The Tournament

Erigos stepped out into the bright light of the arena and the crowd cheered. Only it wasn't Erigos. Julius had been disguising him with magic to ensure Ottothal or Garrok didn't recognize him and he had entered under the name Luther.

It was the final event for the prospectus Champions, a duel. He was to face another fighter in one on one combat. In the previous three events, he had excelled in two of them. In the first event he had fought a lion and he was the second-fastest to slay his beast. He would have won if not for a stray arrow hitting the winner's beast. All the champions fought their beats at the same time, it made for a chaotic few minutes. The second event was archery. His archery wasn't his strong suit but he managed to shoot well placing third out of nine. An obstacle course was the third event and it was his weakest. It was a time trial ranking the quickest to complete where he placed fifth out of nine. After each round, a new ranking was compiled based on combined results and he currently ranked second out of the nine other Viviar prospects. Which meant he faced off against the highest-ranked contestant to see who was the best prospect.

The soft sand had become a second home over the last three days for him. This was the fourth and final day. Erigos looked across the sand to his opponent who received the loudest cheer yet. His good looks and showy antics had propelled his popularity with the crowd. He was clearly Viviar crowd favorite. Erigos stepped to the left and His opponent copied his movement from across the sandpit. Erigos hadn't paid much attention to the names of the other competitors but this young elven noble was Kalvin Malati, the son of the noble whom Erigos had stolen the chest for Kargavir.

The blonde-haired elf began to advance, his longsword and shield raised. Erigos kept his weapon and shield lowered, he had more than double the real-life combat than this child had. As he closed the distance Erigos stood still, the young elf narrowed his eyes and went in for the kill. The weapons were sharp and the bout was very real and dangerous. The competitors were told no mortal blows but if one were to occur a cleric waited in the wings to heal the wounded. There would be no healer in the Ascension Trial.

The young elf jabbed his sword forward aiming for Erigos' chest. Erigos stepped aside, the blade skimming the air near his shoulder, bringing his shield up and slamming it onto the blade. The force knocked the sword loose, the metal splashing into the sand. The audience was shocked but the fans of Erigos cheered. Erigos backed up and let the young elf pick up his sword. This caused his cheers to turn to boos. Kalvin hesitated thinking it was another tactic. It wasn't, well at least Erigos would let him retrieve his sword, the tactic was getting in his opponent's head and it was working. The young elf instead dove for his sword expecting a late lunge from Erigos. The crowd laughed seeing the flailing fighter scramble for his blade. This angered Kalvin who as Erigos expected went into an angry frenzy. He began slashing wildly, swinging his sword, throwing out all his training. Kalvin had placed first in two of the previous events and to his credit, he was a decent fighter but his skills were developed with men that worked for his family and they didn't want to hurt or tarnish the pride of their young master.

The attacks slowed as fatigue started to set in. Erigos had yet to use his sword to attack, he continued to act defensively. Finally, the young elf screamed at him. "Fight me!"

"Nah." Erigos stepped forward and slammed his shield into the tired elf, knocking him back, he slammed him again and he tripped falling onto his ass. Erigos drew his sword and hovered the tip just above the throat. "Yield?"

The elf was shocked, "Y...yield."

Erigos withdrew his sword and extended his hand to help the elf up. The elf's pride was destroyed and he knocked the hand away. Erigos left him in the sand wallowing in his embarrassment. He made for the exit. The crowd wasn't sure how to react to the fight. They weren't sure what they had just witnessed. Erigos knew he would need every ounce of strength in the coming days, no sense in wasting it.

It was two days from the main event, Erigos had just finished embarrassing the top contender and had now solidified himself as the number one prospect for Viviar. Rothox and Harim snuck up to the coliseum in the cover of night. Their plan was to find the sleeping Adresin Lutoris and kidnap him. Injuring him would be cruel and he could potentially be healed. Rather they would make him disappear until after the Trial, keep him in the skyship.

They watched as an army of Golden Brand patrolled the perimeter of the coliseum. Ottothal had brought three large warships of men with him. He wasn't taking any chances. Rothox pulled the cloak over his head, vanishing from sight. Harim disguised himself as a Brand, pretending to come back from relieving himself.

"Where have you been?" The nearest Brand asked Harim as he walked out of the darkness.

"Taken a piss."

The Brand stopped and looked at him, "Why the hell did you go so far away?"

"Thought I heard something went to check, didn't see anything so took a piss, got a problem with that?"

"Leave him alone Garth," another Brand said. "Everyone's gotta piss."

The Brand named Garth grumbled and turned around to continue his march. Harim joined the guards heading in the other direction away from Garth. No sense in drawing more of his attention.

"Rothox," he whispered, checking to make sure he was still with him. He felt a tug on his cloak as he walked along the outer wall. The coliseum was designed with the backside, the side that faces away from the harbor, to have no access to the inside. Around the harbor side, a large section of the structure is open with giant pillars that hold up the grandstand seats. And further past that is a carpeted staircase that leads to the estate rooms.

The estate rooms are the most secure location in the coliseum. The staircase is the only access to the rooms as they all have personal balconies for watching the tournament. All the windows along the outside have guards underneath to prevent anyone from scaling inside. Even if they could get past the guards the windows are narrow slits, maybe Alissa could squeeze through but a proper-sized man could not.

As Harim passed the staircase he counted a dozen guards situated on each landing, three landings in total leading to the three levels of rooms. Four guards at the bottom, two per landing with four on the top, where the Emperor and King's reside. The guard structure hadn't changed since the first time they had scouted their route.

The invisible Rothox ducked past the two guards into the first landing where the Champions' rooms are situated. Harim would pass once more around the structure, sneak into the pits and climb the rope Rothox would throw over the edge after he subdued Adresin.

The hallway inside the Champions tier is lined with sconces along each pillar and follows the outer wall with the rooms facing the inside. There are two guards blocking each door of the five rooms on this level. Rothox would have to figure out which room was Adresin Lutoris'. Before he made a decision the first door opened and the two guards stepped aside. A large shirtless half-orc stood in the doorway.

"Garrok, Sir. Can I help you?" One of the guards asked.

"I'm going out."

"But, Ottothal asked us—"

Garrok snarled at the man.

"Right of course…we will be here when you return." He bowed and let the muscular half-orc leave and walk towards the stairs. Rothox didn't remember Garrok being this large, he was intimidating before but now he was a monster. Garrok stopped walking right as he got to the staircase standing beside Rothox. For that split second he thought somehow Garrok knew he was there.

"Captain," he said.

"Ah, yes sir?"

"Have the servants ready me a warm bath when I return," Garrok said then he left.

Rothox sighed in relief. The guard captain entered Garrok's room and Rothox followed before the heavy door closed behind him. This estate room, due to the angle of the coliseum, has stairs down from the door to a circular seating area. The balcony is directly opposite the door with the open archway to the bedroom to the right and another room on the left. The guard walked towards this other room and entered it. Rothox made for the balcony.