“Arena Battle”

Photo prompt by Elia Pellegrini on Unsplash

Author’s Note: This is a Take Ten to Write story and has not been proofread for errors. If I feel inspired or if there’s interest in the story, I’ll post a revised, edited, and extended version at a later date. Happy reading!

She got up slowly, coughing through the dust. Everything hurt, from her legs to her arms to her head. But most of all, her pride hurt. She couldn’t believe that she’d let Mangor blackmail her into doing this.

An arena battle. This was no place for an esteemed warrior, much less for one as high ranking as she was.

As she rose to her feet, she kept Mangor’s appointed champion, Gorall, in her sights. She knew that the man liked to play dirty. But if he wasn’t going to play by the rules, neither was she.

Without waiting for her to fully regain her balance, Gorall attacked, slashing wildly at her with his blood-red blade. She jumped back, feeling the sharp sword slash through the air just in front of her face.

She stared him down, dropping into a half-crouch to increase her agility. While keeping him in her peripheral vision, she scanned the arena for her sword.

She found it. It was behind Gorall, close to the wall on the far side of the arena.

Gorall let out a feral yell and jumped at her, hoping to catch her off guard as he had before.

But she had learned from her mistakes. She was prepared this time for Gorall’s uncontrolled swing. She nimbly hopped out of his way and made a dash for the other side of the arena.

She heard the screams rise around her from all of Mangor’s loyal supporters. They knew that if she reached her sword, the fight would be over.

Just as her fingers touched the hilt of her sword, there was a sudden blast of air against her back. She went flying forward, slamming headfirst into the arena wall.

She fell back, the world spinning around her. But in her blurred vision, she could just make out a tall, armoured figure striding toward her. A man, with a long, pitch-black sword glinting at his side.

Mangor.

Final Comments: I regret this name choice; ‘Mangor’ reminds me too much of ‘Mango’… Anyway, I enjoyed writing this story. I felt much more in my element with another fight scene, although I thought that I could’ve maybe added some more descriptions (e.g., appearances of the characters, the arena itself, etc.).

Overall Rating: 🙂