Sinbad: Rogue of Mars. John Garavaglia

around in rapid combat. If it became taut around an obstacle Sinbad wouldn’t have enough time or the flexibility to launch a counterstrike. He would need to consider every possible scenario on how this fight was going play out.

      Ever since he was brought into the zhar’s gladiator games, Sinbad was fighting for his own life. But this time he would fight for the sake of another.

      “Do not go, Sinbad,” said one of the blue men in the dark. “You will surely perish.”

      “I have no choice, Azrak,” Sinbad replied, donning his turban. “Has the emperor not declared that if I refuse, he will have us all killed? As long as I fight, Akhdar has given his word that he will let you go, whether I am victorious or not.” The Earthman took a breath and adjusted his turban for his medallion to sit still on the top of his head. “I already have the blood of your family on my hands,” he continued, with sorrow in his voice. “I will not add yours to that, Azrak.”

      Azrak stood up from his spot on the ground and proceeded to his friend. Hoping he could talk some sense into him.

      “Sinbad, that was—”

      “Quiet, friend,” interrupted another inmate. He was much older and the weakest prisoner in the whole cellblock. He placed his hand on Azrak’s shoulder and pulled him away from Sinbad. “He has made his decision.”

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      Azrak brushed the elder away; not caring for the way Sinbad has been acting. Azrak thought to himself how his otherworldly comrade can remain so calm and display such bravado. In addition how gullible he could be.

      “Akhdar will kill us no matter what you do,” Azrak sternly said to Sinbad. A worried look ran across his blue angular face. “His word is useless! Don’t be foolish!”

      Deep inside Sinbad’s soul he knew his most trusted friend was right. There was no time to devise an alternative solution. Sinbad hoped this fight would buy his friend more time—time that was running out.

      “The virtue of deeds lies in completing them, my friend,” he said to Azrak, as he got up to his two feet. “I will keep my word, atone for your family’s tragedy, and you shall live.”

      Azrak and his family showed Sinbad kindness when the mighty sailor came to this strange world. And for that kindness, all but Azrak was viciously murdered in cold blood on Zhar Akhdar’s orders. On this day Sinbad still does not know why.

      The loud click from the cell’s lock filled the dungeon. Sinbad wasn’t affected by the sound that filled the prisoners’ hearts with fear. He stood ready, knowing his time has come. The guards, two burly green men, entered the grimy dark cell. They wore heavy plated armor, which covered most of their battle scars. One of them leered at Sinbad hardheartedly.

      “Come, outlander,” ordered the guard. “Your end is nigh. You must not keep the zhar and his guests waiting.”

      Before Sinbad could submit to his captors’ demands Azrak held him back.

      “Let me go with you. Two will fare better than one.”

      “No,” Sinbad contested, “I must go this alone.”

      The other guard gave Sinbad a scornful smirk followed by a taunting chuckle. “Are you ready to die, outlander?”

      Sinbad didn’t dignify that with a response. His focus was completely set towards the arena. He clenched his fists and simply replied, “If Allah wills.”

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      The trek to the coliseum was a long journey. The two heavily armed guards forced Sinbad to march ahead through the gulag’s stone doorway. The passage was clearly the way into the prison. The way out was very different indeed, as a number of ill-fated captives learned by watching their fellow inmates fall in combat and succumb to disease and malnutrition.

      Sinbad was greeted by the venomous harangues of jeering and catcalls from a gallery of murderers, marauders, and disgraced soldiers. Even the other guards didn’t show the Earthman any respect at all. Sinbad didn’t pay any attention to their coercions. He knew they were all trying to scare him. But they weren’t trying hard enough. The sailor has seen almost everything in his world. From nature’s wonders to the supernatural, there was nothing else that could frighten him. However, he was on another planet and he was the only human in this world. This made him the minority and an outsider to every society on Mars.

      The equipped guards nudged Sinbad further with the tips of their sharp spears.

      “Advance, outlander!” threatened the one on the right. “You do not have time to lavish in the company of your friends.”

      “What friends?” asked the other guard, as they both laughed cruelly.

      When Sinbad proceeded down the passage he kept his eyes straight to the giant double doors that separated the prison and the arena. He blocked out the cruel hecklings, obscene gestures, and the rotted fruit and stones he was pelted with by the prisoners in neighboring cells. He would not give these vipers the satisfaction of retaliation or yield to their bullying. Even though more than half of the general population wanted to lynch him, they all knew Zhar Akhdar had something worse planned for the otherworldly stranger.

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      Sinbad made it all the way to the gateway of the arena. His escorts tended to each door and opened them to reveal Zhar Akhdar’s coliseum. Without hesitation or being forced onward by his oppressors, Sinbad walked into the battleground.

      The arena was impressive and filled with grandeur. However, no matter how magnificent it was for the dignitaries and spectators it was also terrifying. The entire structure was formed all over the caves. The viewing terraces resembled honeycombs in a buzzing beehive. The ground floor was surrounded by numerous doors and gates with at least two guards stationed in front of each and every one. Sinbad and the rest of the gladiators knew what was at the other side. Only a lucky few had survived to tell the horrifying tales of what savage beasts that been collected all over the planet. Only to be summoned again to encounter another bizarre monster again to gratify Akhdar’s bloodlust.

      Like a merciless child, Zhar Akhdar, treated his prisoners like insects trapped in a bell jar. Watching sadistically how long they could survive without any air. And how he relished pulling the wings off them in order to prolong their suffering.

      Sinbad lifted his head to the royal balcony to see Zhar Akhdar accompanied by his lovely sister Aella, several alien notables, robed courtiers, advisers, and bodyguards stood in attendance. Akhdar was tall and slender with light green skin. He wore the traditional attire of his regal family, including many valuable golden rings adorned on his thin claw-like fingers. They were drinking wine and eating very rich delicacies native to the Thulian culture. Towering marble columns supported the high ceiling. Carved Martian hieroglyphs embellished the decorative cornice running along the tops of the walls.

      Akhdar enjoyed being the center of attention. He just couldn’t get enough of it. In all the evil he has done, his

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      greatest sin would have to be vanity, followed by greed and pride.

      His sister Aella wasn’t as conceited. Her greed wasn’t as equivalent because she had everything her heart desired. But all except for one: companionship. Aella’s beauty was unlike all the other females in the kingdom. Many suitors were drawn by her loveliness and would give anything to run their fingers through her long, red luscious hair. Only to be rejected by her triviality. Aella didn’t find politicians appealing with their big round bellies, their arrogant behavior, and of course the pungent stench of wine and smoke that stained their clothes and breath.

      Akhdar found his sister’s insincerities a thorn to his side. He continually evoked her to stop being such a child and finally consider marriage. Especially to a prince from a neighboring realm, so Akhdar would forge an alliance