Gatekeepers Book 1: Darkness

“Hey, Draycos, are you prepared for tomorrow?” Poseidon asked.

It had been another two days since Draycos woke up in the Dragonspire Castle infirmary. After waking up yesterday morning, Poseidon had come to bring Draycos back to his office. Draycos’s injuries had also been completely healed prior to this, so it seems that Theravor had kept his word and sent Damrabe back to the infirmary to finish Draycos’s treatment. Draycos had spent most of the last two days just reading through more documents as he continued to organize all of them.

Draycos placed another neat stack of parchment on a shelf before replying. “I happen to think so. I can’t really do anything else right now to prepare myself, can I?”

“Yes, you can,” Poseidon told him. “There’s more to the games than just a simple fighting tournament. Did anyone give you details on it?”

“Ugh, no.”

Poseidon leaned back in his chair and sighed, the wood creaking under his weight. “Very well, allow me to explain what the games entail.” He glanced at a sheet of parchment laying on his desk. “The Prisoners’ Games is a fighting event open for public viewing that’s set in a tournament bracket. This year, one hundred twenty-eight prisoners passed the assessment exam, so that means you’ll have to win seven matches to come out the winner. The first round will take up the first day or two, depending on how fast the matches come to an end. The tournament will speed up as we progress to the later rounds as prisoners are weeded out.”

“Hold on, this event is open to the public? Why?”

Poseidon cracked a wry smile. “To be honest, the king and the Dragon Council generate a fair bit of revenue by selling tickets and concessions for this event. It has become quite a popular annual event in our world that all races enjoy watching.”

They’re actually making money off of their prisoners fighting? What the hell is this twisted sense of money making?

“Can’t the prisoners escape from the battlefield at any time, though?” Draycos questioned.

Poseidon shook his head. “It’s impossible. When the prisoners aren’t fighting their matches, they’re kept in separate holding cells around the circumference of the fighting area. On top of that, the Managuard family will be dedicating their most talented spellcasters to creating a barrier around the fighting arena so no prisoner can escape during their matches.”

“Huh, so we’ll be completely sealed in. Interesting.”

“Now, here are a few ground rules. Matches last no longer than thirty minutes apiece. If neither prisoner has been knocked unconscious, rendered immobile, or admitted defeat and surrendered, then judges will decide on the winner based on the amount of damage each prisoner has. If that doesn’t work, then the fighter who they deemed put up a better fight will advance to the next round.”

Sounds pretty standard.

“Here’s where things get tricky in the games, though,” Poseidon continued. “In the games, a prisoner’s magic isn’t restricted, meaning they can fight using both their magical and physical strengths. Most of the prisoners competing have already learned magic to a degree in which they can apply it to combat. You cannot let your guard down in the slightest during this tournament; it will be much more difficult for you to win since you still lack magic.”

“So, basically, you’re saying I have almost no chance at all as I am now, right?” Draycos commented.

Poseidon sighed, placing an elbow on the desk and resting his head on his hand as he looked at Draycos. “Sadly, yes. Not only are you the only prisoner who passed the assessment exam with a zero in magic, but most of the prisoners are also dragons, and these dragons won’t be holding back like Zero did when you were training with him. They aren’t nearly as strong as a head of a royal dragon family, but they will still be more powerful than Zero was when he was holding back.”

“Actually, I think I might already have a plan to deal with any dragons I face.”

“Oh?” Poseidon raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Don’t leave me sitting here in curiosity; tell me this plan of yours.”

Draycos shook his head. “It’s hardly worth calling a plan, and I honestly doubt I’ll be able to get into a position to carry it out, so it’s not really worth mentioning. It’s more of an idea then anything.”

“I see.” Poseidon paused for a moment before he went on. “Another thing. Spectators in the stands are allowed to assist fighting prisoners by throwing weapons and such into the arena for them to use.”

“What?” Draycos couldn’t believe that was allowed. “You mean spectators can just walk into the stands with a bag full of weapons and just chuck them into the arena whenever they feel like it?”

Poseidon nodded in response. “That’s right. And there’s something else to that, too. What if someone who knows a prisoner decides to assist them by providing them a weapon that the prisoner is extremely skilled with?”

Draycos was silent as he thought about that. If a prisoner had friends who were still on the outside, and those friends were trying to help them win the games so the prisoner could get out of prison under the guise of providing community service....

Once again, Draycos shook his head as the insanity of the games finally sunk in. “These games are far more twisted than I thought.”

Poseidon sighed, closing his eyes. “Yes, we do occasionally get the victor that thinks he can escape from us while out performing community service. But what we don’t tell anyone is the level of security we enforce upon the victor; they aren’t allowed the opportunity to get away from us.”

“While I was waiting to be taken to the assessment exam, Brock told me that all the previous winners of the games were dragons that now serve as guards at the prison.”

Upon hearing this, one of Poseidon’s eyes snapped wide open. “Really now? I can’t help but to be surprised that the orc you fought on your first day here provided you with any useful information.”

Draycos shrugged. “He said something along the lines of wanting to fight me in the games when he told me that.”

“Well, Brock was right. All previous winners have been dragons, and most of them have been put on duty as guards here at the prison. However, there have been a handful of more capable fighters that we send with the Killwings whenever a new leygate has been claimed. They’re better suited for putting the new territories under control then staying on guard duty.” Poseidon sighed and stood up from his desk, pushing the chair out as he did. “Well, I think I covered all there is to know on the games now. It’s starting to get late, Draycos; you need to rest for the games tomorrow.”

Draycos agreed. These games were going to be much harder than he had originally thought. He needed as much energy as he could muster if he wanted any chance of coming out on top at the end of the tournament.

“Alright, then,” he said. “I’ll go get some sleep now, Poseidon.” Draycos turned around and started walking to his cell as Poseidon made his way to the office door. Draycos scratched the back of his head and said something under his breath. “This would probably be a lot easier if I had magic like everyone else,” Poseidon heard him mutter.

Poseidon paused halfway through the doorway and looked over his shoulder at Draycos as the boy entered the cell. A concerned expression crossed Poseidon’s face.

That’s probably the one thing everyone doesn’t want to happen.