“D’you see them?” Raff asked, looking around at the bustling crowd. They’d gotten to the stadium early today, so they could watch for the two humans who had followed Kaz and Li, but so far it hadn’t helped. Humans just looked too much alike, and since the two hadn’t had a noticeable ki or mana pattern, there was nothing to look for. Kaz wasn’t even certain that they were male, and for the first time, he understood Raff’s frustration at not being able to tell male from female kobolds.

Li said, her voice filled with frustration. She was perched on top of a statue nearby, watching from overhead while Kaz attempted to catch the scent of the strangers from the mass of people and Raff tried to pick out possible matches for the other two to investigate.

Kaz shook his head, but Raff wasn’t paying attention any more. His eyes were on a group entering the stadium through one of the large arches. “There’s an old guy and a youngish blonde one there.”

Li focused in that direction, sending the image to Kaz as she did so. Disappointment filled them both, and Kaz said, “They were about the same height. That gray-haired male is too short, and he has a beard.”

Raff shrugged. “You said you couldn’t see their faces.” Running his hand over his hair, he said, “This is pointless. Let’s head in. It’s not my favorite idea, but I guess we’ll have to let you play bait later after all.”

“What are you trying to catch?” asked Eve, standing on her toes behind Raff in an attempt to see what had attracted his attention. She was one of the tallest human females Kaz had seen, but Raff still stood taller than her by several inches.

Raff stiffened, but didn’t jump. Instead, he turned and said, “There you are. Did we actually beat you today?” He offered the trio of females a nonchalant grin, but Eve and Bella gave him suspicious looks, while Harper just yawned.

“Guess so,” Harper mumbled. “Let’s just go in so I can find somewhere to take a nap.”

Bella stomped off, heading for one of the smaller archways, through which some other people were walking, all carrying weapons and wearing armor. Everyone else fell in after her, and they entered the dim recesses of the stadium.

This time there were two people, one male and one female, waiting for them. They held loosely bound books which they flipped through as each person arrived. When it was their group’s turn, Bella chose to speak to the female, handing her their papers as she said, “We’re team twenty. Big Bro Gravy, Kaz, Bella, Genevieve, and Harper.”

The female looked through her book, then used a writing utensil to make some marks on a page. “All here on time today?” she asked, one eyebrow raised.

Bella glared at Raff, ignored Kaz, and said, “Yes.”

The other female snorted, then pointed back over her shoulder. “You’ll be in five this morning, and Gravy will be in three this afternoon for axes. You can wander around and watch matches not in your division, but if you’re not in the room when you’re called, you automatically forfeit.” Her eyes shifted to the people behind them, and Bella went in the direction she’d pointed.

Only Kaz hesitated, looking back at the light streaming through the entrance behind him. He sent questioning to Li, and received dissatisfaction in return. she told him before muttering,

Kaz still wasn’t sure exactly how much of his words the dragon caught when he thought at her, so he sent worry instead. If she was alone, someone could attack or take her, and even though he would be close, what if he wasn’t close enough?

she sent back. He was well aware of her sharp teeth and claws, as well as the fire breath she seemed so enamored of, so he just waited until she sighed. A moment later, she flew in, skimming the top of the passage to drop down and land on his head, balancing precariously and causing quite a stir as well as a few laughs from the competitors.

When Kaz reached up, the dragon refused to shift to his arm, instead wrapping her tail firmly around his neck and shoulders. she reminded him, and he sighed, well aware that he must look ridiculous. Which didn’t honestly matter, but wouldn’t she hit her head when they went through the tunnels with lower ceilings?

As it turned out, she did not, and Kaz soon rejoined the rest of his group beyond the door marked with a five. As always, he felt a thrill of pride as he read the rune, and he was deeply grateful that Lianhua had taken the time to teach him in between her questions.

“Kaz!” A deep voice called as he stepped through the door, and brows rose as everyone turned to look at him, seeing the over-sized reptile perched on his head. Kaz ignored them and made his way to Raff’s side, finding that they’d managed to get a spot in the corner today, providing them a buffer from other people on two sides instead of just one.

“Dare I ask?” Raff said, grinning as he looked at Li.

Li shook out her wings, settling down on her belly. she eyed the much taller male,

Kaz glanced up at her. “They’re not going to be in here.”

The dragon sniffed.

Eve watched all this with a bemused smile, while Bella and Harper ignored it, though Bella made far more of a point of it. Kaz still had no idea why the short female was always so grumpy, but in the end it didn’t matter.

They were called much earlier this time, going out at the same time as group number twenty-two. All the members of the new group had a good deal of mana, though it was concentrated in different parts of their bodies. One even looked like he used mana primarily to improve his senses, because his eyes, ears, mouth, fingers, and nose all glowed subtly.

The male who led them along was the same one who had guided them the day before. He repeated his warning almost word for word, though without the same emphasis. In fact, he gave Kaz a small smile as he motioned for the group to enter the waiting alcove, so Kaz guessed he was glad that Gathrak’s team had been eliminated.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Once they were alone, everyone began readying themselves as Bella looked around. “It’ll be harder today,” she said bluntly. “Every team here has won a match, which means the weak are gone, and the remainder are less likely to make mistakes because they’re nervous. I’m told there were only fifty teams this year, which is quite a lot fewer than previous years, and leaves only twenty-five today. That means someone will get to go through without fighting, but obviously it’s not us.”

Raff shrugged and Eve grinned wildly. “I’m all good,” the female said. “It’s pure fun to beat somebody up without having to worry about anyone getting dead.”

Harper sighed, but one corner of her mouth hitched up. “You’re a madwoman.”

Eve flipped her weapon from one hand to the other. It was a strange sort of thing with a hammer on one end, a blade on the other, and the handle in the middle. Kaz hoped he would actually be able to watch her fight with it, since it seemed like it would require a great deal of skill.

The metal door raised, and once again, Bella led the way into the sunlight. The crowd made a little more noise as she did so, and to Kaz’s surprise, a few coins landed around her feet. When Raff followed, the sound grew even louder, and one female screamed, “Gravy!” before throwing a piece of cloth that landed on Raff’s head. He pulled it off, stared at it, and his brows rose before he gave the female a wave.

Eve had her own admirers, though Harper didn’t really seem to attract much attention, probably because her role in the previous battle was more difficult to discern. When Kaz stepped out, however, the noise rose higher than for any of the others, and coins rained down around him. They were nearly all copper, but there was one bright gold circle that arced through the air, glittering brightly. Li launched herself after it, barely remembering to catch it in her back claws, rather than her invisible front pair or her supposedly toothless mouth.

she called as she dropped it down on Kaz, and he caught it, tucking it away into his pouch. After that, a few more golds followed, mostly coming from the large boxes in the center front, and Li caught each of them, prompting another round of enthusiastic screaming.

In comparison, when the team on the other side entered, the crowd grew slightly quieter, and when a single coin flew out onto the field, it was obviously a belated one heading for Kaz’s group, not meant for their opponents at all.

Raff whistled softly. “Guess they liked our fight yesterday,” he said.

“Don’t get too excited,” Bella muttered sourly. “They like your muscles and the lizard. If we lose, tomorrow those same people will cheer on our opponents.”

“True,” Eve said, “but we’ll have had some fun in the meantime.”

The booming voice said, “One minute!” and once again, Harper lifted her instrument, plucking at the strings as she sang a bright tune. Given how subdued her usual aspect was, it was strange to see her suddenly full of life and energy, swaying as she gathered mana and sent it out to encompass each of her teammates.

Once again, the mana slid off Kaz, though this time he made an effort to take it in. It was no use, though. He produced ki, which became mana, which was absorbed and refined by everything else in the world. The stronger his core became, the more it flooded the area around him with his own ebbing power, and what Harper gathered simply wasn’t enough to even get close to him.

As the minute came to a close, Harper opened her eyes and stared straight at him again, brow furrowed. She knew something was wrong, and he should probably find out what she was thinking when she gave him those looks.

The moment the voice told them to begin, Raff and Eve raced across the dirt. Both of them looked like they were putting more effort into it this time, and Eve’s hammer-sword spun almost like Chi Yincang’s weapon, which Kaz had finally found out was called a spear.

On impact, Raff sent one of the other fighters spinning across the dirt, feet creating deep furrows and arms stretching down to grab at the earth. Then their hands came back up, and the earth came with them, a six-inch furrow heading straight for Raff, as though a tiny yanchong was digging toward his feet.

In response, Raff leaped to the side, switching his focus to an entirely different opponent. As if they’d planned it, he and Eve, who had been fighting the second warrior, swapped places, and the mage who had sent the earth to attack Raff suddenly found himself facing a wild female instead.

“Kaz!” Harper called, and he turned to see that she was pointing at another of their opponents. The male was difficult to see, almost blending into the wall as he crept toward Kaz and Harper, though the mana imbuing the cloak he’d wrapped himself in was clear enough, to Kaz and Li, at least.

Kaz nodded to Harper, wondering how she had known the other was there. Did she have a way of sensing power? Lianhua said that was a very rare gift, but it didn’t seem that way to Kaz.

Together, they waited, watching Li duck and dive through the air, distracting one of the two warriors now attempting to double-up on Raff. Bella was holding the fourth off, while occasionally moving in to block a particularly vicious blow from one of the three fighting Raff and Eve.

Kaz was fairly certain that they were all stretching out the battle unnecessarily. Presumably Bella and Raff were still trying to make the audience happy, while Eve was just playing with her opponent for fun, much like Li was. The dragon was truly enjoying harassing the fighters from above. She had spent too much time bored and frustrated over the last few days, and now that she knew what to expect, she was pleased enough to play along.

It seemed to take forever for the fifth member of the opposing team to reach Kaz and Harper. Every time one of them turned in his direction, he would stop, and while at first it was entertaining to pretend not to know he was there, eventually Kaz just wished he would hurry up.

Presumably, this man was attempting to end the battle much as Kaz and Li had the day before. If he could surprise Kaz and the bard, he might be able to put them both out of action with a single attack, thus winning the battle for his side.

Then, Raff seemed to realize that there were only four opponents visible when there should be five. With a single swing of his axe, he lifted the warrior he was fighting into the air and threw him back twenty feet, where the male collapsed to his knees before slumping face down in the dirt. Spinning to stare back at Kaz and Li, Raff shouted, “There’s one hiding. Watch out!”

At this, the fifth male, who had finally managed to come within ten feet of Harper and Kaz’s position, dropped his cloak and threw what looked like a bottle toward Kaz and Harper. Kaz had been quite curious about what he would do, and had almost hoped that he would attempt to use some kind of mana or weapon on them. Kaz was beginning to feel a bit stifled as well, and feeling Li’s glee at being able to let her pent up energy loose, he’d hoped for at least a brief combat.

Unfortunately, without knowing what was in the container, Kaz wasn’t comfortable letting it break, so he lunged forward, easily catching the little bottle in his hand, even though it was hurtling through the air with the full force of its owner’s mana-imbued arm. He could feel the fragile glass begin to crack, and almost without thought, he formed a tiny shield around it, holding it together as he whipped around, hurling it back toward the male who stood, mouth agape.

His ki released, and the bottle shattered at the male’s feet. A deep blue cloud billowed out of it, roiling up far more quickly than any natural fog. Frantically, its victim attempted to gasp in a final clear breath, but it was too late. His skin darkened, his eyes rolled up in his head, and he crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

“Match over! Team Big Bro Gravy wins!” the voice boomed, and cheers rose up around them.

Li settled onto Kaz’s arm, lifting her wings to accept her rightful adulation. she said, preening a glittering scale.