Barely a second later, she looked at Wizard Boy instead, and suddenly the attack turned on him. “Why’d you stop me?!”
“If you had started something here, you would’ve been the bad guy!”
“Who cares?! He was making fun of me! He said I shouldn’t use a big sword, just ’cause I’m a rhea!” Wizard Boy could feel Rhea Fighter’s chest, ample in spite of her small size, pressing against him as she raged.
Okay! Not the time for that!
He studiously forced its softness and size from his mind, searching desperately for the right words. To think of the bloodbath that would’ve ensued if things had gone sideways and the girl had drawn that oversized sword of hers…
“He’s a knight. That means he’ll probably be in this tournament. Take it out on him then,” Wizard Boy said.
“You think he’ll be there?!”
He hadn’t exactly succeeded in talking her down, but he’d at least deflected the worst of her anger.
The rhea spun, her hair following her in a whirl. The coliseum attendant said, “Y-yes, I expect so… He’s a fairly prominent knight in this city.”
“Then he must have written his name down! Let me see it!”
If she can intimidate an accomplished swordsman, she might actually be able to take that guy down, Wizard Boy thought, finding himself impressed anew by his partner’s guts. He looked over her shoulder at the register. The staff member pointed a grubby finger at one name out of the packed list of warriors.
“So that’s him,” Rhea Fighter growled.
“He’s had some…pointed things to say. Not just about the tournament but the coliseum, too.” The official sighed, sounding very put-upon. (The sigh seemed to be prompted by Rhea Fighter, who was staring at the name like the man had murdered her parents.) “It never used to be this way. The swordfighters were even grouped into divisions based on their fighting style.”
Recently, the man lamented, it was hard to know what was happening. Things had just gotten so suffocating. People didn’t mean any harm, but there was nothing you could say when someone accused you of being mistaken or even evil. (This was accompanied by another sigh.)
“Believe me, I sympathize,” Wizard Boy muttered. The other man chuckled weakly.
“So which competition will the young lady be participating in?”
“Ah!” The boy held out his staff, tapping it against two of the shields that hung behind the official. One depicted knights jousting, the other a pair of crossed swords. Two different contests.
“Excellent. Good luck out there.”
“Thanks.”
As they walked away, they could hear the official saying, “Papers, please,” to the next person in line.
Wizard Boy kept one eye on what was happening even as he bopped the rhea girl on the head with an open palm. “C’mon, let’s get going. We’re done with registration, and I don’t want to be a part of any more commotions.”
“Yeah…,” was all Rhea Fighter said, but she nodded, took her donkey by the reins, and trotted off. Wizard Boy fell into step beside her, observing the crowds and general ruckus of the capital.
“Hey, don’t worry about it,” he said distantly, followed by: “I guess that won’t stop you from worrying about it, will it?”
“Hell no.”
“Figured.” Wizard Boy nodded.
He had the same thought he’d had that morning, when they’d visited his older sister’s grave before coming to the coliseum.
If only… If only.
If only the SOBs who had mocked his sister’s death would appear at this moment, heads bowed in contrition—what would happen then? Would his rage abate even a little? He doubted it. The bastards might think that would make it all water under the bridge, but he would never believe that. He would never believe they had learned their lesson until he’d beaten them all to a pulp and cracked their heads open.
And of course, that was completely impossible. For one thing, his sister would give him a piece of her mind if he pulled something like that—even that awful old rhea would probably scoff at him. The moment he chose violence, the other guys would get to say they were the victims, and he would be the aggressor. It could only turn out bad for him.
But still…
There was a brief second when Wizard Boy thought he heard a voice he recognized, and he felt a tremor run through his body. He had to be imagining it. Hearing things. He was so focused on his thoughts that his mind must have been making things up.
That was what he told himself as he looked around—and spotted the robes of the Sorcerers’ Academy.
It shouldn’t have been surprising. This was the capital, and a tournament was afoot. Everyone would be there. Strangers and acquaintances alike.
Wizard Boy subconsciously picked up his pace, trying to put some distance between him and them. “If I get angry, I’ll only get sucked into my own rage…,” he insisted to himself.
“I just can’t stand it!” Rhea Fighter said.
“Believe me, I know the feeling…”
He nodded again, then looked around the stalls and shops. Rheas ate five or six times a day. Maybe he could find a nice snack for her.
Times like this…
The important thing was to do something else, divert your train of thought. Human minds were very simple; they couldn’t stay angry about something for long. He figured rheas were the same.
So why, then?
Why did the cityscape—the whole world—seem gray and ashen?
Now that he thought about it, he realized the armor worn by the man earlier had been the same. It had been of purest white, and yet to him it had seemed ashy.
The gray color overtook everyone around him; in his mind’s eye, the whole town was daubed with it. The dead color of a burned-out fire.
“Hey, I was wondering.” Wizard Boy’s thoughts were interrupted by Rhea Fighter, who looked up at him from directly below. “What do you think that guy would do if a centaur or a giant wanted to be in the tournament?”
A centaur couldn’t be knocked off their horse in a jousting match, and of course a giant would simply be too big to take part in any of the competitions. In those cases, it would be everyone else who would be at a disadvantage. The centaur and the giant probably wouldn’t enjoy winning that way.
Or would they? The girl had no idea.
“Oh, I know what would happen.” Wizard Boy snorted. “Then the guy would complain it was unfair!”