Wedged between the crowd and the edge of the platform, Anna and I waited for Arthur’s match to begin.

“Nocti! Nocti! Nocti!” The underwitchs chanted in favor of their mother duck.

Arthur was in his usual stance and Nocti stood straight with one foot forward. I do not know where his wide brimmed black hat was, but it was certainly not on his head.

The pale man stepped forward and touched Arthur gently on the brow with his two fingers.

“Three points, Nocti! First kill, Nocti! Reset for the next match!” The captain yelled, his voice growing raspier as the night grew later.

Arthur lost without so much as being able to blink.

The tall man shook his head and slapped himself on the cheek as Nocti walked away from him.

I had been on the other end of that very same thing before. Though I had rewarded him by driving my fist into his stomach, Patience had told me how to avoid it the first time I had come to seven columns.

“Hey!” I shouted at Arthur and waved my hands for him to come to the edge of the platform.

The tall man listened and I pulled him down by the hand until his head was even with mine.

“Don’t look in his eyes, he did the same fuckery to me when I played against him. It makes it seem like he’s faster than he really is.” I whispered into his ear.

“Come now, Bry. Is this allowed? I didn’t not realize we were allowed to have coaches.” I heard Nocti complain to the captain.

If having magic fucking eyes that could paralyze someone if they looked into them was allowed, then telling my friend how to not fall victim to them should hardly be a concern.

“It’s not, not, allowed,” I heard the captain answer. The older man entered my sight from behind Arthur and clasp his hand on his shoulder. “Come on, son. You’ve got to keep playing.”

The captain met my eyes.

He knows. The Autumn I liked, the (smart) Autumn, realized. The captain knew fully the advantage the Nocti brought to his matches.

“This isn’t fair,” I stepped back and said up to the captain. I pointed at Nocti. “His eyes aren’t fair.”

My words came out in a burst of anger. If Arthur lost because of Nocti’s unfair advantage, he wouldn’t get his recommendation. I didn’t really know what the meant, but I knew my friend wanted it.

“Is Ugi’s body fair? His arms are twice the length of anyone else here. It’s not about what advantage your opponent has, it’s what you do about it. You’ve played enough that you should understand that, girl.” The captain responded. His tone was not mean or mocking. He spoke firmly but gently, a tone my mother had taken with me many times.

“Have you deicide to forfeit?” Nocti called to Arthur with a vicious smirk on his pale face.

“Nocti! Nocti! Nocti!” All but one of The Red Mother’s roses began to chant again. The lone underwitch that had not joined in, Pyreme, stood with her back turned to the platform. She was the only face in the entire crowd that was not focused on what was happening with the tournament.

The crowd was growing restless, with groans and calls for the matches to continue coming in place of cheers and applause.

“Ugi?” The captain asked.

Arthur held his hand up to me. “I wish I could stay and talk, but I’ve got to go win my match. I’ll see you in the finals, right?”

“He’s just a duck.” I said, nodding in agreement and pressing my hand to his.

“I don’t know what that means, but Opa agrees.” Arthur laughed as he stood.

“Good lad.” The captain smiled and patted the tall man on his back.

I clapped my hands three times and hoped that the owl spirit heard me.

Arthur returned the triplet of claps over his head as he made his way back to the middle of the wooden platform.

“Reset!” The captain shouted.

His announcement cast away the growing displeasure of the crowd like he had lit a candle in a dark room.

“Nocti! Nocti! Nocti!” The roses’s chant continued over the audible anticipation that filled the street outside seven columns.

Arthur sunk into his usual, defensive, stance.

Nocti stood straight and brought his pointed pale hand forward.

A sudden breeze blew over the crowded street. The halo of torches sputtered in the passing wind and sent scattered shadows spinning over the crowded street.

Nocti walked forward and stretched his fingers towards Arthur’s brow without any appearance of urgency or effort.

Arthur didn’t move. He didn’t so much as make an expression.

Despite my warning, he had looked into Nocti’s eyes and would lose for the second time.

Just before the pale man reached him, Arthur shifted his feet and sent a wild strike towards his opponent.

“Three points, Arthur! First kill, Arthur! Reset for the next match!” The captain shouted.

The match had turned so quickly, it took me and every other person watching a full breath to understand what had happened.

“Take that you fucking duck,” Anna screamed in triumph. She turned to me. “Why is he a duck, exactly?”

I didn't answer her. My eyes had left the stage and my mind had continued to wandered from thoughts of the tournament.

I was drawn away from the platform and the oncoming match by the sight of Pyreme. She still stood with her back to the platform and her head raised towards the tops of the buildings around us.

I turned to move towards her, but Anna pulled me back by my hand.

“Hey, are we gonna be smarter this time?” She asked.

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“Yes.” I answered immediately as we made our way over to her.

Another swell of cheers erupted from the crowd and I just barely made out the captains shouting that Nocti had scored two points.

I wanted to watch the match, but I needed to talk to Pyreme.

“What are you looking at?” I asked the blonde haired underwitch as I tried to follow her line of sight.

She pointed to the corner of a tall stone building in the distance. “You see a cat sitting there, right?”

I did indeed see a cat. However, it was not just any cat. It was (my) cat, if I allowed myself to reduce him to that level of description.

“Yes, I see a cat, but it’s not a normal cat.” I answered her.

“Phew,” she sighed. “None of my sisters would look, I was worried I was seeing things again. Why isn’t it normal?”

“Because it can talk and summon lightning. I don’t know many cats that can do that.” I smiled, as Anna took my hand into hers and stood beside me.

“Really? Wait, no. Which one of them put you up to this? I’m not dumb you know.” Pyreme said, her sleepy face growing angry.

I shook my head and held my free palm towards her. “I’m not trying to trick you. He can really do those things. On my name, I swear it.”

“I’m sorry, my sisters aren’t very nice to me. How do you know it can talk?” She asked.

“Because he’s my familiar.” I answered honestly.

“Two points, Nocti! Second kill, Nocti! Reset for the next match!”

The captains call came at the same exact same moment that Anna suddenly squeezed my hand. Hard enough that it sent a pinch of pain through my palm, I looked at her and realized I had evidently not been smart enough.

“You’re a sorceress? You have a familiar? Nocti said that no one got familiars anymore,” Pyreme said, all of the anger vanishing from her face immediately. “My name is Pyreme by the way, I’m one of The Red Mother’s Roses.”

“I know. We’ve met before.” My voice cracked when Anna sent another pinch of pain through the bones of my hand.

“Hmm. I don’t think so.” She disagreed.

“We met on Embpyre. You ran into us?” I asked, hoping the memory would come forward in her mind.

“Literally. You ran into us and knocked us over.” Anna added.

“You both look familiar,” Pyreme said in obvious confusion. She squinted her amber eyes at me and furrowed her brow. “But Autumn had red hair.”

“I am Autumn. I’m wearing a glamor.” I said honestly.

If Anna spent more time training than she did reading and drinking, she would have broke my hand again with how hard she squeezed it.

I knew she must think I was being reckless and impulsive, and I knew I was, but I could trust the sleepy faced underwitch. I knew that to be true in the way that I knew my mother would kiss me on the top of my head the next time I saw her.

Pyreme didn’t believe me. I could see it on her face.

If I dropped my disguise, she would. I couldn’t, of course, not being as close to the other underwitchs as I was. Even if it was just for a second, there were too many people that could see my face, but I needed her to know who I was.

A sudden gasp chimed up from the crowd and I turned around to see Nocti descending from the air above like he had swooped down from a great height. The pale man disappeared below the heads of the audience and the street itself shook beneath my feet from the applause.

“Three points, Arthur! Second kill, Arthur! Reset for the next match!”

“Booooo!” The underwitchs called out in unison from where they stood at the edge of the platform.

“You threw a list of names into the fire. All the names of your sisters.” I said, my words coming out fast. Arthur and Nocti were tied at two kills each. I wanted to talk to Pyreme, but I needed to see my friend’s victory.

He would win. No part of me doubted that. I just wanted to be there when it happened.

I watched Pyreme take in what I had said, think about it, and then accept that it was true. I did not anticipate the anger that came along with her understanding.

“I got made fun of because of you! When I got to seven columns and told everybody I met somebody that was going to be a rose, they all laughed at me!” Her amber eyes burned as she raised her voice at me.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I lied to you. I had to lie to you just like I have to wear this glamor.”

Anna squeezed my hand and did not let go, pain coming as a constant instead of a sudden pinch.

“Why?” Pyreme asked in a similarly hushed tone.

I didn’t get the chance to answer.

The crowd erupted into its loudest cheer yet and I had to cover my ears again.

“What happened?” Anna asked me once the initial roar had settled.

A tide of red cloaks washed through the crowd and carried Pyreme away with it.

“Come on, Nocti. You said if you lost you would buy us all dinner.” One of the underwitchs called back as she passed.

Nocti, his wide brimmed black hat back on his head, followed behind with his hands in his pockets and his red eyes cast to the stones beneath his boots.

“If Nocti lost-“ I started.

“That means Arthur won.” Anna said, finishing my thought for me.

As if he had been waiting for us to realize, appeared in the crowd. Shaking hands and bumping fists all the way, he pushed his way towards us with a smile on his face.

One more match. I had to beat one more person and I could make sure that Arthur won the whole fucking tournament. He would get his recommendation and go be a knight. I was not entirely sure what that meant, but he wanted it.

I would make sure he got it.

“Did you see? That guy is fucking nuts. I have to play with him again!” Arthur said with his fists balled and his arms flexed.

The hair on the back of my neck stood on end and my eyes were drawn past the tall man. Through the crowd and over the platform, I searched for. . .

I could not celebrate with my friend. A feeling that I had come to know all too well had come over me.

I was being watched.

“Fighter and Trea to the stage!” The captain called.

I found the masked fighter that had fought against the old man earlier in the tournament amongst the crowd on the otherside of the platform. They wore the same concealing white and green clothes that they had been in seven columns.

They were who was watching me, and they did not stop for my entire walk to the platform. Every step I took, their eyes were locked onto me from within the white wrap around their face. Even when they stepped onto the wooden stage and took their place opposite me, their gaze did not waver. Under the halo of torches hanging above us, they stared at me like they were trying to bore a hole into my head.

Next time I'm just going to wear a mask instead of bothering with glamor.

One more match. All I had to do was win three more games and I could give Arthur what he wanted. I had not actually seen the masked fighter play. Beyond the green color of their robe and the truth that they wanted their identity to remain hidden, I knew nothing about my opponent.

I looked to my right and found Anna and Arthur standing right next to the stage.

Without hesitation, I dropped into my stance.

Straight forward I went. Only meaning to discover how my opponent would react, my two fingers pressed into their chest with little to no effort.

“One Point, Trea. Reset for the next match.” The captain said clearly without having to yell.

The cheering was much less enthusiastic than before because my opponent had hardly moved.

Anna and Arthur were clapping for me just the same.

That was all I needed.

Two more games and I would be in the finals.

The masked fighter reached out and pushed me back roughly with an open hand.

“Boss, don’t. You promised.” The captain whispered harshly from the side of the platform.

I looked down at the older man to see him stepping onto the platform. He still held the red flowers in his hand and his eyes were wide with what looked like panic.

I looked back at the masked fighter just in time to see there fist swinging wildly towards my face.

White light.

Pain.

The feeling of wooden boards under my hands and the faces of the crowd all frozen I’m shocked expressions.

Blood, the taste of blood in my mouth.

The masked fighter snapped their hand out towards the captain and he stopped moving.

“Get up.” They spat at me.

I climbed up to my feet shakily before I realized what I was doing.

One, two, three, four drops of blood dripped off my chin and splattered against the wood under my boots.

The street outside of seven columns had never been so quiet or cold.

“I don’t know who you are,” The masked fighter growled as they swung their fist towards me again. “But you are not Trea!”