Chapter Eight

 

The ringing of a bell brought everyone's head around. At the far end of the old dueling grounds, a well-dressed Dominion Thule ascended a stage, looking strangely ebullient with a smile that could curdle milk at a hundred paces. It'd been two years since Pandora had seen her grandfather. He'd mocked her in that back room, informing her that their plan had only helped his cause, which had proved correct. Now he was in complete control of the Undercity, flaunting his little empire with a grand tournament. There were no guards around him. Titus Cabone hadn't been spotted yet. She wondered if she could make the stage and finish him off before someone could stop her.

It wasn't just a question of tactics, or ability, but will. Could she kill her own flesh and blood? Was she truly a maetrie in body and mind? The thought remained in her throat like a jagged rock.

"Good evening, competitors. Welcome to the Terreno, the Vegas of the Undercity, though try not to let the comparisons grow too similar. What happens in the Terreno can and will come back to haunt you," said Dominion with a playful smirk that she would never have thought he could pull off.

To Pandora's surprise, the crowd laughed. The threat wrapped in a joke mattered little to the competitors. Like all high achievers, they thought the downsides wouldn't apply to them. Much as the heads of the Alliance clans thought they were bringing in a silent backer, not a murderous city fae who would eventually dispose of them. Realizing she was scowling, Pandora softly patted her hands together and gave her most derisive smile.

"For decades, the Undercity has been a home to the shadows, a place where literal evil lurked in the form of demons that slipped through the barrier from the Infernal Realm. The invasion changed everything. Not only because of the discovery of the faez crystals, but in the plugging of that passageway. No longer are we beset with teeth and claws in the Undercity. It is becoming a safer, better place for all."

Pandora couldn't quite understand the message. She'd thought it was an opening to the tournament, not a politician's stump speech. She checked around to see nodding and smiling. It was only when she realized there were cameras filming Dominion that it made sense. The competitors were not the only ones in the Terreno. There were thousands of tourists, many of them quite wealthy and influential. He was speaking to them.

"When I ended the bloody wars between the clans, I was able to usher in a new era of peace and prosperity. Without the constant fighting, we've been able to invest in the Undercity. The three jewels of the shadows, Big Dave's Town, the Lazona, and the Terreno, have grown because of these changes. And the unique ecosystem, combined with the heavy influence of faez, has brought in researchers from across the world to study its caverns and understand how such a place was formed. We're embarking on a new world, one in which we will no longer have to fear the shadows."

The transformation was remarkable. She knew her grandfather. Not as well as her mother, but she'd been around him at the estate. He was a stern, emotionless figure. Not unlike the rest of the maetrie. But clearly his decades in the city of sorcery had taught him how to speak to the men and women of this world.

"This tournament is not only a grand competition, a way to showcase the talents of realms in the warrior arts, but it's an announcement to the world that we are no longer a place to be feared. It's why I've agreed, with much reluctance, to offer great prizes for the top eight finishers of the competition." He smiled congenially at the crowd. "Please take your drinks and follow me to the arena, where we'll witness a demonstration. Everyone, please join us. Even you watching remotely in the Terreno. You're all welcome."

A great murmuring grew as they headed out of the old dueling grounds, funneling towards the gates where the competition would be held. While she'd been working on making herself more maetrie, her grandfather had been doing the opposite, except he had no human blood to lean on. She didn't believe it for a second. He was ambitious as the maetrie queens, but without their resources, which made his paths treacherous. It was why he'd come to the city of sorcery so long ago.

When she went through the gate, Pandora couldn't believe the size of the space. She recognized the cavern as being the place where she and Kuma had dueled, but there was little remaining from before except a pair of stubby stalactites. The back walls had been knocked out, connecting multiple spaces into a single enormous arena. The ceiling had been extended upward, turning it dome-like. They were led to a set of bleachers.

The non-competitors flooded in behind them, taking the other seats. The arena appeared to be able to hold many thousands of spectators, but only a quarter of it was filled at the moment. When she'd dueled Kuma, there'd probably only been a hundred people watching. The growth was startling and it would only get bigger. She was starting to see what her grandfather was building, even if she suspected this was only the surface reason.

The urge to stay in back was strong, but Lady Saha wouldn't hide, so she leveraged her way through the crowd until she was at the front. Dominion's eyes creased with recognition and he gave her an imperceptible head nod. She responded to the gesture, even as she worried that her disguise had been penetrated.

The arena floor was a mix of black and tan sand. A few short pillars dotted the area, but weren't significant enough to impact strategy. Unless they were going to put down a surface overtop, the shifting material would make people move slower. Pandora considered a half dozen techniques she might employ to take advantage of the terrain.

"I see by your faces that you're surprised at the size of the arena. I assure you this is only the beginning. We have casinos, hotels, and other attractions planned in the near future. This tournament will be a celebration of—" Dominion paused, clasping his hands. "Excuse me. I don't want to spoil the surprise quite yet. I assure you that it will be exciting.

"But for now, please enjoy this demonstration. I think you'll quickly understand why the bloodstones I'm putting up as prizes will be quite sought after."

From somewhere behind Pandora, someone muttered, "If it's not a black diamond, I'm not sure I care."

She had similar thoughts, but was keeping an open mind. While the black diamonds were most desirable, their extreme rarity made them nearly impossible to account for. The only one she was aware of was the one that Deacon had. At most, she imagined there were a half dozen in circulation, but probably less.

Applause startled Pandora back into the moment as two men and one woman came speeding into the arena. Their blurred movement was familiar. A trick that a topaz or well-trained opal could master. But when they skidded to a stop, she sucked in a breath at the tall, lanky blond-haired waku to the right of Dominion. Navos. She resisted the urge to look for Choo-Choo in the crowd. They'd known that Navos was alive, but no one had seen him in a long time.

Navos wore the emotionless mask of duty.

When Dominion gave them a nod, the three waku flipped into action, each going their separate ways. They moved about the arena at great speed, leaping distances of thirty or forty feet and landing as light as a feather. They moved like they had multiple stones, but she knew that Navos only had a sapphire, at least before the failed raid.

The woman stopped before one of the thick wooden pillars. She had tight curls bound into a bunch, pale skin, and freckles across her nose. She went through a series of kicks and punches at high speed, making great leaps and kicking over the pillar, which was ten feet high. Then she landed and struck the wooden pole with her fist, sundering it in half. The crack echoed through the cavern, bringing a collective inhale, followed by whistles and applause.

A topaz might be able to knock down a pillar by ramming into it with their shoulder, but she didn't know any waku strong enough to break a pillar of wood a foot thick with a single punch without shattering their bones into splinters. Either it'd been pre-broken, or the bloodstone was truly the master stone of the faez crystals.

Her amazement was furthered when Navos and the other waku met at the center, attacking each other with ferocity. She knew fake fighting when she saw it, and this wasn't it. They were striking at each other with speed and precision while barely upsetting the shifting sands. When Navos caught his opponent with a side kick, he flew through the air, skidding across the sands on his back. The arena erupted in more clapping, followed by Dominion raising his hand. The three waku stiffened to attention, bowed, and disappeared as quickly as they'd arrived.

"I hope you enjoyed this demonstration. As you can see the bloodstone is the most powerful faez crystal we've discovered thus far. It can turn an average warrior into a superstar, and it does it instantly without the attunement issues, making it the ideal faez crystal."

The head nods and agreeable muttering from her competitors told her that they were excited about the prospects of acquiring one. Most of them had joined to earn a faez crystal, after which they'd probably return to the light and use their demonstrable abilities to make themselves famous. Dominion's choice of the word "superstar" was well-placed.

"Tomorrow the tournament begins. There are over two hundred competitors, which means we'll split the arena into four separate spaces until we've whittled you down to a more manageable number. Feel free to walk the floor to get a sense of the sand, but know that things will be changed up for the later rounds, so don't get too comfortable. Lastly, the matchups are listed on the other side, but remember, no fighting outside the tournament or you'll be disqualified."

The entire group surged onto the sands as soon as he'd finished speaking, some of the younger competitors jogging over to the banners listing the matchups that were unrolled on the far wall. Pandora moved slowly and deliberately as Lady Saha would, displaying a mask of annoyance to keep the others from speaking to her. She thought for a brief moment that Dominion was going to approach, as she was the only maetrie in the tournament, but then he shifted towards a group of businessmen and -women who were clamoring for his attention. Relief flooded into her limbs at not having to interact with her grandfather just yet. She knew the time would come, but she wasn't quite ready.

The sands were soft and shifting. She crouched down and rubbed them between her forefinger and thumb. The tan sands looked like they'd come from a beach, not that she'd ever been on one, while the black pieces were smooth and uniform as if they'd been manufactured, not dug up. She wasn't the only one testing the place where they'd be setting their feet. Dressed in a black martial arts uniform, a massive gentleman with gray-touched hair was putting himself through a series of kicks and punches. She could tell even at a glance that he was holding back, making himself deliberately slower. A few others happened to be watching him, smirking with the idea that they were superior to him, but she knew better. They'd be in for a surprise if they fought him. After reviewing the state of the floor, she headed back to the Night House without bothering to check the lists for her opponent's name. For one, Lady Saha wouldn't care as she would consider herself superior to everyone else in the tournament, and two, her body servant Aman would acquire the information. Pandora left the arena first, feeling many eyes upon her stiff back.