The Trials of Caste (35 page)

This brought cheers from the crowd.  Perhaps
loudest among them was Gorgon’s father Goryon the blacksmith, who stood up and
beat his chest and waved a well-muscled arm as he yelled.  And, though silent
next to him, a glint of pride could be seen in the eyes of the large orc slave
Grimgnaw.

Gorgon quickly scanned the two entrances that had
line of sight to the open side of the tower.  Both of them seemed silent and
still as they had all along.  This didn’t surprise him.  For the past year he’d
seen the capabilities of his fellow kobold yearlings develop and become
polished.  If there was one of his peers whose style it was to shoot someone in
the back, it was Trallik.  He’d already experienced it once this trial and wanted
nothing more at the moment than to take care of this problem once and for all.

Almost jumping down the stairs, Gorgon sprinted
for the one entrance that he believed the arrow had to have come from, shield
at the ready and holding his weapons high.  As he ran from the tower to the
entrance, he thought he saw movement.  Approaching the entranceway he saw
Trallik’s form running as fast as he could down the passage and away from him. 

Gorgon yelled in rage and sprinted all the faster
after him.  The chase was on!

Jerrig had spent all the arrows that Trallik had
fired in his direction.  Besides, his right wrist which had caused so many
problems for him in the ranged weapons trial was beginning to hurt again. 
Fearing that Trallik would get the upper hand on him in the open space of the
clearing, he decided to head back toward the perimeter and see if he couldn’t
find a side connecting passageway to lead him toward Trallik’s position.  As
luck would have it, there was no side passage along the entire length of the
passageway that went in Trallik’s direction.  Eventually, he found himself
coming out of the obstacles altogether not far from the trainer’s stand.

Trying to ignore the hundreds of eyes fixed on
him, Jerrig skirted the perimeter of the obstacles and headed back into the
next passageway he could find back toward the center of the obstacles. 
Thinking that Trallik was probably one more passageway over, Jerrig started to
head down a side passageway.  After a couple of moments, he heard the crowd
cheering and stopped to listen.  After a bit, he heard the crowd cheer again,
then moments later he heard Gorgon’s distinctive yell coming from the center of
the obstacles.  Grasping his javelins a little tighter, Jerrig continued down
the side passageway.  After a few moments, he thought he heard footsteps
running toward him.  Placing one javelin against the wall, Jerrig readied the
other and prepared to throw.  Soon, Trallik appeared around a bend not twenty
paces from him, running like he was being chased by a bear.

Jerrig aimed and, taking a step forward, threw the
javelin at Trallik.  Unfortunately for Jerrig, Trallik saw him at the last
minute and threw himself to the side as quickly as he could, barely dodging the
javelin and letting out a loud squeal in the process.  In the meantime, Jerrig
had picked up the other javelin and was preparing to defend himself in hand to
hand if need be.  Trallik, breathing heavily and leaning against the wall for
support, grinned an evil grin and pushed off the wall.  Bringing his bow up and
grabbing an arrow both in one swift motion, Trallik was able to fire before
Jerrig could bring his javelin to bear.  Trying desperately to knock it away
before it hit, Jerrig stumbled back against the wall.  The arrow struck true
despite his best efforts and soon Jerrig was on his way back to his starting
point. 

The Honor Guard judge in the crow’s nest closest
to them announced the second kill on Jerrig as he ran back to the starting
point to wipe the paint off. 

Trallik wasted no time, continuing immediately down
the passageway, fear coming back into his eyes as he sprinted.

Durik ran down the passageway and through a couple
of shaded side passageways to clear his lungs of the cryweed smoke and to clear
his mind of his embarrassment.  He tried hard to put away what he was feeling
for Kiria.  It was likely to lose him the competition!  Shaking his head, his
face hardened a bit, his determination strengthened, and he exerted all his
strength of will to focus on the task at hand and push other thoughts away.

Still lacking a belt, Durik wrapped the Ruined
Bridge key into his loin cloth as he tied it.  He stood up straight and took a
deep breath, finally feeling his emotions under control.  Taking the wooden sword
in his right hand, Durik jogged the remaining distance toward the starting
points on the outer rim of the obstacles.

After going point to point through four of the
points, Durik found a fighting spear, a sword sheath with belt for his short
sword, probably the best of the remaining javelins, and a shield he hoped would
serve well until he got up close with Gorgon.

As he was fitting the shield to his arm, he heard
one of the trainers yell Jerrig’s name.  Not hearing the announcer call
Jerrig’s status, he assumed that Jerrig must still be in the trials.  He looked
up at the pots and saw that Jerrig only had two flags now, confirming what he’d
believed.  Picking up the spear and javelin, Durik jogged into the nearest
passageway and headed toward the Tower of the Chalice. 

As he ran, a strange feeling began to come over
him again.  Slowing almost to a stop, again an image began to form in his mind. 
As suddenly as it had two days before, his senses were flooded with light and
an overwhelming feeling of power as the vision quickly formed in front of him. 
Blinking, Durik saw that now he was in front of a wooden door of the same style
that could be found throughout the caverns of his gen’s home.  In a moment he
felt himself moving toward the door, accelerating until he was about to slam
into it.  Holding up his arms and closing his eyes, he did not feel the
anticipated pain.  Tentatively opening his eyes, Durik could see that he had
somehow passed through the door and now stood inside a small closet-like room. 
To his surprise he saw several kobolds with the well-toned muscles of warriors,
yet dressed as servant caste, sitting about the small room talking.

The rush of power that surrounded Durik made it
impossible to hear what they were saying, but Durik could feel the intentions
of their hearts.  He knew they had evil deeds planned.  Suddenly, as he
pondered on the feeling, Durik knew that these kobolds were conspiring to kill Lord
Karthan.  With a sudden burst of realization, Durik knew the door he had come through
was the door next to the stands in the arena!

Then, as suddenly as the vision had opened, it
closed again and Durik was left staring up through the netting into the light
streaming from the chimney of the great cavern.  Blinking, he looked about and
found himself still alone.

Moments after the vision had closed and the
surprise of it all had passed, a deep sense of power and strength still
remained with Durik.  With the close of the vision came the same doubts as
before.  Soon, he found himself wondering if what had just happened had really
happened or if it was all the result of an overactive imagination.  Never being
one to let his emotions take over, Durik kept his head about him.  The power
and strength, however, were more than feelings.  His mind was clear and his
muscles flowed with energy as if after a good rest.  Focus on the task at hand
was easy as he scanned the passageways ahead of him for the slightest sign of
any of the other yearlings.

As Durik ran, the power and strength began slowly
to decay until, arriving at the opening to the central clearing, it was little
more than a refreshing memory.  Though he was tempted to ponder on the matter
further, Durik struggled to put the episode out of his mind and focus on the
task at hand. 

There would be time to deal with all of these
distractions, but now was not the time.

Gorgon ran after Trallik with everything he had. 
It wasn’t the first foot race that he’d had with Trallik.  He’d outrun him
several times on short sprints, even when Trallik had a sizable head start.  In
the dim light of the caverns Gorgon’s precise stride and forceful pumping of
his arms resembled the operations of a millwheel, rhythmic and powerful.  The
endless hours he had spent, both before the year of training and while some of
the others were sitting around resting, had paid off, especially considering
this time of rapid growth in the young kobold’s life.  Scales rippled over
bulging muscles as he ran.

But for all his speed and strength, Gorgon didn’t
know which way Trallik had gone when he reached a crossing in the passageways. 
He looked quickly to the left, the right, and peered ahead through the shadowy
corridor ahead.  Not hearing or seeing anything, Gorgon made a quick choice and
sprinted off down the left corridor.

Moments later he heard a loud squeal coming from
behind him and turned immediately around to run the other way.  Within a few
moments he was back to the intersection and headed at a full sprint down the
right passageway.  The trainer in the crows’ nest closest to him yelled
Jerrig’s name, and Gorgon knew he was on Trallik’s trail.

Durik saw no one in the central clearing and
figured that they must be nearby.  Looking up at the two trainers in the crows
nests perched over the obstacles, he noticed that both of them were looking
down into the passageways not far to the right of his passageway.  As he
watched, he saw them carefully following something with their gaze that seemed
to be quickly coming his direction.

Durik stepped back from the entrance and, placing
his spear against the wall, readied his javelin for throwing.  From behind him
in the corridor, Durik heard the soft sound of footsteps running toward him in
the sand.  His tail swishing slowly from side to side, Durik hunched behind his
shield and raised his javelin above his head, prepared to throw.  Almost
immediately, Trallik came running into view down the corridor.  Durik threw
with all his might, hoping to catch Trallik off guard.