by Kova, Elise
When the announcements were over, the candidates were escorted in groups of six, six, and five to wagons waiting in the center of the lower area. Each wagon had one Groundbreaker, two Firebearers, and three or two Waterrunners.
A palace guard handed out cotton, instructing them to place it in their ears. Eira was all too happy to oblige and drown out the deafening noise of the crowd. But her other candidates seemed a little skeptical about what was to come. They hadn’t been afforded the same level of detail about what to expect—an edge that would benefit her.
The next guard that came around bound strips of fabric around their heads. The cloth held the cotton in place and covered their eyes. Around and around they wound the blindfold until the world was completely dark, save for pops of light behind Eira’s eyes from the pressure.
She placed her hands under her thighs to keep herself from touching the blindfold. At any time she could take it off. It wasn’t tied with a knot she couldn’t undo. But to remove it was to forfeit.
Right before the cart lurched forward, there was a commotion. Eira could make out hazy noise, but she couldn’t tell what had transpired. Her shoulder brushed against the people next to her as the wagon jostled down the road. She didn’t even know who she was rocking against. She hadn’t paid attention to who was in the wagon with her. It could be Alyss and Marcus as easily as anyone else.
This trial is you against yourself; it is a test of survival, Ferro had said. We will send you all out and you must find your way back. The fastest will progress on.
As the cart continued to rock and rumble down the mountainside, Eira shifted her hands, folding them in her lap. She wasn’t going to touch her blindfold no matter how much of a headache it gave her. Instead, she focused on Ferro and their encounter the night before. She would fight to make it back to him.
And when I return, I will be the one to kiss him, Eira vowed to herself.
The cart made its first stop. The boards creaked underfoot, sagging as one of the candidates was removed. Silence, followed by the cart jostling once more.
Eira was the fifth person let off out of six. The guard tapped her shoulders and held her hands as he helped her off the cart. He tapped her shoulder twice and she heard the faint groan of the cart through the cotton of her ears.
Two taps, count to one hundred, they’d instructed. Eira wasn’t sure how they’d know if she counted to one hundred or sixty, but she did one hundred anyway before removing her blindfold.
The world was blinding. A thick sheet of white carpeted the tundra from the mountain blizzard days ago. The wind howled down from the mountaintops that surrounded her.
Eira turned in place, trying to get her bearings. The cart tracks did a few turns on themselves around her, no doubt trying to trick her. The sun was high in the sky by now. Too high to tell with confidence which way was east or west.
Fortunately, the trees were thin here. Eira summoned a small pole of ice in the snow and she marked where its shadow fell. While she waited, Eira paced, continuing to assess her options. She was in a small valley up on a ridge. Above and below her, the forest thickened. Given the altitude, she was either east or west of Solarin—closer to Oparium or Rivend. Eira was familiar with those two places…but she didn’t recognize where she was now in the slightest.
After fifteen minutes, Eira made a second line, assessing its difference from the first. The shadow had moved in a clockwise direction and the two lines helped create her compass rose. At least…it should, according to the book on survival tactics Alyss had found in the Imperial Library.
Eira stared at the cart tracks. There was a notable pile of snow by a deeper rut—likely where the cart had come to a stop. This meant that the cart had entered from the east. So she surmised she was closer to Rivend and Solarin should be back…
“In that direction, right? What do you think?” Eira murmured to the howling wind. It pushed on her back, as if encouraging her to the west, south-west. “Yes, that way? Let’s make sure.”
Eira lifted her hands slowly, feeling her magic swell. She swept them across her body and her power surged. A tide of water was summoned from thin air at her command, freezing in place against the ridge rising at what she suspected was her south. Stairs formed in the ice and Eira made her way up.
As she walked, she twirled her hands around each other. Eira imagined herself as a Lightspinner, unraveling invisible strands of power that condensed in front of her feet as she rose higher and higher above the trees. At the top of her staircase to nowhere, Eira came to a stop, coating her feet in ice to her calves so she wouldn’t fall.
Raising a hand to her brow, Eira squinted into the horizon. The snow and ice from the blizzard was blindingly reflective. But in the distance… Was that smoke, or a cloud? Smoke, it had to be.
Turning, Eira freed herself from the ice and raced down the stairs. Magic crackled around her, following her every step. Cold and quiet were welcome companions. The rustling of the trees were the only sounds she heard. Forests rarely had unintentional vessels to whisper at her.
Eira inhaled deeply. The air tasted like freedom. Her magic was alive here—she was alive here. She was untethered from the world. She was alone and the fact thrilled her rather than filled her with fear. This frozen landscape couldn’t hurt her if it tried.
After about two hours of what was otherwise a pleasant hike, it did try.
The world had grown still, the air holding its breath. There was a low whoosh sound, like the earth itself let out a soft groan. It was followed by a rumble, almost like thunder on the horizon. But it was too early for the lightning storms that plagued the South in summer.
No…this was a different and terrible sound that Eira knew as well as the terror that followed it in her bones.
She spun, looking up at the ridges and mountaintops around her. A fraction of movement caught her eye. A sheet of snow was breaking off, sliding down the mountainside. An element of the trial or bad timing? Either way, she had to act now.
The snow and ice was already racing toward her, sweeping up the mountainside. There was no way she could confidently outrun it. She’d have to brace for it.
Eira planted both her feet, facing the impending avalanche. Holding her arms out wide, Eira spun her power around her. A cocoon of ice began wrapping in arcs supported by thick beams. She anchored it to the sturdiest trees nearby. If the avalanche was going to take her down, it’d have to take down three large pines with her.
The ice was a deep blue, the shade of the ancient glaciers and equally strong. It would hold because this survival technique was one of the first things her uncle had taught her and Marcus when he’d found out about their abilities.
Which was why Eira didn’t miss the flash of magic up the mountain from her. Ice shot up like petals wrapping together into a bud with a point at its top. That was Marcus’s framework. She knew for certain it was even if she couldn’t get a good look before the rush of snow consumed the distant cocoon and her own ice closed around her.
Eira closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Either it was Marcus, and he’d be fine, or it was another candidate who didn’t have the ability to defend themselves in time and Fritz or Grahm was protecting them at the last minute. She’d find out later. For now, she needed to keep her focus on herself.
The walls of her ice fortress were so thick that when the avalanche reached her it was little more than a dull thud. She could hear the groan of snow, ice, and debris rushing around her. But Eira remained safe and insulated, waiting until the sounds had vanished and the world was still.
She walked up a spiral stair of her making, leaving through a small skylight she opened in the top of her bunker. The mountainside was washed away with a slough of snow. Eira squinted up it, looking to where she’d seen the magic spark.
Whoever it was would be all right. She’d already run the calculations in her mind. There was only the illusion of danger in the trials…nothing real.
She needed to worry about herself and kee
p going.
Eira turned, starting in the direction of Solarin, her magic shoring up her footing. But her feet stopped, refusing to move another step. Her gaze swung back to that distant point—at least, where she thought she remembered seeing the magic.
“Come on,” Eira murmured. She had to keep going. There were still eight Waterrunners in the competition and two were being cut. She had to be one of the first six to make it back.
Though…if she was the first or the sixth, it made no difference.
“Come on,” she repeated, louder.
Still, there was no movement in the snow.
Worry got the better of her. Eira raced up the mountainside, the snow and frost meeting her feet to support her sprint. She was over a third of the way there when she saw a spark of magic erupt through the snow like a frozen volcano.
Eira pressed on anyway. She wouldn’t leave until she made sure the other person was all right. Perhaps the avalanche wasn’t part of the trial and was merely a freak accident. If that was the case, someone might have been actually hurt. The proctors hiding in the forest might not have eyes on her and whoever this person was.
She was over halfway when she saw someone, finally, emerge from the snow. Eira ran faster and forced her eyes to focus on the individual. She’d know that silhouette anywhere.
“Marcus, you ass!” Eira shouted, her voice echoing across the snow. He spun, dazed, before his eyes landed on her.
“Eira?” he called back. “Wait there.” Marcus leapt in the air. When he landed, two strips of ice were underneath his feet, thin and strong; he skied down the mountainside to her. “What’re you doing here? Did you get caught in it too?”
“Yes, farther down… I saw your magic but you took forever to surface. I was worried.”
“I was pretty deep under. I tunneled slowly to make sure I didn’t get buried the moment I opened the shell.” His eyes scanned the track of the avalanche. “Do you think there was anyone else trapped in it?”
“Not that I saw.” Eira followed his gaze. “But I can’t be certain there wasn’t someone farther down from where I was.”
“I’m sure they’re all right. After all, the illusion of danger, right?”
“Yeah…assuming this was part of the trial.”
Marcus laughed. “I can imagine Uncle Fritz perched on a mountaintop delighting in messing with us all. I’m sure it’s fine.” He clasped a hand on her shoulder. “Now, we should go.”
“We’re supposed to do this alone. The point is to survive on our own,” Eira said as he moved to set out once more.
“No one should have to survive alone. The first step to survival is trying to find someone to do it with. It’s too unbearable otherwise.”
“You explain that to them when they’re trying to disqualify us,” Eira murmured, the wound of Fritz’s attempt still lingering.
“You were the one to help me first.” His hand was heavy on her shoulder. “Why did you?”
“I was worried you were trapped under the snow.”
“Not that… You helped Cullen find out about the second trial when I couldn’t.”
“You asked me to.” Eira glanced away, knowing where this was going. She didn’t expect to have this conversation here, now.
“You could’ve said no. I basically asked you to cheat.”
“You didn’t ‘basically’ ask me, you did ask me to cheat.” Eira rolled her eyes and Marcus gave a sheepish grin. “Plus, I cheated on my own later.”
“Yet you shared that advantage with me. Alyss I get you telling your insider information because she’s your best friend and she can’t take your spot as a final competitor. But I can. You want to win, don’t you?”
“More than anything.” Eira looked at him fiercely. “At first, I just wanted to show you that I could take care of myself. But then I…I wanted it for me. I wanted it because I thought I could win and deserved to. Then when I found out—when Mother and Father told me—well, you know…I think there may be a clue as to who my birth parents really are on Meru.”
“And you want to know?” he asked.
“I think so.” Eira shook her head. “It’s all a bit confusing still. I don’t know yet if I can live with not knowing… But even if I find I can, Meru calls to me in a way nothing else has before. I wanted to go before I found out all that and I still want to go now. I know that want is mine.”
“If you want all that so badly, why help me?”
“Because, as far as I saw it, you have been my only competition from the beginning. You and I had to stay on a level field. Otherwise, I couldn’t feel like I earned my spot. I wanted to beat you fairly.”
He chuckled and pulled her close. Eira gave her brother a tight squeeze. “I don’t deserve a sister like you.”
“No, you don’t,” she teased.
He laughed softly, not releasing her. “I should tell you something. I should have told you a while ago but I didn’t…because I’m not as strong as you, apparently.”
“What is it?”
“Why I didn’t graduate the Tower.” He straightened and looked her in the eye. “It was because Fritz knew the tournament was coming. He wanted to keep me close, where he could train me and prepare me for it. He also thought I’d be a more compelling candidate if I were an apprentice still. So, yes, I was looking out for you, too. But it wasn’t always about you, Eira.”
Her smile was bitter. The confession gave new clarity to what she’d heard in the library months ago when he’d been speaking with Cullen.
“Thanks for telling me,” Eira said softly. “I guess you were always the one destined to win this.”
“We’ll see. Destiny isn’t written by mortal hands.”
“Isn’t that the truth?” Eira looked out over the snowy slopes and forests, back toward Solarin. “You know I’m still going to fight for it, right?”
“I’m counting on it.”
“Good.” She gave him a small smile.
“Then let’s fight for it together; let’s make sure it’s you and me at the very end.” He patted her shoulder. “I’ve felt the same. You were my only competition from the start.”
“Really?” The wind nearly washed out her word. He’d seen her as his only competition? That meant Marcus had seen her as his equal or better? Her perfect brother that she’d held on a high pedestal for years thinking she could never reach him…all along they’d been standing together.
“Yes, really.” He nodded. “So, let’s go back, you and I. We’ll overcome this fourth trial and get to Solarin together. And then, we’ll fight it out at the very end. Let the best Landan sibling win.”
Eira beamed. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
23
They hadn’t been skiing for a good month or two. Springtime brought the best snowfall to the mountains, but getting out to the slopes was tedious and the clinics had kept them busy this year. Eira hadn’t realized how much she’d missed it until now.
Racing down the mountainside, swerving back and forth around each other, Eira couldn’t stop smiling. The wind tangled in her hair like a lover, threatening to loose the ties on her braids and knot it hopelessly. Her traveling clothes—carefully chosen to be mobile for the trial—were plastered against her skin by snow and speed.
It felt as if she were speeding toward her destiny—racing to a land of infinite possibility that was now suddenly in reach. She traded grins with Marcus as she went on ahead. They’d stop soon. The tree line was looming. But for now, she’d go as fast as she could. She’d fly.
She crossed the first tree and twisted to the side, digging in with the sides of her ice skis and magic until she slowed to a stop. When Eira straightened, the ice was gone and Marcus came to a stop as well. They stared, breathless and grinning, before bursting out laughing.
“You’ve been sneaking out to the mountains without me.”
“I have not!”
“You’ve never been that fast.”
Eira shrugged, starting through the
snow into the forest. “I’ve always been faster than you, though.”
“But not that fast. What’s your secret?” He approached wriggling his fingers.
“If you even try and tickle me I swear I will freeze you to your marrow.” Eira shot him a glare. He roared with laughter.
“The last time I tickled you was before you were even a Tower apprentice.”
“Let’s keep it that way, shall we?” Eira regarded his hands warily before continuing to walk. “And the trick is to use your magic to smooth out the snow in front of you. Less resistance means you go faster.”
“See, you are brilliant.” Marcus swept a hand through his hair, shaking frost from it.
“I always knew it; you were the one who had to catch up.” What she said was a lie. She hadn’t always known it. Maybe part of her had. But the other part of her was so good at doubting herself that it had been able to speak the loudest words in her mind for years.
“I’m glad you knew—know it.” Marcus slung his arm around her shoulders.
“Don’t get sappy on me.” She pushed him away. “And you’re too heavy; I can’t walk like that.”
“Fine, fine.”
They continued making conversation for the rest of the day as they trudged through the woods. Eventually, they came to a small game trail that Marcus swore he recognized from one of his maps as a hunter’s thoroughfare from Solarin to Rivend. After only a brief discussion, Eira agreed to let him lead them, insisting it was a shortcut.
The sun was now hanging low in the western sky. So they knew for certain they were heading eastward. If Eira was right, they were headed to Solarin. If she’d been wrong about her initial placement then they’d end up in Oparium and the fact that his shortcut was wrong wouldn’t matter anyway. They would’ve already lost the trial and she’d have to face their parents. Their navigation had better be right, because Eira wasn’t prepared for either.