Settling Storm

The fighting pits were just that, A pit that was underneath the stadium that prisoners were sent to as punishment. He rotated his shoulder, loosening up and glaring at the guard who shoved him forward. This was not the first time he had been sent here. In fact this was where he started before he was selected to join the guard.

He waited for the gate across from him to open, his rage from earlier still simmering beneath his skin. This was as much of a punishment as it was a chance to release some of it. The man who entered was rather tall, built with muscles and probably hit harder than a trebuchet.

He would do.

Caldren rubbed at the bandage over his missing eye. It would be a disadvantage, but what a better place to get rid of it. He cracked his knuckles as the man lumbered over to him. He was slow, and probably relied on brute strength to win most of his fight.

Above them, a bell rang signaling the fight to begin. The brute wasted no time swinging his massive fist towards Caldren's face, and the guard dodged, losing his balance slightly, unused to moving without the use of both eyes. He quickly recovered, rolling forward to avoid the next swing. He rose quickly, dodging the large foot that smashed into the ground in the place that he had been.

He kept this up, dodging and rolling, allowing himself to get used to movement with his new development until he was able to do so more swiftly and naturally, but now it was getting boring. The first fight helped him, but he needed an opponent that was more threatening than the dumb brute that seemed to only get slower as time passed.

Deciding to finally end the match, Caldren surged forward, leaping with a spin and planted his foot dead center of the brutes face. There was a loud crunch and a cry of pain before the man went down like a bag of rocks.

Caldren waited as they drug the man out, and another one replaced him. He could instantly tell there was a massive gap in skills between this one and the last. The man was around Caldren's height with a lithe build. Said man smirked at him, brown hair flopping messily into his face as the gates opened up once more and several more men filed into the ring, each carrying a weapon of some sort.

Caldren chuckled lowly. "So that's how it is?" He asked. It seemed that the prince wasn't taking any chances. The bell rang again and the men all ran at Caldren at once.

"Good thing I had time to practice." He muttered to himself before ducking under a sword that threatened to remove his head from his shoulders. He grabbed hold of the man's wrist, guiding his blade to block the one that almost impaled his spine, twisting it so that it was released with a sickening snap.

He kicked the man away as he screamed in pain, spinning out of the way of another blade, sparks flying as he blocked an overhead swing, his blade sliding down the other before knocking it away, and slicing the man's throat open in the next instance. He didn't wait to see the man fall, dodging to the side as another came at him with a ball and chain.

They swung it, the spiked ball barely missing his head and he rolled forward, jabbing his sword into the man's shin, before uppercutting him in the balls.

The man screamed, dropping the chain, and Caldren retrieved it, swinging it, the ball embedding itself into the face of the man who had come up behind him, crushing his skull instantly.

A fist smashed into the left side of his face, his blindside and he stumbled, grunting as a knee smashed itself in the stomach and a hand gripped his hair, tugging his head back and a dagger was pressed hard against his throat. He glared with his good eye at the brown haired man who had simply been watching the fight from a distance until now.

"You know, you're pretty good, for a one eyed dog." He said. Caldren snarled, teeth bared.

"If you're going to kill me, then you had better do it now." He growled out and the man chuckled in amusement.

"You really are a fool aren't you? This is a warning to you, dog. Mouth shut, or you will lose more than your eye." He threatened, he removed the dagger from Caldren's throat and the bell rang above them, signaling the end of his hour.

The man began walking away, only to find an arm wrapped around his throat. He had no time to react before Caldren twisted his neck, snapping it and allowing the dead body to fall to the ground with a thud. His eye met Bynx's, the prince stood with the other spectators before he exited the ring covered in blood and sweat.

 ***

For hours now, Strelitzia sat in the same spot next to James' bed while he lay unconscious. She changed his dressings routinely and even managed some minor stitch work for the less severe wounds. She checked every half hour for fever or signs of infection, making sure to keep everything clean. When she wasn't tending his wounds she was tidying up the mess or cooking small meals which she stored for when he awoke.

Not only had she crushed the man's dreams but he had gotten injured because of her. Had he not been there when she set fire to the library then maybe he would have been safe. Both his leg and arm had been splinted to help the bones mend straight but even with the help of magick they would take some time to heal.

Strelitzia took a damp cloth and gently dabbed sweat and blood from his skin. At least he looked peaceful while he slept. While she worked, she began humming a tune that she wasn't sure where she got it from. Some soothing lullaby maybe her mother had sung to her as a child.

James startled awake, hand immediately seeking his shoulder where Ja'ule had torn through bone and muscles. "Ahhh." He hissed out just before he heard the humming and caught sight of Strelitzia. Knocking her hand away, he stared at her. "What are you doing?"

She was taken aback by his sudden waking, she halfway jumped out of the chair that she sat in beside him. "I was making sure you're okay." Her lips pursed at her bad choice of words. "Or as okay as you can be I mean. No one else seems to know proper wound care really." She shrugged as if it was nothing, though on the inside the conflict she felt tore at her heart.

His face had softened from the harsh lines of anger, and lowered onto his back once more, brown eyes staring at the wooden ceiling."If you're here, I'm guessing Baeron saved me. MT. Hollow." He muttered. His hand immediately shot towards his golden locks which spilled around his shoulders, but his fingers hadn't met with the fabric of his head. "Where is it? Where's my hat, I need it." Panic flooded his voice.

Strelitzia picked it off the post at the end of the bed and set it on his bandaged chest. "I grabbed it after the whole...incident." Her cheeks pinked with the memory. A very shameful moment. "I'm sorry that I could only save your hat from all the destruction." She knew that before he rejected her apology so she wouldn't say sorry again. She'd just have to find a way to make it up to him. Some way to prove that she genuinely did care. Beyond her cousin's safety, it was the only thing she had to keep her going.

"Thanks." James said while grabbing his hat from her grasp. He didn't place it on but laid it on his chest. "There's always going to be destruction. Sometimes even I wonder when it'll end when I'll find peace. Perhaps when I close my eyes for my final rest," He nodded his head towards the door. "Might want to join the feast before Razmyr notices you're gone. He already blames you. You wouldn't want him to assume you're trying to poison me."