Page 15 of Ironhold: Trial Five

And the trainer is right: I cannotargue with it. I must fight with what I'm given in the way I'm told to fight.The trainer leads me to the iron gate leading out to the arena, past the roomsreserved for the healers, with the stone slabs on which they work, and wherethe bodies of the slain are already lying.

I stand in front of the gates, andnow the trainer produces the last piece of my equipment: a helmet with no holesfor my eyes. They are determined to make sure I cannot see.

They settle it in place on my headand then lock it into position so that there is no chance that I will be ableto remove it during the fight. Instantly the world around me is dark, withoutso much as a scrap of vision to guide myself. It is no consolation to know thatAya will be having a similar helmet fastened into place on her head right now.

I can hear the calls of theannouncer for the games. The emperor does not generally do this part himself.

“Citizens of Aetheria. This is themoment you've been waiting for: the first bout in these games of the mistressof beasts herself: Lyra. But this is to be no ordinary bout. Today we willchallenge her to fight in a way she has not fought before, without the benefitof sight!”

The trainers push me forward and Ican feel the sun on my skin as I head out from the space beneath the colosseum.I stumble forward, feeling my way with my spear. The roar of the crowd hits me,but it's mixed in with laughter. Some of the crowd are enjoying the fact that Icannot tell what's going on. There are jeers and catcalls from different pointsaround me.

I try to picture the interior ofthe colosseum, navigating my way forward from memory. I think I know where theemperor’s box is in relation to the gate, so I turn and salute him. Judging bysome of the cheers and laughter, I don't get the direction quite right.

The worst part is that Icouldsee everything if I tried. I could reach out with my power and steal the sightof every bird around the colosseum. I know there are always crows and otherscavengers waiting both for any food that's thrown away and for the potentialto feast on the bodies of the slain. I have used them in my fights before togive myself a better view and I have borrowed their reflexes too, allowingmyself to dodge faster than I would otherwise be able to.

But if I do that now, will it betoo obvious? If I move as though I can see everything, it will not take theemperor long to realize that I can, and then he will know that I have my powersagain. He will realize that I did not have the help of others to kill LadyEmin, that I did not need it. He will know that his own arch magistrate haslied to him and given me back the magic he believed had been taken from me.

So, for now at least, I stand indarkness, holding back from reaching out. I need this to be convincing.

“Her opponent today is new to thecolosseum!” the announcer says.

“Fresh meat!” someone calls out.

“No challenge!” another yells. Thecrowd seems restless. They don't want to see me have easy fights, even if I amone of their favorites now. Perhapsbecauseof it. They want to see thegladiators they like challenged. They might know a brief moment of grief if Ifall, but itwillbe brief. They care more for the blood and the painthan for me.

“Friends!” the announcer says. “Donot be so hasty to judge. Because our opponent is a mistress of the earth, ableto feel the slightest tremor of movement through it. I give you Aya!”

There is a brief pause, presumablyas the crowd gets its first view of my opponent. I know they will be drinkingin her size and her strength. I don't know what weapons she'll be carrying, andthat's another disadvantage for me because it's important to fight in differentways against different weapons. My guess is that she'll favor something thatlets her fight at close range, maybe a sword or an axe, but I don't know forsure.

“In this bout, you, the audience,will see everything, but your gladiators must rely on other senses,” theannouncer says. “Will the mistress of beasts be able to hear her foe coming? Orwill Aya sense the spot where Lyra is standing and cut her down?”

There is another pause. In it, theemperor's voice sounds.

“Begin!”

I move, holding my weapons ready,straining my senses to try to pick up any sound around me, but the cheering ofthe crowd makes that much harder.

I do not need to listen much thoughbecause it seems that Aya wants me to come to her.

“This way!” she calls out. “Come tome and die, Lyra!”

I move towards the sound of hervoice, trying to leave it as long as possible before I start to use my powers.I know I will need to at some point, but it is better in these early phases ifeverything looks as natural as possible, if it truly looks as though I don'tknow where she is. I must pick my moment carefully.

I move towards the sound of hervoice, trying to circle around slightly. I hear the sound of feet moving on thesand, someone coming at me and I swing my net. It deflects part of the blowcoming my way but pain still blossoms through my side and I have to throwmyself from my feet to avoid any follow up attacks. I can feel the wetness ofblood on me as I throw myself to the sand.

I roll, and something thrusts downin the spot where I was just lying. I manage to scramble back to my feet as thecrowd roars its approval of first blood going to the new gladiator.

I know I've left it too late, but Istill reach out with my powers, grabbing for the sight of every bird I can findaround the colosseum, I limp away from Aya as I do it, determined not to be tooclose until I can see her properly.

Vision flows into me, letting mesee what's happening from dozens of different viewpoints, although all of themare above the sands. I do not get to see the combat through my own eyes aswell, just through those of the birds.

It means that I get to see Aya forthe first time in this fight. She has spiked shoulder plates and belts crossingher torso that are covered in scales of metal, but she is otherwise unarmored.She has a long, curved sword in either hand, giving her twice the capacity toattack. I can see her hunting a smaller figure across the sand, and I mustremind myself that it's me.

That reminder is enough to make methrow myself aside as she comes at me again, rolling, trying to ignore the painin my side. The crowd seems happy with the move, perhaps thinking that I heardher coming.

I had thought that I would have toact the part of not knowing what's going on, but without my own eyes to orientme, this is anything but easy. Yes, I can see the fight now, but I can only seeit the way spectators in the topmost rows of the stands would. I do not get theadvantage of being able to pick out individual attacks and judge the distancethe way I normally would. Instead, I only get a general sense of when Aya iscoming at me, giving me just enough time to throw myself aside.

I cannot hear anything over thenoise of the crowd. Without my powers, I would be dead by now, and that makesme wonder if I have been thrown into this to die. I manage to raise my spearbetween myself and an incoming sword blow, but another one scrapes along mychest, opening a fresh line of agony there.

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