War God for Hire- Gladiator by David Burke (books under 200 pages .TXT) 📕

back might not be an entirely bad thing, but he quickly dismissed that image. He was already juggling his desires for Hilde and Nyda.

Saber saw him and said, “Wipe that silly grin off your face. You look like such a noob. Excited for your first fight, I see.”

Before Kyle could respond, the armorers came over and started fitting his helm. It was what he would have called a Greek helmet from the movies, with the pieces that ran down the side and covered his face mostly in conjunction with the nose guard. Then on the top there was the fin which looked to have a fairly sharp edge worked into it. He wasn’t sure what the purpose of it was, but figured it looked bad ass.

The head instructor continued, “The trainers tell me that you mastered control almost right away. I have to admit that you were the one I was most worried about. Even Skrug doesn’t hit as hard as you do, and if you accidentally killed someone here, it might not go over very well.”

“So we were told. Now though, I just wanna know more about the rules and what to expect,” Kyle said.

Saber chuckled. “Like I said, someone is excited here. You’ve got the fire in your belly, don’t you? We are gonna make a real gladiator out of you, I think.”

Then the smaller man got serious for a moment. “Just remember one thing. When you win, the feeling is yours, but you are still someone’s property. Don’t forget to look out for yourself, as your owners will never do more for you than for their prize horse.”

The moment was gone just as fast as it had appeared, and Kyle didn’t even get to respond before Saber said, “Now the trainers are gonna work with you on how to handle it if an enemy gets inside that long reach of yours.”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a loud bell started to go off. It was coming from the city, which had to be a mile from the coliseum, but it was still ear-piercingly loud. Instantly, all the trainers started to run for the tunnels that were set into the sides of the arena.

Kyle looked up because the sky suddenly got dark. He wasn’t sure what to do. It wasn’t an eclipse as he had first guessed, but instead an ugly tear appeared in the sky as though it was a painted landscape and someone had taken a blade to the canvas, cutting a jagged line across the sky.

The other fighters were picking up their gear and also running for the tunnels now. The only people left out in the arena were some of the slaves who had been carrying supplies for the craftsmen, as well as jugs of water and food that the fighters would eat between training exercises. They all looked up at the sky, and he once again followed their eyes.

Dark black clouds billowed out of the tear in the sky. They were almost so dark that they appeared to be more like smoke than clouds. Speckled against the clouds were even darker spots that moved in a swirling pattern. Some started to break off towards the city, others for the quarry, and another stream of the black shapes headed towards the coliseum.

Now the other slaves began screaming in terror. Some tripped over each other or the supplies they had been carrying in their rush to run for the tunnels. Others were trying to gather up as much as they could carry before running.

Kyle kept his eyes on the sky mostly and saw that the shapes were giant birds. Hilde said, “They are feral birds, driven mad by the damage to Himmel, or even undead birds animated by the break in Dod’s power.”

He screamed for the slaves to run. He had seen a movie about this, and certainly didn’t want anyone getting pecked to death by birds; and these weren’t your run of the mill ravens. They were monstrous, many of them more like the size of a midsized dog than a bird, and with white bony protrusions sticking out.

The first of the flock was already dive bombing the slaves who had lingered, whether out of fear or duty. Kyle already had learned by seeing a servant girl beaten mercilessly for breaking some plates that Soren and his type valued the goods carried by the slaves at least as much or more than their lives. It was no wonder that some of them panicked, trying to salvage as much as they could before running for their lives.

Kyle prepared to run. He couldn’t save those who weren’t willing to run, and he didn’t know what to do against hundreds of monstrous birds. But then everything changed. He saw a particular petite figure amidst the slaves trying to get the remainder of the goods. Nyda was there, and he could no more abandon her than he could have cut off his own hand.

He didn’t know why exactly. It wasn’t like she had given him any sign that she was interested. It was just something in him. He liked her and he wasn’t going to let anything harm her while he had breath. Hilde was strangely quiet. He half-expected her to be yelling at him and calling him a fool for not fleeing.

Kyle rushed forward and began swinging his maul overhead. The massive hammer knocked multiple birds out of the sky with each swing. Still, it wasn’t going to be enough. “Run, Nyda. I will hold them off.”

He couldn’t take his eyes off of the sky for fear of more birds getting past his whirling maul, but he heard her say, “They will kill me if I don’t get all of these welcome gifts for tonight’s guests.”

From the sound of her voice, she must have been down on the ground trying to pick up whatever was so valuable that it was worth more than her life.

Kyle felt the anger grow within him. He wasn’t here