I try not to gasp or show any outward signs of fear.
Have they decided I’m weak? Will they throw me down the nearest shaft?
I keep my eyes down. I don’t struggle. I’m not stupid.
But I will survive.
‘Why?’ the overseer asks the other one, who I notice is dressed marginally better.
I glance up and see them glowering at each other. Both are large though the new one appears cleaner as well as clothed well. He’s not covered in the thin layer of dust everyone down here is, either.
‘Not for you to know, dreg.’
The overseer holding me snorts.
‘Fucked if I care,’ he snarls, pushing me hard toward his better.
I fall against the cleaner one, and he lets out a growl of anger, thrusting me away from him and then wiping at the invisible dirt I’ve left on him.
‘Gods, she’s covered in grime, you cunt!’
The overseer who brought me chortles, does a rude gesture with his hand, and walks off.
I step back and look down, waiting for the smack around the head I’ll get though running into him wasn’t my fault.
But nothing comes.
‘It’s your lucky day, female,’ he rasps out. ‘Come.’
Survive.
I do as I’m told, and I’m taken through a doorway in the face of the rock that I’ve never noticed. There’s a wide staircase with very long, shallow steps in front of me. The stones are worn toward the middle by years of booted feet traversing them. I peer up. It curves slightly to the left around the wide perimeter of the pit.
No one goesupunless they’re to fight in the arenas.
I’m goingup. Though I don’t know what to expect, my elation at being chosen makes it easy to follow the orc, which is good because if I don’t go readily, not only might I lose my chance, but he’ll definitely snap my neck like a hen destined for the pot, throw me down a shaft, and it’ll be my half-eaten bones that start appearing on the walkways.
I trail after him along the wide corridor that has openings through it at regular intervals that overlook the pits. These are the windows where the figures stand and watch us, I realize. We’re already very high despite only walking for a few moments.
I’m taken into a small room and told to strip.
I silence the fear in my head and the confusion that pervades my mind most of the time as I let my brown, potato-sack garment, the same as all the other women wear here, fall to the floor without hesitation.
Survive.
At any cost.
I realize belatedly that I’m not alone. Besides the overseer who brought me up, there’s a fae and two other orcs. My eyes return to the fae more than once and not only because I haven’t seen one here since I arrived. I think I know him. He was one of the ones who sold me to this place, I’m almost sure of it. I tryto recall more than that, but, like everything outside the pits, my memory of him is hazy at best.
‘She must bear some fortitude to have marks such as these,’ one of the orcs comments, stepping forward.
His hands skate down my scarred body. I stand perfectly still, staring at nothing, refusing to shiver.
‘Aye, that she does,’ the other orc replies agreeably. ‘She’s been here over two months. Usually the prettier ones die in the paddocks, but, as much as it pains me to say it, you were right as usual, Bere. She’s ruthless and heartier than she looks at first glance. She’s not lived the soft life of a pleasure slave as I first assumed when you brought her to me. Worth more than others in the lower level pits, certainly. Whether she’ll last more than a few actual matches in an arena is another matter, though. I might be better served by keeping her to the smaller pit fights at my patrons’ social revelries. They’ll enjoy seeing one such as her spar with other beauties.’
Bere, the fae, shrugs. ‘As I said, Kobeth. I spoke truth to you. I grow impatient to leave. As much as I’ve enjoyed your food and drink over the past few weeks, I do have a business to run, and almost a sennight has passed in Merediea. Tell me, do you want her or shall I take her back to the First Circle? I can still get a good price for her there though the auctions will largely be finished by now, but...’
The orc snorts. ‘You already know we’ll take her, or else you wouldn’t have wasted two First Circle weeks taking advantage of our hospitality, you fae cunt.’
