Chapter 51

Author's Note: I have been saying this on Royal Road for about two weeks now, but forgot to ever mention it here. Now that the initial chapter push is done, and since I am still writing two projects at once, I am only committing to M-W-F updates for the God Machine. I may still do Tues/Thur updates, but they will be bonus chapters, not guaranteed. It will depend on how fast I write.

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Luke walked into the Bloody Harbor about half an hour before his fight was scheduled to start. Fatty wanted them there earlier, but he wasn’t going to sit around in a room next to naked Tantoro trying to avoid looking at a big green pickle while he listened to other people fight.

Before he’d even made it halfway across the floor, Zea cut through the crowd and practically tackled him. Well, she tried at any rate. She was kind of light-weight and small, and he could now lift a thousand pounds over his head. It was more like she ran into a telephone pole than anything.

“There you are,” she said, still clinging to his pants. “Come with me!”

“What? Stop. Stop! What’s going on?” Luke said, not moving while she tugged at the fabric.

“Shut up and do what I tell you to!”

“Okay…”

Luke let himself be led off to the least crowded part of the building, the corner near the betting booth. Since there were no fights going on just yet, it was relatively empty. “What’s going on?” Luke asked once she stopped dragging him across the floor. “The fights haven’t even started yet. Your money is safe.”

“Fuck the money,” Zea said. That alone told Luke that it was serious. “Who’s this girl you’re hanging out with?”

“I… what?”

Zea glared at him, and Luke said, “Just a girl I met. She saw me fight and asked if I wanted to get lunch. Why, are you jealous?”

“No I’m not fucking jealous, you moron! What did you tell her? Is this the same girl who steered you into an inn near a church?”

“Tell her about what? And yeah, that’s her. We just kind of chatted while we ate. Zea, what is wrong with you?”

“Me!” she practically screeched. “What is wrong with you! Are you trying to get the attention of an inquisitor?”

“I have no idea what that is,” Luke admitted.

“Luos save me from this man’s stupidity,” Zea muttered. “Or maybe don’t. I guess you guys are all kind of pissed that he exists. Fuck, what a mess.”

“Zea, I need you to calm down and explain to me what you’re so upset about. Use small words, please.”

The dwifkin looked like she was ready to leap up and strangle him, but Luke still wasn’t sure why. He could admit that, looking back on it, sleeping in an inn down the street from a church probably wasn’t the best idea, but nothing had happened. He’d learned his lesson and wasn’t going to do it again, but as far as mistakes went, he didn’t see the issue as long as he didn’t repeat it.

“The girl is part of the church. She goes to the church. She works with the church. She could be a fucking inquisitor for all we know. Maybe you’ve forgotten, but they would really like to kill you, and probably me by association. So please, for the love of all that is holy, just see a rent girl if you need to get your rocks off that bad.”

Luke wanted to laugh, but he was smart enough to realize it would set Zea off if he did. She already looked like she was about to explode. “Okay, okay. I think you’re overreacting. She’s a seamstress. Hell, I met her coming out of a workshop. I don’t think the big scary inquisitors spend their free time making shirts and scarves. You make it sound like they’re some sort of Gestapo secret police.”

His mouth twisted awkwardly at the end of that last sentence and he wondered what his skill had translated that as. Judging by the look on Zea’s face, he guessed it was accurate enough. She was pissed, but underneath that, she was afraid. “That is exactly what they are like,” she hissed. “Get it through that thick skull of yours. If the church catches you, they are going to kill you. So quit fucking around with them and steer clear.”

“Okay, okay. I get it. I think you’re probably overreacting, but you’re right. The stakes are crazy high here. You know she knows where I fight though, right? What do you want me to do if she shows back up.”

“Make excuses. Tell her you’re too busy right now. Put that perception stat of yours to work and make sure she’s not following you home. I swear if you lead the Inquisition to me, I will kill you myself.”

“Fine. I’ll figure something out. Please, just relax.”

Zea started muttering under her breath and shooting dark looks at Luke, but she didn’t say anything else until he started walking away. Then she grabbed the hem of his shirt and said, “Don’t forget and do something stupid.”

“I won’t.”

“Oh, and I found a place. I’ll take you around tonight. You’re busy after the fight, no time to hang out with seamstresses. And no drinking!”

“I won’t,” Luke said again. After that crap Zammin had plied him with, he didn’t think he’d be drinking again any time soon. There was too much variation in the strengths of drinks, a cultural artifact of people having wildly different tolerances thanks to stamina and the multitude of different species living in Valtira.

“It’s about time you showed up,” Fatty said from near the door to the waiting room when Luke walked over.

“Yeah, I was getting chewed out by my manager.”

Fatty snickered. “Got a mouth on her. Real feisty. Kind of hot, eh?”

“Not having this conversation. Not now, not ever.”

“Didn’t think you were such a prude, kid. You one of those species purists who think it’s a sin to knock boots with anyone who isn’t human?”

Luke hadn’t even considered that. Truth be told, the majority of non-humans he’d met, he only saw at the fight club. Most of the population of Valtira outside places like this were human. Once he thought about it, that seemed kind of weird, but he wasn’t going to worry about it now.

“I have no opinions on interspecies relations.”

“Sure seems like you do,” Fatty said. “Why don’t you go in there and tell Zammin he can’t get any because he’s not six feet tall. See what he has to say about it. I bet when I call your name to come fight, you’ll be walking funny.”

Luke shoved past the man without another word and walked into the waiting room. He flopped down onto a bench, crossed his arms, and leaned back to look up at the ceiling. “Rough day, stud?” Zammin said. “Guess your girl didn’t take care of you?”

“Zammin, please, just shut up.”

The dwifkin laughed. “And your manager’s all the way up your ass, too, right? I don’t know what her problem is, but as soon as she heard you went out with another woman, she lost her shit. Kind of surprised she’d be jealous about something like that.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. So stop talking.”

Now everyone in the room was looking at them. All other conversations had ceased and the little nut cracking asshole standing on the bench next to him loved the attention. “It’s okay. You can work your frustrations out in the pit,” Zammin said. “Hey, did you know that you’re fighting Kalishka tonight? Do you think your manager will get jealous if you start wrestling with her like you did with Tantoro the first night?”

“Oh fuck off, Zammin,” Kalishka said from the other side of the room. “At least he’s not going after the genitals of everyone who sets foot in the pit with him.”

“I do what I have to do to win. It’s not my fault all the tall-boys put their weak spot right at such a punchable level. Besides, if you had dicks in your face all day, every day, you’d want to punch them too.”

The two started bickering, which Luke was honestly thankful for. It drew the attention away from him until the door opened twenty minutes later and the first pair of fighters got called out. The room slowly cleared out as fight after fight until it was just Zammin, Tantoro, Kalishka, and Luke.

“Are you alright?” Tantoro asked Luke.

“Yeah, fine. Just got a lot of stuff on my mind.”

“I see. May I offer you some advice?”

“Sure, why not.”

“Forget about all of that for the next twenty minutes. Respect your opponent and focus your attention on her. We all know your trick now, and you will find Kalishka quick to take advantage of any lapse in your concentration.”

Luke glanced over at the woman. She grinned back. He shuddered. Luke hadn’t caught her fight against Zammin, but from what he’d heard, she’d made the champ work for his win. It was probably because he couldn’t cock punch his way to victory with her.

Soon enough, it was Luke’s turn. Kalishka stood up when Fatty called their names and offered Luke a hand to pull him to his feet. Before he could take it, Tantoro’s own green fingers closed around his wrists. “Do not,” he said.

“Spoil sport,” Kalishka told him.

“Wait until the fight begins. It would not be fair otherwise.”

“A good fight shouldn’t be fair.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Luke asked. “And can I have my arm back, please?”

“You will see once she touches you. It would also not be fair to tell you her tactics,” Tantoro told Luke.

“So don’t let her touch me. Got it. Alright, let’s do this thing.”

He followed Kalishka into the pit and looked around. The lighting wasn’t great, with most of it being directed directly into the pit from hanging lamp poles stationed around the bleachers. That actually made it harder to see than pure darkness would be, but Luke was pretty sure Myla was nowhere to be found.

Maybe that was a good thing, or maybe Zea was just overreacting. Either way, it was an argument diverted for one night. He realized he’d missed Fatty’s introductory rousing speech, which honestly, it was the same thing every time. Luke didn’t understand why people got excited about it. It wasn’t like they hadn’t heard it before.

He turned his attention to Kalishka. Whatever weird thing was going on with her, no one was willing to tell him about it. His only clue came from Tantoro, and it wasn’t one that was all that helpful. Given the nature of the fights, it was impossible not to be touched by the other fighter. They didn’t wear armor, not even padded leather. They didn’t have weapons. If nothing else, he was going to have to touch her in order to hit her.

“Fighters, are you ready!” Fatty bellowed out.

They both signaled with a raised hand that they were. Luke was less confident about this fight for some reason, even though Kalishka was smaller and appeared human. Tantoro had been more intimidating, but also more straight forward, and Luke had faith in his stats.

He was afraid this fight was going to be some sort of mind fuckery like that one time with the goblins when they’d laid a literal curse on him that stole away his perception. That was a lot harder to predict and react to, and his skills did nothing to help him in a situation like that. If something like that was her trick, he could find himself going down hard and quick.

Zammin had beaten her though, and that meant Luke could do it too. He just needed to copy the dwifkin’s fighting style. He’d go in aggressive, fast, hard, overwhelming. Her tricks wouldn’t matter if he took her down before she got a chance to use them. That was the plan. It would work. Definitely. Probably.

“Begin!”