The Trials of Caste (36 page)

Again, at the last second Trallik caught a glimpse
of something flying in his direction and dropped to the ground, this time
spilling the arrows out of his quiver as he came to an awkward stop face first
in the sand.  He wasted no time in getting up, however.  Rising to his knees,
he looked ahead of him to make sure Durik didn’t have another javelin ready
while grabbing desperately for arrows and his knife.  Behind him down the
corridor he could see Gorgon make the turn in the corridor at a full sprint and
head toward him.

Caught between Gorgon and Durik, Trallik got his
knife back in its sheath and, grabbing a pair of arrows in one hand, ran toward
Durik.  Durik had unsheathed his sword by this time and was headed for
Trallik.  As Trallik approached at a dead run, Durik swung low, attempting to
trip him.  Trallik dove over his sword and rolled head over heels twice on the
other side of Durik then, standing, took off for the tower in the center of the
clearing, shedding his newly broken bow and arrows in the process.

Durik turned, sword and shield in hand, as Gorgon slowed
to a cautious stop ahead of him.  Panting heavily, Gorgon put the two javelins
he’d been carrying against the wall and readied his warhammer.

“Aha!  We meet again!” Gorgon cried between
breaths.

“But this time the advantage seems to be mine,”
Durik answered.  “I’ll give you a moment to catch your breath if you’d like.”

Gorgon looked at him for a second then, taking a
final deep breath, replied, “That won’t be necessary.  I’ll put you in your
place either way.”

Durik grinned and got into a ready stance, “We’ll
see who does the putting and who gets put!”

Almost simultaneously, the two of them rushed at
each other.  Durik brought his sword up to deflect Gorgon’s downward hammer
swing, knowing that if Gorgon succeeded in connecting solidly with his shield
the blow would probably numb his arm.  As the weapons connected and Durik
managed to stop Gorgon’s downward momentum, Gorgon brought his shield arm
around from behind him and tried bowling Durik over.  Durik was ready for his
maneuver, however, and was able to push him off then step to the side.

Gorgon swung his hammer around in an underhand
swing at Durik’s shins, which Durik barely avoided.  Stepping back a pace,
Durik circled around him as Gorgon recovered from his last swing then, with the
hope of catching Gorgon off balance, Durik stepped in with a thrust that Gorgon
easily deflected with his shield.

The two of them continued to trade blows warily
for quite some time, neither one of them having the clear advantage over the
other.  At first, Durik’s slightly superior agility kept him one step ahead of
Gorgon’s hammer.  After a couple of minutes, however, Gorgon managed to catch
Durik’s shield, ripping it easily from his grasp.  Fortunately, Durik was near
the spear that he’d left in the entrance to the passageway.  Dropping his
sword, Durik picked up the fighting spear and, after accustoming his hands to
the grip of the spear again, went after Gorgon with all the spear-fighting
techniques he had spent much of this past year developing.  His efforts brought
him no results, however.

After making no progress in the close quarters of
the passageway, Durik quickly gave ground and backed up into the clearing where
he hoped to use the open space to his advantage.  Gorgon pressed the fight and
soon Durik found himself in a desperate fight to keep his spear and his footing
in the face of a much stronger foe. 

Gorgon was determined to not grow impatient with
Durik this time.  He had learned his lesson the last couple of times that he
had faced Durik and was willing to bide his time if that’s how it had to be to
win the competition.  If there was one way he knew he could beat Durik, it was
in a contest of shear muscle and endurance.  He was sure he could deal out more
punishment than the smaller Durik could ever withstand.

In the stands, the crowd went almost silent in
anticipation as Durik and Gorgon appeared from a passageway on the far side of
the central clearing.  After a few moments, Gorgon’s father Goryon grew
impatient and started yelling “Finish him, boy!  What are you waiting for?!”

Durik’s uncle Drok also started yelling “Hang in
there Durik!  Stay focused!” and after several moments “Don’t let him wear you
down!  Get in there with him!”  Darya, Karial, and Grimgnaw all watched
intently with the rest of the crowd as what they thought would be the deciding
match of the trials was fought out in front of their eyes.

From the seats of the council member’s boxes, after
a minute or two of this Khazak Mail Fist could barely contain himself.  “Swat
him down, whelp!” he muttered none too softly.  “What are you dancing around
with him for!?  What is this, a social event or the trials!?”

Seated next to him, Lord Karthan just smiled.

Neither Trallik nor Jerrig wasted any time while
Durik and Gorgon fought it out in the center ring.  As soon as Jerrig made it
back to his starting point, he wiped off the red mark from Trallik’s arrow and
set about searching the points around him for javelins.  He selected a good
pair of javelins and a sword with scabbard that he hung on his belt.  As he was
getting ready to head back into the obstacles he stopped to think for a minute,
then picked out a shield from the point he was at and slung it over his back. 
Feeling ready to end this competition and see what place he could take, if any,
Jerrig started back toward the center of the obstacles at a slow jog.

Trallik, on the other hand, ran almost frantically
around the passageways between the clearing of the Tower of the Chalice and the
Crucible.  He soon found what he was looking for; the bow that Jerrig had
dropped just a bit before.  He picked up the quiver that went along with it and
saw that it was empty.  Cursing his luck, Trallik remembered the first kill
that had been scored against him in the Tomb of Kor Obstacle area and thought
that perhaps the arrows that had been fired might still be present.  He quickly
took off in that direction, skirting the central clearing as he did not want to
tangle with Durik or Gorgon until he could do so on terms more favorable to
himself.

Though he had not even thought of them once this
day, nor had he ever looked their direction, all of Trallik’s family was there
in the stands.  And after the treacherous way he had performed, they were the
only ones still openly cheering for him.

T
he
council members had all been watching the competition with more interest than
they had shown in previous years.  Other than the larger than normal bets that
had been made at second meal, Lord Karthan knew that it was because of his announcement
the evening prior that the winner of this competition would be made leader
caste and given the apprentice rank of adventurer class, essentially being
lined up to take the next vacancy in the gen’s council.  If his chamberlain’s
work uncovered enough proof of treachery in the leader caste, then this new
adventurer class could be quickly put into any vacant slot that occurred.  He
could only imagine that bringing yet another loyalist into the council would
help calm and solidify things.

He stopped to think for a minute, and then
reconsidered his last thought.  He was not sure that these yearlings were
terribly loyal to him.  He thought that none of them came from families that
were enemies to him; after all, all of his known enemies seemed to be leader
caste… or elite warriors.  After a moment of pondering, Lord Karthan turned to
his chamberlain who was seated next to him.

“Khazak,” he started.

Khazak Mail Fist, who had been watching the battle
between Durik and Gorgon in the central clearing intensely, stopped yelling and
turned toward Lord Karthan.  “Yes, my lord,” he answered, bending closer to
hear him over the din of the crowd.

“Whoever wins this competition, I would like to
see him tonight in my personal chambers.  Make sure he is brought without being
too obvious about it… and alone.”

“Yes, my lord.  It shall be done.”

Gorgon pressed the battle and Durik now found
himself losing ground as hammer blow after hammer blow landed on his spear.  It
was obvious to Durik what Gorgon was trying to do by constantly hammering on
his spear.  He was trying to either break his spear or tire him out, likely
both.  Durik knew he had to break this tactic, as it clearly favored his much
stronger foe.  Deflecting and dodging as best he could, while trying to keep
Gorgon on his toes with an occasional thrust, Durik soon found his back against
one of the pillars of the tower.  Durik turned around and ran as fast as he
could around the base of the tower to the open side, then quickly put the
stairs between him and the onrushing Gorgon.

Both of them stood eyeing each other from between
the steps of the spiral staircase as they caught their breath.  Soon, Gorgon
rushed around the base of the staircase, hoping to catch Durik off balance. 
Durik was tired, but still too quick for Gorgon.  Instead of catching Durik,
Gorgon ended up trading sides of the staircase with him.  Again, they ended up
eyeing each other through the holes between the steps.

All of a sudden, Gorgon noticed a piece of metal
wrapped in the tie of Durik’s loincloth.  Wiping the sweat from his eyes, he
looked again and saw that, definitely, it was the missing key.

“Aha.  So you’ve got the missing key!”  Gorgon
exclaimed.

“It’s not been missing.  It’s been with me for
some time,” Durik panted in reply, flashing Gorgon a toothy grin.

Gorgon charged around the stairwell again.  Again
Durik was too fast for him and the two merely ended up changing places.  This
pattern continued for several more times until Gorgon, getting frustrated with
Durik’s unwillingness to play his endurance game, chased Durik one more time
but ran up the stairs instead of around them.  As Gorgon ascended, Durik thrust
his spear through the stairwell.  By pure chance, Gorgon happened to stumble at
that very moment and Durik’s spear grazed Gorgon’s shield arm.  Gorgon growled
as he reached the next level of the tower and threw his shield over the side of
the tower, holding his left arm behind his back.

“Well, if I can’t get a kill on you, perhaps I’ll
take you a piece at a time,” Durik called up the stairs after him.

Gorgon was upset, and his anger showed in his
voice.  “What have I done!?” he yelled to no one in particular.  “Why do the
Fates curse me like this!?”  As Durik climbed the stairs, Gorgon jumped from
the platform and headed back toward his start point to nullify the wound. 

This time, Durik stood on the platform as Gorgon
left running.

Keryak, Arbelk, and Troka watched from the base of
the trainer’s stand as Gorgon came out of the obstacles and, approaching his
starting point, took the wet rag provided and washed a large red mark off of
his left arm.  Once finished, Gorgon began to run toward the next point to grab
a shield he saw hanging there.

As the entire crowd watched, Trallik stepped out
from the passageway that Gorgon had just recently left and, drawing his bow
back, fired an arrow at Gorgon’s back.  This time, the screams from the crowd
were not quick enough to alert Gorgon of the danger in time and the arrow
struck him squarely between the shoulder blades, leaving a large red mark and a
welt.

“Gorgon!” both trainers in the crows’ nests called
simultaneously.  The announcer put a second red flag in the clay jug on the
announcers stand with Gorgon’s initial on it.  At this time, besides Durik who
had one flag, the other three remaining kobolds all had two.

With absolute fury in his eyes, Gorgon quickly
turned around.  Trallik turned and ran as fast as he could into the
passageway.  Feeling the eyes of the crowd on him, Gorgon dropped his hammer
and key then ran back the few steps to his starting point to quickly wipe off
the red mark and grab a javelin before sprinting back to pick up his hammer and
key again.  Gaining control of himself to some degree, he decided against
running straight after Trallik, and instead went to the next point over and got
the shield that he had originally targeted.  Then he sprinted with every bit of
energy he had left after Trallik, fully focused on the task of finding and
beating Trallik senseless.

The fact that Trallik had a good understanding of
most tactical situations wasn’t even a question.  He’d heard Gorgon running by
from a side passage.  Thinking that Gorgon had had his second kill against him
already, but wondering why he was still carrying his hammer instead of having
dropped it, he followed Gorgon back toward his starting point.  Noticing that
he’d only been ‘wounded,’ Trallik saw the opportunity to possibly get an easy
kill and waited patiently.  Very soon, Gorgon had stepped off his starting
point.  Trallik aimed carefully and fired, hitting him square.

This understanding of the tactical situation
really did nothing to prepare his lacking courage for the pure anger and hatred
he saw in Gorgon’s eyes as he turned to face Trallik.  Scared, and hearing
footsteps that weren’t there as he ran, Trallik sprinted for all he was worth
in a desperate attempt to get away from Gorgon before he could catch and kill
him.

His desperate run brought him into the central
clearing, where he barely modified his course to avoid Durik on the second floor
of the tower as he ran across the clearing to the other side.  Durik, in the
mean time, had found a bow, arrows in a quiver, a pair of javelins, and his
misplaced sword and shield.  Along with his spear, he’d taken all these and
established something of a strongpoint on the second floor of the tower. 
Aiming at Trallik as he ran by, Durik fired two arrows, both of which missed
his dodging and weaving fellow yearling, though not by much.

From the near side of the clearing to the crowd,
Jerrig watched carefully while hidden in the shadows of a side passageway.

It was not long before Gorgon appeared from the
same passageway that Trallik had recently exited.  Javelin, hammer and shield
in his hands, he slowed almost to a stop as he checked to make sure that no one
was waiting in ambush on either side of the opening.  Satisfied that the only
danger was Durik in the tower, he came walking warily out toward the base of
the tower.  Durik, in turn, stood up with bow in hand.  Drawing back the string
he fired his remaining three arrows in rapid succession.  Gorgon blocked the
first with his shield, then ducked as the second sailed over his head.  Gauging
the flight of the third one, Gorgon stepped to the side and knocked it away
with his shield.

Putting his hammer in his belt, Gorgon took
javelin in hand and approached.  From his higher position in the tower, Durik
knew he could beat Gorgon’s range with the javelin.  Throwing the first one
while Gorgon was still relatively far out, Durik watched it wobble through the
air.  The day’s events had taken their toll on his accuracy.  Seeing how poorly
he’d done with the first javelin, Durik waited for Gorgon to get closer before
hefting his second javelin.

Gorgon approached to within thirty steps of the
base of the tower.  Laying his hammer down for a moment, he ran forward a few
steps and threw his javelin with all his might.  Durik was surprised by the
trajectory and speed he was able to put behind that javelin and was almost
caught by it.  At the last second, he snapped his shield up.  The javelin
caught the edge of the shield and ripped it from his grasp, causing it to fly
across the tower to the opposite wall.  Seeing his limited success, Gorgon
stepped back and collected his hammer, then came charging toward the base of
the tower.  As he approached, Durik regained his balance and, taking aim,
quickly threw his remaining javelin.  His aim was true, but Gorgon was fast
enough with his shield to deflect it, though the arm strap of his shield ripped
in the process.  Gorgon stopped and dropped the useless shield, exchanging it
for the javelin Durik had just thrown.  With hammer in one hand and javelin in
the other, Gorgon carefully maneuvered up the stairs, making sure to not leave
any openings for Durik to exploit.

Durik, in the mean time, had drawn his sword with
his left hand and was preparing for Gorgon’s arrival.  Soon, the two of them
were locked in melee combat on the second level of the Tower of the Chalice.