War Beast

Book Three: Chapter 11

Jenny and her friends left their mounts behind the crowd. They cautiously strolled through the cheering audience until they reached a pit as big as a house.

In the pit, a buffalo man in a loincloth circled around a panther woman who carried two thick swords. Her smooth fur shined in black like an ebony wet stone, proclaimed her jungle origin. A tightly orange bra cupped her breasts and an orange strip of loin hung between her hard-muscled thighs. White pearls hung around her neck, her long dark hair stretched down her back, and she had a pink scar below her left eye. She kept her distance from the buffalo, pacing in her battle stance.

"What is the meaning of this?" Zena exclaimed.

Basju scratched the back of his head. "It must be a pit fight for gamblers. Folks out here love dirty fights when no wars are happening around here."

Zena grimaced. "How barbaric..."

When the buffalo man charged, aiming his spear at his target, the panther ducked and slashed his lower torso. He fell into the mud and pushed his guts back into his open belly. But the moment he coughed out his blood, laid in silence.

The panther woman raised her swords up, and then the crowd cheered. After two lizard men pulled the corpse out from the pit, a short hyena man in a purple robe approached the panther and faced the villagers.

"Behold! Rani the Black Double-blade stands victorious again!" The hyena announced. "Anyone else wishes to challenge my slave with their life? The prize is still in my possession!"

The crowd mumbled around Jenny and her companions. Their whispers were filled with anxiety. They probably needed the hyena's reward, but they feared death.

Zena rolled her eyes. "We should move on. This is insanity."

Jenny agreed, until she noticed Huntar stepping forward.

"I'll challenge her!" Huntar roared as he stood over the edge. "What is your prize?"

The hyena grinned at the lion. "Fifty-thousand diamonds, and you will keep your life."

Huntar rubbed his chin. "I must declare."

The hyena beamed his eyes. "Excuse me?"

"I wish for your other possession."

The hyena snarled. "But the diamonds are all I have!"

"Not your diamonds." The lion pointed his claw at the female panther. "Her!"

Rani raised an eyebrow while the crowd gasped with surprise.

"My slave?" The hyena glanced at Rani and back at the lion. His tone shook inside his throat. "B-b-but she's mine!"

Huntar crossed his arms. "Can a challenger not choose whatever he chooses?"

The hyena rubbed his chin with his eyes on the ground. Apparently, he didn't plan to meet someone who wanted his slave. He glared at Huntar with a small grin. "If you wish to own my slave, then you must beat her first."

Huntar smiled. "No killing?"

The hyena laughed. "Only my Rani does the killing. You can knock her or force her to bend her knee to you. But I guarantee you will not live to see her kiss your feet! HAHAHAHA!!!"

Huntar cracked his knuckles. "She will not be the first to crawl toward my feet. Don't disappoint me."

The hyena laughed while slapping his knees beneath his cloak. Rani smirked at Huntar as if she couldn't wait to taste his blood.

"Huntar, this is a waste of time," Jenny complained. "You don't have to do this?"

The lion glanced down at her. "Would you do the same if you saw a helpless slave fight for her life?"

"Torag!" The rhino exclaimed with his fist in the air.

Torag was a gladiator slave who suffered many torturous battles. It made sense why he sided with Huntar.

Zena rolled her eyes with her arms crossed. "Fine! Get yourself killed by a female."

Jenny took a deep sigh and nodded to Huntar. If anyone is going to free a slave from misery, it might as well be Huntar or her. "Good luck."

Huntar grinned. "Do I always have luck?"

His cheerful sentence made Jenny giggled.