11 Apprentice (1/2)

Authors Note:

A character develops with experiences. He also develops with those around him. He has to be willing to allow people to get close to him in order to develop.

A lone wolf can only get so far in life.

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By the time we returned to the courtyard, it was dark, and the torches were lit. The guards who had been escorting with William and I opened the main gates to let us through. What awaited us was a mob of gladiators cheering and congratulating me.

”The champion has returned!”

”Edward the Conqueror!”

”…”

All their cheering made me blush with embarrassment, but I was happy to have them as brothers.

”Ed, what happened to the others?” a younger gladiator walked up to me and asked. Turning my attention to the boy barely old enough to be called a man, I noticed it was John. He was close to Buch who went with me to the pit earlier today.

I bit my bottom lip and shook my head.

Silence overtook the courtyard as we had a moment of silence for those who have left us.

”They would have been happy to see you come back,” Darrel spoke, breaking the silence. He was the oldest out of all the gladiators. The story had it that he had been here since the beginning of the games, but I never believed those stories.

Darrel was the trainer that Aldon had bought from another magister. While skilled in the way of the sword, he no longer had the strength to compete in brute strength.

”Cheer up guys! The master has given us forty barrels of liquor to celebrate Edwards accomplishments!” William announced lifting the spirits of all the gladiators.

”LIQUOR!” They yelled so loud that the magister would have been able to hear it from his estate.

The only thing these gladiators did better than fight, was drink. Forty barrels may sound like a lot, but for over a hundred gladiators… well, let's just say a gladiators or two got a black eye or two fighting each other for more liquor.

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While the rest of the gladiators were drinking their hearts out, I quietly snuck away. ”John, why aren't you with the others, it's rare that you guys get liquor to drink.