Arcadium

Joseph slept quite pleasantly while the soothing music filled his ears, his dreams were pleasant and he awoke well rested and full of energy. He needed to have a talk with Gabriella's father as he requested, he took satisfaction in the fact that he was going to be buying her sometime. The king had ordered the guards to take the strange feline fellow to the Montale estate. He figured after talking to her dad he could visit with slaves and possibly train with them.

It was now night in Arcadium. Arige and Lairn had found an inn near the colosseum. Arige and Lairn walked up to a sign up counter.

“We’re here to sign my son up for the games,” Arige said as he patted Lairn on the back.

“Name,” The clerk asked while he looked at Lairn.

“Lairn Darkwater,” Lairn said.

“The last preliminary match’s are tomorrow when the sun is high, win it and you are the tournament, you can bring whatever equipment you wish" The clerk said. With that Arige and Lairn walked back to their inn.

“Get some sleep Lairn you are going to need your energy for what must be done tomorrow,” Arige said.

“Where are you going?” Lairn asked Arige in a hushed tone.

“I need more energy and to find the elf you talked about,” Arige said as he walked out the door to the inn.

Arige had been following two guards for the past few minutes now, waiting for the right moment to strike. Arige waited for them to walk by an ally.

“Psst over here. I heard something about the resistance that I think you need to know,” Arige whispered to the two guards.

“Oye wat ye say?” One of the guards asked as their started to walk towards him.

“Please it’s very important,” Arige whispered. The guards stepped closer.

“Tell us then,” The second guard said.

“One of you is in mine,” As Arige said that he swung his sword slicing the first guards head off, before the other guard had time to react.

“Ruza’bihnt,” The guard fell drained of life. Arige looked at the other guard.

“Ruza’bihnt,” It wasn’t much energy but it was more then none. Arige walked up to the dead guard that still had a head.

“Ruza’legft giht shian,” As he was casting the spell he got weaker he still did not have the energy he was used to. The guard began to float as a dark haze engulfed his body. The body floated back to the ground and the guard stood up.

“What is thy bidding my lord?” The guard asked as he began to kneel. Arige signaled him to stand.

“I want you to go back to patrolling the city. I will summon you when you are needed,”

“As you wish my lord,” The guard said as he left. Arige left the beheaded guard there on the ally floor and walked off to find some more people to drain and to try and find this elf that Lairn had talked about on their way here.

"For your sake I hope that you will not disappoint him" Genox replied still carefully looking over the lyre. It was definitely Artos, the great dragon truly was a powerful being to remain alive and him being there now was surely no coincidence. Genox was unafraid however, he had dealt with him once before and now the once mighty beast was but a mere instrument. Instead Genox was intrigued by his intentions and looked forward to seeing what would transpire. "Tell me bard, how did such a fine instrument come in to your possession?" Genox boldly asked.

Meanwhile certain individuals in Arcadium were being taken from their homes to be slave replacements for the soon to be dead slaves in Uldin. Soon as the word would reach the other city's people would be taken from them as well until the Uldin mines were fully operational again.

Arige was waiting in an ally for a thief or a mugger to make the mistake of trying to rob him.

“Give me ya coins and no one get’s hurt old man,” A man stepped into the lamp light of the ally. He was holding a small dagger that had a twister blade and leather around the handle. He however was wearing rags.

“That dagger is the most valuable thing you own isn’t it?” Arige said with a chuckle. Arige put his hand out.

“Ruza’Treiw!” The mugger went flying onto one of the walls and was held there by a type of magical net. He struggled tried to cry out for help but his voice was gone.

“Ruza’bihnt!” The mugger stopped struggling. Arige put his hand down and the mugger fell to the ground. Arige walked up to the body and picked up the dagger.

“It is a nice dagger though. Might come in handy one day,” Arige said as he hid it in his cloak. The sun was now rising so Arige went back to the inn.

Arige opened the door to Lairn’s room. It was one of the smaller rooms in the inn. There was one window, a table and the bed where Lairn was sleeping. Arige stood there for a moment looking at Lairn. Trying to remember what it was like to sleep. Since day he turned to the arts of dark magic he did not need sleep or food or even water.

“How did things go last night?” It was Lairn.

“I could not find the elf but I did gather enough energy to do as we planed,” Arige said as he walked towards Lairn and stopping at the bottom of the bed.

“Are you ready?” Arige asked Lairn while putting the dagger he got the night before on the table.

“Yes my lord. My life is yours,” Lairn said as he bowed his head.

“When this is done you will have some of my power and I can take full control over you at any time even in death.
Though when I have control of you, I will have my full power,” Arige walked to the side of the be as Lairn laid back down. Arige put his right hand on Lairn’s head and took a deep breath.

“Ruza’Poli telioa pihra renom,” Lairn began to float then a dark haze engulfed his body. It looked like the same dark haze from when Arige had resurrected Lairn.

(Two hours later)

Arige awoke on the bed and sat up. Lairn had gotten a chair from the inn and was now sitting by the window looking out at the street.

“Shouldn’t you be at the colosseum?” Arige said while shielding his eye’s from the light.

“I went there my lord but the king has cancelled the last day of the preliminary. Everyone who was signed up is automatically in the tournament,” Lairn said with a hint of relief in his voice.

“Then you should you this time to train. I must recover from the last night,” Arige said as he laid back down.

“As you wish my lord,” Lairn said as he left to the training yards.

Dustin looked up at the cloaked figure and grinned.

"A very rare tiger, I've heard you've been after it for some time and I'd like to lend my blade to help" Dustin started. "Perhaps the King will provide more challenge than his guards, right Aylward?" Dustin whispered, in an attempt to prevent Xilas from overhearing anything that might get him killed. He was a good enough kid, but he didn't want him drug into his war, he'd ask him point blank later on if he wanted to help, but now wasn't the time. He leaned closer to Aylward.

"I have entered the tournament to earn a wish, which will be a fight to the death with the king. I have no illusion that I can win, but it will provide you an excellent opportunity. The king will be separated from his guards, you will know where he is ahead of time, and I'm sure a resourceful sort like yourself can arrange some friends to ambush the king at an opportune moment, like Tobias Creed of Zephyerline" Dustin whispered, bein sure to mention Tobias' name. Dustin's parents were good friends of his, and Tobias had watched over him for a few years, and showed him the basics of fighting and swordsmanship. Aylward would hopefully know the name, and if not, Dustin knew plenty of other people in rebel groups across Russatia.

He studied the elf's face intently as he awaited a reply. Dustin's chances of victory would increase dramatically if he had assistance, but the task would still be manageable if not, though he'd rather no have the resistance as an enemy should they find out he was the vigilante 25 citizens have died because of. A lot of Dustin' future was hanging in the air out of his control, and he did not like the feeling. The fact that Xilas was approaching did not help his mood...

"The king also rules through fear. If he declines the challenge, his grip would be weakened, and your men would simply stay in the crowd and I'll either be killed by Genox, or by the guards when I'm executed for treason. If things go wrong, I'm the only one who suffers, but if not, then fine, I will go it alone and seek atonement myself" Dustin replied. He sighed and sank into his chair slightly, annoyed that he'd have to go through with his original plan, though he almost preferred it this way. The burden was his to bear... he had no right to ask anyone else for help at this point.

"I'm still in the tournament, and I'm still going to try the plan I told you myself. What you do with that is up to you, but I'm going to fight to earn my death" Dustin said quickly as Xilas began to sit down, hoping that Xilas didn't catch what he said.

"Drinks, anyone?" Xilas said as he sat down. Dustin grinned slightly as he nodded and put his last few coins on the table.

"A toast for the men and women of Uldin, and the hopes that we all can be so lucky as to die free" Dustin said, a hint of laughter in his voice, though if you looked closely in his eyes, there was a tinge of sadness. How many men and women in Uldin had children scattered across Russatia? How many more like him would be born from this? The moment of contemplation lasted only for a second, and he prayed his conscience wasn't returning...

Dustin grinned and motioned for Xilas to lead the way. The streets seemed almost barren on the way there for it being in the middle of the day. The word about Uldin must have been confirmed for the people who didn't see the guards heading that way. The temptation to follow the guards to Uldin had started to work its way into his head, and the thought of causing two massacres made him grin. He doubted he could reach Uldin before the guards, but he could try and make sure the guards never came back...

The only problem was making it back before his official Colosseum match. Those that didn't show up became outlaws, and were to be killed on sight. If not for Dustin's plan to kill the king, he wouldn't care, he'd already done enough to warrant it should he be connected to his murders. He could always just join the resistance and wait till someone made an opening for Dustin to strike, or he could start his own rebellion and hide out in the Desert, waiting until his numbers grew large enough for him to over run the castle. Oh well, for now he'd just stick to his original plan...

Dustin watched Xilas shrug off the blow, and he grinned. the last time he sparred was with his teacher, and that was several years ago. Every fight since then had ended in somebodies death, and it was nice having nothing on the line but having a good fight.

Dustin stood up, having still been crouching from his elbow strike, and laughed for a second.

"So tell me, what went through your head when you heard about Uldin?" Dustin asked as he began running at Xilas again, not using his enhanced speed, his fist reared back. At the last second he sent energy into his legs and jumped fairly high in the air, did a spin and prepared to kick Xilas in the shoulder.