"Oh, he got a special chewing-out after everybody else was dismissed. It was a very quiet and angry conversation, and I didn't hear most of it. I heard the end, though - he got three months of Keep building. Also, when he opened the door to leave, Curran told him very casually that if Jim wanted to pick fights with his future mate, he was welcome to do so, but he should keep in mind that Curran wouldn't come and rescue him when you beat his ass. You should've seen Jim's face."
"His what?"
"His mate. M-A-T-E."
I cursed.
Andrea grinned. "I thought that would make your day. And now you're stuck with him in here for three days and you get to fight together in the Arena. It's so romantic. Like a honeymoon."
Once again my mental conditioning came in handy. I didn't strangle her on the spot.
Raphael chose this moment to walk into the room. "The Reaper bout is about to start. Curran said to tell you that your creep's going to fight."
Chapter 26
THE ROWS OF SEATS, EMPTY AN HOUR BEFORE, were filled to capacity. Individuals in their own lives, here the spectators melded into a single entity, a loud, furious, excitable beast with a thousand throats. The night was young and the beast was fickle and bloodthirsty.
Someone, probably Jim or Derek, had found a narrow access staircase that connected the second and third floors. Recessed deeply into the wall to the left of the Gold Gate, it lay steeped in shadows and was practically invisible to the crowd concentrating on the brightly lit Gold Gate and the Pit itself.
I squeezed through the door behind Raphael and Andrea, who sat nicely next to each other.
Everyone was there, except Doolittle. I perched on the top step, the cement cold under my butt.
The Reapers fielded only two fighters against the rival team's four. The first was Mart. The second was a woman: small, curvy, sensuous, with a waterfall of dark hair falling down her back. She looked so much like Olivia she could have been her sister. Derek saw her and tensed.
Facing them were the four members of the opposing team. The first was a huge Asian man, solid and thick like a brick. He had to be their Stone. Behind him stood Sling, a lean, dark-skinned archer armed with a bow and a belt filled with knives and darts. At least thirty arrows protruded from the sand in front of him, ready to be grabbed. To the left their Swordmaster waited, a young white man with blond hair who apparently thought he was Japanese: he wore the traditional dark blue kimono and lighter blue hakama garment with a pleated skirt over it.
He carried a katana - no surprise there. The last was a woman, a mage, judging by her position in the very back. A wise choice, given the magic was up.
The gong sounded.
The archer fired. The arrow sliced the air and fell harmlessly into the sand as Mart dodged in a blur. The archer drew and fired again, with preternatural quickness. Mart dodged left, right, left, his sword held passively by his side. They thought they had him pinned. Not bloody likely.
The Stone advanced, surprisingly light on his feet. Behind him the female mage began to work something complicated, waving her arms through the air.
The Swordmaster charged the Reaper woman.
She leaned back, her arms flung out like the wings of a bird about to take flight. Mart made no move to assist her.
Ten feet from her the Swordmaster drew his blade in a flash. Should've waited . . .
The woman's bottom jaw unhinged and dropped down. Magic lashed my senses, hard and searing hot. The woman strained and vomited a dark cloud into the swordsman's face. The cloud swarmed and clamped on to the swordsman. He staggered, his charge aborted in midstep. A faint buzz echoed through the Pit.
"Bees?" I guessed.
"Wasps," Derek said.
The swordsman screamed and spun in place.
Mart charged across the sand, a trail of arrows pinning his shadow to the sand, and thrust straight into the Stone's gut. The man folded.
The swarm plaguing the swordsman split in half. The new swarm snapped to the archer like a black lasso. He ran.
As the Stone crumbled, the female mage jerked her arms. A cone of fire struck from her fingers, twisting like a horizontal tornado. Mart leapt into the air. She swung the cone up, but not fast enough. He landed on her, hammering a hard kick into the side of