Chapter 362: Rallying the Weak
In a waiting chamber within the arena, several members of Tausau’s Mongrel Horde milled before the large iron gate, waiting for their turn to enter the arena to fight and feed.
"Remember everyone," Heila told the anxious-looking, misshapen vampires. "Even though the people you will encounter in the arena have been given weapons to fight for their lives, they have been sentenced to die here for their crimes."
At first, Heila had been uncomfortable with the tradition practiced in High Fen City. Executions in the arena weren’t common, but they weren’t uncommon either. Once a month, the arena would serve as a convict’s last hope of saving their own life, but the arena always chose the opponents of these convicts carefully. Upsets, where a convict won their freedom, were so rare that they were talked about for years.
The entire situation struck her as a farce, a show of pretend mercy while the truth was that criminals were executed in a slow, cruel manner for the entertainment of the crowd. When High Lady Erna discussed offering up this batch of convicts to Nyrielle to feed the vampires who had come under her banner, Heila’s first reaction had been to reject the notion, fearing that it would upset Lady Nyrielle and Ashlynn as well.
It wasn’t until High Lady provided a list of crimes that Heila lost her hesitation about the manner in which these beasts parading as people would be made to die.
"Are they, are they strong fighters?" the timid voice of a woman named Laya asked from among the vampires. "Master Tausau and the stronger vampires of the horde used to hunt bandits and raiders to bring back to the weaker members of the Horde," she explained, gesturing at herself and the other vampires around her. "But we could never take down such violent men by ourselves."
The woman who spoke wasn’t much taller than Heila and her deformities were particularly severe. She possessed the elongated jaw and stocky build of the Ancient Clan but her scales were light and delicate, like the scales of a newborn member of the Scaled Clan, and from the look of her, she’d never shed the soft scales she was born with.
She was thinner than any member of the Ancient Clan that Heila had ever seen and would likely be overpowered by children from the powerfully built clan who were little more than a dozen summers old. Her glittering golden eyes, however, seemed to hold a deeper intelligence born of the years of suffering that she must have endured to reach Tausau’s sanctuary for the Clanless.
"Not everyone who deserves to die is guilty of crimes that only a strong warrior could commit," Heila said gently, placing a hand on the trembling vampire’s shoulder. "One of the men standing against you preyed on children. I won’t speak of the things he did to them, but he was most fond of tender young boys," she said in a tone that was fierce and dark.
"Another man was caught using the lifeblood of women to perform his sorcery," Heila explained as she turned to the other vampires. "He hired women for a night of companionship before consuming their flesh and making totems from their bones in an attempt to regain his lost youth."
"Each of the people you’re about to face tonight is guilty of the most unspeakable crimes," Heila said loudly. "Their deaths tonight are a warning that some things will never be tolerated. They are a reminder that those who relish in the suffering of others will die suffering for the entertainment of the crowd."
"They will fight back," Tausau said from a corner of the room before striding out in front of his people. "But they will be untrained and feeble warriors. Kill them however you wish, but do not play with your food," he cautioned. "Even a starved rat can still bite. Protect each other," he added with a firm look that swept over all of his people.