Chapter 10:

Mary dropped me off at the entry hall, and this time, when I walked in, the experience was like none of the times before. The first time was elation. Excitement. I just couldn't wait to be warm. Every other time afterward, I came in with a purpose, a goal to get better.

This time, I only felt relief.

I only paused a second before I rushed in the doors and rubbed my hands together, just reveling in the warmth. As soon as I passed the threshold, I snagged a horn of mead and swigged half of it. My face did not even flinch at the awful taste as it slid down.

Horn in hand, I started wandering through the hall with no particular destination in mind. Despite having trained briefly with many people, I didn't have a lot of people I would consider friends. Only the one group, really. And well, I had just embarrassed myself in front of them.

I spent all day the day before yesterday– I frowned as the days started to run together– failing repeatedly in practice and then getting bounced in the first round by one of them. How could I face them again?

Logically, I knew that didn't make sense. They seemed like all solid people and people I wanted to get to know more. Jonas had already apologized, but something didn't feel right. And so I could go find Jorg and talk to him about Loki, but I felt like that was a bad idea.

I wasn't sure where the instinct was coming from, but I followed it. With nothing in mind, I just started wandering. Several people I either briefly recognized or had never even seen before tried to pull me to their tables for feasting. The celebrations of having made it out of the cold for one more night were raucous and many. I could empathize in some ways. But just getting out for one night wasn't enough for me. I wanted more. I wanted to never have to worry about getting sent out again. I wanted power.

Sometimes, I joined enough to toast with my horn of mead, draining it more times than I could remember. As I kept stumbling down the hall, I found myself thinking of Bjorn and how he had come to find me after the first time I got into this hall to welcome me. I hadn't even faced a third challenger today. I probably had just appeared and then immediately died, giving someone a free pass for a round. But If I did and if I had won, would I have searched them out?

I thought about it. It didn't take me long to find my answer. A couple of times now, I had welcomed someone to the lesser hall for the first time, and never once had I returned the favor that Bjorn had done for me. Of course, I had likely cheated, and maybe that said everything I needed to know. But still, I couldn't get the question out of my mind.

Did he do that for everyone, or was there something else? Or was it from that one time we had trained together? Because of that one time, he took pity on me in the Courtyard. When he spent a few minutes showing me some moves and then just talking to me like a human being. I hadn't even bothered to try passing that along. Not that I had anything to teach the people out there, but– My thoughts hit a brick wall.

As I realized where I was, I swayed on my feet, looking at the group of five while staring back at me. My thoughts must have led me to them without meaning, too. I blinked, raised my cup as a toast to them, and then attempted to drink. However, I missed and poured half of it down my shirt before getting to my lips to the rim.

Was I drunk? How–?

Bjorn jumped up and steadied my shoulder before clapping me on the back. Roaring with laughter as he, too, lifted a horn of mead and drained it. Mark, Rolo and Hugo saluted me with their goblets and laughed.

Jonas looked pale when I first met his eyes. I flinched and saw that he noticed, but he didn't react. He just sat quietly as Bjorn led me nearer. When I sat down, Jonas looked at me seriously. "I'm so sorry."

My drunken mind shrugged off the fear that I felt and moved the emotional energy to anger for being matched with him. I know it wasn't his fault. And told them so. "I would have done the same in your place, my friend."

Reaching out, I attempted to touch the side of his arm and missed whacking him in the shoulder. I could see some tension bleed out of him as he breathed. "Well, at least you made it this far. I'm glad– I'm glad you're back, Miles."

Mark clapped my shoulder from the other side from where Bjorn was. "Yeah. Your tip of the halberd really saved my ass. I barely made it in yesterday. If I hadn't had that brush-up session on it, I don't think I would have. I might have been out in the snow with you."

I smiled, glad that my bargain had helped someone at least.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Rolo chimed in. "We thought you might still have been out there. Glad you made it back so soon!"

Hugo wordlessly passed me a mug of beer, and I tossed my empty horn of ale over my shoulder. Taking a sip, I sighed. I was glad that my friends had welcomed me home. Tipping the drink back, I drank some more. Feeling slightly dizzy, I slid into the banter amongst the table and reached out to rip a leg off the turkey in front of me.

***

The next morning, I woke with a pounding headache. I was more confused than hungover, honestly. Sure, I drank a lot, but I had never been hungover here before. Something had been wrong with me ever since I got my brand. I had started to see the cracks in this weird place. Beyond that, I questioned things that I had never thought of before, and I felt things I shouldn't have been able to, like being hungover.

Putting those questions out of my head until after training. I stretched and worked my tongue through my cotton mouth as I looked around. Everyone was already gone.

I found myself huddled closer to the fire than I normally would be. Half of my face was slightly sunburnt. I thought about going out to train and nearly puked. Ah, drinking this much was a mistake. If I'd known I could get hungover again, I would never drink so much. How the fuck was I supposed to train enough to make it back here?

I was going to be cutting it close anyway, but now I had absolutely no choice. Getting up, I stumbled towards the bright light at the exit of the hall and joined the line for the weapons rack. It took me a couple minutes to fully wake up, but I found the old rickety bow, grabbed it, and headed towards the proper training ring.

Descending the stairs down to barter for a favor, I kept shaking my head, trying to clear it. This was not a position that I wanted to be in. It took all I had to not get totally screwed by Loki, and I wasn't in top form.

The host led me through the restaurant and seated me at the bar this time. As soon as I pulled the stool out, he turned and left.

As I took my seat, the man drawing a drink for a customer turned around and smiled at me. I met Loki's eyes as he dropped the full mug off at the other end of the bar.

Studying the shape, I found that I couldn't make out much more than a general outline. There was more than enough light, but the man appeared with a strangely hazy face.

Loki cleared his throat, and I turned to find him standing in front of me, polishing a pint glass. When he had my attention, he asked, "What can I do for you?"

I looked at the rows of taps and the shelves of liquor. Where he was going with the bartender act, I wasn't sure, but I decided to play along. "Give me a cranberry juice. With extra ice, please."

He smiled and reached under the counter, and pulled out a glass. "I knew you'd be back soon, Miles. You're someone who knows what a deal this is."

I hated the fact that he was right. That, despite how slimy it seemed, negotiating for cheats was an amazing deal for me. Even when taking into account what he was making me do as he was exacting his price. I knew that Loki could have honestly charged far more for his services; at least for me, he could. He was doing me a favor by even giving me access to this ability. There was no way I could do anything without his help, and I hated it.

"I need to get out of the Lesser Hall," I said. Loki gave me a smile that made my blood run cold. It wasn't that he was dropping the charming act he had shown me the previous time we had talked. No, it was as if he knew that I knew the charming man was an act. But he also knew he didn't need to pretend anymore. It was a good veneer, but he had me so much in his grasp that there was nothing I could do to get out of it. Nothing I was willing to do. I suppose I could go spend three months dying in the cold just to spite him. Or I could bargain. Of course, I had to draw a line somewhere.

"I'm going to need a favor for that," Loki said.

"What kind of favor," I asked.

"Any favor. Anything I ask."

"No, no, there's no way I can do that. That's that's that's unreasonable." I said. This was just the opening offer. I would be stupid to take it.

"Well, perhaps you should be more specific in your request, then. Just getting you out of the lesser hall would be difficult." He countered.

"Okay, fine, I need help. I need something else. I get you can't just transport me out, okay? I get that. I get that you ask too much for that. You know, I won't accept a blank favor as a cost." I started to think of another option. If I hadn't been so hungover before coming here, I might have planned this better. Coming in and just demanding solutions wasn't the best idea.

Loki smiled something that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. But he nodded, accepting that I wasn't going to give him a blank check.

"Well, I have an option. You're not good with the halberd, are you?" He said it like a question, even though it wasn't really one. But I nodded anyway. "What if I offer you a different weapon?"