“No thank you. I crushed on you growing up, but you never seemed interested.” Rainev was teasing his friend now, hoping to keep the mood light in the face of the pit’s darkness. At that, Mat glared down at him; Rainev resisted laughing at the hard green stare.
Slowly, Matesh softened and he shook his head, a tiny smile breaking out over his face. “Damn you. You aren’t supposed to be funny. We’re slaves of the Empire now.”
“Oh, how the mighty fall,” Rainev said softly, being reminded of their new life. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.” I would give up my wings to not be here. My father is probably hosting my funeral right now. And Matesh? His uncle is probably distraught. I can’t believe I got us captured.
“I might have gotten caught with you, but this isn’t your fault. We weren’t prepared for you being in a bad position. We didn’t know the patrol was going to change course like that.”
Rainev nodded, accepting that. If Mat didn’t blame him, none of their family would. Not that he and Mat were actually related, but Mat helped raise him into adulthood. That made them family.
“Let’s go. I think they are calling lunch,” Mat whispered, pointing to other warriors and fighters moving on, towards a staircase that led down into the dark. The real pits. The wet, dark tunnels and caves Rainev had heard about.
Shivers ran down his spine. Andinna Hell was dark, cold, and wet with no view of the sky, too.
I already hate this. How does anyone live like this?
“We can do this. We can’t break.” Mat’s words were calm, and reassuring.
“Fuck.” Rainev stepped forward first and went down the stairs, with Mat securely behind him, nearly riding his ass so they didn’t get separated.
It led down into an eating hall, where slaves of different races handed out bowls and spoons, then filled those bowls with a tan-colored…mush. Rainev wrinkled his nose, but took his bowl of mush and looked around as Mat got his.
“Let’s find a seat.” Mat pointed to an empty table in the back corner. “No one is there.” Rainev only nodded and followed his friend towards the lone empty table.
“Don’t. Normally I let one of you new guys sit there for some entertainment, but I’m not in the mood for a fight today,” a strong, healthy voice called out. Rainev turned and looked at the number first. Seventy-Two. Realizing he had their attention, Seventy-Two continued. “That’s her spot. She might not show, since she’s got a couple days off, but she’ll gut a male for taking her seat.”
“Why?” Mat asked loudly. He seemed very unconcerned by the idea of the female gutting people.
“She likes to see and hear all of us. Spy, gather information to report back to the Empress.” Seventy-Two waved them over. “Come over here. No reason to test her today. Plus, we’re in the middle of a punishment already involving her. We don’t need to add to it.”
“Good to know,” Rainev said quietly, half to himself, half to Matesh.
“Very,” Matesh muttered back, beginning to walk to Seventy-Two’s table and the ten or so males seated there as well. It was a long bench table, one of the few in the room. Rainev looked around more. Some were squares, some circles. The one in the corner was a tiny circle, only fit for two or three, maybe four people. None of the tables really matched, all being different types of wood.
Leftovers. These were throwaway tables, probably donated or just given to the fighters to eat at.
He sat next to Mat at the table, with a stranger at his left. He looked around. Everyone else was purebred. He wondered if he was the only mixed Andinna in the pits. I have a feeling that standing out like I do is not going to work in my favor…
“What’s your story?” Seventy-Two asked them. He looked at Mat, then eyed Rainev.
“We were free, got too close to some Elvasi, got captured, then brought here,” Mat answered smoothly. Rainev nodded. Simple story. The gladiators around them didn’t need to know they had been in the Elvasi Empire to raid their supplies and kill a high-ranking banker, then rob his bank. They didn’t need the gladiators thinking they were heroes.
The Ivory Shadow Mercenary Company held no heroes. Not anymore. Not since before I was born.
“That’s all? What’s the outside world like? Where did you all live? What’s…” Seventy-Two looked between them. “You’re not going to tell me more.”
“The Free Cities of Olost,” Rainev offered. “But, no, we won’t tell you much more than that. The Empire hasn’t been able to make the Pass without problems, and then they get funneled into the death trap in the Strait.”
“Saying more would risk those who are free,” Matesh continued.
Rainev looked at the faces of the men around them. They all looked like this was astounding new information. Did they really sit here for a thousand years thinking none of their people were free? He wished he could offer them some hope, but Rainev knew that none of his family were the hero types. They were survivors from a time he didn’t know, and they wanted to keep surviving - Mat included. He wasn’t going to give these men any hope for escape or something new out there waiting for them.
As it stood, they couldn’t do anything to help these other slaves anyway. They weren’t even planning on being rescued themselves. They knew the playbook. If one of the family got captured, you held a funeral, not a rescue party. Rescues just led to more dead.
“But there are free ones. Any…females out there?” Seventy-Two’s eyes fell on Rainev again.
“My mother wasn’t one…obviously,” was all he said. Yes, there were free Andinna females, but that couldn’t be confirmed. Not in the Empire, which would send out hunting parties for them, no matter what nation they were hiding in.
“Funny,” the male next to him snorted. Rainev eyed the massive man, who looked down on him with a glint in his eyes that Rainev didn’t appreciate. “How old are you, boy?”
“Three hundred. An adult by the standards of any race. Not boy.” Rainev didn’t like the boy comment. He was a post-War Andinna, but not a child. If he was his mother’s race, he should have been dead two hundred years earlier. If he were a pure Andinna, he’d live to nearly six thousand, if he was lucky. As it was, he would get a lucky three thousand, but none of that mattered. He was an adult by any standards. He reached maturity before he was a hundred. He was just young, too young, by the looks of all the gruff, older males around him. None of them were looking at him like a potential combatant.
Joke’s on them. I was taught by some of the best.
Mat shifted slightly, to touch his side to Rainev’s. A comfort, a show of solidarity. Also a small warning. Rainev didn’t lean into him, since that would be too much, but he appreciated that Matesh was also picking up what the other males were maybe throwing down. Matesh was claiming a family member in front of them, showing he would take offense to any insults to Rainev.
Thank you, uncle.
He listened to them all talk more about how things worked here, focusing on the mush shit in front of him. It was flavorless and the texture of it was vile. Matesh even poured his leftovers in Rainev’s bowl, unable to finish it. Rainev had somehow finished his own and glared at the new portion of mush in his bowl.
“Can’t let you starve, nephew,” he said softly, a teasing smile on his face. “Your father would kill me.”
“Your uncle will kill you for starving too, ass,” Rainev retorted, pouring all the mush back into Mat’s bowl. “I don’t eat like you do. Suck it up and finish your own portion.”
When lunch ended, Rainev and Matesh were the last ones at the table. The Champion never walked in. Rainev was insanely curious, but she never got brought up in conversation past what they had said about her table and this ongoing punishment they were in. Rainev wanted to know how one female got every fighter in the pits in trouble. He knew Andinna females could be rowdy and rough just like the males, but he never knew them to be…mean or evil. They just had hot tempers like the males.
“I don’t like this,” he whispered to Matesh as they
got up.
“Me either. Let’s get through our first day of training, though, before we begin to theorize what the hell is going on down here.”
“These males…” Rainev couldn’t put his finger on it. He was raised by free Andinna males. These males weren’t like the ones he knew.
“Something’s wrong,” Mat confirmed softly. “Something down here, or maybe just how long they’ve been here, has…changed them. Never have I heard males talk about any female the way they do about her, which worries the fuck out of me.” He kept his voice very low. “It worries me, with their attitudes, what her side of the story might be.”
“Oh.” Rainev felt like a bag of stone hit his chest. He hadn’t even let his mind go there. Female. Alone. Disrespected, practically hated.
Hell on earth. Or rather, hell under it. I can’t imagine.
“With how they looked at you, leaner and smaller than most Andinna…” Mat shook his head. “Imagine being a female down here for centuries, like she probably has.”
“But getting involved with her brings us trouble from all the males,” Rainev said, nodding slowly, agreeing. This was a bad place for them to be. “I wish we would have been put in the fields.”
“Even for all the undercurrents here, this is better than the mines,” Matesh reminded him. “As much as getting to the bottom of this would be good for us, I want us to stay out of trouble. Do you understand?”
“I do. I have an idea though.”
“By the Skies,” Matesh muttered. “Let’s hear it.”
“Divide our attentions. I’m the last person who’s going to fuck her, and you can let the males know it. I can get close to her, learn what’s going on down here-”
“Rainev, we’re not down here to save them. We’re down here to survive as long as we fucking can. This is not a mission for us. We’re slaves now because we got captured on the mission.”
“Mat-”
“No, Rainev.” Mat growled at him as they made it to the long staircase up to the training yard. A bell tolled and the remaining gladiators in the chow hall ran up behind them to get into the training hall. “Let’s go. Being last will bring attention to ourselves.”
Rainev followed him in dutiful silence. He really wanted to figure out what was going on here, but Mat was the older, ranking male. He should follow orders.
They got to the training area again and Rainev took a deep breath to be back above ground. He hated how his wings were bound, and they strained to be free at the sight of the sky. It was right there. If only he could fly, or shift into the form he was granted by his dual heritage. That would be amazing.
And I could leave. I could go home and take Matesh with me.
He was beginning to see why these males were a little off. Unable to fly when the sky was right there, while they spent more of their time under the earth, in dark, cramped spaces.
He lined up with Matesh and waited for something to happen. When something did, it was something he hadn’t expected. Not at all.
“Welcome, gladiators,” a female voice called over them. “I am Empress Shadra, and you are the slaves who will fight in my Colosseum.”
Rainev felt chills run down his spine as the blonde woman stepped onto a balcony above them. That was her. The Empress herself. Mat was so tense that Rainev could feel it. From the distance, he couldn’t see what color her eyes were, or the finer details of her clothing. She was dressed in a typical Elvasi gown, full and ornate. It hugged her body and flared out past her waist, in a rich blood red - an expensive dye.
“I do not own all of you. Many of you are the property of Lords and Ladies I know personally. Some of you belong to a merchant here or there. But you are all housed here and you will follow my rules. There is no fighting outside the sands or training. If you break another piece of property outside the sands, you will be broken. If you break my property, I will have you executed. You are cattle. You will eat when we tell you to eat. You will fight when we tell you to fight. Is that clear? Let’s hear it. ‘Yes, Empress.’”
“Yes, Empress,” they all called back. Rainev joined in. He had a feeling silence would not behoove him, even though saying the words made his stomach curl.
“I’ll leave you all to the guards and the lenasti.” With that, she turned and walked back inside the building behind her.
Rainev knew what lenasti was: an Elvasi word for trainer, but not exactly. It was a rough translation to Common. His eyes fell on the warrior Elvasi near the guards. They were laughing amongst themselves until one looked at the group of Andinna. He looked up and down the line of new fighters and grinned.
“Now that our beautiful Empress is done, we can get started. Did you like that? She has a special love for the sands of the Colosseum, and the Prince spends a lot of money here. It’s her favorite thing to see every month, the fights. You are all owned by different people, but you all fight for her. You will meet your owners over the next week. They will come back, introduce themselves, give you their expectations.” The Elvasi continued to grin. Rainev hated that perfect white smile already. This Elvasi looked nothing like the Empress. The Andinna weren’t diverse in appearance - one had to look at small features to find differences - but the Elvasi, with their pointed ears and angular faces, were all very different.
“You will spend your days here in this training yard. You will be honed into real warriors, real fighters, or you will go onto the sands and die,” another of the lenasti called out. He was pale with gold hair.
Real warriors.
Rainev had a feeling that no one in the pits had been a real warrior in centuries.
The speeches continued. Rainev listened to the rules and drowned out the rest. He didn’t need to hear how the weak ones would die quickly, fodder on the sands. The strong ones might climb up and gain the right to challenge the Champion, who was not in attendance.
“Positions!” they finally called out. Rainev frowned, not sure where he was supposed to go. Mat grabbed him and pulled him towards a fighting circle, white paint in the grass and dirt to show the allowed area.
“We’ll practice here. We belong to the same person, whoever that is. It seems like everyone is grouping with their own comrades. Some sort of group system at least. We can use that.” Mat explained it quickly, tapping Rainev’s ear tag. It was still sore, but didn’t hurt too much.
“Anyone else with our symbol?” he asked as they moved to the circle.
“I haven’t seen anyone. Could be good or bad. We might be left alone or we might be very vulnerable.” Mat shrugged. “Let’s practice. We can show we’re capable. It’ll help us.”
Rainev pulled the wooden sword he was given earlier and stepped into the circle. The earth was flat, a blessing. Less chance of something stupid like a trip happening.
Mat swung his own wooden sword, something bigger than his own. No one called time for them; they just knew the moment to start.
The wood clashed and held. Rainev didn’t have Mat’s bulk, so he swung his tail to catch the other male’s leg. Mat jumped away with a grin, showing off the long Andinna canines, before he could yank his leg from him. Their tails weren’t completely prehensile, but they had some control. Rainev always used it.
“Don’t be fucking sneaky, Rain.”
“I got to do something or you’ll take my damn head off.” He grinned back and they rushed each other again.
Mat was strong and fast for his bulk, but Rainev had sparred against him since he was a child. He knew all of Matesh’s moves.
They began to draw a crowd as they continued, not even panting from the exertion. They wouldn’t stop until one had a finish on the other.
Rainev landed a solid hit on Mat’s ribs as his uncle slammed his pommel into his back at the same time. It made him wince and dart away from the larger male.
They circled slowly. Rainev took the first attack this time, instead of waiting for Mat to come for him. He tried to press with his speed and smaller stature, but Mat was too well-trained to fall f
or it. He blocked and parried easily then pushed Rainev back. His tail came out, tripping Rainev over and the tip of the long wood blade touched Rainev’s neck.
“I cede, uncle,” he said, still smiling.
“Good, nephew. We’ll go again.” Mat moved his sword and held out a hand. Rainev took it and let himself get hauled up. Once standing, some claps came.
“So, they are good fighters. I would expect nothing less from the Empress’ newest.”
Rainev looked to the lenasti who said that. “The Empress?” he asked, confused. He looked down to the earth to not offend the lenasti by the question. He didn’t want to get beaten on his first day in the pits.
The Empress herself? Why do I think that is very bad for us?
“Yes. Those tags mean you are property of the royal family, and you both are specifically the property of the Empress. She hasn’t owned more than one gladiator in over nine hundred years. The Prince has tried a couple of times, but until you two, the Empress has always been content with her Champion.” The lenasti looked them over slowly. “Continue. We let the Empress’ gladiators train themselves because she doesn’t offer instructions like the other owners. You just need to show up to training and win on the sands.”
“Yes, lenasti,” Mat said, bowing his head in respect. Rainev knew there was no real respect in the gesture, but they had to play the act.
“Of course. Everyone, back to work!” he yelled out. He glanced one more time at Rainev and Mat. “Best of luck to you both. You’ll need it. She has plans for you and having an association with the Empress hasn’t boded well for other gladiators.”
Rainev’s heart kicked up. I bet it hasn’t.
“See…they definitely know who we are,” he mumbled to Matesh, who nodded in return. There was only one reason the Empress herself owned them. She’d been hoping to catch anyone from the Ivory Shadow Mercenary Company since the War ended - and now she had two.
“Let’s just keep training. We need to stay at the top of our game.”
They did so, working through the sweltering afternoon towards evening. No one came to watch them anymore or speak to them. Rainev took some moments to look at other fights. Some used nets and spears, an Elvasi tactic for capturing flying Andinna. Others were using maces, swinging them to cause maximum damage at impact. Some were employing daggers, fast with sleight of hand to trick opponents and get close.
The Gladiator's Downfall Page 4
