Private Let the Games Begin

[Maeve Linahan]

Maeve left a web of cracks in the wall when she made impact.

Pain burned through her entire body. She collapsed into the sand, struggling to find her breath. She could've sworn the crowd had cheered at the sight of her being tossed across the arena, but her ears rang too loudly for her to hear much of anything. A blow like that normally would've killed a man. Or at the very least, broken every bone in their body.

But Maeve was a Jedi. It was going to take far more than that to kill her.

She struggled to rise. Only thanks to Alicio's quick thinking was she given enough time to recover, though not for long. Vorchenza was as determined as she was monstrous. Jabbing her in the eye only served to infuriate the dragon, provoking it to a charge, but as Maeve's eyes narrowed and the Force gathered in her palms, she let her come.

She hurled her arms forward. At her command, the rocks she'd fractured in the wall burst, flying at Vorchenza bofore crashing into her face like a hailstorm. The dragon's maw shut tightly, if only to keep from choking on rock. It seemed to ward off the beast for the time being.

Just not for as great a time as Maeve had wanted.

Vorchenza spread her wings. She lifted from the ground. While the chain kept her tethered to the arena, snapping the dragon into place, Vorchenza rose just high enough to be out of their reach, eliciting gasps from the crowd. Then, its maw opened again, fire crackling.

"Move!" Maeve cried, practically hauling Alicio out of the way.

Alicio Organa​

​

 

[Alicio Organa]

Thankfully, Maeve stepped in just in time to save the harrying Count.

With Vorchenza contending with a faceful of stones, Alicio got a moment of concentration, his eyes glazing as he strained his vision into the future. Various paths in the Storm became clear to the seer, options upon options, none of them great. One of them... maybe...

That was all the time he received, as the dragon took to the air, chain pulled taught. "I have a-" Alicio started, before being hefted along by the surprising strength of the Jedi. "-Ack!"

A torrent of flames blanketed the area where he had been only moments before. Alicio struggled to take in air, as much of the oxygen in the arena had just went up in flames, and what hadn't was blisteringly warm now. He and Maeve dashed along the edge of the stadium, as Alicio tried to continue his thought.

"I have a plan!" It was hard, shouting over the roar of the dragon's flame breath, licking at their heels. "When the fire stops, jump at it! I'll distract her!"

Just moments later, Vorchenza was forced to end her conflagration, and air whooshed back into the arena. As if expecting it, Alicio wheeled around, a sudden severe look on his face as he directed the pressure of the Force towards the dragon's mind. His ironclad will pressed against the wild ferocity of her psyche, pricking her with needles of synaptic pain. The dragon roared, blinking it's eyes and thrashing it's head, as if to shake a gnat, it's flight path listing to the side.

Without losing his concentration, he tossed the hilt of his blade towards Maeve, and brought his hands low into a cradle, as if to offer a boost to the Jedi.

- Maeve Linahan -

 

[Maeve Linahan]

Maeve nodded sharply at Alicio. She had no arguments. Whatever his plan was, she trusted it would serve enough to take down Vorchenza.

Dragging behind him, she allowed the dragon's flames to claw at her armor, fraying the edges of her braid. Before it could burn skin, however, the fire ceased. Vorchenza reeled. The creature's mind under siege, it spun and whirled, momentarily distracted.

It was there Maeve saw her opening.

She caught Alicio's thrown lightsaber. Lunging forward, she used his cradled hands like a springboard and leapt into the sky, igniting his blade with her own. The entire arena seemed to fall silent with bated breath. Then, Maeve plunged both lightsabers into Vorchenza's side.

The dragon shrieked. Falling, it crashed into the side of the arena, scattering sand and rock. From her viewing box, Duchess Lorenza stood, her rosy face painted with shock. But the game was not finished. Vorchenza continued to trash and turn, and Maeve still held on, both blades lodged in the scales of the dragon's back, boiling dark blood.

In fury, in frenzied rage, Vorchenza rose back up and spread her wings. She soared into the sky. Wind gusted hard across the arena, enough to the throw spectators on their backs, and then, something unexpected happened. Something neither of them had planned.

The chain shackling Vorchenza to the arena tore from the wall.

The dragon rose freely. If the crowd was not already in an uproar, they certainly were now.

Alicio Organa​

​

 

[Alicio Organa]

Well, that wasn't the plan.

It had all been going so well. Maeve launched herself towards Vorchenza's flank, piercing her twice over. Alicio had expected her to be knocked from the sky. For Maeve to dart and weave up to the dragon's skull, and dispatch her cleanly.

Duchess Lorenza's surprised expression wasn't a surprise, but he hadn't expected to match it as the chain tying down the terrible beast snapped under the pressure of their assault, and she began to take to the sky in earnest. Digging his heels into the blood-stained sands beneath his feet, the Count extended his palms towards the sky, his severe expression lightening. Instead of giving Lady Vorchenza pain, he tried a different tactic, attempting to introduce some peace, and lull her into landing.

It didn't seem to work, at least not immediately, as the dragon began to spin in the air, trying to reach for it's side where Maeve lay clinging with raking claws.

- Maeve Linahan -

 

[Maeve Linahan]

Vorchenza roared and spun in furious circles. She breathed fire, cracked her tail into the arena walls, and rose over them, threatening to shatter through the stands. By now, spectators were fleeing en masse, struggling to escape the dragon's wrath. What had seemed to them like another show of entertainment had now become a complete and utter nightmare.

As for Maeve, she was holding onto Vorchenza for dear life.

The Jedi Shadow still had both lightsabers lodged into the dragon's side. Her nostrils flared at the smell of molten scales and burning skin, but she was remarkably stubborn and no matter how much Vorchenza flailed, she refused to be thrown off. Problem was, it made calming the beast that much harder. The more Alicio tried to lull her, the more frenzied Vorchenza turned.

"Guards! Keepers! Contain this madness!"

Duchess Lorenza's voice shouted above the insanity. At her orders, droid keepers and armored guards emerged from around the arena. Stun blasters aimed, regardless of where Maeve was, they fired at Vorchenza indiscriminately, trying to bring her down. A few stray bolts almost took Maeve's head out, but she ignored them. Her concern was Vorchenza.

The dragon, hissing in pain and disgust, turned its slitted eyes back down to the arena. Not at Alicio, trying vainly to calm it. Not at the guards, futilely shooting at it. Rather, it glared at the Duchess, as if understanding whose captor it was, and it only felt rage.

Driven by that feeling, Vorchenza descended onto Sofia.

Alicio Organa​

​

 

[Alicio Organa]

Alicio was thankful that Maeve had proven to be quite the botfly to swat.

For one, the Jedi warrior was still alive, which of course, Alicio was happy for. But more importantly, since she was still connected to Vorchenza's side, the Lady of Flames ignored the mass of 'innocent' people enjoying her pain in the stands. People would get hurt in the mad scramble to escape, but at least they weren't getting char-broiled.

But seeing the future betrayed the fact that this single-minded attitude wouldn't last forever. Letting the pressure of the Force flow across his limbs, the Count scaled the wall, leaping on top of the stands to spring forward.

And as Vorchenza turned her maw towards Duchess Lorenza's cries of control, lunging forward as if to snap her up in one bite, Alicio was there, leaping from the side, wrapping his arms around one of her horns, and using his weight and momentum to jerk the dragon's neck to the side. Vorchenza's strike gave her only a mouthful of stone.

Holding on for dear life, Alicio tried one last time to breach the dragon's mind. He placed a palm on the beast's brow, closing his eyes, and letting his consciousness pass into hers. He couldn't calm her- he had no chance of making a dragon do something it didn't want to. So he gave Vorchenza a simple command, something he knew a long-chained winged beast would want to do.

"Fly."​

- Maeve Linahan -

 

[Maeve Linahan]

Maeve struggled to reach Sofia in time, but there was no need. Senator Organa had leapt into the fray, and quite literally. Lunging onto Vorchenza's face, he forced the dragon sharply to the side, narrowly away from the Duchess. Razor teeth sank into the arena wall and cracked stone. Just inches from death, Duchess Lorenza nearly fainted, stumbling back in shock.

Despite the chaos of the games, Maeve had to admit, the woman's face was priceless. Problem was, she could not say much of the same for Vorchenza.

The dragon's face twisted in fury, and then, determination. A new idea came to mind. Forgetting revenge and the guards swarming around her, only one thought came into Vorchenza's mind. A seed planted by Alicio, sprouting along with her wings.

She took off in a maddening lunge.

"Did you just tell her to fly?" Maeve shouted over the din of screaming spectators and rushing air. Her ears popped and bright tangles of her hair—no longer contained in its delicate braid—thrashed against the wind as Vorchenza ascended into the sky. She could not believe what was happening. One look down and she practically hissed.

Heights never frightened her, but she could not deny the stab of dread in her gut. She still had Alicio to protect. With the Force or not, could he survive such a drop?

The urge to slay Vorchenza tugged at her, but Maeve deactivated both lightsabers and clambered onto the dragon's back. As she fought to reach its neck, where Alicio would no doubt be, she reached out to him and called over the wind, "How do you propose we go now?"

Alicio Organa​

​

 

[Alicio Organa]

Alicio felt his stomach leap up into his throat as the dragon pounced into the air. Before it was too late, the senator slid back onto Vorchenza's neck, grasping the metal collar around her neck with white knuckles, teeth clenched shut so he didn't bite off his own tongue. It was like the worst carnival ride one could imagine- dynamic movements giving a sense of weightlessness that made you feel like you were continuously falling.

He didn't hear Maeve's first shout at him, which was well and good, because the only response he could have dreamed up was 'oops', which was hardly a satisfactory answer. But her second, he could barely make out over the sound of rushing wind. His face was white with nausea as he looked at her, his words planted directly into her mind. <Now we wait to see if she cares about us anymore,> he thought at her, unable to mask his uncertainty.

If she did... maybe they could damage her wings? But that was as far as the Count had planned ahead.

<I don't suppose you have any experience connecting with creatures,> Alicio started, feeling a bit of blood welling in his palms from gripping the metal so hard. <We could try together.>

His internal monologue was surprisingly calm, considering where they were.

- Maeve Linahan -

 

[Maeve Linahan]

For a nobleman, Senator Organa was startlingly relaxed despite being on dragonback and trapped more than a thousand feet in the air. No wonder Amani had married him. He was braver than he looked. That much had been clear even in the arena.

At his suggestion to connect with Vorchenza, though, Maeve visibly hesitated. Leave it to a politician to try and find a compromise that benefitted everyone, even Force-damned dragons.

"No, I'm not, but—!" Maeve called back over the wind, but she paused and considered for a long moment. She'd never bonded with an animal before. At least, she'd never bothered to. When it came to wild creatures and beasts like Vorchenza, she tended to favor the straightforward option of, well, killing them.

She would've done so by now if it didn't mean plummeting them both to the ground, but to be fair, the dragon had thick skin and scales strong enough to resist most lightsaber strikes. Beheading Vorchenza would be no easy feat. Better to try to calm her. Better to try something.

Maeve grit her teeth and thought back, Fine. Let's give it a go.

She pressed her hand to Vorchenza's neck and struggled to transplant her will onto the beast, to reassure her, to bring her to a stop. Relax, she relayed. Relax.

Alicio Organa​

​

 

[Alicio Organa]

Ever the idealist, Alicio's mildly queasy face straightened with determination. Sure, he was frightened of the long drop. Of failure. But they had already saved the people in the arena. His worst fears had already been avoided. Everything but his will to live had been burnt away.

He would see Amani again. He would live to meet his children.

Alicio found a smirk as Maeve agreed to try his crazy, ill-conceived plan, before returning his attention to Vorchenza. He tasted the Force beginning to gather around the Jedi, and Alicio began to add to it, connecting their efforts. The Count rested gentle, bloodied fingers on the dragon's neck, and began to pour his energy into her.

Vorchenza had only known pain for years, maybe decades. The proddings of her captors, the chafing of heavy metal chains at her neck, the burns and slashes of gladiators' weapons across her armored hide. Using his endless sea of sympathy, his desire to see his children, his care, Alicio began to heal her, a feeling like warm water rushing between them. Not a drop was spent to close the open wounds on his palms, instead putting everything he had into soothing the beast.

Giving the two Force-users the opening they needed.

You are safe. Relax.
​

Miraculously, the creature began to list to the side, her wings beating a lazier rhythm. Beginning a slow, circling descent towards a rocky outcropping far below, Alicio found the courage to fully smile, now that the wind wasn't scouring his face. "We did it," he commented, beaming at Maeve.

"Just like riding a thranta."

- Maeve Linahan -