Page 120 of Game of Destiny
It was the day before the last game. It felt surreal. Sam had the day planned in detail. Everyone knew the last game was always special. It was always focused on physical strength. Sam had us do some light training in the morning. He and Matilda had planned a nice lunch and then he forced all of us to take a nap. I was feeling like a kid.
‘Wanna take the nap together?’ Finlay mindlinked me.
‘Don’t even joke about it. Did you see the look in Sam’s eyes when Ramses said he didn’t feel like napping? I’m going into my room and if I can’t fall asleep, I will pretend to snore,’ I told him. Finlay chuckled as he headed for his own room. In the afternoon we all went for a run in wolf shape and then Sam had arranged for the healers to give us massages and rub some kind of ointment into our skin. Matilda had a nice dinner prepared for us. We all assumed it was the end of Sam’s plan so we headed for the TV. We had just got comfortable with our favourite game show when the TV turned off and Sam stood in front of it.
“Time for bed,” he said. We all groaned as one.
“Sam, enough is enough. I appreciate everything you have done and planned for us. It’s seven o’clock and we have napped for an hour today,” I objected.
“We need to be well rested for tomorrow,” he insisted.
“An hour of TV won’t kill us,” Finlay told him. Sam sighed.
“Fine! But when we are sleepwalking tomorrow, don’t blame me,” he told us and took his usual place.
“Sleepwalking from going to bed at eight?” Ramses asked. Sam just huffed. I smiled. We all handled nerves differently and it made sense Sam handled his by training and planning. There was a good reason he was our Gamma. Five to eight, Sam started to sigh. Ten past eight, we surrendered and headed for bed.
‘Last game tomorrow, Red,’ Finlay mindlinked me when I was in bed.
‘I know. Crazy.’
“You know the big formal dinner the night after the last game?” he asked.
‘I know. Medow had me trying on at least ten dresses for it,’ I told him.
‘Will you be my official date?’ he asked.
‘Took you long enough to ask. I would love to go with you.’
‘Do you want me to get you flowers for when I pick you up?’ I smiled and rolled my eyes in the semi-darkness.
‘Flowers would have been nice, but I think you will have a hard time finding someplace to buy them,’ I pointed out.
‘Right. I will just have to owe you the flowers and get you some when we get back home.’
‘I like that compromise.’ There was a noise from Sam’s room. ‘Do you think he heard us?’ I asked. I could hear Finlay chuckle from his room.
‘I doubt he can hear our mindlink. Quick, tell me something dirty and we will find out,’ he told me.
‘Perv. I won’t chance it. I’m going to sleep. Good night Finn.’
‘Night Red.’
Chapter 59
Amie
All of us were well rested as we headed for the stadium the next day. The mood amongst all the packs was nervous. Those who had participated before were talking about the last games they had seen or been a part of. I looked over at Elder. I had talked to him about setting up a meeting between me and James. James had told him he was too busy today. I got it. No one knew what state we would be in after the game. But he hadn’t wanted to book a meeting for tomorrow either. Which irritated me.
“Good morning and welcome to the last game for this year. After today's game, you will have tomorrow to rest and we will celebrate the ending of the game with a formal dinner. Everyone is welcome to participate. The following day your results will be available. That is always an interesting day. The day after we will hold the closing ceremony and after the ceremony, you are free to leave at your own pleasure. We expect everyone to have left within a week. Enough about the formal parts. Time to get on with what we are here for, your final game. The final game thisyear will be traditional hand to hand combat.” The stadium was dead silent. I looked at Finlay, he did not look happy.
‘Are they crazy?’ Sam asked.
“The participants will duel it out one on one. You win by either forcing your opponent out of the fighting area or by holding them in submission for a minute. Shifting is allowed. No going for a kill. To make the fights as fair as possible we will have five groups, A to E. Group A will be for the strongest fighters, group E for the weakest. The other groups are a sliding scale. Each pack will assign which participant will be in which group. Only one participant from each pack can be in the same group. We will randomly select who will fight who within the groups. The winner from each fight will move on to the next round. In between rounds, you may eat and drink freely and your healers will be allowed to tend to any wounds. You have ten minutes to decide how you want to distribute your pack members across the groups.”
‘Fuck,’ Ramses said.
‘I will go in group A, Sam you will go B, Ramses C, Jake D and Amie E, or you sit this one out,’ Finlay told us. Everyone nodded.
