Chapter 12
Grit
Gatrie followed Ruth through the forest near Dungsbury until they reached the Dragon Fang Coliseum. Normally the knight welcomed the company of a young lady, but he found the forward bossiness of Ruth's demeanour to be quite grating on his spirits. Ruth was strong willed, not afraid to speak her mind, and had no problem pushing men out of her way to get where she wanted to go. Gatrie knew such women existed, but had never had to travel for so long with one of them.
When they reached the Coliseum, it was obvious that the folks that worked in the establishment knew Ruth well. In their travels, Ruth shared with Gatrie that she used to be the lead cleric that would tend to the wounds of all the warriors who made it through the arena alive. When she left, they had to hire and train three other clerics to make up for her.
Gatrie quickly learned when he arrived to the Dragon Fang Coliseum that Ruth neglected to share with him that she was the daughter of the war hardened owner, Titus the Warrior. As they walked to the entrance, Ruth was greeted by many of the coliseum workers with hugs and smiles, and then her dad appeared from behind and looked sternly at Gatrie, and then with concern at his daughter.
"I never am one to question why my daughter has returned home..." the large man spoke, surveying both Gatrie and his daughter with his eyes, "But why are you here? Shouldn't you be taking care of that tavern of yours in Dungsbury?"
"It burned down from a Devilkin attack..." Ruth responded gravely, as she looked down sadly. And then she quickly flared an angry look at Gatrie. "And THIS dumb oaf owes me money, so we're going to track down his companion who has the money...and they're going to help me pay back what I lost!"
"Is that so?" Titus spoke as he considered what his daughter said, unable to hide a father's concern. "So you came here to grab your Warp wand then, and probably some other of your cleric supplies?"
"That's exactly right!" Ruth said with a smile, excited to use some of her old magical gear. "Apparently his friend was here a while ago. Gatrie, describe your friend to my father!"
"Um well...he's a man..." Gatrie was surprised to be put on the spot to talk to such a rough looking fellow. "He has long red hair, probably in a pony tail...about average height...and if you saw him fight he is a really good..."
"Archer." Titus completed Gatrie's sentence. "Yes, I remember him. Ruth, darling, after you collect your own belongings, step into the armory and ask for an arrow from bin 0659...that should be able to help."
"You're the best dad." Ruth spoke with a warm and loving smile as she walked away to the clerics quarters to collect her former staves.
"Now..." Titus spoke firmly as he turned his attention to the knight in blue armor, "As we wait for her to return, we must speak..."
"Um okay..." Gatrie replied, a little nervous at what his man may be about to tell him. "What shall we talk about?"
"Oh I don't actually want to talk to you..." Titus responded, "I am a former great mercenary of Tyseria who know runs a world class Coliseum...I let my Axe do the talking! There are no fights scheduled in the arena today, and I desire to battle you. If my daughter is to accompany you to meet your friend, I need to know that you are fit to protect her."
"Oh please, keep her!" Gatrie responded. "We don't need to battle for her honor. I'd love for her not to come with! Just direct me to uhh...whatever direction Shinon walked when he left here, and I'll be on my way!"
"You foolish boy..." Titus spoke as he narrowed his eyes towards Gatrie, "When a man challenges you to a duel, you are not fighting for the honor of some woman...you are fighting for your own honor. I have challenged you to combat, do you accept? Or are you a coward?"
"I can see where your daughter gets her mouth..." Gatrie responded as he clenched his fist, insulted by Titus's words. "Very well then. Lead the way, old timer! If it's a lesson in humility that you want, then consider me your teacher for today!"
Gatrie followed Titus into the arena both men moved to the center of the empty arena. The place they were standing at had no pillars and no obstacles. They stood on flat dirt ground, with nothing to look at but one another.
Gatrie's armor had been freshly cleaned when he was in Dungsbury, by some of the tavern attendants who had crushes on him. The blue steel glistened as the sunlight hit his armor, and his large steel lance also sparkled. Gatrie smiled, as he felt like he looked like a million bucks, and he was ready put this dusty old warrior to shame.
Titus on the other hand was not much to look at. He had ragged leather pads, that look like they seen a thousand battles. He wielded a massive battle axe, and he wore shoes and gloves made out of animal skin and fur. His body was leathery, full of wrinkles and scars. Titus had lived his life as a wandering mercenary, and he had been beaten and battered in battle more times then he could count. His blade was also stained with the blood of many fallen warriors who had crossed passed with him. The old warrior had seen his fair share of battle, and he had true grit.
"Are you ready, boy?" Titus growled, as he raised his axe and pointed it to Gatrie. The man wielded his heavy two handed weapon with one hand, as if it was a light hatchet.
"I must say, that I do not see the point of this skirmish." Gatrie responded, as he got into a defensive position. "I have no beef with you, and you are not in my way. I do not wish to hurt you."
"There..." Titus replied, judging Gatrie's tone. "The way you just said those words...you are so certain that you are better then me, and a superior fighter. It is the unspoken job of all us elderly warriors to periodically put young pups like you in their place! You may think you have reached the peak of your potential as a warrior...but let me take this time to show you how much further you have to go."
"Big talk for someone who wields a weapon with a type advantage." Gatrie retorted, "But don't think you have a certain victory just cause you have a little edge."
"You think I need this axe to beat you?" Titus asked with a confident smile, as he dropped the weapon to the ground and motioned Gatrie to rush him. "Come at me then, I am now wielding nothing."
"You have lost it, old man!" Gatrie cried out as he rushed forward, lunging with his lance.
Gatrie anticipated that the warrior would have dodged the lance attack swiftly, and so the large blue knight had moved in a manner to stab through that maneuver. Much to Gatrie's surprise however, the war torn veteran held his ground, and reached out fearlessly and grabbed onto Gatrie's lance. And then, seemingly with the might of seven men, Titus swirled the lance around, with Gatrie holding on to it. Gatrie whirled around the air, and finally lost his grip, and flew down to the dusty dirt ground. Now Titus wielded the steel lance, and Gatrie was unarmed. He quickly rose to his feet, and saw Titus's axe nearby. Gatrie ran and picked up the axe with both his arms, and ran forward, swinging the weapon at the Coliseum owner.
The two clashed steel several times, before Titus kicked Gatrie solidly in the stomach, causing him to lose his footing once more, and landing butt first on the ground. Gatrie attempted to stand quickly, but was met with the steel blade tip of the lance next to his neck, and Titus looking at him. The reality that Gatrie was bested set in, and Gatrie stayed on the ground silently, wondering if this old man would kill him today.
"You have heart, I can see that." Titus responded calmly as he helped the blonde haired knight to his feet, and gave him back his lance. "But if you're going to survive Tyseria, you need to get tougher. It takes a certain kind of tenacity to stay alive around these parts, and I just don't know if I see that in you...yet."
"You don't know me..." Gatrie grumbled, "I can take more then you even know, and I have been through stuff already. You just caught me off guard...I bet if we went a second round..."
"Don't bother..." Ruth spoke as she entered the arena, holding her staff and one of Shinon's arrows. "You could battle my dad a hundred more times and he'd still come out on top...Don't feel bad though, I've never seen anyone best him in battle. You should consider it a compliment that he wanted to test you himself! Usually he just sends in some arena loser."
"Why do you have one of Shinon's arrows?" Gatrie asked, pointing at the steel arrow with the red trim that he would recognize anywhere.
"They must not have these kind of staves where you are from." Ruth replied, stunned that Gatrie had to ask such as silly question. "I'm going to use my white magic to channel your friend's presence, found in this arrow, and then teleport us close to where he probably is. It's not an exact spell, or rather I am not that good at it, but we'll be way closer to him then we are right now...that's for sure!"
"That's incredible!" Gatrie exclaimed, never knowing such magic exist. The warp staves back in Tellius were good, but he had never seen them work at such long of a range. Or perhaps, he had never met a cleric as skilled as Ruth.
"Hold on just a second!" A voice was heard from the other side of the arena. Gatrie, Titus, and Ruth turned to see an archer with a blonde pony tail, bandaged up from his chest down, step out from another entrance to the battlefield. "If you're going after that red headed guy, I'd like to come too. We have some unfinished business, and also that'll get me closer to a friend of mine."
Titus realized now that his daughter and Arthur both claimed to have business with Shinon, the red headed sniper from Tellius. He barely met this man but gathered that he seemed to have a knack for pissing everyone off.
"Alright, come on then." Ruth replied, "Grab hold of the staff with me. Moving us three should be easy enough!"
Once the three held on to Ruth's staff, they dissipated from the Dragon Fang Coliseum, and Titus sighed heavily. His daughter definitely had her father's sense of adventure. He knew Ruth well enough to know that even though she claimed that she was following these two mysterious adventurers because of the money she lost, she was really just wanting to follow the excitement and danger that no doubt came with them. Titus worried though, because based on what he had witnessed back when Shinon battled Arthur, and noticing Arthur's condition after their fight...Ruth had very little idea how much danger she was really jumping into. Another father may have wanted to warn their daughter to stay away, but Titus believed his daughter to be strong enough to be able to handle the peril...and she was also to stubborn to heed any warning he would provide. So the old tired father sighed, and went back to his duties as an arena owner.