Selene says that with a casual confidence that suggests she isn’t taking the threat from me seriously.Does that mean she’s simply arrogant, or does it mean she’s arranged advantages for herself in the games that I simply don’t know about yet?
Selene steps away from me.“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I want to reassure Marcus that I didn’t order his death.I look forward to seeing you in the colosseum, Lyra.”
She walks in the direction of the room Marcus went into, leaving me behind.I should feel worried about her confidence when it comes to facing me, but for the moment, all I can feel is joy that I’m going to get what I want here.I’m going to get to fight in the Grand Tournament.If I fight my way through it, I’m going to get the chance to face her.
I’m going to have the opportunity to stop her, but that means when the moment comes, I need to be ready.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Marcus’ sword comes at me and I sway aside, swinging my net to wrap around his arm.He isn’t fast enough to pull back, but hedoessend a jolt of lightning running through it, so that I must let go or find myself stunned.
I’m expecting that move, though, so I’m already releasing the net.It’s enough that it tangled him for a second, and that has left an opening in which I can thrust with my trident.Marcus doesn’t look upset that I’ve bested him once again in one of our training bouts.He looks pleased, if anything, maybe sensing that this improvement in my skills is the only thing standing between me and death in the arena.
“Good,” he says.“Now the logs.”
There are heavy logs set out in the garden of his villa, arranged at intervals so that I must run between them before I lift them and flip them.I’m sweating as I do it, the sun beating down on my skin.I don’t slack off for a moment, though, because I only have days now before the Grand Tournament is due to begin.I need to sharpen my skills and build my strength as much as possible before then.
So I sprint between the posts, not slowing even for a second.I imagine blasts of magic coming my way, and how fast I’ll have to move when an opponent is targeting me with ranged attacks.I won’t be able to hesitate then if I want to survive.
“Good,” Marcus says as I finish.He has a scroll beside him.“I found out more about a couple of the gladiators who’ve come in from outside Aetheria.One is named Lorelei.She’s from Arboria and has power over plants.”
“How will that help her in a fight?”I ask him.
“If there are any in the colosseum, it could be decisive,” Marcus says.“My understanding is that her specialty, though, is throwing down seeds that then turn into tangling briars.”
It’s a trick that could slow down an opponent, or even completely incapacitate them.
“What about the other one?”I ask.
“Jor, from the mountain lands far to the north,” Marcus says.“He claims to channel the spirits of dead former warriors through his flesh, finding someone with the skills to fight any given enemy.”
Both of them sound like potentially dangerous foes, and I start to think through the strategies I’ll need to defeat them.Neither seems to have magical ranged attacks, but I’ll need to be ready to leap clear of any briars if they start to grow beneath my feet.In both cases, the best strategy will be to close the distance quickly, trying to draw them into a more normal fight.
Alaric approaches the training area now, and for once, he isn’t alone.He has a white bearded old man with him who looks around nervously, as if afraid to be in Marcus’ home.
“Marcus, Lyra, this is Calpern.I think he may be the answer to at least one of our problems.”
“I never thought you’d be bringing me somewhere so grand,” the old man says.“I try to keep out of the affairs of nobles, Alaric.”
Marcus snorts.“He’smore of a noble than either of us.I’m just of merchant stock, and Lyra…”
“I know who she is,” Calpern says, “and who you are, Senator.”
“And you know how important this is,” Alaric insists.“It might be the difference between life and death for Lyra in the games.”
The old man nods, then gestures for me to sit.“Let me get a better look at your arm, young lady.”
I do as he bids me, sitting on a stool by the training area and holding out my left arm.Calpern takes it, examining the dampener there carefully.
“Calpern used to work at Ironhold,” Alaric explains as he does it.“One of his tasks was to fit dampeners to those gladiators too unruly to be allowed their full powers.He was also in charge of adjusting them to allow them more or less power, depending on how they behaved.”
A note of hope starts to sing through me.Has Alaric truly found someone who might be able to give me back some of my magic?
“Can you do it?”I ask him.“Can you change the dampener?”
Calpern looks me in the eye.“Are you going to help the resistance?Are you going to stop what’s happening to our city?”
I nod.“I’m going to do everything I can.”
