Cam looked to the big Teutonic warrior. “It is, m’laird.”
Clegg moved to pour himself some wine out of the beautiful crystal decanter. “Axel is in charge and you will never disobey him,” he said. “Wendell will be your instructor and you will never disobey him, either. Any show of resistance or rebellion, and you shall be reduced in status and expected to work off what I have already invested in you. Do you have any questions so far?”
Cam nodded without hesitation. “Aye, m’laird,” he said. “Ye say this is the Ludus Caledonia—this castle is all of it?”
Clegg shook his head. “This castle is only the beginning,” he said. “It is called Caelian Hill. I was a great English knight once, but fortune took me away from England, where I served various kings as a mercenary, including the Scots’ King James. He granted me this property in payment for my services. The castle is the heart of my complex, the Ludus Caledonia. That is the collective term for everything.”
It was a concise explanation from a man who had probably made the same speech hundreds of times, but Cam kept his mouth shut, sensing the man wasn’t finished yet. As expected, Clegg continued.
“Outside of the walls and down the hill, there is a warrior village,” Clegg went on. “The arena next to it, cut into the hillside, is called the Fields of Mars and it is both our training ground and our entertainment field. Wealthy lords pay a good deal of money to gamble their money away on our fights, and we have had many a warrior leave us to assume the helm of an army or become a man of great respect in the court of a duke or an earl. I’ve even had men end up as the right hand of kings.”
Cam considered all he’d been told, laboring to drink it all in. This was what he’d spent months looking for, hoping for, so the moment was not lost on him.
He wanted it badly.
“Ye’ve been truthful with me, m’laird, so I will be truthful with ye also,” he said. “I’ve men tae kill. That is why I’ve come: tae learn tae fight so that I can seek vengeance for the death of my grandfather. I will swear fealty tae ye and I will never disobey a command, but when my time is finished, I will leave ye. I’ve something I must do.”
Clegg nodded faintly in a gesture of understanding. “Every man has his own motivation,” he said. “But know this: you are an investment, Cam. I will invest money into your training and your housing, and in return, you will swear fealty to me and you shall fight for me. The usual duration of your oath is seven years and I will expect you to hold to that oath. But seven years is a long time to wait to exact your vengeance. If you cannot wait that long, then you are free to leave now. I will not waste any more time on you.”
Cam shook his head firmly. “I willna leave,” he said. “I told ye I’d swear an oath. I meant it.”
“Good,” Clegg said. “But there is also something else to consider. Some of the lords who come to watch the battles do so in order to find strong warriors for their armies. If a lord is willing to buy out the remainder of your contract, then you shall serve a new master until such time as the contract is finished. Whether or not you wish to continue serving the man after that will be up to you. Is that clear?”
“It is.”
Clegg held up a finger. “This is a business, Cam. That is all it is to me, but even with business, there is honor. I conduct myself honorably and I expect you to as well.”
Cam may not have known much about the world in general, but he understood honorable practices from his days as a smithy. He knew what it meant to make a fair profit, and that was exactly what Clegg was doing, only it was with warriors. Itall boiled down to the fact that this was a gambling business and Clegg was in it to make money.
“I swear that I will be honorable in all things, m’laird,” he said. “All I ask is that ye teach me tae punish my enemies.”
Clegg made his way over to Cam, his cup of fine wine still in his hand. The hypnotic, silver eyes viewed him intensely.
“I will teach you much more than that.”
Cam believed him. When Clegg returned to his table and produced a contract that had been carefully written on parchment, Cam made his mark. As Clegg sanded the ink, Axel spoke to Cam.
“Now your education begins,” he said. “Put your right hand over your chest.”
Cam looked at him with some confusion until Axel showed him what he meant. When his right hand was over his chest, Axel continued.
“Repeat after me,” he said quietly. “I faithfully swear to do all that is commanded of me, all that is required of me, and all that is asked of me.”
Cam did. “I faithfully swear tae do all that is commanded of me, all that is required of me, and all that is asked of me.”
“May I live to both fight and protect my brethren. May God smile upon me and grant me courage so that I may not fail myself or those around me.”
“May I live tae both fight and protect my brethren. May God smile upon me and grant me courage so that I may not fail myself or those around me.”
When he was finished, Clegg’s soft voice filled the pungent air of the chamber. “Thus it is spoken,” he murmured. “Thus shall it be done. Now you are anovicius, Highlander. A novice. It is time for you to enter the world of the Ludus Caledonia.”
There had been something reverent about the oath, something that subdued Axel and Clegg and even Wendell. Axelhad spoken the words with such reverence, something not seen outside of prayer.
The oath he’d taken had been theFionnadh Fuil, or the Blood Oath, of the Ludus Caledonia. In the days to come, Cam would know those words better than anything he’d ever known in his life. With that oath, he had become part of something that was far bigger and far more brutal than he could have ever imagined.
God help him, he had signed himself over to a fight guild.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
