Last time on Raiders of the Middle Seas Part 17
Kayden spends a few days with his companions training while staying almost constantly drunk... Their band is to fight in the largest and most famous arena in all of Oratiga: The Marble Coliseum.
Raiders of the Middle Sea 18
Kayden’s body ached but it was all made better with a bit of drink.
He lay on his back in the spacious room that Shi’Caperrnel had provided him and each of the other guests. There were no beds, you slept on a low bedding of firm cloth layered with softer material on top until it was quite luxurious.
Shi’Uzdu had been there earlier to review his slaves and check on the progress of their training. The Jhakarti slave lord seemed to have not an inch of compassion in him for the slaves, including the Jhakarti slave. There was no added compassion because Torassh was from the same race as the slave lord. But then again, the same could be said for the human slavers.
It was already late, past their usual festivities of drinking and eating meat. His head swam with the amount of drink that he had consumed. Soon enough he was in a deep sleep.
Sleep itself was a drunken sort of lucid experience, possibly because of the combination of the drinks that he had drank. He saw faces, people that he knew… but from where? They were not people from this city or from Shi’Caperrnel’s estate… they were from before. They were his… friends. It was almost a vague thing, trying to remember where he had come from. The shores of home were painted in his mind with a smear of fog. There was a ship, these people were from that ship and there had been a fight. A battle.
And now he was here.
The King’s Dart.
Kayden sat up in his bedding. His heart was racing and his body was covered in sweat. The King’s Dart. Railor. Captain Heinr and the crew… He had had a life with those people not too long ago and now everything had changed. He was sure he had seen the pirate leader, a tanned bare chested man decapitate the Captain with a crossways chop of his dual swords.
Captain Heinr was dead. The crew were either dead or captured. The others were sold off separately and were probably dead by now. They would all die in some sand pit for the entertainment of men and women across the sea. Across the sea from the greatest Kingdom in the world. But what did it matter?
He could hear voices somewhere nearby, talking in hushed tones but incessantly. He rolled out of bed, he crept barefoot over the stone floor. His attempt at sneaking was made problematic because of the pressure in his bladder and the way his world still see-sawed around his head.
Still, he managed to swagger silently out of his doorless room and stumble to the opposite wall. The voices became more distinct. One of them sounded deep and quite familiar, the only thing that was out of place was the speed and precision that it spoke with. The other voice was that of a much smaller man who seemed to be making some sort of apology. The only other thing that threw him off as that neither spoke a language that he could understand.
The voices were coming nearer and then stopped suddenly. They spoke short words to each other and Kayden decided that he might get noticed so he slunk away to his room and threw himself down on the bedspread.
Heavy footsteps trod past his room’s door, pausing to peer into the gloom at his prone form no doubt. Then the footsteps began again and receded. It took but a moment longer for Kayden to fall fully to sleep.
The next day there was no early drinking session and training. Instead there were four open carriages, each pulled by four white horses before Shi’Caperrnel’s palace.
“Today you shall be going for your debut in the Marble Coliseum. The Shi there have decided that they would like to qualify our little band before taking part in a major event.” The little Shi mopped his sweating brow under the boiling sun. “The stands will be open to mid-week passers but you could expect much less of the normal noise.”
“Fine. My head is pounding.” Kayden muttered.
Rulaf cuffed him behind the head. “Its OK friend Kayden. Strong drink will fix headache!” The giant grinned at him. He nodded.
Shi’Caperrnel got into the first carriage along with two of his guards, this carriage soon started down the road to the front gate. Kayden mounted the second carriage with Rulaf, Their driver was another of the Shi’s guards but carried no weapons. Shadi and Torrassh mounted the third carriage and fourth was loaded up with excessive amounts of drink.
The train of carriages went out into the streets. This part of the city was all tall buildings, two to three stories tall. All the buildings were either polished white marble or darker granite. The architecture was grand and flowing, forming arches over windows and long covered portals supported either side by stone pillars.
As they rode through the street there was a scattering of people who came out to look at them. Kayden stood comfortably in the shadow of the giant gladiator. Somehow it was gratifying that he was not completely unnoticed.
Shi’Caperrnel was proclaiming loudly that the ‘Drunken Warriors’ were going to be doing their opening fight to the death within the Marble Coliseum. The slave master spoke as if this was only the start. As if none of them were going to die… in a fight to the death? With whom?
“Look! It’s Rulaf the giant of the Sand Pits!”
“Yeah I saw him fight last week! Smashed that bear!”
“It’s the fighter who messed over himself!”
“Yeah, it’s Bear-bane the Inedible!” The crowd roared with laughter.
Soon enough there was a mob of people following Shi’Caperrnel’s carriage train towards the Marble Coliseum. Men and women, Humans and Jhakarti and… Kayden thought he saw others that didn’t match looks with either of the other two races. How much of the world did the Kingdom of Railor not know about? He had been brought up by scholars and priests who speak of purity, light and mankind and that this was all that existed in the world.
The time had come. The Marble Coliseum loomed up ahead, he could see the first three storeys of it and as they carried on down the road, it kept going up. He was not completely sure but it looked like about nine levels up.
The architectural feat was breath-taking. The sheer size of the structure rivalled some of the greatest structures in Railor. Sure the Railor Duchy fortresses were bigger, the Towers of Magic as well. It compared nowhere with the Railor Royal Palace. But for a standalone building dedicated to sport and recreation there was no equal on Kedra that Kayden was aware of.
Throngs of onlookers were coming along in the streets now. Soon it was obvious that they were not just coming from along the route that they had travelled. Shi’Caperrnel had just thrown a few pockets of coin at men on horses. Rumour mongers.
In a way, Kayden had to admire how the little Shi worked. Clever, non-confrontational, but above all a capitalist. On the other hand it sickened him to think that all this was to make money over men spilling their lifeblood for entertainment. Then Kayden realized that the blood could well be his today. Maybe all the quick publicity is to make Shi’Cappa as much money as he could, just in case their little company was slaughtered today.
This did not bode well if the man in charge was making plans for them as if they were dead men.
Shi’Uzdu arrived from one of the side streets, riding on a black horse. It might have been a stallion, a mare or a gelding, Kayden still would not have enough knowledge to tell the difference at this distance. The Jhakarti slave lord rode high in his saddle and walked his horse alongside the lead carriage. The two Shi were speaking together in low voices, planning for the day ahead.
Eventually Shi’Uzdu seemed to have some sort of disagreement with the other Shi, though Shi’Capperrnel had not seemed to raise his voice at all. Shi’Uzdu rode away from the column. His strange features made it impossible for Kayden to tell if he was angry or upset.
Kayden looked up ahead again at the building that was beginning to dominate his viewpoint of the whole city.
“Little man.” Rulaf said to Kayden. “This here is the biggest and best show in the world. If anything can happen, it can kill you or it can make you the Master over others. Everything possible friend.” The big man laughed uncontrollably, bent over and slapping his knee.
Kayden had no clue what the big brute was talking about or why exactly that would be funny. He guessed that he would find out soon enough.
Next time on Raiders of the Middle Sea
The commentator spoke again. “The Drunken Warriors seem to be having a fine time at it folks, let’s just hope they know why they came here today. It’s not a tea-party!”
Kayden snorted. He had a worse hangover when they had fought that bear. Only now there was more noise and he was more… happy about how he felt and where they were. Kayden swung his bleary vision from side to side, searching.
“On the other side of the arena…” The commentator went on.
Kayden found what he had been looking for: there was a barrel of ale, open on the top between Shadi and Rulaf. Kayden stepped up to it and dipped his mug into the dark liquid.
“… from the savage south. Qubartu’s Skulltakers!”
New to Raiders of the Middle Sea? Begin Reading previous Episodes!
Raiders of the Middle Sea Part 1 / Raiders of the Middle Sea Part 2
Raiders of the Middle Sea Part 3 / Raiders of the Middle Sea Part 4
Raiders of the Middle Sea Part 5 / Raiders of the Middle Sea Part 6
Raiders of the Middle Sea Part 7 / Raiders of the Middle Sea Part 8
Raiders of the Middle Sea Part 9 / Raiders of the Middle Sea Part 10
Raiders of the Middle Sea Part 11 / Raiders of the Middle Sea Part 12
Raiders of the Middle Sea Part 13 / Raiders of the Middle Sea Part 14
Raiders of the Middle Sea Part 15 / Raiders of the Middle Sea Part 16
Raiders of the Middle Sea Part 17
World of Kedra