2 The Pit

Volrin awoke to the guards running there clubs against the bars of the cells. The smell of damp straw greeting her senses as she stretches her back, tail in the air, for the morning. Her raggedy clothes clinging wetly to her small frame. She was glad for her thick fur as it was a cold morning.

She rolled off her straw pile quickly and began her morning warm up as she heard the others groaning in there cells.

By the time her fur was lightly damp with sweat a guard slammed his club against her cell.

"Get down Rin, time to eat." he said gruffly as he tossed in a dead game hen. She hopped down from the bar she was using for pull ups and pounced on the hen, tearing into it with her sharp teeth. The guard looking on in amusement before he went to terrorize the next prisoner. Rin looked up from her meal as he started to walk away "Who fights today?" she called, lips dripping with blood. The guard looked back with a bloodthirsty smile. "You're up today. Should be a good one, your up for a trialmaker."

"What did they do?" she asked as she wandered to the bars.

"Murdered his family and ran. Was a bloodbath I heard." he laughed as he walked away.

Rin frowned to herself, trialmakers were fights against criminals for there chance at freedom. She sighed to herself and began passing her cell. Ever since she had turned fourteen the guards has used her as an executioner, sure she gained privilege from the fights but not as much as if she was in the gladiator tourney.

As it was she had barely scraped enough silver together the last five years to have a proper set of leathers to fight in. She set about shifting her bedding for the day before meditating while she waited for the trial.

Some time later she began to hear the excited roar of the Pit above her before one of the guards came to retrieve her.

"Let's get a move on." he said as he opened the cell and lead her down several familiar stone halls. They came to a door marked with an axe drawn in blood, the guard opening it and stepping aside to let her in. She quickly walked in before he helped her in with his club, she had made that mistake before and knew better now.

The room was a larger cell with a table and a chest inside, the waiting room before the fight. She could hear the crowd outside happily chattering in a confusing mass of voices. She shook her head before walking to the chest where her gear had been placed. Dark black leathers, modified for her unique physic. She set to getting all the buckles and straps set before stretching out her muscles once more.

She could hear the pit speaker amplifying her voice as she introduced the entertainment.

"Today we have a trialmaker set for you." she paused for effect "he is a bloodthirsty man who decided he wanted to redecorate his family home with the blood of his wife and children." she waited for the crowd to finish there outrage "Our executioner is Rin the Ripper!" when the crowd went wild at her name Rin ran to the bars and let out a beastial growl as she passed where they could see her. The crowd loved it when she showed off for them.

The speaker laughed as she opened her arms to the crowd "are you ready to be entertained!?" the roar of excitement greeted them in response.

Rin got into a low crouch ready to charge the criminal, as the gate opened she dashed out in erratic patterns as she didn't know if her opponent had long range weapons. On the other end of the pit a middle aged man in rags was shoved into the pit by a guard, a dagger tossed beside him as he tumbled into the dirt. Rin stopped in her tracks as she waited for the man to get up, it would be a terrible spectacle if she just mauled him in two seconds. She sighed and began circling him in an over dramatic crouch. If she didn't make this interesting for the crowd it would mean a punishment for her even when she wins.

The man stood slowly, his eyes unfocused and his body teatering. When his lazy eyes fell upon the knife at his feet they glazed over in a gleeful trance and he slowly picked it up and looked at his reflection in the blade.

Rin dashed behind him and kicked the back of his knees, making him trip and fall, the knife in his hand slicing into his cheek.

He got up slowly again, his knife wet with his own blood. He stared at the blade for a moment before laughing quietly to himself. Rin took a step back as he threw his head back and began to laugh maniacally, his chest heaving as he gasped for air between laughs. After a few confused seconds he dashed at Rin, wildly waving his knife and screaming at her. She rolled to one side of him as he barrelled past and stumbled. She took the opportunity to rake her sharp claws accross the back of his ankle to hobble him. Rin expected to hear a cry of pain but the man let out a laugh as he pivoted towards her, splattering his blood into her eyes. She staggered away as the blood began to burn, letting out a strangled yell as she rubbed at her eyes. As she tried to recover her sight she felt a searing pain in her side as the man drove his knife into her. She let out a feirce roar that shook the man enough for her to recover before she leaped into him, shoving her full weight into his chest. They tumbled to the ground and she dug her claws into his shoulders before she raked her back feet down his stomach, tearing down his sides with her sharp claws. Even with this he laughed maniacally and thrashed wildly beneath her.

Rin could hear the speaker addressing the crowd. "So Ripper" she smiled as she looked down at the two entangled in a bloody mess "is he guilty?" the crowd began shouting to her there thoughts, they were calling for blood in an overwhelming volume. Rin let the crowd go for a while before she looked to the speaker for the signal.