"Uh..."
"Please, I'm begging you. I don't want to die here."
Pushing the person off him, Roran sat up, the weight of the medallions making it difficult.
The person curled up on the ground, clutching his face. He was younger than Roran. "Please don't kill me. I don't...I don't."
"I'm not going to hurt you," said Roran. He approached the kid and knelt next to them. "Let me see."
The kid lowered his hands and Roran winced. Their eye was beyond repair and Roran could see bone where skin had been pulled away.
"Let me help," Roran said, and began tearing strips off his shirt. He didn't bother trying to clean the wounds, he just wrapped the makeshift bandages around the kid's head until the bleeding slowed.
"What's your name?" Roran asked.
"I'm Perth, what's yours."
"I'm Roran."
Perth flinched away from Roran. "You're the murderer from Millgrove!"
Roran winced, the name cutting him deep. "Yeah, I guess I am. Do you still want my help?"
Perth hesitated, then nodded. "Please, I don't want to die here. I have to get money for my village, my people are sick and starving. We need favors for food and medicine."
Roran nodded. "I know what that's like. Come on, stand up. I know the way out of here."
Pulling Perth to his feet, Roran gestured for him to collect a medallion from the basin. Perth struggled to pick one up, the weight too much for his small frame. Grabbing it with both hands, and clutching it to his chest, Perth hobbled back to Roran with a medallion.
"Did you drop your weapon?" Roran asked.
Perth nodded. "I lost it when I ran into the spikes."
"That's fine. Come on, let's go."
Roran led Perth back into the maze. Perth kept close to Roran, almost walking into him. After a few turns, Perth asked, "Do you know where you're going?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"I got a good look at the maze from above. We're just back tracking my steps. Mind this corner, there's a trap here. Duck low and we can walk under it. Yeah, just like that."
"You're really good at this. Have you done mazes before?"
"Paper ones. My mother and I would take turns drawing them and then try to solve each other's maze. She navigated a few mazes when she was out exploring and taught me how to work through them. This is my first time doing a real one though."
"Why do you think it's called the Troll's Gambit?"
"Because of the bridge," Roran said, hopping over a pitfall.
Perth hesitated at the edge, looking at the body impaled on the spikes at the bottom of the hole.
"Don't look, just jump, I'll catch you."
Perth jumped and Roran grabbed him as he landed, helping to steady him. Clutching on to Roran, Perth looked back again, staring at the body once more.
"That would have been me," he said.
"The bridges," Roran said again, hoping to distract Perth. "That's why it's called the Troll's Gambit."
"What do you mean?"
"Trolls live under bridges and demand gold from anyone that tries to cross them. When we get out of this maze, I'll have to deal with the trolls guarding the bridge. They'll want my medallion and I have to figure out how to get past them, otherwise I'll have to do the maze all over again."
"If the point is to make us fight at the bridge, then why are they forcing us to do this awful maze?"
"Tension," Roran said. "Look up."
Roran pointed to the stands looming above them, to the people cheering and clapping. "We're doing all of this for their entertainment. The maze itself isn't that hard, you just got in a hurry and did something foolish, no offense. After doing the maze once, doing it again isn't that bad. The point is to draw out the fight and the tension. To make the audience care about us, to make them worry about us, and to make them feel good when their favorite fighters come out alive. See, a lot of people are staring at you. They want to know if you'll survive."
Perth gaped up at the audience, tears starting to well in his remaining eye. "That's why they do this to us? For entertainment? That's horrible!"
Roran nodded. "I agree, but it's the world we live in. Come on, we're almost out of here."
They traveled down the last few turns, the entrance to the maze appearing before them. Roran held up his hand, forcing Perth to stop.
"Wait here."
Heading to the entrance, Roran poked his head out and looked down the slope. Three people were still guarding the bridge. One of them spotted Roran and nudged the others. They pulled their weapons and prepared to greet him.
"Stay here," said Roran. "I'll call for you when it's safe."
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to deal with them."
"How?"
"By using a trick my mother taught me. On one of her adventures, she ran into a pair of trolls guarding a bridge. One demanded she surrender her gold, the other demanded she surrender her body. In the end, she did neither." Looking back at Perth, Roran smiled. "Just wait here, I'll take care of them."
Careful of his footing, Roran left the maze and worked his way down the slope. He was grateful for his new boots, their tread making the process relatively easy. Once he was safely on the bridge Roran started crossing, heading straight for the three armed gladiators waiting for him on the other end. Once he was a dozen paces away from them, he stopped. Well out of their reach.
One of the gladiators, acting as the leader, took a step onto the bridge, effectively blocking Roran's path.
"We're going to have to take that medallion from you," he said.
"Okay," said Roran.
That caught the leader off guard. "Oh, you're just going to give it to us?"
"Yup."
"Just like that?"
"Just like that."
The three gladiators stared at Roran. Roran stared back.
"Just one question first," said Roran, "Which one of you is taking it?"
"Excuse me?"
"Well, I'm only giving you one medallion. You have three people. Which one of you is taking it? You can't share it. The two that don't get a medallion will have to go get their own, or wait for another person to bring one out, and who knows how long that will take. Remember, this match only lasts until the medallions are all gone."
The leader glanced back at his comrades, they eyed him, staring at his exposed back. "How many medallions were left when you picked up yours?"
"Only a few were left," Roran lied, "This game won't last much longer."
"I don't believe you."
Roran shrugged. "Go see for yourself then."
The leader chewed on his lip, contemplating Roran's words. After a moment he smiled, showing stained and crooked teeth. "I see what you're up to. That's not going to-"
His comrade stabbed him in the back. He looked down to see the tip extruding from his belly. Looking back, he gaped at her. She shrugged, mouthing, 'sorry' as he staggered and fell into the moat.
The second comrade turned on her, swinging at her with his ax. She tumbled backwards, barely avoiding the blow and following up with one of her own. Roran winced and looked away, not wanting to watch them fight to the death. After a few more exchanges, the girl came back, blood running down her arm and dripping from her sword.
"Give it to me," she said.
"Okay, back up." Setting his sword down, Roran removed one of the medallions from the hook.
"You have two?!"
"Yes, now back up."
She backed away from the bridge, keeping her sword up. Roran finished crossing the bridge, then squatted down and placed the medallion on its side. With a grunt of effort, he shoved the medallion, sending it rolling across the arena.
The girl watched it go, her jaw dropping. "What are you doing?"
"You better go get it before someone else does."
Swearing, the girl chased after the medallion, running away from the bridge. Breathing a sigh of relief, Roran collected his sword and turned back to the maze.
"It's clear Perth, you can come out now."