“Stop talking, slaves. You’re getting on my nerves,” one of the guards finally said, before he could open his mouth to continue. “You can chat in the pits, back where you belong.”
He stayed lost in those dark thoughts of what the pits must have been like for her as they were released into the training ground right as the dinner bell rang. She began to walk away from them as quickly as she could, but he reached out and grabbed her arm. “Wait-”
Without a sound or warning, she turned and he felt her nails bite into the flesh of his neck. He didn’t move, knowing she had him. It would take her a second to crush his windpipe and leave him on the dirt.
She had no tells. Not a single one. How in the Skies does she manage that?
He knew that staying calm was his best course of action. He couldn’t give her any fear or any defiance.
“Don’t ever touch me,” she told him calmly. “I have the tendency to kill people for it.”
“I’m sorry,” he offered, truly meaning the words, trying to breathe as her grip grew a little tighter - testing him, certainly. Then she released him and left.
She hates casual touch without her permission. She wouldn’t be the first female I’ve known like that. Not necessarily a bad thing, but in a place like this and with a reaction like that, it only reinforces what I’ve been thinking. I don’t like that.
Rainev had done nothing in the exchange except stare wide-eyed at her hand. “Shit, that was fast,” he commented. “Guess we shouldn’t touch her.”
“Guess not,” Mat agreed softly. His neck would bruise quickly, as tight as her grip had been. She hadn’t been playing around or lightly threatening him. She’d been dead serious. Luckily, the bruise would also fade in the night. “She’s faster than you.”
“She is, but I don’t think that’s what was weird, though,” Rain replied, beginning to walk towards the stairs.
Matesh agreed with that as well. What was weird was her complete lack of warning or display of temper. If touching her was a death-worthy offense, there should have been some sort of emotion to go with it. There hadn’t been a single indication that she was angry in any way. She was coldly calm about it. Touch her and one died. End of story. No feelings about it.
It was the furthest thing from Andinna he could think. They were a brash, temperamental people. Calm was not their natural state, especially when something agitated them. Very little didn’t agitate them. He only knew three Andinna that calm: Rainev; another, who was a mutt like Rainev; and a mute - but even they could have an explosive temper. Normally in battle, where the Andinna temper shined.
He followed Rainev down to the chow hall and sat down at that small table in the corner. He’d been pissed as shit when Rainev had made the decision to sit with her, but now he was beginning to see it was the best idea. He could see everything around him and the other males were looking less friendly every time he saw them.
“How was fucking the Empress’s slut?” one called out, causing several to laugh. “Or did she have one of you fuck the other?”
“Maybe they both got to fuck the Champion!” a second joined in, laughing as he finished.
Matesh bared his teeth at them, his own temper raging up. So this was how it was going to be, then. Getting called by the Empress to do nothing was just bad news.
“You know, I bet they are like her! Telling the Empress our secrets!”
“Fucking traitors,” another growled at them.
“We didn’t fucking do anything,” Rainev snapped at them. “We didn’t ask for this.”
“I bet you didn’t. Too bad the Ivory Shadows aren’t here. I’ve heard they butcher blood-traitors without a second thought.” Seventy-Two said that and Matesh gave a harsh laugh.
The irony. They did, but only if they had a lot of evidence, since killing their own kind was hard to do when they were even more down in numbers than before the war. They could scream that he, Rain, and Mave were blood traitors, but in the end, he only saw them in front of him.
Males who condemn a female the way they have? They might not be betraying each other to their oppressors, but they betrayed everything that meant something to the Andinna. Shaking his head, he focused on his food and Rainev did the same, ignoring the jeers and taunts.
Day fucking two and this was what they were getting. They still had one more training to do.
“At least the post-dinner training is quite short,” he said to Rain, trying for some normalcy.
“Yeah.” Rainev was quiet and Matesh narrowed his eyes at him.
“Nephew. Chin up.” He reached out and flicked the younger male’s chin as he said it. Rainev growled back at him. “Don’t let those fucks get to you. You and I know the truth. The truth will always come to light.”
“Maybe that’s why the pits are so dark,” Rainev mumbled.
Matesh leaned back. Maybe so.
They went through the last training without any issues, then headed to the communal cell they were assigned with eight other males. Ten cots, scattered around a large room, and nothing else. When he looked up, he could see a small grate at the top for air, nearly fifty feet above him.
A pit. The pits. He’d figured it out the night before, when Rain pointed the grate out to him.
He settled on his cot, which blocked Rainev’s from the others’. None of the other males bothered stripping down to sleep in the nude like most Andinna liked to. Since none of them did, he wasn’t going to. Neither was Rain.
He didn’t sleep. He just laid there on his side with his eyes closed, hoping his bad feeling about the night wasn’t going to amount to anything. He heard Rainev shift around, and realized he wasn’t asleep either. They had barely gotten any sleep the night before too. The cots were bad, with little to no real padding, and made their wings, bound down, uncomfortable if he lay on his back, where he would also be crushing his tail. He wasn’t stupid enough to sleep on his stomach, which was more natural. The blankets were scratchy and rough. His tail dragged on the floor no matter how he lay.
He could see how countless days of this broke the males around him. Andinna could sleep standing up, but that wasn’t comfortable. It might be more comfortable than the cots. I’ll try that tomorrow. It would be safer, too, I think.
A tap made him turn over to Rainev, whose sapphire eyes practically glowed in the dark.
“Sleep,” he mouthed to his nephew in Andena. “I’ll stay awake and take watch.”
“Do you want to exchange nights?” It was dark, but their vision was good for night.
“We’ll talk about it tomorrow,” he mouthed back. Rain nodded back and closed his eyes.
Matesh rolled back over so his eyes were on the other sleeping males, if they really were asleep. He was very worried, based on what Mave had said, about being jumped while he slept. If Rainev wanted to switch nights, they could do that - or they needed to find a safe room to sleep in. They had to find some way to make this survivable. That made him remember Mave’s sleep arrangements. Her own room. A blessing in this place. It took her out of a place where her sleep would be haunted. She’d been smart to earn that sort of privilege. Very smart.
It was a long time before Matesh saw even the slightest hint of dawn in the grate at the top of the pit.
6
Mave
Mave met the males for breakfast and got straight to the business of training together. She should have been telling them to work on their own and she would be fine on her own, but she thought on it late into the night. Having partners in training would only help her get better, and they were all owned by the Empress.
This was her chance to have legitimate allies. Like the other circles. They didn’t get in trouble for grouping together based on their owners. She shouldn’t either. This was the established way of doing things. The only thing that had changed was that she had a group now, and they gave her their names and told her things. Things she was desperate to know about her people and their language.
These two are giving m
e that chance. It’s stupid, but I’m going to take it. It’s the only one I’ve gotten in a thousand years. Why wouldn’t I take it?
Because, Mave, it’ll probably get you killed. Only probably, though. It’s not guaranteed.
“I work with two short swords, the gladius. I know they aren’t the proper sword to dual-wield but they work for me,” she explained to them quickly. “I know you, Twenty-Two, have also been using a gladius. We can work together on posture. Most of the other males here use large two-handed swords. They aren’t fast like you, Twenty-Three.” She was using their numbers to keep their names private. They only offered those names to her, and she wasn’t going to say them where others could hear. She felt possessive of the names. They were hers. Only hers. She didn’t want others to know them like she did.
“The ones we need to be careful of are the net and spear ones, I’m guessing?” Matesh leaned over his bowl to say it quietly, which made her want to scoff. There were no secrets about combat in the pits. Everyone knew how the others fought, since they all trained together.
“Yes. And the ones with maces. We’re not allowed projectiles. We were once, about eight hundred years ago, but someone took a bad shot at the Empress and they were banned.”
“Someone tried to shoot the Empress?” Rain sounded incredulous, but was also smiling at the idea.
“Me,” she answered. She’d been beaten fairly hard for that. She thought she had trained enough, but the shot went wide. She hadn’t accounted well enough for the wind that day, stronger than anything she had trained against.
She still beat herself up for that on occasion. She could have ended it all that day. Killed the Empress, proven herself to her people, and maybe even stopped the pits. Maybe. Just maybe.
Or have gotten myself and all the other gladiators killed. At the time, I thought it was worth the risk.
“Well, damn. They still thought you were on her side after trying to assassinate her?” Rain leaned forward, sounding like he was going to laugh.
“I, to them, did it and missed on purpose, for an excuse for her to remove the ranged weapons so no one else could try,” she explained. “Let me explain something to you. Everything we do will be remade and retold to fit their narrative of us. Everything. There’s nothing you can do about it. You probably encountered it last night.”
“You mean how they thought the Empress was just whoring us out. That we were probably whoring for her. Like I would ever stick my cock in that.” Matesh sounded disgusted with the idea of it.
“Yes. That. It’s why I didn’t come to the chow hall. I considered warning you, but it’s something you have to experience. Nothing you say will ever change their minds. And…the whoring itself is fairly common, just not for the Empress. Whoring in her attendance is rare, and you will never be granted the privilege of sticking your cock in her.”
She watched Matesh and Rainev both cough and choke on their food at that information. She waited patiently for one of them to ask more about it.
“Whoring is common?”
“In her attendance?”
“The Empress…” She took a deep breath. Mave never said it out loud, but they needed to know. They couldn’t be blindsided by it and lose their tempers. They could get killed, and she would lose this new chance at allies. Probably her only chance. “Empress Shadra likes to give her property to visitors for fun. She then watches. As for how common whoring is, you’ll see. You’ll see gladiators, anyone here, disappear for the night. We’re loaned out by our owners for a payment. I’m told my price is quite high due to being the Champion and the only female. We’re expected to make our owners money.”
Silence took over the table as the males processed that information.
Hard truths. Why do I hate shattering their peace of mind? Why do I hate having to give them this information, even if it’ll save their lives?
“Then you come back here and…” Matesh looked out to the other males, all having their own morning conversations.
“This is life here. You get used to it, adapt to survive, or you die.” Softer, she sighed. “Believe me.”
“By the Skies, Maevana-”
“Mave,” she cut him off calmly, holding down her temper. “Don’t use that name. I don’t want to hear it here. I’ve gutted people for it. Mave, gladiator, or Champion. Those are what I answer to down here.”
“Of course, Mave,” Matesh agreed, lowering his head again. The first time he’d done it, she’d been surprised. This time she saw the act.
I can’t fucking believe this asshole.
“Don’t play that shit with me. I know you aren’t submissive. If you want to challenge me, then do it.”
“You got that one male to submit the day we arrived,” Rainev reminded her. “Why does Matesh doing it bother you?”
“Because it’s fake,” she answered.
“It’s not fake,” Matesh growled softly.
“Then overdone,” she corrected.
“That’s more true,” he agreed, looking away this time, realizing he was caught and that she wasn’t going to let up on it. “I figured you were the most powerful female here, and best gladiator. You would be more inclined to trust us if we were both more submissive to you.”
“He’s submissive,” she said, pointing at Rainev. “You’re not. Don’t pretend to be.” She didn’t like it. Him, bowing and cowing to her. She wanted him strong. It appealed to her. A challenge, something to test her will against. A male that really didn’t fear her, and one that she didn’t want to fear. He hadn’t been scared when she held his life in her hands the evening before. Just stood there, waiting for her to release him or kill him. It was why she had tightened for a moment, to test for a reaction. He hadn’t given her one, just slightly more labored breathing.
When there hadn’t been one, she’d respected him more than she had wanted to.
Why do I want this male so much? Is it his attitude? It grates on me but appeals so much. He’s respectful and yet arrogant. He’s aggravating, and yet…here, with me.
“I’m not submissive,” Rainev mumbled, moving his spoon around his bowl.
“You are in comparison to me and him.” She tilted her head towards his uncle. “There’s no shame in it. It just is, and here, it’s important to remember who you are and who you aren’t more dominant than. Normally, the more dominant guys have more friends, stronger ones. Piss one of them off and you’ll end up with a pack of them jumping you in the night. Keep him around when you need to deal with someone. He’ll scare people more than a small mutt can.”
“Are you supposed to be telling us all of this?” he asked cautiously.
She shrugged. Probably not, but I’m going to anyway because I seem to have lost my mind. It’s not like I’m doing anything weird compared to the other groups. “Every group is telling their new ones this right now. This next week will be a lot of people feeling out their place in different pecking orders. I’m in charge in this one.” She directed that last line to Matesh. “Everyone is getting the basic education. Being a loner, figuring this all out on your own? Not many survive it.”
“So-”
The breakfast bell rang and ended the meal, cutting off Rainev. She just stood up and took her bowl to the dwarf, letting them follow behind her. They were all prepared already, so there was no reason to wait. She pulled her swords, showing them that she kept sharp steel on her.
“One of your privileges?” Rainev asked, pointing at them.
“That’s right. There’s a few of us. Other gladiators aren’t allowed in our space unaccompanied, so the weapons are secure when we aren’t there. We also don’t mess with each other, since it’s not worth it. Those four are still alive and where they are because they ignored me and the others when they got here. They all did well by themselves first and stayed out of trouble.” She pointed her sword at one of the other good gladiators and his one and only comrade, a training partner. She pointed to another and he had three friends, all young, born post-War like h
im. Those other good warriors had earned their owners enough money to buy more gladiators, giving them those friends. “Now. Let’s train.”
Matesh grinned at her, stepping into the training circle with her. She was going to use her steel, like she always did. If he got cut, then he would need to get faster, she decided. It would teach him.
I’m going to wipe that nice-looking grin off his face. Maybe then I’ll like him less.
She didn’t know what she expected, but he was on her faster than anyone she’d fought against before. She crossed her blades and caught his wooden one as it came down. He was too far from her to grab and pull, but not too far for him to deliver a kick that had her jumping back to dodge and breaking the block.
The training yard went silent. It was the closest someone had come to hitting her in years.
She begrudgingly realized they had been holding back in their sparring. She gladly would have the two best new fighters on her side, though. If she was going to take the risk, at least they were good. And they gave me their names.
He came for her again and this time she sidestepped, going to cut his side. She was moving fast, but she didn’t put power behind the blow. A thin red line opened on his side. If she hadn’t held back, she would have opened him up like a slaughtered pig.
“That stings,” he noted. He looked down at it, touching it lightly.
“You should clean it when training is over.”
“I’ll be healed in a day or two,” he said, shrugging as if the injury didn’t bother him.
“If that shit gets infected, nothing will save you. No one has any herbs for us down here and there are damned sure no healers.” She didn’t need him to be stubborn now. It was an easy fix. Keep it clean. That’s all she was asking.
“Clean it, uncle. I’ll spar with her.” Rainev stepped in, hitting Matesh’s shoulder as he did. “Go.”
Matesh nodded slowly, recognizing her wisdom. She had seen limbs get lost and good warriors fall thanks to infections. She needed to do something to keep her allies alive from the stupid stuff.
The Gladiator's Downfall Page 8
