Gladiator Wars

Chapter 32: Fairness and Freedom

Heath's Point of View

I speak for nearly everyone when I say we were absolutely tired and in some sort of pain. I sat down on one of the hundred fifty-something medical beds in our infirmary tent. I grabbed the gauze and bandaged up my left forearm which had a long, but shallow cut along it.

I gazed around at the nearly full tent and I felt sad that this war had done pretty much nothing. One tyrannical manic replaced with another possibly more dangerous one who knew our secrets and was once considered a friend.

A few rows down I saw Victoria's unmistakable curly bronze hair. I decided to go see what was happening over there. I got up and walked over to where she and the rest of the gladiators were left.

From the twelve that went on this crazy yet useless adventure, only eight were present in the infirmary. I had convinced Natalie to stay home to take care of her kingdom and Johnnie and Catherine were getting their powers back from the Magic council.

The only person missing was Sebastian. I was still somehow expecting him to just walk in and say something either very smart, encouraging or stupid, but I knew that wasn't going to happen probably ever again.

I sat wordlessly next to Morgan who still looked pale and a little green. I observed my other friends wondering how they all felt about all this drama.

Victoria seemed to be the most active. She stood occasionally pacing by a cot while fighting whatever wars that happened to be in her head. She didn't seem to notice or care about any of the scrapes, bruises, cuts and burns that she had gotten from fighting so much.

Daniell, on the other hand, was sitting crisscross on the cot next to Victoria applying antibacterial to his various cuts he had on his sword arm and the few on his face.

I turned to the cot behind us where Hama lie and was trying to fend off Viktor, who was trying to fix an ugly cut Hama got on his face.

"I swear, Viktor, if you come at me again with that unnatural medicine, I'll..." Hama didn't finish his sentence, but instead passed out from the blood loss thanks to a stab wound that was clearly visible on his arm.

"Yeah, you'll pass out. How scary!" Viktor said half-heartedly. He continued medical duties after fixing Hama, who was now fast asleep. Viktor walked over to Ron who was helping with Joseph's concussion.

"Now we match." Ron joked pointing to his own injury.

Joseph laughed and started to help the others that were injured with Ron by his side. Ron had been unable to fight in the war due to his concussion, but he was allowed to lend a hand after some magical healing and potions.

I noticed to my left Morgan was also watching Ron, but he has turned a ghostly shade of white that I had never seen on anyone living. I elbowed him and he looked at me slightly panicked.

"What's wrong?" I asked concerned for him.

He opened his mouth to respond when he was interrupted.

"Morgan McCarthy."

If possible, Morgan turned whiter. I turned around to see a woman in a business suit with two men wearing matching black suits with guns in their holsters.

By now the others, had turned their attention to what was happening with Morgan.

Morgan stood and I only now realized how defeated he looked. The woman stared straight at Morgan, her eyes seeming to penetrate his soul.

"Do you realize the consequences of what you've done?" She asked. I looked at Morgan in confusion. He nodded with a grim expression, answering her question.

Then I saw something incredibly shocking behind the two men. Floating encased in a levitation spell lay Ron, ashen and unmoving. His armor was covered in blood and his hair was matted with it. I turned to where the Ron I had previously seen stood.

Ron stood completely shocked by the  sight of his dead body. I turned to Morgan whose face was completely devastated by the appearance of our dead friend.

"You need to come with us." The mystery lady told Morgan. Before he could walk forward, Victoria's hand shot out and stopped him. We looked at her in surprise, but she had that determined look that could kill, so we said nothing and silently backed her up.

"I want to know what it is that you are accusing my friend of and how it pertains to us have one living and one dead Ron." She stated fiercely. Ron flinched at the word dead, but otherwise didn't say anything.

The woman narrowed her eyes at Victoria and they met in a silent glaring match. The woman relented and rubbed her temples as if this was all just one big headache.

She waved her hand and we were suddenly outside except for Hama.

"I am Dawn Tyme and I am the chief of the time-traveler's security force." She introduced, but one look from us said enough to her to get to the point.

"Morgan, one of my wards, has broken one of our most important rules and must be punished." Tyme stated. "Ron was killed in the explosion and Morgan went back and took him from ten minutes into the past. He then proceeded to bring him back to this timestream and for that we must make things right."

We stood shocked at the lengths our friend would go for another, but would still be punished as if he had done wrong.

"No." Victoria said defiantly and stubbornly.

"This is not something you can stop. Morgan will be punished and Ron will be taken to a different dimension, memories erased." Tyme replied back.

"That's not fair!" I protested angrily.

"It's justice." She stated blandly. "Will you two come quietly or will we have to force you?"

"I'll come quietly, but I speak for only myself, not Ron." Morgan said glaring at Tyme. She gave a look to Ron who in turn gave a helpless look to Victoria.

"We'll figure this out." Victoria promised and Ron nodded.

He walked over to where Morgan, Tyme and her two cops stood. They left in a flash. There is no fairness in any of this.