Seth, now clothed, dragged the drooling, blathering Joanna with him as Dotan, still naked, marched across the garden. They approached a series of steps that lead down to a dead end. The only thing present there was a statue of a demigod that had fought in The War of the Gods, centuries ago. Dotan stepped up to the stone wall, grunted, and ran his hand over it. Seth was lagging behind him, pulling the crazed woman with him.
"My lord?" Seth began. "This is just a tiny grotto, why are we here?"
"It wasn't always a grotto." Dotan replied. He turned to his newest follower. "Cover your eyes."
Seth looked alarmed for a moment and quickly obeyed. He also covered Joanna's eyes, which only resulted in her trying to lick his hand. Dotan lifted his fist. It began to glow. He reared his arm back and brought it barrelling forward. The instant it made contact with the wall, the stones shattered apart. A giant hole, big enough to fit several people, was blown through it. Seth lowered his hands and saw that there was a long passageway through the wall. Dotan stuck his head through and looked around.
"What a damn shame." the god muttered. He entered the new passageway and glanced around in the dark. Seth followed, again much more slowly. Dotan walked to one side of the passage. "The oil trough is here, and it's still full. They didn't clean it up, how sloppy."
"Oil trough, my lord?" Seth asked.
"It's so the entire structure can be lit." Dotan explained. "There are pipes from this trough that lead through the entire complex. You light the oil on fire, it carries the flames to all the torches, and the entire building is lit in a matter of minutes. Since it is cool down here, the oil didn't degrade."
"That's interesting." Seth admitted, not sounding very convinced. "What is is this place?"
Dotan turned towards his follower and grinned. He lifted his index finger. Flames licked out of the tip.
"The Great Arena." the god replied. He lowered his finger into the trough. Despite being old, the oil lit on fire quickly. Seth jumped as he heard torches light up all the way down the hall. He could now see that there were more stairs down the hallway.
"The Great Arena?" Seth asked. "The ancient gladiatorial coliseum? I thought it was destroyed in The War of the Gods."
"No, Zophiel just buried it under her garden." Dotan said with detest. "She couldn't allow a single masculine thing to exist in her little world." The god spat at the stone floor. "Come on. You can keep your slave in the gladiator pens. You can chain her up before she...hurts herself."
Seth managed to put chains on Joanna to the wall in the gladiator pens. It wasn't a moment too soon, as the crazed woman was trying to lick his armpits of all things. Dotan wryly stated that she was attracted to his scent. It was mostly just making Seth uncomfortable. Dotan reluctantly said that he would take care of her for now, as Seth had a lot of work to do.
Dotan then led Seth to what appeared to be a giant room. When Seth entered he gawked and gazed up at the ceiling. It was over a hundred feet high, and capped off with stones. The place was lined with tens of thousands of seats. The two of them were standing at the base of the seats, where a high wall surrounded the pit in the center. Seth walked forward, put his hands on the wall and gazed over. There were still some blood stains on the walls and in the dirt.
"It's like it hasn't been touched." the guard stated. Dotan walked up beside him, his arms crossed.
"She just capped it with a stone ceiling and built a garden over it." the god said with distaste. "She didn't have the heart or the will to destroy the place. She will regret that when I reopen it." There was a silence as Seth continued to look around in amazement. Dotan seemed to be steaming for a while. It was some time before he spoke.
"Tell me," Dotan began. Seth turned his head to his god. "What is Zophiel up to recently?"
"Hm?" Seth uttered. It seemed like an odd question, almost casual. He recovered quickly however. "Oh...um...well...there's a wedding coming up."
"She's getting married?" Dotan asked incredulously.
"What? No, not her. She's too chaste." Seth explained.
"I bet." Dotan muttered.
"It's her nephew, Addur, a demigod. He's marrying Malona, an elvish demigod."
"An alliance between human and elvish gods?"
"That seems to be the plan."
"So that's why she thinks nothing of her military. With all the gods of this world in one alliance she thinks she's perfectly safe." Dotan took that moment to spit on the ground again in distaste. "When is the wedding?"
"Five days." Seth replied.
"Who is going to be there?"
"I don't think Lady Zo...I mean Zophiel likes to have too many gods in one place. It's only going to be her, her sister Lyfillia, her nephew and Malona. She's called in the entire military to conduct the parade and ceremony."
"She's treating her soldiers like they're trained dogs?" Dotan asked loudly. He sighed through his teeth and rolled his eyes. "When you say the whole military...?"
"Yes, everyone still on the payroll." Seth stated.
"How many?"
"A few thousand."
"That's it? A few thousand?"
"I'm sorry my lord, but that's all there is."
Dotan rubbed his head and began to look exhausted.
"Who leads them?"
"Zophiel's nephew Addur is the Master of Arms, but that's only on paper. The real leader is General Gregory Haynes. He's an old salt, but has the loyalty of all the men. He has very few family members left, so he spends all his time with the soldiers. He's like a father to all of them. His pay has been slashed dramatically over his lifetime...but he is extremely loyal."
"I can be very persuasive." Dotan interjected. "Zophiel, Lyfillia, Addur, Malona, Gregory, and every soldier in the entire country..." The god began rubbing his hands together. "We'll have to play this carefully. I need an exact schedule, can you get that?"
Seth flinched. He was afraid of letting this new god down. He seemed somewhat unpredictable, but it wasn't likely he could get away with lying.
"No, my lord." Seth said. "I'm just a lowly guard."
