Private Tales A Life to Live

[Melfa]

The komodo’s consternation did not last long, her face shifting into reptilian thought. Issuing a low rumble, Melfa slowly turned and moved a few larger crates about to get to one stacked at the bottom. She was not familiar with the dwarven make of what he was describing, but…

Her claws picked through various implements within the crate before pulling out what appeared to be a gauntlet made from heavy leather and chitin. Spikes crowned the knuckle area and it looked like it could certainly make pulp of whatever it was used to punch.

She held it up, keenly eyeing it and then the young man’s arm. It was about half too big for him, but she did not seem put off by this.

“Melfa will take to Armorer to make fit. Come.”

Off she went through the tent toward the back and out a side entrance, back into the encampment.

“Why are you fighting?” Chas intoned to Ed quietly, “Do you think she is here?”

 

[Edric]

“Amazing, thank you.” Edric said with a wide, genuine smile. This entire trip was turning out far better than he had expected.

Never before had he visited a city where he made such fast friends. Usually the opposite was true. Most folk found him terrifying, or simply avoided him for his demeanor. But it seemed in this city he had found something of a reflection of his own attitude. Melfa seemed as friendly as could be, and he was taking that as a good sign.

So the smile on his face did not disappear as he followed after his newfound friend. Not even dropping as Chas whispered quietly in his ear. “Well.”

Edric began; not really wanting to paint this as though it hadn’t been a moment of impulse he could only later justify, but also not wanting to appear the complete fool. “I don’t know if she’s here.”

He admitted.

“But, if she isn’t. I think this is a place she would come to frequently enough.” Warbands after all were just nomadic armies, and armies needed cities for resupply. If Maui wasn’t here, she would be sometime soon. “So, maybe next time she comes to town, she hears about the weird human kid tearing up the arena.”

Edric finished, a grin splitting his face before it suddenly disappeared. A hand reaching up as he scratched at the back of his neck. “Plus, I kind of just wanted to do it.”

He added, not bothering to hide the slight embarrassment.

 

[Chasmine]

That did make a bit of sense - Maui eventually making her way here. Edric certainly knew more about orcs and Maui than she did, so Chasmine would have to rely on his better judgment for such things. As for the fighting…

The spirit made a sound of uncertainty.

“Word travels farther than we might imagine,” she advised him, “what if someone from Vel Anir ends up hearing about that same kid?”

 

[Edric]

“Well…uhhh.” Edric very obviously hadn’t thought of that part. Though Vel Anir was far away, they had already experienced once just how far the arm of their home stretched. It wasn’t without logic that a Dreadlord or two might be nearby collecting information or hunting for another head. If they heard about him, they would doubtlessly come for him.

He sighed, not for the first time regretting killing all those nobles.

Not because he valued their life any more now than he did then, but because the choice was becoming a larger and larger pain in the ass. “We’ll risk it.”

Edric said, not the least because he simply wanted to.

“Maui will probably hear the rumor first anyway.” After all, even if a Dreadlord was roaming around they would have to put together all the pieces and then confirm it was him. All Maui had to do was come and see. She had the much easier task. “And I can handle whoever they might have out here.”

The rogue Dreadlord bragged, feeling a small amount of his old swagger return. Confidence blooming for his upcoming fight.

 

[Chasmine]

"I do not doubt your abilities..." Chas replied gently, "but it could put others at risk..."

A fight between Edric and headhunting Dreadlords was never going to go without making a mess. She supposed she would have to have faith that Salak would keep his word and put the Republic off Edric's trail for now. It would be on Edric not to advertise himself otherwise. She had already signed on, unenthusiastically so, to the idea of claiming enough lives simply to bring her own back.

They had agreed to attempt to go about it in the most objectively moral way possible: using lives already willingly put on the line in battle and war. She had not agreed to putting innocents in peril. She thought on this, wanting to express these things, but Edric was proving wholly distracted by the coming fight.

Maybe later... after the festivities.

"Please be careful," she added after a dint of silence.

 

[Edric]

"but it could put others at risk..."

Oh. In truth, such a thought hadn't even occurred to him. Back in the reach when Al and that other Dreadlord had chased him he'd thought about the halflings in the village, those that would die if a real fight broke out, but his upbringing hadn't exactly taught him to think of casualties.

Edric wasn't the smartest, but he wasn't a fool.

"We'll give it a week." The Rogue Dreadlord said, almost as if trying to appease some disappointment Chas might feel. "If there's nothing, I'll pull out of the fights and try something new."

He shifted, glancing towards Melfa as he added. "We're a long way from home."

 

[Chasmine]

There was that word again. Home.

Chasmine was finding more and more that she didn't like that word. She decided to keep her negative thoughts to herself and settled for a simple: "Okay."

A week didn't seem so bad. It would take far longer than a week for Vel Anir to find them out here. Hopefully.

Melfa gestured to Edric to follow her as she arrived at the smithing circle. There were several tents and shacks to choose from, but she went for an orc smith toward the side. He, too, was green of skin, and big as a boulder to boot. After some back and forth in orcish (something which Melfa spoke far more fluently than common) the orc grunted for Ed to step up and get his measurements.

In an hour that gauntlet fit like it had been made for him.

For the rest of the evening he was invited to watch and even partake in some training around a weapons yard where the night's pit fighters were warming up for their turn. It wouldn't be long before a horn sounded from the chasm to announce the start of the evenings events.

 

[Edric]

Edric flexed his fingers within the gauntlet for the thousandths time. A habit that he had taken up in the last few hours.

Though he'd never much been one for using weapons, even he had to admit there was a benefit to wearing the thing. Though so far it had only been training, Edric had decidedly found the added weight of the heavy steel and the spikes made his blows quite a bit harder.

It was a good thing that Gilram had shown him greater control of his magics. Otherwise there already would have been one man dead.

As the Horn sounded for the evenings events, Edric was perched on the edge of the one of the steel cat walks. Below him lay the expanse of the canyon, behind him an area where some of the fighters gathered. Just above lay the pit, and above that the tavern where he had first walked into. "Lad, you're up first."

Flexing his fingers one last time, Edric grabbed the railing above and pulled himself up.

"Chas." The Former Dreadlord said, peering out into the canyon for a moment. "Can I ask you something?"

 

[Chasmine]

Judging by the sounds immediately surrounding him, Chas was aware that the evening had finally slipped in around them and the events would soon begin. She could sense the shift of Ed's energy and the beat of his heart in his chest - though it had been a steady staccato of what she perceived to be excitement for most of the day.

He was going to get to fight. Or, she imagined, play - in his point of view. Something he'd not been able to do for quite a while, from the sounds of it.

"Yes?"

She wasn't sure if she could be of any help to him now. He wasn't going to ask her to possess his opponent again, was he? He didn't really seem to like it the last time but... stranger things have happened to her.

 

[Edric]

"If this works." Edric began, still peering out over the canyon. Letting each of his fingers slowly flex and curl against his palm one by one. Knowing that in just a few seconds in he would be standing in the dust and first of the fighting ring.

"I get Maui's attention, we find a few battlefields." He continued, waving his hand as he looked over his shoulder. "Get you all the souls you need and put you in a body...."

The 'lift' as people here had been calling it was slowly being gathered with folk. The showmen would go up first, announcers, cheer girls, a few of the people who apparently enjoyed hearing the sounds of their own voice. Ed's time would come soon. "Are you going to...

Edric continued cautiously, slowly making his way towards the elevator. The loud ratchet echoing out.

"Go back?" He asked, an odd timidness to his voice. "To Gilram, Vel Anir and all the others?"

 

[Chasmine]

His spiritual companion remained silent for a bit, caught off guard by the personal inquiry. Edric rarely asked much of anything of her or about her, which hadn't necessarily been cause for concern or issue. Most people in her life never bothered to get to know her, so she had assumed to simply put him into that same category. Even if he was being largely kinder to her than he had ever been while she lived, the investment simply hadn't been made.

"Yes," she said finally, though the conviction was not strong, "I did tell Gilram that I would return regardless of the outcome."

"It's the only place I've ever felt wanted. Useful. Beyond that... I have no where else to go. I don't want to go back to the Academy."

 

[Edric]

"Right." Edric said softly, nodding as though he mpletely understood.

He seemed to hesitate for a moment. Trepidation playing over his tongue as he wrung and invisible cloth between his palms.

"But." The Rogue Dreadlord intervened. "We don't have to go back right away."

Edric argued as he stepped onto the Elevator. "We could...I mean, there's got to be something out there you want to see."

He reasoned.

"The Colossus of Tromir." He'd read about it once, when Proctor Relmir insisted he cracked a book. "The Dragon Graveyards of Orin."

Edric continued. "There's lots we could see together, do together."

He argued as he stepped onto the platform.

 

[Chasmine]

More quiet from Chas.

There was nothing stopping Edric from doing exactly as he pleased after everything was said and done. Chasmine wholly expected to bring this fruitless endeavor to an end eventually because she still did not believe they could achieve what they set out to do. But he wasn't saying I.

He was saying we.

She'd not been allowed beyond the Academy grounds. Never been assigned a mission out in the wider world. Had she once longed to join her fellow Initiates on their grand adventures? Certainly. Had any of them wanted her to go with them?

No.

Ed had asked her to join him on this journey of his but, "...I didn't think you would want me around, after."

 

[Edric]

There was no one else on the lift, no one but the man in the corner operating the chain.

He was an orc, though Edric could barely make out his features beneath the cowl he wore. Not that it mattered even an ounce in that moment. "I-Ch-"
Edric swallowed hard.

"Listen, Chas. I didn't always get it." He said as the loud click, click, click of the elevators gears began to ring out. "I thought I was be-I th-It doesn't matter.

Edris whispered as he realized they didn't have time. The crowd above becoming louder and louder as the elevator came closer. "I want you with me, yeah? Now. After. Fuck it, until the end."

He said as the cheers of dozens began to echo out.

"I don't want to go home Chas." Edric admitted as the crowd began to appear. Cheering, rabid faces calling out as the platform fell even with the rest of the arena. "But I'll go if you do."

The Rogue admitted, swallowing hard before adding. "'Cause I just want to make sure you see it through."

Her, and everyone else they had grown up with.

 

[Chasmine]

She was becoming increasingly more aware of the uproarious noise as his time in the pit and the pit itself drew closer. His own words still came through clearly as the din grew louder and louder. Settled in the amulet against his chest, the sound of his voice sat around her like a blanket.

Strangely enough, Chas had started to find it somewhat... comforting.

Hearing those words and his strained admission only added to that comfort and she stirred within the amulet feeling both anxious and hopeful. He'd promised to find a new home together while resting under the fallen tree. He'd said he'd take her to another festival, back on his walk into the steppes. Now he wanted to explore the world with her.

His promises just kept getting grander and grander. Dare she fall for it all again?

Gilram had encouraged her to trust when it felt right. When it made sense for her own goals and desires. He hadn't admonished her for being so guarded, but plainly understood the reasoning behind it. Dreadlords and the world they grew up in were cruel and rarely gave one any reason to trust. But the world around them had changed. They had changed, too.

"Then..." Chasmine felt that hope slowly begin to outweigh the doubt and tip the scales between them more fully now than ever, "let's see and do it all together."

 

[Edric]

"Fuck yes." Edric declared as the platform came to a stop, his elation not because of the roaring crowd, but because of Chas' words.

He hadn't really understood why he'd asked the question until she'd said yes. Hadn't even really known where he was going when he started speaking. As always, Edric worked more on intuition than any thought out plan. But the moment she said yes, he understood.

Edric didn't want to go back.

He didn't want to be in Vel Anir.

Not after what he'd done there, not after what they had done to him. But he had made a promise, sworn that he would help his classmates. Trouble was, the more time passed, the more he realized his classmates didn't want the help he had to offer.

All but one.

A smile drew across his face, the gauntlet on his hand drawing into a closed fist. Thrusting into the air in elation as though he had already won the match ahead.

Edric's glee apparent as he practically bounced towards the confused orc standing opposite him.

 

[Chasmine]

It took less than a week for Ed to make a name for himself. By week's end, Melfa was paying him out a small fortune in winnings. He had fresh gear, his own tent, and the respect of his fellow fighters. He ate well, feasted with some of the big wigs of the chasm city, and found himself the center of attention for a number of local females.

It was late one afternoon when Melfa found him seated amongst others around a central fire pit along the plateau encampment. Her clawed hand clamped down on his shoulder, "Aura want talk," she informed him, referring to the Pit Master orcess that had given him his chance, "come."

 

[Edric]

"Sure." Edric said, rolling his shoulder to chase away some of the soreness from the drake's touch. The smile on his face still holding wide as he offered a quick wave and goodbye to those whom he had been sitting with.

A few shouted telling him to come back if he survived, and as he and Melfa made their way laughter echoed out behind them.

The week here had been spent well, at least for Edric. He had collected a small fortune in gold, gained some acclaim, and even had his own bed again. Things were going well, and even though he knew that things would come to an end eventually, he was still enjoying it while it lasted.

He'd even managed to convince Chasmine to loosen up a bit, and the two of them had spoken long into the night sometimes.

"So uhh..." Edric began, rocking on his heels as they stepped into an elevator. "What does Aura wanna talk about?"

The former Dreadlord asked.

 

[Chasmine]

"Mmmmm," the komodo rumbled in a sound quite similar to a deathroll snarl, "maybe Eder make more gold in... bigger pit."

She did not elaborate on the lift ride down to the fighting pit tavern. Leading him through the crowds and once more up the steps to the Pit Master's lounge above it all. Aura was there with her usual cadre, all of whom were now quite familiar with Edric and his skills. Though he had not seen any of them much at all over the week, their eyes had been on him and other fighters from their nest overhead.

This time, however, Aura was not sitting on her throne but at the large table toward the side with several of her comrades seated around her. Two seats sat open to the side and Melfa took one then indicated he take the other.

Aura waited for him to be seated, watching him quietly as both he and Melfa were served drinks by an attendant, and then took a pull from a device that resembled a hookah that sat off to the side.

"You are a great fighter," she said over smoke, "with many victories to your name, Eder. Have you fought in battle? In war?"

 

[Edric]

"That would be cool." Edric commented, more to himself than to Melfa.

Although, he was more than aware of the ticking clock that he had promised Chasmine. The week was coming to an end, and that meant they might have to move on soon. Though there had been no sign of Anirians, there was always a chance he simply hadn't noticed them.

As far as Dreadlord's went, Edric would have made a good one, but he was hardly an expert in subterfuge. If the Vigilite had spies watching him, then Chasmine would have had a better shot at pointing them out than he did.

Not that it mattered anyway. He'd told Chas a week, and so it would be a week unless she agreed to stay longer.

His swagger didn't decrease in the slighest as they stepped off the p[latform and moved through the VIP section. Though he did startle somewhat when he spotted that Aura wasn't sitting in her throne. Even during the fights she stuck herself in a massive highback seat. To see herself mixing on the level with the others was an oddity.

Was it usually an act?

Edric frowned, realizing that a few months ago he probably wouldn't even have had a thought like that.

"Edric." He corrected, then immediately corrected again. "Edrin."

FUCK. He was bad at this. "Thank you. Uhhh..no wars."

The former Dreadlord said quickly, trying to talk over himself so that the correction of his own name didn't become a whole thing.

"But a few battles." He'd been born to an age of relative Anirian peace, though it would be easy to argue that he'd seen more combat than any ordinary soldier did. Perhaps it was because what Vel Anir considered peace time, would be considered a state of constant war by many others."More than a few fights before I came here."

Missions, but to him they were one and the same.

 

[Chasmine]

The name correction gaff got him more than a few odd looks, but as Ed had likely learned over the week: this place was full of the sorts of folk who didn't always speak the truth. Chasmine silently shook her head at him.

Aura listened without interrupting even despite the odd beginning of the conversation and took a moment to consider him before speaking again.

"There is opportunity for those who have proven themselves in the pit," she began, "much greater risk but also much greater reward. A war is brewing in the eastern steppes and my sister requires fresh recruits for her cause. Melfa tells me you are up to the task. What say you, Edrin?"

 

[Edric]

As soon as she mentioned opportunity, Edric couldn't help but frown.

His entire life, he'd been going where other people told him to. Proctors, Dreadlords, Nobles, and whoever the fuck else had been in charge of them. He had gone where they'd pointed, done what he'd been told. It was a life that he never wanted again. An existence he had turned away from just a week ago.

"I'll never again fight in a war I don't believe in." Edric stated plainly. The determination, the mark of what he had gone through clear. Though the reason why utterly missing for Aura and those around them.

Though as soon as he said the words, Edric regretted them.

Not due to their meaning, but because he'd noticed Aura's words. The clue that lay within them.

A month ago he might have missed it, a year he wouldn't have even paid enough attention to know to look. Things were different now though. Gilram had taught him, and his time with Chasmine seemed almost to open his eyes in an odd sort of way.

As though he now knew to look for more than he previously saw.

Who was he looking for? A woman fighting a war. What had Maui told him? That she was going to be fighting for what was hers.

Who did Aura remind him of?

Within the span of a single second, it all fell into place. "But."

Edric cut in before Aura or anyone else could offer a rebuke to his rejection. Knowing that he was right. "I need to talk to Maui."

 

[Chasmine]

Aura did not look displeased by that initial answer and with a vague gesture of her hand she was about to tell him that this was a voluntary thing, but she did not get the chance. The name of her sister brought all eyes to him.

Chasmine even found herself caught off guard by the boldness of the statement. It seemed Edric was putting things together better than she thought, and it was hard to gauge the difficulty of the situation given the fact that she could not see anything nor hear anything beyond his immediate presence.

Aura sat up a bit straighter. There was no movement of threat in it, merely strong curiosity, "And how do you know the name of my sister?"

 

[Edric]

"Because." Edric's voice was steel, sharp and slowly cutting through the curio that had gathered in the room. A level of calm and smugness on his face, as though he knew he had pulled back and caught some great shark upon his line.

"When last I saw her-" He couldn't help the smile that pulled on his lips. The smugness that drew through his voice as he felt the pride at having been right. "She asked me to find her again."

The Rogue Dreadlord said truthfully. "Because when I met her on the shores of my home. I showed her I was not, a man to be forgotten."

A few chuckles raked the small crowd around them, but Edric's head snapped to stare at them. Cold blue eyes silencing those who had fought a dozen more battles than he could have wished for. Those stilling having watched what he could do.

Slowly, he took a step towards Aura. Away from Melfa and towards where the group had gathered.

"I mean no disrespect to you." He told the Colosseum's Queen. "But I have a promise to keep, and Maui is the one to help me keep it."

Edric said, squaring his shoulders. "Send me to her."

He told the Orc. "I'm sure she won't be upset."

 

[Chasmine]

His look may have quieted the others but after a beat of silence Aura released a deep-chested, closed-mouth laugh before cleaning out the last slugs of her tankard and speaking an orcish saying that equated to Ed having balls of solid stone.

"Melfa?" she deferred, strangely enough, to the komodo who was looking rather amused at it all.

Melfa gave a shrug, "If Maui want Eder, he go. It make no different to Melfa."

That seemed to settle the matter, "Good, it will open the floor for a new Champion in the pits. Melfa's caravan leaves tomorrow at dawn, Edrin. You will join my sister's recruits for the journey."