I’d recognize those icicle eyes anywhere. She’s sitting next to Gabriel, who somehow manages to look both ridiculous and also completely in his element in a pitch-black suit with several gold chains hanging around his neck.
I can’t breathe. I can’t stop staring at her, trying to fit the pieces together. George is talking to me, but I don’t hear a word she says. I don’t notice anything is happening around me until the lights over the arena come on and a voice on the loudspeaker who sounds suspiciously like Claudia’s cousin announces the first fight.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats. For our first fight, we’re pleased to welcome back a crowd favorite tonight – the indomitable, the impenetrable, the Barbarian!”
A masked figure walks into the arena – a beast of a man wearing only boxing shorts and leather cuffs around his wrists. His eyes and most of the top of his head are obscured in a monstrous leather mask, with goat horns that curl back to accentuate his height.
He raises his fist to greet the crowd as a great roar descends through the roundhouse. All around me, men and women beat their fists on the tables, stomp their feet, yell and holler and scream. Whoever the Barbarian is, they love him. The figure makes a circle of the ring, soaking in the adoration of his fans. He’s completely ripped, his muscles glinting with oil, and his jaw set in a mean scowl. Surprisingly, his skin is bare of tattoos, except for…
…I squint at his chest…
…except for the tattoo over his heart. A four-leaf clover disintegrating in the wind.
“Noah,” I whisper.
George turns to me in surprise. I nod at the fighter, my heart leaping into my throat. “That’s Noah.”
“That’s impossible. Noah can’t be—”
I have to do something. I start to get up. George reaches across and slams my shoulder down, pushing me back into my seat. “Sit down,” she hisses. “There’s nothing you can do. Besides, according to that announcement, this isn’t his first rodeo. He’s an unbeaten champion. He’ll be fine.”
I wish I had her confidence. How can Noah be a champion? He’s never been to this place before tonight…
Oh, fuck.
Noah’s been here before.
This is how he bulked out and built all that muscle.
This is how he’s coped with the deaths of his mother and brother.
This is what he’s become. A fighter. A warrior. A monster.
The pieces slide into place as Noah’s opponent wanders into the ring. Antony announces him as ‘Snakebite.’ He’s twice Noah’s size and covered head-to-toe in snakeskin tattoos. His head is shaven and his face drawn with the features of a snake – sneaky and mean and deadly. In his hand he carries a long leather whip, which he cracks in the air as the crowd bays for blood.
A gong sounds from the edge of the arena, and the two men circle each other. The crowd falls silent. You could hear a pin drop in this place – the only sound is the shuffle of feet against the floor of the arena, the sink of the whip as Snakebite cracks it in the air.
Noah, what the fuck are you doing?
Why risk your future for this—
Snakebite lunges forward, dropping to one knee and flicking his wrist. Noah sidesteps, but he’s too slow – the whip wraps around his arm. Gasps and angry yells echo through the crowd, and the reverent silence is forgotten as everyone cries for their pound of flesh. Noah howls as the leather pulls taut, his skin red and bulging where the leather digs in. Blood splatters into the sand at Noah’s feet. The whip is studded with tiny barbs that dig into Noah’s skin as Snakebite sinks his fangs deeper.
That’s not fair. Noah doesn’t even have a weapon.
I lunge forward, my own fists bared, as if I can somehow leap into the caged arena and save my friend from his own stupidity. George slams me back into my seat.
Snakebite grins as he winds the handle of the whip, sinking its barbs deeper into Noah’s flesh. Noah roars, thrashing his arm around and splattering more blood. My stomach churns. I can’t watch this. I can’t watch Noah die out there—
Noah grabs the taut whip with his other hand and pulls.
Snakebite clearly doesn’t expect this move. He’s knocked off balance, stumbling forward, right into Noah’s fist.
CRACK.
Snakebite’s head wobbles. Blood gushes from his nose, scenting the air with a metallic tang that drives the crowd into a frenzy. He drops the whip as he staggers