Chapter 37

After Emeric finished washing the blood from his face, a guard roughly grabbed Emeric's jaw in the waiting cell. He grunted, but knew better than to resist. After inspecting the Rogue's wounds, the guard came to a decision. "He's fine, take him to his cell." Emeric glared at the guard as he left go of Emeric with a shove.

Two others bound his hands and began to escort him down the familiar corridors to his cell. As Emeric walked, his mind was whirling. He had reached a hundred kills, so why were they taking him to his cell? Wasn't he supposed to be taken out of the Dome?

When they reached the cell hall, Emeric stopped walking. He planted his feet firmly on the ground and refused to budge. The two guards were worried by the sudden act of rebellion. The Rogue after all, was one of the prisoners that had caused the least amount of trouble in his long stay in the Dome.

"Keep walking." One instructed gruffly, but Emeric made no move to comply. "Calvert wants to see me." Emeric replied calmly. The guards looked at him in confusion, "We weren't informed about any meeting." The one stated. "Yeah, now get a move on." The other said with venom.

Emeric slowly began to walk, "Alright, but do you really want to disobey an order form him. If I don't show up at his office soon, he'll come looking for whoever took me to my cell. After all, he did give the order to take me to his office straight after the battle."

The two guards shared worried glances. Calvert could easily have given the order to another guard without them knowing. And both of them knew that of they disobeyed an order, they would end up in the Dome on a chain, just like all the prisoners they handled daily.

With a huff of contempt, the older of the two turned around. "Very well." He stated as they retraced their steps. Emeric smiled inwardly. They guards were fooled too easily.

They reached the large set of doors that lead to Calvert's feared office. The eldest guard knocked on the door and waited for a reply. "Enter." A gruff voice replied from inside. The large wooden doors swung open with a silent creak and the guards ushered Emeric inside.

Calvert looked up from his work and frowned when his eyes landed on the Rogue.

"The Rogue, sir." The younger guard announced. Calvert turned his emotionless eyes in the man, "I can see that. Mind telling me what he's doing here." The remark was rude and drove fear into the two guards. They realized that Emeric had fooled them.

"Well?" Calvert challenged. The older of the two guards swallowed nervously. "My apologies, sir. It's a simple misunderstanding. We'll be on our way." The guard grabbed Emeric by the elbow and turned to escort the prisoner out, however, Emeric didn't budge. He was much stronger than he appeared. To the guard it seemed as he was trying to move a boulder.

Emeric met Calvert's eyes defiantly. "A word?" he asked rudely. Calvert met his eyes with mirroring hate. The guard tugged at Emeric once more, but Emeric shoved his hand away with a simple offensive move.

The other guard stepped in to help his comrade, but before they could act, Calvert held up a hand. "Leave us." he commanded in a manner that left no room for argument. Emeric was shocked that Calvert was actually listening to what he had to say. However, now that he was standing in front of the man of status, he wasn't sure how to word his troubled thoughts.

"What do you want?" The Dome Keeper demanded.

"I have a hundred kills in my name. By your law I've earned my freedom." Emeric explained calmly. Calvert watched him carefully, "Is that so?" Emeric took the question as rhetoric and didn't reply. "So you want to leave?" Calvert asked mockingly. Emeric nodded. "So after three years, you just want to walk away." Calvert mused.

Emeric paled. 'Three years!' he thought fearfully. 'Could it have been that long?'

Emeric simply nodded, he was lost for words. Calvert seemed to consider him for a few seconds as he stroked his greying beard.

"Well, by the Chayran law you've indeed earned you freedom." Calvert spoke as if he was voicing his thoughts, "However, you're not Chayran, and that means that the Chayran law doesn't count for a beast like you."

Emeric's heart seemed to stop as he blankly stared at Calvert. Then a deep frown marred his brow, "You can't do that." he accused. Calvert laughed. It was a terrifying sight, because the smile never met his dead eyes. "I can do whatever I want." he concluded.

"The final battle is in three days. It's the biggest event in the country each year. And you, dear little Rogue, will be fighting as my Victor." Calvert spoke in a mocking tone of voice.

Emeric remained silent for a few seconds. He lifted his eyes to the cruel Dome Keeper and slowly walked towards the man of status. "It's ironic, isn't it?" Emeric spoke softly in a deadly tone of voice. "You are the most powerful man in the country, but who put you in that position?" Emeric let the question sink in for a few seconds.

"It couldn't have been a lousy jerk like you, because I never saw you in the arena. I never saw you fight your own battle, not once. Instead, you turn to a Rogue, the country's worst enemy, to grant you that power."

Calvert stood up so fast that his chair flipped over with a loud crash. "How dare you." He hissed. "What? Emeric challenged as he came to a halt by the desk, "How dare I bring the truth to light?" He questioned as the door flew open. The guards entered, they had been alerted by the crash of the chair.

Calvert dropped his emotionless façade as a deep scowl marred his features. He acted faster than Emeric could react. He grabbed Emeric by his hair from across the desk and slammed his head into it. Emeric grunted and fell back when Calvert released him. His wounds had reopened and fresh blood started dripping down his face.

Emeric, infuriated, lunged at the Dome Keeper, but the guards grabbed him before he could reach him. The forced Emeric to his knees and held him there until he calmed down. Calvert was fuming, "Take him to his cell." He commanded. The guards hauled Emeric to his feet and manhandled him out.

As they reached the doors, Calvert's voice hit Emeric's ears once more, "You'll live in that damn cell of yours for the rest of your miserable life!"

The corridor seemed longer and colder than usual. It too seemed to frown down at Emeric as the guards shoved him along.

He was on the verge of giving up on everything. Earning enough kills had been his last hope. He didn't have the will power left to continue killing in the Dome. It drained everything out of him.

However, giving in wasn't an option. He had to do what he did best.

Fight...

His attack came out of the blue, and the guards could do nothing to avoid it. He slammed his shoulder into the younger one, throwing him off of his feet. As the older one turned to Emeric to try and stop him, the Rogue slammed his forehead into the man's nose. There was a distinct crack and the man fell with a cry of pain as his nose broke.

The younger of the two had gotten to his feet again and grabbed Emeric from behind. He started to strangle the Rogue with the crook of his elbow, but Emeric had expected him to do just that. Emeric slammed the guard into the wall as he threw himself backwards. The air was forced out of the guards lungs and he crumpled to the ground.

Having recovered from the initial pain of his broken nose, the other guard got to his feet and took his baton from his belt. He seemed to have new found courage now that he was armed. Emeric prepared himself for another attack when someone said his name. He turned in surprise and saw Aire standing a few paces away.

She had a fearful look on her face as she observed the battle that was transpiring. She also seemed slightly frightful of the Rogue and Emeric realized that his face looked rather menacing in its blood covered state. Aire's eyes grew wide as they landed on something behind Emeric, but before he could turn, the two guard tackled him to the ground.

He grunted as they pinned him down to suppress his struggles. Emeric fought hard to get them off, but then they brought out the cudgels and beat him till he stopped struggling. Emeric groaned as they pulled him to his feet. Aire was pale with shock. She stood with a hand over her mouth as her eyes started to tear up.

The guards roughly jerked Emeric around, away from Aire as they dragged him down to corridor. Hopeless and in pain, Emeric didn't put up a fight. His head hung with the shame of defeat as they entered the cell hall. They only paused briefly as cell keeper relieved them of their duty. He grabbed Emeric roughly by the elbow and escorted him to his cell.

Emeric stood with his back to the gate as the cell keeper released his wrists. He left the cell and locked the Rogue inside...

The seconds Emeric heard the lock click shut, he spun around and grabbed the cell keeper by his collar through the bars. He could barely let out a cry of shock before Emeric jerked him forward, slamming his head into the bars. The cell keeper fell unconscious just as he hit the ground. Emeric grabbed the key from his hand and turned to Kedo who watched Emeric with wide eyed shock.

"What are you doing?" the young Rogue asked.

Emeric smiled with dignity, "We're getting out."