Toby undressed on one side of the ring while Ancel made sure to put his beloved jewels in Berenger's pocket, apparently afraid they might disappear in the middle of the fight. He then began to remove the few green silk robes he was wearing, as well as the brown fur stole, and placed them on Berenger's outstretched arm, which increasingly resembled a clothes rack.
The audience whistled relentlessly as Toby and Ancel appeared completely naked. Ancel waved to the audience and tossed back his red hair. He seemed to enjoy the excitement around him. He moved his hands with ease, trying to win people's support.
"Applause! Applause, fuck!"
Nikandros looked away to pay respect to the pet, even as he now jumped into the ring and blew kisses to the unfamiliar men applauding him. Toby looked Ancel up and down with dry envy and realized that he did indeed have red hair.
With a blush on his cheeks, Lord Berenger, still holding Ancel's clothes, said as the Kyros of Ios looked at him:
"Don't think too much about it..."
"Yes. I've come to realize that this is almost the secret to living well in Vere..."
"Ancel likes attention, unlike me. His personality is unique..."
Nikandros looked to the ring and saw Ancel, completely naked, doing a perfect cartwheel in the arena, sending the crowd into a frenzy. In reality, Laurent wouldn't do that.
"He's loyal. He's everything a man needs to find in another man." - Laurent said as he approached the ring and gestured for Ancel to come to him.
The Veretian King whispered something in Ancel's ear that seemed to be some sort of instruction. The Veretian pet looked at Toby with a twisted mouth and then nodded.
Then Ancel and Toby knelt with their arms around each other, and the Patran organizer lifted the red cloth. Then he let go of him and it floated to the ground.
The union of Toby and Ancel's elongated, slim, and pale bodies was a unique sight.
It was Toby who made the first sudden movement, which was intercepted by Ancel. A gasping confrontation began to the sounds of the audience.
Toby tried to bring Ancel to the ground, but the red-haired man slapped him mercilessly, which was applauded by the audience. Toby snorted in response and grabbed Ancel's hair, causing him to scream.
"You insolent, envious provincial! Let go of my hair! Let go! Let go, damn you!" - Ancel screamed in pain and dug his nails into Toby's cheeks, who couldn't fight back and let him go.
Toby's Veretian master moved his face and spoke to Lord Berenger:
"Those two look like they want to kill each other more than they want to fuck! They're not even moaning..."
Indeed. There were elbow strikes, kicks, and even bites from Ancel as Toby squeezed his cock.
The audience seemed to enjoy the fight.
"You can't mount me, your miserable cunt!" - Toby gasped as Ancel finally slid on top of him, forcing him to spread his legs with his knees.
The trick was smart. Nikandros mused that Ancel might show promise in Akielon wrestling, provided he fought someone of equal height and weight.
"Too late, you provincial stinking of cheap wine!" - Ancel shouted, forcing Toby to open up completely with a final gesture.
The audience cried out and Ancel felt his pulse quicken as he pressed Toby's face to the smooth rosewood floor. Then Ancel leaned over the young man and whispered:
"Where can I find you?"
The pet started to move under Ancel, but he was pushed back onto the floor. In a mocking voice, Toby said:
"You haven't even fucked me yet and you're already in love, baby?"
"It's not for me. It's for him, baby!" - Ancel whispered in Toby's ear, nibbling on it to make it truthful.
The two pets stared at Laurent, who stood between Nikandros and Lord Berenger, watching them from across the ring.
Toby cried out as Ancel slapped him hard on the buttock and the audience laughed. Ancel whispered again:
"...The ring will fall today, but if by some miracle your master manages to escape, we'll need something to find you. Spit it up, your pitiful wretch!"
"I'll be in Barbin in two weeks. My master will visit the ring in Verona. My master's name is Durand."
"Right. I'm not going to fuck you. Not because I can't, but because you're not my type..."
"You're not my type either!"
"Great! We're going to act it out now and if you don't make them believe it, I'll stick that lamp up your ass, got it?"
"Bastard!"
The crowd went wild as Ancel slapped Toby twice more on the thighs.
"Relax so I can get into, Toby! Not only are you a sore loser, but you're a sore bitch too?"
"Fuck him, redhead!" - someone in the crowd shouted.
The position they were in was perfect not only in terms of fit but also because of the ability to simulate a hot fuck in the ring, creating the illusion of reality.
There were blind spots in the arena. Ancel had observed that some fuck spots were poorly lit and visibility was impaired. He had seen prostitutes in Sanpelier who were forced to fuck each other to please a client, creating an illusion just to spare themselves when they were tired of acting like animals in heat.
The best whore in Vere was the one who could lie best. And Ancel had won that position.
Ancel closed his eyes as he slid his hand down his cock, stimulating himself a little more and moaning as he pretended to slide his cock into Toby's entrance.
Toby reacted, cursing and slapping his palm on the smooth floor. Then he groaned. The two pets deliberately let out sounds of pleasure from their throats. Rhythmic, theatrical sounds that drew the attention of the entire stand, which watched them with hungry eyes and desired them to the bone.
Lord Berenger lowered his gaze, as did Nikandros, who could feel the movements of the two men and their cries of pleasure reaching the crowd. Laurent was impassive and stared at the scene.
Ancel kept stimulating himself behind Toby at such a close distance from his entrance that everyone thought he was fucking him. The movements of Toby's hips and the way he began to stimulate himself after pulling Ancel's hips towards him and reaching him from behind made everything even more believable.
"The little bitch is having a lot of fun. I may lose money, but it's worth every coin..." - Toby's master said to one of his companions.
Ancel blinked at Lord Berenger when their eyes met. The pet sought in his master's gaze, the memory of how he had sucked him deliciously last night when they had finally left the Great Hall at the King's birthday party and retired to the chambers.
Lord Berenger was shy in his caresses. He seemed to be a well-bred, romantic man who allowed himself more than he thought himself capable of with a lover. But when he gave in, he let himself go. And Ancel loved the way he made love because it was very different from the way it was done in Sanpelier.
Last night, perhaps fueled by the wine, Lord Berenger took some liberties. Ancel was surprised when Berenger touched him under his clothes in the Great Hall, looking like a confident and flaunted teenager. And when Ancel closed the door to the chamber behind him, after a long caress in the hall, Lord Berenger plunged his face into Ancel's crotch, undressed him, and pushed him against the door. Lord Berenger sucked him till the end, making Ancel's legs tremble and his chest shake.
It had been good. It was very good. It was always good when Lord Berenger gave him this untamed pleasure. He often did that to him. Since the first time they made love when Berenger had asked with a face reddened somewhat shyly by the realization of Ancel's vast experience:
"Is there anything you've never done before?"
With slightly wavering confidence and without giving Berenger a look at his face, Ancel replied:
"Nobody never gave me a blowjob. Men like it when you do it to them, but they don't like doing it. Especially not with a prostitute. But don't worry about it. I think everything we've done today is already too much for you, Berenger. I won't have a grudge against you, because you don't like sucking a ring whore either..."
Ancel was surprised when he saw Berenger kissing him again and lowering his face under the sheet. Before he did what he intended to, however, he murmured in one of his more revealing moments:
"Then I'll be your first. We need to fix this because you're the best in Vere..."
Ancel blushed, clutching the sheets and Berenger's brown hair as he buried his face in his crotch. He couldn't believe that his well-bred master, who read Isagoras, could use his mouth like that. Apparently, Ancel hadn't been the only one paying attention to the crown prince's instructions when he instructed him in the bower to make his Akielon pet cum.
In the ring, another sound left Ancel's lips, much more believable than any other, and the spectacle seemed to be nearing its climax. Ancel remembered the first and last night he and Berenger made love. The pet's moans had changed and the rhythm seemed to be on the verge of climax. Toby bit his lip, cursed another expletive and his body shuddered at his breathless announcement. He came on the floor in the ring.
Ancel closed his eyes briefly. The real pleasure reached his body while he still pretended to penetrate Toby. Then, Ancel spun the other pet around and laid the panting young man on his back in the slippery ring.
Ancel climbed on top of Toby, aimed his cock down with one hand, and came all over the pet's face, leaving his dark bangs wet and his eyelashes thick and sticky.
The stands erupted in applause, cheers, and shouts of approval. Toby let his hand slide over his face and Ancel drew back because he saw the other make a fist and try to punch him in the side.
At the entrance to the garden, next to a pergola, someone watched as Ancel was declared the winner. It was Kato, the real Lord Rouart's brunette pet. He moved his face, followed Ancel with his gaze, and still had the diamonds hanging from his earlobes.
With a wrathful look, the young man put his hands on his hips. He had faced Ancel once before in a ring in Sanpelier when the redhead had tried to take Lord Rouart away from him. And in the same way, the bastard had ejaculated on his face in a depraved gesture while teasing Lord Rouart and trying to get a bid. Kato would never forget him. He hated Ancel and had often thought about how he could rip out his green eye and use it as a brooch.
In the ring, a servant brought a towel for Ancel and another for Toby. Lord Berenger helped Ancel get dressed again while Toby wiped his face and was awkwardly pampered by his drunken master.
"That was..." - Berenger whispered with an unreadable look.
"A lie. Ancel didn't touch Toby." - Laurent spoke.
Nikandros grimaced in surprise.
"It wasn't real?"
"No. They both stimulated each other until they ejaculated. They just touched each other to punching..." - Laurent said with his languid look as if the fact was obvious.
Berenger looked at Ancel in surprise as the pet smiled proudly.
"Something every whore in Sanpelier knows how to do too. Pretending! Don't worry, my dear Berenger. I'll remain chaste and faithful to you..." - and as Ancel approached Laurent, he whispered: - "I got what you need, Your Majesty..."
"Great! Let's go find D. and get out of this hell!"
Kato walked around the stands at that moment, looking for the Vaskian messenger who had picked him up on the upper floor. His eyes were still fixed on Ancel.
Laurent and the others strode towards the door but they were intercepted by Toby's master and his companions.
"Hey, where are you going?"
"Leaving!" - Nikandros replied sharply - "Move!"
The man looked at his companions in confusion.
"Haven't you read our rules? Can't you read?"
"Your... Get out of my way!" - Nikandros said, feeling his impatience begin to erupt.
"We want to fuck the redhead and the blonde pet over there! Did you not know that it is forbidden to leave the house before sunrise, my lord? After the rings, the feast takes place. All the pets are distributed among the audience. Don't you think it's a bit unfair that we return home with nothing after our boys have shown so much?"
"What?!"
"Now don't tell me you're in love with your pet, my dear Akielon! It's forbidden to get sentimental in the ring. It's forbidden to talk to anyone about what's happening here. It is forbidden to say 'no'. And above all, it is forbidden to hold a pet just for you. Pets must be obedient and are here to be fucked!"
Nikandros paused and felt dizzy with nausea. Suddenly this decadent, orgasmic environment seemed unbearable to him. He was not Damianos. He had not learned to survive in inhospitable Arles. He was a kyros who, like Damen, had had many sexual experiences, but none of it was comparable to chaining up a bunch of young people and sharing them up for rape. This man would have to kill him to touch Laurent or Ancel.
At the back of the stand, Kato spotted the Vaskian messenger and tapped him on the shoulder. The man with the leopard mask and the disinterested gestures turned around.
"Oh, have you spoken to your master?" - and in a distinctly lowered voice he whispered- "Lord Rouart..."
"No. I want to know what he's doing here!" - Kato asked, pointing at Ancel.
The messenger looked at the red-haired pet, his Varenne's master, the blond one, and the slave supplier's Akielon partner.
"He's your master's new pet. I said that Rouart has returned from his journey with a new distraction..."
"What?" - Kato was startled - "Rouart bought him? But he was embarrassed in a ring in Sanpelier by this little bitch! This animal was bought by Lord Berenger of Varenne!"
The messenger looked at the group and looked at Ancel, who put his hand on the shoulder of the man from Varenne.
"Then you should give Rouart some satisfaction, Kato! He's standing there with his hand on the red-haired boy's waist. He looks like a puppy in love..."
Kato looked to the group near the door and saw the Akielon giving the man in front of him a shove. The two seemed to be arguing. The red-haired house slave sat protectively with a snake mask on his master's back.
"That's not Rouart, you idiot!"
The messenger looked at the group for a few seconds. There seemed to be a commotion in the next room. Someone was shouting.
"How can you be sure?"
"Because I'm fucking him!"
The Vaskian felt his insides crumble at this revelation. He remembered how he had marveled at the exuberance of the Akielon purveyor and his partner. He remembered thinking Rouart looked thinner and more youthful under the snake mask.
And these animal slaves seemed too well cared for compared to the other abused slaves. They stood out like shiny, polished shoes next to old wooden clogs displayed in a shop window.
"GUARDS! THESE ARE INTRUDERS! STOP THEM!"
A dozen guards stood near the ring.
The entire audience turned their heads in the direction of the messenger. Laurent, Nikandros, Lord Berenger and also Ancel. Toby's master in front of them took a shaky step back.
Then, when one of the slave guards attacked Nikandros, the kyros drew his short sword and was glad to be able to use it.
Laurent was also glad to be able to lift his face and put his wrist chain around the neck of the man who was trying to walk towards Lord Berenger, thinking him to be the other dangerous member of the retinue. Laurent choked the guard, making him retch and drool.
There were screams and a rush of men running through the open doors with their pants open or down. Nobles with bare breasts, as women in Akielon did on very hot days, fled. Animal slaves, their chains dragging on the floor, looked lost. Screams. Half-naked prostitutes huddled together, trying to protect themselves with round silver trays on their heads, while some guards threw objects in the direction of the invading entourage.
"Break Ancel's chain!" - said Laurent to Lord Berenger.
The Veretian courtier did as Laurent had instructed and took advantage of the confusion to break Ancel's chain with a jerk, leaving him wearing only his collar and bracelets.
Ancel ran to the brick wall next to the ring and armed himself with a flaming torch as the man Laurent had strangled fell to the ground unconscious.
Durand dragged Toby by the chain out of the mess and through the double doors without turning around. Laurent saw the Belloy's pet, who had valuable information, disappear into the bustling crowd.
The King of Vere held his face up as someone shouted from the crowd of the next room.
"DAMIANOS OF AKIELOS IS HERE!"
The guards seemed confused by what was happening until one of the men's gazes lingered on the pale, blonde figure standing near the ring. He dressed like a prostitute, but now his cultured and stern look was so clear as he fought like a warrior. If Damianos was in a ring in Arles, that meant... After all, they were the kings of the Sister Nations and inseparable, weren't they? One of the guards pointed with a trembling finger and shouted:
"LAURENT OF VEREI!"
There was silence for a moment until people repeated the information in astonishment. Laurent saw a man coming towards him, held in an armlock by Nikandros. The kyros held the man down and the Veretian king used his arabesque dagger on him fatally.
There was a new commotion in the adjacent room with double doors until a guard flew across the room of the stand after being thrown by someone and landed on disorganized cushions.
Amid screams, confusion, and people crowding together, Damen showed himself. Not with his short sword, but with the heavy sword he had taken from someone when he had descended from the upper floor to get there.
He pointed his sword at Laurent and, addressing Nikandros, ordered:
"Break the chain of the King of Vere!"
In the palace, Ancel entertained some of the courtiers with his fire juggling, in which he twirled the burning sticks with elegance in front of the audience and caught them in mid-flight. So, Ancel didn't hesitate to use the glowing metal torch he had equipped himself with and burnt one of the guards as the man tried to walk towards his master.
"Behind me, Berenger!" - the pet said and started moving, while the courtier followed his steps like a shadow.
The attacker advanced on Ancel again and had the sleeve of his jacket on fire.
Damen and Laurent dueled with other men, trying to make their way through the crowd. The King of Akielos turned over his shoulder and instructed Nikandros:
"The horn!"
From this distance, it wasn't sure whether the sound could reach the soldiers who remained on the roofs of the neighboring houses and in the market alleys. In any case, Nikandros, after burying his short sword in a nobleman who tried to strike him, pulled the artifact from the pocket of his cloak and blew the horn as he did on the battlefield.
The sound tore through the black night sky, rising above all the screams and disorderly noises. A dog barked in the distance and a time passed before Nikandros plunged his sword into another man's throat.
Laurent took the spear of one of his attackers. He was about to ask Nikandros to blow the Akielon horn again when they finally heard the sound of fireworks.
The explosive remnants of Laurent's birthday party rose into the dark sky and blossomed into colorful flowers. That was the sign from Lazar. The troops had been warned.
Damen realized that the men facing them were now no longer just brutal guards, but soldiers with military training. Damen dodged as a tonfa tried to hit him in the side. A Vaskian tonfa.
"We have to get out of here!" - Lord Berenger declared, smashing a chair on the back of a man trying to disarm Ancel.
Damen turned, swinging his sword over his shoulder, and said to Laurent:
"I got what you need! I know who's the boss of this ring and I've gotten some information as well. Have you thrown a shoe at a saucy courtier who tried to woo you despite your refusal?"
The King of Vere, thrusting his spear into a man with a tonfa, replied:
"In some! I've already thrown a water jug in others too!"
Damen hadn't expected this answer, but somehow it didn't surprise him.
"A suitor who came to your room when you were sent to the front by the Regent. One who offered you his house in Marches where you could rest..."Laurent remained silent, fighting and, with incredulous surprise, almost underestimating his enemy, said:
"He?!"
"Who is he?"
"Estienne!"
"Estienne?!"
Damen remembered the aristocrat from Laurent's faction.
Now that he knew, he recalled the measured, well-mannered gestures and elegant speech of the man who had been in the ring at Arles when Damen defeated Govart; he had been in the hall when the Regent punished Laurent for having the slave of Akielon flogged, and he had watched closely the interaction between Damianos and the Veretian crown prince in the palace of Vere.
Estienne had also let out a little scream when he stroked Damen in an inappropriate place and received a slap on the hand from the Akielon pet in return. Damianos had thought him stupid and harmless at the time.
However, when they were in Karthas, Estienne, as a dignitary, tried to intercede with a herald sent by the Regent for Laurent's extradition and demanded that the crown prince stand trial at Ios.
Damianos could not help but notice the way Estienne looked at Laurent. The courtier no longer saw in him the rebellious nephew who had been scolded by his uncle in the Great Hall, but a king who sat relaxed on his throne, legs crossed and one wrist elegantly resting on the chair's arm. Sitting next to him was what Estienne thought was a barbaric and uncultured slave, but who turned out to be the King of Akielos.
Damen had been pleased that Laurent was the only Veretian in a room full of Akielons. And he saw the astonishment in Estienne's eyes as he looked at his prince like a delicate fleur-de-lis blooming among boulders. If Damianos had known about Estienne's attempts at courtship at the time, he would have said:
"That's what he needs, you idiot! Loyalty. And faith. Someone who sees him as a grown man. Not a nobleman who wanted him trapped and obedient in a house in Marches. Not a weakling who thought Laurent would be happy to get out of his uncle's hands to fall into the hands of a nobleman who puts his illusions and his money to where the power stands and not to the truth."
Damen cut off the hand of a man who grabbed Laurent by the shoulder with the ease of someone splitting cheese.
"I got some information out of him, but I think we can find out more. I'm sorry I couldn't follow through with your plan, Your Majesty!"
Laurent took the sword from the fallen man and swung it in the air to test it.
"My dear Exalted, you've come ruining my plans ever since we met. You ruin my plans so much that I already incorporate your way of doing things as variables. You've come at the right time!"
Damen moved and glared at the Veretian moving behind him. There was a wide and sincere smile on his lips.
"So, were you waiting for me?"
Nikandros, who like Berenger had long since lost his mask, cleared his throat and dodged a tray that was thrown at him.
"Perhaps we should take a break, just so both of you can flirt..."
Damen dodged a jug of wine that stained the wall purple.
"Let's try to find Estienne! Maybe he ran away, but knowing how I do things, maybe he was afraid my men would intercept him. There must be another way to get out of this house..." - Laurent said.
The group charged through the double doors and fought until the room was empty of deserters or dead men. There were fallen men, wine, crushed fruit, broken masks, and blood soaking the floor. Ancel was still armed with his torch and stood to the side to light the way.
There were still screams in the corridor, but no more people fucking in the corners. Vere's and Akielos' armies had already entered the house with remarkable readiness.
Damen saw Lydos tearing the curtain of one of the rooms with his sword and being made unwelcome inside by someone with an ax. One of Laurent's soldiers was dueling with a Vaskian armed with a tonfa. Coming out of a curtained room, they saw Jord with his sword in hand.
"Your Majesty!" - the Veretian said.
"Jord, how are things outside the house?" - Laurent asked.
"A controlled turmoil, Your Majesty. Huet and Makedon have gunned down some guardians and Pallas has seized their dogs. Our armies are making the arrests."
Laurent surveyed his surroundings and pointed with his chin at Lord Berenger and Ancel.
"Take care of them! Keep them near the ring. It's safer there than here!"
"What about you?" - the Veretian asked.
"I need to check something out with Damen and Nikandros. Look for Estienne, who was among the courtiers from my faction. He's the boss who built this ring!"
Jord nodded and accompanied Lord Berenger and Ancel to the other side with the sword still in hand.
Damen said:
"In the next room, there's a trapdoor with a rug nailed over it. Maybe that's an escape route..."
The three of them went into the adjoining room, which was practically empty except for two or three slaves huddled in a corner, hugging themselves and shaking like rabbits about to be slaughtered.
Damen reached for the rug, drove the blade into it, and tore at it until the runner was off the floor. Sure enough, there was a square trapdoor with rusty hinges.
Laurent, kneeling, used his dagger to pry the hinge and Damen pushed the trapdoor open with his sword.
As the wooden door was ripped open, a foul odor immediately emanated from the opening, infecting the entire area. The mixed smell of urine, feces, sour food, blood, dirty clothes, drink, herbs and garbage was unbearable.
Nikandros put his hand to his nose and came closer with a lamp he had taken from a sideboard. There was a ladder attached to one wall that led down into the depths.
As he illuminated the room, the kyros muttered nervously and looked inside:
"Something's moving down there..." - he said, narrowing his gaze.
"Please don't hurt us!" - a female voice called out in Vaskian.
"What's going on down there?" - Damen asked, leaning forward as he spoke the Vaskian, which Laurent had perfected.
"We live here..." - a boy replied in Patran - "All of us."
Laurent moved his icy eyes and looked momentarily overwhelmed and disgusted. He looked like he would freak out now he came across trafficked slaves trapped and living as worms underground. Laurent would go berserk and reach the border already crossed by Damen and Nikandros. The line was even crossed by Berenger and Ancel, who broke chairs and burned soldiers. Laurent's rage didn't vent as he quickly dodged a spear that was thrown at him.
While Laurent and the others examined the trapdoor, five men positioned themselves on the stairs, escorting Estienne. Still wearing his snake mask, Estienne seemed taken aback for a second when he spotted Laurent dressed as a pet. Estienne recognized him with a strange vibration.
How often had Estienne imagined in his wildest dreams that he would see the crown prince lying in his bed like this?
After all, power was for unscrupulous men like the Regent, not for handsome second-choice men deliciously rejected by their own people, as Laurent had been two years ago. In an obscene fantasy, Estienne had wished for the future king to be submissive in his bed and dependent on him in some way.
"Hello, Estienne!" - Laurent declared without meandering - "Are you trying the life of a merchant after being expelled from court and having your fortune and titles confiscated? My mistake was not to kill you as I killed your role model, the Regent!"
The Veretian stopped. Damen noticed that he was holding under his arm the chest in which the pet called Kato kept large sums of money. He had probably returned to the upper room to retrieve the box he had left.
After a few seconds of hesitation, Estienne took off the mask and threw it away.
"Hello, Laurent!"
"Surrender!"
"I'm not responding to a king who gets dirty with a beast! Damianos killed your brother! Is that what you like? A brute who stuck his sword in Auguste and his cock in you? Is that why you rejected me?"
Laurent replied in a voice as cold as sharp ice.
"Do you want to know when I decided to get dirty, Estienne? When I decided to put my brother's death aside and spread my legs to the King of Akielos? That was in Karthas! Right after you brought the message from my uncle, looking like an obedient slave. I had opened my legs to Damianos before, but that day I did it, determined to do it as many times as I wanted. It was good! We almost came together! Until then, I had never met a real man. The Akielon was more loyal to me than some of my own people. More loyal than cowards like you, who prefer to live in the shadow of a tyrant..."
There was something depraved about Laurent saying these things with that indifferent voice and face. There was deliberate malice in the Veretian's words. Suddenly, his impatience and disgust for this house seemed to erupt when he discovered the slaves living in inhumane conditions in the brothel. It all came crashing down with the vision of Estienne, the owner of the house. Laurent eviscerated him with words, because from a distance that was all he could do.
Estienne was trembling.
"I was in love with you, Laurent of Vere!"
"Were you? You joined my uncle! You had given him the list of my supporters and informed him of our movements. You behaved like a coward towards the few who were on my side! A few dozen people the Regent never saw as talented because he thought he was taking the best for himself. But the best was always on my side! Not you, of course! You're the exception. The failure. The mistake."
"Your court henchmen, Berenger and Vannes, set out to report me!"
"Berenger and Vannes are loyal to me! That's why I saw to it that you were expelled from the palace and your titles confiscated! I don't need your sick love, Estienne! I should have beheaded you at Ios too!"
"In that case, it will be a pleasure to have your throne taken away from you, Laurent of Vere!" - Estienne barked, motioning for the guards to attack the Veretian and the Akielons.
The men who advanced at Estienne's command were well-trained. Perhaps they were even part of Estienne's entourage, for the quality of the fight changed a little. The men no longer waved their swords around frantically. There was real fighting. The clanging of metal and the search for weak points were clear.
Accompanied by two soldiers, Estienne stepped over the trapdoor as one of the guards kicked the door shut with a clang and made for the exit.
"He's running away!" - Damen shouted, holding back a man's sword with his own.
Laurent knocked over a guard thrown at him and ran through the door after Estienne.
Nikandros plunged his sword into the stomach of one of the guards and pulled another to the ground with his armlock. Damen finished his fight by fatally slashing his opponent while plunging his sword into the man Nikandros was holding.
The two Akielons rushed through the door and looked out into the corridors where the Veretian and Akielon soldiers seemed to rule the chaos. As they turned to the double doors that led to the garden, they heard a commotion.
"This way!"
The ring room and bleachers were arranged differently than they had left it minutes ago. Jord was dueling with a Vaskian soldier, as were the men under his command.
Where had these soldiers in full armor come from?
The answer came when Damen and Nikandros noticed that another trapdoor was open in the corner of the ring. There was an exit there too, and trained soldiers came to escort Estienne and protect his shady and profitable business, using the secret passage that led to another location.
The men brandished their tonfas and the Veretians, visibly puzzled, tried to divine the unknown military movement.
Laurent dueled with a man with a tonfa and staggered as he was hit directly in the stomach. Then, gasping, he blocked another attack with his sword. His wrist was held and he was disarmed with a familiar twist.
Estienne, still escorted by his men, walked with hurried steps to the ring. He wanted to escape through the secret passage but refrained when his way was blocked.
Lord Berenger and Ancel tried to stop him, each holding a lighted torch in front of them.
Meanwhile, some Vaskian soldiers turned to Damianos and Nikandros, anticipating the two Akielons' intention to reach the ring.
In one swift movement, Estienne's soldier disarmed Ancel with his sword, causing him to drop the torch with a cry. Estienne then pulled the young man by his flaming hair.
"Hello, Berenger! Are you still supporting this cheap bitch? I thought he'd already dumped you for a man with more gold! He was loose and flirtatious with all the nobles at court, you know?"
Lord Berenger turned pale and held his hand in front of him.
"Don't hurt him!"
"You keep sucking up to Laurent! You don't know the hatred I felt for you and Vannes when you turned me in!"
Lord Berenger had his torch taken away by Estienne's guard, and the fire that fell from Ancel's hand began to lick some of the cloth and silk cushions on the floor.
"You have betrayed us, Estienne! All our discreet movements have been reported to the Regent!" - Lord Berenger said - "The Regent would kill any man, woman, or child who supported the rightful prince! You reported even the boy named Nicaise when he tried to donate his jewels to help the campaign! To help Laurent!"
"I didn't know the Regent would do that to him!"
"But you sided with the Regent even after that!"
Lord Berenger exchanged a look with Ancel, who grimaced painfully as his hair was pulled. Estienne's gaze lost its reserve and seemed more aggressive. He couldn't fight Laurent or Damianos. But he could touch them in some way. He could hurt Berenger and Ancel.
"Let him go!" - said Lord Berenger in a commanding voice.
Estienne handed the wooden chest to the soldier and asked him for his sword.
He pushed Ancel to the ground and said:
"You've always had a heart for slaves, Berenger! You've always been an abolitionist! What will it be like when your fucking pet is killed in front of you?"
Ancel raised his moist green eyes.
Damen and Nikandros were very far from the ring, being prevented from approaching it. Laurent had his hand on his stomach where he had suffered a tonfa's blow.
"Don't do that, Estienne!" - Berenger pleaded.
Ancel tried to crawl to his feet, but Estienne pulled him by the hair again and pushed him against the ground. Not thinking of the consequences, Berenger rushed to Ancel and took him in his arms.
"Don't hurt him!" - Berenger pleaded with red eyes and a voice so deep that Ancel's heart ached-"He has nothing to do with it! Your problem is with me, Estienne!"
The Veretian courtier and the pet lay on the ground in an embrace while Estienne held the sword in his hand. Berenger shielded Ancel with his body and pulled him to his chest.
Laurent plunged a spear into the man with the tonfa in front of him and saw with grim clarity what was happening in the ring.
"This boy was your spy! You always liked Isagoras, Berenger! You were always a romantic. You always liked love poems and everyone laughed at you because they thought you would die a virgin and alone, reciting poetry to the horses. Today I'm going to make sure you and the bitch you're fucking die romantically together..."
Berenger felt Ancel's trembling body in his arms. His handsome face lay on his chest, hidden beneath protection and affection. The Veretian courtier saw the blade of Estienne's sword raised.
Damen and Nikandros realized what was about to happen and tried to resume the fight, but were prevented from advancing by the guards. They shouted and tried to push the men in front of them.
Then Laurent drew his arabesque dagger from its sheath under the silk sash at his groin. He was in the blind spot where his vision became a little blurred.
Berenger stood paralyzed, ready to protect Ancel from Estienne's sword strike. But the sword could pierce them both fatally like meat on a spit.
"You should never have left Varenne and brought this bastard with you, Berenger. You should never have come to court to wag your tail to Laurent and his scandalous ideals. Farewell!"
Laurent may have been a long way off, but he had to do something. He had to win. Even if he lost.
Estienne held the sword by the hilt and raised the blade in the air. Then he dropped his arm like a jug falling from the top of a pinnacle.
Laurent's vision adjusted for a split second and after a short breath, Laurent threw his dagger towards the core.
He couldn't risk it. The dagger was meant to pierce the smaller circle of the archery target. The mistake would be a terrible loss.
Then, in the wooden ring where the slaves called pets were betted, exploited, and slaughtered day by day, fresh blood dripped, hot, and bitter.
And time cracked with the sound of metal.