Rowan was back at the rest area for large beast tamers awaiting his first proper match when the woman from before returned, large serpent in tow. She took a long draw on her pipe as she walked up to him, exhaling a cloud of surprisingly pleasant smelling smoke as she stopped.
“Glad you made it through the youngling gauntlet.” She said with a playful smirk. “Woulda been right embarrassin if you’d failed there.”
The boy just grinned back a flash of white teeth. “Sure would’ve!” His smile faded slightly. “Why were there so many kids in my bracket anyways? Seems a tad… negligent.”
The strange woman just snorted. “You’re still a kid yourself boyo.” When the jab didn’t elicit a reaction she shrugged and continued. “Besides, it ain’t a death match or even that big of an event as far as these things go. So from what I’ve heard a lotta parents decide it’sa good way to humble their brats somewhat. Every child thinks they’re gonna be a once in a generation talent, and some think it best to nip such foolishness in the bud. It works surprisingly well from what I’ve heard. Guessin there weren’t many close to you in age who were competing?”
Rowan nodded and fell into thought. He wasn’t sure he liked the idea of crushing a child’s dreams of talent and fame, but there was a sort of harsh practicality of it all that he saw the sense in. Not everyone could be talented, or luck into finding or inheriting a powerful spirit. He wouldn’t even call himself talented, just a hard worker, and he could acknowledge how lucky he was that his family had decided he would be the one to inherit the big earth turtle he was currently sitting on.
His conversation partner breathed in more smoke from her long pipe while the youth was lost in his own head, staring at Bough as she did. “Now that I’ve satisfied your curiosity it’s time for you to satisfy mine.” At his confused look she gave him a reminder. “You promised me a good look of your beastie, remember?”
He had promised no such thing, but saw no harm in giving in to the strange woman’s demands. At his acquiescence she proceeded to continue her poking and prodding from earlier, occasionally jotting down notes using a stick of charcoal and a notepad she pulled from a pouch on her belt. Well he called it a notepad, but it looked more like a loose collection of parchment bound together by some thin strips of leather.
Both boy and beast just let the woman do what she felt was required, more confused by what exactly she was getting out of this than worried about any nefarious intentions. Eventually she seemed content, nodding to herself and let out another cloud of that nice smelling smoke as she put away her writing implement. Which was just as well because an aide came by to inform Rowan that his match would be starting soon, and he needed to make his way to the main arena.
He tried to wave goodbye to the strange woman, but she had already collapsed into a pile with her snake beast. Looking over the notes she had just made, puffing on her pipe and nodding to herself. The boy shrugged and was led through various passageways as they made their way to the main arena for his first proper match of the tournament.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
When he arrived the first thing he noticed was the deafening wall of sound coming from the cheers of the packed seating area of the arena. Currently on stage there was a match ongoing, with both sides fighting alone with no spirits to be seen. He guessed that it was currently one of the martial division fights which surprised him a little, but he hadn’t really thought about how the time would need to be divided between the three types of battle.
It was already pretty late in the afternoon, the orange glow of the setting sun painting what he could see of the sky in interesting shades. However floating orbs of light and flame were preemptively prepared for the coming of night, with the tournament proper scheduled to end at dawn the following day.
The reason being this whole thing was in honor of some event long ago where House Petros supposedly fought back a horde of demons in the night with the horde only retreating at the break of dawn. This morning there were apparently various speeches and a parade that the two boys had missed, but since they were mostly here for fame and fortune they didn’t care.
Festivities would be ongoing throughout the city for the entire duration of the event from what Rowan had heard, but he would be unable to take part due to needing to be on standby for any of his fights. If he lost he’d be able to take a look, but losing wasn’t part of the plan. Lucius was here mostly for the prize money on offer whereas the larger youth wanted to test himself in proper combat among his peers.
While he was staring at the sky lost in thought the match on stage came to a close with one of the fighters being punched so hard into the ground a crater had formed around them. The announcer next to the stage declared the victor, either just naturally able to yell so loud he could be heard over the mix of cheering and booing of the crowd, or likely using some kind of technique to boost the volume of his voice.
Either way the loser was carted off to the medical team in quick order and a team of earth binders quickly repaired the crater in the stage. Leaving it, if not pristine, at least level with the rest of the battleground.
With the cleanup done, the announcer spoke once more with his deep baritone. “And now we move on to one of our youth division team matches!” He gestured to the side of the arena Rowan’s opponent was coming from. “To my left is a four time participant of this event, Primus Horatius! Will this be the time he reaches the finals and seizes victory, or will he be defeated in his first match?” Primus was a sharp featured young man with a whirling cloud of dirt obscuring his lower half. Some kind of dust devil perhaps? The tall and muscled youth scowled at what the announcer had just proclaimed, and looked over to where his opponent was getting on stage with clear disdain.
The announcer continued as Rowan finished walking up with Bough rumbling up beside him. “To my right is a first time participant by the name of Rowan! Does he have what it takes to make it through the night and greet the dawn in triumph, or will he go home a disgrace?” As the audience's cheers reached their crescendo the announcer finished his proclamation with a call for the fight to begin.
Rowan bowed lightly to his opponent and spoke his acknowledgement of the fight. “May we both learn and grow from the coming battle.”
Primus just snorted. “There’s nothing to learn from a nobody like you.” He then charged, eager to end the fight quickly.
Rowan knocked him out cold with one punch.
