Marcus and Liam were dragging the unconscious gladiator down the halls of the prison, each holding onto one of his arms and letting his feet scrape along the ground. He had actually done remarkably well in the arena, having taken down seven opponents before finally being knocked unconscious by one of the king's elite warriors. He had come, claiming to be the strongest man in the land, and requesting to be put to the test so that he might lay claim to the throne. The king had been amused and pleased to put him to that test. Ten victories, and the king himself would have faced the stranger.
"It's a shame," Marcus mused aloud. "He looked so intimidating as he came in with his flaming sword and everything. And he cut down the first few opponents so easily. But he had terrible endurance. Can't go running a kingdom when you can't keep pushing more than twenty minutes."
"He may very well have had the actual power to do it," Liam agreed, "but yeah. All it would take to win is to outlast him. Can you imagine a king like that trying to be a leader during a siege? He'd want to give up after not having as extravagant a meal for two days. We would be massacred."
Marcus nodded. "Do you remember what it was like when the current king took the throne? Were you there that day?"
Liam laughed. "Now that was a day. No one in their right mind would have expected a kid like that to actually win. He was so scrawny and fragile looking back then. I mean, he's put on some muscle since then, but he definitely doesn't look as intimidating as he really is. They threw some huge men at him, but he just moved so fast. He was flying around the arena, and the strikes he threw were deadly. Just destroying people's weaknesses and leaving them in the dirt."
"You don't get to see him doing stuff like that too often," Marcus reminisced. "Almost wish this guy had made it through just so we could see the king in action again."
"Well, maybe that's why he's getting imprisoned instead of executed. Remind people what he's capable of."
"That would be something."
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