by Philip Blood
"Sar, you wouldn't happen to be selling tickets to the show?” he inquired.
"Go away child, I don't have time for games."
"I have money, Sar, given to me by my Grandmother on her deathbed. She requested that I have the money she had saved over the years so that I might have a better life than she did."
The man's eyebrow rose slightly, "And how much would that be?"
"Four pennies!" Dono said as if it was a Prince's ransom.
"Four pennies, faugh, that isn't enough to buy you one ticket, let alone two... be on your way!"
"But, Sar, I have also worked for the past two years at the mill carrying bags and saved up my own money to add to that! All-in-all I have seven pennies!"
"I'm sorry, child, but that would barely buy you one ticket at face value, which is far less than I can get for these two seats to the finals," he said, showing the tickets in his hand.
Dono started to cry and sat down in front of the man on the cobblestones. He held out his hand and let the tears fall on the coins.
"Stop that!” the man said in consternation; people were starting to stare.
"Please, Sar, please, the show has already started," Dono wailed, getting louder.
The man started to move away but Dono held onto his pant leg.
"Oh fine," the man finally blurted, realizing that it was futile, the boy was driving away his customers and any chance to sell the tickets to an event that had already started, so he said, "I'll sell you a ticket!"
"But my poor brother needs to go in as well!" Dono added.
"WHAT, for seven pennies!"
"He has his own money, but only six pennies."
"Gedin take me for a fool! Fine, here you are, now let go of me!"
The man stormed off leaving Dono with the two tickets.
Dono promptly got up and smiled at Aerin.
"Now we're getting somewhere!” the red-headed rascal chortled.
"But you paid him my whole half-crown, and I owe you a penny!" Aerin exclaimed.
Dono winked, "I'm not done yet."
He soon located another ticket seller and just when the man was about to close a sale, Dono stepped up and sold the two better tickets for a crown each, undercutting the man's price. The two boys had to skip away fast before the angry seller could grab them. Then it was simple for Dono to ply another sad story on another unsuspecting ticket seller, buying two more tickets. Thirty minutes after he started Dono handed Aerin back his half-crown and a ticket.
"Now let's go see Temmen!" Dono exclaimed.
Aerin shook his head in disbelief, "Dono, somewhere out there is an acting troop missing their star performer."
Dono bowed, "It's a gift," he said with a wink.
The two excited boys handed their tickets over at one of the entry gates and headed inside the building. Dono sprung for some pretzels for them to munch on during the proceedings. As they walked down the tunnel toward the square of sunlight that marked the inside of the Arena, a mighty roar went up that nearly shook the ground. Aerin stopped fearfully.
Dono stopped as well and asked him, "What's wrong?"
"What was that?" Aerin asked.
"Oh, that was the crowd! Can't you feel the excitement? They must have seen a good bout. I hope it wasn't Temmen! Come on, let's hurry and get in there, I think they already started the semi-final rounds."
As they came out into the sunlight, Aerin saw more people visible in the seats than he thought existed in the entire world. A wave of euphoria, unlike anything he had felt before, swept up Aerin's emotions like a tidal wave.
"Wow," he exclaimed while just standing and staring.
Dono took him by the elbow, "Come on, country bumpkin, our seats are this way."
They sat on the stone shelf that was like a giant step and looked down into the arena. Aerin was still speechless.
Dono leaned forward to a man in front of them, "Sar, could you be so kind as to tell me what everyone was cheering about a few minutes ago?"
The man turned and looked the boy over for a moment, and then answered, "It was the challenger; he won his semi-final and will go up for the championship; can you believe it?"
Dono shook his head in agreement of his disbelief and the man turned back around.
"Well," Dono said to Aerin, "no wonder they were cheering. I wish we had seen that, I don't think I've ever heard of an unranked amateur challenger ever reaching the semi-final round, let alone winning! He must be something."
"Why is it so amazing? What is so special about the gladiators?" Aerin asked.
"Are you daft? They have been training at nothing but fighting all their lives. They start them right out of the cradle, and word even has it that they give their babies daggers instead of toys."
"Oh," Aerin said.
"Think about it, we've been training a couple years now, and we're pretty good. Imagine how good you would be if you had trained every day since you were four or five years old! This challenger must be incredible, he has had to win seven bouts to get to the final round; and after the first or second they would have all been gladiators. But he hasn't beaten Temmen, he can't do that," Dono said with a smile.
Callers stood on the sand around the arena and repeated the announcement for the second semi-final bout.
"There's Temmen, and he's going to be fighting Barem! Good, this should be a great fight. Barem has chosen to use the chain and that lets Temmen pick the pike or net and dagger. Looks like he took the net and dagger; that is an interesting choice against the chain," Dono noted.
The two combatants circled and sized up each other for a short time while the crowd cheered on their favorite. After a few tentative swings with one end of the chain, Barem swung hard and low, going to one knee to do it. He tried to get it snap around and wrap up Temmen's knees.
Temmen leaped over the flying chain and slung his net at the kneeling Barem, but he managed to roll out from under the net and both men faced each other again. Temmen reeled in his net swiftly and had it ready in seconds.
"That was just the opening move; it won't be over that fast!" Dono narrated.
"What ends the bout?"
"Well if either man is incapacitated, or draws blood sufficient to call a challenge to the judges, it could end there. Or, either man may call his surrender by holding up a hand with fingers spread wide."
"Does it end that way often?" Aerin inquired.
Dono shrugged, "Yes, once you are caught there is no sense making it go to blood or bones, as it is called. Gladiators don't like to get damaged if they can help it. This is a sport about the skill of fighting, not a blood bath."
A man down and to the right of them took that moment to stand up and scream for Temmen to take off Barem's head.
Dono glanced at Aerin and shrugged, "At least that is the way the gladiators see it, people come for different reasons."
Aerin remembered the young boy who had knocked him to the street; he withheld the final blow and just held his staff at Aerin's throat. It made sense now that he understood the gladiator's way.
The two boys saw far more in the bout than most of the spectators. Their hours of training in the arts of fighting allowed them to see the nuances of the battle that escaped the average merchant or worker.
Eventually, Temmen managed to wrap Barem up in the net and place the flat of the dagger against his opponent's upper chest. Barem immediately raised his left hand, fingers spread, and a horn sounded calling an end to the match. Temmen was the winner and would face the challenger. The crowd was on its feet and Aerin and Dono were with them, cheering for all they were worth.
Barem and Temmen shook wrists in the swordsman's fashion and the crowd cheered them both. Then Barem waved and left through one of the doors. Temmen moved over until he stood in front of the judge's booth to wait and meet his challenger.
One row above the judges a boy stood up from his large chair, four Guardsmen flanked him on either side.
“Hey!” Dono exclaimed, “That’s Gandarel!
This is the ‘official business’ he had to attend to! What a little bastard,” Dono added, but it was delivered fondly.
At that moment, the now famous challenger that had made it to the final round came out of the doors directly below where Aerin and Dono were seated. The crowd surged to their feet, some cheering for Temmen and many cheering for the underdog hero.
With everyone standing and yelling, Aerin and Dono couldn't get a look at the man. He went and stood next to Temmen and the two combatants faced the judges.
The crowd finally started to settle down and both men turned to face the rest of the Arena. The challenger was a huge man who wore a cloak pulled over his head, but as he turned to the crowd he lifted his head and the hood fell back as he raised his arms. For the first time since he entered the competition, the challenger had removed his leather wrist guards so that his forearms were bare. The golden chains marks of a NexLord were visible for everyone to see. The crowd erupted into a new almost unbearable level of noise, but Aerin didn't even hear them. His legs weak and his eyes unseeing, Aerin sat down on the stone seat. He had finally gotten a clear look at the challenger. The man bearing the marks of a NexLord was the man who led the attack that killed Aerin's parents.
After a time, the two finalists each exited the arena floor into a separate preparing chamber. Their battle was scheduled to start in thirty minutes. Dono finally noticed the blank stare on Aerin's face.
"What's wrong with you?" Dono asked, puzzled.
Aerin's eyes were turned inward as that horrible day when the Togroth's attacked his family's wagon replayed in his mind.
"Aerin, what's wrong with you? Was it the crowd? They are just excited about the match, a NexLord against Temmen! It will be epic, and we're here to see it!"
Aerin rubbed his eyes and forehead, trying to ease a sudden headache. "Didn't you recognize him, Dono?” he finally asked his friend.
"Who, Temmen? Of course, I've seen his likeness on posters."
"No, the challenger; you saw him once in the street near the church of Mummand. We followed him, but lost track of him soon after."
Dono looked back into the arena as if looking would bring the man back out onto the hot sand. "You mean he is the man who murdered your parents?"
"Yes, there is no doubt; I saw his face and the marks of a NexLord on his wrists that day."
Dono was puzzled, "But a NexLord?"
"Mara told me he is a fake," Aerin explained.
"Oh, I guess that could explain it, but, Aerin, if he beat seven gladiators in one-on-one combat, he probably is a NexLord, otherwise it is impossible! It really explains everything."
"I don't know, but I'm not going to sit here and just watch! Do you know how to get down to where they went?"
Dono looked confused for a moment, "You mean where he and Temmen went to prepare for the battle?"
"Yes."
"Well, sort of... I haven't really been in the pits before, but I know where you go to get down there. They won't let us get far, of course. You have to have a special pass to get all the way down."
"Can't you get me in there?"
"Hmmm, maybe, but you don't want to miss this fight… and you don't need to worry, Temmen will take him apart! He's the top gladiator in the land," Dono reminded Aerin.
"I want to get down there… come on!" Aerin said while standing and working his way toward the tunnel leading back into the interior of the Arena building.
Dono sighed heavily and followed Aerin.
When they exited the tunnel into the large chamber that circled around inside the ground level section of the Arena, Dono took the lead and headed them toward an opening to a tunnel that descended to the lower levels. Two Arena guards stood at the opening to keep unauthorized patrons from entering.
Dono stopped Aerin behind a large support column to keep them out of the guard's sight. “Those two guards are going to be a problem. Be ready to make a dash when I do, OK?”
Aerin nodded.
Dono hyperventilated for a moment to get his face red and his breath short and then hobbled over on his sprained ankle toward the guards. Aerin followed though he didn’t think there was any chance that they would make it past the vigilant sentries. He barely managed to stop when Dono put on the breaks in front of the two guards who had stepped before the opening at the boy’s approach.
Dono gasped out his words between breaths, “There… is… a… man… assaulting a… lady in that hallway!” he gasped out and pointed with a stiff arm back in the direction from which they had come.
Not knowing what else to do, Aerin pointed in the same direction.
The two guards gaped for a moment, but didn’t do anything, so Dono added, “Hurry, from her dress I think she's a merchant Lord's wife!”
The one on the left said, “You go, I’ll stay here.”
Dono quickly added, “Take a weapon, this guy is HUGE!”
The man paused and then spoke to his waiting partner, “Come on, back me up! You boys go to that office door right down that hallway and get help over here!”
The two men ran toward the opening fifty yards away that led into the hall going to the Arena.
As soon as the men were ten yards away and running, Dono grabbed Aerin’s shoulder and pushed him toward the tunnel opening. “Quick, down we go; they won’t be fooled for long.”
The two boys headed down the sloping ramp, Dono hobbling along on his bad ankle, though he could move pretty fast when he need to, in a kind of skip. The ramp led deeper into the Arena.
At the bottom of the ramp, they entered a room that had three halls leading away.
“Which one?” Aerin asked.
Dono shrugged, “I don’t know, but pick one quickly; I think I hear footsteps coming down behind us, and that isn’t good.”
Aerin tried to remember which relative direction would lead him toward where his enemy had exited the Arena. He chose the left hallway and Dono followed.
They headed down the passage and entered another room. This one had gladiators in various states of undress, some had attendants bandaging wounds and others stood in groups. Aerin saw one talking about his last battle and showing the others the move he had made.
The two boys came to a halt in the center, and though a few of the gladiators glanced their way, no one seemed to care.
Behind them, they heard a man’s voice yelling from down the hallway, “Hold it right there, you miscreants!”
“Time to go!” Dono exclaimed and headed across the room toward another hallway entrance.
But as they tried to go past some of the men a large gladiator grabbed the two boys by the back of their collars and picked them up off the floor. “Perhaps you should wait and see what the man has to say,” he noted.
“Put me DOWN,” Dono exclaimed, “I hope you know you are obstructing a personal acquaintance of Temmen!”
“Temmen, hmmm, has anyone noted Temmen fraternizing with street rats recently? I thought not,” he said at the silent answer to his question.
“I’m not lying, ask Katek!” Dono said desperately, dredging up the name Aerin had mentioned the day before.
One of the two guards that Dono had sent on the wild goose chase arrived.
“I’ll take these boys now… and thanks. Sorry they got by to disturbed you,” the red-faced guard said.
“Hold on, I know how a street rat could know Temmen’s name, but Katek is another matter. Perhaps we better check this out,” the gladiator noted.
The guard shrugged. “I really doubt that these boys are more than adventuresome idiots, bent on meeting their hero, but all right, I can wait.”
The gladiator finally dropped Dono and Aerin to their feet and then stalked down a hallway. After a brief moment of silent embarrassment between the guard and boys, the gladiator returned with Katek in tow.
“No,” the young gladiator was saying, “I didn’t invite any locals down.”
“Well then, perhaps the guard is right then,” the other gladiator stated.
>
Then Katek got a good look at Aerin. “Well, if it isn’t the staff wielding city boy.”
Aerin nearly bristled from Katek’s arrogant speech, especially since he figured that Katek was about his age. But his reasons for coming down were too important, so he swallowed his pride.
“Yes, and I’m sorry we had to use your name, but I have to see Temmen’s challenger!”
“So you do know these boys?” the guard inquired.
“Yes, I’ll take responsibility,” Katek stated.
The guard looked troubled, but he didn’t want to argue with a gladiator, not even one in training.
“As you wish,” he noted, and then headed back up the tunnel.
“Come,” said Katek, “I must return, Temmen is about to enter the sands.”
Aerin hesitated, but Dono poked him, “It’s nearly time for the bout, you’ll never get to the other side of the Arena before it begins.”
Aerin nodded and followed Katek.
When they reached the doorway in the hall Katek requested that they wait, he had to attend Temmen. He assured them that he would call them in and let them watch the bout once Temmen had entered the Arena.
In the hallway, Dono was beside himself with excitement. “Isn’t this grand, we’re going to watch the battle from Temmen’s own entranceway to the Arena! This is incredible!”
Aerin didn’t respond. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he had a terrible feeling that something was wrong. The challenger Temmen was about to face was a murderer, and Aerin knew he was here for something more than fighting in the arena.
Soon Katek opened the door and ushered the two boys into the room. Weapons and various pieces of leather and metal armor stood neatly in racks around the walls. A table and two chairs filled out the rest of the chamber. Up three steps was a wide opening where sunlight streamed into the room. The mighty roar of the crowd shook the very stone of the floor, penetrating in from the opening onto the sand.
Katek motioned, and they joined him at the top of the three stairs. From that position, they found themselves looking out at sand level to where the two combatants were taking their marked positions for the beginning of the bout.
Katek began explaining the proceedings to his two guests. “The judges granted the challenger first choice, he chose the sword. Temmen could have matched him sword against sword, or picked the chain or the quarterstaff, you see what he chose.”
