CHAPTER SIX
vol i — bloody fjerdans!

"PEKKA ROLLINGS GOT THE IDEA A FEW years back and pitched it to the right Council member."
"The Merchant Council knows?"

"Of course they know, Nina. There's money to be made here." Dinara could tell that Nina was trying her hardest to not slap Kaz, and frankly she couldn't blame her, but she enjoyed the show a little too much to allow it. The crowds boos got louder as the guards entered the arena, removing the remains of the man, smoke still rising from the ruined flesh. l

"Why are they complaining? Isn't this what they came here for?"
"They wanted a fight. They were expecting him to last longer."
"This is disgusting."
"Only disgusting thing about it is that I didn't think of it first."
"These men aren't slaves, Kaz. They're prisoners."
"They're murderers and rapists."
"And thieves and con artists. Your people."

Kaz spoke up before Dinara had the chance to pull her dagger out, and press it to Nina's throat, not liking the dig she had made. "Nina, sweet, they aren't forced to fight. They line up for the chance. They earn better food, private cells, liquor, jurda, conjugals with girls from West Stave."

"Sounds better than we got it at the Slat."
"Helvar doesn't... Helvar doesn't fight in the arena, does he?"
"We aren't here for the ambience."
"Are you aware that I could waggle my fingers and make you wet your trousers?"

"Easy, Heartrender. I like these trousers. And if you start messing with my vital organs, Matthias Helvar will never see sunshine again."

Dinara glanced over at Nina, practically seeing steam coming out of her ears, she could laugh at how red Nina's face was, but decided against it, not wanting to pick a fight with her. Her eyes trailed back over to the mouth of the cave, watching as another person had emerged — Matthias Helvar. She dared a glance over at Nina, watching as her eyes lit up as they recognized the man she had once loved ( and still did ). Matthias was obviously attractive, Dinara wasn't going to deny that, plus the fact that he was going to be fighting wasn't helping with the fact that she wouldn't mind getting into his bed.

The bare torso of the man was shining in the dim lights, seemingly chiseled by the hands of greek gods, bless them. The only bad thing was the way his hair looked — shaved poorly, cuts, nicks, and small stubble left where the razor had missed, it was a crime. She watched as his eyes hardened as he glared at the crowd, not even looking at the wheel as he span it. The wheel stopped on the one thing that drüskelle refused to kill. Wolves. Oh this wasn't going to end well, and Dinara knew that it was going to be breaking apart his soul as he put down each of them by hand, knowing that it was considered a crime.

"No."
"It could be worse. Could have landed on the desert lizard again."
"You have to stop this."
"Let go of me, Nina, or do you want Dinara to cut your fingers off?"
"Please, you don't understand. He—"
"If he survives, I'll take Matthias Helvar out of this place tonight, but this part is up to him."
"You don't get it."

Dinara moved her gaze back into the arena, but not without keeping her ears sharp for the conversation between Kaz and Nina, she didn't want to break up a fight, but she knew that she may have to, even if that meant killing Nina. Her eyes watched as the shackles fell from Matthias' wrists, falling to the sand silently, as he stood tall, chest heaving as he awaited the signal. When the gate opened, Matthias stood unmoving, every muscle in his body wanting to kill, but his heart and brain knowing better, knowing better than to commit a crime. Three wolves charged out, snarling, snapping, and tumbling over one another, trying to reach the Fjerdan. Matthias waited until the last second, before dropping to a crouch, knocking the first wolf into the sand, picking up the bloody knife left over from the previous fight.

Dinara could tell that there was such reluctance in his eyes, wondering if he was going the right thing. His head was tilted to the side, blue eyes piercing into those of the wolves, begging them to stop their fight, not wanting to kill them. His beg went unnoticed, the wolf on the right lunging towards him, only to have Matthias drop low and spin towards him, the knife digging into the stomach of the wolf. He flinched at the yelp coming out of the wolf's mouth, costing him precious seconds, as the third wolf was on him, knocking him over, teeth sinking into the flesh of the shoulder. Matthias rolled, the wolf going with him, stopping him as he snapped, wrenching the jaw apart, his face pale and grim.

Dinara couldn't help but enjoy the view of his muscles, wondering what she could do to be able to get with a man like that, knowing that she would probably ruin the poor Fjerdan. She only tore her eyes away when she was poked with the crow headed cane, snapping her gaze to Kaz as she looked at him expectantly, only to be met with a piercing glance. Not knowing what he was going on about, she shrugged, turning her gaze back to the fight, not noticing the slightly sad sight dropping from his lips. The sickening crack of the wolf's jaw echoed through the arena, the crowd's whooping drowning it out, Dinara watching as Matthias heaved over the dead wolf. The wolf laid twitching in pain on the ground, Matthias reaching for the rock beside him, slamming it into the animal's skull, killing it.

The first wolf had seemingly recovered from its initial attack, circling Matthias, watching as his prey got to his feet, slow and staggering. Dinara could tell that his heart wasn't in the fight, and she was hoping that it wouldn't be the thing that got him killed, knowing better than anyone that you had to lock the empathy away, choosing to kill. He had lost his knife, it being too far away for him to reach in time, only using a bloody rock to defend himself as the wolf moved between him and the weapons. When the wolf lowered his head, Matthias dove left, only to be met with the the wolf's teeth sinking into his side. Letting out a grunt, Matthias hit the ground hard, his hand scrabbling through the sand, his fingers searching for the shackles that had once been wrapped around his wrist.

When his fingers wrapped around them, he lifted them, throwing them around the wolf's neck,m and pulled, hard. Dinara could see his veins contracting from the strain, bloody face pressed against the wolf's ruff, his lips moving. Why were his lips moving? A prayer? A farewell? The animals legs scrambled at the sand, eyes rolling into the back of its head, letting out one final whine before collapsing on the ground. Matthias hadn't moved, even when the fight was over, he laid unmoving on the ground, even when the cheers of the crowd got so loud that it was deafening. Matthias was hauled to his feet, his wrist being held high in victory as his face remained face down, only a small nudge to side got him to lift his head. He had broken, tears streaming down his face, the flame dimming in his soul — Hellgate had stripped him of everything.

When the guards removed the shackles from the wolf, placing it back on Matthias wrists, putting them back on Matthias, the crowd went wild with cheers of disappointment, screaming at the top of their lungs. "More! More!"

"Where are they taking him?"
"To his cell to sleep off the fight."
"Who will see to his injuries?"
"They had mediks. We'll wait to make sure he's alone."

( ...⛓... )

KAZ LEANED HIS HEAD DOWN TOWARDS Nina, wanting her to hear what he had to say over the roaring crowd. "Ready, Nina? The guard first." He let his eyes connect with Nina's before trailing over the guard he wanted out cold, making sure she knew what he wanted, satisfied when he got a nod in return.

"How down?"
"Shut eye."

Dinara followed Kaz obediently, walking witn no complaints as they made it to the arch they had entered. Nobody paid any attention to them, too busy focusing on the new fight that had started, Dinara trying to focus, but the crowd's cheers sometimes caught her attention, eyes focusing back onto the arena, only to have Nina push her forward. They walked until Kaz put his cane out, stopping them from moving, the guard of their attack standing in front of them. He noticed them, picking his head up, eyes scanning over them. "Need your escort?" the guard asked.

"I had a question," said Kaz. Dinara noticed the slight shift in Nina's cape, watching as she moved her hands to knock the guard out. "About your mother and whether the rumors are true."

The guard stepped forward, lifting his gun. "What did you say? I—" His eyelids drooped. "You don't—" He toppled forward, due to the fact Nina dropped his pulse. Muzzen grabbed him before he could fall as Dinara and Inej swept him into the cloak Kaz had been wearing moments before.

"Couldn't you have just asked him the time or something?" Nina asked. "And where did you get that uniform?" Inej slid the Madman's mask down over the guard's face, and Muzzen threw his arm around him, holding him up as if the guard had been drinking too much. They deposited him in one of the benches pressed against the back wall.

Kaz tugged on the sleeves of his uniform. "Nina, people love to give up authority to men in nice clothes or a woman in a pretty dress," Kaz points at Dinara. "I have uniforms for the standwatch, the harbor police, and the livery of every merch mansion in the Geldstraat. Let's go."

They slipped down the passageway and instead of turning back the way they'd come, they moved counter-clockwise around the old tower, the wall of the arena vibrating with voices and stomping feet. The guards stationed at each archway paid them little more than a glance, though a few nodded at Kaz, who kept a brisk pace, his face buried in his collar. Kaz stopped abruptly and held up a hand for them to slow, Dinara only noticing that they had rounded a bend between two archways and were in the cover of deep shadow.

Ahead of them, a medik was emerging from a cell accompanied by guards, one carrying a lantern. "He'll sleep through the night," the medik said. "Make sure he drinks something in the morning and check his pupils. I had to give him a powerful sleeping draft."

As the men moved off in the opposite direction, Kaz gestured his group forward. The door in the rock was solid iron, broken only by a baddie slot through which to pass the prisoner's meals. Kaz bent the lock.

"This place is barbaric."
"What did you expect? Due? Silks?"

"Most of the fighters sleep in the old tower. Keeps them away from the rest of the population," Kaz informed, not tearing his eyes from the scene in front of him.

Dinara glanced around, noticing the bright light that spilled from the arena entryways, there were guards standing in those doorways, distracted maybe, but all one needed to do was turn his head. If they were caught here, would the guards bother giving them over to the standwatch for trial or would they simply force them into the ring to be eaten by a tiger? Dinara forced those thoughts out of her head, letting her mind focus on the task at hand. She watched as Kaz took a few moments to pick the lock. The door creaked open and they slipped inside. The cell was pitch-black. A brief moment passed, and the cold green glow of a bonelight flickered to life beside her. Inej held the little glass sphere aloft. Scanning her eyes along the cell, she noticed a pallet of horse blankets and two buckets placed against the wall, one with a bloody cloth peeking over the rim. Matthias slept with his back to the wall. Even in the dim illumination of the bonelight, Dinara noticed his face starting to swell.

Nina moved toward him, but Kaz stopped her with a hand on her arm. Dinara cocked her head at the touch, but didn't say anything. "Let Dinara and Inej assess the damage."

"I can—"
"I need you to work on Muzzen."

Dinara tossed Kaz his crow-headed cane, she had been hiding since Inej passed it to her in the arena. She walked over to Matthias' body along with Inej, kneeling over it. "You can't possibly mean for Muzzen to take Matthias' place," Nina said.

"He isn't here for his sparkling conversation," Kaz replied. "You'll need to reproduce Helvar's injuries. Inej, Di, what is the inventory?"

"Bruised knuckles, chipped tooth, two broken ribs."
"Third and fourth on the left."
"His left or your left?"
"His left."

"This isn't going to work," Nina said in frustration. "I can match the damage to Helvar's body, but I'm not good enough Tailor to make Muzzen look like him."

"Just trust me, Nina," Kaz said. His eyes had hardened as he looked at the Grisha, wondering if a hit to the head would get her to stop talking.

"I wouldn't trust you to tie my shoes without stealing the laces, Kaz. Even if I swell him up, he'll never pass."

"Tonight Matthias Helvar — or rather, our dear Muzzen — is going to appear to contract, firepox, the lupine strain, carried by wolves and dogs alike. Tomorrow morning, when bud quarts discover him so covered in pustules that he is unrecognizable, he will be quarantined for a month to see if he survives the fever and to outwait the contagion. Meanwhile, Matthias will be with us. Get it?"

"You want me to make Muzzen look like he has firepox?"
"Yes, and do it quickly, Nina, because in about ten minutes, things are going to get very hectic around here."

matthias <3