War God for Hire- Gladiator by David Burke (books under 200 pages .TXT) 📕

spree before company came for dinner. He assumed that something was going to be happening soon for this to be going on.

They ended up in the room that he and the others had originally been tested in. All of the other fighters were there before him, which made him wonder why he was always brought in last. The three humans were kept in regular cells, not ones sunk into the floor, so it was likely easier to get them out. He knew where Kierra and Gilthan’s cells were since they were right next to his. Skrug only said he was kept in a pit, so Kyle assumed it was something close to that.

It likely wasn’t important, but it made him curious. Now, though, what he wanted to know was why they were all here in this room rather than up in the arena training. Fortunately, he only had to wait a minute before Saber walked in. The man was dressed differently. Rather than his normal leather armor and dual versions of his namesake weapon, he was in something more like a toga. The only people Kyle had seen wearing anything like this so far, had been Darron and Soren.

“Ha, I see you all staring at me. Like my fancy new clothes, do you? Well, Lord Soren wanted me to go to some luncheon set up to talk about you worthless lot. We will be having a few exhibition matches tomorrow,” Saber announced.

Kyle couldn’t help himself. Up to this point, he had been a good little slave fighter, content to listen and learn. In part, it was because everything was so alien to him. The language barrier also didn’t help, and even though he had been able to operate without Hilde’s translations for a few weeks, he had kept his mastery of the common tongue to himself.

Now, though, the question burst out before he could school his lips. “Exhibition matches? Who gets to fight? Who’s gonna be watching?”

Saber smiled at him with a knowing look. “I thought so. Apparently, your language lessons have worked better than you let on. Well, since you asked so suddenly, I will tell you that the seven of you, along with a professional fighter, will be participating in three rounds of matches over the next three days. The first will be tomorrow night. After that, there will be an auction to see who wants to buy you.”

Intellectually, Kyle understood he was a slave, but it was still shocking to hear the idea of purchasing intelligent beings so casually mentioned. Probably part of it was that he didn’t feel like a slave.

He had regained much of his customary swagger over the past few weeks. The greater his comfort level, the more his confidence increased. Maybe the ticket was to think of this as being traded to a new team. It wasn’t something that had ever happened to him, but he knew dozens of players who had been shuffled around. Or had known friends that had happened to in his old life.

“And who will be watching?” Kyle asked.

Saber stared at him for a moment before answering. He could see that the man was weighing him in a new light. “Get the questions out now. I’m pretty lax compared to many of the old houses. Lord Soren is always telling me I’m too soft on you. But if you must know, each of the houses which own an arena team will be sending a representative, as well as House Marot which is looking to start their own team. They got permission from the senate to create a team, but they will need a minimum of five quality fighters to do so.

“The rumors also say that they have hired a semi-famous personage to act as the captain of the team and a trainer of sorts. I don’t know if it’s true, so I won’t be spreading any rumors. You will just have to find out for yourselves. Besides, as I am always saying, a good fighter can react to whatever happens.”

Apparently emboldened by Kyle’s questions, one of the human fighters, Burke, asked, “And what will the rules for the exhibition matches be?”

“Now there is an important question,” Saber said. “Live weapons like in any of the matches, but just as in the open rounds and the Kon, killing an opponent is forbidden. Certainly, accidents happen, but are still punished. Lord Soren will not take it kindly if you kill his property.

“There will be flesh mages on hand, though, so only the most grievous of injuries should result in death. Selma is a miracle worker.” As he said the last part, Saber held up his right hand as though he was showing them something.

Kyle looked but didn’t see anything odd about it. A second later Saber said, “Can’t even tell, can you? Well, this hand was cut off in the finals four years ago, but Selma made it as good as new. Anyway, it will be live weapons and full armor. Today, we will be working on making sure each of you are prepared for the match.”

“And how will the matches be determined?” Burke asked.

“You will find out tomorrow night when you enter the arena for your first match. The winners of the first round will fight the second night, and then the last two will fight on the third night. And don’t bother asking who the eighth fighter is, because I don’t know yet. Although I have my suspicions, I wouldn’t tell you even if I knew,” Saber replied.

Kyle and the others all looked at one another.

It was one thing, to see them as other fighters training alongside him. It was something different to know that very soon he would be facing them as opponents. And not just in some game, but in actual combat with live blades. As one of his old teammates, Sammy, used to say, “Shit just got real.”

Seeing the way they were all appraising each other, Saber said, “Oh, and just to make things spicy, the