After they finished eating the family headed out of the inn and stared walking south towards the docks and the fighting pits. “Dad, what’s that!” Gaius yelled as he pointed to a fierce looking hawk perched upon a man’s shoulder.

“Ah, it’s quite rare to see one of those here. That’s a singing hawk. It has an inherent affinity for the Aspect of Sound,” Duncan informed his son, and before Gaius could ask, Duncan continued, “The Aspect of Sound allows the hawk to hear its prey from many kilometers away, and most importantly it allows the hawk to hunt without making a single bit of noise. It is one of the best stalking predators.”

Gaius and Gen stared in awe as their father explained the mysterious creature in front of them. Even though the man with the hawk had long passed them, the boys were still filled with wonder—imagining the bird flying above the clouds soundlessly as it hones in on its prey and the hawk abruptly swoops down in one fell motion to eat. Two wide grins were plastered on the boys’ face.

Suddenly Tulia grabbed the wrist of a small girl after she had bumped into her. Though Tulia did not condense her aura, her threatening tone was impressive by itself. She coldly said to the small girl, “I’ll make it easy on you, since I am with my family. Drop the pouch and I will not call for the city guards.” Tulia’s hazel eyes had no warmth in them, and the small girl could only feel the icy gaze as she trembled and unconsciously released the pouch. With that, Tulia released her iron-grip upon the girl’s wrist and she bolted away.

She turned back to find her family, luckily her two boys did not see the pickpocket but the incident did not go unnoticed by her husband. With a smile and a nod Tulia returned to his side and walked in-step behind the boys as they were still basking in their wonder lust.

“I’m surprised she actually got to your purse, she looked so young,” Duncan whispered.

“Her control of the Aspects was nothing to scoff at, unlike those who tried before. I only caught her because I had condensed a bit of aura around my purse, else even I wouldn’t have been able to notice,” she replied.

“Do you know which Aspect she practices?” Duncan curiously inquired.

“I don’t know. Maybe the Aspect of Wind? She had really fine control over it,” Tulia pondered, “Let’s not talk about it anymore.”

“By the Father!” Gen accidently whispered aloud, which earned him a stern smack on the head.

“No swearing young man, or else we’re going to head back to the inn,” Tulia reprimanded, though she herself said the same curse in her mind.

Ahead of the family was a tower giant of a woman. Gen whispered to his brother, “She could definitely be able to wield that axe!”

Gaius was just as dumbstruck as his brother when they slowly approached the giant woman. “She must be at least 3 meters tall! Do you think she can wield two of those big axes?” Gaius whispered to his brother.

Gen only nodded to his brother’s question as he was still trying to comprehend that someone could be that big. Then a realization occurred, “Do you think she’s going to duel within the fighting pits!?” Gen nearly shouted aloud.

Gaius tried to imagine fighting a woman that large and was briefly struck with panic. He calmed himself down with deep breaths, “By the Father, the thought of fighting her already scares me,” he thought to himself.

The giant woman stopped and turned around to look at Gen. She smiled at the scared look and said, “You bet your ass! I am Matilda Calbar! And I will represent the honored Governor Hem Calet, rightful ruler of the twin cities!” she roared to no one in particular. Around the woman, some cheered but most booed. She gave Gen a quick smile as if the surrounding boos fueled her and turned around to continue to the fighting pits.

Gaius looked around him and noticed that there were more and more people heading the same direction, and regardless how far Matilda’s was she was easy to spot within the crowd. With his vision blocked by the throng before him, Gaius held onto his brother’s and mother’s hand to not get separated. And then he finally saw it.

“Whoa,” Gaius thought to himself. “It’s huge!” Though the waitress at the inn said that their fighting pits were not as big as the arena in the capital, she didn’t convey that the pits themselves were so massive. In front of Gaius and his family, as the crowd parted before them to find seats, was a giant hole in the ground. The hole had smooth stone all around it, the walls and floor were expertly carved. The whole pit had a 50 meter diameter. It was also carved into the ground with a depth of 30 meters, where the sides of the pit had seats carved into the walls.

Gaius and his family, though they could have sat within the free seats up top, decided to pay for seats closer to the bottom so that they can see the fights more clearly. The 10 rows of seats that were built within the walls of the pit offered a better view of the fights, whereas the upper area had no designated seats and the area was tapered outwards to accommodate more people which made it difficult to see through the crowd before you.

Gaius and his family orderly followed the line before them to find seats to their liking, they sat within the middle area, at the 4th level from the ground—not at the ground floor nor at the upper sections. The sweet spot.

After being seated, Gaius asked his mother, “Is it always this crowded, mom?” and before she could answer another patron besides them replied, “Oh heavens no. Though most fights have a fair amount of spectators, today’s duel is special!”

Gaius turned to the new voice and curiously looked at the woman, “What do you mean?”

“Today is the duel between the two cities of Calet! It’s always an impressive fight,” the woman said with a large smile.

“What are they fighting over?” Gen curiously asked.

“Oh, newcomers eh? Let me enlighten you then! Hmm, where to begin. You know of our norther sister city, North Calet?” she asked the two boys. Blank stares were seen upon their faces. “Oh, well the two cities, South Calet and North Calet, were once ruled by late Governor Mathem Calet. But before he could name a successor, he died in his prime about 9 years ago. Since then, his two sons fought over control of the two cities when the king eventually gave a city to each of them to rule over.” She narrated the well-known story to the two boys. “North Calet has access to the oceans which allow it to trade with many other cities and kingdoms as it lies upon the coast, but South Calet has Lake Bant and Bant River which allows us to trade with the cities inland. With these two cities the Calet family has been prosperous, but only if they are united. See boys, with the two cities ruled by two different governors they started to impose heavy taxes on goods that passed through their port cities. To unify the two cities’ trade policy, the two brothers decided that three duels would be held every year and whoever wins 2/3 of the duels will have full access to the ports of both cities for the following year. And today is the day last duel of the year!”

Gaius and Gen digested as much information as they could. “What a weird way to settle disputes,” Gaius thought to himself, “Odd, it seems that most people here are wearing the same sets of colors? And what is that on their shirt?” Gaius then looked at the woman and asked her, “Miss, what is . . .” was the only thing he said. As the woman looked at Gaius’s inquiring gaze, he could see the design upon her shirt, and it was a shield with two parallel stripes through it.

Seeing the boy’s gaze she smiled, “This is the crest of the Calet family. A shield to protect its people and the two stripes representing the two cities. Though the original crest had a black shield upon a blue sky. The two brothers decided to color their crest in opposite schemes. The white shield upon a black sky is the North Calet crest, while the black shield upon the white sky is the South Calet crest.”

Gaius looked upon the fighting pits again with a new understanding. It seemed that spectators were divided equally in half. All of a sudden a man appeared within the center of the pits and his voiced boomed so all could hear him, “Greetings everyone! I am Ambassador Rorick Sten, sent by the king’s court to oversee this duel and ensure its fairness under the king’s law. The winner of this duel shall inherit exclusive trade rights, granting full access to the ports of North Calet and the docks of South Calet. This duel is comprised of three parts: the first being a melee, the second being a group bout, and the third being solo duels with 3 fighters from each side. Do you agree upon these terms, governors?”

From the opposite sides, the two brothers stood from their viewing platform and said, “I agree!” with an amplified voice.

“I hereby declare the duels to commence!” the ambassador said as he continued to stand there.

Loud drums blasted and, according to tradition, dozens of men equipped in battle-gear jumped down from the edges and into the pits. Each man and woman that made their way into the pits were powerful warriors that were part of their factions fighting force. A total of 50 warriors entered the pit from each side, totaling to 100.

Before Gaius and Gen could absorb the scene before them and mentally prepare themselves for the first time in their lives to see death, the melee began.

Each group of 50 warriors were already in formation of some sort, the North Calet warriors on the left formed into a tight circle with shields all around them, like a turtle. The South Calet warriors on the right formed a shielded line with a few men and women in the back with bows. As the turtle formation slowly approached, the archers on the right fired arrows with great power. Though the arrows cracked and splintered upon striking the front shield-bearers, they stumbled upon the impact—showing how powerful each arrow was. The archers began to concentrate their fire upon one shield-bearer at a time after the first volley, as if they were probing the front line to find the weakest one; and sure enough the drew first blood as the unlucky shield-bearer died screaming—as much from the arrows as the trample from his brethren’s.

The formation of shields slowly made their way to their enemies as one or two of their soldiers died from the barrage of arrows. Within the shield, the commander said, “Almost there. Keep it tight. They’ve brought 10 archers to kill only 3 of our men. Once we engage, I want you five to swing left, and you five to swing right after we punch a hole through, got it?” the man pointed to several men.

The South Calet commander also rallied his men, “Keep on picking them off. The fewer they have before we engage, the better our chances are. Watch for our flanks. Archers, when we engage, I want you to form on the center and pick as many of them off as you can.”

The turtle formation suddenly stopped several meters away from the enemy’s line. Realization dawned upon the commander on the right side. But it was too late.

The warriors of the North Calet troops were chosen specifically because of the way they trained their bodies with the Aspects. About 30 of the troops close to the front condensed their martial Aspect within their feet to help them charge through enemy line. They were trained and selected for the precise situation in front of them. When the commander and Governor Hem Calet saw the thin line their opponents used, they couldn’t help but smile. As the right line was trying to adjust, the 30 troops from the shield formation burst forth with extreme speed and power. A hole was immediately created as several men were pushed back from the charge. Upon seeing the hole, the designated men charged out and branched from the center to the left and right to engage the archers in the back. With their line divided, the South Calet troops were surrounded and too weak to effectively fight back in any meaningful resistance.

Though these duels were a fight to the death, there was no animosity between the two cities, so the commander of the South Calet force immediately yielded to reduce further deaths.