Black Knight 02 - Back in Black (21 page)

Lenny walked into the center of the ring, and a microphone descended from the rafters. "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Fright Night Fight Night!" The crowd actually cheered for this crap, proving that there really is no relation between taste and cash. "We have a very special treat for you tonight, a battle of legendary enemies, creatures whose races have hated each other since before the dawn of human history. The hatred that these monsters bear for each other makes a Sarah Palin and Joe Biden look like bosom buddies!" The crowd laughed again, and I looked over at Gorton, trying to see if he had any deep-seated hatred I hadn't noticed in our first fight.
 

He just looked back at me as if to say
what can you do, he's got the microphone and is a wee bit nuts besides
. I shrugged back and turned my attention back to the fairy on the microphone, thinking how much I'd rather have him locked in the cage with me than the troll. Lenny went on "And tonight, ladies and gentlemen, for your entertainment, we have a first here at Fright Night - a duel to the death!!!" The crowd went wild cheering, and Lenny turned around in a slow circle, basking in their cheers. I looked across at Gorton, and he actually mouthed "sorry" at me. I was going to feel bad about killing him, even if he was a troll. Of course, I'd feel even worse if he managed to kill me. But since I'd technically been dead for most of two decades, I didn't mind all that much.
 

"As you all know, ladies and gents, the betting windows are open, and we are laying pretty heavy odds on our champion here, so get your last bets in! It won't take me long to go over the rules of the fight, because there aren't any!" Even this got a laugh. I couldn't figure out what it was - the ponytail? The earrings? The fact that the whole crowd was plastered? He wasn't any funnier than me, but he had these folks eating out of his hand. I shook my head, then suddenly noticed that Lenny wasn't talking anymore. As a matter of fact, he wasn't even in the ring. I was now locked in a cage with a troll who wanted to cut my head off, and a whole bunch of people just outside that had serious cash on him doing just that. Even if I beat Gorton, I might not make it out of this alive.
 

I didn't have a whole lot of time to contemplate that, because the second the cage door shut behind Lenny, Gorton charged at me, twirling his battle axes like a Bruce Lee villain. Except they usually had nunchuks. And except that Bruce Lee could usually beat them. And except that was in the movies, and this was frighteningly real. Okay, now that I think about it, it was nothing like a Bruce Lee movie, but in the heat of the moment, that's what came into my head. Gorton came at me in a dead run, and I sprinted away from him, running in circles around the cage while I frantically tried to think of a plan. I'm sure I looked like Andy Kaufman in a wrestling ring, but I had no idea how I was going to go toe to toe with a nine-foot troll and live, especially since he had two battle-axes and I just had me.
 

Then it came to me - I had
me
. I was a lot faster and at least marginally smarter than the troll, so that's what I had to work with. I stopped abruptly, diving backwards toward Gorton and flipping over his back. He almost turned himself inside out trying to reverse his run and get turned around to face me, and that's when I was able to snatch one axe out of his hand and fling it outside the cage. I heard a few shrieks from the crowd as the six-foot axe cleaved a bleacher, but they weren't high on the list of things I was worrying about. I guessed they even bet on the troll.
 

One axe out of the way, I squared off against Gorton, who had regained his balance and was facing me head-on. He feinted once at my head, and then made a huge upward sweep at my face as I ducked. If I'd been human, that would have split my head open from jaw to eyebrows, but I haven't been human for a long time. I pulled my head back in the nick of time, and lashed out with a kick at Gorton's knee. My foot connected solidly, and I heard something go crunch. The troll didn't fall, though, just shifted his weight and brought the axe back around.
I gotta get a book on monster anatomy
, I thought as I skipped sideways to avoid a huge over-handed slash that tore the canvas and splintered the wooden floor underneath.
 

"Careful, there, Gortie. If you break the cage it's gonna come out of your pay." I kept dodging, hoping I could rope-a-dope long enough to get a good shot in.
 

"What pay, vampire?" The troll asked as he slashed at my head again.
 

I ducked easily and rolled forward under his arm, forcing him to stop hacking at me for a minute to untangle his feet again. "You mean you're letting the fairy make all the money? That's generous of you."
 

"What I need money for? He gives me blades and things to hit. That's all I need." He raised the axe over his head and charged again. I slid sideways and gave him a couple of quick punches to where a human's kidneys would be. By the grunt he gave, I hit something uncomfortable at least.
 

"Don't you want more out of life? A little piece of land with a house, a yard and a Mrs. Troll in the kitchen?" I ducked another attack and this time threw a knee at the big muscle in the troll's thigh. He yelped and backhanded me across the cage. I slid all the way into the mesh walls, and heard people outside yelling for my blood.
 

"You ever
seen
a lady troll, vampire? If so, you know why I never want to get married!" He came at me again; axe slashing the air at waist height. He made a nasty sideways stroke, and I decided to do the last thing he expected. I stepped inside the axe strike, blocking his arms with my body. His elbow caught me in the midsection, but I was able to reach out and land a punch right on the tip of his bulbous nose.
 

I don't care how big you are, a shot to the nose is the great equalizer. Your eyes get blurry and there's nothing you can do about it for a couple of seconds. And a couple of seconds was all I needed. As Gorton reached up to grab at his face with one hand, I took his other wrist, the one closest to me, in one hand and put the other hand on his bicep. I put all my strength in one huge move, and slammed his outstretched arm across my upraised knee with a sickening pop that sounded for all the world like a huge balloon exploding. Gorton's elbow snapped like kindling, and his axe went clattering to the floor.
 

I held onto his wrist and pulled him around with all my might. He overbalanced easily, going head over heels in a move I couldn't replicate if I tried it in the gym a thousand times. The troll landed flat on his back with his arms and legs splayed out wide. I picked up the axe and raised it high over my head. I looked down and saw the troll close his eyes as I brought the massive blade crashing down.
 

Then his eyes flew open as the splinters scratched his face when I buried the axe in the floor beside his head. "Don't move." I whispered to the troll, and jumped from the middle of the ring to the upper corner of the cage, balancing precariously on the upper rails of the chain link.
 

"I win, Lenny, and the troll lives!" I shouted. "Now open the door. I'm hungry, and I don't really care if I eat you or one of your patrons!" I looked down at a balding man in a suit that cost more than my first car. He had a woman on each arm, obviously rentals or just run-of-the-mill gold diggers, and a Tag Heuer watch that kinda caught my eye. I bared my fangs at him, and he fainted dead away. The girls ran off, and I jumped down right beside the fainted wuss. "Nice watch. Thanks." I said, slipping it onto my wrist.
 

"That's not very nice, Mr. Black." Lenny's voice came from right behind me, and I turned to see him pointing a revolver at my head. It looked like a .357, but it was hard to tell with it pressed up against my nose.
 

"I'm not a very nice person, Lenny." I reached up and pushed the barrel of the gun aside. "Now open the doors. My friends and I are leaving." I looked at him and put a little mojo into my voice, but it had no effect on the fairy.
 

"You cannot bespell our kind, you idiotic little vampire." Something in the way he said that sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. "And you are most certainly not leaving. I promised these people blood, and blood they shall have." He clapped his hands, and a small army of trolls stepped forward out of the shadows. One held each of my friends, and the ones that weren't holding prisoners held nasty-looking axes, swords and short spears with barbed points that looked like they could do really unpleasant things to people.
 

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a fantastic surprise for you this evening! In addition to the battle you have just witnessed, we have another first for you here at Fright Night - a
Battle Royale
!" He spun around, and I noticed that even without the microphone he didn't have any problem being heard. "Now this isn't the watered-down excuse for a Battle Royale that your silly 'sports entertainment' programs will show you. This is a true battle, where only the strong survive! But first, please step away from the cage, I think we may need a little more room for this performance." With that, he waved his hands in the air over his head, and the cage grew. And it didn't just expand outward, it got taller, too. Where once had stood a fifteen-foot square with maybe ten-foot walls, now we were standing outside a cage the size of half a basketball court, with walls a good twenty feet high. And somehow, I noticed, Lenny had transported all of us inside the cage. The spectators were outside, but Sabrina, Greg, Stephen, Mike, Alex and I were in the cage with a good baker's dozen of trolls and one fairy magician.
 

I looked over at Greg and said the only thing I could think of. "I've got a bad feeling about this."
 

He looked up at me and nodded. "Help me, Obi-wan Kenobi. You're my only hope."
 

Chapter 32

We were still unarmed, and even more outnumbered than when it was just me one on one with a troll. I ran to the side of the cage and picked up the axe that Gorton had dropped when I felled him. He was still laying there, rolling around a little and moaning, but he obviously wasn't going to be a problem. When Lenny had made the cage bigger, the other axe ended up on the inside of it with us, so I grabbed it too. I sprinted back to my friends and handed one axe to Greg.
 

"I figure we've got a few seconds before they figure out a plan and come after us. Sabrina, stay here and protect the humans. Greg, Stephen, come with me." I snapped the head off the axe and gave Sabrina the handle. It made for about a four-foot bo staff, but it was the best thing I could come up with.
 

I grabbed the axe just behind the head and looked over at Greg. "Fastball special?"
 

"You read too many comic books, dude. That'll never work." He looked at me and shook his head.
 

"You got a better idea?" I asked.
 

"No. Lay down on your stomach." I did, and Greg grabbed my ankles and started to spin around in a circle. I held the axe head out in front of me and picked up speed with every rotation. "I should try the hammer toss at the Ren Faire next year!" Greg yelled just as he let go of my feet.
 

I flew across the cage at the massed rank of trolls, axe-first. I hit the first one head on with the blade, cleaving the top of his head right off. For such a stupid creature, he had a lot of brains to splatter all over the place. I kept flying into the second troll, and managed to take his head off as well before the axe handle became too slick with blood to hold. By then Greg and Stephen had caught up with me and were picking up weapons dropped by the dead monsters. Stephen grabbed a troll short sword that fit him just about like a claymore, and started laying about like a madman. I had to duck to keep him from lopping off my ears, and grabbed a fallen sword of my own. Greg had squared off against an axe-wielding troll, and was trying to chip enough important pieces off of him to get him to stay down.
 

I heard air whistling behind me and dropped the ground just in time to avoid a gigantic clawed hand that would have probably ripped my lungs out. I lashed out with my sword, cutting the troll's Achilles tendon, and he dropped to the floor beside me. Through it all, I heard the crowd screaming for blood, ours or the trolls I couldn’t tell. I ducked and weaved as best I could, slicing out with my sword whenever I saw an opening, all the while trying to get back to where Greg and Stephen stood surrounded by trolls. I dove between one beast's legs, stabbing upwards through his torso as I came up, and snatched his axe out of the air as he fell backwards, dead before he hit the floor.
 

"How many left?" I asked Greg.
 

"I got two." He replied. "Stephen?"
 

"This one makes two for me. What about you?"
 

"I got three plus one incapacitated. So that leaves seven plus Lenny." I looked around but couldn't see the fairy anywhere. It was about that time when I heard Sabrina swearing loudly. I looked over to where I had left them, only to see a troll lift her up and throw her out of the cage altogether. She landed in the crowd, and looked around for an entrance to get back in and help as the troll went after Alex and Mike.