The Wooden Sword
The Auctoratus
A free man with a sword and a debt. You signed one contract and swore one oath: to be burned, bound, beaten and killed by the sword.
Your goalWalk out the Gate of Life with the purse that frees Aelia's workshop.
Your backstory
The bargain you signed
You chose this. That is the one thing on the sand that is yours.
The moneylender's deadline falls this month, and the workshop that feeds Aelia's family stands behind the debt. The arena pays a strong back in advance; you took the one contract your body could sign, and swore the oath in front of witnesses.
Felix trained you through the winter. A veteran two bouts from his own discharge, saving for a cookshop. He says the sand is honest: it only takes what you bring onto it. You are about to learn what everyone else brought.