Other
Read books online » Other » War God for Hire- Gladiator David Burke (bookreader TXT) 📖

Book online «War God for Hire- Gladiator David Burke (bookreader TXT) 📖». Author David Burke



1 ... 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 ... 113
Go to page:
from the second half of the 21st century. Gender equality was a mostly established fact in the United States when he had been shot. To him this wasn’t shocking. Even though he did admit it was kinda different to hear Selma talking so bluntly about it.

He just nodded. Best to prepare himself for this. He didn’t want to be inspected like a horse but just had to hope he didn’t take the hand off of some nobleman who tried to touch his junk. He focused as Selma called a couple of guards in and told them to take Kyle to the showcase.

While walking to the arena, Hilde finally chimed in, “I’m glad you are okay. That was very like Krig to see a challenge and rush into it headlong. It was very unlike him to be so protective of Nyda.”

Kyle thought back to her, “I was wondering where you were. You could have spoken up while Selma was questioning me.”

“Yes, but I needed to hear your answers without you being influenced by me. I was a bit startled at how like Krig you sounded after you reached the infirmary. I could feel a swell of your divine power. Hopefully it was brief enough that none of your siblings caught on, but for an instant there it was almost like you were flickering back and forth between being Kyle and Krig.”

“Were you satisfied with what you heard?” Kyle asked as he allowed his frustration with her to come through in his thoughts.

“In more ways than one. It is clear that you are still Kyle, and I am beginning to think that reincarnation means that you are not just a duplicate of Krig, but that you are forming your own identity as to what it means to be the war god. 

“But it also proved that Krig’s power is in you. For a moment, you were flooded with so much essence that it drowned out what you normally have. It was as though your full divinity was crammed into your body. 

“That, not using your Divine Ability, is what caused you to be unconscious for so long. Your body is clearly not ready to handle that much divine essence yet. Which is a good thing, because you would be discovered for sure if you walked around like you were all the time.”

“Okay, well any advice for tonight?”

“Simple. If you want to keep this disguise up, swallow your pride and let them inspect you. Then when it comes to the fight, win and win big.”

“Thanks,” Kyle replied and wondered how much of his intended sarcasm seeped through in his thoughts.

Chapter 19

–

Guests

’

Arrival

When he arrived, the arena looked different. There were mages in various colors of robes lining the upper level of the stadium. They were powering some form of translucent dome. He was able to sense a slow drain of essence from them into rods that he hadn’t noticed before which were positioned around the top of the coliseum.

Prior to today, he likely would have scoffed at such precautions, but now he understood better. Verden was a damaged world and apparently much of that lay at his feet. Then again, if he understood the story correctly, Krig had been betrayed and attacked by his siblings. You could hardly fault a man, or god for that matter, if they defended themselves. There echoed within him a sense of the rightness in that thought.

At one end of the arena, there was a wooden platform that was raised up to be equal in height with the bottom row of the stadium seating. Atop it, he already saw the other six fighters and the guards were taking him to it, but he didn’t care.

Kyle was too caught up in taking in the environment. The seats were filled with a few hundred people. It was not even close to being filled to capacity, which he guessed to be close to ten thousand people, maybe more. But it was still an audience. The showman in him took over.

He felt the energy of the place and it made him alive. He changed his pace. Held his head a bit higher and his shoulders back. If they had come to see him, then he wouldn’t disappoint.

As he reached the platform, he was ordered to climb up some stairs and then directed to take a spot at one end of the line of fighters. There were four people in rich attire standing there. He immediately recognized Soren, the fat maggot that he was.

Kyle was almost surprised at the vitriol that he felt for the repugnant man. To Kyle, he was disgusting on two counts. Slavery was repugnant and anyone who made money that way was inherently revolting. But if he was honest with himself, it wasn’t that which turned his stomach the most. The thing about Soren which disgusted both Kyle and the part of him that was Krig was the way that the man relied upon his money and guards.

He clearly hadn’t exercised in a long time, and didn’t appear capable of protecting himself, so he relied upon those better able to do so. Kyle despised team owners who took credit for what the players on the field accomplished. Meanwhile, Krig had always hated those who used money to subjugate better, stronger men.

It wasn’t that Krig only respected those who had strong sword arms. Much as Hilde had told him before, Kyle now sensed the respect that Krig had for anyone who worked hard and excelled in their chosen field. He even felt that the old war god would have been okay with him saving Nyda, since she was striving hard to accomplish the task given to her. What Krig hated, though, were men and women who accomplished nothing, but thought that their name, family, position, or wealth gave them some type of importance.

Next to Soren were two women and one man. Each was wearing the same ornate toga with intricate patterns done in fine thread work. The women were

1 ... 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 ... 113
Go to page:

Free ebook «War God for Hire- Gladiator David Burke (bookreader TXT) 📖» - read online now

Comments (0)

There are no comments yet. You can be the first!
Add a comment