The ladies led us through the back way, and as they were talking I was able to avoid the embarrassment of having forgotten their names by picking them up through their conversation. The Orc woman was of course, Krush, the woman in leather was Prima, and the woman in the sheer toga was Secunda. Prima and Secunda were sisters, which was obvious, but only when they mentioned it.

We reached the small dugout before entering the pit and I took a moment to peek out at the crowd. I couldn’t see anyone from our party from this angle, but I did make brief eye-contact with one of the men in the other dugout. I shot him a wink and saw him shake his head in confusion in response. That was good, it could only help to have them off balance.

Krush walked over to a small engraving of runes on the wall and placed her hand on it. The runes lit briefly and a voice came from the engraving.

“Smash Queens, did you find a group to sub for you?” it asked.

“Yes, we have them here with us and ready to fight.”

“Names?”

I stepped over to the engraving. “Cor, Zevrack, and Tiberius.”

“What weapons do you use?”

“Uh, I use a bit of everything, Tiberius uses a sword and shield and Zevrack uses…” I glanced at his getup, “A number of unique inventions”

“Hmm, alright, I can work with that. You got a team name?”

I looked at Tib who shrugged, and then to Zevrack.

Zevrack smiled “The dragons!”

I shook my head, thinking to all the people I’d heard talking about the refugees from Olm that had been displaced by dragonfire. “I don’t believe that would go over well with this crowd. I like that you’re thinking though.” I paused for a moment, then faced the runes again “The Wild Cards?”

“Works for me. Be in the pit in five minutes.”

I gave a final check of my equipment and went over my abilities in my head, cycling through spells, weapons changes, and any other options I had. I looked over at my team. “You guys ready?”

Tib had just strapped on his helmet, smacked his sword on his shield and nodded.

Zevrack nodded, his tail moving back and forth so quickly that he was kicking up the sand in the dugout.

“Tiberius, you’re our point man.”

He nodded and walked up and out of the dugout, with myself and Zevrack close behind. There were cheers as we entered, and I found myself momentarily overwhelmed by the noise. I looked across the pit at our opponents. Krush and her team's description had been accurate from what I could see. The man in their lead was maybe a head taller than me, wearing heavy plate armor, with a massive club hanging over his shoulder. Behind him was a man with a scimitar in either hand, he was short and had long hair that hung halfway down his back in a braid. Behind both of them was a woman wearing a long flowing robe, holding a staff about Zevrack’s height.

As we got toward the center of the pit the announcer started speaking. “Welcome everyone! To the final day of the triples tournament!”

The crowd gave a lively cheer, and I slipped one of the cat’s bells off my wrist and started yelling as loud as I could while holding a hand in front of my mouth, pretending I was yawning.

“Now, as you can see, there’s been a little change in the expected showdown for the day. The Smash Queens were allowed to sub in another team due to the injuries they received in their last match. In their place we have the three you see before you. Iron Tiberius, and his impenetrable defense! Zevrack, the tinkerer of terror! And weaponmaster Cor! Together they’re the Wildcards!”

That drew a welcoming cheer, and I admired the announcer's ability to improvise based on how little information he’d gained from us in the dugout.

“On the other side, we have much more familiar faces. Let’s give another warm welcome to the Tribunal!”

The cheer for us had been warm, but the one for the tribunal was red hot. Men and women stood and cheered, waved, and I even saw a few bundles of flowers make their way down toward them. The Tribunal ate it up, waving, saluting, and in the mages case shooting off some small fireworks from her staff.

“Let’s not keep these hotblooded challengers waiting any longer!”

Zevrack cocked his head. “I’m cold blooded.”

“FIGHT!”

I yelled a few more obscenities and threw the cat bell I’d been holding at the tribunal. There was an explosion of sound in their midst and they all flinched in surprise and clutched their ears. We didn’t hesitate to take advantage of their pause.

Tib charged in front, heading straight toward the man with the club. He hit him low and hard with his shield, but the man recovered just in time to brace for it and managed to keep his footing.

I made a bee-line for the mage, hoping to take her out before she could get off any spells. I fired a tenth of a fireball at her as I closed the gap, but she lifted her staff and the ball of flame dispersed around her, leaving her unharmed. Before I could reach her with my shortsword I felt energy build at her feet and she launched into the air, rising to float roughly fifteen feet above me.

While I was trying to adjust the swordsman made a leaping attack in my direction. I rolled out of the way just before he could hit me, but he immediately followed up with a flurry of blows, putting me off balance and forcing me to play defense.

The mage that was now floating above us, began casting spells, creating spears of ice from the condensation in the air. Just before she could send them at Tib and I, Zevrack went into action. His jetpack roared to life and he launched himself into the air.

I risked a look at him, concerned something had gone wrong as I briefly lost sight of him, but almost as soon as he’d disappeared, he swooped back down, gliding on his wings straight toward the mage. She panicked, and threw her spears in his direction. Zevrack opened his mouth and a burst of flame melted them before they could hit. After that he slammed into her and the both fell to the ground in a tangle of gadgetry and robes, until they hit the wall with a loud thud, and their aerial combat devolved into a grappling match.

The swordsman forced my attention back to him, thrusting his blades toward my stomach and forcing me to use two feet of flash-step to avoid them. I activated an invisible step behind myself and hopped backward to land on it, then I flipped over his head and swung in a sweeping arc behind myself, hoping to hit him at his center.

He blocked by blow without even looking at it, and whirled around, twisting my own sword out of my grasp as he did. Disarmed, I rolled backwards, grasped a handful of sand and flung it at his eyes, buying myself enough time to draw my dagger.

While I struggled with the swordsman, Tib was being bombarded with blows from his opponent’s club. His shield was dented, and I could see it was dipping a bit lower than it had been when we’d started, but the warrior with the club was having problems of his own. With every club strike, Tib was able to whip his sword around and leave a deep cut on his opponent. Their fight had become one of attrition.

The swordsman continued to pressure me, and I realized I needed a change of tactic. I activated a full use of stone-toss, and aimed it at his head. He raised his swords to block it, and at that moment I activated the remaining three feet of my flash-step spell. This put me mostly behind him. I reached out with both hands and grabbed his long hair. I heard a gasp from him, and at that moment I yanked backwards and down with all my strength. The man let out a yelp of pain, dropping his sword and reaching for his scalp. He landed on his back in the sand, and with his guard down, I slammed the knuckle grip of my dagger into his nose. There was a loud crack, and he was down.

I looked back over at Tib. He and his opponent were both wobbling. I started to make my way toward him, but before I could Zevrack leapt onto the man’s back. He opened his mouth, and a small orb of fire hung between his jaws and the man’s face.

The man stopped mid-swing, and dropped his club. “I yield.”

I looked over to the corner of the arena where Zevrack had landed earlier and saw the crumpled form of the Tribunal’s mage. My faith in him was once again rewarded, he’d taken out two of the three, just as promised.

The announcer’s voice pierced through the roaring of the crowd “The Wild Cards win! What an upset! The Smash Queens picked a damned good substitution it seems! They'll continue on to the next fight. We’ll take a brief intermission here and then we’ll find out who their opponents will be! The Gilded Graces or the Blackhearts!”