Chapter 37: Trial by Combat

The arena took up an entire district of the city, and it was filled to the brim with people, so many of them that by the time the noon bell rang, there wasn’t a single empty seat left anywhere in the stands.

Kai waited behind the iron gates that led out onto the sand, still wearing his fishing vest and the boots that were too big for him, and he was doing his very best not to vomit.

"I can fight in your place," Sunny said. "You are allowed to choose a champion to represent you, and I am a follower who has spent his entire life training."

"He said that I would have to face him myself," Kai said. "If you step out there, every church in Veyrath is going to say the God of Failure was too much of a coward to face his opponent."

"They are going to say that either way," Sunny said.

"Most likely," Kai said. "But at least it wouldn’t be true."

Sunny gave him a long look, and then he nodded once and stepped away without another word.

Mira was the last one to speak to him. She walked up to Kai while everyone else pretended they weren’t looking and fixed the collar of his vest, and then she grabbed it with both hands and held on for a few seconds longer than she needed to.

"Don’t die," Mira said.

"You only made me promise not to get stabbed before lunch," Kai said.

"Kai," Mira said.

"I will not die," Kai said.

[You cannot be sure of that]

"Not now," Kai whispered.

Up in the royal box, King Rowan rested his chin on his ink-stained hand, while Justiciar Hale stood beside him with his cane propped against his side. Princess Seris had refused to sit next to her father, so she was standing at the railing right above the gate with her notebook open and a piece of charcoal in her hand.

The horns sounded, and the gate on the far side of the arena slowly ground open.

Brannoch walked out onto the sand without any armor or weapons, wearing nothing but a pair of leather trousers, and his gray skin glistened in the sunlight like the side of an anvil. The crowd erupted with cheers so loud that Kai could feel them vibrating through his teeth, and behind Brannoch, Elder Voss climbed up onto a stone pedestal overlooking the sand, his iron gauntlets still on his hands.

"By the law of the iron plate!" Elder Voss proclaimed to the crowd. "The Champion of the Iron Father will face this false god in combat! When one of them yields or dies, the fight will be over! May the Iron Father grant them justice!"

Kai walked out onto the sand, and the crowd laughed at him, which he decided was still a lot better than being booed.

Brannoch met him in the center of the arena and looked down at him with the same tired expression he had worn in the temple.

"If you yield, I will not hurt you," Brannoch said in a low voice. "Please yield."

"If I yield, I’m a fraud to the entire city," Kai said. "And so is everyone who believes in me."

"Then I am sorry," Brannoch said.

Brannoch swung his fist, and the only thing Kai had time to say was two words.

"Lesser Ward," Kai said.

A wall of golden light appeared in front of Kai, and Brannoch’s fist collided with it with a deafening clang, like a church bell being struck by a horse cart. The ward only lasted for that one hit before it shattered into pieces, and the blow sent Kai flying backwards across the sand until he landed flat on his back, staring up at the sky.

The crowd cheered while Kai lay there trying to remember how breathing worked.

[The ward stopped him from killing you. You are welcome]

"You did nothing," Kai whispered, still gasping for air.

[I chose the skill for you, so I deserve some of the credit]

Brannoch began walking towards him, and Kai rolled onto his hands and knees and did the only thing he had ever been good at, which was run. He sprinted around the edge of the sand while Brannoch followed him at a slow, steady pace, and the crowd began to laugh at him all over again.

"Fight him!" Elder Voss yelled from his pedestal. "Champion, finish this!"

Kai skidded to a stop, turned around to face Brannoch, and pointed his finger straight at the giant’s chest.

"Minor Smite," Kai said.

The bolt of gold flew right past Brannoch’s shoulder and blew a hole through a flag hanging from the stands. Kai tried again, and this time he missed by a good ten feet and blew a cloud of sand into the front row, while his third attempt flew so far off target that it knocked a meat pie out of a man’s hands halfway up the stands.

"Forty-four," Princess Seris said from the railing above him, scribbling in her notebook.

[Kai, I have been thinking about that notebook of hers]

"Now?" Kai whispered.

[Everything you have missed has hit something people wanted hidden from view. Stop trying to aim at him, and just aim at the arena and see what it hits]

Kai stared at the words for a second, and then Brannoch’s giant hand wrapped around the front of his vest and lifted him up into the air until they were eye to eye.

"I am sorry," Brannoch said. "Please yield."

Kai didn’t yield, and instead, he closed his eyes and pointed his finger in the direction of nothing at all. He thought about the Radiant Church, the hollow hammer, the gold coins, and the little sun on the servant’s wrist.

"Minor Smite," Kai whispered.

Kai felt the bolt of light shoot out of his finger and knew right away that he had missed Brannoch, but then he heard a loud clang followed by a scream. When he opened his eyes, Elder Voss was standing on his pedestal holding his bare right hand in the air, while his gauntlet went spinning across the sand. On the inside of his wrist, for the entire city to see, was a tattoo of a little golden sun.

The arena fell completely silent, and Kai could hear the King stand up in his box.

"That is the same tattoo worn by the man who tried to kill me," King Rowan said, and his voice carried across the whole arena. "Elder Voss, you will explain yourself."

Elder Voss did not explain himself, and instead, he raised his tattooed hand high into the air and shouted a word that Kai didn’t understand. All along the top row of the arena, a dozen men in brown cloaks stood up and pulled crossbows out from under their seats, and every one of them was aimed down at the sand.

"Shit," Kai said.

The crossbows fired, and Brannoch pushed Kai behind him and spread his arms out wide. The bolts rained down on him, bouncing off his steel skin and falling harmlessly into the sand around them, and through all of it, Brannoch didn’t move an inch.

Sunny jumped over the railing with Elowen and Garrick right behind him, and the King’s guards flooded into the top rows of the stands from every direction. Within a minute, the men in brown cloaks were lying face down with their hands tied behind their backs, and when Elder Voss tried to flee, Garrick caught him at the bottom of the steps and sat on top of him.

Brannoch turned around and looked down at Kai, who was still cowering in the sand with his hands over his head.

"They were shooting at me too," Brannoch said quietly.

"Yeah, I think they wanted us both dead," Kai said. "That way they could kill you and pin it on the God of Failure."

Brannoch looked up at the empty pedestal and then at the hammer painted on the arena wall, and then he did something Kai never expected him to do. He got down on one knee in front of Kai, so that they were finally on the same level.

"The Champion of the Iron Father yields to the God of Failure," Brannoch said, loud enough for the entire crowd to hear.

At first, the crowd didn’t seem to know what to do, but then someone in the front row began to clap, and the rest of the arena slowly followed until the whole place was on its feet.

[Faith gained. Brannoch: +16%. Status: Protective.]

[Faith gained. Rowan Halbrecht: +5%. Status: Impressed.]

[Faith gained. Seris Halbrecht: +7%. Status: Vindicated.]

[You have also gained 214 new followers. They are all very confused]

Kai looked up at Princess Seris, who was holding her notebook over her head and waving it at him like a flag.

"I didn’t even hit him," Kai whispered.

[No. You hit the man behind him. You are getting better at missing things]

Kai laughed, and then he looked past the royal box and up to the highest row of the arena, where a single figure stood alone in the shadow of a pillar, wearing a white and gold robe. The figure turned and disappeared into the crowd, but not before Kai caught a glimpse of her face.

The High Priestess had been there the entire time.