Chapter Five
It is evening by the time I return to Ironhold, carried in the luxury of Lady Elara’s palanquin. I see a few jealous eyes on me as I walk back into the fortress. Arctus looks as though he can't understand why I am the one who gets to go out and he does not. Even Rowan looks wistful, as if wishing someone would take him from Ironhold, calling him down into the city.
Would he actually want it, though? A patron would likely treat him in much the same way that his old mistress did. I can't imagine Rowan wanting that when it seems that all he wants is to get through his seasons and leave Aetheria.
I see some of the others still working at the practice posts. Ravenna is there, accustoming herself to her new weapons. She looks over as I pass, saying something to a small crowd of onlookers. Because of course even here she has admirers and onlookers, a group of men and women watching her every movement with longing. That group laughs at whatever she says. I'm sure it isn't flattering to me.
I don't see Alaric yet. Possibly, he is still out with his mother, although he won't be able to stay out much later without the guards going hunting for him. Even as a free gladiator, there are limits to what he can do.
I need to practice as well and for the same reasons as Ravenna. Well, not all the same reasons. I'm not doing it so I can attract the attention of others, but I do need to acclimatize myself to my new weapons. They should handle in a similar way to my net and trident, but I'm sure there are nuances that I need to understand before the trials.
So I collect my weapons and make my way around the practice spaces until I find a practice spot a little way from everything else. In one of the many practice rooms, there is a post hanging down from the ceiling so that it swings freely. And as it swings, poles thrust from the walls, jabbing towards the center. It is an environment where I will have to hit and move, but it is also a small room where there is only limited space to dodge.
That makes it perfect for replicating the kinds of conditions I might face in the arena this time. I already know that at least one of the fights will be a head-to-head bout, hemmed in by flames. That won't give me as much room as usual to hit and run, to dodge and tumble out of danger.
I start to work with my new weapons, accustoming myself to the weight, not just of them, but of my armor as well. I hit with the spear, thrusting at the post, then weaving away from the attacks of the poles. It is hard work, especially after a day of working on my powers. I'm sure all the other gladiators believe that I have wasted the day in decadent luxury, but instead I've been working hard, trying to learn the limits of what I can do with the dampener on my wrist.
“Remember that you can slice with this weapon as well as thrust.”
I spin around at the words and find myself facing Vesper, who is watching me from the doorway. He has arrived without a sound. That is less surprising than the fact he's just spoken.
“I thought you didn't talk to people?” I say.
“Most people aren't worth talking to,” Vesper replies. His voice is soft, as if he isn't used to speaking much, but it resonates through the room.
“And I am?” I ask.
Vesper shrugs. “The fact that Ravenna seems so interested in you suggests that there's more to you than meets the eye, and I have been paying attention to what you've been achieving in the colosseum. It's obvious that you’re one of the favorites in the Champions Trials.”
I think about Alaric and Rowan. “I'm not sure if I'm the favorite.”
“You're being too modest. You have more power than most. Maybe more than anyone there, although they're making you hold back. It makes sense for people to work together, doesn't it?”
"You're asking to be my ally?" I say. It catches me by surprise because recently it has seemed that few people have wanted to be by my side. Or maybe I just haven't been prepared to trust them after Naia's betrayal.
“It doesn't have to be anything that formal if you're not comfortable with it,” Vesper says. “I help you, you help me, and we both try and get through this.”
There's a simplicity to that I like, so I extend my hand to him. He takes it.
"Would you like to work some more with your spear?" he asks. He has his own weapons, short, half-moon blades that seem to fit over his fists.
“It's probably not safe to spar with these,” I say. “I've not fully adjusted to my new weapons and if either of us suffers an injury now, it could slow us down, in the contest.”
Vesper nods. “A good point. But make sure you do practice. I'm pretty sure there's a reason there was no trident back in the armory.”
That thought sets suspicion running through me. I had thought that it was simply that they wanted us to have new, better weapons for this contest. But if there had been a trident and net, wouldn't I have taken them? Instead, I have ended up with subtly different weapons.
It's easy to think now that might be deliberate, an attempt to force me to use something I'm not entirely familiar with. If so, it points to the kind of manipulation and politics within the games that I've tried to avoid.
Vesper leaves, and I realize that he isn't the only one within the Champions Trials I might be able to bring over to my side. If I can persuade people to work together for this, maybe we can get through it as a group, and fewer of us will have to be hurt.
I think about my options. Vex is a non-starter. He's the one who drove a dagger into Naia’s heart. It's clear he doesn’t like me, and I hate him for what he did. Ravenna is just as culpable, and while I'm sure she would offer to side with me to my face, I can't trust her.
Rowan and Alaric will probably help me, but there are still a few gladiators who are probably undecided. The more of those I can bring to my side, the better.
I go looking through the fortress, trying to find those who have been chosen for the trials. It isn't long before I find Malira working hard with a long blade that she holds two-handed. I had expected her to choose something swift and agile for her weapon, but it seems that this one doesn't slow her down, and she barely seems constrained by gravity either. She's happy to run up the walls of the room where she's working, flipping this way and that, attacking in breathtaking sweeps of the weapon.
She looks around as I enter.
“What do you want?” she asks. Her tone isn't friendly, and I'm not sure what I've done to deserve that. She doesn't even know me.
“I came to talk to you,” I say. “With the trials coming up, I thought maybe we would have a better chance of surviving if we-”
"Oh, you want to team up with me, do you? Should I be flattered, the great beast whisperer Lyra, coming to speak with little me?" Malira shakes her head. "I'm not interested."
She spits out the words as if she already dislikes me.
“I don't know what this is,” I say. “Have I done something to offend you?”
"Aside from walking around here like you're the greatest of all of us?" Malira says. "You know no one gets any attention now but you, right? Everything I hear is Lyra this, and Lyra that. And as far as I can see, you don't even work as hard as the rest of us. Your precious patron keeps whisking you away. Well, all the time you've been spending in some noble's pleasure gardens, I've been working. And if you're just realizing that you might need my help, you're too late."
I can't tell her the truth of what I've been doing with Lady Elara, but this hostility seems unwarranted.
“You don't know me,” I say.
“I know enough to know that I’ll make a name for myself if I defeat you in the arena,” she says. “I learned that in the pits. You fight the toughest person there and suddenly everyone gives you respect.”
So that’s what this is. She has decided that her route to fame and glory lies through me.
“We don’t know if we’ll be matched up,” I say. “There's no benefit to us being enemies.”
“Better that than the alternative,” Malira shoots back. “I've heard how you treat your friends.”
“I don't know who you've been listening to, but-”
“Malira has been listening to the truth. I'm sorry I'm late for our training session, Malira.”
I spin around to see Vex entering the room. He has chosen heavier armor than usual, plates of it protecting him, when normal gladiator armor would leave large portions unprotected so the crowd can be entertained with blood. Belts of knives cross and recross his torso, there so that he can use his magic to levitate them and send them at his foes.
“What truth is that, Vex? That you killed Naia without a second thought?”
“That you secretly conspired with the opposition in a bout,” Vex says. “That the two of you were planning to betray me. The after the bout you broke our alliance and threatened to kill me. That you’re a beast whisperer, too wild to be trusted.”
I look over at Malira, and I see her nodding along with Vex. It's obvious he's gotten to her, whispered poison in her ear. Combine that with the way she sees me as a means to gain fame, and I know I can’t make an ally of her.
I seem to have found another enemy, for no better reason than because I have been successful in the games. It will just be one more danger to look out for in the Champions Trials.