Blake shook his head.
“Caitlin!” he yelled out. “I did not betray you. They captured me, too. I promise you. I did not lead them to you.”
“Then why do you stand there, ready to fight me?” Caitlin called back.
“I’ve been forced into this stadium,” he yelled back. “But I will not fight you. As I told them before.”
Blake walked out to the center of the stadium, faced Kyle and the judges, and threw down his shield, helmet, and sword.
“I will NOT fight her!” he screamed back at them.
The crowd booed in disapproval.
Caitlin was shocked at this turn of events. Was it just another trick? Was he just waiting to deceive her again? Or had she been wrong all along about him? Had he been faithful to her all this time? Now, she was not so sure.
The judge stood. “If you do not fight her, you will suffer in unimaginable death!” he yelled back.
“Choose!”
“Kill me as you will,” he yelled back. “I shall never fight her!”
The crowd booed again, and the judge nodded at the guards.
Suddenly, Caitlin felt herself being shackled from behind by several guards, the silver shackles rendering her helpless as she was dragged off the stadium floor. She dug her heels in, trying to resist, but it was no use. They dragged her into a holding pen, off to the side.
She watched Blake, standing there, defiant. And in that moment, she realized. It was not a trick.
He had never betrayed her. Not only that, but he was preparing to sacrifice his own life for hers.
Even worse, she had gotten him into this mess: if he had not come with her on her mission, he would be back safe at home right now. She felt worse than ever. And she felt so mad at herself for jumping to conclusions, for assuming the worst. Why couldn’t she have given him the benefit of the doubt?
As Caitlin stood chained in the pen, helpless, she suddenly saw a side door of the Coliseum open, and two dozen of the most vicious looking vampires she had ever seen charge out, on horseback, for Blake.
Blake wheeled and hurried to grab his sword and shield.
He faced them down as they charged, prepared to make a stand.
They came at him in full force, slashing at him, and he fought back bravely, knocking several off their horses. Soon, they were mostly on foot, coming at him from every direction, and he fought like the skilled warrior he was. He killed two of them in a single blow.
But he was outnumbered. As Caitlin watched, her heart breaking, she saw that he was getting weaker, slashed in several directions. He was not going to win.
Caitlin felt the injustice of it all, and suddenly felt the rage overcome her. A hot flash raised up, from her toes up through her body, and she felt herself infused with a superhuman strength. She willed herself to be stronger than she had ever been, and in one strong motion, she reached back, and with all her might, snapped her chains.
She leapt over the wall, grabbed her weapons, and sprinted for Blake The crowd roared in approval, jumping to its feet.
Caitlin charged at the group of vampires encircling him. One vampire, on his horse, was about to stab Blake from behind, and Caitlin took aim and threw her spear at him; it went right through the back of his neck, and he fell off his horse, dead.
The crowd roared.
She grabbed the fallen vampire’s sword, leapt onto his horse, and charged at the others, swinging as she went.
The rage built and built, and Caitlin felt a primordial strength that she never had. She charged and swung and struck and jabbed, and she was a whirlwind of destruction.
Within minutes, she managed to kill several of the vampires around Blake.
She dismounted and stood at his side.
The two of them stood there, back to back, fighting, only a few vampires remaining.
Blake, emboldened, managed to kill the vampire facing him, while Caitlin killed one more, and focused on the other two.
She attacked one, stabbing him in the heart, but as she did, she left herself carelessly open to attack. The other vampire lunged at her open back, his sword aiming right for her kidney, and Caitlin saw it coming. But she couldn’t react in time. She knew that it was too late, and that she would certainly die.
She braced herself for the horrible pain—but to her surprise, it didn’t come. Instead, she heard a horrible scream, and she looked over to see Blake standing there, to see that he had stepped in the way, and had taken the blow for her. The vampire had stabbed him, instead, right through the heart.
Caitlin stepped up and chopped off the vampire’s head. As she did, her bracelet, the one Blake had bought her, fell off her wrist, to the ground.
At the same time, the vampire fell to the ground, the last of them, dead.
Blake sank to his knees, dying.
As he collapsed to the ground, Caitlin caught him, let him gently down. She reached up and tried to remove the sword from his heart, but he grunted out in pain, and she knew to let it be.
She cradled his head in her hands, and knelt over him, crying.
“I want you to know,” he said with effort, blood dripping from his mouth, “that I never betrayed you.”
“I know,” Caitlin said through tears. “Blake, I’m so sorry.”
He nodded, then smiled at her weakly, blood on his lips.
“I love you,” he said. “And I always will.”
He put his hand into hers, thrusting something into her palm, and then closed his eyes, dead.
She looked down, and saw that it was a piece of sea glass. The piece from Pollepel.
Caitlin leaned back and wailed, a horrible wail of grief. She had never felt so torn apart. She would have given anything for that sword to have struck her instead.
The crowd, at first shocked, now erupted into a roar of approval.
“CAITLIN! CAITLIN!” they chanted. Their screams and stamping shook the entire stadium.
It was clearly not the reaction that Kyle and the judges had hoped for.
They both got up and stormed away from their balcony, shutting down the games for the day.