Sylas

SYLAS

K lynn pronouncing me a leader is the least of my worries. Despite my exhortations not to go poking around in his memory, it's clear Maxym is going to ignore me.

As for the others, I still can't be entirely sure they are part of my past, but like always within the dome, they're up for anything if it involves slicing through flesh.

Were we always like this? Did every Gryn's heart beat faster at the idea of chaos and mayhem? The sound of an explosion, the use of weaponry of any kind? Or has this been infused within us like the other attributes Medius claims to have added while we were under his control?

I stare at the bars. My fellow gladiators have melted back into the shadows, having determined Klynn and Rych will obtain intelligence, Blayn will find the necessary weapons, and Maxym, the only one of us currently with access to Tatatunga privileges, will see if he can find out about getting the memory blocks removed.

The main door to the cell block scrapes open, and two Habosu enter, followed by the captain.

"Come to release me?" I call out, flicking a claw against the bars, making them spark and sizzle.

"You're wanted in the dome, gladiator," the captain says.

"I'd have thought better of you." I eye the guards carefully. "After all the time we've spent together."

"This is not my choice, ," he says. "You'll need to use those on him." He nods at the two Habosu who have neck restraints in their hands.

"You won't. I'm not here to fight you," I reply, stepping back from the bars. "You know what is right and wrong."

The captain flinches as if I've physically assaulted the grizzled old bull.

"You'll still need restraints." There is a click as the bars are deactivated and he holds a pair of wrist restraints through to me.

I take them and clamp the things around my wrists. They tighten uncomfortably as the captain opens the door of the cage and is shouldered aside by the larger Habosu, who clearly thinks a Gryn in chains is less dangerous than one without.

I slam a wing into his face, bursting his nose and causing him to spiral away from me with a howl of pain and a gush of green blood. I make no further move, simply staring at the other Habosu benignly.

A smile appears briefly on the captain's face before he unleashes his holo-whip.

"Never trust a gladiator, Habosu," he snarls. "They only understand one thing."

He unleashes the whip, the tip striking the air right next to my face with a crack, but not touching me. I reel away as if I've been hit, moving towards the doorway.

It's fast dawning on me, the captain doesn't want any part of this, but he can't show it, and I need all the allies I can get.

Outside the cell block, I'm ordered to turn left, which isn't the usual way up to the dome. I check on the captain, but his features are inscrutable again. The Habosu bring up the rear, obviously plotting their revenge.

We reach a level which is close to the dome floor, and as we do, the captain suddenly slams himself into me.

"What did you say, Gryn?" he roars.

"I said, if you don't take that whip out of my face, I will kill you," I reply evenly.

"Go inside," the captain snarls at the two Habosu. "I want my time with this one before I hand him over."

He holds the whip up and it buzzes next to my cheek.

"With pleasure. Just leave him with enough flesh to have it stripped in the dome," the uninjured Habosu says as the pair of them hurry past and through the thick door.

"I'm sorry, ," the captain says as soon as they are gone. "I can't stop this."

"I understand, captain. I'm ready."

"They're going to make it impossible for you to win the fight against the shadow soldiers," he says, backing away from me and pulling out a small dagger, which he slips down my boot. "But then they don't know you like I do."

"Thank you. I need a favor, just one more, from you, if you can manage it?"

"Anything, ," he says.

"I need someone to protect my mate, someone on the outside. Can you help?"

"The little human?" he asks with a sly smile.

"She is with young, my young," I say, my heart pounding blood into my ears. "If she is safe, then nothing else matters."

He places a hand on my arm. "You are not alone, gladiator. I always preferred to think of us as a family here, albeit somewhat dysfunctional, and with some of you being stone cold killers from the pits who don't deserve to live." He shrugs and sighs. "But that was never the Gryn. Of course I'll take care of your mate."

"I think you'll find we're all stone cold killers, captain." I laugh. "But what's going on here, it's bigger than all of us, and if I can find a way to stop it, to get back to my eregri , I will."

"It's what I want for you too, ," he says. "Be on your guard in there, at all times. I don't know what they've got planned, but I do know it is planned. Now pretend I've used this whip on you."

He pushes open the door, and I bend double as I'm shoved through.

"He's all yours," the captain says. "Good luck."

I know the last remark is aimed at me, and as I straighten up, I see my execution squad.