Page 37 of Ironhold, Trial Two

“I'm not fighting the shadow cat, am I?” I ask.

He looks puzzled. “You don't know what's going on? You don't know who you're fighting?”

I shake my head. “They've held that back from me. It feels like they want to ambush me with something. To catch me by surprise again the way they did with the second bout.”

“That wasn't my idea,” Stefano says. “Wraiths aren’t something I deal with. From what I hear, they took the gladiator you were meant to fight and summoned that thing right next to him. He didn't stand a chance.”

So, I was originally due to fight a normal gladiator. Only someone changed it at the last minute. Someone decided to make it more difficult for me.

“Who did it?” I ask.

Stefano shrugs. “Who's to say with these things? Could be someone who thought they could make money betting against you. Could be someone who thought they could gain the favor of the emperor by doing it. It could just be that the organizers got the idea at the last minute and decided it would be a better bout.”

I'm not sure which I believe of those options. My feeling is that the emperor or someone near him was behind it, determined to show me as dangerous, or to kill me. It's the kind of manipulation that Ravenna warned me about, a reminder that the Colosseum is not about fair fights between just two foes. Who you are and who supports you can make a huge difference in terms of the fights you get in the arena. My fights have been harder than they would otherwise be this time, specifically because me using my powers has attracted the attention of those who hate beast whisperers.

“But you came through the bout,” Stefano says.

"At the cost of setting the wraith loose on the crowd," I reply. I feel bad about that. It doesn't matter that the people were out there baying for my blood. It doesn't matter that they would have been happy to see me killed in the most horrifying ways. All that matters is that they were hurt and died, and it was my fault. "And now I have my powers curbed."

I hold up my wrist to emphasize it.

“Can you still talk to them?” Stefano asks. “Can you still feel them?”

I nod.

“That’s the main thing,” he says. “Remember, even just being able to communicate with the beasts is more than most people can do. I wishIcould do it.”

“You wish you were a beast whisperer?” I say. “But they’re persecuted. They’re killed. And you have healing powers, Stefano. You can do something that most people wish they could manage. Why would anyone want to be something that people hate?”

“Remember,” Stefano says. “Everyone wishes they could do something else. We live in a city full of magic, and everyone who has it takes their own powers for granted. They see everyoneelseas special, but think it’s obvious that they can fling lightning around, or touch minds, or, yes, heal animals.”

I’m slowly learning that lesson. I have tasted real power, and now I don’t have it any longer. I’m cut off from everything I can do.

“And remember that beast whisperers weren’t always hated,” Stefano says. “The emperor portrays them as something wild and out of control, but that’s at least as much about that prophecy of his as it is about any real threat. From what I’ve heard, most of the time, when beast whisperers lose control, they’re the ones who get hurt, the same as any mage with more power than they can handle.”

It’s a way of thinking about it that I hadn’t considered. My powers scare me a little, and I hate the thought of losing control, but would it be any different if I could summon fire from nothing, or manipulate objects? Is the issue that I’m a beast whisperer, or is it that I don’t have full control over what I can do yet?

It’s a lot to think about, but it isn’t the main reason I came down here into the beast pens. I came here looking for answers.

“Stefano, why are they having you feed the shadow cat?” I ask. “Do you know what my bout is going to be?”

He hesitates. “They haven’t told you? I guess I can, because it’s up on the betting boards. This is to be a triple header. You, the shadow-cat and Vex are one team.”

Me and Vex? That thought would make me laugh if it weren’t so serious. They’ve taken a combination from my previous bout, one that shouldn’t work, and they’re putting us up against…

“Who are we fighting?” I ask.

“I know the beast is going to be the frost drake,” Stefano says sounding apologetic. I can understand why. The frost drake is one of the larger and more dangerous animals in there. Without my powers it will be a dangerous foe.

“And the gladiators?” I ask.

“One is Koda.”

I know the name. He's a null from a tribe on the fringes of the empire. The rumor around Ironhold is that he gave himself to the Colosseum because he wanted to show that the fighters of the Aetherian Empire were weak.

“And the other?” I ask.

Stefano gives me another sympathetic look. “Naia.”

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