Rae rejoined the group covered in the blood of the beast. Dorin put a hand on his shoulder and realized that he was shaking.
"You reek." Kari said.
"I know." Rae pushed away Dorin's hand and sat in the corner. "It's awful out there. Everyone is watching you, hoping you fail."
"Maybe they want you to fail, but I'm sure they'll be cheering me on." Lonn said, his face still on the windowed wall.
"Dorin." The Spire's voice boomed across the colosseum once more. "You are next in line, with three pawns bid for you."
Dorin felt the eyes of the remainder of their group, expecting him to do his duty. Rae gave him a shaky thumbs up but didn't move from his spot in the corner.
"I don't normally bet more than two pawns, so after my previous losses you better prove yourself." Tordi looked at him with a certain determination. It was hard to take him seriously when his neck wiggled back and forth a few times after speaking.
Dorin didn't say a word as he walked to the center of the pit. Tordi's five-sided die rolled in front of him, and it landed on a two.
"Damnit." Tordi said. Boo's followed from the crowd.
"The first low roll of the day." The Spire stood up from his seat with a smile, waving towards the guards that let the beasts out. "Lets see if Dorin can overcome."
A large black antlered elk was led into the pit by Veri with chains around its legs. It started doing gouging motions with its antlers the moment Dorin looked into its eyes.
Two strands of earth circled around Dorin and a dark metal hammer the size of his forearm manifested with two sides, one blunt and the other sharp.
The drum sounded, and the elk was let loose. It lowered its antlers and started to charge.
Dorin knew that he had to be smart, and he couldn't use Rae's strategy due to the antlers being long enough to reach behind its head. He ran his finger across the sharp edge, and nodded his head. 'One slash should be enough.'
Dorin pressed up against the wall, waiting for the elk to try to ram him. The beast didn't stop his charge, and Dorin used the wall to propel himself over its antlers. He kept the hammer low, and it cut into its neck. The beast wobbled as it turned around, beginning another charge.
The crowd cheered him on, after a bout of boos when they saw his weapon it seemed they had now chosen to be on his side.
After running the bleeding beast around the stage for a minute, it dropped to the ground. Dorin looked in its eyes, and the beast let out a low bellow. Dorin brought the hammer down on its head twice, and its breathing stopped.
"Well done, Dorin." Tordi nodded with satisfaction as the Spire spoke. "Winning such a battle with a sub-par weapon, what a fine candidate to be a spark."
Dorin walked back towards the group's holding without even a glance towards Tordi or the Spire. 'Compared to the forging, that was nothing.'
"Nice one, runt." Lonn said. "I didn't think you had it in you."
"If that's how hard they make it for a three pawn bid, I can only wish you the best of luck with two rooks to your name." Dorin sat next to Rae, who was giving him little punches on his shoulder.
Lonn took his eye off the window to look at Dorin. "For someone to bet so much, their ego must be much more powerful than that fat guy."
'Depends on his roll.' Dorin thought, the hammer that Rae wielded seemed pretty powerful to him, even if it was the best that Tordi could do.
As Veri pulled the beast out of the arena, Dorin thought he saw something change about its antlers. They had taken on a metallic sheen, similar to his hammer which had returned to Tordi's hand as his ego. Tordi was looking at the dead beast with drool running down his lip.
Kurs and Prat took the same challenge as Dorin, but none were able to defeat the beast. Kurs wasn't smart enough, and Prat wasn't strong enough. They were taken away by Tordi, and sat in the empty seats behind him.
"That will be the last of the mortal rounds." The Spire said. "From now on the remaining candidates will fight against progressively stronger wild beasts. After each of them face their bid, we will begin the tournament to decide who will be our next spark."