Scarlett Emberheart's Arc

Chapter 14 of 14

The hand hung above Cedric like a threat no one wanted to test. Guards pressed against the far wall of the arena. The head marshal stood on the sand with his staff, halfway between running and speaking. Scarlett walked toward Cedric. Her helm was still on. Her sword was still at her belt. She felt every eye in the tiers follow her. When she stopped ten paces from Cedric, the hand above him drew in on itself. The fingers folded. The palm shrank. It kept shrinking until it was the size of any hand a man might have, and then it drifted down and landed on Cedric's shoulder like a tame bird. Cedric flinched, then didn't. A ripple went through the stands. "Don't be scared of him," Cedric said, loud enough to reach the marshal. He said it again, quieter, to Scarlett. "Please. Don't be scared. He wouldn't hurt anyone. He's mine. I mean, he's my family's. I lost him a long time ago." He looked at the small hand on his shoulder and his eyes went wet again. The marshal crossed the sand slowly. Two other marshals joined him at the center. They spoke in a knot, heads low. The crowd waited. Scarlett waited. The small hand tapped once against Cedric's collarbone, patient. The head marshal turned and raised his staff. His voice carried. "The bout between competitor forty-three and competitor forty-two was never called. It is called now. The win stands with Emberheart. She advances." He paused, and his jaw worked. "Falterblade is disqualified. From this tourney and every tourney under the charter. Effective now." He looked at his guards. The guards looked at the small hand on Cedric's shoulder and did not move from the wall. No one stepped forward to take Cedric. The marshal did not ask them to. He struck his staff on the sand once and walked away. Scarlett breathed out inside her helm. She had her match. She had her place in the bracket. She had not lost the ring she had already won. Cedric sat down in the sand where he stood. The small hand climbed into his lap and settled there. "His name is Danor," Cedric said. Scarlett knelt across from him. She pulled off her helm. Her silver hair fell around her face. "Family familiar," Cedric went on. "Been with us four generations. I lost him when I was nine. I don't know how he got where he got. I don't know why he was in there." He touched the small hand with one finger. Danor curled around it. "I'm sorry about the sword," Cedric said. "I'm sorry about all of it. I didn't know it did that until I did it to a stump." Scarlett looked up at the tear in the sky. It had not closed. She looked back at Cedric. "Then we have a problem," she said. "Because that's still open."