Training

I was mostly alone after the royal. The trainer came back and gave me a total of what I had won. The blood count and the artifacts. I got to keep the clothes that weren't deemed too bad and the weapons. Not that I thought I would be allowed to use them. Most arena matches were one on one after all and the point was to gather blood for our lord. Letting people bleed to death was counterproductive to that goal. After that I started to meet my new brothers.

The trainer would come pretty early in the morning and take me to the training grounds. He didn't start me with the boys that were my age, it was clear that I knew more than enough of the basics. He wanted to learn if I had any bad habits that I needed drilled out of me. Over all the first week was spent with him watching me. I knew when I made a mistake but the trainer didn't always frown at it like my father had. I wasn't sure if he was missing the mistakes or if he just didn't really care enough to fix them at this level.

The men I spared with were much bigger than me but unless I held back a lot I still risked killing them more then I liked. I really didn't want to end a brother outside of the arena while the house would still get 2 or 3 out of any man killed that way the remainder of 5 would be deducted from my total and I really didn't have the cushion to be taking those kinds of risks. Even if the house doesn't really mind as they actually get more from training match accidents then bouts, if they lost.

I had asked the trainer to arrange a bout for me two weeks after he told me what my total was. He thought I was crazy no one would offer good terms to fight me so soon after what I had done in the arena even if the fighters had been newer. I convinced him that I would expect the best terms he could get and it really wasn't much of a risk for our house right now, win or lose. I knew what it would take to build a survivable life for myself. He agreed to try, but he hadn't spoken of it since.

Not that we were a very talky group. In one on ones brothers rarely have to kill each other, but odds are some of these men weren't going to be around long enough to matter. Most of my brothers seemed to be betting on that I would fall into that category, and they were leaving me alone. That worked just fine for me, as I didn't want to be close to them, I wasn't as sure as them that I wouldn't have to kill one of them again.

We were two days into the second week before the trainer asked me to stay after. Most of my new brothers were surprised, the trainer only kept someone after if they had a match. I had only just fought and should be fine for over a month. Why would I have another match already? None of them actually asked as they left and most probably decided they didn't care if the wild man wanted to throw his life away.

"I found you a bout like you requested." The man was frowning and he continued, "Normally I would have asked the matriarch to reconsider a match like this one but I am beginning to get the feeling that there isn't much to teach you so I might as well spend you now."

"If death will take your coin, otherwise she will just have to take the other man." The trainer nodded at the statement, "What are the terms, brother?"

"If you lose our house gets 3, If you win you get 5."

"What is the catch?"

"Full armor match."

I felt my eyebrows rise, I hadn't won much in the way of armor from my last match. No wonder the trainer would have turned down the match even with such a favorable calculation even for losing. "So those numbers aren't minus bleeds are they?"

"No the house offering the match will honor the amount even if you die by bleeding out."

"So my opponent will be newer to armor and weapons and they are trying to train him up to fight in matches against the elite houses. Sounds fun, how long?"

The trainer nodded again, "Three days."

"Oh good, I would hate to have too much time to get in my own head. I don't imagine any of our brothers have fought in armor and would like a sparring match tomorrow?"

"You would be correct, our house isn't influential enough to armor any of our brothers."

"Ok do you think our brothers would be willing to spar three on one tomorrow?"

"Trying to die before the match?"

"Nope, really I am planning ahead." The trainer seemed puzzled but he didn't ask. "There is something else I want to talk to you about if you can spare more time."

"I can spare more then you, what is on your mind."

"I would ask you to discourage our sisters from finding my room for as long as possible."

That got the trainer's attention, "Why?"

"Because I would like to put off turning them down for as long as possible."

The trainer hesitated, clearly this conversation made him a little uncomfortable. "If it doesn't function there are less dangerous things you could be doing."

"No, I am sure it does, and no it isn't because I am interested in anything other then females of our own species. Beyond that my reasons are my own. If it makes you feel better you could point out to our sisters that if I die without the possibility of family members, 75% of my surplus goes to the house, instead of the 25%."

"Mother may like that for a while but our sisters will not. You realize that you risk being tied to the stone?"

Father had explained that expression but if it was a possibility it was quite a ways off. "Maybe Death will decide she is ready for me before then."

"Maybe, you may also want to find a brother anyway."

"If we keep having long private conversations like this rumors might start about you."

The trainer actually laughed, "Our sisters know better then that."