A crowd of both slaves, knights and servants gathered in front of the [Memoir] to watch my trial. Vanessa was in the front row, being supported by Michael and the old man, so she could watch me. Her eyes were already wet with tears, making my heath hollow.

Arlam was at my left, sparing glances at me full of disdain. Justin hadn’t told me what the Mattugr was, and I doubt Arlam probably was unaware of it, so my best guess was that he thought I would be losing my life today, or at least, an arm. Justin was at my right, observing the crowd with apparent indifference.

The only person I didn’t see was Alana.

Justin took a step forward. “We are here today to pass and witness slave Aron's judgment for assaulting a noble and for killing his peers. As the captain in command of this fort, it falls to me to pass a fair judgment.”

“Begone with this Justin!” Arlam said, taking a step forward. “The king’s order is absolute, a slave who assaults a noble has to be punished by death.”

“The king’s order also states that any pregnant woman has to be protected for their sons are to be considered citizens of the kingdom. An order you failed to complete.” He glared at Arlam. “Aron was fulfilling the king’s order by protecting his pregnant wife. A pregnant woman you gave for the man to be used and abused.”

Arlam went red with rage. He was about to protest when Justin raised a hand. “But an assault is an assault and Aron is to blame. I will allow the gods to decide his fate by putting him into a Mattugr.”

The slaves looked at each other, as clueless as I was. The knights and servants looked horrified, which made me wonder what would make them feel that way toward a slave. Arlam on the other hand had a grim that went from one ear to the other. His eyes were shining, and I could swear he was even trembling slightly.

“Ah! A Mattugr!” he said, with glee in his voice. “How long one has not been held? What do you have in mind?”

“Aron is to pass 48 hours alone inside the [Memoir].”

A sweat fell over my neck. From my brief experience inside there, 48 hours would be the same as sending me to my death. There was no way I would survive when the creatures of the night would feast on my meat. And even if I did, an aberrant or the giant cannibal would toy with me.

That was not finding a common ground, it was a slaughter.

I looked at Vanessa, pale as milk. She hadn’t entered the [Memoir], but Michael must have told her about it. Knowing her, she would have forced him to tell her even the smallest details, having a good idea of the predicament I was put into.

“I will come back,” I told her, only by moving my mouth.

Arlam hit me in the back with an open palm. “Having your head cut would have been so much easier for you. I hope they eat you alive and slowly.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t die.”

He laughed.

“Come,” Justin told me, holding me by my arm. “You need to be prepared.”

“Don’t lose your time and resources on him, he is going to die,” Arlam told him, still laughing.

“Rules are rules.”

"Fine, that's on you." He answered, waving a hand, probably in a mocking way. I was not sure.

Since Justin and Rodrigues walked away, I followed them, wondering how I would survive my trial and return to my wife. Rodrigues slowed down his pace, getting to my side.

"It's customary for the one undertaking the mattugr to receive enough support to survive it. The idea is to test one in an extreme situation, but not by making it impossible."

"With due respect, 48 hours inside there does look impossible."

"Only on the surface." He said, with his lips curling as he held his anger in check. "It has been done once."

That hardly increased my mood or gave me hope.

"And you will be prepared, we are going into the armoury," Justin said.

The prospect of getting some equipment at least increased my mood. There could be a weapon or spell that I could use in a smart way to survive, just like I had done with the Beholder.

We arrived at the armoury entrance, a place guarded by two stationed knights armed with thick spears. The two of them took a ring from inside their armours and put them inside two holes at the armoury door. Justin took a similar ring from his finger, inserting it into a third hole. The three rings flashed in golden light, which was followed by the sound of some mechanism and gears moving inside both the door and the wall.

Circles filled and runic inscriptions appeared in front of the door that started to enter the wall until it was completely hidden inside it.

The armoury was impressive. Rows and rows of weapons and armours are being displayed. Gabinetes filled with runes sparkling with the light provided by torches. And even mechanisms and other stuff that I had no idea of they were.

And that was only what was in my field of view.

One axe to my right got my attention. He had three holes to put runes on its blade, but there was a line connecting them.

Greater Axe of Critical Strike.

Durability: 90%

Rune Slot: 0/3.

Rune links: 0/3.

Effect: Has a 50% off turning an attack into a critical strike.

Decrease weapon weight by 60%.

Increase caster muscular strength by 50%.

That made everything I had seen until now look like trash. Despite the axe being thick and heavy looking, the decrease in his weight would make it easier to use, especially with the added strength boom. I didn't know what a critical strike meant, but critical was always a strong word.

"What is a [Rune Link]?

"Here." Justin tossed me a [Spell Rune].

Rune: Increase Projectile.

Tier: 1.

Type: Enchantment.

Mana Cost: 10 reserved mana.

Effect: Any spell that shoots a projectile of any form can now shoot a second projectile at the same time, without any additional cost of mana.

"This rune changes the effect of a spell? Is this what the link does?"

"Yes, weapons and armour with links are very important because of that, but they are more or less rare."

"More or less?"

"There are a lot of them inside the [Memoir] but they are hard to get. Deadly places, stronger enemies, traps that ignore our [Mana Shield]." He opened his hand for me to return the rune. "Just so you know, just having the rune with you will reserve some of your mana to it."

"I keep reading it, what does this mean?"

"Part of your mana is stored and can't be used by you. If you for example use this rune, your total mana becomes 90 until it is removed from your gear."

"Makes sense, so what do I'm getting from here?"

"An armour set, a weapon or two and a rune. But I'm only lending it to you, they are not yours to keep."

That was better than nothing.

He gave me a full set of leather armour. It had been dyed black and had no particular eye-catching detail, which was good, for it would help me blend in the darkness.

Every piece of the armour also had an effect.

Leather Chest Plate of Protection.

Durability: 100%

Rune Slot: 0/1.

Effect: Increase mana shield protection by 20%.

Increasing the protection of my [Mana Shield] was an effect I wished I could stack. Since it was calculated into percentages, I had no clear indication of how strong my shield got, but protection was protection.

Leather Armlet of Strength.

Durability: 100%

Rune Slot: 0/1.

Effect: Increase muscular strength by 20%.

Leather Pauldrons of Strength.

Durability: 100%

Rune Slot: 0/1.

Effect: Increase muscular strength by 20%.

I didn't feel different when equipping both items, but a bump of 40% increase in my strength was amazing. The last time I checked, I could pull up 100kg, which meant the items alone made me able to pull 140Kg!

That felt like cheating.

Leather Boots of Agility.

Durability: 100%

Rune Slot: 0/1.

Effect: Increase movement speed by 30%.

The effect on the boots was the only one I could feel immediately. Even raising my hands was faster than before, which felt odd, like passing a day with weight, only to remove it at the end of the night, feeling lighter.

"You look happy with your gear," Justin said, inspecting me. "What kind of weapon would you like?"

That was a really hard question. My training only included knives, but they would be useless in real combat against swords; spears; and other weapons. A sword and shield was a safer bet because it would be easy to improvise. An axe also looked like a weapon I could get used to.

A weapon like a spear was interesting because it offered a good range and because of the increase in strength, I could think about ways to use it that were only possible in movies and games.

Which also gave one idea.

"Do you have a mace?"

"A mace?" He asked like the question had taken him by surprise, "Yes, of course. Come here."

He leads me toward a cabinet with maces of all sizes and shapes. Some were round, others had spikes and there were even some with blades. I took one that was small and round, only to feel how heavy it was. Rodrigues came to my side and looked at me with genuine curiosity, which made his moustache move in what I believed was an involuntary act.

“Why a mace?” He asked me.

"It does not require much training to use. I can break shields and armour; it is deadly like any other weapon."

"You do need training, but hitting someone's face with it is easier than using a sword and a spear. Any fool can do that" He said, mocking me.

I ignored him, hoping that my silence would piss him off more than replying to his offence. I had chosen what kind of weapon I was going to use, now I had to look for a good effect.

"Before you choose, you can't do anything with more than one rune slot." He told me, smiling.

After carefully looking at each mace, I narrowed the best effects I could get into three.

One increased my strength by 50% for 40 seconds with a cooldown of 12 hours, which I could use as a last resort twice a day if I needed it, which was also the downside if it

The second allowed me to increase my perception while fighting by 20%. Perceiving my opponents could save me in a fight, but I was not sure if 20% was enough to make a difference. It would have been better if it worked all time, not only in combat.

The third had a 10% chance of turning an attack into a critical strike. "What exactly is a critical strike?"

"Depends. It can do more damage to a shield; break a bone you were not supposed to." Justin scratched his hair. "It does something different each time."

That could be useful. Maybe more than the other two. If I was lucky, at least one out of ten attacks would be turned into a critical strike! The downside was that others could do the same with me and now I would have to fight while expecting something random to happen to me.

The last thing I needed was to block an attack with a shield and have my arm cut off.

"Do you have any shield that ignores ranged damage? I liked that."

"Rodrigues will fetch you one. Let's get you a rune."

Part of me wanted to keep the Hellhound, but the mana cost was too high at the moment. It was not worth keeping a spell that could be used only once per day and for two minutes.

Justin opened a cabinet and removed a black box made of wood from inside it. "The kind of runes we can give your people are very limited. Yet, I think I know one that would be perfect for you."

He opened the box and took a rune that he passed me.

Rune: Shadow Blink.

Tier: 1.

Type: Movement.

Mana Cost: 10 mana per cast.

Effect: You can change positions from one point to another by moving into the shadows. You can only move into an area of 3 meters around you.

That looked like an amazing skill to escape a place; reach higher ground or even attack. I could take an opponent by surprise or simply stealthily kill the person.

I loved it.

My plan was to hide for 48 hours, and that rune would help me achieve it. Since I had to search for water and food, it would also help me escape if something tried to kill me.

There was no reason to put me into any unnecessary danger at the Mattugr now that Vanessa was here. Returning to her was the only thing that mattered.

Rodrigues returned with the shield and passed it to me. I finished equipping myself and breathing slowly, trying to focus on my goal.

"I'm ready."