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

races, but this seemed more personal. Ultimately, he decided that he needed to play this carefully.

What he did learn was interesting, though. When Hilde had known the weapon maiden, she favored using a whip. She was an agility-based fighter but made heavy use of both War and Deceit Essence. The former to make her strikes more powerful, and the latter to inflict debuffs.

Apparently of the seven weapon maidens, she was one of two more dedicated to stealth type attacks and was often used by Krig as an envoy for that reason. He had trusted her to infiltrate various strongholds and she had been instrumental in starting more than one conflict.

One of the oddities that hit his mind was the realization that even though she looked like she was in her late twenties, Lash was more than a hundred years old. Hilde was even older. Despite his aversion to cougars, two out of the three women he was becoming tangled up with were markedly older than he was. When he commented about that fact to Hilde, she had only laughed at him and pointed out that Nyda was likely older than the Kyle part of him, as a thirty-year-old elf was still just a child.

Eventually he managed to fall asleep. But his dreams were filled with vivid images of the women he had met lately. Even Meeka made an appearance. Yet each of them ended up angry with him for something that he never quite managed to figure out.

He was filled with nervous energy and after washing his face, he thought about just leaping up and ripping the bars out of the stone so that he could leave his cell. He was antsy to be out in the arena training. Speed was going to be essential if he got assigned to fight either Lash or Kierra today. If it was Gilthan, he didn’t think he would be able to move faster than lightning attacks, so it was likely to come down more to resisting them.

Fortunately, he didn’t have long to wait and soon the guards lowered the ladder down to him. A few minutes later, he was in the arena waiting for one of the trainers to arrive. Only the lycan and elvish fighter were there with him. The losers apparently didn’t have to train today—or get to, depending on perspective.

Saber appeared before the delay got awkward. “Well, greetings to those of you who won the first round. Now, we need to talk about tonight’s matches. Obviously, two of you will be fighting one another, but one unlucky soul is gonna have to face off against Lash.”

Kierra made a low growling sound. “What can you tell us about her? I don’t even know what she looks like.”

“She was the woman with the veil standing next to Lady Meeka. I assume that they inspected you after you won your fight,” Gilthan said.

“Good job figuring that out,” Saber said, praising the elf. “What led you to that conclusion?”

“It was the way she moved. There was an air of danger around her,” the sorcerer said. “Oh, and I could detect a staggering amount of essence in her. She didn’t even attempt to hide it, which makes me believe that she wanted me to know.”

“An ability to detect essence is useful. Anyone can learn it, but it is much more difficult for those who don’t actively use essence,” Saber said.

Something about that statement piqued Kyle’s interest. “What do you mean actively use essence?”

“Good question. If I had more time to train you, we could practice this, but you need to understand that anyone who is going to excel as a gladiator has abilities enhanced by essence. Burke and the other humans never really had much of a chance against the three of you,” Saber replied.

Kyle said, “I thought that it wasn’t possible to infuse essence into normal actions unless you had a skill.”

“While that is true, it is also true that your bodies are innately enhanced by your essence. This is the way that a rare few humans or elves are able to push past ten for a stat. Gilthan and Kierra’s bloodlines are examples of that. Yes, Gilthan can use essence directly as a sorcerer, but it also makes his body stronger than it would have been otherwise. With Kierra, it powers her body, and for some lycans makes a transformation possible,” Saber answered.

“What about him, then?” Kierra asked.

As was typical, she said very little but got right to the heart of the matter. Saber just shrugged and said, “No one really knows with regard to war elementals. Now onto what you are here for. I don’t get to control which of you fights Lash, so I want to prepare all of you for that. She is exceedingly fast and her whip gives her good range.

“Even though it isn’t a heavy weapon, don’t underestimate it. She can make a wallop with it. Burke was out before he knew what hit him. From what I saw, she can make it move in unnatural ways too, so don’t expect that you will know exactly what it is gonna do.”

“Is that because she was a herald of the war god?” Kierra asked.

“If I were you, I wouldn’t mention that, or Krig at all, around her. The rumors are that yes, she was some type of special envoy for him, but that she isn’t anymore. The reasons for that, though, no one knows. Everyone I spoke to about her seems to think that she works for Begaer, goddess of lust, now,” Saber replied.

“Krig is dead. There is no other explanation. His servants were then claimed by the other gods,” Gilthan said.

Kyle just stood silently, listening. Learning what other people thought was fascinating to him, but the real reason for his quiet was the anger that surged through him at Gilthan’s words. He didn’t care what they thought about Krig, but something about the idea that Marie was working for Begaer incensed that part deep within him.

“Maybe, maybe not.