NexLord: Dark Prophecies (25 page)

"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.