Golden Games - The Brutes: Part 2

Golden Games
The Brutes: Part 2

   The Haedians grew restless. They were snapping their jaws, growling or hissing at each other in a rough but also in a loving or compatriotic way. The spectators chatter created a nice buzzing background noise when everyone down on the game grounds prepared for the next round. The leader of the clan, Zarod, was arranging her pile and counting the rocks, but this was probably just her way of showing off. Among all this mess were slightly intimidated Meline, alerted Wardac and poker-faced Aethone.

“I got an idea, hear me out.”

   Wardac leaned closer to Meline and with that, he had her attention. Aethone also moved one of her ears towards them to eavesdrop what they were planning.

“We obviously can’t face them head-on, so I’m thinking we need to switch up our tactics a little. Looks like those creatures can’t fly, only glide, and we can use that to our advantage - you can fly above them and keep them distracted, maybe even kick up some more dust for cover. While they’re busy looking up or coughing, I can gather the rocks for us and hide them someplace safe. Sounds good?”

“You’re right, we do need a different approach. I’m in.”

   Meline found some new hope thanks to Wardac’s plan, he did save their butts in the last round so it was only logical to try out his tactics. They finished whispering just in time as Zarod spoke up, briefly reminding everyone the rules of this round and after releasing yet another deafening roar, the arena turned into chaos.

   Meline entrusted her singular rock to Wardac, after which she immediately took off, flapping with her impressive wings to gain some altitude. Aethone was certain of her previous method, so she continued ramming into others to overpower them and steal their loot. Wardac had previously spotted a good corner nearby where to hide the gold from potential thieves, so he made sure nobody was watching before he quickly slipped there and hid the precious two pieces before he jumped into the brawl, attention shifting between Meline and the trampling Haedians around him. He also noticed Aethone take on two Brutes at once, kicking both simultaneously out of the game.

   Looks like Wardac was right once again - the Haedians were indeed distracted by Meline flying over them, which allowed Wardac to snatch some rocks right under their noses without getting caught. This gave Meline quite a bit of confidence, so she soon snarled at the Haes while hovering above them, just out of their reach. When she didn’t see Wardac nearby then she even risked diving and darting by like an arrow, skillfully snatching the rocks before the Haedians even got a chance to see her coming.

   It didn’t take long when competition wore thin, and while Meline was busy with her attempts to get past one large agitated dark-coated Haedian to get her claws on his treasure, Aethone had begun circling around Zarod. The queen of the clan kept her orange eyes locked on the opponent. Both of their hopes had come true - to face off each other.

“Well, let’s see what you got.”

   Zarod grinned at Aethone, teasing her in hopes she’d make the first move while she herself was protectively sitting over her pile. Aethone assessed the dexterity of Zarod’s potentially dangerous tail, and after having decided on the good angle to approach, she trotted closer, allowing Zarod to turn herself after which Aethone made a surprisingly agile dash right at her.

   Wardac had decided that the three of them have more than enough rocks by now, so he was sitting near his hidden pile, glancing towards Aethone but mostly observing how Meline faced off the couple last Haedians left besides Zarod. They were jeering at Meline together with the ones eliminated from the games thanks to her, as in their eyes, this was definitely not a valorous way of the games. The disapproving noises finally caught Zarod’s attention right after she had avoided Aethone’s attack and using the Puller’s own momentum, sent her tumbling against the cave wall, which resulted in a loud thud echoing in the nearby tunnels. Wardac felt the ground shake, and with wide eyes hoped that Aethone didn’t receive any serious injuries. While Aethone recovered from this, Zarod had a moment to turn around and witness the sight of Meline not being honorable. Her ears flattened as she snapped at the fluffy Empyrian.

“You! Cowardice is not our way. Come down and brawl like a Brute!”

   Zarod’s snarl was limited to just that as Aethone had got back up with little help from Wardac, and with heavy footsteps was running right at Zarod again. Hearing this, Zarod managed to react just a split second too late, thanks to which it was her time to slide across the arena floor thanks to the impact. Aethone grabbed as many stones as she could and quickly delivered them to her own pile, before infuriated Zarod got back on all fours and determined to have revenge, Zarod continued fighting Aethone for the golden little prizes.

   Having heard Zarod’s disapproving comment, Meline snapped out of the battle trance and with a sour face flew up on the ledge, which was quite close to Wardac’s safe. Quite many agitated Brutes gathered on the ground below her, jeering and shouting at her while Wardac tried to get their attention and calm them down, so they could talk things through while Zarod was busy having a fierce dance with a very worthy opponent named Aethone.