Arena Road 2 Chapter 1

The rap of wood-on-wood was audible from the lobby when I walked in through the double doors of the martial arts training center. I followed the sound down the hall and stopped outside the open door of the training area to watch.

Indy and Ellie were sparring with their trainer, along with another guy I didn’t recognize. My two warriors were using the replicas of their own weapons that I had asked the trainer to have made so they could practice new techniques faster and with more intensity before they moved on to the more careful execution with their real weapons.

And they needed as much practice as possible. It had already been four days since my warriors won their first battle side by side in the Bayalon arena. They’d practically decimated their opponents, Mavra and Zenia, and their superior weaponry and armor had more than excited the fiery crowds in the legendary city.

Now, we were set to return to Bayalon and go double the stakes against the very same warriors, and I was determined to see my women leaving their mark and gaining as much glory as they deserved there.

While I gained a hell of a lot of jewels.

Ellie was using two wooden tonfas with foam blades to parry the attacks of a stout, muscular guy wielding two foam practice axes. This sort of sustained defense was something I hadn’t seen the dainty blue-haired fighter do before, and I was impressed as I watched her parry several axe blows in a row. She used the long, straight end of her tonfas to redirect the axe blows, rather than the other side that had a foam tomahawk-like shape, and I assumed this was because the tiny warrior would be sent flying if an axe-blade were to interlock with the tomahawk-like one. By using the straight end instead, it seemed like she could sweep aside the axe’s strikes with less chance of them becoming interlocked.

The axe-wielding guy was raining blows on her high and low. I nodded with approval as she swept one strike to the side, dodged a second, and used the gap to hack at the guy’s unguarded shin when she rolled to the side. I heard the pained breath hiss in through his teeth, and I smirked slightly at the strength the petite warrior possessed.

Maybe her innocent appearance was what had made the guy decide he didn’t need any shin guards.

Then my attention was grabbed by a familiar, wildcat-like growl of frustration that was accompanied by the scraping sound of wood against wood. I turned just in time to see Indy’s practice sword go flying from her hand thanks to a deft wrist movement by the trainer who was her opponent at the moment. From what I could see, my princess had pulled a move I’d seen her use against Zenia in Bayalon, where she hooked her shorter blade around the edge of the shield in an attempt to snatch it from the man’s hand. I wasn’t sure exactly what he did to turn the tables, but somehow he’d used the shield to send Indy’s weapon sailing off to the side instead.

The double-bladed wooden sword skidded and tumbled across the floor, and the trainer tried to use the moment to get a jab in at the princess with his own wooden sword.

But his aura of calm, focused intensity flickered slightly as Indy jerked to the side with shocking speed. In the process, she swept the foam training version of her chain whip around at the trainer’s ankle. The feathered flag at the end of it whipped through the air as the chain entangled itself with his legs, and the light-footed man was suddenly sent into a short stumble.

He recovered himself just before Indy jerked hard on the chain whip, and I held my breath to see what would happen next.

But then the practice chain snapped off right below the handle.

My princess huffed in disbelief and scowled down at the wooden handle in her grip, then at the rest of the chain that slithered to the floor, but then she mirrored her trainer as he straightened up and slipped out of his fighting stance.

Somehow, the change in his demeanor was so distinct that it was as if he had altered his entire appearance in front of me. Suddenly, he wasn’t a fierce opponent, but a patient and proud instructor with an easy grin instead.

Although Indy also eased out of her fighting stance, I still saw a hint of the prowling grace that rarely left her posture.

“Nice footwork,” the trainer was saying. “Let’s focus on your grip this time and give it another go before—”

He cut off mid-sentence as Indy’s eyes caught sight of me over his shoulder, and her gaze lit up like a firework show. The bright red-gold of her irises was suddenly brindled with amber radiance, and flecks of rose-gold danced through them like dust motes in a sunlit forest.

I cleared my throat slightly to draw the trainer’s attention away from this jaw-dropping sight, partly so he wouldn’t get too suspicious and partly to keep him from falling in love with my princess.

He whirled around with a slightly punch-drunk look, but his expression cleared up when he saw me.

“Oh,” he chuckled, and he folded his hands behind his back as Indy carelessly lobbed away the wooden whip handle to bound over to me. “Right. Next time, then.”

I smiled as Indy flung herself into my arms, and then a blue-haired blur joined her as Ellie pelted over to us with a tiny, bird-like screech that I never would’ve expected from her a week or so ago.

“How’d it go?” I asked, and I mostly directed my question at the trainer for now, since I knew I’d already be getting a play-by-play of the session’s coolest moments from the women on our way home. “Did you tape the session?”

I immediately felt two heads nod against my chest in response.

“Yeah, boss.”’The trainer nodded. “Yeah, that was a great suggestion. I actually have had a few other advanced students who requested that in the past, so I just set up the same camcorder on a tripod for this session. It’s only a few years old, so the HD is still really good. I’ll make sure to break down the footage before their next session so I can go over it with them.”

“Awesome,” I said with approval.

I was nowhere near being an expert when it came to this fighting stuff, and I couldn’t help but be a little proud that I’d had the idea of starting to record my warriors’ training sessions so they could critique it with the help of their fighting master.

And the way my women still seemed floored to have a backer who put so much thought into their training made me feel even more awesome.

“We practiced some zui quan today, too,” the trainer added. “It’s–”

“The fighting style of drunkards,” Indy said proudly.

I raised my eyebrows, and the trainer chuckled again.

“Some people call it ‘drunken style, boss,’” he explained. “But it’s actually, uh… a lot more serious than that.”

“And more complex,” Ellie added with enthusiasm. “We will stun our enemies and dazzle the crowds.”

“I don’t doubt you will.” I smiled down at the dainty warrior, but I was feeling slightly preoccupied now as a thought returned to me, and I glanced back at the trainer. “Their next session is scheduled for the day after tomorrow, right?”

“Right,” he confirmed. “I’ll make sure we don’t hit it too hard. I know you have, er… that event coming up.”

By the way he said this, I thought he still assumed it was all part of some movie gig, and maybe that my two women were just devoted method actresses.

“Perfect,” I said with a nod. “I think we might pick up a few extra weapons before then. Nothing too crazy, but it’d be cool to have them try out a few hand-to-hand moves with those in mind…”

“Of course.” The trainer nodded respectfully.

“One more thing,” I added. “This might be kind of a weird question, but do you have any, uh… training dummies, or something along those lines?”

“He means human dolls,” Indy whispered loudly to Ellie. “Very large human dolls. They are bigger than you, Ellie.”

I exercised my poker face to the maximum extent as I did my best to ignore this comment and the strange look it drew from the trainer before he responded to me.

“I don’t have any for sale,” he said with an apologetic look. “But there are several different kinds that might be useful for some home training practice, if that’s what you’re looking for. Some version of each kind is generally available at your standard martial arts supply store or on Amazon.”

I nodded and then led the women out into the lobby after the trainer. He ducked behind the front desk and grabbed a pamphlet from its surface.

“This shows all the main categories of training dummies,” he said as he handed it over. He pointed at a picture of a dummy that looked like a tall wooden post with wooden rods sticking out horizontally in various places on it. “The wing chun is awesome for hand-to-hand stuff, and we messed around with one earlier for a few minutes. But if you get one of those, have them be careful about using it to block, because it can be a little tough on the palms. It can be a bit hard on the forearms at first, too, even with vambraces. After their event is over, they can put some more extended time into that sort of dummy. It’s no replacement for training, but it’s a great supplement that we can go into later.”

“Cool.” I glanced at the assortment of dummies on the pamphlet. “What about the other kinds?”

The trainer’s finger traveled down to a picture of a free-standing dummy that was human-shaped next. “Even though they have each other to spar with, a grappling dummy can be really useful. They can use it to practice some of those close-range grappling moves without holding back and worrying about injuring each other. Just make sure it’s not too heavy.”

I nodded as I absorbed all this and accepted the pamphlet from him. Then I collected the women’s new practice weapons to bring home with us, along with the practice axes and practice sword that were meant to resemble Zenia and Mavra’s weapons. I returned the trainer’s parting wave as I headed toward the double doors.

My two warriors were brimming with enthusiasm as we walked out to the car.

“I cannot wait to pummel Mavra with the masterful moves I have learned,” Indy said in a dreamy voice. Somehow, she managed to sound both deeply meditative and gleefully vengeful. “I am becoming more skillful with the shiny metal whip, too. I will show the fierce cat-woman that we are not to be trifled with.”

“I approve,” I said solemnly.

But I was still feeling slightly distracted as I pondered the fact that my two women had already shown that they weren’t to be trifled with.

Ellie looked at me with a thoughtful expression in her big blue eyes as she got in the passenger seat that Indy offered her.

“John?” the dainty warrior asked shyly. “What is it?”

“Mmm?” I glanced over at her as I started the car, and just like with Indy, it took a conscious effort to focus on her words instead of her delicate, tempting beauty. I took a moment to gather my thoughts before I replied. “Well… There’s something that occurred to me recently about your upcoming fight, and I’m trying to decide how to handle it.”

“Is something wrong?” Ellie asked anxiously.

“Not exactly,” I said slowly as I drove us out of the parking lot. “It’s just… Zenia and Mavra were good fighters, but they didn’t even manage to lay a finger on you during your battle. And yet, that bald-headed bastard who backs them still had the guts to challenge us again. It makes me think there might be something more to this.”

“More?” Indy asked. She was in the back seat, but I could hear the frown of confusion in her voice. “Like what, John? More weapons?”

“No.” I shook my head as I steered us toward home. “More warriors, maybe.”

“More warriors?” the two women echoed in unison.

I nodded. “It would explain why he gave us seven days. Maybe he was planning to duel someone and take their warrior. Or warriors, even.”

My own two warriors absorbed this in sudden silence, and I felt like their minds were now racing as much as my own.

I calmed my thoughts and shuffled them into order while I drove. By the time we got back to my little cottage in Long Beach, Washington, I knew what I wanted to do next.

“Okay,” I said decisively while I held the door open for the two bombshells to enter. “I want to get in touch with that woman from the leatherworks store and ask her about some new armor for you two, and then work on getting you both some more weapons for hand-to-hand stuff. Like the brass knuckles I was telling you about, maybe.”

“Yes, John,” Indy agreed as she skipped through the door. “Zenia will taste the wrath of my blows for weeks after our battle.”

“Right.” I smirked as I remembered the savage backhand my princess had dealt to her red-haired opponent in Bayalon. “Just, uh… don’t get carried away, please.”

“I will keep a level head, John,” Indy said obediently.

“I will do the same,” Ellie chimed in. “We will be full of controlled fury.”

“’Atta girl.” I grinned as I pulled out my phone.

Then I strolled over to the couch to sit down while Indy marched Ellie into the bathroom. I stretched out my legs while I searched for the number to the leatherworks store.

The phone rang several times before the familiar, bubbly voice of the pink-haired leatherworker picked up. “Hide ‘N Seek, this is Abbey.”

“Hey there,” I said. “This is John. I’ve come in a few times—”

Suddenly there was a huge crash from her end of the line, followed by a muttered curse.

“Sorry, John,” her brisk, sunshiney voice picked right back up like nothing of consequence had just happened. “Think I just broke my toe. I’m moving some… stuff… into the back room.”

She paused with a grunt of effort at whatever she was doing, but then I heard her do a little gasp.

“John,” she repeated. Now there was a note of excited recognition in her voice. “You mean, the John with the two lovely shieldmaidens?”

“That’s me,” I chuckled, but I was slightly confused because of how many Johns must have traversed her store over time. “How could you tell?”

“Your voice.” She sounded slightly absent-minded now. “It’s, umm… nice. But anyway… What can I do for you, John?”

“Well…” I drummed my fingers against the arm of the couch. “The carbon fiber reinforcement on those boots you outfitted my, uh, shieldmaiden with… That was some good stuff.”

“Thanks!” Abbey sounded like she was bursting with pride. “Are you looking to get some more of it? That’s all I’ve been up to lately. I think I’ve really perfected— ouch!”

“Uhh… You alright, Abbey?” I asked with a slight sense of alarm.

“Oh, yes.” Her voice became brisk and cheerful again. “Stabbed myself with my new overstitcher for the leather. That’s what I get for multi-tasking, though. I’m making more reinforced armor, and I’ve been honing the technique. I’d be happy to show some of them to you and your shieldmaidens, if…?”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” I confirmed. “I was hoping to maybe get some custom stuff. Will you be in the store any time soon?”

“I’m here now!” Abbey said brightly. “I’ve been doing all my stitching and stuff in the back of the shop lately. We’re technically open till seven, but I’ve been staying here until nine or ten since I started sprucing up the back room. You’re welcome to head on down whenever.”

Suddenly the bathroom door swung open in front of me, and my eyes widened at the state of the two women prancing out into my living room.

Words seemed beyond me all of a sudden.

“Hot damn,” I murmured. Then I realized I was still on the phone, and I felt my face turn beet red. “I mean, uh… Nice. Thanks, Abbey. We’ll be there.”

I hung up the phone and ran my eyes over the two women from head to toe.

A faint cloud of steam poured out of the bathroom after the two towel-wrapped women. The heat of their bath had brought out a pearly pink glow on Ellie’s porcelain face, and Indy’s golden skin was glowy and gleaming. Their wet hair tumbled down their backs, and the burning of Indy’s red-gold eyes were perfectly complemented by Ellie’s angelic, sapphire-blue gaze.

The sight of their perfectly-shaped forms pressing through the towels was almost enough to make me forget my sense of purpose, but I regathered myself after a long moment.

“Time to get dressed, my shieldmaidens,” I said with slight reluctance. “I have to send a quick message, and then I want us to head down to Portland soon.”

“The strange city!” Indy clapped her hands together, and the towel slid down and exposed the spellbinding sight of her naked breasts. Her long fingers traced temptingly over her dark nipples before she hitched the fabric back up. “Is that where we will get our new weapons, John?”

“Uhh,” I mumbled as I gave my head a quick, hard shake. “Yep. And I’m going to have you both fitted for some custom armor, the kind that’s reinforced like Ellie’s boots.”

“They spared my ankles from a cruel fate,” Ellie murmured. Then resolve crept into her heart-shaped face, and she lifted her chin. “I won’t let the scaly-legged woman get close to such a strike in our next fight. Our new training will aid us well. But… I am grateful for the protection of this armor, John.”

“Very grateful,” Indy amended. “And very honored. No warriors have ever been so lucky.”

“It’s not luck,” I said truthfully. I felt slightly flustered, like I always did with these comments, but I also thought I might be starting to get used to them. “You deserve it. Both of you.”

The two women had radiant expressions, but then Indy’s got a commanding expression as she removed one hand from holding up her towel to grip Ellie’s dainty arm.

“Come, Ellie,” the princess instructed. “Let us dress.”

I chuckled at the firm, big sister-like attitude that Indy took on with the doll-faced fighter.

Then I looked down at my phone to type out a text message to my Portland-based friend.

You working today, St. Nick?

As usual, his reply came in a string of separate texts:

Yep.

Well, I’m in the shop, anyway.

You thinking about coming down to P-town, Johnny boy?

I shook my head with a mixture of amusement and disgust as I replied.

Don’t call it P-town.

Sorry, he replied. Clown Town, I mean.

I snorted. Nevermind. P-town it is. But yeah, I have some more jewels to drop off, so I was thinking I’d swing by.

His reply came in a new burst of messages:

Sure thing, Johnny boy.

By the way, I have the perfect idea for that thing you asked me about.

I’ll tell you when you get down here.

Deal, I responded. See you in a few hours, Nickiboo.

There were a ton of ideas flitting through my mind, and I took some time to get them in order while my women got ready for our trip to Portland. We only had a few days until we were set to go back to the legendary city, and I wanted to make sure I had all my boxes checked before my warriors faced off with Zenia, Mavra, or whatever other fighters that bald-headed wizard motherfucker decided to throw our way.

The trip to Portland would already cross a few major things off the list, like getting the women fitted for reinforced armor, grabbing some new weapons for their close-range fighting, and stopping by Nick’s pawn shop.

This last errand was important for reasons other than dropping off my jewels.

All my past trips to the desert world had been opportunistic. I had taken the portal exit when my schedule and route made it possible. But for this upcoming visit, I had a timetable. A specific date when I needed to be back so my women could battle the bald backer’s fighters for double the winnings of what we had walked out with last time.

So I had recently engaged my wily friend in cooking up a scheme to make sure I had a shipment that would get me back on SR 14 at the perfect time.

Nick didn’t have direct connections in the world of truck drivers, but he did have some mysterious business connections at his disposal. I had to find a way to get Marsh to send me out for a shipment at exactly the right time, but getting Marsh to do anything convenient was an uphill battle. It was the opposite of what the jackass always did when he had the chance. I had some general ideas of how to go about swinging things in my favor, though, and I knew that if anyone could be trusted to help me work out the exact scheme, it was Nick.

Granted, having to juggle my boss’ bullshit was wearing on my nerves with this one, but a huge part of me couldn’t seem to give a shit. I was becoming filthy stinking rich thanks to my trips down SR 14, and that made up for a hell of a lot.

The gem and pearl haul from my first few trips to the oasis cities had now brought about a hundred and fifty thousand dollars into my bank account, even with some of the pearls still not sold yet. That was over double the amount of money I made in a whole year as a truck driver.

On top of that, there was the future income from the jewels I had in my possession now, the ones I was about to drop off today. These were my winnings from the trip to Bayalon with my women several days ago.

And a few days from now, I’d be returning home with double the loot.

I’d be that much closer to hopefully swiping my boss’ business right out of his greedy, spiteful hands.

But I needed to make sure my warriors were safe, and that they would come out of their upcoming battle as the victors. Not only so I could secure the bag, but because I had already come to care about the two women more than I could even explain.

I felt another surge of pleasure at the fact that the two gorgeous warriors belonged to me as they hurried down the stairs. Indy was ready to prowl the streets of the strange city in her Princess-Jasmine pants, gold belt, and the skimpy top that hugged her ample breasts. Ellie wasn’t far behind in her cropped jeans and teal velvet bralette, and the dainty fighter’s platform boots clomped eagerly down the stairs behind the swift, softer tap of Indy’s beaded sandals.

I got to my feet and watched with affection as the princess snatched up Ellie’s clingy white sweater and threw it over the blue-haired warrior’s delicate shoulders. The sweater’s buttons hung open, and I was suddenly acutely conscious of the outline of Ellie’s nipples pressing through the velvet fabric that emphasized her small, high breasts.

The sight of the two women made the idea of outfitting them with more clothes flit back into my mind. They looked gorgeous as hell no matter what they were wearing, but I couldn’t deny that the fairy godmother-like lady had done them justice in finding clothes that suited them perfectly. The increasing confidence of Indy’s panther-like sway in her Princess-Jasmine pants, and the way Ellie’s hand strayed up to stroke the previously undreamed-of softness of her velvet top, were the type of little pleasures I lived for already, even though this was new to me.

I took damn good care of my women, and their gratitude seemed to roll off them in waves every time their eyes met mine.

As we got started on our drive south to Portland, I glanced at the two warriors in my car and let myself revel again in the way they were getting more comfortable with me, and with each other, too. The dynamic between the three of us was something I had never even imagined myself feeling until recently, and I loved it.

I was one lucky son of a bitch, and things would only keep getting better.

I couldn’t wait to put my plan into motion and make our next trip to Bayalon happen.

Before I’d found the mysterious portal, the prospect of jumping through hoops was challenging in a way that left me feeling a little deadened, although my love of being on the road had definitely made up for it.

But things were different now.

Navigating these twists and turns of being a backer was challenging in a new way that excited me. Because I was no longer just scrambling to keep in good standing with my boss.

Now, I had a plan for putting that buzz-killing bastard in my rearview mirror forever.

I was taking measurable steps toward getting Spitfire out of his clutches, and maybe even doing the same with his trucking business.

The possibilities for what I could do in the future were practically unlimited. At this point I didn’t just feel like I had stepped into one of the fantasy books I had always loved listening to. Now, it felt like I was the one holding the pen.

Better still, that would go hand-in-hand with providing the best for the two incredible warrior women who now belonged to me.

And the ones who might belong to me in the very near future.