Scarves

The Heiress Games part two

Dray's pov

I sit on the bench watching as Octavia and Fritz are sparring. Lyrenna giving him tips on blocking and defense while Kelsey gives Octavia tips on where weak points are. Octavia won, obviously. She hit a lot of pressure points and weak spots with the butt of her sword. Lyren cleans some of cuts on his arms and face, while he fidgets with his bracelet

Idiot has a crush... this should be good.

Octavia jogs over to where I'm sitting and plops down next to me. Taking a long swig of water before saying, "You should go against Lyrenna. Then Beckett and Kelsey will go at it."

I shrug and say "Okay, I can give it a shot." I grab one of the poles, since that's what Lyrenna chose.

"Ready?" she asks, obviously nervous. I nod in response and let her take the first move. She swings at my legs and I block her.

"Nice try, but if you are going for my legs, I'd suggest a fake out." And that's exactly what she does.

"DRAY! Don't help her!" Kelsey yells. "We are on opposite teams, we are sparring different people on the other team to get a feel for how they fight. Not to help them get better"

"Ugh get over it Kelsey, I honestly don't care if she wins or not. I actually want her to win, if I lead these people it'll cause a civil war because I'm Isinen." Octavia says dragging Kelsey to the bench.

While I'm distracted by this, Lyren takes a shot to take me out. She succeeds and I fall flat on my ass.

"Ha! That was fun! Can't wait to do that for real."

"Wow, thanks Lyren." I say sarcastically and getting up. These kids are getting the better of me, what is happening? I'm supposed to be the best after Anstid, but both Octavia and Lyren have taken me down like I was a six year old child.

Just then, Anstid walks in. "Just checking on progress, who just sparred Dray?" She asks. I internally face palm, great. She's going to know that these children got the better of her strongest second.

"Um, I did." Lyrenna says, swaying her head out and waving her hand slightly. Anstid cocks an eybrow at me and I shrug.

"I dunno, they are just really good. I also got a bit distracted..." I can feel myself blushing furiously.

Anstid chuckles, "Seems you did. Lyrenna, please spar with my sister." She says gesturing to the middle.

"Please don't hold back, act like it is a real fight." She states, Lyrenna shoots a look at Octavia and they both nod their heads. Girls, I thought.

--A few hours, and butt whoopings later--

"Hello citezens! Commander Anstid has asked for you all to proceed to the atrium for the Heiress Games! Today we will find out who the next commander will be." 

Excited chatter can be heard coming from the streets. The very first Heiress games, and there's a problem. Kelsey knocked Beckett to the floor and he hurt his arm, now he can't participate.

"What do you mean he can't participate?!" Octavia shrieks at me, she's more worried about it than Lyrenna is.

"Anstid's rules, not mine. Book two, chapter seven, section 38, line 17 says any injured persons cannot be in the heiress games. There's nothing I can do." I say with a shrug.

"Kelsey, are you even sorry?! Beckett can't be in the games and Lyrenna has to be leader AND second. It doesn't work like that!!!" Octavia's voice is laced with panic and desperation. She doesn't want to be commander, she's scared. I think to myself.

"Of course I'm sorry. But not because Lyrenna will most likely lose. I'm sorry that Beckett got hurt. But you have a real chance at winning and an even better one now. Now, I know that earlier you were just trying to make Lyrenna feel better and all about you not wanting to be comma-"

"You did this on PURPOSE?!?!?!?! I wasn't joking!!! I do not want to be commander, it will cause a war. A revolution if you will, but you had absolutely no right to do that. Ughhh I don't even know why I chose you. You know what?" She claps her hands and a smile of annoyance is plastered on her face, "to make this fair again, you are off. Now I have to be second as well."

Kelsey's mouth falls open, "You can't kick me off the team! The books say you need a second, the leader's only other possible role is fighter."

"You should have thought about that before you sabotaged Lyren, I don't care how much you guys don't like each other you can't do that. The people in this room are the ONLY ones we can trust fully." She is up in Kelsey's face now. I can't say I'm shocked that she trusts me, it's that she wants the others to as well.

"Get out of my sight, before I cut you down and feed you to the athra." Octavia's voice is low and menacing, even I'm a little scared. I do not want to be in Kelsey's position.

Kelsey races out the door with Jessica not far behind. Octavia comes up to me and plops down on the floor next to me. Lyrenna stands up and walks over.

"Via, you really shouldn't have done that. Now we could all be disqualified."

"My sister won't do that, no matter how many rules we break. It's the first games, and she needs an heir. The population doesn't know how the games are supposed to be executed so it shouldn't be a problem."

"I understand that, but what I don't get is why you were that harsh on her." Lyrenna says sitting on the ground with her. I feel like I'm intruding on an important conversation so I walk over to Beckett to check on him. He was laying on the floor looking up at the ceiling with a blank expression.

"How you feelin' Beck?" I say sitting on the floor a few feet away from him.

"Okay, I don't understand why a small strain gets me kicked out of the competition though."

"Me either but it's Anstid's rules. She wants a completely fair playing field."

"Though there is a part of me that's glad I don't have to be in the games anymore. There's always that chance of someone dying. Don't take that the wrong way, I mean on the field and even in the stands. Some people are so passionate about their faith, they would murder anyone who stands for something that isn't the same."

"That's a fair point, but our people aren't violent towards each other because they know that we are the only allies each other has. With the Athra and the traitors we need as many as we can get. We don't need to trust each other fully, but just enough that they won't sell us out. Those who don't have that trust become traitors almsot immediately."

"Do you think any of us will leave?" He asks, finally sitting up. His eyes have an emotion in them i can't quite place, fear? Anger? Possibly a mixture? 

"I don't know, but if anyone will, they won't get out of this city alive."

"What do you mean?"

"The people from your group have more information about the city state than the rest of the population that comes in here. If one of you tried to leave, the guards would kill you. Anstid ordered this the first night you were here." I say, trying to keep my voice from shaking. I never liked when she gave orders like that, because I struggled to carry them out. I didn't want to kill anyone in this group, they worked too well together.