Kings Game

Chapter 3 - Calm before the storm (4)

"Hey, are you awake?"

Roran rolled over, not ready to open his eyes yet.

"Come on, wake up, my mom will yell at me if she sees me talking to you."

Slowly, Roran peeled his eyes open. Kneeling over him was Toth, an old friend he'd played with growing up. Sitting up, Roran rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"How long have I been asleep?" he asked.

"Not very long, I wanted to talk with you before my mom woke up," he looked over at Kamil's sleeping form. She'd forbidden Toth from speaking to Roran after his father had been sent off to war.

"What's up?" asked Roran.

"What was it like? Out in the arena I mean."

Roran curled up, hugging his knees. "It was scary. People were killing each other. I thought I was going to die."

"Did you kill anyone?"

"No."

"Did anyone try to kill you?"

Roran nodded. "A few people. Two people like us tried to kill me first."

"People like us?"

"Refugees. We're not the only ones. There are lots of towns held in cells, they keep us here so they can force us to fight in the arena. They tried to kill me because you get extra favors if you kill people in the arena."

"How did you survive?"

"I ran into Kell, the girl that came down here earlier."

"Why did she protect you?" asked Toth, confused.

"She didn't, I just ran past her, hoping she would stop the people chasing me. It worked, she killed them."

"Then what happened?"

"Then she tried to kill me."

Toth's mouth dropped open. "She tried to kill you?"

Roran nodded. "Yeah, I managed to survive the first blow, but she threw me to the ground on the second. I thought she was going to kill me but she didn't. Instead she asked me to help her."

"Help her with what?"

"I'm not really sure," Roran lied. He had no idea how to explain Kell's offer to Toth.

"Are you going to?"

"I don't know, but I have to give her an answer in the next Crucible."

Toth nodded. "Are you going to compete in the next fight?"

"I don't know," said Roran, lying again.

"Do you think I would survive in the arena?"

Roran looked Toth over. Even though he was a little younger than Roran, he was a little bigger. Even in captivity, Toth had managed to remain a little bit pudgy. His mom had likely been sneaking him extra rations.

"I don't know," said Roran, "I think luck has a lot to do with it."

"I'm pretty lucky," said Toth, grinning.

"You could die."

"But you didn't."

"I got lucky," said Roran.

"Well I'm stronger than you and I'm luckier. I would probably be fine in the arena."

Roran began to get a prickly feeling on the back of his neck. This conversation was going in a bad direction.