The guards marched away, their footsteps echoing off the long wooden ramp. A moment after the footsteps stopped, Teddy heard the grinding sound of the ramp sliding away from the ground.
There was no way out but through whatever beast was about to be unleashed upon them.
“Reever?”
“Yes, Your Grace?”
“Please, just call me Teddy.”
“Yes, Teddy?”
“What did you choose?”
“Talent.”
Teddy’s stomach plummeted. “Why? I thought for sure you would say you had enough talent.”
“The more talent, the better for a mercenary. I am excellent, but it’s a moron who doesn’t know the ways in which he could be better.” Reever laughed. “I can only assume you picked talent as well.”
“Yes. Why is that funny?”
“Because a little adversity makes for a better story, and I suppose more entertainment for the crowd.”
“But we need both to win,” Teddy said.
A meaty hand clapped him on the shoulder. “Kid, I have been making my own luck since I grew up in the poorest neighborhood in Estrellas. This will hardly be new to me.”
“Why are you competing? Isn’t the whole point of being a sellsword that you value money over anything else?” Teddy asked.
It was a bold question, but understanding his new ally was the first step to trusting him, or at least trusting what he would do.
“There are more currencies than money.” Before Reever could say more, the bell rang out and the noise of the crowd grew deafening.
Teddy ripped his blindfold off and squinted into the midday sunlight. The moment it took for his eyes to adjust was the longest of his life. Even once he beheld the creature, his mind could not make sense of it.
“Whatisthat thing?”
Reever stepped up beside him. “It looks like?—”
It looked like an enormous lobster with wings. The monstrous red mass reared up on thick humanoid legs, its enormous claws big enough to crush a skull. Black membranous wings stretched out wide on its back.
Teddy didn’t know whether to laugh or run. The thing looked absurd. Its large, beady eyes blinked and its massive claws clicked together. The pungent, herbal scent of magic hit him. He’d assumedit would be some sort of animal. He had not expected a strange mythical medley of creatures, both real and imagined. It took a powerful spell to create creatures like this.
The crowd cheered in the bleachers high above them. Teddy and Reever, and likely the other contestants, were on low ground, in a pit that had been carved out of the center of the arena. It was probably designed to corral these creatures and keep them from escaping into the stands. Teddy had been worried about keeping an eye on Stella and now he had such low ground that he couldn’t even see her. He could only see the rise of the stands and the bustling crowd bracketing the royal booth where his parents sat looking stoic.
He knew them well enough to see the tension in their hands clasped together on the arm of his father’s throne.
Teddy forced his attention back to his task.
Priestesses stood on higher ground at each corner of their pit to judge that no magic was used and that they completed their task in time. One of them held an hourglass, with sand already pouring away as Teddy stared in a stupor.
“What do you know about…lobsters?” Teddy asked, pulling his short swords from his back. They didn’t have to kill the beast, but he couldn’t imagine getting within striking distance of those giant claws with the beast conscious.
Reever brandished a large, vicious-looking axe. “I traveled with a fisherman who caught them once. Creepy things with their skittering and beady little eyes.”
The beast let out a blood-curdling screech. Its wings stretched wide, and it curled in on itself, then launched into the air. It swooped in a high arc and then plummeted toward them with claws clacking.
Teddy stood frozen in place, less out of fear than determination to figure out where the jewel was. The winged lobster closed in on him and the crowd hushed.
