Drake was soon shocked to learn that Emily had managed to get eight teams—eight teams!—to sign up for her impromptu shrikes and turtles tournament, which baffled him. This was a kid’s game, wasn’t it? There was literally one kid on this beach!
The teams all looked real serious about winning, too. Team Battle Maids was, of course, the clear frontrunner—Emily, Valentia, and Nicole all looked ready to run the table, while Lydia merely looked like she was being dragged along—but as Drake scanned the other folks assembled, he wondered if their path to victory would be as easy as Emily expected.
First, there were not one, but two teams of zarovians. Drake had not expected the zarovians to show any interest in the game, and given how slow and ponderous they moved, he hadn’t expected them to have a chance. However, as he watched both lizardman teams play wrestle, one of which was led by Korrag, he realized zarovians moved much faster when warm.
His JV team was also represented, of course, with Darion having joined Robin, Gaby, and Carl to make a full team of rookies. Robin appeared to be one of the only women on the beach immune to Darion’s charms. While Gaby was chatting with Darion constantly (and blushing all the while) Robin was all too obviously sizing up her competitors with the intensity of an assassin planning to ambush her mark.
Drake would need to watch that one.
Meryl, Tamara, Alice, and one male cook he didn’t know had also formed “Team Cooks” (or that was what he was going to call it), while Hugo (the thrall with the keen ability to tell time) had formed another team with Rodger the footman and two others who Drake didn’t yet know by name. All looked young and athletic, however, so he shouldn’t count them out.
Drake decided to call them Team Footmen.
A group of his scullery maids (the ones who handled actual cleaning in his kitchen and chambers, not battle) had formed another team of four, though from the way they were all laughing and giggling, Drake suspected they might be the only team who’d signed up for the fun of it. They were Team Cleaners, though not aloud, of course.
Finally, there was Team Anna, led by the tiny but indomitable blond dynamo. And, of course, the only team featuring a twelve-foot-tall lizardman. How was it even fair for Cresh to play this game? He could trample anyone who got in his way.
“Say, Anna.”
“Yes, lord?”
“Do we have a team name?”
“Oh, yes!” Anna grinned up at him. “I told Emily our team is named Team Stomp.”
Drake chuckled. “Good call.”
Once the teams were all gathered, a stoic-looking Samuel walked out to the beach. It seemed he was going to be today’s referee. Drake strongly suspected Samuel didn’t approve of this activity, and the old man also knew stopping it would result in a riot. He cleared his throat and waved a hand for silence.
“The matchups have been chosen by random lot to keep things competitive. The first match will be Tamara’s team against Renee’s team. Renee’s team is shrikes.”
Renee, a tall brunette who was one of Drake’s non-battle maids, hurried down to the surf line with the other maids behind her. They spread out in a loose line between the two goal poles, laughing and giggling all the while. Meanwhile, Tamara’s team of cooks got busy wrapping the cloth belts that would hold their tails when they made a break for the beach.
Each “tail” was a colorful strip of cloth that could be snatched from the cloth belt, but only from behind. Drake assumed that the shrikes could grab the tails using any method available, though he hoped people wouldn’t be full on tackling each other. Still, at least the warm yellow sand looked relatively soft.
This matchup would be seven women and one dude, which was unsurprising given the gender imbalance in his manor. However, the only dude on Tamara’s team of cooks looked nervous, which amused Drake. He had to be a bit older than Carl, eighteen or nineteen, and likely wasn’t entirely comfortable getting physical with women.
Team Cooks took up position on the beach about twenty paces from the surf, which was about the length of this narrow private beach. Any further back and the turtles would be standing on rocky scree, which wouldn’t be comfortable. Meanwhile, Team Cleaners settled down as each woman seemed to focus on the battle ahead.
“Tamara? Is your team ready?” Samuel called.
Tamara waved. “We are!”
“Renee? Is your team ready?”
“Ready to clean up!” Renee yelled cheerily. The other maids all giggled in response.
Samuel stepped out of the line between Team Cooks and Team Cleaners, which was a rectangular stretch of sandy beach leading to the two poles Korrag and Emily had staked down.
“Begin!” Samuel bellowed.
Team Cooks advanced slower than Drake expected, walking forward and spreading out instead of all charging at once. Team Cleaners spread out as well, and it was only when Tamara and her people had closed to probably ten paces that they burst into a sprint.
People yelled and laughed as three members of Team Cleaners all charged Team Cooks, seemingly at random. Despite a decent sprint and sidestep, Tamara lost her tail immediately, trapped between two members of Team Cleaners, and then Meryl went down as she tumbled over a member of Team Cleaners. That sent them both to the beach in a heap.
That left Alice, Tamara’s dark-haired assistant, as the only turtle with her tail, and she was fast. She ran right at the last Cleaner and then sidestepped at the last moment, leaving her opponent empty-handed. She barreled into the surf and whooped.
“Tamara’s team wins round one!” Samuel called. “Switch sides!”
Drake calmly replayed all he’d seen as he considered the first matchup. He already felt Team Cleaners had played too defensively, letting Team Cooks approach at their leisure and only charging out once they were almost on top of them. Moreover, he doubted they’d coordinated, since two people had gone for Tamara and no one had gone for Alice.
The chaos repeated with Team Cooks as the shrikes and Team Cleaners as the turtles. The Cleaners simply sprinted forward as soon as Samuel said go, and they were already winded from running on sand by the time they reached Tamara and her Cooks. Despite a decent attempt at slipping past, all four lost their tails before they could reach the water.
“Tamara’s team wins round two!” Samuel called. “Tamara’s team wins the match!”
Fortunately, there seemed to be no hard feelings about the lopsided match. There was plenty of laughing, hugging, and backslapping to go around, though Alice did strut as she celebrated being the only turtle to make it to the sea.
“Next match!” Samuel called. “Emily’s team against Hugo’s team! Emily’s team will be snakes!”
The groans from Hugo and his three buddies were heard across the beach. Getting matched against Team Battle Maids for their first match was pretty much a guaranteed loss. Still, the four huddled close to talk strategy as Emily did the same with Nicole. Valentia and Lydia waited as if they already knew the outcome, patient and prepared.
As Hugo and his boys strapped on the tight cloth belts that would hold their “tails”, which were long strips of colorful cloth, in preparation for their upcoming massacre, Emily sauntered down to the waterline with Nicole right behind her and Valentia and Lydia not far behind them. She snapped her fingers.
Drake’s battle maids spread out along the surf like they’d practiced this dozens of times. Emily took up position in the center of the two poles as Lydia and Nicole spread out to her left and right flanks. Valentia took up a position behind Emily, and Drake nodded to himself as he immediately recognized how they’d set up. This was like football.
Emily was essentially a defensive line on her own, with Lydia and Nicole positioned as nimble cornerbacks on each flank. Valentia was deep in the backfield as a safety in case anyone got past the three of them. While Drake doubted anyone would, she remained intimidating.
At least Hugo and his boys looked like they planned to go down swinging. Drake silently observed as they lined up in a tight huddle twenty paces from the posts, talking quietly among themselves. As they did so, Emily glanced his way and grinned hungrily.
Drake enjoyed her obvious taunt. She wanted to make sure he saw just how badly he was going to lose when they got matched up. Her competitiveness was infectious.
After Samuel confirmed readiness from both teams, he shouted “Go!”
The four members of Team Footmen advanced as Team Cooks had done, at a slow and deliberate pace. They stuck together in a tight group.
They’d barely made five steps before Emily roared and charged like an angry bull. The immediate fear she inspired threw Team Footmen’s carefully laid plan to advance into disarray. Hugo bolted quickly in one direction while two other members stumbled over each other in their haste to go the other. The last froze in shock.
Emily was fast, even over sand. She swept past Hugo and charged the two footmen who were even now disentangling themselves and stumbling back on course. Too late. Emily leapt between them and plucked their tails with a fierce howl of glee, then stopped and beckoned the last man, who’d frozen, to try to get past her.
Meanwhile, Hugo was sprinting for his life. He did his best to zigzag as he approached Lydia, who simply observed. She took two rapid steps sideways as Hugo almost lost his footing, then neatly plucked his tail from his belt just before he went down in the sand.
The last member of Team Footmen howled and charged Emily, then was shocked as she stood aside to let him pass. He halted again as he approached Lydia, Nicole, and Valentia. All three then converged on him like wolves surrounding a cornered deer.
His tail was plucked shortly after, at which point Samuel called “Emily’s team takes round one!”
When it came time for Emily’s team to be shrikes, the results weren’t any different. They charged Hugo’s team of defenders in a neat line and then crossed over each other’s paths with the fluidity of a well-organized team of sprinters. This once again befuddled Team Footmen. Each had apparently chosen a single battle maid to stop.
Hugo’s team haphazardly did its best not to stumble across each other as their designated targets switched routes. Despite that, Emily, Nicole, and Lydia all smoothly sprinted past and into the surf as Team Footmen chased their flags. Valentia was a bit slower. She got her flag snatched by two Footmen, but Drake got the impression she wasn’t even trying.
Valentia was likely saving her energy for a team that might give them a challenge, not to mention she was visibly sweating. Given her rarity made her warm even in cold environments, she must be absolutely sweltering in this gentle heat. Drake hoped she wouldn’t pass out.
“Emily’s team takes round two!” Samuel called. “This match goes to Emily’s team!”
Emily whooped loudly and pumped her first in the air, much to the visible chagrin of Lydia. Valentia showed no reaction to the win, while Nicole ran over to comfort Team Footmen... by slapping them all heartily on the backs for losing so bravely.
“Next match!” Samuel called. “Anna’s team against Korrag’s team! Korrag’s team will be snakes!”
Drake chuckled to himself as Anna fearlessly led him and Hector onto the beach, followed by a towering Cresh. As they walked, Drake glanced at her. “So what’s the plan?”
“Cresh goes straight at them,” Anna said eagerly. “Lord, you slip by to the left, and Hector, you charge along the right. I’ll go right up the middle, behind Cresh.”
“You’ve thought about this,” Drake said approvingly.
She grinned at him. “This is how we always used to win back home.”
Not long after, Samuel shouted, “Begin!”
Drake decided to go with Anna’s strategy because he had no idea what Korrag’s team of zarovians planned to do. Which, it became obvious as Cresh thundered straight toward their line, was form a lizardman fence. Each zarovian hunkered down and spread their wide arms. That left only a space big enough for a slim human between them.
It felt like a foolproof strategy. Still, Drake barreled on and even whopped to attract the attention of Korrag, who focused on him with predator intensity. He was pretty sure he knew what Anna was truly up to.
A moment later Cresh barreled into the center two zarovians in the line, driving them backward with his bulk... and slowed. Drake charged Korrag and then juked at the last moment, sweeping right past—only to be slapped in the chest by a spinning tail.
That impact drove him to the beach, which was shocking but relatively painless, and then his tail was plucked. Hector’s shout suggested the same had happened to him, and one of the two zarovians now riding Cresh finally snatched his tail.
That left Anna a perfect opportunity to dart between Cresh’s legs. She sprinted past both shocked zarovians in an unopposed dash to the sea. Her cackles of triumph as she splashed into the surf with her tail intact were absolutely adorable.
“Anna’s team takes round one!” Samuel called. “Korrag’s team is now turtles!”
Korrag offered a big hand to help him up, which Drake gladly took. As Korrag hauled him to his feet, Drake brushed off his aching chest and grinned. “That hurt.”
Korrag blinked in confusion. “That hurt?”
Drake was soon shocked to learn that Emily had managed to get eight teams—eight teams!—to sign up for her impromptu shrikes and turtles tournament, which baffled him. This was a kid’s game, wasn’t it? There was literally one kid on this beach!
The teams all looked real serious about winning, too. Team Battle Maids was, of course, the clear frontrunner—Emily, Valentia, and Nicole all looked ready to run the table, while Lydia merely looked like she was being dragged along—but as Drake scanned the other folks assembled, he wondered if their path to victory would be as easy as Emily expected.
First, there were not one, but two teams of zarovians. Drake had not expected the zarovians to show any interest in the game, and given how slow and ponderous they moved, he hadn’t expected them to have a chance. However, as he watched both lizardman teams play wrestle, one of which was led by Korrag, he realized zarovians moved much faster when warm.
His JV team was also represented, of course, with Darion having joined Robin, Gaby, and Carl to make a full team of rookies. Robin appeared to be one of the only women on the beach immune to Darion’s charms. While Gaby was chatting with Darion constantly (and blushing all the while) Robin was all too obviously sizing up her competitors with the intensity of an assassin planning to ambush her mark.
Drake would need to watch that one.
Meryl, Tamara, Alice, and one male cook he didn’t know had also formed “Team Cooks” (or that was what he was going to call it), while Hugo (the thrall with the keen ability to tell time) had formed another team with Rodger the footman and two others who Drake didn’t yet know by name. All looked young and athletic, however, so he shouldn’t count them out.
Drake decided to call them Team Footmen.
A group of his scullery maids (the ones who handled actual cleaning in his kitchen and chambers, not battle) had formed another team of four, though from the way they were all laughing and giggling, Drake suspected they might be the only team who’d signed up for the fun of it. They were Team Cleaners, though not aloud, of course.
Finally, there was Team Anna, led by the tiny but indomitable blond dynamo. And, of course, the only team featuring a twelve-foot-tall lizardman. How was it even fair for Cresh to play this game? He could trample anyone who got in his way.
“Say, Anna.”
“Yes, lord?”
“Do we have a team name?”
“Oh, yes!” Anna grinned up at him. “I told Emily our team is named Team Stomp.”
Drake chuckled. “Good call.”
Once the teams were all gathered, a stoic-looking Samuel walked out to the beach. It seemed he was going to be today’s referee. Drake strongly suspected Samuel didn’t approve of this activity, and the old man also knew stopping it would result in a riot. He cleared his throat and waved a hand for silence.
“The matchups have been chosen by random lot to keep things competitive. The first match will be Tamara’s team against Renee’s team. Renee’s team is shrikes.”
Renee, a tall brunette who was one of Drake’s non-battle maids, hurried down to the surf line with the other maids behind her. They spread out in a loose line between the two goal poles, laughing and giggling all the while. Meanwhile, Tamara’s team of cooks got busy wrapping the cloth belts that would hold their tails when they made a break for the beach.
Each “tail” was a colorful strip of cloth that could be snatched from the cloth belt, but only from behind. Drake assumed that the shrikes could grab the tails using any method available, though he hoped people wouldn’t be full on tackling each other. Still, at least the warm yellow sand looked relatively soft.
This matchup would be seven women and one dude, which was unsurprising given the gender imbalance in his manor. However, the only dude on Tamara’s team of cooks looked nervous, which amused Drake. He had to be a bit older than Carl, eighteen or nineteen, and likely wasn’t entirely comfortable getting physical with women.
Team Cooks took up position on the beach about twenty paces from the surf, which was about the length of this narrow private beach. Any further back and the turtles would be standing on rocky scree, which wouldn’t be comfortable. Meanwhile, Team Cleaners settled down as each woman seemed to focus on the battle ahead.
“Tamara? Is your team ready?” Samuel called.
Tamara waved. “We are!”
“Renee? Is your team ready?”
“Ready to clean up!” Renee yelled cheerily. The other maids all giggled in response.
Samuel stepped out of the line between Team Cooks and Team Cleaners, which was a rectangular stretch of sandy beach leading to the two poles Korrag and Emily had staked down.
“Begin!” Samuel bellowed.
Team Cooks advanced slower than Drake expected, walking forward and spreading out instead of all charging at once. Team Cleaners spread out as well, and it was only when Tamara and her people had closed to probably ten paces that they burst into a sprint.
People yelled and laughed as three members of Team Cleaners all charged Team Cooks, seemingly at random. Despite a decent sprint and sidestep, Tamara lost her tail immediately, trapped between two members of Team Cleaners, and then Meryl went down as she tumbled over a member of Team Cleaners. That sent them both to the beach in a heap.
That left Alice, Tamara’s dark-haired assistant, as the only turtle with her tail, and she was fast. She ran right at the last Cleaner and then sidestepped at the last moment, leaving her opponent empty-handed. She barreled into the surf and whooped.
“Tamara’s team wins round one!” Samuel called. “Switch sides!”
Drake calmly replayed all he’d seen as he considered the first matchup. He already felt Team Cleaners had played too defensively, letting Team Cooks approach at their leisure and only charging out once they were almost on top of them. Moreover, he doubted they’d coordinated, since two people had gone for Tamara and no one had gone for Alice.
The chaos repeated with Team Cooks as the shrikes and Team Cleaners as the turtles. The Cleaners simply sprinted forward as soon as Samuel said go, and they were already winded from running on sand by the time they reached Tamara and her Cooks. Despite a decent attempt at slipping past, all four lost their tails before they could reach the water.
“Tamara’s team wins round two!” Samuel called. “Tamara’s team wins the match!”
Fortunately, there seemed to be no hard feelings about the lopsided match. There was plenty of laughing, hugging, and backslapping to go around, though Alice did strut as she celebrated being the only turtle to make it to the sea.
“Next match!” Samuel called. “Emily’s team against Hugo’s team! Emily’s team will be snakes!”
The groans from Hugo and his three buddies were heard across the beach. Getting matched against Team Battle Maids for their first match was pretty much a guaranteed loss. Still, the four huddled close to talk strategy as Emily did the same with Nicole. Valentia and Lydia waited as if they already knew the outcome, patient and prepared.
As Hugo and his boys strapped on the tight cloth belts that would hold their “tails”, which were long strips of colorful cloth, in preparation for their upcoming massacre, Emily sauntered down to the waterline with Nicole right behind her and Valentia and Lydia not far behind them. She snapped her fingers.
Drake’s battle maids spread out along the surf like they’d practiced this dozens of times. Emily took up position in the center of the two poles as Lydia and Nicole spread out to her left and right flanks. Valentia took up a position behind Emily, and Drake nodded to himself as he immediately recognized how they’d set up. This was like football.
Emily was essentially a defensive line on her own, with Lydia and Nicole positioned as nimble cornerbacks on each flank. Valentia was deep in the backfield as a safety in case anyone got past the three of them. While Drake doubted anyone would, she remained intimidating.
At least Hugo and his boys looked like they planned to go down swinging. Drake silently observed as they lined up in a tight huddle twenty paces from the posts, talking quietly among themselves. As they did so, Emily glanced his way and grinned hungrily.
Drake enjoyed her obvious taunt. She wanted to make sure he saw just how badly he was going to lose when they got matched up. Her competitiveness was infectious.
After Samuel confirmed readiness from both teams, he shouted “Go!”
The four members of Team Footmen advanced as Team Cooks had done, at a slow and deliberate pace. They stuck together in a tight group.
They’d barely made five steps before Emily roared and charged like an angry bull. The immediate fear she inspired threw Team Footmen’s carefully laid plan to advance into disarray. Hugo bolted quickly in one direction while two other members stumbled over each other in their haste to go the other. The last froze in shock.
Emily was fast, even over sand. She swept past Hugo and charged the two footmen who were even now disentangling themselves and stumbling back on course. Too late. Emily leapt between them and plucked their tails with a fierce howl of glee, then stopped and beckoned the last man, who’d frozen, to try to get past her.
Meanwhile, Hugo was sprinting for his life. He did his best to zigzag as he approached Lydia, who simply observed. She took two rapid steps sideways as Hugo almost lost his footing, then neatly plucked his tail from his belt just before he went down in the sand.
The last member of Team Footmen howled and charged Emily, then was shocked as she stood aside to let him pass. He halted again as he approached Lydia, Nicole, and Valentia. All three then converged on him like wolves surrounding a cornered deer.
His tail was plucked shortly after, at which point Samuel called “Emily’s team takes round one!”
When it came time for Emily’s team to be shrikes, the results weren’t any different. They charged Hugo’s team of defenders in a neat line and then crossed over each other’s paths with the fluidity of a well-organized team of sprinters. This once again befuddled Team Footmen. Each had apparently chosen a single battle maid to stop.
Hugo’s team haphazardly did its best not to stumble across each other as their designated targets switched routes. Despite that, Emily, Nicole, and Lydia all smoothly sprinted past and into the surf as Team Footmen chased their flags. Valentia was a bit slower. She got her flag snatched by two Footmen, but Drake got the impression she wasn’t even trying.
Valentia was likely saving her energy for a team that might give them a challenge, not to mention she was visibly sweating. Given her rarity made her warm even in cold environments, she must be absolutely sweltering in this gentle heat. Drake hoped she wouldn’t pass out.
“Emily’s team takes round two!” Samuel called. “This match goes to Emily’s team!”
Emily whooped loudly and pumped her first in the air, much to the visible chagrin of Lydia. Valentia showed no reaction to the win, while Nicole ran over to comfort Team Footmen... by slapping them all heartily on the backs for losing so bravely.
“Next match!” Samuel called. “Anna’s team against Korrag’s team! Korrag’s team will be snakes!”
Drake chuckled to himself as Anna fearlessly led him and Hector onto the beach, followed by a towering Cresh. As they walked, Drake glanced at her. “So what’s the plan?”
“Cresh goes straight at them,” Anna said eagerly. “Lord, you slip by to the left, and Hector, you charge along the right. I’ll go right up the middle, behind Cresh.”
“You’ve thought about this,” Drake said approvingly.
She grinned at him. “This is how we always used to win back home.”
Not long after, Samuel shouted, “Begin!”
Drake decided to go with Anna’s strategy because he had no idea what Korrag’s team of zarovians planned to do. Which, it became obvious as Cresh thundered straight toward their line, was form a lizardman fence. Each zarovian hunkered down and spread their wide arms. That left only a space big enough for a slim human between them.
It felt like a foolproof strategy. Still, Drake barreled on and even whopped to attract the attention of Korrag, who focused on him with predator intensity. He was pretty sure he knew what Anna was truly up to.
A moment later Cresh barreled into the center two zarovians in the line, driving them backward with his bulk... and slowed. Drake charged Korrag and then juked at the last moment, sweeping right past—only to be slapped in the chest by a spinning tail.
That impact drove him to the beach, which was shocking but relatively painless, and then his tail was plucked. Hector’s shout suggested the same had happened to him, and one of the two zarovians now riding Cresh finally snatched his tail.
That left Anna a perfect opportunity to dart between Cresh’s legs. She sprinted past both shocked zarovians in an unopposed dash to the sea. Her cackles of triumph as she splashed into the surf with her tail intact were absolutely adorable.
“Anna’s team takes round one!” Samuel called. “Korrag’s team is now turtles!”
Korrag offered a big hand to help him up, which Drake gladly took. As Korrag hauled him to his feet, Drake brushed off his aching chest and grinned. “That hurt.”
Korrag blinked in confusion. “That hurt?”
