by Emily Rose
My heart was restless. Deep down, I knew exactly what I had just seen. The ghosts of my pasts were returning, and part of me knew they wanted revenge just as badly as I did.
✽✽✽
“Riley, please tell me you’re not starting fights with the other guys?” I asked. He let his tray of food drop to the table with a loud clatter.
“Trust me. It seems like every single guy here is begging to fight.” He pulled a hand up to his freshly black eye, grimacing at the touch.
I laughed at the situation. Just a few months ago, Riley was itching to get into the Ring of Angels. He talked about it every day, completely enticed with the whole thing.
“Not as glamorous as you had imagined, huh?” I teased. Harvey giggled next to me, which forced a pink blush onto Riley’s cheeks.
“No, it’s not.” His voice was strong. All jokes had dissipated from the conversation. Riley actually sounded scared. “I’m starting to think we really need to get out of here. Soon.”
He bowed his head and continued eating. I looked over at Harvey. These two really were depending on me.
“We will!” She said from beside me. Harvey was always so optimistic. She had an overwhelming amount of faith that we would all somehow walk out of here alive. Why? I had no idea. Riley smiled weakly in response, but his eyes remained grim. I pushed my tray of soggy breakfast away from me. I was no longer hungry.
“I have to go back to training guys. But I’ll think of something soon. Trust me.” I stood up and stalked toward the practice ring. Eating breakfast with Harvey and Riley was the only part of the day that truly reminded me what the stakes were here. I couldn’t get distracted.
“Done with your tea party so soon?” Opal mocked as I began taping my wrists for the practice. Her voice had begun to remind me of a snake’s rattle. Always warning me when trouble was near. I threw my head back and groaned.
“It’s too early for you today, Opal. Try again in a few hours.” She cocked her hip sideways, letting her silky black hair fall over her shoulder.
“What’s the matter, Champion? Fighting with the Prince?” My body immediately reacted to the comment. A defensive wave of heat began pricking the back of my neck.
“Are you jealous, Opal? Weird. I assumed you would just be used to everyone hating you by now.”
The smile that had hung on her face was replaced with a wicked sneer. Girls like her were all the same, even in Sundown. She was a bully, and she was obviously threatened by my presence here. Her eyes darkened as she thought of something else to say.
“Opal, come on. We’re doing sword work today,” Naomi announced from behind me. She sounded even more bored than she had the last time I saw her. I was starting to think this girl had no emotions whatsoever. Either way, I was grateful for her interruption.
Opal rolled her eyes at me and let her shoulder smack into mine as she trudged past me. I couldn’t even bring myself to get angry over the gesture. That girl was nothing but a bitter, jealous brat. If I had learned anything in the past couple of days, it was that my anger was better spent elsewhere.
✽✽✽
Magic doesn’t exist anymore, Ruby. And you’d be wise to remember that.
The Prince’s words from our first encounter replayed in my head. After a long day of throwing a sword around with the other Champions, my movements were still heavy. Unskilled. The rest of the fighters had begun to head back to the cages, leaving the weapons rack completely open. Determination kept me awake and hungry. I wasn’t about to let my lack of knowledge in the sword department put me on death’s doorstep again, especially when my magic would no longer be an option in the fighting ring.
I picked up one of the practice swords. It was heavy, but the weight eventually felt reassuring in my palm. The chill of the night tickled my skin, sending a shiver through my body. I practiced wielding the weapon, slicing it through the air at my imaginary opponent. My muscles flexed, getting stronger every day that I practiced.
In my first fight here, when the guard handed me the knife, I was confident that would be the best choice of a weapon. Maybe in small fights, it was. It served as a concise, swift extension of my own actions. The sword, however, was something else entirely. It was its own animal, at the mercy of its master’s hands. Where a knife could damage, a sword could destroy.
The sudden silence in the air spiked my heart rate. A cool breeze tickled my skin, chilling the sweat that clung to my forehead. The sun had gone down and there was hardly enough light from the distant cages to see any further than just a few feet. My senses tingled. The only thing creepier than a yard full of trained killers was being alone in one.
My mind flashed back to the encounter I had in the showers. I knew ghosts were possible, but I never expected to see one myself. My eyes squinted in the darkness, searching for the familiar, stalky shadow. Was she back for another visit?
I heard her before I saw her.
I hardly had time to brace myself before a small, aggressive body slammed mine to the ground, ripping my sword from my grasp.
My heart raced as I suddenly recalled my last moment in the Ring of Angels, pinned to the cement floor. This would not happen again. My time being pinned to the floor was over.
My attacker, who was very much human, sent a fist into my face. Darkness swarmed my vision, merging with the pain that pulsed through my cheek. She grabbed me with harsh fingers, forcing me to look at her.
Opal.
Her small, tan face was inches from mine. “Next time you win a fight, you die,” she hissed in my ear. Her voice was laced with disgust. “Do you understand?”
I thrashed beneath the girl, my body trembling with the need to get free. This couldn’t be happening.
I felt an extreme, sharp pain in my torso and I let out a scream, trying to move away.
But I was trapped.
“I said, do you understand?” Opal repeated. I felt the blade again, this time the cold metal tickled my thigh.
“Yes,” I managed to get out. My vision began to tunnel with the pain that radiated through my entire torso. “Yes, I understand.”
“Good,” she said, releasing me from her grasp. She stood up quickly, but not before letting the blade pierce another deep gash in my leg.
The pain rushed through my body, and I let out another scream. Opal’s satisfying laugh echoed through my head as she jogged back toward the cages, leaving me alone in the yard.
Bitch.
There would be nobody coming to help me, and the cages locked any minute now. I wasn’t sure what the punishment was for staying in the Courtyard past lockdown, but I didn’t expect to find out.
Warm liquid covered my hands as I put pressure on the deep gash in my stomach. I could hardly push myself to a sitting position. My thigh throbbed, the blood flowed freely with every heartbeat. I needed to get to the cages. There was too much blood. I managed to stand using my good leg as I assessed the distance between here and the corridor. Maybe 30 paces, I could make it.
I took one ragged step forward. Focus, Ruby. You have to live. Survive.
The warm liquid dripped down my leg and seeped through my fingers.
My body swayed, the sight I had locked on the cages began to spin.
I wasn’t sure how many steps I had taken before the pain swarmed my vision. My body slammed against the cold floor as my world went black.
11 The Dance With Death
Death.
Cold hands were touching my face. I blinked my eyes once. Twice.
I was dead.
I tried to blink my eyes open. I had to see where I was, where I had ended up. My head was fuzzy, as if cotton had been stuffed inside of my brain. The room was dark, shadows swarmed my body, blocking my vision. Was this hell?
A soft voice spoke to me, melting my body like chocolate. I sank into the voice, back into the comforting darkness.
“You have a job to do, Ruby.”
Ophine’s voice sounded like honey in my ear. My old friend. My companion
in darkness. The golden light surrounded her, though. There was no darkness. It felt warm reflecting off my skin. She was beautiful, like a woman from a painting. Flawless.
“What’s the job? What do I need to do?”
“I can’t tell you that, girl. You need to wake up. He will give you everything you need.” She began to fade into the darkness around us. Leaving me here alone. Afraid.
“No, wait! I need to know! Why are you speaking to me?”
“Because, you are the only one who can help me.”
My body went ice cold as the golden light disappeared. Darkness.
“Ruby, wake up.”
I opened my eyes slowly, squinting at the brightness of the room around me. The bed was soft and comforting under my sore body. This was not the cages. I was not dead.
I tried to remember the dream I just had. Something seemed distantly familiar, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
The smell of leather and roses told that I was very much alive. The attack. Opal. I couldn’t stop my body from flinching, preparing for a blast of pain as I remembered the way the cold metal sliced my skin.
But there was none. I grabbed at my stomach, expecting to feel the warm blood seeping through my skin, but I felt nothing underneath the thick wrap of bandages.
“Can you hear me?” I looked at Aiden, who was intently staring at me.
“What happened?”
“You were attacked. I guess you haven’t been making friends within the League.”
No, I guess I haven’t. I tried to sit up, but the pain I had been waiting for shot through my body. I pathetically managed to lift myself to my elbows.
“Don’t try to move,” he said. “You’ve been cut up pretty bad, we have a healer taking care of you.”
Half of me was grateful for the help. The other half of me was wondering why they would even waste the energy trying to save someone who was meant to die here anyway.
“Why am I here?”
“Like I said,”
“No, I mean why am I here? Why are you helping me?” There was no hiding the panic in my voice now. Where even was I? An infirmary?
The Prince looked at me but didn’t show any signs of anger. His black, terrifying eyes I had seen days ago were replaced with bright green ones. They were surrounded by dark circles, and his sharp posture sagged with exhaustion.
He stood up from the wooden chair next to the bed and walked toward the wall, raking his hands through his thick black hair. It had grown longer over the past couple of weeks. I took a second to glance around the room and gather my surroundings. This was an infirmary. There was a shelf of bottles on the other side of the room, similar to the one I had seen when Amaris branded me. Aiden turned around in front of me, drawing my attention back to him. I waited anxiously for him to speak.
“I couldn’t just let you die, Ruby.”
I looked down at my stomach, now bandaged with white gauze. My leg looked the same.
“Why not? That’s why I’m here anyway, isn’t it? To die in front of thousands of people?”
“No. Well, yes. I-” the Prince stammered, searching for an explanation. He paced across the room, looking at anything but me.
“I’ve been thinking about what happened during your fight, and I think we can help each other.”
My heart was pounding in my chest. He’s talking about the magic. “You think you can help me?” I couldn’t help but laugh.
If the King found out about what had happened in that ring during my first fight, or what almost happened in the practice fight with Bane, I would be killed instantly.
Nobody could help me, especially not the Prince.
The King’s voice boomed through the hallway outside the door. Aiden straightened immediately, backing away from me.
“We’ll finish this talk later,” he said as he rushed out of the door. I was glad he couldn’t see my face flush. He didn’t want to be seen here? A nervous tickle spread through my body as I was left alone in the room.
A few seconds later, the King’s harsh figure stood in the doorway, accompanied by the guard I had seen many times before.
“Ah, Ruby! My new Champion! Finally awake, I see.”
I had to bite my lip to keep from snorting.
“My son informs me that there was a bit of an incident in the training yard. Such a shame, but it’s good to see you’re recovering.”
He raked his black eyes over my body, sending a vile shiver down my spine.
I just shook my head, “Yes, I’m already feeling much better.”
“Great! That’s great, Ruby. You just rest up, and I’ll make sure to get you back into the Ring of Angels as soon as possible. We can’t risk having your fans forget about you!”
His skin was icy cold as he placed his hand on my arm. It was as if death itself was touching me. I could kill him now. He deserved it. One swift strike with the scalpel on the side table and he would be dead. My life’s mission would be complete. But how would I save Riley and Harvey? The king deserved this ending, but they did not.
His dark eyes, his rough hands. I flashed back to the practice ring from a few days ago, they way he insisted the fight was finished to the death. I shivered.
“My son is fond of you, Ruby. He claims you’ll be one of the best Champions yet. Don’t disappoint us,” he growled. His quick change of tone nearly drove me mad.
He stood and left the room as quickly as he had arrived. I was left to myself the small, dark, pathetic excuse for an infirmary. How ironic that it even existed.
My heart rate eventually calmed minutes after the King left. The two conversations muddled my already fuzzy brain.
My son is fond of you, Ruby.
I think we can help each other.
There was no time left. I had to get out of here, and I had to get Riley and Harvey out of here, too.
Hours went by. I watched the sun set slowly through the window on the wall. The semi-lit room was completely dark, a candle flickered in the corner of the room. A healer had been in once, the same woman who had helped me with my Champion brand. Amaris was her name. She changed the bandages on my stomach and thigh once but didn’t say anything to me. I tried not to look at the thick slices in my body, tried not to think about the stinging that shot through my body when the healer touched me.
I had to move, I couldn’t focus on this small setback.
It took me two attempts to get out of bed. The first time, I could have sworn I was going to pass out. This was not the place for that. I gritted my teeth and planted my bare feet on the cold, stone floor. The hall had been silent for a while now. If I was going to get a look at the castle, it had to be now.
The door squeaked as I slowly opened it, slipping through the darkness. The hallway was completely empty, not even a guard watching the door. I ignored the shadow that followed me in the corner of my vision. I hoped that if I ignored them long enough, they would just leave me alone.
My feet padded across the floor. I walked quietly and quickly, the last thing I need right now is to get caught sneaking around the castle.
But there was nothing. Not even a sign of activity. I guess all of the evil sleeps at night, too.
I slipped down the long hallway, halfway recognizing it from when I got that damn Champion brand. Not a great memory, anyway. But there had to be something else here, some sort of way out or at least a clue.
I don’t know what I was looking for. A staircase? Some sort of passageway? The night air was cold against my skin, and it didn’t help that this entire place was creepy. How many innocent people had died here? Given their lives for the King’s entertainment?
I was about to turn around and head back to the miniscule excuse of an infirmary when a large pair of doors caught my eye. They were at the end of the hallway, and the stone on the door reflected the moonlight through the window. It was eerie to say the least, but something tickled the back of my neck just by looking in the direction.
My feet felt weightless as they ca
rried me across the floor. The door felt solid and rough under my hands as I pressed it open, barely making a crack before looking through. Breaking into someplace like King Xavier’s bedroom would not be ideal.
But it wasn’t a bedroom. Not even close. The door drifted open wider as I squeezed inside, in absolute awe at the sight.
Before me was the most magnificent collection of books I had ever seen. It was perfect. Thousands of books lined the walls, rows and rows of literature. A warm, bubbly feeling welled in my chest. This had to be the best thing I had seen in my life.
We had books at Sundown, but only a few. I grew up reading the same things over and over again, to the point where I didn’t even have to look at the page to know what came next. They were small stories, like legends of the Shadow Forest or tales of a young girl who used magic to heal her friends. Most were passed down from decades ago, and we could hardly even read them.
But this, this was pure art. Pure beauty. Pure magic. All of these books, just sitting here. This was a place of knowledge. A place of wonder. The smell of leather and paper filled the air. It thrilled me.
After listening for a few seconds, my feet guided me to the nearest shelf. So much information, so many tales, and nobody here reading them. It was a shame.
These weren’t just works of fiction, though. They were books on history, dated back hundreds of years. It was astonishing. I picked one of them up, titled The Oath of Our Protectors, and ran my fingers over the title. It was dusty, but so beautiful. Obviously, nobody had even picked it up in years.
I slowly cracked the cover open. The paper was stiff under my fingers, but I continued to read the first page.
Being a guardian of the Shadow Forest takes exceptional sacrifice. Being a protector entails putting the lives of Aslan above every want, need, or desire of your own. The evil that dwells within the forest is one the gods have seldom encountered. It is because of these gods, these eternal beings within the spirit world, that we are able to live our lives in peace.