Last Man Standing

Chapter 23: Conspiracies

Evander was the only one to sleep that night. I was so focused on my dagger that I was actually able to complete three training swords.

The scruffy man finished ten.

When morning broke, he shot up, grabbed my dagger and stormed out of the room. I only had a few moments to figure out what we were going to do.

I shook Evander awake, too desperate to care if it caused him pain; I needed to shock him to attention. He woke up with a low grunt.

"Evander! Wake up, I need to talk to you."

His eyes darted around the room. "Where did that man go?"

"That's what we need to discuss. Pay close attention." I summarized my encounters with the scruffy man, the deal I made with him, our current situation, and my ulterior motives. I finished my story by telling him about the previous night; how the scruffy man now knew who I was.

Evander was silent the entire time, taking it all in and contemplating our next move.

But what he suggested shocked me.

"We have to kill him."

"What?!"

"You said so yourself! You know, when you were telling me about the mental lists you were making? He was on your list of people you needed to destroy-"

"True, but-"

"And now you have more reason than ever; he knows too much. There's no telling what he's going to do with you, and it seems like our only chance at escaping this place-"

"With Bash and Reegan..."

"-yes, with your friends, is to get this man out of the way."

"I call him scruffy man."

This made Evander smile, bewildered by my childish nickname for my capture. "I'm not calling him that..."

"Well, he won't tell me his real name. And I don't think anyone has any clue of it, or at least if they do then they're not one to tell." I discreetly questioned most of the other gladiators the previous day during training, but no one knew the scruffy man as anything but Doctore. Tiberius would be the most likely person to know it, but even he referred to him as Doctore, or addressed him as my friend, champion gladiator, and various other vague titles. If he knew his name, someone else in the house would have caught wind of it by now. Tiberius would also have to use it in the arena to promote his fighter...

My conclusion? The scruffy man refused to disclose it, and everyone seemed okay with that. This only heightened the mystery of my captor. I was determined to discover his identity sooner or later, but now that just seemed pointless if I was meant to kill him.

Evander didn't seem fazed by the scruffy man's secrecy. "So how do I address him?"

"Call him Doctore; it's what I have to use when we're in public, anyways."

"How often are you guys in private?"

This caught me off-guard. "Well, um-"

"Enough to have a nickname that sticks."

"It's not like that."

"Then what is it like?"

"Okay, we're getting off topic. Let's get back to the plan."

"Well, you've heard what I have to say about it."

I sighed, "I have to kill him."

"Unless I do it first."