18. Beginning of the Rite
BEGINNING OF THE RITE
GAIRO
A nger and fear had been my constant companions for the last week. Once a day, they gave me water and a travel ration. I knew it was Magdorian’s way of weakening me and making me easier to defeat. I kept in shape with bodyweight exercises in my cell. The more that I thought about Magdorian, the more I understood that he was a coward who would fight without honor if it meant Magdorian would come out on top. Magdorian had come to my cell during the week to gloat about killing our parents, whom I couldn’t even remember. I cared far more about my heart-mate. Because of our bond, I knew that she was still alive and, I hoped, pregnant with our baby.
When the guards came to escort me to a massive coliseum, I looked and saw my brother dressed for the fight. They had a rack of armor meant for me with weapons. Magdorian was giving some kind of speech over the speaker system, which I ignored. It wasn’t relevant to me. When I was fully dressed in the armor that they provided and climbed into the elevated battle ring, I looked for Veronica or Rathgar. They were nowhere to be seen. I could see Zyloxia on Magdorian’s side of the arena. I bared my teeth at here, and she never flinched. All she did was look away, as if I wasn’t even worthy of her disdain.
A massive gong went off. It had been a week of little food, but I was ready to kill my brother. He had threatened me and my pregnant heart-mate. We went at each other in the ring.