Toklo looked at the bizarre field where he found himself in. He did not remember how long ago it was that he was captured. The man was just hunting seals when strangers had appeared and captured him. Today, these people, each a different colour, had taken Toklo to a room with several weapons. Here he understood that he had to kill another man in a fight if he wanted to get home.
The problem with that was, he had never killed someone before. Toklo had hunted many animals and was known as a very good hunter but the Inuit had never fought another human being before.
Not knowing what weapons would be best to kill a man, Toklo choose those weapons he had used most when out hunting. His bow was always useful, with its sinew string. The man knew that this weapon would be best to kill off the opponent and every arrow counted. Then he had a hand harpoon, which Toklo usually used to stop animals from escaping, due to the rope at the end of the harpoon and lastly his snow knife. This large utility knife was always handy to have around. Dressed in thick fur which not only protected him against the cold but also against animal attacks, Toklo felt rather comfortable going in this strange fight.
Another glance at the battlefield revealed how odd it was. It was grass, both long and short, with flowers and trees. In the middle was water with a bridge over it.
As Toklo looked past the water, he suddenly saw another man popping up. Altough the man was dressed as an animal, Toklo could still see it was a man.
The Inuit put an arrow on his bow, aimed and shot. The opponent, who had spotted the Inuit as well, ran to the side, dodging this arrow and the two other arrows that followed. The other warrior then counterattacked by throwing a small spear towards him. Toklo was surprised by the range of the spear and was just able to avoid getting hit.
Toklo nocked an arrow once again but as he wanted to shoot it, the opponent had gone,
This was rather commen with animals. Some would charge you if you attacked, while others would run and hide. That this warrior took the tactic of an animal was of no surprise,
The Inuit slowly made it over the wooden bridge, his bow and arrow still ready to shoot at any moments notice. As he walked past another tree, the man saw something moving to his side. He turned around with all his speed but some sort of axe hit his bow, which broke in two. Another two attacks of the axe hit the thick clothing of the Inuit, who managed to grab his snow knife and stab thee man in the side. As the other warrior fell back, Toklo knew he had to keep the man here. With a good tug, the hand harpoon released itself from the robe that held it near him and the Toklo stabbed at the side of this warrior.
A howl of pain was the result and as the man tried to flee, he found out that the rope held the warrior to the pole. As Toklo held the handharpoon with one hand, his other grabbed his snow knife again. As he tried to attack, the other warrior managed to knock the snow knife out of his hand with the axe and then started pounding again. With no usefull weapon in his hands, Toklo kept his arms in front of his face to ward off these attacks and thus could not see that he got pushed on the ground.
Grabbing the fallen snow knife, Toklo stood up to attack again but was faced with the point of a spear that found its way in his eye.
Everything burned as the spear pushed itself through his eye into his skull and the only thing the warrior could think was, that he had never faced something so verocious before.
The spear then got pulled out of his lifeless body.
'You have seen it here.' Seth said with a grin. ; The Aztec Jaguar has killed the Inuit warrior.' The host added with a smile. 'I must say I liked that handharpoon but it seems that it was not good enough to deliver the kill.' Seth kept going. 'What do you all at home think about our battlefield. A modern park?' He asked. Seth had been instructed to ask the viewers for ideas of battlefields and he was about to do that now. ' 'Now if you have any suggestions for battlefield you want to see, please put it on our twitter, facebook, in comments and all other ways you can reach us. You can pick a historical battlesite, a modern one or one of your own creation. If you do that last, make sure that you will have a clear describtion of the battlefield.' Seth himself wanted to see two fighters inside of a vulcano fighting. That would be interesting.
'The only thing I have left to do now, is to announce the next match.' The young host continued. 'What do you get when you put a Greek Peltast against a Zulu warrior? We will find out next week.'
Another succesfull episode with milions of viewers worldwide. 'What are the comments saying?' Fred asked his staff. 'Nothing that special this time. Everybody assumed that the Aztec Jaguar would win but some are surprised about the weapons of the Inuit.' Someone spoke. 'The next match is far more interesting however.' Another person said. 'People are already looking forwards to the Greek light troops versus the verocious Zulu warriors.' That was something Fred liked to hear.
'Look at this.' Omar suddenly spoke. 'Someone is ranting that the Jaguar did not get his Macuahuitl, his most famour weapon.' everybody laughed at it. 'We had it there, He just did not pick it up this time.' It was the weapon master Max who had spoken. 'You aways have those people.' Fred scoffed. He knew that no matter what, someone would be complaining.
The men and womand discussed the comments to late in the night.
Halfway through the week, Fred asked all members of staff to come to a large room inside the complex. As everybody entered, they saw Fred standin on a podium, with behind him his wife Atthe, the president of the United States and Mr. Leono.
'Welcome everybody.' Fred began as he watched the crowd. This was a very special day and Fred could not be more happy.
'Today is the day we have been waiting on.' The big man continued. 'We have been working on getting our own little country now and I am happy to tell you that we succeeded.' Some of the staff members looked surprised while others cheered.
'Thanks to the president of the United States of America, Mickey Tromp, I can introduce everybody to Devonsland.' Fred Devons spoke as the president stood up and waved.
'Now that we are our own nation, it means that you need to make a choise.' Suddenly everyone became quiet. 'I want you to consider become a citizen of Devonsland.' Fred looked at everybody. This was an important moment and he could not mess it up. 'If you choose to stay here, you will be employed for life. We also will build houses, a school, a hospital and all other things needed.' He looked around again and still silence. 'If you choose to not become a citizen of Devonsland, you will be let go at the end of this season.' People now started to talk with each other and discussing the options. They had never expected for the island to become its own little nation and were not sure what to choose. 'Can we get our families here if we want to stay?' Someone asked. 'Ofcourse.' Fred nodded. 'How long can we think about it?' Someone else asked. 'Take your time. I will not pressure you but you will need to have taken your decision at the end of this season.' Came the answer. When it was clear that there were no questions, a feast got brought in.
'You will stay here I take?' Fred asked Mr. Leone as both men, Atthe and Mr. Tromp sat at a small table. 'Yes.' The other man nodded. 'Italy is a little too hot right now.' The maffiaman added. 'You are welcome to stay.' Fred smiled to his moneyshooter.
The day after the announcement and the feast, everybody worked with a hangover. People were still discussing if it was good idea to stay or not. It was a simple choise but with big consequences and not something to take lightly.
Apart from preparing for next week's match, the international news now have heard about this new nation and Fred Devons had been answering calls from journalists the entire day.
'Why cannot they accept there is a new nation without having to ask why I wanted a new nation.' Fred spoke out in frustration after another such call. 'Relax sweety.' Atthe tried to comfort her husband. 'It is just something new and interesting. Besides you just cannot say that this will protect us from attack.' He knew his wife spoke the truth and he knew that the media interest would calm down eventually.
'How are the arena suggestions going?' Fred asked. 'We have been spammed with ideas only minutes after the last show and it has not stopped yet.' Someone said. 'Most of these suggestions is the Colloseum actually.' The same person replied again. 'It gets suggested a lot.' Fred laughed. He had expected that to happen. The show was called the Arean after all. But there was a reason he had not chosen the colloseum yet. 'I have something very special in mind for the Colloseum.' He spoke. 'But don't reply that.' Fred added.
'How are the comments on the match going?' Fred asked. 'There seemed a little bit of confusion on some forums about what a Peltast actually is..' Derek, one of the social media people spoke. 'Here for example. At first they wondered why we put a armoured greek soldier against an unarmoured opponent and we were called racists, then someone commented that according to 300, the Greeks fought naked and lastly someone else commented that it would be an easy win for the zulu because the Peltast only threw spears.' Derek explained one of the fora he was looking at.
'That seem consistent. I see a lot of Zulu victories all around the world.' Omar agreed.
'Let us see how this plays out then.' Fred smiled.
'Welcome everybody' Seth spoke to all the viewers. 'First and foremost. Last week I asked you to give us ideas on battlefields and you did listen. We have recieved millions and millions of requests, ideas and suggestions. Keep them coming. Today will be a rather boring field but I promise you. Next week we will take the first of your suggestions.'
As always, Seth showed a clips with information of both warriors and then announced the battle to start.
Mandla looked over the grassy field. This almost felt like home. The Zulu warrior was ready to battle. Once he got home, he could tell King Shaka and King Shaka would be proud of him. Maybe just maybe Mandla would recieve his own axe. Among the weapons, there was one of the axes but the warrior had never used one before and knew he was not allowed so he had left the weapon for the more traditional Iklwa stabbing shield and isihlangu shield. He also had taken with him the iwisa, a wooden club and the ipapa throwing spear. There was no way Mandla would lose and he would make king Shaka proud.
Alexis looked at the field. This battleground was no different then he was used to. However this time he was alone and there was no hoplite for the close combat action. This would hinder his strategie and the Greek hoped that his opponent would be lightly armed and armoured as well.
They said that he could go home if he won this tournament but Alexis did not care about that. Here he was not one of the many soldiers, here he had his own room and was treated well. The Peltast would fight to win but if he got killed, there was nobody who was going to miss him.
At the armoury, Alexis had grabbed four javelins, a wicker shield and a xiphos sword. He did not usually have a sword in combat and was happy to finally be able to have one with him.
The two warriors spotted each other simultaneously and the Zulu yelled out as he ran towards his opponent, who only stood there. Taking advantage, Mandla threw his ipapa at the opponent, who moved away and the spear landed in the grass. Now it the turn for Alexis to throw his javelin.
As the Zulu warrior ran towards the greek, he threw his javelin. As the man saw how his opponent avoided the attack, he fled.
'Coward.' Mandla yelled as he saw his opponent running away. That wimp would be destroyed, he would never been allowed in a zulu army, this man was as weak as a woman. The Zulu ran after his greek opponent but lost his target as they entered an orchard with several trees.
Alexis looked at his opponent from behind a tree. First he would use the hit and run tactics that made the peltasts famous and if that did not work, this black man would meet a sword.
As the Zulu walked around, Alexis stepped from behind the tree and thew his second javelin. The crack of a twig had revealed his location and Mandla turned to see the olive skinned man.
The javelin flew towards the Zulu, threw his shield in to block the attack as he moved his body away.
The javelin rammed itself through the shield and scratched the zulu shoulder, which made Mandla only angrier. As the African warrior threw his now useless shield away, he saw that the other man was already running again and he followed.
As Alexis ran out of the orchard, he stopped to throw another javelin. This one hit the tree next to the Zulu and the chase continued.
Alexis suddenly stopped as he reached a cliff. Looking down, he considered if the Greek could throw his opponent off the cliff but then thought that the other warrior might do the same to him. Still holding his last javelin and shield, the peltast waited for his opponent to come near.
Mandla saw that his opponent had nowhere to go and smiled. At last, this coward who could only run would feel how it was to face a real warrior. He could not wait to skewer the coward with his short spear. He hoped that the other warriors in this tournament would not be cowards as this was not something to brag about among the other Zulu.
As the Zulu warrior came near, his smile widened. When there was only a few feet between the two warriors, Alexis threw his last javelin. The smile on the face of Mandla turned into surpise as the javelin flew towards him and then turned into a grimace of pain as the weapon hit the Zulu in the chest and knocked him back. As the Zulu howled in pain and the blood flowed out of him, the warrior still tried to stand. He would not be killed by a coward and a cowards tactic. Managing to take a few steps, Mandla fell forwards on the ground, which drove the javelin deeper into his chest. One last breath was all he could do before the Zulu warrior died.
'Look at that. I have never seen such a battle.' Seth said. He could hardly believe what he had just seen and tried to make the best of it. 'Two different tactics faced each other and the hit and run tactic proved superior to the charging.' He said.
'Now everybody, please remember to send in your requests for battlefields as next week our battlefield will be one of your choosing.' The host changed the subject quickly. 'Speaking of next week, the British Celt will face an ancient Egyptian soldier.' Seth looked into the camera before continuing. 'Who do you think will win between these two?'
'How is it looking?' Fred asked the people in the command centre. He had not expected the match to turn out this bad and the ratings showed that people stopped watching during the fight. 'Bad.' Omar said in a serious tone. 'People are complaining that it was just running and barely any action. They said that we wanted to give inferior warrior the win because quote, there is already a black warrior in the next round of the tournament.' 'That is bullshit!' Fred yelled out. 'There was nothing we could do here.' Atthe hugged her husband. 'I know but people are still saying that this win was unfair and cowardly and that the Zulu should have won this battle.' Fred knew that this was bad. ; He hated this as much as the fans, as the Zulu had been unable to show off his skills and weapons in battle.
'We are being called racists a lot now and people keep yelling that they want a do over of this match so the proper warrior could win this time.' Someone spoke.
Full of anger, Fred walked out of the building and looked at the stars. This was not how he planned things would go. The next match had to be fantastic to keep the ratings up and keep the people happy.
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