“No,” I said.
His jaw tightened. “Do you care to explain yourself?”
I looked around the room. “I’m standing here right now because we are all declining to take part in your trial.”
“Are you?”
“That’s right. What happened yesterday was not okay, and we aren’t about to let ourselves get led into another deadly trial like cows to a slaughterhouse.”
Draven’s black eyes scanned the galley. “Is this how you all feel?” he asked, but his question was met with silence. “Does she speak for all of you?”
“Not for me,” came Ferrum’s voice. He’d walked in behind them, and now he stood alongside them, like he was their equal.
Crag turned his head, scowled at the much smaller man, and shoved him so hard he stumbled and almost fell on his face. No one laughed, though I wanted to. I really wanted to.
Draven let the silence hang for another moment. It looked like he was about to speak again, but then Felice stood up. “She speaks for me,” she said, “I won’t take part in this trial either.”
“Or me,” came Marv’s voice, deep and loud.
Others around the room started speaking up, until finally we were all standing in defiance of Draven and Crag, all except Ferrum, who clearly didn’t like the way he’d just been humiliated in front of all his peers like that. Draven’s eyebrow arched, his hand clenched into a fist, then he sighed deeply. He turned to Crag and whispered into his ear. Crag nodded, then immediately left the galley, shutting the door behind him.
This is it. He was going to murder us all. Great, good job, Seline. At least I was going to die on a full stomach.
“Very well,” Draven said, “If that is your decision, then so be it. I would like to ask, however, on what other information you are staging this protest?”
“Something doesn’t smell right inside the fortress,” I said, “Whatever you’ve got planned for us to do around here, it should be put to one side until you can figure out what’s going on.”
“So… I see you’ve decided to divulge information you believe you may have overheard.”
There it was, the dig followed by the sting. He had told me something in confidence, and I had betrayed his trust by using what he’d told me to mount this protest. I really wished Rey were here. I wasn’t cut out for this kind of thing. Staging a protest? Leading people? I hated that it had to be me, and hated more the fact that Draven would never confide in me again after this.
“I know what I heard,” I said, “And we all know what we saw. Twenty of us went in, fifteen came out. If you can’t guarantee our safety during these trials inside the fortress, why should we go through with them? Why should any prospect, whether bronze, silver, or gold? The weeding out of the weak has to stop.”
“I see,” Draven said, “And you have appointed yourself a champion of this cause?”
For my sins. “I guess I have.”
Draven nodded. “I am glad that has been settled.”
He turned, opened the galley door, and gestured outside. “If all of you would follow me,” he said, “You are all expected to face your silver finals today. Seline, however, will be docked her advantage.”
“What?” I said, “We just told you, we’re not doing this.”
“Your protest was against following the trial we had planned. I have a backup, it will not take place inside the fortress, and I will take extra precautions to ensure the safety of all our prospects. No one will die today… unless you are truly stupid. Do you wish to protest this also? If you do, there will be punishments this time.”
I was about to say something, but Felice grabbed my leg. “Pick your battles,” she whispered, a scowl on her face.
I pressed my lips into a thin line, hopped off the table, and started walking toward Draven. Felice followed, as did a handful of other prospects. Slowly, quietly, I moved past Draven whose eyes didn’t once fall on me. So that’s how this is gonna be, now. He wasn’t even gonna look at me? My chest tightened, my pace quickened as I stepped out of the galley, and my heart started to race.
I’d succeeded in getting what I wanted, but what had it cost?
When all of the prospects had filed out of the galley, Draven led us through the fortress and into the gymnasium where Crag, Elrik, Greyson, and two other burly guys armed to the teeth with guns and swords, were waiting. Aaryn was there, too, with light battle-armor strapped to her chest, her arms, her thighs and shins. She had a blue orb in her hand, and when Draven gave her the signal, she tossed it into the middle of the room where it hovered, then exploded into a swirling vortex of crackling blue light around a yawning, black mouth.
One by one, the prospects filed through to whatever waited for us on the other side.
Aaryn’s portal spat me out on top of a grassy hill. The land rolled away from me in all directions, nothing but grass and trees under a grey sky. At the top of the hill was a cracked, round sundial. As I approached, I noticed there were strange symbols around the edge of the sundial instead of Roman numerals.
Slowly, the prospects made it through the portal and joined me at the top of the hill. Aaryn, who had been the first to arrive, spread her huge, white wings and cast her gaze across the tree line. The wind ruffled her feathers.
Elrik, Greyson, and the other armed guard took positions around the edge of the hill, while Draven moved up beside Aaryn. The air was cool here, but it smelled like wet flowers and dirt. A smell that I’d always yearned for, but very rarely was exposed to in the big apple. After a moment of whispered conversation between Draven and Aaryn, the instructor turned around to face her prospects.
“Listen up,” she said. “Today’s trial will be simple, but not one you have yet dealt with. You have hunted, you have raced, you have displayed your magical talents and honed your physical skills. Today’s trial will be a culmination of all you have learned. For today, you will be the ones being hunted. I would like Felice to step up to the altar first.”
Felice cocked an eyebrow at me and sauntered over to the cracked sundial. When she arrived, Aaryn released a tiny ball of brilliant light into the air. It fluttered like a butterfly, dancing across Felice’s shoulders before descending on the sundial where it came to rest.
“What’s that?” Felice asked.
“That will determine your opponent,” Aaryn said. “Touch the stone.”
Felice placed two fingers against the stone pedestal, then the butterfly orb took off again. It hovered around the circular platform, bobbing up and down, going around and around like the ball on a roulette wheel. The butterfly then stopped in midair, its light grew outwards like a sun about to explode, but it didn’t explode.
On the sundial, the shadow arrow pointed clearly at a symbol I couldn’t see from where I was standing.
“Ah, interesting,” Aaryn said. She turned to Felice. “Your twenty second head-start begins now. You must run to the east. You may not use your kithe. Run.”
Felice didn’t have to be told twice. She turned on her heel and started sprinting into the trees. Draven nodded at Greyson who returned the nod, pulled his rifle up, and ran into the woods after her. For a moment I thought he was going to be hunting her, but then Aaryn flicked her wrist and produced a violet orb from thin air. She wound back her arm, counted the seconds down, and hurled it in the direction Felice had gone.
As the orb struck the ground, it exploded into a glittering, red-violet cloud. From out of the mist, a huge, lumbering wolf emerged and started chasing after Felice. It was easily the biggest wolf I had ever seen in my life, almost as tall as a car. It snarled as it picked up speed, then disappeared into the woods behind Felice.
“What was that thing?” I asked. “Is it real?”
“A magical construct,” Aaryn said, shaking her head. “They will be real enough to you, and you will each be facing one today. Ferrum—your turn.”
Ferrum approached the sundial, grinning that smug grin of his. The glowing bulb of light considered him, then began to c
ircle the podium at a high speed before abruptly stopping. Its light intensified, casting a shadow on another symbol etched into the stone. I tried to peek, but the symbols were too worn out.
Aaryn inspected the result, nodded, and produced a second violet orb. “Your twenty second head start begins now,” she said to Ferrum. “You may not assume your flame form, you must run to the south. Run.”
Ferrum took off in a different direction to Felice. Aaryn waited as she’d done before, then she hurled the orb in Ferrum’s direction. This time, when the orb exploded, it was a tall, two-legged thing that emerged. It was thin and lanky, hairless, with massively long arms and legs, and a round head. It broke into a four-legged run, using all of it limbs to propel itself forward, making an eerie clicking sound I could feel in the back of my teeth as it ran.
Aaryn nodded at me, I placed two fingers on the sundial, and the magic roulette wheel began to spin. I had no idea what to expect, but looking at the symbols I was probably going to go up against some beast of legend.
One of the symbols was a hooded figure, another was a wolf, another still was a snake with giant fangs. There were exactly sixteen symbols arranged around the sundial, one for each prospect that should’ve made it this far. I wondered if the number of beasts on this thing automatically adjusted depending on how many prospects reached it.
When the light stopped moving, the shadow cast by the sundial landed on an image of a black bird. I narrowed my eyes, trying to get a better look at it. A crow? A raven?
“You do not have an advantage,” Aaryn said, already producing the violet orb. “You must run to the east. You may not use your kithe. Run.”
I didn’t waste another second waiting. I swallowed hard, turned on my heel, and started sprinting off the side of the hill, heading straight for the trees. Behind me I heard an explosion. I felt the magic wash over my body, electrifying my skin. I drew my dagger as I ran, preparing myself for what was to come—a giant bird? Two of them?
The sky filled with a cacophony of cawing that could only have come from a murder of crows. But it wasn’t a small murder. Black birds started shooting past me, feathers falling all around me. One of the birds nipped at my arm as it bolted along, sending a jolt of pain into my body even though my suit was undamaged.
It happened again, and again, no matter how hard I flailed, no matter how fast I ran. These things were all over me; diving, and pecking, and scratching, reaching my skin as if I was naked.
Finally, I hit the trees, and that forced the birds to re-think their tactics. I ran as fast as I could, my arms pumping at my side, my dagger tightly held in my hand. Magic, I thought, run, hide! I hurtled over a fallen log, slipped between densely packed trees, and kept my eyes open for tangles and roots in the ground that could cause me to fall.
Some of the birds managed to make it through the thickness of the trees to keep the pace with me. They found ways of biting and scratching me no matter what I did. The cawing was relentless, the sound they made filling the forest I was in and killing my ability to think. Worse, tiredness was already starting to set in, even though I hadn’t been running for long.
Something about these birds wasn’t right, wasn’t natural.
I saw one of them come diving toward my face, its eyes gleaming, reflecting what little sunlight there was. I ducked, slid, and slipped under a tangle of fallen trees and vines. My heart was pounding, I could hear the crows landing on the log above me, pecking, scratching.
One clever crow jumped onto the floor and tried to walk over to me, lowering its head and entering the little sacred nook I’d taken cover in. I saw its eyes as it turned its head. They shone brightly as they caught the light from above, but they were also glowing red. I hadn’t been able to see that until now, not until one had gotten this close.
“I hate crows,” I said, and then I lashed out at it with my dagger. The blade went through the crow’s neck, slicing its head clean off its little black body. The crow fell, but there was no blood. Instead its body turned to fine black mist, then disappeared. Above me, the disharmony of sounds grew louder and more aggressive.
I’d pissed them off.
Now what?
If I left the safety of the nook, they were all gonna come down on me like a ton of bricks. If I stayed here, then what? When would the trial end? Would I win? Would I lose? I needed to win. I needed to show everyone that I had what it took to be the best. I needed to remind myself that I wasn’t being left behind.
Gripping my dagger tightly, I considered my next move. I had to clear the birds if I wanted to get out from under those logs, and in order to do that, I’d need some magic. I’d never used more than one word of power at a time, but I knew that was something we could do. In my head I held a thought, a deep desire to create as much noise as possible—a high-pitched screech that’d fry the birds’ ears.
As I drew the magic out from within myself, the amber gem in the dagger’s hilt started to glow. My body hummed with power, my skin electrified. “Ashur vee!” I yelled, willing the magic to erupt from my body like lava from a volcano.
I couldn’t hear it. My own ears were shielded from the magic sound I had created. But I felt it, the vibration against my temples, in my chest. The birds’ incessant cawing turned to pained screeching that filled the sky. That I could hear, and I had to cover my ears to keep sound out. Slowly, the screeching died away, and I knew the coast was clear.
I took my chance, slipped out from under the logs, and started running again. Maybe the birds wouldn’t be able to catch me if I got far enough away. It was possible they’d be tracking me by sight, so as long as I laid low, I had a chance of being able to avoid them while at the same time finding a better spot to hide in—a more defensible position.
My thoughts were cut in half when I heard a series of gunshots ring out through the forest. I stopped, perked up and scanned the wilderness. Nothing but thick trees, hanging vines, and moss-covered rocks as far as the eye could see. I could hear the birds high above, having retreated from my magic, but I had a feeling they’d be back, and soon.
More gunfire. I spun around this time, searching for the source. I thought I heard someone shout. I was about to take a step in that direction, when an arrow sailed right before my eyes and slammed into the tree immediately at my side. The arrow wobbled from the force of the impact, and I hit the dirt, lying flat on my hands.
“Shit,” I cursed, under my breath, “Shit!” I perked my head up to try and get a look, and another arrow came my way, landing directly in the dirt in front of me. It was hunters, it had to have been. There was no way Greyson or any of the other armed guards Draven had brought with him would mistake me for an enemy. Something had happened, I was on my own, and I was officially in danger.
So much for no one’s dying on my watch.
A thought struck me, then. A way out. “Voyda,” I whispered, and magic strummed through me like I was a string on a harp. The shadows thickened around my body, and light itself moved around me as if it didn’t want to touch me.
Slowly, carefully, I crawled on my hands and feet until I was far enough away from the spot where I’d dropped to the ground. I got to my feet, keeping my eyes peeled, watching for targets, for threats, but finding none. I swallowed hard and tried to sense my way around. I’d been running in that direction, which meant I’d come from… that direction.
I think?
Fuck.
I was screwed. Worse, the birds weren’t screeching anymore—they were cawing, descending, swooping down from high above the trees; searching. So, double screwed. Maybe they couldn’t see me with my shadow spell active, but the magic wouldn’t last forever. Eventually, they’d spot me. I had to think fast, and I had to move even faster.
Light on my feet, quick of breath, I dashed through the forest in search of where the gunfire had come from. It had stopped seconds ago, but that didn’t mean the shooter had downed whoever they’d been shooting at. The forest was alive with movement, from butterflies to the shado
ws of birds circling above, keeping my senses as sharp as razor blades and keeping my hackles up.
I heard a crunch of twigs and turned sharply. A hint of color amidst the trees, a glimmer of light. I hit the dirt just as a third arrow came shooting toward me. The arrow sailed into the woods, missing me by inches, but I’d been seen.
Crawling, I rushed through the undergrowth, my hands and bodysuit caked with wet soil, until I came across what looked like a body. My heart thumped hard against my temples, my vision started to swim. It was Greyson.
His head was tilted back, his eyes lolling wide, his shades hanging off one ear. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, an arrow jutted from his throat. He wouldn’t have been able to scream or even gurgle if he’d wanted to, with that thing lodged in his windpipe.
“Shit,” I cursed under my breath again, looking around for signs of enemies.
It seemed like the area was clear, but a second ago I’d been shot at even with the light playing tricks around my body. The fact that Greyson, and the rifle clutched in his hands, hadn’t yet been moved by the person who dropped him could’ve been a trap. I wouldn’t know unless I decided to go for it. Without a rifle, what chance did I have against whoever was attacking us?
Three consecutive breaths, and I was up like a lightning bolt. I shot across the clearing, skidded on my knees, and wrestled the gun out of Greyson’s death grip. One finger, two. My back prickled all over like ants had descended from the trees and started crawling along my spine. Magic. Someone was using magic nearby.
Three fingers, four. I wrenched the gun out of Greyson’s hand, spun around, and dropped to one knee, the rifle raised level with my eyesight. I caught a shimmer of light, a twinkle within the forest, and let the gun sing.
Six bullets went one way, one arrow went the other. I heard a grunt and a thud from the area I’d shot at, but an arrow struck me in the shoulder just as I was about to get up. I groaned. It had pierced right through my shoulder with enough of an impact to force me onto my back again. Gasping, I glanced at the arrow sticking out of my arm, my eyes wide and unbelieving.
The Obsidian Order Boxed Set Page 34