1.11
The cockpit shook with a thunderous crash as Cameron drove the Squire’s armored shoulder into his opponent's shield. He could hear the metal strain to hold the impact as Cameron put his thrusters on full blast, trying to barrel through Captain Merril’s guard. He looked out through the windshield to see Merril in his own cockpit, face red from pain and pressure before the man cried out and dashed back, pulling his shield arm in as Cameron careened forward, nearly toppling over while Merril brought his Squire’s sword up in a vertical slash, attempting to bury the metal slab into the underside of Cameron’s mech.
“Shit!” Cameron cursed, bringing his own sword down to meet Merril’s. A loud clang rang out, followed by a painful vibration that rattled his body as Cameron strafed to the left, raising his sword high and cutting down in a diagonal arc that clipped Merril’s mech at the shoulder joint. Sparks flew as the blade carved into electronics running through the joint, but Cameron couldn’t celebrate yet. He could tell by the way his sword had impacted, that Merril had turned away at the last second, turning a likely dismemberment into nothing but a slight inconvenience.
The pair sparred for a few moments, exchanging parries and punishes in equal measure, neither on able to land a critical blow, before they broke apart, with Cameron rapidly dashing back to create some space while he tried to come up with a new approach.
“Good way to start it off kid, keep up the pressure.” Logan’s voice crackled in the headset, reminding Cameron that he wasn’t completely alone in this fight.
“I’m trying to,” Cameron said, moving forward slowly, “But he’s fast, and he’s got an answer for all my attacks.”
“Well, there’s a reason he’s a Captain, kid. He’s not just going to stand there and let you beat on him. Dance with him till you get an opening. When you find one, exploit the hell out of it. You can do this.”
“Roger that.” Cameron said, his voice slowly dissolving into a whisper as he squared up with Merril once more. The two circled each other, their shields up and swords at the ready as the thunderous foot falls of their mechs kicked up dirt and debris, each waiting for the other to strike. Cameron jumped first, dropping the squire low and swinging its shield arm out to bash the legs of Merril’s squire. Merril reacted, swinging his own shield to block as he took a step back, planting the Squire as he braced for impact.
Exactly as Cameron had planned.
He waited until Merril’s swing had reached the apex of its arc, before using his momentum to fall forward, lunging out with his sword, and piercing the Squire’s midsection. There was a high-pitched squeal as Merril’s Squrie shuddered and jerked, before dropping to a knee. Cameron rolled, reaching his feet quickly, standing behind Merril’s Squire raising a sword to strike the cockpit. Then he heard Logan’s voice yelling in his headset.
“Kid, watch O-” Cameron didn’t hear the rest. He was too busy being tossed around the cockpit, reeling from a shield bash that hit his right side hard, sending him fly before impacting the ground with a loud crash.
“W-What the hell…” Cameron growled out through gritted teeth as he howled in pain. His head felt foggy and heavy, a not forming on the back where it had hit the ceiling when he’d taken the fall. But that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part, was when he stood back up and found out where the blow came from.
Standing thirty meters away, Sergeant Kurz had fully engaged his Squire, the unit leaning down and helping Captain Merril to his feet. Merril’s Squire was heavily damaged, with sparks flying off the chassis and midsection, stray wiring and scrap metal peeking out from inside the hole Cameron had stabbed into it, but overall it was still functional, as was its pilot, who was staring death at Cameron through a cracked windshield. Kurz mimicked the look of his superior, as both men piloted their mechs towards Cameron.
“Two on one doesn’t exactly seem fair.” Cameron said, opening the speaker on the outside of his Squire to amplify his voice.
There was a pause before Cameron could hear the feedback coming from Kurz’s Squire before the man replied. “Since when has war been fair Prince Pellyn? We’re simply taking advantage of the situation. I promise not to drag out turning that Squire in a slag heap though. That’d just be cruel.” The radio cut out with the sound of Kurz’s laughter echoing in Cameron’s mind.
“Logan… Any advice here?” Cameron called into the headset, fear welling up in his voice as the two mechs dashed at him, blades drawn. He was met with silence for the briefest of moments as he activated the boosters on his Squire, feeling the cockpit shake as his speed increased exponentially, backpedaling down the field as Kruz and Merril engaged in a tandem barrage of slashes and stabs.
Cameron weaved in between the blows, dodging the most of them with a frenzied grace, but the volume of strikes was too much, and pieces of the Squire were sheared off in quick succession. The alarm blared inside the cockpit and Cameron had to fight to remain conscious as his head bounced against the bulkhead for the third time. Blood trailed down his nostrils, and it took him a minute to focus through his double vision before he grabbed the headset from where it had been flung in the last impact, quickly putting it on his head as he screamed into the microphone like his life depended on it.
“Fuck! Logan! Help me!”
Logan was currently being held by a struggling Augustus and Darwin as he was reaching to strangle a cowering Lendrick.
“Two on one?! That’s how it’s going to be you fucking snake?!” He yelled, taking another few steps toward the dignitary, despite Augustus and Darwin’s best efforts.
“Logan calm down!” The king said, his face red from exertion and strain. “What’s done is done! There’s no changing it now. We all knew the risk and so did Cameron! We both know this was allowed!”
Logan growled in anger and pushed both men off of him like they were mere children, watching as they fell into a heap and looking at Augustus with fury in his eyes. “Fuck that.” He spat, saying the words as if they were a curse. He then pointed a finger at Lendrick, who was struggling to keep an impassive face, his body shaking from fear and anger, eyes wide and skin tone going pale.
“What do you want from me mercenary?” Lendrick yelled out, trying to put on a brave front.
Logan shook his head, his teeth showing as spit flew from his lips, growling in response, “I’m warning you now. If he dies, so do you.”
“Logan you can’t do that and you know it.” Augustus said, trying to catch his breath and looking between Lendrick and Logan, “That’s not part of the assessment.”
“Do I look like I care Augustus?!” Logan shouted back, a look of shame on his face as he gave Augustus a hard look, walking past him to where the headset lay, whispering in his ear as he passed, “Maybe stop being a king for a moment and be a fucking parent.”
Logan left a speechless Augustus, quickly walking to grab the headset to focus on the assessment once again. He pulled it on his head and pulled the mic to his lips, watching intently as Cameron attempted to dodge the incoming blows from the two veterans.
“Kid! I’m here, you okay?”
“Does it look like I’m fucking okay?!” Cameron yelled into the headset, his voice cracking from the strain, “I need some help before these guys turn me into a damn pincushion!”
He dashed down the field trying to create space where he could, with Kurz and Merril in hot pursuit. The other two squires had broken apart and flanked him on either side, trying to overwhelm him with a series of rapid slashes. He worked the twin sticks controlling the Squire’s arms with an adrenaline fueled efficiency, parrying and dodging to the best of his abilities, avoiding a majority of his opponents attacks.
“Alright Kid, listen to me,” Logan finally replied, his voice taking on a cold edge, “We’re not going to screw around here. You’re not fighting to win anymore. You’re fighting to kill. This is about survival and by the stars, I’m going to make sure you survive.”
“Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it!” Cameron yelled back, dashing backward to avoid a powerful chop on his left side from Merril’s squire. He watched as the Captain’s heavy blade hit the ground hard, cracking the earth.
“You need to isolate and attack, kid. If you can get it down to a one on one, you’ll be fine. The squire is more nimble and smaller than you think. Let them get cocky and overextend, then counter and finish them. Got it?”
“Understood…” Cameron said, his voice trailing off, as he watched Merril struggle for a fraction of a second to extract his blade from the ground. An idea formed in the back of his mind, he just needed an opening to execute, and since they weren’t going to give him one so easily, he’d have to make his own.
“Goddammit…” He said to himself, before taking a deep breath, staring down his opponents. With a deep exhale and a fortification of resolve, he gripped the throttle, slamming forward as he charged the other Squires.
Cameron barreled forward, sword glinting in the sunlight as he swung it in a wide arc. Merril and Kurz broke apart, opening a hole for Cameron to dash through, before they swung around to engage him. Cameron was already a head of the curve, spinning on a dime and leveling his shield into Kurz’s head unit, sending him sprawling as the mech ran directly into it, rebounding off the thick metal slab. He spun back around, engaging Merril in one-on-one combat while he had the chance. He rushed the Captain down, swinging and stabbing in rapid succession before dashing horizontally, smothering Merril with an oppressive flurry of strikes.
Cameron kept up the pressure, even as he heard Kurz beginning to get to his feet. He could see Merril’s face through the windshield, red and glistening with sweat, teeth bared in defiance and anger as he retaliated, meeting Cameron’s sword swings with swings of his own. Cameron’s plan was working, he just needed the right moment. He reduced the tempo of his strikes, letting control of melee shift to Merril who took full advantage of the reprieve, rallying and laying into Cameron’s sword and shield.
“Nearly there.” He said, grinding his teeth as he blocked another series of strikes.
And then he saw his chance. He saw Merril raise his sword high, before hammering down, attempting to break Cameron’s guard with one massive swing. It would be a glorious way to end the assessment as well as the prince’s life.
Unfortunately, that blow hit nothing but air.
Cameron waited till the absolute last second, before he engaged his Squire’s boosters to maximum output, dashing to the side as Merril buried his sword deep in the dirt. This was the moment Cameron had been waiting for, and he was going to take full advantage.
Before the Captain could react, and with a scream of rage, Cameron stabbed forward, directly into Merril’s cockpit. He saw the windshield splattered with the blood of a frightened man, feeling the resistance of the metal give way, replaced by the squishy soft tissue and organs of the human body. With a mighty pull, Cameron yanked the sword out, with Merril’s squire falling forward face down into the dirt.
Cameron couldn’t celebrate yet, however. He could hear the boosters firing behind him, turning to see Kurz dashing forward, murder in his eyes, and mouth opened wide in a silent scream, throwing caution to the wind as the Sergeant attempted to avenge his companion.
Cameron thought quickly, hitting a switch to have his Squire drop its shield before reaching out and gripping the late Captain’s sword. Cameron gave it a pull, relieved to see it have some give to it, likely the result of Merril trying to pull it out before Cameron had killed him. With another firm yank, he pulled the giant slab of steel from the ground, dual wielding two blades now, before he turned to face Kurz one last time.
“Come on!” Cameron yelled into the ether as he dashed forward, meeting Kurz in the middle and engaging him with a newfound vigor. With every strike Kurz attempted, Cameron made four, easily overwhelming the Sergeant. The loud clangs of clashing metal gave way to hollow shrieks as the blades bit into Kurz’s mech. His arms were the first to go, both of them being cut off at the shoulder joints. Then Cameron attacked the legs and waist, slicing into the hollow metal shell and cutting off the Sergeant’s options to escape, literally. In a flash, Cameron was standing over a Squire half its original size, looking down at Kurz through the windshield.
He could see the terror in the man’s face, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he reached to turn on his outer speaker.
“I yield Prince Pellyn!” Kurz said, desperation and pain prominent in his voice. “Do you hear me? I ye-”
He was cut off. Cameron didn’t want to hear anything the man had to say, settling instead for burying both swords through the top of Kurz’s mech, driving through the head unit and into the cockpit, more so crushing the man, turning him into a fleshy, red paste, than cutting him.
And then everything went quiet. It was an eerie silence, deafening almost. The only thing Cameron could hear was his own rapid heartbeats and shallow breathing. Compared to the sounds of battle and death before, this was almost too much for Cameron to handle right now, feeling slightly claustrophobic now in the confined space of the cockpit. Slowly, he regained his composure, catching his breath and finding his center, searching for a calm in the chaos that had just transpired.
He finally turned, looking off to the sidelines to see four men standing there, each with varying looks on their faces. His father’s mouth was hanging wide open, unblinking and in shock. Darwin shared a majority of the King’s shock, but his was more out of fear than astonishment. Logan, on the other hand stood proud and tall, hands in his pockets, his body shaking softly, likely from laughter judging by the smirk that was on his face. And then Cameron turned to look at Lendrick, seeing nothing but pure hatred in his eyes. He was practically foaming at the mouth, fists clenched tight and face a scarlet red.
Cameron couldn’t help himself, feeling a smile similar to Logan’s form on his face as he flicked the switch to broadcast his voice to the outside world, speaking directly to the dignitary as he started to lose consciousness.
“So what do you think Lendrick? Did I pass?”