Chapter 49: Rick vs Raggest

"Finally finished your dawdling?" Josiah smoothed down his bristling mustaches. "Step into the ring, Richard. And do send a servant to summon Raggest! My lands, the cock crowed hours ago!"

Most of the other immortals watching looked apathetic about the delays, and while Rick had been standing there, several others had arrived. Clearly, starting on time was not as much of a priority for them as it was for Josiah. Yet as the delay stretched on, he had to wonder what they would think.

Part of him wanted to flee right then, but Rick forced himself to jump the pool surrounding the octagon. He sat down to meditate as if preparing for the fight, though he was really just keeping himself calm. Time stretched on, and on, and some of those waiting began to suggest that the match be forfeited.

"Rick!" Raggest thundered the word as he exploded from the front door, staggering toward them. All eyes were on him and Rick was shocked at how much worse the other man looked. He had dark bags under his eyes, his forearms were torn up, and there was blood under his fingernails.

"You... you did this..." Raggest slurred his words so much that Rick wasn't sure whether anyone else could understand, but in any case he was frozen in shock. Even if he could act, what should he do?

Trying to leap the circular pool, Raggest tripped and nearly fell. He recovered and leapt over it, landing in the arena with too much force. There wasn't rage in his eyes, just bloodshot desperation. Everyone else looked taken aback, and fortunately they weren't focused on Rick yet, but he wasn't sure how to react.

Then Raggest let out a cry and released a beam of aura. The threat snapped Rick out of his trance and he used a Bunyan's Step to evade it. He glanced toward the others, not sure if the fight would really begin like this.

"If you arrive looking like a ragamuffin, you can fight that way!" Josiah glared daggers at Raggest, then jumped backward out of the arena. "Let the match begin!"

Immediately Raggest staggered forward, trying to strike Rick physically. His blows each carried huge surges of lucrim, but they were clumsy and slow. Rick could have blocked them easily, but it felt almost wrong, like beating up a child. He had never even imagined that the withdrawal would hit Raggest so hard.

Before Rick could decide what to do, Raggest let out a roar and charged him headlong. Again Rick shifted just to the side, but to his surprise Raggest stumbled onward, tripping off the side of the pool. His head cracked against the sharp edge and even some of the immortals winced.

Though there wasn't any blood, Rick wasn't about to risk it. He quickly leapt to the side and shoved his arm in, grabbing the back of Raggest's shirt and dragging him out. For a moment the other man lay troublingly still, then he began to cough, expelling water from his lungs. The mania seemed to have faded, leaving him groaning and convulsing again, so he would live.

Rick couldn't say the same for himself. Everyone around the arena was staring at them, and him in particular. Alger watched with a cold anger, but it was nothing like the rage that Rick would have expected if Alger had known the truth. But he had to figure out what had happened soon enough, and when he did, it was obvious where his suspicions would go.

"The boy spoke of blame," one of the Nokan immortals said. "Could he have been poisoned?"

The bottom dropped out of Rick's stomach. His instinct was to run, but he knew that would only make him guilty in their eyes. Everything was ruined because he'd tried to help Raggest. He should have kept arguing with him, or ignored him entirely, but now his life was on the line.

Then the Siberian candidate spoke scornfully. "If he can be brought down by poison, then he deserves to lose."

"I didn't poison him!" Rick almost shouted out the words, drawing everyone's attention over the rising voices. He could only hope that his truthfulness was clearer than his guilt. "I don't know anything about using poison. Feel free to test him and search my things."

"There is another possibility," Qing Shan said, rising to her feet. "Who is this boy's sponsor? None other than our host, who has been in complete control of everything the candidates eat and drink. I cannot help but note that his candidate focuses on defense and the most powerful offensive candidate has just been eliminated."

"You dare?" Josiah leapt to his feet, looking like he would attack then and there, but others were joining in as well, shouting over one another.

Would it actually come to a fight? Rick saw everything sprawling into chaos and knew that the sensible thing to do would be to run. Other than the servants, the weakest people in the mansion were those equal to him. Getting involved could be suicide... yet standing back could be worse. All at once, he knew that this was his chance.

"I forfeit!" Rick's shout was barely audible over the commotion, but his words led to an immediate silence and all attention turned toward him. "There's no need to insult my honor as a fighter or Master Craw's honor as a host. Neither of us want a victory that was unearned. So I voluntarily resign from the tournament."

There was a moment of silence in which Rick caught his breath. He hadn't been sure how Josiah would react, but the immortal actually seemed pleased at the chance to restore his honor. Both Alger and H looked furious. If there had been any doubt left in his mind, it would have died then.

Arguments immediately exploded, but they had changed in tone. Some wanted to investigate before doing anything else, others wanted to reorganize the tournament, and some seemed to argue simply to disturb their rivals. Thankfully, Alger and H were both too engaged by others to come after him, so Rick began to walk away. This was exactly why he'd carried everything he needed with him.

No one stopped him as he left the tournament grounds, but as he reached the driveway Qing Shan appeared in front of him, watching him thoughtfully. "Were you behind this after all?"

"All I want is to be done with this." Rick just stared back at her, letting her see his weariness. "Shouldn't you be happy? Two of your opponents are taken off the table in the very first round."

"Ah yes, our house is quite pleased. We will make sure that the others cannot force you to take back your forfeit or otherwise disturb you. In fact, I would like to bestow one last Jade Seal on you, if I could have your card."

"Sorry, but it's back in my room. You can apply it to my record." With that, Rick walked past her. This time, she didn't stop him, merely examining him with inscrutable eyes.

Miraculously, no one else stopped him as he headed away from the mansion toward the highway. Or maybe the truth was that he just wasn't important enough in the grand scheme of things. Alger and H had used him in order to play these games, after all, not because they cared about him. Maybe he could actually walk away. Rick texted Lisa and Melissa to tell them what had happened.

A swift blow struck the phone out of his hands, shattering it before it even hit the ground. Rick leapt back, arms raised defensively, and saw James Travis standing in his way.

"So you're a cowardly little shit after all." James readjusted his tie and sneered at him. "Have you realized that you can't match your superiors? Just what I'd expect from someone like you. But the thing is, I really hate you, so I'm not going to let y-"

"Why do you hate me?" Rick threw the question like a blow and saw James hesitate for just a moment.

"It would take too long to count all the reasons! I hate mouthy little shits who don't know their place. I hate the commoners fouling the Showdown with thei-"

"I don't believe you." After everything that had happened, the hatred just seemed too flat, too forced. It was a bit of a shot in the dark, but as he thought about how he'd met James, Rick realized the truth. "Did Alger hire you to harass me?"

For a moment, neither of them moved. Then all the hatred on James's face melted into a slightly irritated expression. "How the hell did you figure that out?"

"I guess I'm used to being manipulated by now. Let me guess: he had you insult us in order to motivate Raggest and me to give us a rival. Everything you've done makes a lot more sense if I assume you were working for him. I just can't figure out what you get out of it."

"Money." The suited man shrugged casually, all the anger gone from his face. "He hired me to make sure you and Raggest met up, then to keep you motivated in the Showdown. So you're right, it's not personal at all."

That fact was troubling, but not nearly as troubling as the potential implications. "Has he done this before? Did he ever talk about hiring mercenaries, or someone named Jack?"

"This is just a job to me. All I care about is getting paid."

Realizing that he'd find no answers, Rick simply gave the other man his best stare. "Are you paid to actually fight me?"

"I guess not, if I can't trick you into staying."

"Do you want to fight me?"

Rick was gratified to see just a flicker of fear in James's eyes. The other man hesitated, then stepped aside and let Rick pass. In the end, he was just another employee, another way Alger intended to control him. He was also a dangerous opponent that Rick wasn't confident he could defeat, but he'd avoided the fight without throwing a single punch.

No one else stopped him as he reached the highway. Rick pulled out his bike chip and manifested it again after so long. Though he worried that he'd have lost the knack, he was soon cruising down the completely empty highway.

The oblivion of the wasteland around him was strangely calming, as if the mansion behind him and all its scheming immortals didn't exist. There was only the wind cutting into his body as he increased his pace. It seemed to stream over him, pulling away all the secondary thoughts and leaving him free.

It had been terrifying for a time, but somehow he had passed through. If the immortals did investigate, they would find absolutely nothing in Raggest's system. It occurred to him that his fingerprints and DNA would be in the room, but given how everyone roamed through the mansion, that hopefully wouldn't prove anything. He also thought that Qing Shan would help a little, for her own self-interest if not for his.

At last Rick began to pass by lampposts, which meant he was near the bus stop. He looked back over his shoulder and could no longer see the mansion in the distance, lost in the endless plain. Of course, there might not be any bus scheduled for a while, so he'd end up with a boring wait. All the planning he'd done and he hadn't thought to check the bus schedule before-

Molten aura smashed into him from above and suddenly Rick was flying, his momentum smashing him into the highway several times before he ground to a halt. Hitting the tarmac hadn't injured him, but his body burned from whatever had struck him.

Some distance away, he saw his bike lying as a crumpled piece of metal. Behind it, H stood without expression, a cigarette between his lips, embers burning bright.