Judd couldn’t free himself no matter how hard he fought the minotaur’s grasp. His vision was blurry but before it had become so, he had seen Verne running towards him with a sword. He knew in his heart it would be too late. Nothing would stop the fist of the minotaur from turning his skull to pulp.

  Then the Arena filled with a roar and the minotaur that held Judd paused, a domination challenge instinct hard to ignore. The minotaur grunted and turned its head, its nostrils flaring and its thick, blunt teeth bared. The larger, shaggy minotaur, who had caught Suvau’s incoming blow and thrown him aside, took up a fighting stance, its muscles bulging as it growled.

  Judd’s minotaur answered the challenge, turning to face the larger minotaur, Judd still in its grasp. The world was going dark as he kicked and squirmed. He couldn’t see what was happening as everything went black…then he was dropped from the minotaur’s grip, landing hard yet with enough sense to scramble out of the way of two large monsters battling it out with fists, horns and hooves. Hands grabbed Judd and pulled him upright.

  “What happened?” Judd wheezed.

  “That big black minotaur suddenly turned on the other.” They ran to the safety of a pillar, which was a relative term when in an enclosed space with two bulls fighting for dominance. “It charged it, slamming it into the wall and dropped you.” They peered around the pillar at the minotaur that roared and battered each other, teeth sinking into flesh and hooves kicking powerfully. “If it hadn’t, we would’ve had to scrape you off the wall. Look out!”

  The minotaur’s battle tumbled towards them, striking the pillar, causing cracks to run up the stone and more wood in the balcony splintered and creaked. Judd, Verne and Giordi threw themselves out of the path of the furious monsters who were so overcome by their own war, they’d forgotten about the humans. However, that wouldn’t mean they couldn’t be killed in the process!

  Judd used the brief reprieve to reclaim his sword which he’d dropped when trying to free himself. His helmet would have to be dug out of the mound of monster bodies when the battle was over. When he turned back to the minotaur, the smaller one had regained the upper hand and was charging the larger, its horn piercing its thigh. Shaggy black staggered, bringing down its fist, snapping the horn off, leaving it in his thigh while the smaller minotaur howled, its horn broken almost at its skull.

  “That’s gotta hurt!” Giordi cried.

  Shaggy black didn’t waste any time, throwing itself onto the smaller minotaur, putting its arms around its neck and wrenching tight. The smaller minotaur managed to sink its teeth into the larger monster’s forearm but shaggy wouldn’t budge. They rolled and rumbled, crashed into the walls, the gate and the pillars before, finally, the smaller minotaur’s lungs were exhausted, every drop of air in them expelled. Shaggy black held onto it until the quivering stopped, the twitching ceased and the teeth released from their grasp as its head slumped to the side.

  Judd watched as the shaggy black minotaur drew itself upright, horn still through its thigh, bleeding from multiple places. It roared at the body of the dead monster at its hooves, shaking violently.

  “Uh…thank you?” Judd said right before the minotaur turned and launched itself at him, grabbing his armour and hauling him to the gate, slamming his backplate against it with a loud clang. The ogres on the other side howled in delight then cowered at the minotaur’s bellow, too stupid to realise it couldn’t reach them through the gate.

  Judd wrestled and writhed when he heard something remarkable. He stopped squirming for a moment and looked into the eyes of the minotaur. “Did you just speak?”

  The minotaur was breathing rapidly and its beastly snout flexed and curled, attempting to form human words with an animal mouth. “Kill…me…”

  It occurred to Judd that, despite the minotaur throwing him about, he was not actually in pain or injured from it. His armour had protected him and the minotaur’s fist was curled around his breastplate, not his body. Judd’s feet were on the ground and the minotaur loomed over him.

  “Kill you?” Judd whispered. The minotaur nodded. “But…”

  “Please,” it ground out between its gritted blunt teeth, “before…I lose…myself again…” Its other hand grasped at the shaggy mane about its neck, clutching at something. “Please…” He urged.

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  Judd steeled himself and nodded. The shaggy minotaur gave a sigh of relief then stumbled backwards, howling and clutching at itself as if Judd had struck a mighty blow.

  “Oh, I see,” Judd licked his lips, “we’re going to make this look good.”

  He advanced on the minotaur and began to attack it. It knocked back some of his blows and even dealt some of his own but Judd could feel that the minotaur was pulling his punches, withholding the full extent of his strength. It didn’t make the beast a pushover and Judd had to fight furiously before the minotaur fell backwards, striking the gate. His head lowered and he looked at Judd and nodded once.

  Judd swallowed, grasped his sword and ran forward, the blade sinking into the minotaur’s chest…

  …but he couldn’t push it in the whole way.

  He closed his eyes, knowing he was failing the man within the monster.

  The minotaur cupped his face, his long fingers sinking into Judd’s curls. For those watching, it looked like a skull crushing grasp. For Judd, he felt comfort in it as if to say, it’s alright…I’ve got this. The minotaur gave a small, kindly huff then grabbed the blade and thrust it all the way through, piercing his heart and ending his life.

  Judd stepped back, tears streaking down his face, mingling with sweat, blood and dust. The minotaur’s hand went to clutch at his chest again but his fingers slipped away as his head lolled to the side, a deep, shuddering final breath escaping its lungs…before his life was finally over.

  The ogres beyond the gate stared as though they couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Judd lifted his eyes and yelled at them. The ogres turned and fled, their flat footed feet carrying them deep into Maul.

  Judd heaved hard, his armour so tight he could barely breathe. He stepped close and forced his aching arm to reach up, brushing his fingers over the minotaur’s eyes, closing them. His hand drifted down to his chest and he eased the shaggy black hair aside to discover a familiar leather wrapped pendant. He snapped the leather thong from around his neck, drawing his sword out of the minotaur’s chest then moved backwards, tucking the pendant into his glove.

  “Thank you.” He closed his eyes and turned.

  “Judd, look out!”

  His sword was already out in front of him as Suvau began to advance, eyes blazing and fists ready to finish what he started.

  “Hold, Maul!” Judd blinked and looked up at the balcony where Sir Donimede stood with a dozen archers with arrows pointed at Suvau and two dozen more soldiers behind them, swords out and ready to defend the fort. “One more step and I will give the order to cut you down.”

  Suvau’s mouth turned down and his body was shaking but he stepped back.

  “On your knees.” Judd ordered.

  Suvau sank to his knees, his dark gaze on Judd.

  “Well, LaMogre…finish him off.” Donimede commanded. “He is your Maul.”

  Judd licked his lips. “Not anymore.” Giordi murmured his name but Verne hushed him. “Keep him, Sir Donimede. Just promise me that when your Arena is repaired, that he is the first Maul sent in.”

  “Done!”

  Judd sheathed his sword. “Caste Undern!”

  “Yes?” Caste’s shaky voice called back to him. The little cleric hadn’t run. Judd was surprised.

  “Come and collect proof of my minotaur kill for with it,” he took a deep breath, “I have fulfilled my knighthood quest.”

  And with those words, the Arena rocked with the sound of soldiers cheering. Judd nodded at them then made his way across the uneven ground, past Verne and Giordi, past the monster bodies and blood slicked stone to the door he had entered by. As he did so, Caste appeared, almost as afraid of Judd as he would have been of the monsters. Judd put his bloodied green glove out to stop him and drew the pendant out of its clutches. He held it out and Caste, to his credit, didn’t baulk. He opened his cappa clausa where there was a pocket and allowed Judd to drop it in.

  “When you have proof of the kill, bring it to me.” He said hollowly. “We…have things to discuss…” Caste nodded. Without another word, or giving himself a moment to pause, Judd left the room and climbed the stairs, hearing his name shouted endlessly, applause filling the gaps in between.

  Judd felt several slaps on his shoulders as he walked blindly to his chambers. Once he turned into the corridor where his room was, where no one else would be, he began to shed his armour piece by piece. They landed on the ground, first his gloves, the couters, rerebraces and vambraces, the gorget, the pauldrons, the breastplate and backplate, each one clattering onto stone and rug. He yanked at the belt holding the chainmail and tasset in place and they dropped, followed by cuisses and greaves. By the time Judd reached his door, he was only dressed in the soft clothing he always wore beneath his armour apart from his feet. He put his hand against the frame and yanked his sabatons off, throwing them aside. Then he pushed the door open, walked in and closed it behind him.

  The dungeon door opened and all the Maul prisoners looked up as Suvau’s large form filled the lit doorway. Without being told to do so or even pushed to obey, Suvau’s heavy step thudded with finality and he sank onto the crate near his manacles. When his hands were locked into place, a pinching grip grabbed his chin and forced him to meet Urik’s greedy gaze.

  “I told you I would break you and now, you’re mine forever.”

  Suvau’s head slumped down when Urik let go and left the dungeon. The door clanged shut and the sound echoed until there was nothing left but silence.

  “Ermaus?”

  Suvau shook his head.

  “He…when Urik came he was going to take myself or Palo…but Ermaus spat in his face. Urik took him instead.” Gustin whispered. “It was like…he knew…”

  Suvau lifted his head and looked at the place where Ermaus had been chained for many years of his life. Big, fat tears rolled down his face as his throat closed over. Suvau let them fall, sinking his head into his hands.