The warrior left after dropping a bombshell. They had three days left to choose two of their kind to fight against each other. The winner and loser didn't matter. The only winners here were the spectators and Lord Gord. The man who enslaved them, and the man who never once showed his face.
Vidra looked at the others as they started arguing with each other. No one wanted to get hurt. However, escaping the fight was close to impossible. Thus, the wise decision was to get two people to pick themselves.
The worst case scenario was spending the three days arguing, until the warrior comes and picks two of them by force. However, it didn't have to reach that point.
There was one kid amongst the elves who wanted to fight. Teita was the biggest amongst them. He was tall, but skinny. He often fought with other kids of his age and beat them up. His thought process was that it didn't matter who the opponent was amongst them, no one would be strong enough to win against him.
"I'm willing to fight against whoever is picked."
Teita shrugged his shoulders and continued pounding the heavy bag. His demeanor changed over the past two days. The recent events made him reevaluate his life choices, and this made him regret the things he said and did to the other kids.
He planned to have an easy fight against his opponent and beat him up fast, so the spectators would find the fight boring. The only problem was that no one was willing to be his opponent. Whoever gets picked will be mad at him.
Vidra stood up from his bed.
"I will be your opponent. Arguing over who gets to fight against you just makes us turn against each other. Think about it. One of us has to get injured every time we fight. There is a good chance that everyone will fight against everyone eventually. No one gets to stay out of it."
"So when the time comes, just don't hesitate to pick yourself. The warrior who is responsible for us will intervene to decide the match-ups sooner or later, to make sure that two different people fight each time."
The children immediately stopped arguing once Vidra made his statement. He was undoubtedly the most intelligent amongst them. Most of the time, his words were like facts etched in stone.
Teita looked at him with a slight hint of gratitude in his eyes. The others nodded their heads and approved of Vidra's reasoning. Runo's face turned sad when Vidra nominated himself to fight.
"Do you have to be the one to do it? At least don't fight against Teita. Wait until someone weaker gets picked and fight against him instead. I don't want to see you hurt, Vidra. Not you. Not anyone else anymore..."
The others overheard Runo's complaint and agreed with him. Vidra made them realize the importance of sticking together in tough situations. Everyone wanted to help him out. Some of them reasoned that Vidra was the cornerstone of the village, and that fact remained unchanged even inside this prison.
Vidra smiled. This is what he wanted to see. This atmosphere suited them much better than the usual depression they lived in nowadays.
"No can do, Runo. I understand how you feel. Everyone here experienced the same thing. This is our reality now. I will go out there and fight, get my teeth knocked out, and we won't be mad at Teita once the fight is over. Our enemy is not inside this prison, and I want everyone to remember that."
Vidra also wanted to test his strength against Teita, but he didn't mention that part on purpose. There was something unusual happening with his body. He didn't get tired for a long time during his training sessions, and once he reached his limits, he felt like throwing up.
The prison was eerily quiet once Runo and the others settled down. They spent their time deciding who should fight against the other. It took them time to work out a plan where everyone fought against everyone.
Soon, a day passed, and it was time for breakfast. The warrior brought the cuffed children with him as usual. However, this time there were fewer of them. This was a worrying sign that most of them didn't want to admit.
It either meant that these were the only ones left or that the rest of the children were either sold or something else happened to them. Vidra didn't even want to think about it. Once again, the atmosphere was gloomy.
Silence reigned every time the warrior visited them. He never said a word. Whatever he thought of the children wasn't written on his face. It ticked off the usually calm Vidra, and he decided to try talking with him.
"Why are there fewer of them today? I'm worried, can't you just tell us?"
The warrior looked at Vidra with slight interest apparent on his face.
"Would you look at that? You're a daring kid, aren't you? I'll tell you one thing, just because you had the guts to ask me. Whatever happened to your friends, forget about them."
Vidra was not satisfied. This answer was a big nothing to him. Thus, even though pushing it, he decided to ask another question.
"How long has it been since you first started doing this? Starving children, making them follow orders, and using them like tools."
Vidra looked at the warrior as he continued without the smallest hint of fear on his face. He simply looked like an eight-year-old kid talking to himself.
"What made you take this path instead of the countless others you could have chosen in your life?"
The warrior raised an eyebrow at the question and exited the prison with somewhat hurried steps. He was caught off guard by an eight-year-old kid. He was nothing more than a foot soldier who was forced to do this.
'That kid is a baby. He might be a little intelligent, but I shouldn't be shaken like this. Is it my cue to stop?'
...
Hours flew by without anything interesting happening. Vidra and the others trained, ate their food, and talked with each other. This is how the remaining two days passed by until the day to fight against Teita arrived.