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"You honor me with your presence this evening, my prince. It is so rare to see you at such a gathering," Nektos said, his voice smooth as the silk he was wearing.
"The Pharaoh thinks I study too much and suggested I attend," the man replied. "A new slave of yours?"
"Yes, my prince. All the slaves here tonight will be competing tomorrow as a part of the Feast of Sacrifices."
"You would send a wine girl to the arena?" the man asked, a thread of disapproval in his voice.
Nektos laughed. "Not at all. The men who sold me this wine girl claimed she is a warrior and a witch."
A small smile lifted the stranger's full lips. "A witch? You don't say."
Fen looked at him innocently and hoped he wouldn't tell Nektos about the magic. She had only caused wine to spill on someone; it was hardly a spell at all.
"Will you be attending the games tomorrow to see how she fares? Perhaps we could wager to see how long she lasts? I hope at least a round or two."
"I wasn't going to, but you have changed my mind." The man rose from the lounge. He towered over both of them. Fen had always been teased about being part giant, but she barely came up to his shoulder. "Do you have a betting tile with you, Nektos?"
"O-Of course, my prince. I'll get you one if you will please follow me," he replied and rushed off to the other side of the room.
The stranger looked at the mark on her hand again and was about to say something when two guards appeared.
"My prince, the Pharaoh requires you immediately," one of them said.
The stranger nodded. "I'll be a moment. Wait for me outside," he replied, waving them on.
"Nektos doesn't like to feed his slaves when he has them fighting the next day," the stranger said, slipping one of the small bread rolls into the pocket of the dress Fen was wearing. "Try not to die tomorrow, little witch. There are things I wish to talk to you about."
Before Fen could answer, the stranger was walking away through the crowd and was gone.
* * *
The stranger had been right. After the party, Fen had been shown back to her cell under the arena with water to drink but not a scrap of food. She pulled the slightly crushed roll from her pocket. She ate it in small pieces while thinking about the unusual magic and the unexpected kindness the man had shown her.
Perhaps the gods haven't abandoned you entirely,Fen thought and whispered a prayer of thanks to Freya.
Her hand drifted to her hip, where she had Odin's runeAlgiz. She hadn't felt the cool touch of his power since the night she was taken in the raid.
Don't turn your back on me tomorrow, All-Father.
Fen curled up on the straw in the corner of her cell, thinking about the stranger's magic and his black eyes that were so rare in her lands. Was he touched by his gods the way she was touched by hers? She wanted to know who the gods were in that strange world.
Live through tomorrow, and maybe you will find out.
Five
Fen woke at dawn to the screech of a chimera and a man sobbing in the cell beside her.
"Shut up," she groaned.
"I c-can't help it. I don't want to die. I'm not a warrior; I was a baker. I don't know how to fight," the other slave sobbed.
"Then meet your fate with some dignity, baker. Pray to your gods that they will accept you into whatever Afterlife you believe in," she snapped. The man only cried more, and with a sigh, she sketched anUruzrune into the sand on her cell floor. It was a healing rune that would settle him.
Fen sent the rune in his direction with a warm tingle of her magic. After a few moments, the man stopped crying.
Fen had just closed her eyes again when a door opened at the end of the hall, and a guard started ringing a bell.
"For fuck's sake," she grumbled.
