Ari sits beside me, and we gaze out over the arena. It looks so much smaller from up here. I can easily pick out the set of rock formations in the northeastern section that must be where Ari found the feathers. The pond is impossible to spot, as the trees overhead are too dense, but I’m pretty sure I can tell where it is. I doubt anyone could have seen our fight with Johann there, but other areas are more visible. I can see several boys moving through the trees, though three or four of them are in the wrong section of the arena entirely.
“No wonder they forbade us from going into the stands,” Ari says. “It’s not just that they didn’t want us to get help from spectators. It’s that you can see everything way easier up here.”
“Imagine if we could’ve flown on Lilja,” I say. “We could’ve done the whole thing in two seconds!”
Ari laughs. “I don’t know about that. Lilja would be such a nuisance—crashing through the trees, eating everything, demanding bilberries.…”
“Setting the forest on fire,” I add, smiling.
“Our dragon is a piece of work,” Ari says, and I laugh. But my laughter fades when I remember that all of this is temporary. Both Ari and I have survived the first trial. We might survive the second.
But in the end, one of us will lose. And then Lilja won’t be our dragon anymore. Only one of us will ever get to see her again.
I glance sideways at Ari as he looks out over the arena. We made a pretty good team today, with him finding the feathers and calming the vatnavera and me saving Johann and getting the snowpetals. We made a pretty good team in the Realm, too. But someday soon, the teamwork has to end.
What will happen if Ari and I both make it to the top three and we have to compete against each other? What if it had been Ari instead of Johann that I was facing today? Could I have beaten him?
Would I have wanted to?
Of course I would. I have to win this competition, and that means beating Ari however I can.
I just thought it would be easier than this.
“Who do you think the other winner is?” Ari asks suddenly, distracting me. “Seeker Larus said there was one more.”
“I don’t know. I can’t tell who’s still down there.”
“Can anyone else even finish? We got the last two snowpetals beside the pond. The vatnavera ate the rest.”
“I bet they hid some in more than one place. They had to have planned for something like that to happen. Like, what if the first person to find the snowpetals took all of them and didn’t leave any for anyone else, so no one else could pass? The Seekers wouldn’t want that.”
“Good point,” Ari says. “They probably even planned for that vatnavera to eat some of the snowpetals. It’s like they were rewarding whoever found them quickly enough to grab them before they were eaten. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t snowpetals growing somewhere else.”
As if to prove his point, at that moment murmurs spread through the crowd, and we quickly turn toward the Seekers. A boy is climbing the steps toward them, clutching a massive snowpetal in his hand.
“Who is it?” I say. “Can’t tell from this distance.”
“Looks like Emil,” Ari says, sounding a bit surprised. I’m a little surprised too. I didn’t think Emil had the focus or the dedication to stick through this competition. But he is pretty good with his defender gift, from what I’ve seen, so maybe his magic helped him.
“I haven’t seen Johann come out, have you?” Ari asks suddenly. “He was running right behind us. Even if he got caught up in the brambles, he still should’ve come out by now.”
“Unless he went back. Maybe he tried to gather up some of the snowpetals that were shredded. Trying to piece them together, maybe?”
“Or maybe he figured out the same thing we did,” Ari says quietly. “Maybe he went looking for a second patch of snowpetals.”
I gulp. Johann did manage to find the pond on his own. He might be capable of finding the flowers elsewhere. The feathers, too. But it’s bad news for Ari and me if Johann passes this round. He won’t forget what happened. He’ll go into the second trial with an even bigger grudge against us, and that won’t end well.
I glance around the arena, but I can’t see if Johann’s still down there. As the sun slides lower across the sky, more boys come out of the arena, but none of them appear to have passed. One emerges crying and rushes over to his parents without even acknowledging the Seekers. Two more approach the Seekers, but they’re empty-handed, and they walk away with their heads hanging. Emil is the only boy we’ve seen emerge victorious.
Which means four of us, in total, have passed. There’s only one spot left for the second trial.
One by one, the boys emerge from the woods defeated. Ari and I begin to keep count. Whoever finished the task before us, plus Emil, plus the two of us, plus the six boys we’ve now seen emerge empty-handed. That makes ten. There are eleven competitors, so…
“Johann’s the only one left. If he finds both items, he’ll be the final winner,” Ari murmurs.
“Maybe he won’t find them,” I say.
But minutes later, I’m proven wrong.
Johann races out of the forest and up the steps of the arena, the white blur of a snowpetal visible in one of his hands. Ari and I watch intently as he confers with the Seekers for a moment. He hands Seeker Larus something. Then he walks away through the stands.
My stomach sinks. “I think that was it. I think he did it.”
Ari nods. “And he was the last competitor. Look.”
I follow his gaze back up to the Seekers, who have all gotten to their feet. Simultaneously, each of their hands begins to glow with the light of their gifts.
“This is it,” Ari says.
Seeker Larus begins to speak, and several people in the crowd gasp. His voice is booming, echoing across the arena so that everyone can hear.
“How’s he doing that?” Ari asks.
“Probably the amplifier potion,” I say. “With the right magical ingredients, it can amplify a person’s voice. The effects last for only a few minutes, though.”
“Attention,” Seeker Larus says again. “The first round of the Seeker competition has ended. Five competitors have successfully completed the tasks they were given and will move on to the next trial, which will be held in one week’s time.”
A hush falls over the arena as we wait.
“The successful competitors are…”
I hold my breath. Which is silly, because I already know I’ll be one of them. But suddenly I can’t help wondering if there’s been some kind of mistake, if the council decided not to select me after all, if they’re going to disqualify me, if—
“Ari, Petur’s son,” says Seeker Larus, and Ari exhales. I don’t.
“Tomas, Freyr’s son.” Of course. Tomas is the one competitor we didn’t see emerge from the arena, so he must be the one who finished before us. I’m not surprised. He seemed to know what he was doing.
“Emil, Baldur’s son,” Seeker Larus continues. “Johann, Viktor’s son.”
My stomach sinks. Did he skip me? Is he going to say my name? Have I somehow lost?
“And Bryn, Jakob’s daughter.”
The air whooshes out of my lungs, and murmurs go up from the crowd.
I did it. I actually did it.
I’m not only the first girl ever to compete, but I’m the first girl to ever make it to the second round.
I’m not sure how the rest of the village feels about that, but I don’t care.
All of my top rivals made it to the second trial too, but I don’t care about that either. Not yet.
For once, I am victorious. And I can be victorious again.
This is my competition to win.
EIGHTEEN
After the announcement, Ari and I find our families among the crowd at the entrance of the arena. Ari’s mother sweeps him into a hug, and then I lose sight of him as Elisa practically tackles me, jumping up and down. “You won! You won!”
�
�Only the first round, El,” I say, but I can’t stop beaming.
“We saw you from the top part,” Elisa says, pointing toward the top of the stands. “We saw you running through the forest!”
“Could you see the vatnavera?” I ask.
Elisa’s eyes widen. “There was a vatnavera?” she cries. “Was there a unicorn, too?”
Before I can answer her, Mama steps up and gives me a big hug. “Good work,” she says, squeezing me tight, and my heart surges. She steps back to examine me, sees that my clothes are drenched, and sighs loudly. Well, it was nice while it lasted.
“My girl!” Papa booms, practically sweeping me off my feet as he hugs me next.
“Too tight, Papa!” I say, laughing. He sets me down, but not before declaring loudly, “That was my daughter who won the first trial!”
Several heads turn in our direction, and Mama shushes him, but she’s smiling too.
“We’re so proud of you, Bryn,” Papa says.
“Elisa says you missed the best part,” I say. “There was a vatnavera, Papa!”
“Was there really?” He raises his brows. “They usually don’t include creatures in the arena until the later trials.”
“So there will be creatures in the later trials?” I say.
“I shouldn’t have told you that,” Papa says, laughing. “Forget I said anything.”
I grin. “I didn’t hear it from you.”
“That’s right. We’ve got to stay impartial.”
Mama huffs. “As if Seeker Freyr was impartial evaluating his own son.”
“I didn’t see Tomas finish,” I say. “What happened?”
Papa glances at the crowd surrounding us. “Let’s discuss this at home, all right?”
But before we can turn to leave, I’m tackled by yet another excited person. This time it’s Runa, who’s smiling from ear to ear. “You were so great, Bryn!”
“How much did you see?”
“Not much,” she admits, “but I saw you racing around in there with Ari.” She gives my shoulder a meaningful nudge.
“Hush,” I say. “We just thought it would be easier if we teamed up. It was his idea, actually.”
“Sure,” Runa says skeptically. “Whatever you say.”
“Runa, would you like to join us for dinner tonight?” Mama asks. “We’re having a little celebration for Bryn.”
“We are?” I ask.
“It’s a surprise!” Elisa yells.
“Thanks for the invitation,” Runa says in her politest voice, “but I think my mama is expecting me to help with our supper tonight.”
“All right, then,” Mama says, “we’d better be going. Come on, Elisa.”
Runa and I wave goodbye, and I promise to fill her in later on everything that happened during the competition. As I follow my family up the path toward the village, Mama says, “Runa is such a polite young lady,” in her fondest tone.
I roll my eyes. Mama always says that about Runa, probably as a pointed hint to Elisa and me about how we’re supposed to behave.
Papa isn’t paying attention; he’s busy waving and smiling at the villagers we pass, who all stop to greet him. Everyone knows Papa well, since he used to be Seeker, and everyone likes him, of course. Though I can’t help noticing that most of the people who greet him also look away when they see me and don’t offer any congratulations. Hmm. It doesn’t seem like the villagers’ fondness for Papa extends to the girl who’s beating the boys in the Seeker competition. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think I am. As we walk home, six different people stop to greet us, but not one of them says anything congratulatory to me.
I bet Tomas and Emil and Johann aren’t getting the same treatment. They’re probably being showered with praise right about now.
But I don’t want to let the attitudes of the villagers dampen my good mood. I’ve won the first of three victories, and I’m going to celebrate it instead of worrying about what the villagers think of me.
As Papa stops to accept congratulations from one of his friends, Seeker Agnar strides out of the arena, heading for the main path back to the village. “I’ll be right back,” I say hastily to Mama. “I have to ask Seeker Agnar something.”
Before she can reply, I race away. “Seeker Agnar!” I call. “Seeker Agnar!”
After my second shout, he stops and turns. “Yes?”
“I wanted to ask you,” I say, pausing to catch my breath, “about the Seeker training.”
“Yes?” he says again. His expression is not encouraging, but I have nothing to lose by asking, so I keep going.
I try to summon my most polite voice, the one I use when Mama makes me mind my manners. “I was wondering if you’d changed your mind about letting me participate,” I say. “Now that I’m one of the five finalists, I’d like to be able to train properly for the next round.”
There’s a long, terrible pause. “I don’t think that would be a good idea,” he says, and my heart drops.
“I can handle the training,” I say quickly. “I think I proved that today. And it’s only fair that I get the same training as the other competitors.”
“You did well today,” Seeker Agnar acknowledges. “But the competition is only going to get more difficult from this point forward. Being able to find and identify a snowpetal is one thing. Being able to handle potentially deadly magical creatures is quite another. I can’t allow young girls in my training class, not when they’re likely to be hurt.”
“But I—”
“I told you before,” he interrupts, his voice rising. “This competition is no place for you.”
Anger rises within me, and my polite voice vanishes as I open my mouth again. “The other Seekers said I did well today,” I say. “Do they really think this is fair? What if I asked them?”
“Whether or not the rest of the council agrees with my decision is irrelevant,” he snaps. “I am the Seeker in charge of the training classes this year, and I will run them as I see fit. I don’t allow girls to train, and that’s final. Don’t ask me again.”
He starts to turn away, but a booming voice makes us both freeze. “Agnar!” Papa calls cheerfully, walking up to us.
Oh no. Papa’s going to ask him something about my training, I just know it. Even though I asked him not to—
“Jakob,” Seeker Agnar says, acknowledging him with a nod.
“Excellent work you’ve done with the first trial,” Papa says, smiling at him. “A great showcase of our competitors’ talents.”
“Thank you,” Seeker Agnar says, a bit stiffly.
Papa places a hand on my shoulder. “This one’s not giving you any trouble in training, is she?”
“Papa!” I say indignantly, hoping to stop Seeker Agnar from answering.
Seeker Agnar pauses for a moment, giving me a long look. I can see the moment when he figures it out—that I haven’t told Papa the truth. I close my eyes, waiting for him to give me away.
“No trouble at all,” Seeker Agnar says.
I open my eyes. Did he just…?
Papa chuckles. “I asked Larus and Ludvik, but they said you’re running training all on your own this year, and they didn’t know the details. Not that I want to influence any judging, of course. Just curious how my girl’s been doing.”
“Papa!” I say again, willing him to stop talking.
Seeker Agnar fixes his gaze on me. “She’s a very… resilient competitor,” he says finally.
Papa starts to ask something else, but Seeker Agnar excuses himself and hurries away down the path.
Papa squeezes my shoulder. “I know, I know, I promised I wouldn’t say anything. But I’m sure Freyr’s been asking after his child as well! Come on. Your mama and sister are waiting for us.”
As he guides me down the path, I stare at the retreating form of Seeker Agnar. Why did he lie like that? Why didn’t he tell Papa that he kicked me out of training?
There’s only one explanation that I can think of—he’s ashamed. He doesn’t want Pa
pa or anyone else, maybe even the other Seekers, to know that he’s not training me. Maybe I should tell Papa myself. He might raise a fuss, tell the other Seekers about it, get someone else to run training.…
But it’s all too embarrassing. I don’t want my papa to have to step in on my behalf. I won the first trial today without formal training, and I can win the next one too. Papa will never have to know.…
I try not to think about Seeker Agnar as I enjoy my family’s celebration at home. Mama’s surprise turns out to be one of my favorite dinners, her creamy potato soup, which is liberally sprinkled with cheese, along with my favorite dessert, a bilberry pie. We all laugh and joke during the meal, and even Mama seems to be in good spirits. I recount parts of my performance in the arena that they couldn’t see, and they laugh and cheer in all the right places. I downplay my teamwork with Ari, since they don’t know anything about how much time Ari and I have been spending together, but I make it sound like we’ve teamed up in training a few times and thought it only natural to do it again for this trial. I also downplay the part where Johann fought with Ari and threatened us, since Ari lied to the Seekers about how his nose got bloody and I don’t want Papa to say anything about it to his Seeker friends. If Papa knew Johann was cheating, he’d most definitely bring it up with Seeker Larus or Seeker Ludvik, and I don’t want them to know.
So instead, I describe it as if Johann were just racing us to get the snowpetals and recount how I tricked him by shrinking the last flower. Papa positively glows at this point. “That’s some high-level naturalist magic,” he says. “Such a difficult task to perform, especially under pressure!”
“Pressure made it easier,” I say. “That way I couldn’t overthink it. If I’d had enough time to think about whether I could shrink the flowers, I probably couldn’t have.”
Papa nods. “An important lesson for you to remember, Bryn. Sometimes confidence is all you need. You have good instincts, so make sure you trust them.”
“Yes, Papa.”
“What about the unicorns?” Elisa demands, clanking her fork against her plate. “Were there any unicorns?”
Seekers of the Wild Realm Page 16