I didn’t but took his four links, hoping they’d give me a little extra energy. They sat in my stomach like lead. From the cell on the other side of the corridor, Cla was looking at me. No, that’s wrong. He was eye-fucking me. Iota gave me a shrug that said What are you gonna do. I gave it back to him. What indeed.
There was waiting. We had no way to keep time, but it slowed anyway. Fremmy and Stooks sat side by side in their cell. Fremmy said, “As long as they don’t put us against each other, old pal, that’s all.”
I thought they probably would. Because it was cruel. That, at least, turned out to be wrong.
Just when I began to believe it wouldn’t be today after all, four night soldiers appeared, Aaron in charge. He was always on the field during “playtime,” waving his limber stick like a conductor’s baton, but this was the first time he’d come to Deep Maleen since taking me to see the Lord High. And to check out the torture chamber, of course.
The cell doors rattled open on their rusty tracks. “Out! Out, kiddies! A good day for half of you, a bad one for the rest!”
We stepped out of the cells… all but a slight, balding man named Hatcha. “I don’t want to,” he said. “I’m sick.”
One of the night soldiers approached him, but Aaron waved him off. He stood in the door of the cell Hatcha shared with a much bigger man named Quilly, who hailed from Deesk. Quilly shrank back, but Aaron’s aura brushed him. Quilly gave a soft cry and clutched his arm.
“You are Hatcha of what was once called the Citadel, is that right?”
Hatcha nodded miserably.
“And you feel ill. The sausages, perhaps?”
“Maybe,” Hatcha said, not looking up from the trembling knot of his hands. “Probably.”
“Yet I see you ate all but the strings.”
Hatcha said nothing.
“Listen to me, kiddie. It’s the Fair One or the Maiden. I’d see to your time visiting that lady myself, and it would be long time. I’d close the door slow. You’d feel the spikes touch your eyelids… just gentle, you know… before they punched through. And your stomach! Not as soft as your eyes, but soft enough. What’s left of those sausages will come dribbling out while you scream. Now does that sound like a treat?”
Hatcha groaned and stumbled from the cell.
“Excellent! And here we all are!” Aaron cried. “Off to the games we go! Hump, kiddies! Hump, hump, hump! Such fun awaits!”
We humped.
As we made the climb we’d made many times before—but never until then knowing only half of us would come back—I thought of my dream. Of Leah saying you’re faster than you think, Prince Charlie.
I didn’t feel fast.
7
Instead of going directly to the field, we were marched into the team room we’d been using after practices. Only this time the Lord High was there, resplendent in a full-dress uniform which looked blue-black inside his aura. He was fully charged up for the occasion. I wondered where the energy that powered those auras came from, but such questions weren’t much of a priority that day.
On the shelf where there had been thirty-one buckets for washing after “playtime,” there were now just sixteen, because only sixteen would need to clean up after the day’s festivities. In front of the shelf, propped on an easel, was a large poster board with FAIR ONE FIRST ROUND printed at the top. Below it were the matchings. I remember them perfectly; I think in such a terrible situation, a person would either remember everything… or nothing at all. I apologize for throwing out even more new names, but I must, if for no other reason than those with whom I was imprisoned deserve to be remembered, if only briefly.
“Here you see the order of battle,” Kellin said. “I expect you all to put up a good show for His Majesty Elden. Do you understand?”
No one replied.
“You may find yourself pitted against one you consider a friend, but friendship no longer matters. Each contest is to the death. To the death. Bringing your opponent low but not killing him will only earn both of you far more painful deaths. Do you understand?”
It was Cla who replied. “Yus.” He looked at me as he said it and drew a thumb across his enormous neck. And smiled.
“The first set comes soon. Be ready.”
He left. The other night soldiers followed him. We examined the poster board in silence.
FAIR ONE FIRST ROUND
First Set
Fremmy to Murf
Jaya to Hamey
Ammit to Wale
Second Set
Yanno to Freed