“Seven.”
Then he squinted up at me. “And you’re the upstart who beat him, the mysterious Put Down Tom.”
It was a dumb name, used by accident, but not wanting to lose my record, I’d kept it. “I’m three-and-oh.”
“Nice to see you two made friends.” Then he scowled at Rade. “I remember you, knife of the dark below or something.”
“You know damned well it’sSword of the Underworld. I’ve fought here before, Clotz.”
“You deadlanders all look the same to me: bloodless, pale, demon-eyed freaks. What’s your record now?”
“An undefeated four.”
“No it’s not. I watched you lose to Veroy Durrel back in tenth month.”
“That one doesn’t count. Veroy cheated or your shitty goblin magic failed.” Rade pulled open the neck of his black shirt to display a big scar. “I had to pay the Olgaites for a healing. If this happens again, I’m blaming you.”
Goblins had a malicious giggle. “He he he. Splat, right in the throat!”
I cut in before Rade got mad enough to duel a bookie. I wasn’t too worried about fighting one goblin, but rather his hundred nearby friends. “We’ve brought some fresh faces for you tonight.”
The goblin scowled at Bognar and Danny, neither of whom looked like they’d put up a good fight, but then he grinned a mouth full of crooked yellow teeth when he sized up Sifuso. “A lacertian? The crowd loves the lizards. Make sure to do that hissing thing your kind does and show them the fangs!” Then he snarled at Rufus. “This crowd is bored of dwarves. It’s always dwarves, dwarves, dwarves. I’m stocked up on short, fat dummies with beards tonight. Come back next week.”
“How dare?—”
I stepped in front of Rufus to keep him from strangling the goblin. “Oh, you’re going to want this one, Clotz. This is no ordinary dwarf. This here’s a Clan Rudnikwar mage.”
“What’s that?”
I honestly had no idea, other than Rufus was bafflingly proud in claiming to be one. “Only the baddest of the bad, axe-swinging maniacs from a realm full of monsters lurking behind every rock and tree.”
“Hmmm…” The bookie scratched his booger-colored chin with his cracked dirty fingernails. “The announcer can work with that.” Then he turned and shrieked at one of his assistants, “Bounce that other dwarf off the roster and put this uglier one in his place.”
“Which is which?” that goblin asked. “They’re all ugly.”
“This one. The fatter one,” Clotz pointed at Rufus. “He’s hideous.”
I should have warned the new guys that arena goblins were notoriously mean little shits. It was a good thing Trax had never accompanied me to a mage fight, because with his tolerance for rudeness, he’d end up eating these obnoxious bastards like theywere popped corn. I’d thought about bringing my Squalo friend, because there probably wasn’t a fighter the goblins could scrape up from the Slumps who could best him in a fight, but Trax, being Trax, would probably end up biting his opponent’s head off or something equally lethal, which would get the locals even more spun up about him, and our lives were complicated enough already.
“Your group benefits me, Put Down Tom. It was looking to be a slow night, but Krachma is main event worthy, and the rest of you have filled my undercard.”
I’d watched my dad barter with enough merchants for barge supplies to recognize an opportunity when I saw it. “I expect a bonus for the finder’s fee at the end of the night.”
“For bringing me two stupid boring humans? Look at them! They don’t even have any extra arms! Can they even do magic? And another damned dwarf?”
“Don’t forget the lizard. He’s terrifying. Bonus percent or all seven of us walk and you’re back to searching the gutter for passed-out drunks to throw in the pit.”
“I don’t need your army of scrubs!”
Rufus tugged on the back of my cloak and whispered, “Carnavon, what are you doing?”
I smacked Rufus’ hand away. “I’m not playing around, Clotz.”
The goblin growled at me as he considered my ultimatum. “So these fools have got themselves a manager. Fine. You’ll get an additional percent on every match of these seven fighters.” He spit a gob of phlegm on his hand and held it out.
“Deal.” I pulled my glove off, spit on my palm, and we shook on it. As soon as the nasty little thing let go of me, I wiped my hand on my pants.
Ten
