensing magic into water and making his feathers real damp.
Now sopping wet, Tide ran directly towards the Inferno and her flames. They met in the middle of the arena, where Tide leapt through the fire and on top of the stacked crates. The water protected him for a mere few seconds. That was enough time for him to produce an object from a vest pocket and slam it into the top of the highest crate as he vaulted over it, before escaping in a cloud of steam.
Tide expected that the Inferno would be looping back right now, ready for another attempt at lighting him on fire. She’d have trouble spotting him through the steam, however, meaning her eyes would be wide open when —
aargh!
Even knowing what was coming, and with his head buried in his wings, that was bright! Somewhere behind himself, Tide could hear the sounds of the Inferno roaring and crashing into the ground. The audience above was shouting as well — everyone in the cantina thoroughly dazzled by the sudden explosion of light. When that fireworks merchant had claimed that this was the light flight’s finest work and nearly as bright as a supernova, they might not have been exaggerating.
Well, at least he hasn’t been staring directly at the light. He ran towards where his opponent had crashed to the ground, stumbling a little, and assuming he’d be able to see again before she could. Seeing stars, but also a banescale, Tide opened with the fiercest kick he could pull off. It connected, but while it might have knocked her off balance, it also let the Inferno know where he was.
Flight, magic, and Tide’s blaster were all forgotten. Both dragons were entirely focused on winning this battle claw to claw. Tide’s species certainly had the advantage on the ground, but the Inferno was noticeably stronger than he was. And she had actual armour too. Both unwilling to consider defeat, the two dragons wrestled for minutes, neither daring to show even the slightest sign of tiring.
It was Tide who stumbled first, hit harder than he expected by one of the banescale’s wings. That moment was all the Inferno needed to tackle him to the ground. His neck was pinned to the ground by one of her claws before he had any opening to escape.
“I yield, I yield,” Tide gasped.
“That flash bomb was a dirty trick, but you fought better than the others,” the Inferno said, begrudgingly. She stopped standing on Tide’s neck, raised her wings, and roared triumphantly.
“And that’s all!” shouted the raptorik announcer. Even with a microphone, Tide could barely hear him over the sound of the crowd. “I think that this is proof enough that nobody can stand up to the heat of the Inferno! We’ll pay out bets in just a few minutes, but first cast your eyes upon the grand prize of the event. The Victory Banner!”
There was a resounding gasp from the crowd.
Tide looked up. Where the glowing banner had once watched over the fights, there was nothing.
“Are you trying to cheat me after all this?” the Inferno shouted at the raptorik in their announcer's perch.
“N-no,” they mumbled over their microphone. “I have no idea where it went, I swear. Look, we’ll figure out where it went, and if we can’t find it, we’ll compensate you accordingly.”
“You’d better,” she shouted. Then she laughed, more quietly so that only Tide could hear it. “Figures,” she said. “Well, the banner would have looked nice above my door, but my real goal was just to drum up business for the ol’ smithy. I think you did a good job proving how effective our metalwork is.”
“Glad I could be of assistance,” Tide said, brushing sand off his clothes. “If I ever have need for armour, I know who to ask.” He bowed again, respectfully ending their duel.
The Inferno returned his bow, and then the two parted ways.
Tide returned to the ship exhausted. Phidi was waiting for him there, still wearing a pair of enchanted and heavily tinted goggles.
“How’d it go?” she asked.
“Second place pays pretty well in credits,” Tide answered. “Or at least it does when the champion is intimidating the staff into paying us both well.”
“Awww. Almost makes me feel bad about stealing this when you had them all distracted.” Phidi unwrapped herself from the object she was resting on, and the Victory Banner unfurled across the metal floor.
“Eh. Would have been nice to actually win it myself, but that banescale got paid more than this thing’s worth in the end. Now help me pack it away. With its history, I think it's as much a curse to warriors as a blessing.”
Feels like it took forever to come up with an idea for this one.
