Gray left Rynn in their room, sitting on the chair, stunned. All of her money and fine clothes were in those trunks. She’d taken the one trunk she probably didn’t need, but it was too late to correct that mistake.

  She said she’d needed a minute. She’d not cried, but she had gone back to answering his questions with a simple “yes” or a “no” and nothing else.

  Gray wasn’t going to question her, but he’d thought the barracks were deserted. It was why he hadn’t insisted the bring them up with them to the room. But then, both of them had been so surprised by Captain Settie’s sudden departure.

  Learning about the nature of the Testing and the kill squads would have to wait. And what was Culling Day? Since Rynn wore what looked like a uniform, she looked like she might know.

  He left the barracks to find someone who might give them more information about First Field. Several large orc women, sweating in the growing heat, shouted at each other and then laughed. The vanished into a barracks further east.

  Gray went to the guard house, but the orc there pointed at the canteen. It was a plain stone building with dusty windows and a steel main door.

  The metal doors were locked, so he knocked.

  A big woman answered, her hair covered with some kind of mesh cap. “What?”

  “My friend had her trunks stolen. I’d like to talk with someone about it. We were dropped off here by—”

  The woman cut him off. “I’ll get the Superintendent. Wait here.”

  She slammed the door and locked it.

  Gray wondered how much he should tell the Superintendent about Captain Settie. She said she needed her identity to be secret. He believed her. Yes, she wasn’t the easiest person to deal with, but though she was both mysterious and difficult, he trusted her. Yes, she was using him in some way, but she didn’t hide that fact.

  The day was only getting hotter. It was strange to be back among people after spending so much time in the silence of Ruin Manor. He heard someone call out from the park, which turned out to be training fields under those big, messy trees that leaked cotton fluff into the air.

  Birds twittered, multiple dogs barked, and all around him was the thrum of a vibrant city.

  He knew those trunks were gone. Well, he’d stolen from a rich girl. Maybe the world was just returning the favor. For most of his life, Gray simply didn’t have anything at all.

  An even bigger woman opened the door, though she was a beastkin, with a shaggy face, fur slickened with sweat. Filling the doorway, she towered over him. She had to be three hundred pounds. Her arms were as thick as Gray’s legs. A white cloth toga covered her big furry boobs. A scar split her face, and she was missing one of her canines. She stank like wet dog, even worse than Yellow when he’d run under a downspout back in Old Town.

  “You the guy who was stupid enough to lose his shit?” the dog woman asked, giving him a withering stare. Her voice sounded like she spent all of her free time gargling salt.

  “Not me, but my friend. Is there any way—”

  “No. They’re gone. Lock your door. Lock your barracks. You were given a key, or you should’ve been. Who’s your sponsor?”

  “I’m not sure,” Gray lied. “I’m new. First day.”

  The dog woman smiled, showing yellow teeth. She was missing more teeth than just that one. “Oh, I know your squad. Your sponsor came by in a big rush, in her black hat and mask. Calls herself Captain Settie, but I know who she is. I’ll keep her secret. Might as well. I have no reason to hate her…but others. Ha. Others would want to see her swimming in scorpions. Speaking of which, don’t keep things on the floor. We’ve had outbreaks this summer. Little fuckers are everywhere. No one’s died yet, but the Testing will take care of that.” She gave a grunt which might’ve been laughter if she didn’t seem like she would lunge forward to rip his throat out at any minute.

  “I’ll be careful.” Gray paused. “So there’s nothing you can do?”

  “Nothing,” the Superintendent growled. “You’re Grayson Fade. You don’t look like an elf. I’m Dame Hekla Blackpaw. Most folks call me Dame Hekla. I hate most folks. Stay out of my way, and I’ll stay out of yours, and don’t come whining to me with your problems. This whole place is a problem. Your solution, Grayson Fade, is to survive, get on a squad, and then get the fuck out of Pity City. But you know that. All is the Testing, and all is the Test. Good day to you, sir.”

  “Good day to you, Mrs. Blackpaw.”

  She smiled at him. “I’ll be keeping an eye on you. Not bad for a human, not bad.” She then slammed the door.

  Gray didn’t go back to their room in the barracks right away. He walked down steps on the other side of the canteen, to the training fields, which were separated by a lake. There were different workout areas that would allow him to do pullups, pushups, and even inclined benches for sit-ups. There were several pavilions with sand under them, obviously used for sparring given the fact there were practice swords on racks sprinkled around. The biggest pavilion was at the center of the training grounds. It had a stone floor and had racks of other workout equipment like long iron bars, kettle bells, and other metal you could lift when your body weight wasn’t enough. Gray’s head whirled at the idea that he would actually need to use weights to improve his muscles. All the equipment was familiar because of his time as an Arena servant.

  Lastly, to improve his heart and his wind, there was a running path that wound through the forest, crossing the river at intervals.

  All he needed continue his training was right there.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  After his quick tour, he jogged back to the barracks, excited for his new life. Yes, they might not have money, but they wouldn’t need money, not with meals in the canteen and their room in the barracks, however smelly.

  He snatched up his stick from here he’d left by the door. The thieves, of course, had no interest in sticks.

  He ran up the stairs to the third floor. He then went to get into his room, but the door was locked. He knocked.

  “Yes?”

  “Hey, Miss Yes, it’s your favorite roommate, Grayson Fade. Can I come in?”

  “Yes.”

  It took a bit, but she eventually opened the door. Her eyes were red from crying. She’d held her emotions in check all that time and only let them out in private. He could respect that. Growing up in the slums of Cradleport, you never showed weakness. Ever. The predators were everywhere.

  He went into the cramped room, which was stifling at that point. There was no airflow, not when they were in the middle of the whole damn complex. Above them, they heard someone tromping around. Next door, someone yelled and someone laughed. The walls were paper thin.

  He sat in the chair across from her.

  She tried to smile. “It is an adventure, is it not? To think, we are…I am…” She stopped talking and sat there, no expression on her face. After a while, she uttered one word. “Yes.”

  “This is new for you.”

  “Yes.”

  “You grew up in nice rooms, in nice places, with nice people. Did you have servants?”

  She looked pained by the question. “Yes.”

  He wiped sweat off his forehead. “This room will be better at night. The seacows above us will have to sleep at some point. The idiot fish next door can’t laugh all night long. This will be the worst, Miss Yes. This moment, right here and right now. Let’s make it the worst. We will work together to make every moment better. What do you say?”

  She didn’t smile, but she did grin a little. “My parents would die if they knew I was sharing a room with a human boy.”

  “A promising young man,” he countered.

  “Why do you think Captain Sevanya didn’t give us our rooms? She must be rich. She’s a dragon. They hoard gold. Father was very disappointed he wasn’t born a dragon, I’m sure of it.” A blush lit up the elf girl’s cheeks. “Wasn’t she worried that you and I would…that things might…that we might see each other naked and…” She gulped in a breath.

  “No,” he said. “I don’t think she was worried about that. She knows we won’t risk any unwanted bonds. Besides, we don’t know each other at all. I don’t know why she didn’t get us our own rooms. Didn’t you pay her to be your sponsor?”

  Rynn looked surprised. “I couldn’t buy her as a sponsor. She’s so rich and powerful, but more, Gray, she’s ancient. She’s thousands upon thousands of years old. Elves live several hundred years, yes, mostly as grayhairs, wrinkled, wise, but old. But Captain Sevanya? She is timeless. You didn’t pay her, did you?”

  Gray laughed, shaking his head, and the more he laughed, the more he found he couldn’t stop.

  She end up looking at him curiously.

  “No,” he said simply. “You see, Rynn, we are going to get along famously. I say no, and you say yes. We have so much to talk about, but we can’t do it in this oven. I miss the sea so much. I’m from Cradleport.”

  “Where’s that?” she asked, thoroughly confused.

  “In the Nursery Islands,” he answered.

  Still confusion.

  “I come from the equator,” he said finally.

  That didn’t help with her confusion any. “But that’s not possible. People from the Null Breaks don’t have magic. Their cores are null. There was a boy, at my school. The mean girls called him a nully. They called me names as well. But for different reasons.”

  Gray stood up. “You can tell me all about once we get out of here. Let’s go to the market. Do you have any money at all?”

  She shook her head.

  He shrugged. “I’ll get us some. It’s a big world full of money flowing in every direction. You just have to stand long enough in the right place to let it flow into your hands. Blind John used to say that all the time.”

  More confusion. She looked utterly defeated. No bowing, or curtsying, or hand shaking.

  He put out a hand. “This is where you take my hand, and I help you stand. We can explore First Field, eat at the canteen, and then go to the market. I’ll get us some money, and for dinner, I’ll buy you something called noodles. Do you know what noodles are?”

  She smiled uncertainly. “Are you making fun of me, Mr. No? Everyone knows what noodles are.”

  “Not everyone,” he said. “It’s almost noon, Even if the food in the canteen is bad, I’ll still need some supplies for my little grift.”

  “What’s a grift?” she asked.

  He laughed. “Everyone knows what a grift is.”

  “Not everyone.”

  They left their room, being sure to lock it.

  He turned to her. “I have my stick, so I’m not sure why we’re locking it. There’s nothing of value in there anyway.”

  “Is your stick valuable?” she asked.

  “Very,” he said. “I would sell it to you, but I’m not sure you have enough gold. Do you use gold up at the Crown?”

  She shook her head. “We have our own currency. Kronas. Father sent me down with shekels. He’ll be so upset that I lost everything.”

  “How much will you pay me for my stick?” he asked.

  Her eyes twinkled with curiosity. “What does it do? Does it enhance your core? Is that how you can have magic even though you have a null core?”

  “Yes. And it can double the mana in your core. Come on.”

  They were walking down the steps when she offered him the first price. “If it could double my mana, I would give a thousand shekels for it. I will write Father. Even though he’ll be upset with me, he’ll still jump at the chance of buying such a powerful artifact. He has high hopes for me down here in the Belly of the World. Very high hopes.”

  Gray laughed. “Now you know what a grift is. It’s when you trick people into giving you money.”

  “Oh.” She said softly. “The stick doesn’t do anything, does it?”

  “No.”

  They reached the landing on the first floor, and when they came out of the door, they ran into a group of recruits of all different races, all wearing a similar uniform, purple with black and gold highlights. Most were women, but there were two were huge men that had hairy faces. Gray was pretty sure they were beastkin.

  One of the girls looked human, but she had something wrong with her mouth. It was too wide, and her eyes were buggy and a little offset. She gave him a smirk. “Looking for your trunks.”

  “Yes!” Rynn burst forward. “Those were mine.”

  A huge orc woman, as tall as the beastkin men, snickered. “We saw them. We left. We came back. The trunks were gone. Pity. Maybe being angel-headed isn’t so good now, is it?”

  “What a dumb angel head,” another girl with dark skin laughed. “She probably thought the gods would keep them safe, but no, they cursed her with golden hair for a reason.”

  “They have golden hair instead of brains!” a slim girl laughed.

  “Come on,” frog mouth said. “We don’t want their bad luck to rub off on us.”

  “You’re right, Froggy,” the slim girl said. “We might lose our money. We have so much now.”

  Gray cocked her head. He didn’t think the frog-faced girl would have such a name.

  Froggy and her strange gang continued to laugh, long and hard, as they pushed through the door. Something about the sound that tromping was familiar. Gray was pretty sure the big she-orc and the beastkin twins lived above them.

  Rynn looked stunned. “Those girls took my trunks. I bet they took them to their rooms in the floor above us. Did you see their matching uniforms? They didn’t need to steal my money. They have a ton of their own to afford those outfits.”

  “Why do they have matching uniforms?” Gray asked.

  The elf girl gave him a confused look. “Because they’re recruits on the same squad. We’ll have uniforms like this one.” She motioned to her clothes.

  Gray brushed a hand through his hair. “I have a lot to learn. For example was that girl with the frog human?”

  “She might not be,” Rynn whispered. She stood there, not saying a word.

  She wasn’t very talkative at lunch, either.

  That was probably because they both had to eat without throwing up. Their lunch made the smack gravy at the Arena look positively appetizing.