When Blackeye woke up the city hadn’t burnt down, thankfully, and he took this as a good sign, that Cairnove had stopped her search for them.
Be careful, Blackeye. We’re not in the clear yet, he thought. He got out of his hammock to find Dustbunny eagerly gobbling cashews from their wooden box. She looked up when he walked towards her.
“Where did you go last night?” She asked. “I woke up and you guys weren’t there. It was only Bits and PJ.”
“We went to Chuck’s Market. Sorry if we scared you.” Blackeye replied.
“You didn’t.” She said simply.
“How did you sleep?”
“Fine.”
“Glad you like those things,” Blackeye said, pointing at the cashews. Bun nodded, and their awkward conversation came to a close. Blackeye looked around the room to find Bricker’s hammock empty.
“Hey, Bunny,” He called out. “Do you know where Bricker is–”
“Said he was going to a pit. Quarters, I think it was.” Realization struck Blackeye.
Of course, he was planning on entering a tournament, wasn’t he? He wanted us to be there, and we just forgot. We just got so caught up in what happened yesterday, that we didn’t even talk about it. Crap.
“Dustbunny, We forgot about his round! Quickly, we have to get there before it starts.” Dustbunny immediately set around waking up the others, who all looked just as guilty as Blackeye felt when he explained their rude awakening.
“We need to get there, fast,” Nosedive said urgently. “What’s the time, is it light out? Quarters usually run on a late schedule, so if we run for it, we can get there in time.”
“Do we really have to go? I mean, I love stone-brained idiots fighting each other as much as the next person,” PJ said sarcastically. “But, what can I say? I’m on a tight schedule.”
“Of course we have to go! Fighting is not something to mock, PJ!” Nosedive said furiously.
“And unless you consider gambling all day at the snatcheries a ‘tight schedule’,” Bits said as he gave a stink eye to PJ. “We have nothing better to do anyway, Hana.”
“Well, what if the Blood Serpents are there, huh? What will happen if they find Blackeye? And as crazy as Cairnove is, I’m sure she’d remember your mark, Blackeye.” She said, pointing to the black birthmark over his right eye.
“Then we’ll have to risk it,” Blackeye said coldly. He hated it when people mentioned his scar.
“He said it was an important match,” Dustbunny put in. “A whole qud for whoever wins.”
Like clockwork, all four of their jaws gaped wide open when Bun said this. Blackeye had never dreamed of having so much money. If Bricker won this, they wouldn’t need any grab for a year.
“Well, What are we waiting for?” Bits exclaimed. “If he wins this, we won’t need money forever! We have to cheer him on if he could get that much for winning.”
“Besides, I’m sure you could make some bets with the audience, PJ,” Blackeye said.
PJ tried to argue against it, but Blackeye knew the idea of bets had sold it to PJ, and soon they were heading up the street to get to Quarters.
This pit was embedded into the walls barring the world from the commons, almost taunting the government that ruled the upper city to dare and stop them from their illegal and brutal games. Outside the arena was a cobbled square characteristic of the Commons, with a drake-like fountain in the middle. Out of its mouth poured a stream of water down below into the bowl of the fountain. The entrance was a pair of double doors that loomed fifteen feet high with a curve at the top. Four guards held off the onslaught of people trying to get in, quarterstaffs strapped on their backs in case the crowd got out of hand. At a desk next to the doors sat a woman in a red yarn jersey, stamping tickets with her thumbprint. The guards were carefully filtering the mass of people towards the desk, making sure they had tickets before letting them get that far.
“Calm down, calm down, folks. You’ll all get in eventually. The fight with Bricker and Skan is starting in an hour. You’ve all got plenty of time.”
“Shit,” Nosedive muttered under her breath. “How are we gonna get in with this line? There must be more than a hundred in front of us. We’re not gonna make it in time. Besides, we don’t have any tickets!”
Blackeye glanced at the guards. They looked like pit competitors themselves, and as they busily pushed and shoved stragglers away from the main line, he knew there was no chance of bargaining with them.
“Let's stay in the queue for now, guys,” he whispered. “We’ll figure out something eventually but, until then, we’ll just have to wait.”
Carefully, they scooted over to the line that snaked around the square, prepared to run out at a moment's notice. The line was painfully long, though the guards and the stamper got through them vigorously. All sorts of people were in the line, from old beggars and Hide victims, to the wilder families in the commons with their fancy dress and posh accents.
With Blackeye and the others halfway down the line, a red-haired guard shouted out to the line, “15 minutes left! 15 minutes left! Hurry on, people, we can’t stay here all day.”
“We need a new plan. Now.” PJ said urgently.
“Okay, when the next group goes, and the guards are distracted, we run. I’ll carry Bunny.” Blackeye said. The others nodded, and Dustbunny quickly jumped onto Blackeye’s back.
Just as they were about to leap for the door, a pair of rough hands grabbed them gently but confidently and pushed them out of the line. The hands pushed them further and further towards the doors. No matter how hard they fought against them, the hands kept moving them forward.
When they reached the door, (with a lot of struggling on their part) a voice called out from behind them.
“VIP, Slamachs. So are these people. Now, get out of the way.”
One by one, Blackeye, Nosedive, PJ, Bits and finally Bun turned around to face a rosy-cheeked, handsome man of around 20 years of age, with black wispy hair. A tooth-breaking smile was stuck to his face, showing all his ivory-white incisors. A beautiful red greatcoat hung lightly on his shoulders.
This guy must be rich. Blackeye thought in awe.
The guards tried to protest, but the red jumper girl hushed them and gestured to the doors. Quickly, they opened them to let the “VIP” man through.
Blackeye whispered under his breath, “Roll with it.”
Inside the doors was a corridor made of stone and mud. On either side was a door that was marked;
Do not disturb
Competitors only
Further down the hallway were steps leading up to the stadium. They went up to the roaring crowd above. The man pushing them around skimmed his eyes across the rows of benches and seats above the red sand arena, with a metal fence barring the onlookers from interfering with the show.. Finding what he was looking for, he pointed at 5 empty seats to their right.
“There. That should give you a good view of the fight. It's also out of the way of most of the crowd, and close to the judges, so you’ll be able to hear the scores.” The man said.
“Thank you, sir. We greatly apprecia-” Blackeye began.
“Why did you help us?” Nosedive said questioningly. The man smiled.
“What can I say? I felt sorry for the people who angered Cairnove. She was raging about it all last night in the Dragon’s Inn.”
Nosedive gasped.
“You mean you’re not a Mainer? How did you afford that then?” She asked, astounded that anyone could have so much money for a red coat like his.
At the same time, Blackeye asked, “You know Cairnove? How?” He had thought this man was decent, but if he was an acquaintance of Cairnove . . . he might have to rethink his opinion.
The pleasant smile on the man's face grew into a deranged grin, widening to every corner of his face.
“Cairnove is an old . . . friend of mine. We’ve known each other for a while now.” He said. “Although, I don’t approve of her at all.” He added quickly as their looks turned hostile.
“But, how did you know it wa-”
“No offence, but a birthmark like that isn’t easy to miss.” Blackeye felt his face burning up.
“As for the jacket, you’d be surprised how stupid the commoners are, with all their fancy weaponry and government. They leave things right out in the open.”
The man looked next to the entrance to the stands, where guards were quickly running up the stairs. His smile faltered, and his feet turned in the opposite direction to walk at a fast pace. He turned back to give them another smile.
“Hope to see each other soon, eh?” He said.
Suddenly, Blackeye felt desperate.
“Wait, what’s your name? So I can pay you back.”
The man’s smile broadened.
“No payment needed.” He said. He was about to keep on walking but stopped.
“The name.”
“It’s Daniel.”