This chapter's pretty short but hopefully it'll be a bit interesting. Enjoy!
Chapter 14
Talk
~Aaron
Brand looked terrible coming out of the arena but when we caught him before he was taken to the infirmary he had enough energy to smile, “Give’em hell for me will ya?” he croaked. We didn’t have the time to reply but I can say we all felt ten times ready to fight and win the next two. It was just me and Gray left now so that meant that I had a 50% chance of going against Luecor and at the moment I was feeling pretty lucky.
I was getting ready to fight now and the next round would start pretty soon. Even Gray was preparing, he had changed into a different outfit (I didn’t get to see what he looked like under his hood, he changed in some other room). He told me that the only ones left were Luecor and a swordsman called Sebastian.
“Any double swords or spikes?” I asked.
Gray shook his head, “Just a plain sword, it’s not even a MAO.” That was good, I didn’t like surprises. However that was the worst case scenario, hopefully Gray would go against Sebastian not me.
I looked around the room; our group of five was now down to three people. Rook was conflicted, not knowing if he should feel happy we were advancing or annoyed that “that idiot Brand” won and he lost. As a result he was irritable, not much of a change from his usual attitude. Gray on the other hand lay down on the nice and comfy sofa, not looking the least bit worried. I sure wasn’t as unconcerned as Gray and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous or worried.
Pacing wasn’t helping so I sat down on my bed. Before long I was fingering the chain around my neck, feeling the pattern of it. I hid the charm that hung from it, hiding it in my hand. No one had seen it yet thankfully, the deep purple and black flower. Wearing it was embarrassing but tossing it was out of the question. I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of it; after all, my sister had given it to me. As poor taste as she had for gift giving she really put her all into it. Thinking about her made me smile, Just you wait Arabella, I thought, I’ll win this for you.
There was a knock and the door opened, “It’s about to start,” said an official. The three of us got up, already ready to go. We stepped out into the hall and Rook tapped me on the shoulder, “I’m going to go ahead and go to the stands,” he said. I nodded, it made sense, he wasn’t going to be called.
Gray and I followed the official back to the arena entrance, now the fourth time we’d been there today. Two more fights, two more fights and we could win. It was unbelievable that less than a week ago I was stressing over who would be our weapons master and if we’d ever have a chance of entering. Now my weapon’s master was walking right next to me and we were in the finals. I looked over to Gray, looked down I should say. He really was small; I could put my hand on his head and mess up his hair like I was his big brother. That made me curious, “Gray?”
He looked up at me, “Aaron?”
“Do you have any sisters or brothers?”
He shook his head and looked back in front of him, “No, I do not have any siblings.”
I nodded and it was quiet for a moment, “Aren’t you going to ask if I have any siblings?” I asked.
He looked back up at me, “Would you like to tell me?”
“You sure don’t have any curiosity.” I said shaking my head.
He shrugged, I sighed, “I have a little sister.” Gray didn’t respond. We reached the trap door and we both stood there waiting for the announcer to begin. Shifting from one food to the other I looked over at Gray, “So…What’s happening?” I said trying to get a conversation out of him.
Gray looked up at me as if thinking Really? and said, “Nothing much, I’m just about to get into a fight.” I laughed a little then it was quiet again except for the noisy crowd above us. Gray sighed then asked monotone, “What’s happening?”
“Is it really that hard to talk?”
“Talking became tiring for me a long time ago,” Gray said with another sigh.
Talking became tiring? I was starting to realize that Gray didn’t talk like a guy younger than me, “One of these days I’m going to make you want to talk.”
“It’s a bet,” said Gray.
“Ladies and gents!” yelled the enthusiastic announcer.
“About time,” muttered Gray. I pretended not to hear it.
“Now commences the fourth fight of the finals! Will the Excruciates win? Or will the Dragon Seekers continue on to a fifth battle?” There were answering screams of Dragon Seekers and Excruciates from above us and surprisingly they were about equal. “And so, for our next match we have…Sebastian and Gray!”
I breathed a sigh of relief; I’d be going against Luecor, not Gray. I looked over at Gray and patted him on the back. “Good luck,” Gray looked disappointed; I guess he thought he could take Luecor.
Gray started to walk up the stairs when suddenly the announcer interrupted obviously surprised, “W-wait, I’m sorry, the next fight isn’t Gray vs. Sebastian, its Aaron vs. Sebastian!”
No. No, no, no. Gray walked down the steps and frowned a little, “This isn’t right,” he muttered. This wasn’t right at all! Now our hopes rested on this kid who we met less than a week ago!
The horn blew and I mechanically walked up the steps. It wasn’t supposed to be this way, I thought, I was the match for Luecor. How could the judges and the king decide that a kid could go against Luecor in the first place?
As I walked on the gravel my situation became more and more clear, and more discouraging. But I also realized I couldn’t do anything about it, the best way to do this was to win this fight to make sure we at least had a chance. I unsheathed my sword, fine, I thought, I’ll get this done. The announcer yelled, “READY!” My headache was threatening to return but I ignored it, “BEGIN!!” I began to run, on the other side Sebastian was walking very slowly. Suddenly I had a feeling just like Gray had said that something wasn’t right. I increased my pace, Sebastian was still walking and didn’t even have his sword out, was it just me or was he getting slower and slower? It’s probably nothing, I thought then pushed it back into my mind and kept running. I was close now, I brought my sword up, about to swing. Sebastian suddenly collapsed onto the ground. I stopped my sword and walked over to him, wondering if he was trying to pull a trick. As I got closer I saw that that wasn’t the case. He was shaking and violently coughing, his eyes staring blankly like he couldn’t see. He reached out his hand his mouth moving up and down like he was saying something to me. I quickly went to his side. His voice came out in horse whispers and I had to lean in my head to hear him, “I..,” cough, “I can fight,” he coughed up some blood, “I can win…”
No knowing what to think I asked “What happened?”
“Why?” he asked, his voice cracking, “Why are you doing this?” he stopped coughing and passed out.
As quick as that I had won. Gray was right, something was wrong. Someone wanted me to win or Sebastian to lose, someone wanted to see Gray fight Luecor.
This wasn’t right.
The horn reverberated in my ears, ten times louder than I remembered. I watched from the stands, Gray wouldn’t let us go with him to the underground floor. Gray stepped onto the gravel looking even smaller up there. His attire was the same, a hoodie concealing who knows what and just two swords, the clear and foreign one. He wouldn’t listen to us at all during the time we had or take anything we offered. I couldn’t believe his laid back attitude. He wasn’t the least bit worried as he walked toward one of the most powerful people in the kingdom, his hands in his pockets.
I never did see what my obstacle was but Gray’s was already out. The people running the tournament must have got word that he was a weapons master and made one just for him. All around the walls of the arena an assortment of weapons lay. There were over hundreds of swords, axes, knives, spears, and some weapons I had never seen before. It really wasn’t an obstacle but more of a helping hand. Even so Gray walked past all the weapons, not even drawing his own.
The announcer screamed for the match to begin. Both of them, Luecor and Gray, walked toward each other. Even with all the screams of the audience I felt it was quiet. My most hated scenario was happening, I wanted to help, to do something but I couldn’t, all I could do was watch. How old was Gray again? Rook said he was at least sixteen, I couldn’t believe it. He was just too fragile looking from here, too young. Luecor strode to him, a wicked smile on his face, he was the type who wouldn’t go easy on a kid; he’d get the job done. From here I started to sweat from his monstrous magic energy and in his hand was a gigantic spiked sword to match. Gray didn’t have a chance.
Both of them didn’t even start to run and just walked until they were ten paces or so away from each other. They stopped and no one moved, when was the massacre going to start?
Then, probably the most unexpected thing that could have happened, Luecor started to laugh. He clutched his stomach, tearing up. When he finally stopped I could just barely hear over the audience as he said, “It’s been awhile, Gray.”
