Chapter 26 -Explore

After catching up with the rest of the caravan and explaining my situation of having gotten lost to the princess, the remained of the journey went without a hitch. To both my brother’s and my own satisfaction, Pirveli avoided me like the snake he was, and I did not get lost again. The days quickly blurred and before long we had arrived.

I don’t think you would have forgotten that day. Sitting on the back of the horse as the first views of Katentin emerged from behind the trees. The city sat on a precipice, a plateau over the blue expanse that is the Feltzakt Lake. The walls fencing in the architecture of the city seemed polished, but despite how impressive they looked, I questioned their necessity given the elevation above the water. To my surprise, I saw the familiar green of trees peeking up from between buildings, even near the furthest corner that housed the castle and its towers. For a brief time, I could make out the coliseum halfway from the center of the city to the castle, then the road began to curve and angle downwards, hiding Katentin once more.

When I looked upon the shining stone walls of Katentin, I saw hope. It was strange to think that a caging of civilization behind solid partitions could inspire such a feeling, but when I had time to reflect, it was not difficult to understand. Of the places I had lived in throughout the years, this was the first that spoke of order and opportunity. This was my second chance embodied, why should I prevent the smile within my heart and the light shining in my eyes? From my barest of glimpses of the inside of the city, and my extended study of the walls, I knew this was to be the city where I could change my life.

My entry would be as a stranger, with only the highlights of my past rising to the ears of the city. A refreshing change from what I had in Orid-narr and Chereba.

I will refrain from discussing the architecture of Tell’s capital at the moment, for in the coming days, I had time to explore the city like I was unable to in other places. Now though, it is sufficient to describe it as clean, organized, and planned. Through those wide streets we rode until we reached home. Unlike my harsh reception by the denizens of Chereba, the people of Katentin hailed us with a degree of respect. No flowers were thrown for us gladiators, but nor were any accusations. Six times people ran up to the princess, offering her gifts, drinks, and fruits. Each time she refused. Mothers shouted for her to bless their babies, but she gently turned them away and pointed them towards the nearest church of Evelilas. Not once did she stop her steady trotting. Even when we gladiators were dropped off at the coliseum, she continued without pause, riding along the boulevard that stretched to the castle.

The gladiators, myself included, were ushered into the gargantuan structure that was to be our residence for the foreseeable future, I hurriedly hugged my brother goodbye, squeezing him close until I felt his heartbeat against mine. Before the awkwardness of the unusual closeness had a chance to manifest, I was whisked away, and he stood there, watching until I vanished around the gate.

We were led into a large room, featuring a small stage and rising seats, similar to that of an auditorium. Twelve men and five women sat, waiting. We were instructed to join our fellow incoming gladiators.

I saw Pirveli brighten up and walk towards a pair of men sitting near the back. That was not the only group. Now that I looked again, there were several pockets where people bunched together. One of the women was sitting alone, as was another man. Seeing this, I felt tension leaving my neck. I was not to be the only loner. Whispers and hushed laughter carried from Pirveli’s group, and I saw them watching me. The tension returned, and I sat in the front, near the door and open stage.

As we were forced to wait, my hand trailed over the bandages on my head, still covering my severed ear. I wondered if I was unable to hear them because my head was wrapped, or if because they were truly being quiet. I would not know, but as time passed, I felt more eyes boring into my back. Resisting the urge to confront them, I yawned and stretched out instead, flexing my muscles to straighten my legs and arms until they shivered briefly. After stretching like a lazy cat, I lay back in my seat, slouching without a care in the world. Let them whisper. Let them watch.

I heard them shuffling around, getting up to talk to one another. A gaggle of them approached me from behind, and I closed my eyes before they could come around to the front. When they saw I was ‘sleeping’ they let me be. They conversed among each other, and I pondered the logic of leaving future enemies alone in a room together. Would we not have to fight and kill each other eventually? What would prevent hostilities from emerging now? Where were the guards? Where were the watchful eyes? This continued for ten minutes until the clack of confident footfalls advanced through the hallway and into the room. I opened my eyes and straightened up, looking at the newcomer.

“We were waiting on three more, but word has come that they will be further delayed. My name is Serena Blackwater and I am in charge of briefing you of your new life here in the coliseum.” Her hair was cut close on the sides and left slightly longer on top. She filled out a well-tailored uniform, and I saw faint scars on her calloused fists. Her eyes met ours one by one, and after she stared us down, she continued, “I am sure that you have heard bits and pieces -snippets of what it may be like. As I speak you are likely comparing it with what you experienced before in different arenas or practice grounds. I am here to dispel any and all false notions you may have, and to make clear to you your role here.”

“You are all gladiators of the Queen. You have renounced any sins of your past, and you are to be the greatest of Queen Lidja’s warriors. You will know glory, but not before you taste defeat, suffering and pain.”

“Before we begin, understand that any insubordination will result in immediate expulsion from the gladiatorial ranks. At best earning you dishonor, at worst, death.” She said, this time while looking at me -a fact that was missed by none in the room. I met her gaze and she turned away, disinterested.

“First and foremost, no fighting outside of the ring -unless during restrained bouts during practice. Second, none of you are allowed the possession of any weapon even as trivial as a pointed stick. Men must keep their hair short and are not permitted to grow facial hair until they earn their second stripe. Women are recommended to keep their hair short as well, and to avoid pregnancy. If one of you decides to bear a child, come talk to me. At no times will lax attitude be tolerated. As the Queen’s gladiators, you must represent the best of the people, and for the former criminals in our midst, you must demonstrate the level of your reformation in your manners. This is your second -your last chance.”

She cleared her throat, “Now, for the next order of business. Things will not be as they were if you have come from a sister arena such as that in Chereba. Events take place six times a year. The rest of the year will be spent studying, training, and-” she paused, eyes scanning the room, but very obviously avoiding me this time, “reforming.”

I heard a few snickers from the back, and I waited to see if she would comment on it. She ignored them. Go figure. I sighed and relaxed my shoulders. I could not find it in myself to give her my full attention anymore.

My time in the cells of Chereba’s arena had me forget what interacting with people was like. That’s not to say I expected kindness and good will from every person I came across, but for the groupings to be so clear right from the get go… I smiled bitterly and shook my head as she continued to drone on.

I shall not bore you/me with the rest. We were taken to our rooms once she finished, and thus began my second chance.

-

After the first week of adjustment, time began to blur. I stayed in the coliseum, a small room, but decidedly better than a cell. We ate together in a mess hall, and often bathed at the same time as well. I could tell it rankled some of the former nobles that a former ‘peasant’ such as myself now ate and bathed with them, and their discomfort was music to my soul. I was content with my accommodations, but they were not, often complaining about the rooms with whiny, nasally speech. Or that’s how I saw it. For the sake of accuracy, I must disclose that they were not in-fact, whiny or nasally. They were merely vocal in their displeasure and hopeful that they would be distant from me when we earned our fifth stripe (thereby earning the right to move into the castle.)

Each day left me exhausted, but they fed us well, and kept us clean to avoid any illness. We were educated in different forms of combat and military tactics, and for the first time taught how to avoid killing while fighting. To my frustration, the nobles, who triggered a familiar yet worrying fire in my gut, displayed a level of proficiency and skillfulness with fencing that I could only envy. A testament to their status and that they grew up with the resources to train. Whenever I sparred with them, I was left only to grit my teeth and suffer through defeat as I found myself severely outmatched when not relying on underhanded tactics.

Despite the hardship, the sun still emerged from behind the faint clouds. Or as it is more commonly referred to: going on walks. I was given a meager allowance and granted permission to explore the city -provided that I return before sunset. Often I met up with Garent and we talked, but he was not always free for me. It was on one such occasion that I had waited, seated on the stoop outside of the building with lips pressed together. This was where he worked, and it was only after half an hour that an associate of his came down to tell me that he was moved to a different building just the other day, two blocks down and to the right.

My first order of business was to search for Garent, as my fellow gladiators were not the most sociable people. I needed to spend time with my brother both to relieve my own boredom and chase away the lonely melancholy that plagued me. But it was for naught. When i finally chanced upon his new office of employ, i found myself at the end of a queue. My own fault for coming unannounced… With a heavy sigh i crept back out the door. This left me in a strange place, hungry, tired, agitated, but above all, lost and unsure of what I would do on my own.

I almost turned to ask the nearest passerby what I should do, but they strode past me without so much as glancing my way. I chewed the inside of my cheek as I considered my options. I was hungry, therefore I needed to find sustenance. Of restaurants, I only knew the few that I had gone to with Garent, and if I was not with him, there was no way I was going to pay exorbitant fees to eat on my own. My foot tapped the cobbled street restlessly. For all the organization and upkeep of these roads, how often do people use them? The main roads saw regular use, but because of them, did people avoid the narrower side roads? With nothing to do and no place to be, i looked at the buildings around, the corridor-like roads carved through the assembly of surrounding architecture, and a sense of adventure gripped me. It was then I realized I had never left to explore the city on my own before. My feet had only stepped through the wide roads, never meandering through the backstreets. I rubbed my hands over my thighs, then slapped them once and stood up. I tightened the simple rope belt around my stomach and walked straight for the nearest side street.

A fascinating thing happened then. As i lost myself in the crowds and the twists and turns the roads led me through, the dark feelings that weighed upon my chest began to disperse. The city demanded my attention, and where I had not had time to marvel at the sights before, now I was free to gawk at the perfect celebration of simple shapes presented in soft colors, often white or a pale beige. And though I referred getting lost in the twists and turns, it was easy to come out to a main boulevard with less than ten minutes of walking. The wide-open roads cut through from one end of the city to the other making everything easily accessible. Aside from a few large buildings that formed knots of roads around them, the rest of the city was laid out in a grid that radiated out from the castle at the far end of the plateau.

Everything about Katentin exuded an air of nobility, modernity, and the future. Architecture comprised of clean concrete planes decorated with windows of perfect shapes punched through them -most often sets of three circles, but I had seen a single large equilateral triangle as well. The average building was four stories high and capped off with a roof bearing only a single slope. Stairs climbed up left of the building, and sometimes each floor was painted a different color, but that was a rarity. At least once on every block, a flat façade was brought to life by a unique artwork of. While the artworks were comprised of maximum two colors, it made up for it through the shades and level of vibrancy. How is such a thing possible, I pondered. How does squalor like Chereba exist, when Katentin can afford to turn their entire city into a canvas for artists? How can Chereba be left so filthy, when the dirtiest, smallest alley of Katentin is cleaner than most people’s houses?

As these questions consumed my thoughts, I saw her.

Aryel.

My beautiful sister. With head full of hair and healthy limbs. She turned the corner and vanished from my sight. A heartbeat later, the buildings blurred past me as I chased after her. I knocked over two people as I ran, but when I reached the corner, she was no longer there. I walked down the street with wide eyes and a racing heart. Then her voice carried to me, except it was not hers. To my left there was a wall, and in the wall, a gate.

I entered under the arched gateway, coming across no less than a dozen children playing about. Among them was Aryel’s look-alike. Unbidden, my eyes welled with tears and I turned away to leave, but before I made it to the gate, a voice called out for me.

“Can I help you?

I swallowed the lump in my throat and hastily wiped away the wetness on my cheeks before I wheeled around to face the kindest features I had ever seen on a woman. With stunning soft eyes and beautiful features framed by curly brown hair, she took my breath away. It was a moment before I replied and explained the confusion with the young girl. I waited on my toes, hoping she would not be angry, and was taken aback when she said, “Oh you poor thing, why don’t you sit on the bench there and I’ll get you a glass of water.” At that moment my pent-up hunger that had been staved off by a tight belt, decided to call out. She heard the grumbling. Oh God. I felt my face flush, and I looked away, unable to meet her eyes.

She did not so much as pause to think about it. She grabbed me by the hand and brought me into the building. That was when my stomach started to feel funny. The feeling was foreign, naively I attributed it to hunger.

Once inside, she sat me down at a table and within a few minutes procured a plate of warm food.

I dug into the food and just as she was opening her mouth to say something, a voice called for her from outside, “Teofilé!” With a huff, she stood up and excused herself, “Sorry, I’ll be back in just a second.”

Well, what now? I was lost in Katentin, alone in this foreign building, unsure what time it was, being hosted by a stunning stranger, eating a delicious meal. There were worse fates I guess. I stopped my complaining and focused on my food, but after I finished and she did not re-appear, I left my plate and exited the house.

The children were still playing around, all but three. The three surrounded her and I could hear their raised voices from the door.

“It’s Marika’s fault! She’s the one that started it!”

“Once more from the beginning Marika. What happened, why did you push Natali?” Teofilé asked.

Aryel’s lookalike then replied, “She was going to take Rostom’s lunch!”

“No! Rostom offered!” Natali stamped her feet in protest.

“Why didn’t you ask Rostom, where is he Anzor?”

The boy, who I had falsely assumed to be Rostom, looked around, searching for his friend, unable to find him.

It was then that I walked over to the group of four. As I approached, the children continued to badger each other and shift blame. So much did they argue that I feared they might break out into another physical confrontation, but my worries were baseless, for once they saw me, they quieted down. An idea came to my mind then, and I offered fair Teofilé a subtle wink in warning.

“Don’t argue too much now.” I cautioned with a hard glint in my eye.

“I used to get into fights, not only with friends, but with my own brother. He would complain that I never listened to him, especially when he was in the right. This was the cause of many a tussle between us. Then one day while I slept, he snuck up next to my bed with the sharpest knife we own, and took my ear for himself!” I exclaimed hurriedly while gesturing towards the flat plane to the left of my head, devoid of an ear.

The children gasped and hid behind their caretaker. I struggled to hold myself back from laughter then, but still my lips twitched despite my best efforts to remain stern. They misunderstood the twitching for madness and fled from even behind Teofilé, into the house I had exited from just moments earlier. I let my giggles free then, and Teofilé joined me. Her laugh was like cool water on a hot day, only instead of cooling me down, I felt my cheeks heat up.

From behind her, Anzor peeked out. Only the girls had run, brave little Anzor did not want to leave Teofilé alone with me, the strange man with one ear. When he saw that the two of us were in cahoots and that she was laughing, he crossed his arms and frowned at me before stomping away. So much indignation in such a small body, I marveled and began to laugh once more.

I had not laughed so hard in a long while, and when I was done my sides hurt. I saw Anzor still watching me and another small chuckle escaped me before I straightened out.

An uncomfortable feeling replaced the joy in an instant when I noticed Teofilé’s eyes on me. I could not understand why she was looking at me so. Did I do or say something wrong? All at once I feared then that she was suspicious of me and would not approve of my current profession, or my past. Conscious that it was only the two of us now, I wanted to run away like Marika and Natali had run from me. Instead I glanced at where the sun was in the sky, and exclaimed that I had somewhere to be. With a bow of my head and a shaky but genuine, “Thank you!” I practically bolted for the gate, not sparing a second to look back.