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Time passed and faded, and when Everleigh was returned to her cell (fully clothed) in the morning, it wasn’t much longer until the initiates and the pirate crew that had captured them were at Starless Reef— aptly named due to the haze of clouds that never seemed to vanish, making every night sky without twinkling light to guide sailor’s way.
During the day, it was much less intimidating.
The half-orc pirate captain, Lazgar, who’s name Everleigh had divulged to the others when she had been returned back to the cell, stepped into the holding room with Tonio and a few others behind her. One man was carrying a few shackles for the wrists and ankles, another had a hefty chain in it’s hand.
“Alright, small fry, line up. Ladies first.” The door of their cell was opened and in a low tone meant to be heard by everyone, “Try not to do anything funny like earlier, your lanista won’t take to a overconfident welp.”
“
Hopefully she doesn’t cheat.”
“He.” The captain corrected, the door opening and the shackles were placed on her wrists and ankles. Even if Everleigh was unable to use her magic now, she could still feel that the material in these shackles were similar to what the black guard used in imitating Null’s effects when it came to magic. Everleigh was certain that even at Cerak At’thul, their magic was going to be heavily stifled. The same action was repeated on Tinker, Zael, and
Henk, and the four of them were finally led out of the room and up on deck.
The hustle and bustle of a port was like no other, truly. Seabirds flew over head as men shouted orders to one another, whether in
common tongue or in a native language. Heavy cargo was either moved to or from large boats, and as they headed down the plank onto one of the larger main platforms, Everleigh caught sight of others who were being sold into slavery.
Shame they wouldn’t be able to escape their fate, she thought to herself, keeping her purple gaze steadily in front of her. Captain Lazgar and Tonio were in front and there was a pirate on either side of the initiates and two in the back. Even now with them unable to use magic the pirates weren’t taking any chances with their precious cargo.
Led down from the docks into the depths of Starless Reef’s first marketplace, a large structure could be seen up ahead: a grand white arena with towers and flags built on top of a hill behind the port. No matter where one was or how cloudy the sky could be everyone would know where the coliseum would be. Everleigh figured that they were being led over there but she was wrong: a sharp right and then a quick left and they were at a wide square.
The only good that was being sold were slaves, the poor sorry bastards that had managed to get captured. The captain strode up to a large and imposing man next to a teenage boy with a sour look on his face. Tonio and the others stayed back, minutes passing as the captain spoke to the duo. Finally, she gestured for Tonio to bring the initiates forward.
The imposing man was built like a warrior, broad shoulders and impressive height, clothing that strained against the bulge of his impeccable biceps. He also had a face of a warrior, scars crisscrossing on his skin that had seen little relief from the sun. He carried a behemoth of a great sword on his back.
“
Get them in the collars and then in the wagon,” the teenager said with a sniff and lifted his chin so he could look down at Everleigh as if she were nothing more than some rat that had managed to scuttle on board his pristine ship. He then turned away with a disgruntled ‘hmph’ and handed the pirate captain her coin. A rather large sack that was filled to the prim with gold.
“
Remember our deal,” Everleigh called to the pirate captain as she took the first step to walk away, “
you’ll watch me fight.” The captain paused, and turned around, only to grin.
“
Gladiatorii don’t speak,” the large man corrected as he gave a backhanded slap to Everleigh’s face. Through sheer will the poison eater was still standing, and a collar was placed around her neck and then the others. Tonio tapped each of their shoulders and the other pirate goons took away their shackles.
They were led into a cart and before they could say
For the Glory of Vel Anir, the horses were moving through the streets, heading away from the busy port and to a more residential area. If one could say that the large, sprawling homes with acres of land to each one was considered to be residential. The initiates remained quiet, even as the wagon was pulled into one of the grander homes, and they passed by livestock and fruit orchards and vegetable gardens. Further in the back was a cluster of small buildings, but was more impressive than those buildings in the back was the incredibly large sparring ring. Two men were inside fighting against some giant humanoid with four arms.
The wagon was pulled to a stop and the initiates were ordered to get out. A shout could be heard, and the sparring in the ring ceased. The three came to quickly get down on one knee, their head bent. Two others soon followed, a tall and willowy female elf and
Letai man with a large pair of vertical horns on his head. The followed the first three and bent down onto one knee as well, the back of their necks fully exposed.
“
You four shall refer to me as Acevedo, or,” the teenager said.
“My golden lanista. The choice is yours. I require you four to fight any of my current gladiatorii. We use real steel, I’d try not to get hurt. Go ahead, choose. Hurry up now before I get bored. Unless you’d like to spar Pollhammer.” The large man grunted in response and somehow Everleigh felt that if she were to go against the man named Pollhammer then she wouldn’t be alive much longer.
Tinker Smithe Zael Castomir Henk
