Kill Bonecrusher, he doesn’t deserve to live.
– And you don’t deserve his death!
Silence reigned in the stands. The dwarf whispered in the king’s ear:
– Order him to be killed for this insolence?
– Not yet. Today he is the hero of this herd,» Derr whispered. Then he said loudly, for everyone. «Well, noble warrior, I offer you a reward for your generosity.» And what could be a better reward than another battle? Enter the Skulls!
– Scull! Scull! Scull! – shouted from the crowd. A frail, short black man came out, his face painted with the image of a skull. He is nimble, but Nermall only needs one blow with his mace – and the Skull falls to the sand. And then the old man threw away the mace again and smiled. Derr stood up from the throne and walked away from the podium. And the crowd shouted:
– Nermall! Nermall!
Today the old man is their hero.
The dwarf said:
– Well, Nermall turned out to be a good-natured person, he forgave two innocent souls. Guards, take them to the chambers of the participants in the competition. They are no longer heroes, let them fight equally with others for the right to live. I don’t think they’ll find a better way to manage their lives. The first round of the Competition is declared closed.
***
– Nermall, you did great! – friends patted the old man on the shoulder. And the rest of the prisoners gathered around him. The bonebreaker threw the bull’s skull onto the floor. His face is disfigured with scars and burns.
– Why didn’t you kill me?
– Should you?
– The king will now do everything possible to bring you to the next world.
– I do not submit to the will of kings. – Nermall glanced sideways at Still. – Except one.
«Thank you,» Bonecrusher extended his hand.
– Sorry, if anything happens, for the horns and all that.
– Nonsense. Guys, only one should survive. Such rules have not yet been made exceptions. I am the winner of the past Games. The Skull won the year before. Worms await us in the second round.
– What kind of worms? – Duncan interrupted.
– Giant worms tamed by desert magicians. If they could move not only on sand, then the whole world would belong to Lorraine. And so the worms protect the slaves. Why do you think slavery still exists here?
– What about the third round? – Lewis asked.
– In the third round, the surviving prisoners fight among themselves. Only one remains alive. There were cases when fighters became friends and refused to kill a damaged comrade. Then both died.
– But we must all survive! Still said.
– Fate grant, we are all in her hands and we trust in her.
– Let’s get out! And this was not the way out at the last moment! – said Nermall.
– Damned Morellian princess! Because of her wedding, these damn Games!
– What? – exclaimed Still. – Why, Suthering will be between Morelia and Lorraine, like between a rock and a hard place! We must not allow this!
Nermall began to sing an old pirate song, and several men joined in:
Yo-ho-ho! We are not afraid of the dead
We love mermaids, we are bottomlessly drunk.
We will be hanged – we will be finished!
But while we are alive, you are doomed!
Don’t hide your fins from me,
We are pirates, we are good people,
I am not a coward, not a villain, not an executioner.
There are no women – so a mermaid will do!
Yo-ho-ho, the bottomless expanse sleeps,
We know no peace, only rum and robbery,
We don’t want to die here
Have fun, friends, our motto is simple!
Yo-ho-ho, I’m dreaming of the blue distance,
We’re burning bridges and our pockets are empty
But I don’t feel sorry for the past at all,
Gallows or bonfires await us!
– Okay, guys, let’s go to bed. Tomorrow we have a hard day ahead of us.
Chapter 11. Worm
Still woke up from unbearable pain. Dawn. The guards woke up the slaves with lashes. A little more and it will crack. He will shout that he is the crown prince, I can’t treat him like that.
And then what? Will Derr go to his father to apologize? What nonsense. Instead of this cell, where he spends the night with his faithful comrades, he will be put in a golden cage. Friends will die. Maybe Duncan will stay, or Nermall. But others will not survive the arena. And Derr will exchange his own life for something very expensive. Maybe even Tivol’s crown.
«No, Still, you shouldn’t think like that. Be stronger. Not long left. We are all in the hands of Fate, and we trust in it. If you think about it, death isn’t that scary. Do you remember the fairy tales that your grandmother read to you at night? In them, good always triumphed over evil.»
But things didn’t get any calmer. «Life is not a fairy tale,» whispered a second voice, somewhere in the depths of my soul.
They brought food. Still endured the tasteless mess without pleasure. «We don’t even feed pigs like this,» he thought. The prince is unaware that for some Sutheringians such dinner was the main dish. On holidays, the poor prepared the same porridge, but fresher. «You wanted to know how ordinary people live!»
Bonecrusher snatched the bowl from Nermall’s hands.
– Better take mine.
Nermall raised an eyebrow.
– Do you think the king has forgiven you for your freedom yesterday? – Bonecrusher asked. – I don’t think so. Most likely, your portion contains poison or sleeping pills.
– But why do you want to eat it?
– I owe you my life. Moreover, I’m not hungry. I don’t like to eat in the morning.
And then they were taken to the arena. Still found himself in the fresh air for the first time. He spent the last two days in a sweat-smelling, stuffy cell.
There were stakes on the ground. Everyone took one.
«Remember,» said Bonecrusher, «worms have one vulnerable spot – their belly.» Aiming at the back, head or anywhere else is useless. Hit the belly and the creature is dead.
– Ladies and Gentlemen! – shouted the dwarf presenter. – The second round of the Games has begun!
The crowd applauded. Derr sat silently on the throne and did not take his eyes off Nermall. Then he glanced at the other slaves. When his gaze fell on Lewis, he almost jumped in surprise. His son had disappeared years ago, and he believed Lewis to be dead. And he is here, nearby, among the slaves! He reached for the eyepiece to get a better look at what was happening. This short glance is enough for Councilor Ezigurd. He didn’t need an eyepiece to see the face of the king’s illegitimate son. There was another person in the crowd of spectators who, without magnification, would have recognized the bastard at any distance. This is Carewyn’s stepfather. He beat Lewis’s mother when she gave birth to someone else’s child. And Lewis himself often had to hide in the desert or on the streets of the city so as not to fall under the hot hand of a drunkard.
– Let’s