It was almost time for them to assemble for the tournament, and Gregory felt stable enough after the food. He knew he shouldn’t use his magic again without dire need today. A knock came on the post in front of their tent, and Elsa hurried over to answer it.
“How can…? Oh, Sage, sir,” Elsa said, curtsying to him. “Please come in.”
“Thank you, child,” Laozi said as he entered the tent. “Good morning to you all. Pettit, I have news for you. You have been approved to assist in the tournament. We finished selecting the watchers for each player, including alternates for if extras are called in. You shall be watching over Petar Steelar. You are not the coordinator, but merely a watcher to make sure he plays fairly.”
“Yes, sir,” Gregory said, a little sad that he wouldn’t be the coordinator— he’d lose out on seeing the whole picture that way.
“Gather your things, as you will be sleeping in the same space as Petar and his other watcher, plus the coordinator. I am sure you have a storage item that will allow that to happen.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll have it all ready.”
“Adept Pettit, you will be coordinating for Brinda Hofen, sister to Jessica Hofen. I know you were probably not anticipating such, but we were asked to limit the magi that could be pulled into play to just the apprentices. This was our compromise.”
“Yes, sir,” Mindie said. “I’ll do my best.”
“I am sure you will. After the showing of the clans to the crowd, you two will be sent to their encampment and be shown to your spaces.”
“Yes, sir.” Mindie and Gregory replied.
“Which means you should say goodbye to your wives and friends for the next few days,” Laozi said, a small smile ticking his lips up. “You have a half-hour before you must gather.” With that, he left their tent.
“Well, that’s not the best, but it’s understandable,” Jenn sighed. “I forgot you’d asked, Greg.”
“Honestly, so did I,” Gregory snorted. “It was driven clean out of my head because of the wedding.”
“I didn’t ask, but I think with the Eternal Flame gone, they needed more people to assist,” Mindie sighed. “They could’ve put Greg and I together, at least.”
“And have you both distracted?” Roshana asked with a grin.
That got laughter from the others.
“I might not be at my sharpest if that happened,” Gregory admitted.
“Okay… me, too,” Mindie sighed.
“We’ll do our best to win quickly,” Clover said.
“Not recklessly, though,” Ling added. “I feel like this is going to take longer than our other tournaments.”
“It might,” Roshana agreed, “but we’ve planned for a lot. The biggest variable will be the goals the sage and archmage set for us.”
“Agreed,” Yukiko said. “Those will add a new complexity, but we believe in each of you. Just do what you think is best. Jenn and I will be waiting to join, if needed. Hopefully, they’ll tell you who’s available to bring in if some of the magi decide to go watch instead of standing by.”
“I hope so,” Ling nodded. “Knowing who we have access to would be crucial to our plans later.”
“It’s not the mages,” Mindie said. “It must be their army officers that we’re facing.”
Yukiko nodded. “Playing against the mages never made sense, as Buldoun doesn’t force them onto the field. These people will have lived and breathed the game. It’ll be tough, but we have faith in you.”
Clover nodded, chewing her lip for a moment. “Their mages must still be sitting out like you all are, ready to be called in.”
“That’s likely,” Yukiko nodded again. “At least you know who they have sitting and waiting to be called in.”
“Hugs all around,” Jenn interrupted gently. “We’ll see you when this is over, if not before, in some cases.”
It took a few minutes for hugs to cycle around the room. Elsa was included in that, even though she’d be taking care of at least Yukiko and Jenn, if not the others. She might have even more people to care for if no other staff were provided to the clan area.
Mindie had to go gather more things for herself, having only just gotten her ring capable of holding more of her stuff. By the time she’d finished, it was time to line up with Lightshield and Hemet.
“Good. Are you ready to show the empire and Buldoun how our clan has returned?” Lightshield asked when they stood before him.
“Yes, sir,” Clover, Ling, and Roshana said firmly.
“Excellent. Just believe in yourself and your plans. Gregory, Mindie, you will do wonderfully if you stay true to yourselves. You will again show how our clan is compassionate to others.” Lightshield paused, seeing the Iron Hand lining up. “And here we go. For Aether’s Guard! For the empire!”
The younger magi in front of him repeated his call back, being joined by the Iron Hand for the last three words. Without another word, Lightshield floated a few inches off the ground. Turning to the front, he started forward with Hemet beside him.
As they marched behind their senior clan magi, Gregory felt a twinge of sympathy for Lightshield. It was clear that he was losing his physical capabilities. His talk with Gregory was almost a goodbye, but Gregory hoped they’d have one more chance to talk before the end.
The march to the arena was smooth— guards from Buldoun were out, making sure a clear path stayed open for them. Gregory wondered if they’d go into the arena or not. He recalled something about the arena being turned into a giant board so the crowd could watch the game.
That makes it unlikely we go in, Gregory thought. Maybe they set up a stage outside? That might work… it’d give each clan a chance to be seen and the initial players a chance to be introduced.
A few minutes later, he smiled. A large stage had been erected in front of the arena. Mikal Buffurn, the announcer from the tournament, stood upon it, announcing the empire as they marched toward him.
They formed up on the side of it, pausing there and turning to face the massive crowd. The sound of more booted feet marching came from the other side, and Mikal started extolling the players from Buldoun.
Once the overview was given, Mikal called the first round of players up one by one. They stood beside him, waving to the crowd before stepping back and waiting for the others. He announced one from Buldoun, then a magi.
Each player from Buldoun was from their Officer School, a school dedicated to training the leaders of Buldoun’s army. Each man and woman stood with confidence, looking ready to give commands and lead their men into battle. Gregory noted the vast disparity of men to women; only two of the nine Buldoun players were women. One of them was clearly part-panther eurtik, named Brinda Hofen. She had a familial resemblance to Jessica.
The fact that all of Aether’s Guard players were part-eurtik and women didn’t go without comment, but the trio stood proudly, ignoring the crowd.
When the introductions were done, the two sides turned and marched back the way they’d come. As they went, Gregory blinked— he was suddenly in an encampment, standing in front of the archmage. Mindie and a dozen others wearing empire emblems stood with him.
“You have been told your assignments,” Aliminus said stiffly. “Those behind me will direct you to the right tents. If any of you cause problems, I will be displeased. Now go.” He vanished a second later.
Gregory exhaled before stepping forward, the first to move. “I’m supposed to watch over a Petar Steelar.”
“Follow me, sir,” one of the servants said, walking away.
Reaching the correct tent, Gregory thanked him, but he didn’t enter right away. He felt someone behind him, and looked back to see Rafiq standing there. “Rafiq?”
“I have also been assigned to watch over this player. I am, in fact, his coordinator.”
“Well, at least I have a friendly face here,” Gregory smiled as he entered with Rafiq.
Two people were inside the tent already. Sasha, the referee from the tournament, surprised him, and the other looked like a younger version of her.
“I’m Gregory Pettit,” Gregory announced himself, bowing the way a Buldoun native would. “It is a pleasure to be working with you.”
“I am Rafiq, an archivist of the Magi Academy,” Rafiq said, doing the same. “I was told that I am the coordinator for Petar Steelar.”
“A pleasure to meet you both,” Sasha said formally, bowing back. “I’m Sasha Welkaz, former commander of Steel Wall, a well-known mercenary group.”
“I am Stef Welkaz, current commander of Steel Wall and, as you can undoubtedly tell, daughter of Sasha. My entire company is here, handling security and this game. I assure you there will be no problems.” Stef was well-spoken, and her voice brooked no arguments. “It is a pleasure to meet the ‘Undefeated.’ If time permits, I would love to get a match against you, magi.”
Gregory let his resonance pulse out of him, before he bowed again. “If time permits, I will accept. It will help keep my edge sharp and, hopefully, show friendship.”
Stef’s lips twitched into a smile for a moment, breaking the sternness she’d been showing. “That is excellent news. Rafiq, no last name?”
“Eurtik do not have surnames in the empire, miss,” Rafiq replied. “We are all slaves.”
Stef tsked in disappointment. “What was your father’s name?”
“Rafiq.”
Stef stared at him, then her lips creased momentarily again. “Do you always take your father’s name?”
“I could only take it once, miss.”
That got Sasha to bark in laughter. “A quick tongue for a slave. Will your son take Rafiq as his name?”
“He already has, ma’am.”
“And the women of your line?” Sasha asked.
“They take their mother’s name. It is tradition for those of us under the empire.”
“‘One of us was enslaved and, in time, the same of us will be free,’” Gregory murmured, recalling a line from Lighthand’s journal.
Rafiq’s head turned toward Gregory. The surprise on his face was clear for a moment before it vanished. “It is said that line was spoken by each first slave of the empire.”
Both Sasha and Stef nodded slowly, but it was Sasha who said, “Admirable. It shows determination, and it appears that your traditions still hold.”
“Only for those of us who are pure of heritage,” Rafiq said softly. “The others find ways to release their lines from the enslavement.”
“People like his clan members?” Stef asked.
“No, but the staff of the empire who have taken non-eurtik family. The number of enslaved dwindles, but not quickly,” Rafiq replied.
“This will be a good group to be able to speak with while the game goes on,” Sasha smiled. “Also, Pettit, I would like the same chance to spar with you.”
“Again, if time permits, I will accept,” Gregory bowed.
“The others will be jealous,” Stef laughed. “Oh, this will be more entertaining than I thought. Now, do you really believe your magi can match up to officers in training?”
Gregory smiled, his eyes glittering with laughter. “We’ll see, but be ready for surprises. At least three of the magi will not be easy to handle.”
“Good. I want to showcase my abilities to lead,” an arrogant voice said as the man entered the tent.
Gregory turned to find a short, broad man marching toward them. His mind told him half-dwarf before he could even find words.
“Pettit, the foresight magi, is watching me? Hmm, yes, they must have heard of my undefeated streak, too,” Petar Steelar laughed. He extended his hand to Gregory. “A pleasure.”
Gregory shook the man’s hand, keeping the grimace off his face, as Petar nearly crushed his hand. “A pleasure. Let me introduce Rafiq, archivist of the academy. He will be your coordinator.”
Rafiq bowed to Petar. “A pleasure.”
“Yes, it is. Make sure to note how well I crush those before me. It’ll be nice to have my name recorded in the empire’s books.”
“Are you done?” Sasha asked pointedly.
Petar laughed, then shrugged. “Fine, Commander. Shall we get things in order?”
“Yes,” Stef said, an undertone of icy cold to her words. “We will begin when the bell strikes the hour. You will have a single unit of light infantry at your command to start. This is a conflict between Buldoun and the Velum Empire. The fight takes place along the southern border, where a good number of small towns dot both sides.”
Petar’s smile grew wide. “Perfect.”
