Seekers of the Wild Realm

by Alexandra Ott

  As we walk toward the back entrance, it occurs to me that I’m about to come face-to-face with Johann for the first time since the rock incident. Despite myself, I shudder at the thought.

  “Are you okay?” Ari asks. “Not trying to pry, but your emotions just went all…” He trails off.

  Which is when I realize that I never told Ari that Johann threw rocks into our hut. Which is dumb, because Johann is probably just as mad at Ari for what happened during the first trial as he is at me. Meaning that if he hasn’t retaliated against Ari yet, he might try today.

  “You should know something,” I say. “Someone threw rocks through our window the night after the first trial.”

  Ari freezes. “What?”

  “Nobody was hurt. They just broke a pitcher. But it could have been worse.”

  “Johann,” Ari says instantly. “Because of what happened during the trial.”

  “I think so. Papa saw some boys running away and couldn’t identify them, but I’m pretty sure it was him. Probably with his brother or one of his friends. And I’d bet he used his warrior gift to throw those rocks.”

  “Are you going to tell the Seekers?”

  “No. I think that will just make it worse.”

  Ari nods. “I’m so sorry, Bryn.”

  “Don’t. I don’t want to be pitied. I just want to compete. And I thought you should know, because he might try to get revenge on you, too. He’s probably got something planned for today.”

  Ari nods again. “Well, at least we know Johann will lose, and he’ll leave us alone once he’s out of the competition.”

  I look down at my feet. “My mama doesn’t think so. She thinks that it’s only going to get worse if I win, because Johann won’t be the only one who’s upset.”

  Ari kicks a stone in the path, sending it skittering into the grass. “If you win?” he says finally. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say that before.”

  I shrug. “Guess I’m not feeling very competitive today.”

  “You’d better start, then. How am I supposed to be competitive when my biggest rival isn’t baiting me?” He gives me a teasing smile, and I slowly smile back.

  “Your biggest rival, huh? I don’t think I’ve ever heard you admit that before.”

  Ari gives a lazy shrug. “Guess I have to start, since it’s all anyone will be saying once we both win today and get into the top three.”

  “True. After I defeat all four of you today, everyone will know I’m the one to beat,” I say, grinning wider.

  “That’s more like it.”

  Johann and Emil are already waiting when we reach the back entrance, talking and laughing among themselves. They glance our way a couple of times and snigger, but Ari and I keep our distance, pretending not to see them. Tomas arrives a moment after us, his expression as stoic and unreadable as always. He gives Ari a slight nod of acknowledgment, but his gaze slides right over me and lands on Johann and Emil, who both earn a slight sneer before he turns away, leaning against the stone of the arena wall as if he doesn’t care about anything. I glance at Ari.

  “So you’re in Tomas’s good graces now?” I say.

  Ari shrugs. “We both pretty much keep to ourselves during training sessions, and he seems to like that. He doesn’t have much patience with Johann or Emil. I’m pretty sure he thinks they’re idiots.”

  “That’s because they are idiots,” I say quietly, and Ari snorts.

  I almost expect Johann to say something taunting to me, or to make a veiled remark about the rock incident, but he doesn’t acknowledge me any more than Tomas did. Maybe I’m wrong and he had nothing to do with it. Maybe his father really did talk to him about it, like he promised Papa he would. Or maybe Johann is just saving up his nasty remarks for the arena.

  Emil, though, looks a little shakier today than he did before the first round. Probably the nerves getting to him. Though Emil and Tomas ought to be the most confident out of any of us, really, since it’s their magical specialties that this trial is focused on.…

  The swish of a Seeker’s cloak causes all five of us to look up, only to see Seeker Ludvik rather than Seeker Agnar making his way up the path.

  “Good morning, future Seekers,” he says, smiling brightly and clapping his hands together. “Gather ’round, please.”

  We form a loose half circle around him, though Ari and I keep our distance from the others. Ari places himself directly between me and Emil, and there’s a big gap on my other side that Tomas, who’s closest, makes no effort to fill.

  “Seeker Agnar has asked me to prep you all today,” Seeker Ludvik says, “since I used my own gift quite a bit in preparing today’s challenge for you all. The rules of this trial will be the same as the previous one. You will all be given a task to complete, and you will report to the council’s table as soon as you are finished. Three of the five of you will advance to the next round. If more than three of you complete the task successfully, it will be up to the judges’ discretion to select which competitors advance. In that case, the speed with which you complete the task, the quality of your spellwork and overall performance, and the knowledge and competency you display will all be factors in our decision.”

  He pauses, gazing around the circle at each of us. “Today’s task will be different from the previous one, however, because for this round we are less interested in your abilities to seek out plants and track creatures, which you all demonstrated wonderfully before. This time, we are interested in your spellwork, and particularly the defense, boundary, and healing spells that you haven’t yet had the chance to perform for us. Each of these spells is vital for Seekers to use in our everyday work, so it is important that each of you, regardless of your particular gift, is able to display competency and familiarity with these tasks.

  “Having said that, the judges will, of course, take your natural gift into account. While someone with a healing gift who performs healing spells well is admirable, we will be much more impressed by, say, a warrior who can achieve the same result with creative use of their gift. The way in which you complete the task is just as important as the completion of the task itself. Does everyone understand?”

  We all nod, though Emil has begun tapping his fingers nervously against his side. Maybe he was counting on his natural abilities as a defender to get him through this round.

  “All right, then,” Ludvik says cheerfully. “Formalities aside, let’s move on to the fun part, shall we? I can’t wait to show you what I’ve been working on.”

  He claps his hands again, but this time the bright purple sparks of his magic fly forward. We all take instinctive steps back as a shimmering shield of sparks forms in the center of the circle.

  Only it isn’t a shield at all, or at least not one I’ve ever seen. It’s flowing rapidly through the air, forming some kind of shape.…

  “The healing spells for today’s competition are a bit of a challenge,” Ludvik says. “Obviously we didn’t want to hurt a real creature in order to test your abilities; nor did we want to risk the possibility of someone misperforming a spell and causing further harm. We needed a way to simulate the creatures of the Realm. Luckily, there’s a little trick that I’ve been working on.…”

  As Ludvik speaks, the sparks of his defender gift continue to move, taking on a more recognizable shape—a head with a beak, a long slender body, feathered wings and tail…

  A phoenix.

  Emil gasps at the sight, and both Johann and Ari are wide-eyed. Tomas is pretending to look unimpressed but doesn’t quite manage it.

  I’ve never seen a defender use their gift like this before, and I don’t think the others have either. Of course, I’ve seen defenders make shields of varying sizes and shapes, so I suppose it makes sense that something like this is possible. But the intricacy and level of detail required to take this kind of shape… It’s some of the most impressive magic I’ve ever seen.

  Ludvik smiles, pleased by our reactions. “There are five simulations just like this
one waiting for each of you in the arena,” he says. “But I have deliberately given each of them a misshapen element—perhaps a phoenix that’s missing its beak or a dragon with a broken claw. Your first task will be to use your gift to interact with these pretend creatures and, combining your energy with theirs, ‘heal’ the misshapen element and mold it into the right shape. While this task isn’t quite the same as performing an actual healing, it does mimic all of the skills you will need and visually demonstrates your abilities for us, so I think it will do the job quite nicely.”

  “The first task?” Tomas asks quietly. “How many tasks will there be?”

  “An excellent question,” Ludvik says. He waves his hand, and the shimmering phoenix in the air disappears in a shower of violet sparks. “After you have healed one of the five creatures, you will enter a tunnel that will lead you to a second section of the arena, where there will be real creatures of the Realm waiting for you. In fact, there are five creatures, one for each of you. Your second task is to create a boundary spell that will keep one particular creature safely contained. There is a physical barrier surrounding the enclosure to protect the audience in the stands, but you must create a magical one as if there is no physical barrier at all. At the end of the competition, we will test the solidity of the one you create. Anyone whose barrier does not hold will fail this round. Anyone who did not correctly heal their fictional creature will also fail the round.”

  Ari clears his throat. “So once we’ve created our barrier, we report to the council to let you know we’re finished?”

  “Precisely,” Seeker Ludvik says. “Are there any more questions?”

  The five of us exchange glances, but no one speaks.

  “Excellent,” Seeker Ludvik says. “I wish all of you the very best. I’m sure you’ll do marvelously.” He strides forward, breaking the circle, and opens the back door to the arena.

  He gazes down at the five of us. “Let the second trial of the Seeker competition begin.”

  TWENTY-FIVE

  The arena isn’t as dramatically altered this time, but that only makes me more nervous.

  We step into an open semicircle that takes up maybe a third of the arena’s space. Beyond it are tall, darkly colored walls that arch into a large tunnel. The tunnel is dark, and nothing within or beyond it is visible. We can’t see over the walls, either, so we have no clue what might be waiting for us on the other side. At least with the forest I understood what kinds of things I might expect to find, but this tunnel seems more sinister somehow, a yawning chasm leading to something unknown.

  I take a deep breath, forcing myself to stop worrying about it. I have to complete the healing part of the competition first anyway. The tunnel, and whatever lies beyond it, must wait.

  As soon as all five competitors have filed into the arena, the door bangs shut behind us, and the audience cheers. I glance around, looking for my parents, but they must be on the other side of the arena, beyond the walls.

  Violet sparks burst into life in front of us, and I straighten my spine. The test has begun.

  Five bright, shimmering creatures form in the air. Just like with the phoenix Seeker Ludvik used to demonstrate, the magic takes a while to form. It seems that each of the creatures is different, though, and some are much larger than the others—

  The one in front of Ari sprouts what looks like a horn, and I’m guessing it’s a unicorn. On my other side, the sparks closest to Tomas shape themselves into something small, four-legged, and furred—probably an icefox. On the other side of the circle, near Emil and Johann, the twisting coil of a vatnavera rises up, next to something small and beaked that’s most likely a gyrpuff.

  And in front of me, the shape is growing larger and larger, and larger still—

  It’s a dragon.

  I smile.

  This imaginary dragon is larger than Lilja, but not as big as most fully grown dragons, probably because there simply isn’t enough space for the illusion to take on that much mass, or because it requires too much energy for Seeker Ludvik to maintain. Regardless, it’s close enough in size to Lilja that I should be able to tell what its energy should feel like.

  I reach for my gift, bringing the sparks of magic to life on my fingertips, and close my eyes. The magic rushes forward, seeking out Ludvik’s. The energy is all wrong for a dragon—because, of course, it isn’t one. It’s simply a shield given shape. But it’s a spark of magical energy nonetheless, so it’s a close enough substitute for the life spark of a real being. I gently probe it with my gift, getting a sense of where the energy ebbs and flows and how strong it is.

  There’s definitely something wrong with one of the dragon’s wings, which is hanging lower than the other. There’s less energy surrounding it than the other wing, or any of the dragons’ limbs. In fact, it seems to be draining, with energy flowing away from it. Like… like blood flowing from a wound.

  Once I make the connection, it’s easy enough to locate the fake “wound” the energy is leaking from and, using the tricks Runa taught me, bind it up with a quick infusion of magic. The energy stops flowing away from the wing, and I balance out its life source carefully, making the injured wing match the other.

  There’s just one problem—this is taking a lot of energy. I don’t know how Seeker Ludvik is managing to maintain this, but just trying to fill up its wing is draining me. I pull in any loose strands of my gift that are hovering around, trying to be as precise as possible and make every bit of my energy count.

  Almost there… Just a need a little bit more… more… more…

  There.

  I open my eyes in time to see the fake dragon stretch both wings, bow its head toward me, and disappear in a shower of sparks.

  I exhale in relief and dab at the sweat that’s broken out along my hairline. That took a lot of concentration, and now I feel completely empty. I reach for my gift, but there’s hardly anything left.

  First task down, one more to go.

  Beside me, Ari’s eyes are closed as he concentrates, yellow magic swirling around his fingers. On my other side, both Tomas and his icefox are gone. He must already be in the tunnel. I leap into action, not bothering to check if Emil or Johann has completed their task. I run straight into the tunnel, allowing the blackness to swallow me up.

  The air in here is cold, and I wrap my arms around my chest as I run. Ahead, a small pinprick of light is visible. The other side of the arena.

  The tunnel turns out to be short, and I’m barely even winded as I reach a door at the end with a wide opening set in the top to allow light to pass through. I open the door and emerge from the tunnel’s depths into the second section of the arena. There are more walls here, between the edge of the arena and the stands, and also a series of five enclosures lined up along the back wall—

  And there are five firecats prowling in front of me.

  The task is obvious and terrifying all at once. Five firecats, five enclosures, five competitors. Each of us has to herd one of the firecats into an enclosure, then set a boundary spell to keep it there. The enclosures have only three walls, so we’ll have to create the fourth using magic, one that it can’t break or leap over or burn down.

  Unfortunately, the firecats don’t seem at all happy about this situation.

  To my right, two firecats are prowling along the edge of the walled arena, looking for a way out. A third is shooting fireballs at the walls, trying to tear them down.

  To my left, Tomas is halfway to one of the enclosures, his head bowed, blue sparks of magic dancing between him and the fourth firecat, who is growling in warning and spouting huge flames on his back.

  There is one more firecat in the arena, and it’s standing right in front of me.

  It whirls around as soon as it senses me, eyes wide, flames flaring up along its paws, back, and tail. Both its size and the crest of fire along its spine tell me it’s a male, though it’s probably a young one, since it’s on the small side, a little under two feet tall on all fours. Not that
it matters, since it could kill me either way.

  But firecats don’t harm humans unless provoked. They guard their territory fiercely, though, and can be deadly if mishandled.

  And this one, like his friends, does not look happy about having been taken out of the Realm and placed in a small enclosure.

  The firecat watches me without blinking, its claws digging into the dirt beneath its feet.

  At this moment, there are two things it could choose to do if it decides I’m a threat. One is to run away, which is generally a firecat’s first course of action, since they can run faster than the human eye can see. But in such a small enclosure, it has to know already that running won’t do it any good. There’s no place to go.

  The second option is to use its flames to conjure up a deadly fireball and launch it toward its enemy. Which, at the moment, is me.

  If I were a defender, I could use my gift to make a shield to protect me from the fire. If I were a warrior, I could use my gift to redirect any flaming fireball the cat decides to send my way. If I were an empath, I could use my gift to calm it down and make sure it doesn’t feel aggressive.

  But I’m a naturalist. And interacting with magical creatures is where we shine the most.

  Which means this should be easy. Unfortunately, I barely have any magic left. And this is going to take a lot more energy.

  I sink a few tendrils of my gift into the ground, seeking any source that I can draw upon… anything at all…

  Nothing.

  I try again.

  Nothing.

  The firecat is still prowling in front of me, and I don’t have much time. But I can’t find any energy. Not a single leaf or an ant or anything.

  The Seekers must have done this on purpose. There’s no other explanation. Somehow they removed all of the life sources from this arena and planned for Seeker Ludvik’s first challenge to drain us.

  Aside from the other competitors and spectators, whom I’m not allowed to interact with, there’s only one source of energy left in this arena: