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Four men stood at each end of the platform. “Begin!” The announcer shouted. All of the men ran towards the cross section in the middle. They hammered at each other, knocking their opponents off the elevated walkway to let the cats finish them off. As bodies began to fall into the pit of starving beasts with teeth as large as spear tips, the cats mauled the invaders that dropped from above and lunged up at those that were still sure-footed on the platform, clawing at their feet. In the pit, one competitor managed to delay his death by striking one of the cats with a javelin before the other mauled him to death. “The game is over when the last man is left standing with no opposition,” said Montague. “Is the winner allowed to …show more content…

He felt bad about letting Rayne watch such violence. Maybe the boy wasn’t ready to witness such cruel ways to die. Montague didn’t want shock or trauma to trigger negative feelings. On his way back to Rayne’s room to say goodnight before the boy went to sleep, Montague bumped into Gretchen rounding the corner of the castle’s fourth floor hallway. “And what do you think you’re doing?” she huffed. “Oh, I just wanted to say goodnight to Lord Rayne,” Montague replied. “He is asleep,” said Gretchen. “Don’t wake him.” “Ok then. I’ll see him tomorrow,” he said. Montague waited for Gretchen to descend the staircase before he opened the King’s door and entered. He whispered in the darkness, “My Lord?” But there was only silence. Montague reached out and grabbed a candle from the wall in the hallway and walked towards the boy’s empty bed. He knew that Rayne slept on the floor underneath the mattress. But when Montague pulled the sheets up from the ground, the King wasn’t there. If Gretchen just saw the boy sleeping, then he must have just sneaked out under their noses, Montague thought. Rayne’s fascination with the arena cats and disgust of their treatment made Montague wonder if the boy had gone to visit the injured cat. He went to investigate. As the ex-speaker of the Ikarus Council descended the staircase of the arena to the animal cells, he heard a

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