Ch 24
When I came to, I was back in the resting room where the fighters would get to relax after winning their fights. As I tried to stand, I immediately felt pain and laid back down. Looking down I saw that I had bandages wrapped around my arm and abdomen and feeling my head I found that my face was also wrapped in bandages with gaps left for my nose, mouth and eyes. After a moment I was able to recall the events of the fight I had been in against the cat person. He had clawed my face up good; I would likely have some nice scars to show for it.
After a few moments of lying there I decided to try standing up again, it hurt a lot, but with some determination I was able to get to my feet and I didn’t even reopen my wounds doing so. After that I headed for the door that they always led us through in the morning. When I got there after a couple minutes of slowly stepping across the room, each step accompanied by a wince of pain from my abdomen where I had been stabbed, I looked at the orcs guarding the door “I won ten fights so does that mean I don’t have to stay here?” They looked at each other in confusion for a moment before a bit of light seemed to enter the eyes of the one on the left. After a moment he said, “Smart goblin said you fight enough and when wake up bring to him if want, otherwise can stay in here til morning and then go to him instead of fight.” He seemed very pleased with himself having remembered not only that he had a message to relay but also what its contents were. After that he seemed to forget I was there again.
A few moments of contemplation were all I needed, Silvan had still not come for me and so I would not be made to fight more but I could also take advantage of the ability to rest on a cot while I was here. I ambled to the nearest cot, not the one I had awoken on but literally the one closest to the exit door where I had gotten the message from the guards. After reaching it I more fell into it than laid down and was quickly asleep again, waking up only briefly when the bread and cheese was distributed. My body was exhausted, and I had lost a lot of blood so it was only natural that I should be tired. Knowing this I took advantage of the opportunity to rest which I was sure I would not have back at the home of my master.
*****
When I next woke up it was morning and the goblins were again screaming for everyone to wake up and get in line but there was also an extra goblin there, the one who had handled my paperwork at the entrance if my guess was correct but they all looked much the same to me. He came over to where I was now sitting up on the cot and said, “You no get in line, you come with me.” I stood to my feet and followed him slowly, he did not seem to mind how slow I was moving, most likely because he only led me to the other side of the door so that we would be out of the other slaves’ way. After they had filed out he led me into the same hallway that led to the waiting room for slaves who had won at least one fight but instead led to through a door in the hallway wall that I hadn’t noticed before, it required a key to open it.
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Once the door had opened, we walked through and I found myself in yet another hallway, this one ending in a door that deposited me back in the room where I had spoken to the goblin who had been reading and sounded educated and intelligent. He was once again at his desk although he had stopped reading and turned around when he heard the door open behind him. We had come out through the second door of the four in this room starting from the left behind his desk. The first door had been the one that took me to the first waiting room for slaves who had not yet fought in the arena.
Upon seeing me the goblin smiled and exclaimed happily as if he was seeing a favorite pet after a long day at work. “I never expected you to survive your first ten days here in the arena. I am certainly pleased that you did however, not many manage to do so.” Smiling a bit, myself at his genial behavior I approached him, not noticing the goblin who had led me here slipping out through the door that I had come in through all those days ago. When I was only four or five feet away, I asked him the question that had been on my mind since waking up this morning. “Where is my master? Why hasn’t he come for me?” His smile turned a bit sour and he replied “Ah that, your master sent a missive in the form of an old slave running to deliver a message to me. The recited message stated that your master has no doubt that you managed to get yourself killed within the first couple of days and so will be by to collect his winnings if there are any within a week.”
I looked at him, not surprised but maybe.. yes disgusted. I was disgusted at the callous way that my master regarded my life and even a little angry that he thought that I would die so easily. Sure, there were a couple of close calls, but I managed to survive the entire ordeal and become a normal ranked fighter. I deserve a little validation of my efforts damn it! Swallowing my frustrations, I asked the goblin another question, “So what am I supposed to do until he comes for me? Should I just take his winnings and walk back to his house?” At these words and the tone of indignation in my voice the old goblin chuckled once more. “No,” he said, “there is no need for you to go walking all that way in your wounded condition. Might I suggest that instead you enjoy our hospitality here? We have quarters for fighters that are kept here full time by there masters. They usually don’t choose to use them because they cost ten coppers a day to cover your feeding and care, but some do because their slaves get access to our trainers while here. Since he has claimed that he will return for his prize within a week you can just stay here until he comes to collect you and what is left of his earnings.” As he said that last bit, he gave me a sly wink.
“That sounds wonderful honestly,” I replied to him. After that he led me through the third door and into a room which had not cots but proper beds with mattresses of straw with a sheet stretched across them. “Feel free to rest here and your meals will be brought to you, when you feel you have healed enough and want to learn something go through that door over there,” he gestured to a wooden door with metal struts on it against the far wall, “that is where our trainers are, they can teach you about how to use most any weapon you want as well as certain other skills and techniques as well.” With that he turned and walked away, leaving me to pick a bed and get some rest on the most comfortable surface I had encountered since coming to this world. It was only some straw under a sheet inside of a wooden frame but to me who had been sleeping on a stone floor and then in cots it was heaven.