It Rained Red Upon the Arena (6 page)

Judge Gove started to compile the papers scattered on his desk and stood up. The three Refect that took Nick to the court room began walking over to Nick. Nick sat there absolutely floored at what the judge just said.

“Wait, you have to understand what happened. I killed that man out of self defense but he also deserved to die for what he did. You have to listen to me. I’m telling the truth!” Nick yelled as the Refect began to pull him from the chair.

It was no use. Nick realized the decision was made. His life was over; there was nothing left for him in that moment. He felt defeated and depleted of all emotions. He was void. Nothing could save him, nobody could save him. The Refect walked him back outside where the hell cell waited for him. The hell cell would take him to his new home.

Chapter Five

Every city in Hentrio had an arena. All of them served the same purpose: to let Paplon and Reza murderers, rapists, attempted murderers, and attempted rapists kill each other for the amusement of civilians. The majority of the inmates of an arena are the murderers and rapists. People come out to the arena to enjoy themselves. They laugh, they drink, and they bet on the fighters. Nick was never able to go to see the fights as he grew up. He only heard about them. Not because he was a child, there was no age restriction for entering the stands, but because his parents forbid him to go. His parents never went, and they certainly would not allow Nick to go. The arena was a topic that was even avoided the few times Nick tried to bring it up to his parents.

He had heard from friends growing up of their gruesome encounters of watching two people fight to the death. Rezas were able to use their destruction magic, and Paplons were able to choose their deadliest weapon. Reza men and women would also have a weapon for the chance that the fight would be in close enough range. Reza are long distance fighters. Paplon could adapt to being either long or close range fighters if they were trained properly.

In the arena two went in, but only one would walk out. It was a fight to the death. Many of the inmates knew how to fight, and many did not. If a person was found guilty of murder they were sentenced to two years in the arena based upon the law of the land enforced by the king and many kings before him. If they were found guilty for rape it was a two year sentence as well. Attempted rapists and attempted murderers received one year. Nearly all that were sentenced to the arena, whether it be one, two, or eight years, would die in the arena within months. Only a few survived the arena. A sentence to the arena was a death sentence, that was known by all.

***

As Nick sat in the back of the hell cell he knew what he was going to encounter. He knew the most evil men and women of Vincot would be around him. He also knew that he should not have been found guilty for his crimes. He was just in his actions, and he alone knew that. He also realized he could never possibly join the Refect; they would never accept a criminal. But that was now the last of his worries. He would have to fight every day to live another, whether he stepped into an arena match or not.

The most important thing he realized while he was in the hell cell was that the trial was now out of his hands. The trial and sentencing were now in the past. He realized that he could not change the past and there was no reason to dwell on it. Doing so would only anger him and surely that could get him killed faster.

He thought that he had trained his whole life to be a Refect when in reality he was training to be the best fighter he could be for this very moment. Fate was strange, and all Nick could do was accept it.

Nick was fast. He knew this, people around him knew that his swiftness and agility with a blade were on his side. Years of Refect training would be on his side. Stabbing someone behind their back would be the training of the inmates he would meet in the arena,

Nick made a vow to himself in the hell cell. He would get through the arena sentence and figure out why his father was murdered. He would fight in the arena to live another day to see Penny and Thomas. He promised this to himself. He even thought it was possible that fate had him sentenced to the arena in order to cleanse the world of evil men and women. It was all about mentality, and his changed drastically from the courthouse to the time for him to step into his new life at the Vincot Arena.

The hell cell came to a stop. Night had fallen without Nick really noticing. As he stepped out of the hell cell and onto the dirt road he looked up. He gazed at the stars above him. He always enjoyed looking at the stars above in the night sky. He had been enjoying looking up at night since he was a young child. He took after the practice from his father. His dad would look up into the night sky and Nick would follow suit.

Two Refect walked up to the hell cell to greet Nick. The Refect unlocking the door said, “You can call me Jerry and his name is Berry. Welcome to your new home, welcome to your last home.”

Nick gazed upon the tall walls of the arena. He had seen them before and was always curious as to what was behind those walls. The Vincot Arena had four giant stone walls that made a square. It was located in the center of the city. Famous warriors of the arena were etched into the stone walls by talented artists. Nick used to come down to the walls as a child to admire the art and wonder about the men and women on the wall.

The Refect guided Nick down a hill to the left of the arena. The hill was not far from the arena, but it was not too close, either. At the bottom of the hill there was a metal gate guarded by two Refect. One Refect who was with Nick went up and exchanged words with the guards silently. The gates open from within and Nick was walked in with the help of Jerry and Berry. Past the gates there was a metal door, again guarded by two Refect. The same thing happened, an exchange of words and the metal doors opened from within.

This time Nick saw the true guts of the arena. It was essentially a cave; the walls, ground, and ceiling were of rock. Candlelight and torches on the wall lit up the rocky room. It was cylindrical in shape and about the size of two of Nick’s houses put together. Nick was walked up to a Refect behind a desk, several more Refect were behind the desk chatting in the background. One of the Refect, either Jerry or Berry, Nick could not tell, pulled out a paper and handed it to the Refect behind the desk.

He looked at the papers and said, “Right, you can call me Master Dekan. From now on you will respond to any of my Refect men as Master. They will not give you a name to call them and you cannot see our faces so it really does not matter. It says here you are guilty of murder and are sentenced to two years of participation in the arena. And I will say here you are guilty of murder and will participate for a few days in the arena before we drag your lifeless corpse off of it. Perfect, right, well, welcome to your new home, your last home.”

Master Dekan looked at his men and said, “Go ahead and process him and throw him in a cell. Good luck, Nick, your first fight is in two days’ time. Looks like you’ve got Grimey.”

“A fight already?” asked Nick.

“Yes,” said Master Dekan. “Good luck. You’ll need lots of it.” He laughed as Nick walked away with Master Jerry and Berry.

There were five metal gates, each guarded by a Refect. The gates were shaped like a circle and each looked a bit like a cell. They were circular because the openings looked like holes in the cave. Master Jerry and Berry directed Nick to the rightmost gate. Once he was inside there was a long hall ahead, and to the right a station of water presumably for showering. Nick was stripped naked of his white cloth given to him at the holding cell, in favor for a green cloth in the same manner. All the inmates wore the same green cloths.

His information was taken down, and the masters guided him to his cell. It was the first cell on the right. The hall stretched long and was filled with numerous cells. There was commotion as other inmates could see Nick, the newest of the arena to arrive at his cell.

“Dead, dead, dead...” Nick heard from a cell down the hall.

“He looks tasty, doesn’t he?” a distant voice said, which came from a woman.

“Shut up! All of you! Lights out, no talking. Only sleeping!” said Master Jerry. He pulled out his sword and struck a metal pole on Nick’s cell to quite the inmates.

The cell gate shut behind Nick. His cell was smaller than his last. A small circular and rocky room, no mattress this time. He had a cloth blanket and a pillow. Nick had not slept in over a day and had not eaten much at all.

Everything that happened to Nick happened ever so suddenly. There had been no time for Nick to mourn for his father. So he sat down in his cell, and he wept. He cried for hours. Other inmates have surely heard a new inmate break down and cry the first night they were at the arena, but those that cried were out of fear. Nick did not feel fear for the arena, he wept for his father. If only he could have reacted faster, he could have saved him. If only he did not stab the man so many times, he would be free right now, searching for the ones who wanted his father dead.

Nick also wondered of his best friend Thomas, and the wonderful Penny. He worried about what they would think of him. Word would spread around Vincot of what Nick had done. The dream of joining the Refect together with Thomas was gone, but at that moment Nick just wanted someone close to his heart to talk to. He was alone; he felt completely alone in the world.

As he sat in his cell grieving, crying, and thinking of could have, should haves, he awakened his spirit. His fight was in two days’ time. If he wanted to live and fight with strength he needed sleep. He had to sleep and focus on the present, not dwell on the past. He laid down on the cold rocky surface and closed his eyes.

Chapter Six

Nick’s eyes opened as a new day began. His first day in the arena prison. A click and clack of metal was heard down the hallway. Nick put his face up against the cell bars to see what was going on. Numerous Refect were going down the line of cells and opening each one. As each cell opened the inmate would step forward and stand at the front. The Refect started from the back of the hall and worked their way down to the front. A very tall Refect came to unlock Nick’s cell.

“Ah, a new face I see. Welcome to the glorious arena,” said the Refect. “You’re young, but I see fight in you. Let me explain what happens every day. The inmates wake up, we go to the kitchen, the inmates eat. After you eat you have two hours of combat practice in the dungeon training area. After that it is back to the cell. Depending on whether or not the game commissioner scheduled fights for that day or not, then it would be arena time. If you are chosen you fight; if not chosen you stay in your cell until it is time for dinner. You go to the kitchen, eat, and then go back to your cell for sleep. Welcome to your new life.”

“Thank you, Master,” replied Nick. The master turned away and joined the other masters at the back of the hall. Nick felt as though he had to get used to calling the Refect master. It felt as if he was a slave and they owned him.

“Single file, let’s go!” shouted one master at the other end of the cell hall.

The inmates walked in a sharp determined line, Nick could only imagine what it took to discipline the worst criminals alive. Nick began to walk and caught the first glimpse of the man who was in the cell to his right. He was massively tall, with an incredible muscular build. As Nick walked behind him the stench hit him hard. The man smelled of sewage.

As they walked down the hall the inmates made a left which proceeded down another hall, then a right turn into the kitchen. Inside the kitchen there was about one hundred tables, and a line at the counters where workers served plates of food to the inmates.

Nick still stood at the entrance of the kitchen and took a moment to observe. There had to be over three hundred inmates stationed at the arena. Reza and Paplon men and women, all of various shapes and sizes. As he got his first look at all of them he realized one thing: he could not make a friend in the arena. Not one. At the end of the day, every person in the room was someone who wanted to kill him. If he made a friend, that would be a weakness. He could be thrown into the arena against a friend he had made. Or see a friend die.

Nick walked over to the end of the line to get his food. Inmates at the tables talked, some laughed, and some sat quietly. He was in line behind a Reza girl. Skin blue, and her hair was black. She turned around and looked at Nick up and down slowly and gave him a smile. She turned back around and Nick did not say anything, he did not react. Nick had to mold himself into a different person. If that had happened in the city he would have sparked conversation with such of an attractive girl, if he could first find his courage to do so.

The line kept moving up and Nick got a plate of food. A steaming pile of mush and a banana. A marvelous cup of lukewarm water to wash it all down.

He turned to find a table where he could sit. He would rather sit at a table by himself but all tables had at least one person sitting at it. He walked over to one where there was a Paplon man sitting. He had curly black hair, and a long beard. Nick sat down across from him, not directly across but slightly to the right. Nick did not look at him. He only looked down at his gourmet pile of mush.

“Don’t ask what is in it. Just know it’s not all that bad,” said the man.

Nick looked up and then he looked back down.
No conversations means no friends. You can do this, Nick.

“The name is Phillip Denize. What’s yours, brother?”

Again Nick sat quietly and tried a bite of his food. It was fairly tasteless, only a slight taste that reminded him of chicken mixed with the taste of rubber.

“Are you mute? Or do you simply have the strategy of making no friends?” said Phillip.

Nick looked up at him with a confused expression.

“So that is the strategy,” the man said with a chuckle.

“How did you know I do not wish to make any friends?”

Phillip smiled and said, “I’ve been here for nine months now. You shouldn’t think you’re the first one who came here and did not talk to anyone. It is a sound strategy, though. You won’t have a problem killing an enemy, but you know you’ll have trouble killing a friend. That’s okay, though, because it shows two things: one, that you are smart, and two, that you have compassion. The only problem with your strategy is that you do not yet know how the inmates work, how this system works, and what you need to do to stay alive. I can show you those things. All you have to do is to not think of me as a friend, but rather as a guide. Do you have a scheduled fight yet?”