NexLord: Dark Prophecies (27 page)

Aerin closed his eyes and regained his will;
the blood lust of the crowd had nearly overwhelmed
him.  He knew Katek’s words were true; he could not take
Phassic, not yet. But he swore to himself that he would be ready
before Katek, and then let the fake NexLord just try to hide!

“I will listen to the wisdom of Temmen and
choose my battle when I am ready,” Aerin said to Katek.

The young gladiator nodded with his face set
in stone.

Dono had watched this entire exchange with
wide eyes, but now he looked onto the sand.  “Phassic is
calling for the Warlord.”

“What!” Aerin exclaimed.

“It’s traditional, the Warlord hands the
winner of the Tournament their trophy and reward on the sands in
front of the crowd,” Dono explained, “Since there is no
Warlord, the heir will present it, and that means Gandarel.”

Aerin dashed toward the entrance into the
Arena.  “That’s it; this is why he is
here.  He’s out to kill Gandarel!”   It
all fit together, Aerin was positive at last.

"Wait!" Katek yelled and Aerin froze on the
first step, looking back at the young gladiator
expectantly.  "What do you intend?"

"I... I don't know, but I have to warn
Gandarel," Aerin explained.

"Your warning could trigger the
attack
if you just blurt it out. Is there
another way?" Katek asked.

"Well we don't have much time, the officials
are lining up in the Arena, and I believe Gandarel will come out at
any moment,” Dono stated while watching the unfolding
scene.

"Does this Gandarel know you?" Katek
asked.

"Yes, he is our friend," Aerin explained.

"You can come onto the sands acting as my
attendants when I go forth as Temmen's second.  We will
get close and then you must signal your friend in some way."

Aerin considered for a moment, "All right,
but hurry."

"One moment, we have time," Katek stated, and
then quickly left the room for a moment.  When he
returned Katek picked up a quarterstaff and then went to the exit
into the Arena. He quickly had Aerin and Dono strip off their
tunics and go with bare chest and on bare feet.  He
arranged them each a pace behind him, to his left and right.

"There, not gladiators, but at least you can
play the part of attendants.  Keep your emotions in
check! The power of the crowd will be coursing through the sands;
do not let it sweep you in."

Dono nodded and Aerin swallowed hard. He had
just realized that he would be going out before all the
spectators.

Katek waited a moment longer until both boys
had control of themselves before he nodded and stepped out into the
sunlight.  There was a smattering of applause for the
bloodstained
boy that was Temmen's
second.  The other two boys stepped out and felt the gaze
of the crowd on their backs.  Katek set a slow and
measured pace across the sands, nearly driving Aerin crazy.

The victor of the tournament didn't even
bother to look at them.

The judges of the tournament formed two rows
of five men, leaving a path down the center where Gandarel now
approached.  His Guardsmen split up and waited by the
entrance, leaving Gandarel to walk before the crowd
alone.  In his left hand he held the gladiator statue
that was the trophy of the tournament, and
in
his right was the purse of gold crowns that was the
prize.  Even Gandarel was not used to being before so
many people at one time, so he didn't even notice the two
attendants standing a pace back from Temmen's
second.  There would be a smaller purse presented to the
loser and Katek would accept as his second.

As Gandarel reached mid-way along the path
between the judges, his gaze finally took in the three smaller boys
standing by the giant that had so cruelly felled
Temmen.  Gandarel had heard the judges discussing the
last blow; Temmen had been signaling his acceptance of defeat when
his opponent had struck him down.  The signal and blow
had been close enough that the judges couldn't call it a foul blow,
but they were not happy with the death he brought on, seemingly on
purpose.

Just then, one of the boys to
Katek's
left moved out a little and Gandarel's
eyes took in his face, he nearly stumbled when he recognized
Aerin.  His being here made no sense at all.

Aerin was a pace behind Katek and so stood
slightly behind Phassic as well.  At Gandarel's look of
recognition, Aerin raised his left palm and traced a triangle on it
with his right hand's forefinger then dotted the
center.  Gandarel remembered that symbol well from when
the dead Guardsman had traced it in his own blood.  Aerin
then pointed at Phassic.

Recognition flooded Gandarel's mind, as he
remembered seeing this man's face, and he realized this was the man
that murdered Aerin's parents.

Suddenly the handle of the Great Sword
projecting over the shoulder of Phassic loomed
largely
, and Gandarel pictured the blow that had
shorn
Temmen from shoulder to
hip.  He paused in his advance.

Gandarel's Guardsmen noted his sudden change
in motion and came to more attention.  Someone else noted
it as well, and Gandarel saw Phassic's hand drift slightly upwards
toward the hilt of the Great Sword.  The man's grin had
vanished and Gandarel could see him assessing the Guardsmen's
distance.

At that moment, all around them, Gladiators
stepped out from each of the entrances onto the Arena sand, they
covered every exit.  Phassic's slight movement forward
toward Gandarel halted as he took in all the escape routes covered
by battle-hardened gladiators.

His hand ceased its move toward the hilt and
he settled back onto his heels.

Gandarel made a slight hand gesture and his
Guardsmen came forward to flank their charge.  Only when
they were in position beside him did he move forward
again.  The crowd muttered, but they were more interested
in the strange occurrence of the gladiators surrounding the sands,
than in Gandarel's Guardsmen.  Most attributed the
Guardsman’s move to protect their charge to the arrival of the
gladiators and not to anything Phassic had done.

Phassic's eyes darted from Guardsmen to
gladiators as Gandarel presented him with the trophy and the purse,
but he made no moves.

Aerin stood waiting for this to be
over.  His most hated enemy in life stood a mere three
paces to his left, wearing the Great Sword that had killed
Temmen.

The air seemed suddenly thick, and a low and
rough voice whispered to Aerin.  It seemed to float in on
the breeze and Aerin couldn't tell where it was coming
from.  "I see you, boy, and I remember
you.  Come to me, Aerin, let me live within
you.  Your fear is already a part of me."

Aerin started to shake from the horridness of
the voice, but no one else seemed to hear it.  He looked
toward Phassic's back, but the large man was still facing
forward.  Suddenly Phassic's bald head seemed to twist
unnaturally all the way around, his grinning visage turning
suddenly into Aerin's father's
worm-eaten
face.

Aerin gasped and looked toward Gandarel and
then back at Phassic, but the man's head was suddenly back to
normal and no one seemed upset except Aerin.

After the presentation to the winner,
Gandarel stepped to Katek and presented a smaller purse, along with
heartfelt condolences for the loss of such a great gladiator.

Katek accepted the purse and nodded, but he
said nothing.

Gandarel then left the
sands.  Phassic and Katek headed for their exits, with
Aerin and Dono following Katek as before.

As soon as they were back in the chamber with
Temmen's
body, Dono exclaimed to
Katek, "So that is what you were doing when you left, calling out
the other gladiators!"

Aerin ignored their talk; he was trying to
shake off the fear and the strange images he had witnessed.

Katek nodded, "We are a brotherhood."

The door flew open and four Guardsmen
streamed in, followed thereafter by Gandarel. 

"What, in Gedin's bad dreams, are you two
doing?" Gandarel demanded.

Dono's mouth opened, but he didn't have a
thing to say.

Aerin brought himself back to reality and
answered, "We came to see the Gladiator tournament."

"But..." Gandarel added.

Aerin glanced at the Guardsmen, "It's a long
and complicated story."

"I see.  Guardsmen, leave me,
two
of
you wait
outside the door, and two at the entrance
from
the Arena," Gandarel
commanded.

When his men were out of easy
earshot
Gandarel stepped up to a startled Aerin
and stuck out his arm to accept a swordsman's
handshake.  Aerin took it in confusion.

Gandarel spoke, "It seems that I owe you my
life once again, my friend.  Though I wish you would stop
having reasons to save it.  You are my closest friends
and I thank you from my heart." Gandarel shook Dono's hand as
well.  "However," he continued, "how in the world do you
keep getting yourselves into the thick of things!"

Aerin explained how things had
transpired.  When he mentioned Katek's part, Gandarel
took the time to thank the young gladiator as well.

"So," Aerin added at the end of his account,
"have you arrested Phassic?"

Gandarel averted his eyes and his voice held
a lot of pain for his friend, "Aerin, I'm so sorry I have to say
this to you, but I cannot."

Aerin started to speak, but Gandarel
interrupted him.  "Let me finish.  I am the
heir to the Seat of Stone, but as my teachers keep telling me, that
does not make me a god.  I am as bound by rules as the
next man, actually, far more so.  I cannot treat anyone,
and I do mean anyone, outside of the laws or they mean
nothing.  
In this case,
I only have you as a
witness
to
this man's guilt.  It is literally his word against
yours.  Now I know that you are telling the truth and I
believe you beyond any shadow of a doubt, but that isn't good
enough.  The law says he must have a fair trial and by
the rules of the land, he could not be found guilty by your
testimony alone."

Dono broke in, "But he just tried to kill
you!"

"Did he?" Gandarel asked, and that made them
all pause.  "Don't get me wrong, I saw his hand reach in
the direction of his sword and I saw him start to move
forward
until he saw the gladiators at the
exits.  I even saw the look of hatred in his eye as he
accepted the trophy and purse I so reluctantly wanted to give
him.  In my eyes he was guilty, but he could not be
convicted on what I think he was going to do, nor by what you think
he was going to do.  There is no doubt in my mind that
your swift actions saved my life today, but I can't arrest the
bastard on what I think he might have done."

Aerin took a deep breath, then let it out and
closed his eyes in an effort to reach calm.  
Finally,
he spoke, "I understand,
Gandarel."

"Good, but let me tell you what I can
do."  He called in his Guardsmen.  "Men, the
man named Phassic, that just won the tournament, may be a threat to
me.  I have no proof, but I want him hounded.  I
want to know every move he makes and every law he
bends.  If he sneezes I want him arrested for
littering.  If he drinks I want him arrested for
drunkenness.  Make his life hell," Gandarel
commanded.

The Guardsmen Lieutenant nodded, and from the
hard look in his eye, things were going to be difficult for the
fake NexLord.

"And if you find one ounce of evidence of
foul play I want his head on a pike," Gandarel
added.   "Now I must go, my friends.  I
need to get back and alert the council of this
business.  Again, I thank you."

With that Gandarel left, and his Guardsmen
were around him, with their hands on weapons ready to take on any
threat.

Aerin turned to Katek when Gandarel had
departed, "So what are your plans now?"

The young gladiator still kept his emotions
chained behind a stone mask over his face, but the pain and
uncertainty bled out through his eyes.  "I must find a
new teacher.  I must train harder and seek Taumiz's
guidance."

"Taumiz?" Dono inquired.

"He is our patron Saint; he looks out for the
gladiators," Katek explained simply.  "He helps those who
work hard, keep discipline, uphold the honor and train in the ways
of the gladiator corps."

Aerin bit his lower lip; a habit he had when
deep in thought.  Dono noted the familiar habit and said,
"What are you thinking, Aerin?"

"I know the greatest warrior alive, perhaps
he could teach you."

Katek turned a steel gaze on Aerin and he had
a very serious expression on his face.  "Please don't
take this as an insult, but that is a claim that is hard to
believe."

"Yet it is true.  I've seen him
kill three Togroths in a heartbeat, using only a quarterstaff,"
Aerin explained.

"I will not call you a liar since you claim
to have witnessed this yourself.  Is this the man that
has taught you the quarterstaff?"

"He has been a part of my instruction, yes,"
Aerin replied.

Katek looked apologetic, "Then either he is
not such a wonderful teacher or you are not an apt pupil."

Aerin bristled, "Hey, I didn't do so badly
against you!"

Katek held out his hands to forestall Aerin's
outburst, "I did not mean to insult your skill!  You are
very good.  Perhaps one of the best amateurs I have
seen.  But I need to be better than the man who killed
Temmen," and here Katek's voice faltered for a moment.

"I understand, but do you know that I have
only been learning to fight for two years?"

At this announcement Katek frowned, "That is
not possible, you are too skilled."