Page 28 of Ironhold, Trial Four

I shake my head. “My dampener won't let me do it. I'm down to just my fighting skills at the moment.”

I have a replacement spear, and my weighted chain. Outside I can hear the announcer calling our names, so we walk out together, the sunlight catching Zara's flame red hair. She wields a pair of curved daggers, but the vials of water set on beltscrisscrossing her armor are the real threat.

The others step out onto the sanda moment or two later. Cesca is wielding that slender blade she seems to favor. Ercusis a wild looking gladiator, with a spiked beardand unkempt long hair. Small whirlwinds of dust rise up around him. He wields an axe.

The emperor is watching, and he nods as he looks over to me in a sign of his favor. The crowd shouts my name in approval as the emperor stands.

“Begin!” He commands.

There is an art to working with another person. It would be easy to run off and treat it as two individual battles, but that is the quickest way to lose in the arena. Coordinated foes will always bring down one of such a team, then turn their attentions to the other. Zara and I must work together better than that if we are to succeed here.

But our opponents are determined to disrupt our attempts to move as one. Ercususes this control of windto kick up dust around us making it hard to see one another. Hard to stay together.

An instant later, he's charging at me out of the dust, and I barely avoid the sweep of his axe. I know I should be focused on the fight but part of me is still thinking about Callus, and the Order of Hunters. I can't ignore his sheer hatred for me or the threats he's made. But I also can't focus on him when there's a blade coming at my head. I duck just in time as Cesca thrusts at me, moving in behind Ercus. There is lightning crackling along her blade, so that even a touch will hurt or stun.

I move, and Zara is engaging Ercus, coming at him from the side.

In theory, we are the favorites in this bout, butwe are held back by two things. First, I don't have access to my full powers. That's a serious disadvantage when normally I would be able to call a creature to me or use the eyes of the surrounding birds to see what's happening. Now, I might as well be a null, because I have no access to my powers. I must rely on whatever speed and strength I have built upduring my training to try to win.

The second problem is thatwe are holding back compared to our opponents. Zara is clearly avoiding clashing with Cescadirectly, and I would rather not kill her either. Meanwhile, Ercusis swinging wildly, obviously trying to separate our heads from our bodies, and Cesca seems to be attacking with a kind of ruthless skill that'shard to ignore.

I try to tangle her up in my chain. If I can completely immobilize her, that will take her out of the fight and maybe Zara cando something spectacular enough with Ercus that no one more question the fact that she's still alive.

The problem with that move is that my chain is made of metal. Lightning dances along it, shocking meand making me drop it. I stumble, moving around Cesca, trying to recover from the sudden pain.

Zara is attacking Ercus furiously, ducking inside his swings and striking with her daggers. I see him start to fall butI shouldn't have taken my attention from Cesca. She thrusts at me with her sword, and although I twist aside from the worst of the blow, there is still lightning crackling along the blade. I fall back and lose my footing, laying there staring at the sky aboveas the crowd roars its approval for the moment.

Cesca is standing over me now, weapon raised. Friends or not, it's obvious she's ready to finish me. “Sorry, Lyra.”

That is when something bursts around her skull. Water flows around her, and I realizethat Zara must have thrown one of her vials. Zara is using her skill with water to cover Cesca’s head, encasing her in water, making it impossible for her to breathe. Ercus is down, his throat opened by a dagger.

Cesca looks shocked, turning towards Zarawith an accusing look. She lunges with her blade, and Zara barely weaves aside in time. Cesca attacks again, but her movements are slowing now. She drops her sword, clawing at the water as if she can pull it from her head. Her movements grow more frantic, then weaker.

Finally, she collapses to the sand. I do not know if she is just unconscious or dead. Zara lets go of her control of the water asthe crowd roars, and we must both stand there, drinking in the praise Because that is what is expected of us. I can see the pain in Zara’s eyes at having to hurt Cesca like that, but she still did it when it counted.

I think we're both relieved to hear Cesca gasp for air, returning to consciousness. Zara goes to help her from the sands but Cesca brushes her off, refusing the assistance. Zara hurries after her.

I do not get to witness whatever their conversationis next, because an imperial guard is waiting to take me to the emperor's boxalmost as soon as I step back through the iron gate. I hand over my weapons and follow the guard, working my way up through the arena to the box where the emperor is waiting. He has a dagger in his hands, perhaps in a reminder of his threat from before.

It takes an effort of will to force myself to kneel.

“Your partner saved you in that bout,” he says. “She was quite ruthless.”

“Yes, my emperor,” I say.

“You don't like that,” Emperor Tiberius says, “but that's because you don't really believein the twin pillars of the empire. You don't see that they are the only ways to maintain strength. Now, I believe I set you a task. Do you have answers for me yet, or do I have to have you punished?”

“I have learned where Callus comes from,” I say, grateful now that I confronted him. I don't want to think what the outcome of this conversation would be if I hadn't done so.

“And where is that?” the emperor asks.

“He is the last of a group known as the Order of Hunters,” I say. “He claims that he has come for me on his own because he hates beast whisperers. Because he blames them for the deaths of his family.”

“A fanatic acting alone,” the emperor says. “You have become a famous beast whisperer, and so he has come for you? Can it really be so straightforward? No plots,no machinations? Sometimes it is easy to forget just what a powerful motivating factor hatred can be.”

He sits there looking thoughtful.

“You have achieved what I asked. I will of course have this gladiator removed from Ironhold so that he is no threat to you. It is the least I can do as your patron.”

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