Page 42 of Ironhold, Trial Two

I’m not sure how long I stand there like that, but gradually it occurs to me that the crowd is still shouting encouragement, and the sounds of conflict are still ringing out around the Colosseum. I realize what is happening and that only two of our opponents in the arena are down.

Naia is still standing, still facing off against Vex, but barely. His knives are darting in through the air, controlled by his telekinesis, slicing at Naia as she tries to force her way towards him. She is taking wound after wound, healing herself as she moves forward, her axes raised ready to cut him down.

“Go down, Naia!” I cry out. “It’s over!”

Does she hear me? For the briefest of seconds I think she glances around at me, seeming to see that the frost drake has fled, and that Koda is dead. She stands there in obvious surprise,hesitating for just a moment and looking my way, as if trying to make up her mind what to do next.

I silently will her to remember our plan from before the match: for one of us to take the other one down with non-lethal injuries, so their team can be declared the winner without the other having to die. Naia seems to realize the situation, but still she hesitates as if not entirely trusting that I will live up to my end of the deal after her betrayal.

But I will. I want her to live. I know she will heal. I hold up my trident, ready for her to come forward. She does so, roaring a war cry as if to make it all seem more realistic. We have to sell this to the watching citizens so that they don't call for all our deaths. We must give them the show they want.

I don’t want to hurt her, but hurting her is the only way to save her life. I wait for her to rush forward, and I thrust with my weapon, feeling the tines of it driving into her flesh. I wince at the impact and at the pain that crosses Naia’s face. The worst part is that I know she could keep coming forward if she were doing this in earnest. She could heal even this wound and keep fighting, but she knows that isn't the point here. She stands there transfixed, and again I silently will her to fall. All she has to do is make this look like a mortal wound, to show that she is incapacitated, and the bout will end.

“Please,” I whisper.

That is when Vex’s knives fly in, too fast for me to stop, almost too fast for me to follow. They plunge into Naia’s flesh, and I don’t know if it is because Vex thinks he is helping out his teammate, or because he wants the victory for himself. Knives slam into her from every angle, making Naia scream.

“Vex, no!” I cry out.

It’s too late. A knife comes sailing through the air, and it slams into her heart. Blood sprays over me, hot and sudden. I silently pray that Naia will be able to save herself, but thereare some wounds even her talents cannot heal, some deaths too sudden for her to be able to do anything about it.

Her face is trapped there in a look of surprise, her mouth a silent O of shock. She loses her grip on her axes, and they topple to the arena floor. She falls next, her weight wrenching my trident from my hands, the impact of her falling sending up a small cloud of sand.

I go to her, kneeling beside her, hoping that I might be able to do something to help. If I remove the weapons, is there a chance she might be able to heal herself even now? But no, her eyes are already starting to glaze over in death. The last rattle of her breath comes from her throat, even as the crowd roars for the death.

Just like that, Naia is gone.

Hot tears sting my eyes. Grief and fury flow through me in equal measure. I want to use my powers to rip Vex apart, to kill everyone in that stadium for treating the death of someone as dedicated to healing as Naia was as simple sport. Even now they are cheering and I want to stop them from cheering. I want to call back the frost drake to rake their ranks with ice. I want to send the shadow cat to wreak havoc among them.

I straighten up to do it and there on the sand I see the bracelet, neatly opened by Naia’s axe. I look at it, and again I find myself thinking of Alaric and his restraint. I find myself thinking about what kind of person I want to be, too, and about what Naia would want. She’s someone who has tried to help people, even when it has cost her. She wouldn’t want me to simply slaughter people.

I fight to keep my powers under control they are threatening to roll out and take over every creature near the Colosseum, every creature in Aetheria. It feels as though I'm wading through deep water as I bend to pick up the leather cuff. I take it, and I fasten it around my wrist. Even as I do so, the runes on it glowand the leather seals together once more leaving it unblemished and impossible to remove.

It is as if the whole stadium breathes a sigh of relief, and the announcer starts to speak.

“Ladies and gentlemen, citizens of Aetheria! You have witnessed here a battle for the ages. You have seen triumph and tragedy. Now I give you your victors: Vex and Lyra!”

The approval of the crowd is thunderous. I don't care about any of it. I am already stalking from the sand, heading back into the spaces beneath the Colosseum, my eyes filled with tears. I have survived another season, another set of matches, but the cost has been too high this time. Far too high.

Chapter Twenty Six

“You didn’t need to kill her!” I yell at Vex, as soon as we’re off the sands. “It was over. She was beaten!”

Trainers and our fellow gladiators start to gather around us, obviously sensing the conflict brewing between us. I’m not exactly doing anything to hide it.

“She was on the other team,” Vex says. “Killing the opposition is the point.”

“Defeating them is the point,” I say. “Surviving is. You finished Naia when she wasn't a threat anymore.”

“You might say that, but I had just seen her heal a dozen wounds. You're lucky she wasn't climbing her way along your trident to get to you. You should be thanking me for saving you.”

“Thanking you?” I start towards him and instantly other gladiators are in the way, holding me back. Zara is there, and Cesca, while Arctus goes to Vex’s side, as if he might defend him. “You killed my friend! You stabbed her just because you wanted the glory of being the one to win the bout!”

"And I'm not going to apologize for that," Vex says. "It's time you got on board with what the games are, Lyra. They are a blood offering to the gods, to the city, to the stone that gives us our magic. They are not a place for holding back, or for scared young women who want to pretend they can get through it all peacefully.”

I find myself wishing for a moment that I weren’t wearing the cuff that dampens my powers. That I could send every beast in the pens lunging for his throat. Even as it is, Vex takes a step back, then looks angry at himself for being afraid enough to do that.

“You're just a hypocrite, Lyra,” he says. “You pretend you're too good for all of this, but when it comes down to it, you're as ready to kill as anyone else.”

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