Igneous didn't seem like he improved very much over the night. He slept for most of the previous day and the continued to sleep well into the morning. No one felt like waking him up, so Orla and Gerben situated him in a position where he was slumped over Elena's shoulder. If he was more awake, he would probably be on Caalya's pegasus but as it was, they didn't want him t sleep on her armour. They were coming up on a large city, with the most noticeable feature in the background being a large stone building.

"What's that building for?" Gerben asked.

"That's an arena," Charlie said with a smirk. "Hey, this might be a good chance to earn some good dough! Mercenaries like me don't run cheap."

"Make sure the gold notched though," Amaryllis mumbled. Saikur was sure that the pout was real when she said that. "Gold minted in any other country will always be trustworthy but gold coins in Fraedia may not always be gold on the inside. If you notch the coin, you can catch counterfeits. It's tedious work but you have to protect your earnings."

"So we have to worry about counterfeits in Fraedia too. This country is a mess," Arder muttered, placing his hand on one of the blades he kept on his side. "So we'll just have to be careful. I'd say we take that chance though. I know I can win."

Saikur nodded. He liked that idea – they could get Igneous somewhere to sleep while the rest of them earned gold through arena battles. They had plenty of gold but if they wanted to continue to hire people like Charlie and Amaryllis, then their gold would eventually run out. They had to factor in nights at inn when possible, keeping up weapon maintenance and replacing them as needed, and making sure they had food. He supposed they would need medicine as well but Elena seemed comfortable with herb identification, so she could probably find more if she needed to.

"I think most of us can hold our own in the area. That just leaves Igneous, Reina, Mira, and Elena," Saikur muttered. "Which means that Igneous can go sleep on a real bed, they can go look after him, and the rest of us will fight."

"Maybe you should take somebody with you," Leigh said, facing Elena.

"We'll be fine," Elena said with a smile adna dismissive wave of her hand. "Reina might be secretly an amazing warrior and Mira's got a sword and she's been training-"

"I... uh, don't think she's ready for combat yet," Arder mumbled.

"She'll be fine in a pinch!" Elena said, waving her hand. "And a staff will plenty enough too! It's a metal rod with a giant gemstone on the end, they still hurt."

Leigh simply nodded, removing a small coin purse from a satchel tied around his hip in one of the few places were armour didn't touch. "We'll have to get going tomorrow but Igneous can have a bed tonight," Leigh said at last. "This just what I have on my person. We can get more gold from the carts to place bets on the arena." He tossed the little purse at Mira, who gracefully caught it in her hands. Everything she did seemed to be graceful.

"I guess this means this is where we separate then. See you later, guys!" Elena said with a wave, putting her spotted horse into a trot slow enough for Mira and Reina to keep up.

The arena interior just felt dirty to Saikur. There was a lot of grime along the walls and when he leaned against the wall for while Leigh was taken care of registrations with a woman, he felt something slimy and immediately bounced off of the wall in disgust. Not even his childhood home was that gross – the only room that was filthy at all was the room of their mother because Saikur and his brother Sarrel refused to go in and clean it. His mother couldn't be bothered to care for anything. They managed to keep the rest of the home clean though, just so that they could use it.

The place also smelled bad – like sweat and rot. There were other smells too but he didn't dwell on those. The place was mostly dark on the inside, as it was only lit up with sparse torches. Everybody was first made to surrender any weapons and gear they already had, which were handed to the two ursurine since they were barred from fighting regular humans. From there, they were led into an armoury to pick out the most basics of weapons before being led to a short tunnel that lead to what Saikur soon realized was one of two warrior entrances to the arena. Everybody he was travelling with seemed to be on the same side he was. It seemed like fighters were just picked by having one person come from each entrance and since he was in the front of the line, he was pretty much going first.

Fun.

Charlie was behind him, looking a little bored with the whole thing while Arder was bouncing impatiently on his feet. Amaryllis seemed just as disgusted with the place as he was, tucking her hair into her hair quickly and pulling her hood up, yet she didn't seem surprised at the state of the place. Caalya was watching with a serious expression but she had tight grip on her lance, breathing deeply as she did so. Iniabi just looked impassive, like he was studying the arena. Saikur wondered if he would be alright with just a tome but he supposed that Iniabi wasn't built like a mage. He didn't look fragile.

The arena itself was rather open, or at least a lot more open then the lobby was. It was circular, with the audience under some sort of awning that provided shade, yet the circular dirt patch where the warriors fought did not have any sort of protection from the elements. If it rained, it probably just made for a better fight. A short, pudgy man walked to the centre of the arena and the audience cheered before the man gestured for both people to come to the centre.

Saikur walked. His opponent was taller than he was and a bit wider to boot but he wasn't sure how much of that was due to his size or due to the armour they wore. They were completely obscured by black armour, with large paulderons and a helmet that looked like it had small wings on the sides. They had a simple sword, like he had a simple axe, but they were clearly comfort with it.

"Introduce yourselves!" the man said loudly, his voice ringing out throughout the arena.

"Saikur," he answered simply.

"Zahreen," the other one answered. The voice was male, at least.

"You two know the rules, right?" the man asked them. "You fight until you surrender or incapacitated. Try your best not to kill each other. Go!"

Zahreen charged first, curving around the pudgy man who didn't have enough time to actually get out of the way. For a guy completely covered in armour, he was fast and surprisingly agile. He could move in his armour as if he was naked. Saikur barely had enough time bring his axe up but his opponent seemed to be able to predict his move and actually lowered his sword at the last second, striking Saikur's side just as Saikur brought his axe down on his armoured arm. Zahreen turned quickly on his heels, forcing Saikur to twist around quickly to avoid getting hit in his back, bringing his axe up to guard his face.

Saikur growled. He hated being on the defensive but it was all he could do to keep up. No matter how fast he was, he was only just fast enough to protect his vitals. Saikur even found himself in a strange routine – dodge, follow Zahreen's movements to get into position, then block. He couldn't even think about trying to attack because it would leave him open to a straight on attack instead of the smaller cuts he received when Zahreen would flick his wrist and manoeuvre his sword around his axe too quickly for Saikur to counter. Zahreen had amazing control with his sword and Saikur wondered what he would be like if he had a weapon he spent more than five minutes with.

"It looks like you thought you were tough shit, didn't you?" he asked with a chuckle, charging at him again. "It's fun to watch people like you fall apart in front of those who actually know a thing or two about wielding a weapon, though to your credit, you aren't too bad for somebody who looks like they should be using a stick. It's a wonder you can lift that axe at all!"

Saikur didn't dodge or block him but instead, sliced his axe downwards just as Zahreen had his sword within stabbing distance. Much like last time, the armour took the brunt of the damage but unlike last time, he managed to actually make a large, visible mark into the chest plate instead of just a scratch that could be polished out. Zahreen hesitated for a moment and Saikur wondered if he somehow made Zahreen mad. However, he went for the opportunity, charging forward for the first time, swinging his axe.

It felt liked time slowed when Zahreen dodged to the right and back a little. He firmly planted his right foot on the ground and next Saikur knew, an armoured foot collide with the side of his jaw, making him stumble backwards. He barely managed to hold onto his axe. Zahreen adjusted his position so that he was in front of him and delivered another kick to his chest, knocking him to the ground. He took a deep breath, forcing air back through his chest just as Zahreen propped one foot up on his chest and put the tip of the sword on it. It went through his tunic but it didn't puncture the skin. Not that it would take much effort on Zahreen for that change, though.

He felt like Zahreen was sneering at him, especially when Saikur had to roll his head to the side to spit a tooth out. His jaw may have even been cracked, or worse, broken. His opponent chuckled at him.

"I mean, I wouldn't get up if I were you, but then again... I've never been in such a humiliating position before. What do I know?" he asked, breaking out in laughter. Saikur growled but hissed in pain when Zahreen leaned some his weight onto his sword, pushing the tip into his stomach. "I never understood why the weak insist on fighting a losing battle. Honour and pride are stupid concepts to fight and die over. What are you trying to achieve by sticking around for so long?"

"I... GAH!" The sword was pushed in deeper. It hurt to even scream. "I surrender!"

The words leaving his mouth felt dirty. One loss might not be a big deal, yet... he failed. He felt that maybe, he should feel used to feeling dirty. Maybe he should be more hurt by Zahreen's words but he felt like he was used to that too and that maybe he would have to continue to get used to it. He slowly got to his feet, ignoring the pudgy man as he proclaimed Zahreen as the winner, holding a hand to the worst of the the wounds, but he realized that even the more shallow wounds were deeper than he thought.

Zahreen did a number on him.

Still, he managed to get out of the arena, moving past some worried allies. As much as they cared, he knew they couldn't help him with much, it wasn't like he couldn't walk and since everything but their armour had been removed, then nobody had a vulnerary.

He didn't feel like talking anyway. He couldn't believe that he lost, he couldn't believe he lost so badly. He barely hit Zahreen and barely made a dent in his armour. He left the battle unscathed and Saikur was left to lick his own wounds and contemplate his loss. He managed to find a somewhat clean wall, in a dark room, and just sat down, supporting most his weight against the wall since he was exhausted and injured.

Thinking about Zahreen made his stomach drop. There was something about losing to him that meant more than just losing and it filled him with an utter sense of dread. He supposed it was the first time he ever saw somebody who could pose a threat to Igneous. The oracles had guardians but it was only until recently that anybody ever made a move on the oracle in the entire history of oracles, but Igneous' injuries were not serious and the Zahan soldiers they fought went down easily. Dosia should be rebuilding nicely, assuming Zahan occupation hasn't gotten in the way of that. Zahan was just a name, he never saw them after that. He didn't lose a battle until he met Zahreen.

He was just a person but he scared him more than an entire army did. There were individuals out there who were scary. Saikur probably did think that he was 'tough shit' like Zahreen said. It wasn't on the forefront of his thoughts but there was nobody who beat him before.

Could they actually protect Igneous then?

Tears came to his eyes and poured down his cheeks. Crying felt like a pathetic thing for him to do. Why was he alone in a dark room crying when he could be getting his wounds healed or training to be somebody who could protect Igneous? Why he was so bothered by losing to Zahreen when his whole damn life was an uphill battle? He never cried then. He didn't shed a single tear when he was teased for the identity of his father being unknown because people from all over Adoss slept with his mother.

Come to think of it, he could also remember a couple of women hanging around his house a couple of times. His mother truly didn't care, so long as she was satisfied.

He stayed put until he became dizzy, probably from the blood loss. He got to his feet but instantly had to stabilize himself against the wall. Pathetic pathetic pathetic. If Saikur didn't spend so much time crying, he would have been able to get help himself. He felt somebody's arms go around his shoulders. He jumped.

"Saikur, relax. It's just me."

Saikur could recognize Leigh's voice anywhere.

"So this is where you ran off to. Come on, let's you get out of here."

"What about your fight?" he asked, making sure that he didn't move his jaw much while he spoke.

"That's not important," Leigh said. "The younger ones are the ones having fun with it. Charlie's a natural in there and Arder easily won his fight." Leigh was taller than Saikur was, so it was hard for Leigh to try and bend down to be a crutch. However, Saikur found enough support by grabbing onto Leigh's arm.

"So I'm the only one who lost then," he said bitterly. Three little words floated around in his head again, telling him something he already knew.

"Saikur, you're better than that! Whoever you lost to is probably somebody with Silcyian training. They were far from average. There is no reason to feel bad about yourself." Saikur wondered how Leigh could tell. Maybe somebody else could tell or maybe Leigh just guessed. The thought never went through his head though.

"What if somebody on Zahan's side is like Zahreen?" Saikur asked quietly as Leigh led them outside. "What if we can't protect Igneous?"

"We're going to get people like Zahreen on our side. That's why we are here. Maybe the three of us couldn't beat somebody like them but I wouldn't discount everybody who is already on our side, Saikur. It's not just us three anymore and they are here to protect him too, if for different reason than we are. You have to believe in them too."

Saikur stayed silent after that.

"I forgot what quiet was like," Darren muttered as he shed his armour and jumped into the bed. With Zahreen gone and fighting in an arena to earn some money 'and to make sure being around incompetent fighters for so long didn't affect him', the other three could have some time to think without his commentary. Darren didn't care about the second reason so much as he cared about the temporary peace and quiet he got. His ankle must have pretty busted up since it still hurt, even with the extra support and all of the time he spent off of it. He only stepped on it wrong, so why it was so bad? He supposed that his left ankle was always a little weak but he had no idea what he did to it that it ended up like that in the first place.

Maybe he broke it as a child.

Even Zahreen had run out of original things to say about his ankle, so he stopped talking about it, citing that he didn't just want to use the same insult over and over again. He had standards, apparently.

"It looks like we got neighbours," Ajax mumbled as he walked into the room.

"It looks like we need to mind ourselves then," Fara said with a mere shrug.

"Actually, I think we should go introduce ourselves," Ajax muttered, the look on his face going serious. "I don't think it was just anybody next door. I haven't seen the oracle personally but the guy they were leading in looked like what I imagine the oracle to be like."

Darren shot up into a sitting position. "Are you serious? You think you saw the oracle? You better not be shitting me, Ajax!"

Ajax shook his head and chuckled a little. "Why would I go do that? Maybe if I described who I saw, you could confirm yourself? The whole reason why we could get out of Adoss was because you saw him personally, right?"

He had a point. The oracle looked rather exotic, even compared to the Fraedians. They had, on average, the darker skin like he did, but he had yet to see anybody that really reminded Darren of the oracle. He didn't really understand how he could see so many people and yet, the oracle was so special that he could stick out in a sea of people. Darren waved his hand at Ajax, urging him to continue.

And the more Ajax described who he saw, the more convinced Darren was that it really was the oracle. He did want to confront him, at least to lash out at him, just to have somebody to be angry at. He knew that oracle had nothing to with his father's death and Zahan's invasion, he was just the messenger. All of that stuff would probably have happened whether they knew they were going to happen or not.

But he wanted to scream at somebody and the oracle was just the person he felt like yelling at. Ajax and Fara didn't deserve it since they helped him along the way so much. Zahreen would probably just laugh at him and he didn't need that.

Yet, the oracle didn't deserve it either. Who should he scream at then?

Darren sighed. He hated the whole situation. He wished that Zahan never attacked, even if he wasn't there for it. He hated that he didn't know what was going with his sister, other than hoping she was alive and well. He knew his father was dead and he barely had time to say goodbye to him. He felt like he never got enough time with his father, he could say goodbye forever if he had the chance to. He didn't hate that he had to do so much to save his kingdom but he hated that he had to do it in the first place. His kingdom shouldn't be in danger.

He hated everything about his situation.

"Is that him then, Darren?" Fara asked, as he let her hair loose. She was stripped of her armour, and Darren never got tired of seeing her more casual self. The serious trainer that she usually was disappeared when she took all of her armour off. She could still be serious but she smiled more and Zahreen's words didn't seem to bother as much. Ajax was in the middle of getting it all off but his personality didn't change all that much, outside of being a bit more relaxed. He was always aware and Darren could appreciate that.

"Sounds like him... he's a special little prick, that guy is. You haven't met him either, Fara?"

"Nah, I was always busy with my training. I'm not sure if I could afford his services either. Did your father have to pay for him?"

"I believe he did. It was a handy of way of my father being able to find out what he can do to help the country with direct interact with the oracle, while being able to discreetly hide gold from the castle coffers to the secretive temple coffers. Apparently, there are only three people in the temple that know where all the gold is, and their only goal is to use it for maintenance of the temple and for the direct benefit of all those who need it. My father could always dip into the funds if he need the extra gold for the benefit of the people and those priests would hold him to it."

"Do you think you are allowed to go into those coffers to pay off the mercenaries who help you get the kingdom back then?" Ajax asked as he ran a hand through his hair.

"I'm hoping but if Zahan does any damage than that gold should go to that. I'm not sure what Zahan is planning so I shouldn't rely on it," Darren answered, shaking his head. "I dunno how to make that sort of gold. I have to assume that Zahan will take the castle coffers."

"Hmm." Ajax put a hand on his chin. "I don't think they would be interested in everything in the castle. There are surely things you can liquidate for gold once you get there. It could be that Zahan isn't even after the gold after all. From what I know, they can make decent amount of gold selling ores and weapons to other countries... that, or they would trade for some food items in addition with a little bit of gold. Zahan always values food more than gold when it comes to trades."

Darren blinked. Why didn't he think of that? He studied the trading patterns of other countries before too. Zahan and Adoss were obligate trading partners, considering that The Barren made trading with other countries difficult. Adoss was good at producing food and Zahan was always in need of it due to the lack of fertile land.

"You could also get loans from other countries, which is better than being in debt to mercenaries. I'm sure other countries would help you out if they could... maybe not Fraedia but Vedia and Silcyia might help. You could also make Zahan pay for any damages but considering their attitude, that might be throwing oil into a well-burning fire."

"I had no idea you know so much of politics," Fara mumbled, her eyes wide. "I'm good with a lance but sheesh."

Ajax shrugged. "I'm still from nobility, despite my family's relatively low ranking. I had to learn all of these things before my father really felt comfortable about the idea of me being the military. I'm lucky I didn't forget, really. At any rate, maybe you should say hello to the oracle?"

"I'm not sure anymore," he muttered quietly as he lied down, arms folded behind his head. "I know I will blow up in his face but I can't help thinking that this is what we should be doing. We can pool our resources and we're probably out here for similar goals. There is no reason we should be apart but it's so damn hard to not blame him for my father's death."

Fara looked at him with a sad look. "Should we talk to him?"

"At least consult him, yes," Darren said with a wave of his hand. The two of them nodded and left the room, so Darren dozed off.

However, he wasn't asleep for long. When he woke up because he thought he heard Fara and Ajax coming back, he found that the curtains were moving, as if somebody opened the window but it was still closed. He was about to doze off again when he noticed a shadow on the ceiling. He squinted, then rolled out of the bed just in time to see somebody jump from the ceiling and onto the bed with a steel blade in hand. Darren had a feeling that the blade was pointed towards him but when he moved, the figure changed the position of their blade in order to spare the mattress. Something jingled when they landed. The figured flicked their wrist, prepared to jump at him again.

"Hey hey hey! Maybe we can talk before you keep trying to kill me?" Darren shouted before he even got to his feet. However, it did make the other figure pause. When he could spare a glance at them, he noticed mostly the cloak, which was a mottled red colour. He had black boots and black pants and they had a black shirt but besides that, Darren couldn't see much.

"Are you going to beat Zahan's price? They have your gold, don't they?"

"Like we would keep all of our gold at the castle..." Darren muttered. "I'll beat any price Zahan gives you to kill me if you protect me instead."

The figure turned around on the bed. From under the hood on the mottled cloak, he could see golden coloured bangs, sitting above bright blue eyes that made Darren nervous with their depth. They seemed to be wearing a fitted, slightly inflexible black shirt and a golden bell attached to a silver chain around his neck. However, Darren was pretty sure that the person was male, even with the dark red, padded vest. His would-be assassin was clearly debating the price in his mind. He wasn't sure if he should trust somebody who was so loose with their loyalty – he was obviously on the side with the best price. Even Zahreen seemed completely loyal to the one contract but maybe that wasn't true of him either.

"It's a deal then!" he said with a grin as the threw his hood back. His golden hair extended well past his shoulders, brushed back over his ears. "My name is-"

He was interrupted when Fara walked in the room. "The oracle is – who the heck is that?" she shouted, pointing at the assassin with her finger, while her other hand was clutched into a fist.

"My name is Charles!" he answered, getting up from the bed to offer Fara a hand. "I've been commissioned to join your side. It should be quite the party compared to just a simple assassination job."

"As, simple sassination job? You just tried to kill Darren! Why should we trust you?" Fara kept her voice loud, marching her way to Charles, and to his credit, he didn't move or drop the smile on his face.

"He's going to beat every offer," he said with a charming smile.

Fara looked away from Charles and gave Darren the 'is this a good idea face?'. He shrugged. Again, he wasn't sure if he could necessarily afford having a bunch of mercenary bodyguards but buying Charles' loyalty was the only way to save his life. The relaxed and cheerful demeanour Charles held after he accepted their offer was a stark contrast to the person who probably broke into his room through his window and hid himself on a ceiling beam until he was ready to pounce, all with complete. Darren only survived because he happened to look up in time. With the way his ankle was, there was a good chance he wouldn't have made it out of the room before Charles pounced on him again.

But having both Charles and Zahreen on board was going to be a drain on assets, that was sure.

"Anyway, what were you saying about the oracle?"

"It is the oracle next door," Fara said, choosing to ignore Charles, even when he when he seemed to be inspecting Darren closely, eve bending down to poke his bad ankle. "But apparently he came down with a fever, so he's resting right now. Ajax is talking to the one priestess from the temple that came with him. I think joining up would be the best for both of the groups, even if you can't get past your differences. Apparently, the oracle was left with decent funds to pay for mercenaries."

"The oracle is close to us, huh? Interesting," Charles muttered, his smiling fading for a brief moment. He looked to be in thought but either way, he was certainly interested in something.

"So is the oracle unprotected right now?"

"None of the women with him looked to be fighters. Other than Ajax, nobody with apparent combat experience happens to be with them. I think they mentioned..." she paused for a moment, her eyes going wide. "The est of them are at the arena!"

"Oh, shit. Zahreen's there."

Both he and Fara had the same idea because they booked it out of the room, leaving Charles all by himself as they ran out of the inn. Darren didn't have anything on his feet and his ankle screamed in protest from the sudden exertion. They received strange looks and angry shouts from all of the villagers as they sprinted past them, but they managed to make it the arena in record time. The hard part was finding him though. If he was in a battle, he probably wouldn't be too long, but what if he was fighting one of the oracle's retainers?

Or what if he already fought one?

"Are you here to sign up for a fight?" somebody at the counter asked. The person at the counter was a woman who looked like she would rather be watching the fights than signing people up for them.

"We're just looking for our friend. He's one of the fighters."

"You're free to go around back so long as you don't set foot in the arena," the woman said, waving her hand dismissively. They didn't have weapons, so they went to the back, calling for Zahreen's name. Eventually, they got a response and Zahreen walked right up to them with a dinky iron sword in hand. Darren could see a small notch his chestplate, even in the limited lighting and Zahreen seemed to hate its existence more than anything else. He already fought then.

"What brings you here?" he asked, the usual mocking tone replaced with what sounded like genuine curiosity. Maybe the curiosity itself was mocking him though. Darren was sure that everything that came out of Zahreen's helmet was somehow undermining everything around him.

"The oracle is staying at the same inn we are – hey, stop laughing! We don't want you killing or maiming any of his retainers who are here too. We're probably going to group and pool your resources." Darren frowned when Zahreen laughed even harder.

"You might be a little late for that. I already wrecked somebody."

"Maybe they're not one of the oracle's retainers?" Fara offered but not even she seemed to believe her own words.

"There's a good chance they probably were. How badly did you hurt them?" Darren asked. He felt like he was a parent talking to a child who pushed another child.

"He's not going to die," he said with a shrug. He was being strangely cooperative – hopefully he wasn't just saving up all of his insults. "I'd be surprised if he could talk."

"C'mon, we're pulling out. Let's try to find the oracle's retainers here," Darren muttered. Zahreen snickered a little while shrugging again, following the two of them without an insult.

I'm done with school for now but I'm pulling a lot of hours at work and retail is not good for creativity.

Anyway, feel free to suggest possible supports you want to see, such as characters you may feel are currently a little underdeveloped or characters you just want to see more of! I also want to give Igneous more piercings - apparently a tongue piercing has a ritualistic purpose for the Aztecs and Mayans but they may not have been permanent? All I can imagine is that Igneous would lose the piercing because it would get all infected and gross.