27 Gladiator Games

Mark looked on as Eduardo split the tied up bandits in to smaller groups, there was three groups of four and one group of five, making seventeen in total. Some had been found in the houses during the searches, or had surrendered during the battle.

Mark pondered how the numbers had been so wrong from what he had been expecting. Little John had led them to believe there was less than 30 bandits I'm the camp, and Sakura had believed him. He realised he should probably question Little John and the survivors who were deemed worthy to get more information about the situation.

The day the Wolfheads arrived was fast approaching, they needed as much information as possible. There was a chance that Runetown would fall if Mark wasn't prepared, which would impact his Raven's Peak and his future plans.

Mark spoke softly to Carol, who was stood by his side. "We are going to let them fight each other, the strongest will go forwards. Then your opinion will be needed."

"The worst one is gone, the blue tattooed warrior. But there are a few others left that I have negative feelings about. Personally I would kill them all and rid the world of the scum, but I understand this is your decision." She replied.

He understood her thoughts completely, he himself was tempted to have them all killed and buried, but he wanted to give some of them a path to redemption. He also desperately needed more troops, and fast.

"First up, group one!" Eduaro announced loudly. Little Tai and his heavily armoured men pushed the first four forwards. They had created a large square in the centre of the camp, next to the fire pit. They had drew a line in the ground to outline the square, creating a mini arena. Surrounding the arena were the Red Ribbons, armed and ready incase anyone tried to escape, but also prepared for some evening entertainment.

The four bandits were pushed in to the square arena. Little Tai grabbed two of them and cut their hands free.

"You two, fight first." He announced, before Vlad threw two short swords in to the centre. The other two bandits looked at each other and stepped towards the edges, allowing the first two fight.

"Rules of engagement." Eduardo announced excitedly. "First the winner goes to the next round. Secondly the winner is the last one standing, no surrender is allowed. Thirdly if you leave the arena during the fight accidentally, you will be forced back in, if you leave on purpose, you die. Prize for the winner is a chance of redemption, depending on your performance."

There was a loud cheer from the crowd of Red Ribbons, who banged their weapons together loudly. Some of the released prisoners also joined the crowd, excitement in their eyes at a chance of seeing some of their captors suffer.

Mark looked at the first two competitors. The first one was slim looking and had the occupation of a thief, the second had a more muscular build but wore a bandage across his face from the earlier battle, he had the occupation of a guard.

Stan - In his past life, he was a warehouse worker who had an obsessive personality. After not receiving the affection from his favourite celebrity whom he had stalked, he decided he couldn't take it anymore and drove his car of a bridge with his pregnant girlfriend in the back.

Hassan - In his past life, he was a proud warrior in the early Ottoman Empire, fighting in several wars, before succumbing to capture after his unit was defeated. He was beheaded alongside the rest of his unit.

Mark felt this was an unfair fight, Stan may seem the weaker of the two, but Hassan's sight was injured. Nevertheless he would allow it as he had no emotional ties to either participant.

Carol learned over to Mark's ear. "Stan is not a good person, I don't remember seeing Hassan much, but he did feed us occasionally."

Mark nodded his head in thanks before looking back to the fight. Eduardo stood at the side and watched Stan and Hassan who stared at each other.

"Begin!" He bellowed, causing Hassan and Stan to both run to the centre to grab the discarded short swords.

Stan reached there first, grabbing the sword and swinging it wildly in the direction of the approaching Hassan. Hassan dropped low to the ground and rolled to the side, avoiding the wild slashes. He reached forwards and grabbed the hilt of the other sword, quickly lifting the blade to clash with Stan's. There was a clang as the swords struck each other, causing a huge cheer from the excited crowd.

The other two bandits watched on in fear, realising that they were next in this square, to fight against each other. One of them turned away, planning an escape, however he made eye contact with the excitable Vlad who was watching and quickly changed his mind.

Hassan stepped backwards, defending himself with his blade from more wild slashes from Stan. He looked to find a way to strike back, but the bandage on his face reduced his vision. As Stan went to slash again, Hassan blocked him and threw a punch at his face, causing a heavy clash.

Stan stumbled backwards and touched his face, blood dripping from his mouth. He gnarled angrily before throwing himself back at Hassan. Hassan reacted quickly, moving his sword to block, his obvious experience with a weapon helping him to naturally react. Stan continued to push on, making Hassan move backwards towards the crowd of onlookers.

"5 gold on the skinny one!" Shouted Gan Ning to no one in particular. Excitement clear on his face at the clash in front.

"I'll take that, 5 on the bandaged one!" Shouted Little tai in response.

As Hassan reached the boundary of the square, Stan went slash again, however this time instead of retreating, Hassan dived to the side. Stan followed through on his attack, striking the empty space in front of him. Stan partially lost his balance and Hassan took this as an opening and struck him in the ribs with the hilt of the sword, with his other arm following up with a punch to Stan's face.

Hassan quickly turned his sword and went to stab Stan in the side, however Stan reacted quickly and slashed back, a bloody grin on his face. The sword caught Hassan's exposed upper arm and left a bloodied gash upon it.

Hassan groaned in pain before stepping back, placing his hand on to the wound and creating space between the two of them.

"I never liked you Hassan." Stan explained loudly. "You were sickening, never getting involved in any of the fun, what sort of bandit are you, you boring fuck!"

He charged at Hassan, sword high, swinging the weapon down towards Hassan's neck. Hassan dropped to his knee and went forwards, underneath the falling blade. He then stabbed forwards, piercing Stan's stomach and drove the blade upwards towards his heart.

A look of shock appeared on Stan's face, a look of disgust and disbelief. Blood began gurgling from his throat, before his eyes glazed over and he collapsed on top of Hassan.

Hassan fell to the floor with Stan on top of him, blood flowing freely from his arm as his strength left him. The world slowly fading to black.

"Pay up!" Shouted Little Tai towards Gan Ning. Causing laughter and cheering from the crowd.

Gan Ning looked at him and laughed loudly, "Damn, double or nothing on the next one?"

"Sure, but I choose first!" Little Tai replied, causing the other heavy troops to laugh and cheer their commander.

"Clear the square!" Eduardo ordered, before two men ran in and dragged the corpse of Stan away and dumped it near the other corpses from the earlier fight. They also dragged Hassan away, and placed him near the fire pit and other prisoners, a warning of what was to come for them.

Mark headed to Eduardo's side, a frown on his face.

"Hassan won, make sure his wound is taken care off." Mark ordered, "But a great idea, the men are enjoying themselves!"

"Don't worry, he won't die from that. I'll have Belle look him over later." Eduardo replied, "Do you think he has another fight in him?"

"I would like to find out!" Mark replied, a grin appearing in his face, "We'll let Sakura have a chat with him first."

Eduaro shivered, before turning back to the ring.

"Next!" He shouted loudly. Vlad and Octavian pushed the next two in to the square arena, whilst Little Tai threw in two short swords.

"Same rules! Fight!" Eduardo shouted excitedly, causing a huge cheer from the crowd, more of the released captives had joined them by now. Feeling safe that this small force had rescued them and were showing them how pathetic their captors were.

Mark looked them over, the first was the one whom had made eye contact with Vlad, he was an archer and looked athletic. The second was a slightly overweight and had a long beard, towering over the first person.

Morgan - In a past life, he was a welsh archer who fought at the battle of Agincourt, a farmer and a scout who lived an enjoyable life of a prankster.

Rojo - In a past life, he was a Spanish torturer who tortured, raped, murdered and flayed many different people for his lord, in the name of his God. He was sadistic and a wretched character, who unfortunately lived a long happily life.

Fear was obvious on Morgan's face. He knew he had no chance in this fight. Rojo grinned at him excitedly and walked forwards, completely bypassing the weapons and going straight for Morgan.

"He is terrifying." Claire commented, pointing at Rojo. "The poor lad has no chance."

"You sympathise with the young one?" Mark asked.

"Yes and No, he's a bandit, but he's not bad." She commented.

Morgan stepped back quickly, trying to dodge the oncoming Rojo, as he got further back he reached the perimeter and felt a heavy push coming from behind. He looked around and saw a smiling Vlad pushing him back in to the fight.

He quickly turned back and ran around the edge of the square, outpacing the slow moving Rojo who had a large grin on his face. Morgan ran in to the centre and grabbed both swords, before running back to the edge of the square and passing around. Not allowing the slow Rojo to approach.

"No fun!" exclaimed Rojo loudly! Causing a laughter from the crowd.

"What do you expect me to do?" Morgan replied jokingly.

"Die?" questioned Rojo.

Morgan continued to pace around the edges, but felt like the arena was getting smaller as Rojo slowly grew closer to him, leaving him much less space to go.

"Fuck." He exclaimed, before deciding to charge at Rojo with both of the blades.

Rojo grinned happily, and as Morgan approached he grabbed him by the arms and lifted him in to the air. Morgan dropped both blades and screamed in agony as Rojo threw him heavily to the floor.

"Fun time!" Rojo exclaimed merrily as he bent down to grab Morgan's head.

He lifted Morgan by his head and punched him heavily in the stomach. Morgan coughed and groaned in pain, as another punch hit him in the stomach, followed by another. Rojo laughed as he threw Morgan down again and went to grab one of the discarded swords.

"Let's play a little game." Rojo laughed, before going to slash Morgan with the blade.

"Stop right there you fat bastard." A gruff voice shouted over.

"You not dead yet?" Rojo replied, turning to face the oncoming newcomer.

The crowd stepped apart as Dian Wei stepped in to the arena.

"Sorry Boss, do you mind?" Dian Wei asked politely, causing the Red Ribbons to exhale when they saw this scarred tattooed warrior come forwards. He grabbed a sword from Gan Ning who was stood by.

"He's the new guy." Gan Ning explained. There were sighs of relief as he was an imposing sight. Belle followed him and shook her head in disappointment, it was obvious he has no intention of letting his wounds heal.

"Go for it." Mark replied happily.