341. The Grand Finale

Neter stood at the courtyard entrance, now in possession of the Sword of Lightning, hopes rising as the bleachers cleared out. He assessed the audience left watching the show, more than half the aribu had joined the exodus, deciding to brave the risky gamble on Hellias, it had been an epic success, thanks in part to the Dog Show. His heart ached for Mel, it was more than he could bear to watch her face the fearful beasts. He wondered how he could free her and while studying the scene, noticed something about the dogons. They hadn't touched her, they were simply toying with her, why was that? Having experienced their aggression first hand he knew how serious they were, they hadn't shown him such restraint, he had barely made it out alive, even with the sword that day. He studied the creatures more carefully as they stalked her life, that they were oblivious to any other life in the Grand Courtyard was curious too! They showed every sign that they intended to devour her, so from where came the restraint?
         Wafts of fuel fought for his attention, he glanced towards the wall once again, there were hazards stacking up everywhere. Even with nerves of steel, he was having to fight off fear inside, this time they had been a step ahead of King Atalon, but had they prepared well enough?

         Screeches and yelps erupted sharply as a third dogon squeezed through the bars and bounded towards the meal. With almost choreographed precision the dogon found his way into the circling pack and followed their lead, drooling with desire and eager anticipation of his reward.

         "HA-HAAAA!" Atalon shrieked, wound up with the energy, high from the fear and loathing emanating from the grounds below, in spite of the exodus taking place.

         "PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP ME!" Mel begged with endless persistence as the aribu ran for the gate.

         Neter couldn't let her suffer anymore but he didn’t know what to do. He had to wait until everyone who wanted to leave, had left before he could try to save her… When suddenly a glint of sunlight reflected upon something shiny in Malodon's mouth as he waved his hands around and it wasn’t gold teeth…
         He narrowed his focus in attempt to make out what it was, it was only periodically sticking out of his mouth… There it was again! Was it a whistle?

         As he studied the show's choreography in this new light, it made complete sense… Malodon was able to control them with a dog whistle…

         In utter amazement he watched the dogons perform like a dance team to Malodon's gestures, crouching to the ground and prowling to the beat, keeping their distance from the vanilla treat with uncanny obedience, whimpering in agony no doubt from the psychological torture of forbidden flesh being dangled before them…

         Was Malodon really controlling them with a whistle? He couldn't believe it could be so simple, yet again and again it seemed to be true! He cocked his ear and closed his eyes... Now that he was conscious of it, he could hear it, too! Malodon was using a very low frequency whistle! Frequency whistling was something he had mastered once before during his Panther days, but those days had been largely forgotten, there had been no use for it.

         He rolled his tongue, pursed his lips and blew hard. Nothing happened. He tried again, moving his lips around and training his breath to lower the frequency. Suddenly the dogs froze in their tracks, confused, they spun around! One of them spotted him, he dropped down and growling fiercely, began to stalk towards him with terrifying intent in his eyes.

         Neter whistled again, but now the other dogons spotted him and followed in tow, low on their hunches, their beady eyes now fixed on the god of Death himself.

         Atalon stopped clapping and stared in horror.

         "What is that lunatic doing now? Mighty Medel I hope they DESTROY him!"

         Unprepared for the intermission, Malodon's heart skipped a beat as he realized what Neter was doing, he had figured out the gag and was making the dogons stray from his command! He watched with growing unease as the dogons moved towards the god of Death when suddenly the fourth dogon leapt from his cage.

         "Shall I call them back?"

         "NO!" Atalon exploded. "Didn't you JUST HEAR what I JUST SAID?"

         So long as he could keep the sword sparking, Neter could keep the dogons at bay. He paced back and forth, keeping eye contact with them, testing his whistles and figuring out some commands. From the corner of his eye he could see the bleachers emptying out, more and more aribu were making their minds up to leave and were almost all safely out of the gate.

         "PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP ME!" Mel begged with endless persistence as the aribu ran for the gate.

         Could he save one more soul? Neter whistled again, adding a vibrato and suddenly the dogons stood still, heads cocked, tongues hanging out, one even sat down.

         Atalon was horrified. "LOOK!"

         The dogons stood still as Neter began the brave walk towards Mel, pinned to the center of the show. The drummers stopped, unsure whether they were supposed to make something up; it was safer to stop. Malodon too stood still, unsure of what to do himself.

         The god of Death, now leader of the dogons only scared Mel even more. Once again she began to scream for mercy as he approached her with his sparking sword in hand, now she was realizing this why he was here... He was part of the Sacrificial Ceremony!

         "NO-O-O-O-O-O-O!" She screamed as he drew near.

         "Don't be afraid, I’m not going to hurt you, I'm going to let you go" his words were a shocking contradiction to what she believed. For a moment she also stood still from shock.

         "You need to trust me."

         Mel closed her eyes as he drew near, bracing herself for the worst...

         Neter examined her harness to see how it could be undone, but just then the fifth dogon erupted from its cage, barking wildly it bounded towards the delicious feast unabated, triggering the competition again, suddenly the dogons were making a B-line towards them, teeth gnashing, barking wild.

         But then again, just like the last time, when Neter whistled they dropped down in obedience, almost completely transforming into a docile pets.

         "Serpent Sorcery it most certainly is!" Hedena hissed. "Why aren't they savaging him?"

         "It's the sword" Medena reminded. "Malodon may have tapped into their Serpent Sorcery but he doesn't know how to use it properly. What a FOOL!"

         Enraged, Atalon snatched the whistle out of Malodon's mouth and blew it hard. In a split second, the dogons transformed back to their old selves and pounced on Neter, bringing him crashing to the ground, the sword lost from his grasp. In a cloud of bloody dust the sharp claws tore into his flesh as he was tossed around on the ground like a stuffed doll, in a moment of brilliant light he could feel the Phoenix flap it's powerful wings inside. He fought back harder than ever, summoning all his power he curled his lips and blew as hard as he could amidst the stabs of tearing pain ripping into his flesh.

         Once again, the dogons backed off, whimpering. But the scent of his blood on their lips made them mad, they turned on each other and within moments a wild cacophony of barks and yelps erupted from the courtyard walls as they tore into each other's flesh.

         Neter rolled over and grabbed the sword, staggered back onto his feet and with all his might, lifted the weapon into the air, spun it around and in an array of brilliant sparks, slashed through one of the six golden chains that bound Mel to the sacrificial stage.

         BANG! BANG! BANG! One by one he blasted through the chains, sparks flying high around the terrified goddess, screaming, hands clamped over her eyes in absolute terror as he freed her from her imminent death.

         "RUN!" He hollered as the last chain dropped to the dust.

         A stray spark, caught in the wind landed on the wall, igniting the fuel. Suddenly with a loud crack, flames ripped along the perimeter of the courtyard, leaping into the sky in an explosive display as Mel raced for the gate. What was left of the courtyard presentation now collapsed in mayhem, the aribu that had remained loyal were panicking, the dogons still fighting each other were now out of control.

         "DAMN HIM!" Atalon stomped his foot as the walls exploded into flames. He pushed Malodon aside and took the podium once more.

         "IT IS WITH GREAT PLEASURE" he king bellowed to an empty set of bleachers, drowned out by the commotion, "THAT I PRESENT YOU WITH THE GRAND FINALE! ALLOW ME TO PRESENT TO YOU, THE RING OF FIRE!"

         But it was too late, the show was already over, few saw or heard the announcement through the billowing smoke and terrified mayhem below.