The Darkness Before the Dawn - By Ryan Hughes Page 0,121

you walked out of here free tonight, that would never happen. It was your arguing that got you into this situation in the first place.”

“Don’t remind me,” Jedra said glumly.

“Sorry.”

They sat in silence for a minute or so before Jedra said, “When we were crossing the desert not long after we met Kitarak, we were attacked by something he called a tokamak. An id fiend. It can make you think your worst fear is coming true.”

“I have battled such a beast,” Sahalik said.

“Let me guess,” said Jedra. “You suddenly found yourself standing there with no pants on, and everybody was laughing at you.”

“Close,” the elf said, smiling wryly. “Very close.”

Jedra didn’t smile. “My worst fear was that I would hurt Kayan. Every time I would attack the beast, suddenly it would be her instead.”

“Ah. And now here you are.”

“Yeah.”

“Well,” Sahalik said, “don’t ever let anybody tell you that dreams can’t come true. Looks like you have proof that they can.”

“Ha ha.”

The big elf smiled weakly and stood up. “If you think of anything else I can do for you, let me know.”

“Just get us out of here,” Jedra said.

“I would if I could,” Sahalik said. “Believe me, I’ve thought of every angle, but there just isn’t any way.”

“There has to be,” Jedra told him. “I’m just not thinking of it.”

Sahalik looked over at the ever-present psionicists, who watched them with bored amusement. “Well,” he said, “if you do think of it, don’t think too loudly. They’re not as sympathetic as I am.”

No, they aren’t, Jedra thought, once again marveling at the twists of fate that had turned Sahalik into an ally, and Kayan into an adversary.

Jedra lay awake all night, trying to scheme a way out of their plight, but when morning came he was no wiser. A serving boy brought his breakfast, but he couldn’t eat any of it. He just stood at the barred window and watched the sky grow lighter and felt the air grow hotter until the guards came to take him to the games.

Sahalik came with them, and helped Jedra dress in his leather armor. He was armored for battle as well, but he shrugged it off when Jedra asked him about it.

“It’s my last fight,” he said. “I was already scheduled for it when I gave Rokur notice that I was leaving, and I had to stick out the week to train you two anyway, so I decided to pick up one last week’s pay while I was at it. Maybe it’ll help bring the Jura-Dai back to better times.”

“You be careful,” Jedra told him. “There aren’t any sure bets out there in the arena.”

Sahalik grinned and slapped him on the back. “Yes, Mother.”

Shani was not with him; she was evidently taking care of Kayan. Jedra let Sahalik and the guards, both psionic and otherwise, lead him through the streets of Tyr to the stadium. On the way he tried to reach out with his psionic senses to see if he could spot any weakness in their psychic restraints, but their shields blocked him from even that simple use of his power. He felt their stifling presence like a blanket wrapped tightly around him.

The other gladiators cheered when he walked with his escort into the holding area beneath the ziggurat. He wasn’t led to the slave pens this time, but to a separate individual cage on the main floor, from which he could watch the games. Kayan was still nowhere to be seen, but the gladiators’ waiting area was immense, and the massive columns holding up the rest of the ziggurat blocked much of it from view. She could have been only a few feet away, blocked by psionic means from contact, and he would never know.

Since theirs was the showcase fight of the day, they were scheduled late in the games. From his cage, Jedra watched gladiator after gladiator march out into the arena, and only half of them march back. The fighting often lasted until both combatants were covered with blood and could barely stand, but quite a few fights lasted less than a minute. Deadly weapons didn’t make for long battles unless the combatants were almost perfectly matched, and even though the officials tried to match them as closely as possible, as soon as one gladiator got the upper hand over another, he pressed his advantage without mercy.

Jedra found himself watching the gory spectacle with horrified fascination. The cheers and taunts of the crowd blended into a steady roar in his