GAMES
copyright 2011
courtesy of Christopher Pelletier
and DLJ Publishing, LLC
The day of the Pelota game came quicker than Kylos had imagined. He had been busy working on his big geography project and had not given much thought to the weekend. But the day had arrived and Kylos woke up early to make the most of it. Amblix did not even have to wake him.
In the dining room, Kylos found out that his father had come home earlier than usual and gone to bed straight away. A small bit of luck. Breakfast could be enjoyed in solitude without any stress before he had to play. He felt a call coming in from Peleus, so he placed his bread on the plate and focused on his crystal.
“Hey, when are we going to meet?” Peleus said. Kylos could sense the anticipation and excitement in his friend’s thoughts. It brought a smile to his face.
“The game is at the tenth hour at the Second Tier wall, so I’ll meet you at the bakery in forty minutes.”
“Great. See you then.”
Kylos relaxed his mind and picked up the pace of his eating. The soup went down in several gulps, and he ran to his room. From a drawer he took out his wicker scoop and put it on his right hand, examining it for any holes that might have worn through. The scoop looked fine, so he shoved it in a cloth bag that was specially designed to hold his Pelota equipment. With his bag slung around his shoulder, he was out the door.
The weekend traffic on the street was lighter than on the weekdays. More people must have been enjoying their time off and sleeping in, he figured. But Kylos had a big day ahead, so he needed to hustle.
When he got to the bakery, he found Peleus eyeing a fruit muffin. “Don’t you ever eat breakfast?”
“Yeah, but it never fills me up,” Peleus said. He shook his bag containing his Pelota scoop. “Besides, I need the extra food to give me strength for today.”
Kylos laughed at his friend’s logic. Then she came out, the girl from his dream. She smiled and said to Kylos, “Greetings of the day. May I help you?”
Peleus cleared his throat and held up a shiny silver coin saying, “Yes, I’ll take one of those.”
She smiled at Peleus, and then turned her attention to Kylos. “Anything for you?”
“No, I’m fine thanks,” Kylos said. Now that he was up close, he got a good look at her, and his desire grew. He wanted to say more to this amazing girl, but his courage was lacking.
She gave a shrug and said, “Very well. I’ll be right back.”
She went back into the bakery and brought out a sheet of translucent papyrus and placed Peleus’s syrup-covered bun on it. Peleus said, “You don’t have to wrap it up. We’re kind of in a hurry.”
“Really? Where are you going?”
Peleus said, “Today’s a big Pelota game. We’re playing the Second Tiers at the tenth hour. The game will probably go on for awhile.”
Kylos got up his nerve. “You should try and make it. It’ll be exciting.”
His heart was hanging by a hair and the girl held a pair of sharp shears. He could not wait to hear her answer and prayed to the Gods it would be favorable.
“Well… it sounds exciting. I’ve never seen Pelota played before, but, of course, I’ve heard about it. Unfortunately, I’ve got to work and help my dad and mom…”
The blades were closing in on the hair.
“But maybe I can stop by later,” she said with a smile.
His heart was safe, and he felt a rush inside. A ‘maybe’ was not a ‘no’.
“Great. So, maybe I’ll see you there then,” Kylos said. He turned to Peleus who could not wait to start in on his second breakfast. “Come on. Let’s get going. The guys are waiting for us.”
Without any regard for decorum or manners, Peleus shoved his food into his mouth, and his cheeks bulged out like he was trying to swallow a Pelota ball. The girl smiled and the boys headed off. Kylos stopped and called to her, “What’s your name?”
“Ellena.”
“See you at the game, Ellena.”
The pair ran off, but after a couple of minutes Kylos stopped mid-stride. “Gods, I forgot to tell her my name. I’ve got to go back.”
“No time,” said Peleus. “We’re almost late now.”
Racked with indecision, he followed Peleus who trundled down the street. The two boys crossed the bridge leading to the Second Tier. Some old men were fishing from the stone expanse while some barges passed underneath. Kylos and Peleus got through the gate and took a left.
After passing many modest manors, several multi-storied apartments, and a variety of shops, they arrived at a tower section of the orichalcum-covered wall where the L-shaped Pelota play area had already been set up by eager players like Demnos. The Second Tier wall stood thirty feet high, and the tower climbed to over fifty feet. At its base, the tower stuck out twenty feet deep from the wall, which was perfect for serving the ball. Chalk lines had already been drawn on the flagstone street, and the boys' classmates had already gathered there.
Demnos bounced towards Kylos and Peleus, full of energy. Pelota was his passion, it was what he lived for, and was pretty much all he ever talked about in class. “Hey, what took you two so long? We’re about ready to pair off. Lymines couldn’t make it, so we’ll have an even fourteen. They’ve decided on their fourteen. It’ll be seven games. Then we’ll total the points to see who won.”
“Sounds good,” said Kylos. “So what’s the time limit?”
“Thirty minutes per game. You two will go last.”
Kylos smiled, but Peleus grimaced. There was a lot of pressure finishing up. Ballero and his partner, Hator, glared at Kylos and Peleus, making their expectations of the pair’s final performance known. Kylos said to Peleus, “Don’t worry about them. Let’s just have fun.”
One of the extra Second Tier boys became the referee. He called the teams to gather around him. In a screechy voice, he explained how the games would be played. To avoid any possibilities of cheating, he announced that players could not wear their crystals during games. Then he proceeded to tell the order of the Second Tier team partners.
The First Tiers made it known to the Seconds who their opponents would be. Several minutes passed as each team sized up their opponents and tried to guess each other’s skills. Kylos and Peleus were to play against a pair of boys about their age whose confident looks turned haughty when they saw Peleus.
The first game got underway with Demnos hurling the ball from his scoop to the tower wall. Both sides played aggressively for thirty minutes resulting in a Second Tier lead against the First Tiers 20-18.
Demnos and his partner came back to their group. Even though they had lost the first round, he was still very happy. “They were tough, but maybe we can get them later. What do you say, guys?”
His enthusiasm was contagious, and the First Tiers rallied and grew rowdy. They slapped each other on the back. The Seconds tried to outdo the Firsts in volume and energy.
The next four clashes were a mix. In a couple of the games the Firsts pulled ahead, but by the time of the sixth game they were behind by six points.
A considerable gathering of spectators amassed to watch them play. As Pelota was the sport played by most every youth on Atlantis, many of the spectators were men talking to their male friends, probably reminiscing about the glory days when they used to play.
Kylos scanned the crowd but could not see Ellena. The games were mostly finished, so he would be playing soon. He had hoped with all his heart she would have come.
Ballero and Hator put on their wicker scoops and entered the playing area, hungry for victory and bearing faces of grim determination, like Kylos had seen on Myrmillos during public parade exercises. The Seconds won the right to serve, so Ballero stood by ready to receive the ball. In a flash the game commenced.
Kylos stood cross-armed and watched the play. He was impressed with Ballero’s quickness and Hator’s control. If only they played last instead of us, Kylos wished. There would certainly be less pressure and, perhaps, a better chance of winning the day.
A prodding elbow took Kylos’s attention from the game, and he saw Peleus looking into the crowd. The freckled boy said, “Hey, isn’t that the girl from the bakery?”
Kylos turned around and saw Ellena. She gave a small wave, and Kylos could not suppress his smile. The impulse to run over to her was strong, but he controlled himself and left his friend, walking with a calm, casual stride to the wonderful girl.
“Hi,” Kylos said.
“Hi,” she said, her eyes glowing like orichalcum.
“I’m glad you could make it.”
“Yeah, it looks really exciting.”
They both watched the game in progress. Ballero just got a point and the Firsts roared in cheer.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you back at the bakery, my name is Kylos.”
Ellena laughed a prettiest laugh he had heard. “Well, you were kind of in a hurry.”
Kylos smiled. “Yeah. Well, it’s quite a big crowd today. Peleus and I are playing last.”
“Then I came just at the right time,” she said looking into his eyes. She watched
Hator and Ballero, lifted her shoulders and shook her head, tossing her long hair from side to side, and said, “I don’t quite understand the game. Can you explain it to me?”
“Sure, I’d be happy to. Let’s get a little closer so I can show you what goes on.”
The pair walked over to the Pelota area, but safely out of the way of any stray balls that might fly towards them. Kylos wanted to put his hand on her back, in a friendly, escorting way, but he resisted the urge.
Kylos said, “Those guys are wearing scoops. They have to catch a ball before it bounces twice on the ground. Just like that.”
Hator made a diving catch, scrambled to one knee and flung the ball back, speeding to the tower wall.
“Once caught, you have to get rid of it quickly. The ball has to hit the tower wall, but you can use that wall,” Kylos said, indicating the Second Tier wall, “to make a play. But the ball has to make it past that first line on the ground. If it doesn’t, it’s a point for the other team. Do you get it?”
“Maybe,” she said with her lips in a grimace. The look was so cute; Kylos really liked this girl.
“Well, the more you watch, the more you’ll understand it.”
She shrugged in an “I guess so” kind of way, but she gave him a look that said, “I’m happy to be here.”
He wanted to take her hand, but he did not dare. He had to be content that she came to see him. Her presence would inspire him to play even harder today. He would be her champion and wanted to impress her as much as he could. But now the game really did not matter to him. She was there. That was all that he cared about.
Ellena watched the action and Kylos watched her, trying not to get caught staring. He wanted to take in every detail of her face, the smooth skin, the long eyelashes, the curve of her brow—a sudden roar of disappointment from the First Tiers startled him and dragged his attention back to the game.
He saw Ballero helping his partner up from the ground. Kylos guessed that Hator had just missed a difficult return and all that he had to show for his troubles was some blood dripping from a scrape on his right arm.
Ellena looked at Kylos with her face scrunched up at the sight of the wound. Kylos tried to reassure her by saying, “It happens. This can be a fast and dangerous game.”
“I hope you don’t get hurt,” she replied. The look of concern remained on her face.
“I’ve been lucky so far. Only a nasty bruise on my arm when a ball hit me there.”
She looked at his arm trying to find the bruise. He chuckled and said, “That was a long time ago.”
“Oh,” she said as she shifted her look from his arm to his eyes. “I’ll be tapping my finger tips for good luck.”
Kylos looked at the clock on the tower. Three minutes left. It was time for Ballero to serve. The referee shrieked. “First Tiers: 21, Second Tiers: 12.”
With a quick bit of arithmetic, Kylos calculated that overall they were ahead. If Ballero could get one more point before the round finished, that would give a bit more room to get a First Tier victory—the first time in five years!
The ball flew from Ballero’s scoop with a wicked spin on it. He aimed high and the ball appeared as if it was going deep, but suddenly dropped just passed the front line. The nearby Second Tier player raced forward to get the ball. Ballero eased back, screening the direct line to make the play. The Second Tier player swiped for the ball but missed. The wicker scoop connected with Ballero’s face, though, creating a slim cut.
Ballero shook off the sting. He got the point and obviously saw the disappointment on the Seconds’ faces. His lips curled into a satisfied smile and held a fist into the air to his adulating team mates.
“Time!” hollered the referee.
The Firsts went to their two saviors. Thanks to Ballero and Hator, they had a three point lead. But there were thirty minutes remaining and it fell upon Kylos and Peleus to keep the lead or add on to it, if possible.
Peleus, wide-eyed with doubt, looked to Kylos, who smiled and turned to Ellena. “Well, it’s time for my friend and me to see if we can win.”
She bounced in excitement, showing her beautiful smile, and said, “Good luck, Kylos.”
“Thanks. I’ll need it,” he said with a wink and nodded towards his terrified partner. She laughed and started tapping her thumbs sequentially with each finger, down and up and back again, over and over, all the while mouthing a silent prayer to the Gods.
Kylos smiled and ran to his friend. He swatted Peleus’s shoulder and said, “Come on. Let’s get our scoops and kill these guys!”
The tension on Peleus’s face eased, allowing his chubby cheeks to smile. “Yeah, let’s kill them.”
They took their scoops from their bags and fitted them over their right hands and forearms. Kylos looked at his friend, tapped his crystal and removed it. Peleus nodded and did the same.
The playing area cleared, except for the Seconds who were going to play in the final round. Kylos and Peleus walked with shoulders back and did the traditional crossing of scoops with their opponents. The referee approached the group while tossing the leather ball up and down in his hand. It seemed the referee really wanted to play that day, especially as his team was losing but could not do anything about it.
The referee’s subdued look from to his team mates turned into a blatant scowl when he looked at Kylos and Peleus. He hissed out, “So, you guys are ahead by three. But judging by Pudgy, here, you two don’t have a prayer.”
Peleus welled up in a huff and raised his scoop to bash the referee across the face. The referee flinched, but Kylos held his friend’s scoop at bay. The referee held out the ball out in his fingers and just dropped it to the ground. He turned and walked away saying, “It’s your serve, Firsties.”
Disgust is all that Kylos could feel for that sour boy. Peleus's eyes had started to water up and turn red, his scoop quivering in a mix of shame and anger. Peleus’s mouth formed words, but no sound was coming out. Kylos knew his friend was deeply hurt by the name calling.
Kylos grabbed his friend and walked with him towards the tower. The Seconds were mocking Peleus with exaggerated sobs. Peleus whipped his head around, but Kylos said, “Hey, don’t worry about those guys. They’re just a bunch of jerks, full of elephant crap. Never mind them. If we can win this one, we’ll be the ones laughing. You and I will be the ones everyone loves. They’ll talk about us at school long after we finish. We’ll be heroes!”
His freckled friend choked down the sobs and regained composure. The lingering sniffles were the only evidence of the humiliation that Peleus had endured. He said, “Let’s kill these turds.”
A slap on the back was all the encouragement it took to have Peleus stomp into position. The Firsts hooted and hollered for their boys, and the Seconds did the same with equal gusto for their own.
While stooping down, Kylos picked up the ball from the flagstone street with his left hand and popped it into his scoop. He stole a look at Ellena, who raised her arms and showed him that she was still doing the lucky gestures.
He put his left toe on the serving line and turned to Peleus, who looked determined. A nod from his friend signaled that all was ready. The battle could start.
The ball slammed into the wall, and one of the Seconds received it and whipped it back without hesitation. The action was intense with both sides exchanging points for points in small bursts.
A steady exercise routine had helped Kylos to endure the rigors of the game. Sweat streamed down his face and occasionally stung his eyes, but he did not let it interfere with his playing. Peleus had surprised their opponents with great speed and agility for a heavier kid. But endurance was something he never had much of, and Kylos saw his red-faced friend dragging after twenty minutes.
In between points, Kylos looked to Ellena to see if she was still watching. After seeing her attention focused on him, his motivation for victory soared like a seagull in the wind. It came down to the last few minutes. The score for that round was 19 to 22 favoring the Seconds.
Kylos and Peleus won the serve, so Kylos got to the line and let the ball fly. It whizzed from the tower to the wall and landed deep. One of the Seconds got the ball and returned it in such a way that Kylos had to dive for it. The hard flagstones were not forgiving. The pain of the scrapes and impact on his knees and elbows throbbed, but he was not going to let that hold him back from winning the game and the admiration of beautiful Ellena.
He got up to one knee and sent the ball to the wall. It soared high and deep, but the Second in the rear caught it with ease. He shot the ball back and it bounced off of the wall, hit the tower, and flew over Kylos’s head.
Kylos turned around and saw Peleus preparing to get it. The ball hit the flagstone and rose only slightly off the ground. It was obvious that Peleus had not anticipated the low bounce, and he heaved his jiggling form to get at the ball. The front of his scoop nearly touched it, but not before it fell to the ground a second time. He stumbled and rolled on the flagstones.
“Time!” called out the referee. “The Seconds win!”
All of the Second Tiers burst into jubilation and ran to their match saviors. The Firsts shouted in dismay, some throwing their scoops to the ground. Kylos saw Ballero and Hator glaring at him and Peleus. Kylos turned his attention to his friend, who was still on the ground, and rushed to help him up. Peleus was a pile of sobbing dead weight, as he knew he cost the team the match. Kylos patted Peleus’s back and said, “Hey, don’t worry about it. It’s just a game.”
Kylos’s reassuring words had little effect, and Peleus turned his face away. Ballero said, “Hey, Kylos! Tell Pudgy he ruined the game for us!”
Kylos, with his teeth clenched at the slanderer, stayed by his friend. The Seconds cleared out in a merry procession, screaming with shouts of victory. The Firsts ambled off in a sullen mood.
Kylos saw that Ellena had remained as the crowd of onlookers was dispersing. She walked over to Kylos and said, “That was an interesting game. You two did very well. Sorry that you didn’t win, though.”
He smiled and said, “Well, there’s always next time. Right, Pelly?”
Sniffles with a long, slow nod were the only responses. Kylos worried that his friend was taking this too hard. Ellena broke the silence by saying, “Kylos, I have to go back home now. Thanks for inviting me.”
“Yeah, thanks for coming. I’ll see you around.”
She smiled, turned, and headed back towards the bridge leading to the First Tier. Kylos watched her every step as she went away.
“Sorry,” Peleus said.
Kylos looked back to his friend and, feigning ignorance, said, “About what?”
“For losing the game. I should have had that ball! I was so close.”
“You tried to get it, and it was a tough shot. Even Ballero would’ve missed it.”
Peleus smiled at the thought. He said, “Thanks.”
“Let’s get our stuff and get out of here. I’m starving, and I bet you are, too.”
Peleus looked at Kylos’s playful grin and laughed. “Yeah, let’s get some food. Come on over to my place. I’ll have my slave cook us up some steaks or something.”
“Sounds good.”
The pair collected their crystals and put away their scoops in their bags. They joked and laughed and got their minds off the earlier defeat. The sun was warm, but the incoming sea breeze was refreshing.
After crossing the bridge, they headed towards Peleus’s place and on the way, they came across Ballero, Hator, and two others loitering by some columns in front of an apartment building. It was all too clear that they had been waiting and their mood seemed hostile. Ballero strode forward and said, “Hey, Pudgy, why couldn’t you get that last shot? My slave could have gotten it, and she’s fifty years old!”
Kylos and Peleus stopped as trouble was imminent. Kylos said, “Let’s go this way.”
Ballero stormed after Peleus and shoved him to the ground. “Hey, Fatty, I asked you a question. Hator, here, and I got us ahead and you blew it!”
Kylos had never been in a fight, and he felt a queasy feeling in his stomach, and his mouth went dry. Anger raged in his mind, and he felt like someone else was controlling his body and voice. “Let him be. We both tried hard, but were unlucky.”
“You did all right, Kylos. But tub o’ guts over here needs to be reminded of how close we came to actually winning.”
Ballero kicked Peleus, who lay helplessly on the ground, covering his head with his arms. Kylos lunged towards his taller classmate. The group gathered around to watch the fight that started.
Kylos, filled with wild anger, punched at Ballero’s chest, but landed only glancing blows. Ballero went for Kylos’s face and connected three times. Kylos used his hands and arms to protect his face, but that left his body open to attack. Kylos went down to one knee in submission but Ballero did not stop. Hator grabbed hold of his Pelota partner and yanked him off Kylos. “Hey, come on, Bal. He’s had it. You’ve taught him good. Let’s get out of here.”
The group scampered off through the streets, shouting and hollering. Peleus crawled over to Kylos. “Are you all right?”
“I don’t feel all right. Ow! My face...”
Peleus helped Kylos up. He could feel the cuts and figured that there would be a lot of bruising. The warm taste of blood was in his mouth as he ran his tongue along the inside of his mouth to make sure no teeth were loose. He spat a red glob onto the gray flagstones.
Bystanders who had watched the brawl went about their business.
“We’ll go to my house,” Peleus said. “We’ll get you fixed up.”
“No, that’s OK. I think I’ll just go home now.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. I just want to crawl into my bed and die.”
“Well, I’ll call out to you later.”
With a nod and a wave, Kylos sent Peleus off and started to hobble back home. Every step towards home was to the repeated cadence in his mind of I hate Ballero.
After he arrived at his home, Kylos strained to push the door open without wincing. Inside, the sounds of activity and conversation could be heard coming from the dining area.
Oh, great, he thought. Father’s up early.
He went to his room and tossed his Pelota scoop bag on his bed and went to the bathroom to assess the damage in the orichalcum mirror. He shook his head and ran some warm water into the bronze basin sink. As he splashed water on his face, it stung as if a demon had applied it and he could not help cringing. The cuts had stopped bleeding, but there was no way to cover the bruising or the congealing scabs.
His head dropped and an involuntary sigh came out. His father would be expecting to see him. The temptation to hide in his room was strong, but his father would hunt him down eventually. Also, he was hungry from the big game, and his condition would be discovered sooner or later.
He dumped the basin of reddened water into a drain on the tiled floor and wiped his face with a soft towel. A fresh tunic hung on a peg on the wall, so he slipped the white garment on and walked to the dining area. The smell of chicken had filled the hallway and was exactly what he needed.
When he arrived, his father was seated and Amblix was bringing in more food from the kitchen. Ziustros dropped his fork down and just stared at Kylos. “What happened to you?”
Kylos made his way to his chair and sat down. He said, “Today was the big First Tier versus Second Tier Pelota game.”
Ziustros scrutinized Kylos’s face and said, “Did you play Pelota or try Myrmillo boxing?”
“No, I just accidentally got hit from a scoop a couple of times during a game. That’s all.
Ziustros closed his eyes and shook his head. “This is just excellent, Amblix! First, this boy wants to join the Nereids. Now he wants to prove himself and get into fights. What a man!”
“It wasn’t like that!” Kylos protested.
“Enough! Get out of my sight! Your mother would be disgusted to know what a brute her son has become.”
Tears uncontrollably welled up in Kylos’s eyes. His father would not listen to his side of the story, no matter what he said. He looked to Amblix for help, but the household slave lowered his eyes.
So that was it. No support or understanding from anyone.
Kylos turned and stormed out of the dining room, leaving his livid father and petrified slave behind. Kylos slammed his bedroom door and fell onto his silk sheets. His pain was complete, as he languished in bed.
“I hate my life!”
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