He grunted. “Sledge.”
That sounded like an alias. Like the ones the House of Fire used. Was anyone from there here? I should have known there’d be a catch to the contest being open to everyone, but I shouldn’t jump to conclusions based on a nickname.
“Nice to meet you, then.” Given how quick he’d been to shove another contender into the line of fire, I doubted the feeling was mutual, but it couldn’t hurt to give a decent first impression.
The contenders who’d been hiding from the phantoms climbed to their feet, while others faced the Elemental Soldiers gathering outside the arena.
“Is the goal for us to just… survive?” asked a dark-haired woman with a faint pattern of scars on her pale forehead and neck. “I mean, we aren’t supposed to fight each other or anything?”
“The combat rounds will be later in the week,” the Air Element called over the side of the arena. “Today, the goal is to weed out the unqualified.”
“It still looks too crowded in there,” added the Earth Element. “Let’s see what you make of this.”
The ground erupted beneath our feet. Everyone grabbed onto the arena walls or the nearest person as a series of spiky worm-like protrusions rose from the earth, jabbing at anyone who got too close.
“What the hell is that?” bellowed Sledge.
“Giant worms?” And I’d thought the vampire chickens were bad enough. I braced a hand against the nearest wall as the ground continued to buckle. “Guys, I don’t think they’re deadly. Just spiky.”
The others didn’t seem to agree. Several people had fainted. Others climbed on each other’s heads to get out of the spiky worms’ paths. I backed up a few steps, and a pair of jagged teeth sank into my ankle. Okay. I take it back. Swearing, I kicked out, conjuring fire to my hand in an attempt to drive the worm to let go. Another firm kick dislodged it.
“They won’t burn!” Sledge stood surrounded by a circle of flames, but the worms kept burrowing their way inside the barrier.
“They’re fireproof,” said one of the others. “What crap is this?”
“They wouldn’t make it easy for us, would they?” I kept both eyes on my feet as I backed up to make sure I didn’t get bitten again. “They’re not deadly. I think the point of this is to scare off anyone who can’t handle it.”
“Then why is the floor moving?” said the scarred woman.
Oh, boy. As the worms moved beneath the surface, the ground rippled as though something larger stirred beneath. A contender fell into a sizeable hole with a cry of alarm.
“Hold onto something!” I grabbed the arena wall and climbed up the side. As I clung on for dear life, several other contenders vaulted over the walls and fled. Liches drifted towards the arena to escort the quitters out.
I expected the young woman to be one of them, but instead she backed up to the wall and whipped out a pair of blades. Then, as everyone gaped at her, two worms fell, cleaved in two.
A bell rang out, and the Earth Element approached the arena, a smirk on his face. At a sharp gesture, the worms sank into the ground again, leaving the bedraggled survivors half-buried in mountains of soil.
“Give those here,” said the Water Element, indicating the blades in the contender’s hands. “No weapons allowed.”
“All right.” The girl handed over the two blades.
The Water Element tilted her head. “All your weapons. Go on.”
With a sigh and an eye-roll, the contender retrieved no fewer than five weapons from her clothing. I arched a brow. That was impressive, given that they must have searched everyone on their way in. I liked her already.
The Air Element eyed my position perched on top of the wall. “All participants who leave the arena are disqualified.”
“I haven’t left the arena,” I pointed to the wall beneath me. “See?”
The Air Element couldn’t argue with that. The woman with the excessive knife collection shot me a grin as I hopped off the wall back into the arena, which was more of a pile of mud than anything by now. At least the worms had vanished. I picked a handful of dirt out of my hair and turned to listen to the Water Element as she addressed us.
“You have an hour-long break,” she said. “There are showers next to the dorm, should you want to use them.”
I didn’t see much point if we were going to get buried in mud again this afternoon, but I wasn’t about to complain about a reprieve—and a chance to have a proper look around the castle and talk to the other contenders.
My third rule for surviving in the Parallel: adapt to your surroundings wherever possible.
The Water Element beckoned me aside as I left the arena. “You haven’t seen the dorms yet, but I took your bags there after we searched them.”
“That was… generous.” I translated that to mean the Elemental Soldiers had taken out anything valuable or dangerous. That’s what I’d have done, anyway. Unfortunately, I had the sinking feeling that meant my pendant, too. “Anything else I should know?”
“Yes.” She glanced over at the Air Element. “The others don’t agree with you being given another shot, so please try not to break any more rules.”
“Good to know.” I was less than certain on what the rules were, but at least nobody here seemed any the wiser about the vampire chickens or the Spirit Agents.
I followed the rest of the contenders through a side door in the castle, where a long corridor lined with wooden doors awaited.
“One of these rooms will belong to the new Fire Element.” Sledge gave the door on the right a shove with his hand. “It’s locked.”
“Move along,” called the Earth Element. “That way. And if any of you set foot in my room, you’ll be fed to the worms.”
At that, everyone moved down the corridor, forming a line of bedraggled, muddy contenders.
“There’s only one bathroom per dorm,” someone grumbled. “How are we supposed to have time to shower?”
“We aren’t,” said the young woman who’d brought the half-dozen knives in her clothing. “I’m starving, anyway.”
I shouldered my way through to the dorms and went looking for my bag. Sharing a single row of showers between dozens of people would be a nuisance, while the dormitories were mixed and it seemed they expected us to change in front of one another. I guessed the liches didn’t need to worry about modesty, being dead, while the Elemental Soldiers had their own quarters.
I found my bag beside a vacant bed where a uniform had been laid out. The dark trousers and shirt were plain but more well-made than most of the clothes I’d picked up during my time working for Striker. I lifted the bag and dug inside the pocket, my heart swooping down to my shoes. Dammit, they took my pendant. And with it, they’d swiped my only way out of here. They’d even emptied the pockets of my coat, and I had the sinking suspicion they’d removed anything magical the contenders had brought into the castle.
I’d need to improvise, then. I grabbed my clean clothes and then went to check out the shower. All of them were taken, so I had a quick wash in the sink and changed into the uniform, resolving to take a proper shower when the mud-wrestling portion of the contest was over and done with.
Decked out in my new uniform and feeling a little cleaner, I went looking for the cafeteria, a room filled with long tables covered in plates of sandwiches which looked like they’d been bought from a supermarket on the other side of the nodes.
“I wondered how they were going to feed us,” said one of the contenders. “I mean, everyone here is dead.”
“Not the Elemental Soldiers,” said the woman with the scars from earlier, piling sandwiches onto her plate. “They’re alive.”
“Gotta be some perks to the job,” said a guy with dreadlocks. “I saw the room that’ll belong to the new Fire Element. Their quarters are seriously swanky, yet they expect us to sleep in these shitty little dorms?”
“It could be worse,” said the woman. “At least we’re not being kept in the dungeon.”
“There isn�
�t a dungeon.”
“It’s a big motherfucking castle, of course there’s a dungeon,” said Sledge. “I heard that Air Element talking about it. He—”
“They,” corrected the woman. “They use gender-neutral pronouns. Anyway, the Air Element can knock your head off with one blast of magic if you’re not careful. I’ve seen them use that power.”
Sledge made a sceptical noise. “Are we expected to be that good at magic? I thought the Elemental Soldiers learned on the job.”
“Who’d give them magic lessons here in the arse-end of nowhere?” She rolled her eyes.
I picked up a plate and moved into the line behind her. Given the obvious newbie nature of some of the contenders, I inferred that a fair few of them had been born on Earth and were new to the Parallel. That would explain their reaction to the phantoms. Even living in the Parallel didn’t make one qualified to work for the King of the Dead, though. Admittedly, competing in the contest meant we all had a roof over our heads and decent meals lined up for the next week, which most Parallel-dwelling folk wouldn’t sniff at. Pity Tay couldn’t say the same. Guilt rose within me, killing my appetite, though if she were here now, she’d tell me to lie low and survive long enough to set her free. As soon as I had a spare moment, I’d go and ask the Elemental Soldiers for my pendant back—preferably without them finding out what was inside it.
I walked after the young woman to a vacant table and joined her with my meal. Might as well gain some allies before I started rocking the boat.
“Hey,” I said. “I’m Bria.”
“Harper,” she replied. “Did anyone tell you half the contenders would be amateurs?”
“Nah, but it thins down the competition a little.” I held a hand over my sandwich and used my fire magic to toast the edges. Several of the contenders gaped at me, as though they’d never considered using their magic for that purpose.
“I wouldn’t give them ideas,” she said in an undertone. “Someone might set the table on fire next. My brother and I have a bet on that more than half the contenders will be gone by the end of the first day, so I reckon he’ll owe me.”
“Probably.” I dug into my sandwich, feeling a little better. At least I’d met one friendly face, though I couldn’t say the same for the Elemental Soldiers. Which one of them had taken my pendant? The Air Element… or that spirit mage. That one was trouble.
Then again, I suspected she thought the same of me.
Harper and I finished our meal, at which point I excused myself and went looking for the Elemental Soldiers. When I got outside, though, I spotted a transparent figure who was definitely not a lich. Miles was back, and it seemed he hadn’t let our close call with the liches dissuade him from coming back in. I walked towards him, casting a quick glance at the castle to make sure nobody was watching from the windows.
“What,” I said, “are you doing here?”
“Just came to make sure you didn’t get kicked out.”
“No thanks to the stunt you pulled in the node,” I said accusingly. “You hit the Death King’s spirit mage in the face.”
“Oops,” he said. “I assumed it was one of his liches.”
“I doubt he’d be thrilled if you hit one of them, either.” I glanced around to make sure none of said liches were nearby. “What’s going on back in Elysium?”
“Do you want the good news or the bad news?”
“Give me the bad news first.” Just to get it over with.
“The authorities ransacked your house,” he said. “Turns out they ambushed Striker, and he started babbling about being innocent and blaming you and your friend.”
“That bastard!” I said heatedly. “He sold us out.”
“The good news is, he’s not off the hook,” he said. “He ran, straight after they left, and was last seen fleeing through a node. Shawn told me.”
“Hope they catch him,” I said. “But if he didn’t take Tay, someone else did. You promised to help.”
“I know I did,” he said. “Shawn says he thinks the House of Fire has started rounding people up without trial again, but he has this hang-up about the Houses and tends to blame them for everything.”
My heart lurched. “Did Striker rat us out to the House of Fire?”
“Unless he did it before those chickens of yours escaped, it’s unlikely.”
“Dammit.” At least Striker was an obvious target to aim at. Even the House of Fire were an enemy I could put a name to. Without anyone to point fingers at, I was left with the guy hovering in front of me… who, despite everything, had saved me from arrest. If I’d been tearing up the house looking for Tay when the authorities showed up, I’d have wound up behind bars myself. “I never asked… how’d you even know who I was?”
The question raised a series of screaming red flags. I didn’t exactly hide that I was a fire mage, but as for why he’d picked me of all people to recruit as a spy? Either he’d been watching all Striker’s employees, or he knew me from somewhere else.
Sure enough, he said, “Striker, of course. We figured no official members of the House of Fire would want to take time away from their posts to play spy, so we had to find someone…”
“With nothing to lose.” I folded my arms across my chest. “Don’t deny it. That’s pretty much what your friend Shelley implied. You found out Striker employs the desperate and downtrodden and decided to ‘rescue’ me by costing me my job.”
“I wouldn’t call it a rescue, but it didn’t play out the way I planned,” he said. “I assumed you’d drop the job with Striker as soon as something better came along, and we had to find someone fast, before the trials kicked off. Shawn found out Striker’s best fire mage was out on a job, and then we had to find a way to get your attention without your friend getting involved. It wasn’t supposed to blow up the way it did.”
I arched a brow. “You didn’t think that enticing me away might cause the backlash to fall on Tay instead?”
He grimaced. “That’s why I followed you home. I didn’t count on you taking off alone.”
“So it’s my fault?” I lowered my voice in case the others overheard me in the castle. “You’re not winning yourself any friends here. You claim to have asked Striker to point you in my direction and then expected him to ignore the fact that my best friend was likely to get into trouble?”
He swore under his breath. “Striker didn’t know we planned to recruit you. Shawn said it wasn’t even Striker he spoke to when he asked the name of the best fire mage to recruit.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel any better?” I said. “You might have noticed Striker’s bodyguards are vampires who can cross the city in four seconds flat. They could have tracked us down within seconds of the question being asked.”
“Shawn told me he wasn’t followed, and the guy is sharp,” he said. “Anyway, you’re pretty fast yourself.”
My shoulders tensed. “I really wouldn’t push me. I know you’re transparent, but I can still inflict some serious pain on you when I get out of here.”
Miles dug his hands in his pockets. “If I was your friend, I’d have run. All the evidence suggests that’s what she did.”
“She wouldn’t have,” I insisted. “Not without telling me first.”
If she’d been taken, she might have gone through any node, fleeing to any corner of the Parallel. If she’d run, though? For all I knew, she’d been planning to return to our hideout later, when the coast was clear.
He looked over my shoulder. “You have company.”
I turned around and spotted Harper heading my way. My head whipped back to Miles. “Find Tay, or I’ll send a lich after you.”
Harper drew closer. Her gaze wasn’t on Miles, so I already knew he’d vanished. Handy, and bloody annoying, for that matter.
“Who were you talking to?” asked Harper.
“Myself,” I said.
“Uh-huh.” Her tone made it clear she didn’t believe me, but she didn’t push me for answers. “I thought you met the spri
te.”
“Sprite?” A nature spirit? The Death King apparently attracted all sorts. I’d already seen a few wights—reanimated skeletons riding equally skeletal horses—as well as the liches and phantoms. And then there were the mages, of course.
“Yeah,” she said. “I heard a sprite works for the Death King’s security team.”
“That’s news to me.” Sprites didn’t usually take sides and were often overlooked by most people, so perhaps I might be able to sway them to my side. Or at the very least, figure out how to get out of here without risking having my soul stripped out by a lich.
The other contenders had begun to come out of the castle, so I’d have to wait until later to speak to Miles again. Time to head back to the trials. The arena had been a churned-up mess when we’d left it, and the earthen walls were still flattened, while the swampy water had turned into a bog that rose up to my ankles when I walked in.
“We’ve already had phantoms and spiky worm monsters,” I said to Harper. “What will they dream up next?”
“Don’t forget the towering inferno stage,” said Harper. “Wait, you weren’t here at the start, were you?”
“No,” I said. “What towering inferno?”
“At the start of the trials, the Elemental Soldiers set the whole arena on fire to scare off the non-fire mages.”
“I did wonder how they’d ensure the contenders were fire mages and not impostors.” Lucky I’d missed that part.
When all the contenders were back in the arena, the Air Element took central stage. “The second round of today’s trials will now begin,” they said. “A number of tokens have been hidden throughout the grounds of the castle. Your goal is to find one and bring it back to the arena. Stepping out of bounds will result in immediate disqualification.”
That sounded pretty straightforward… which meant there must be a catch somewhere.
“If you ask me,” said Harper, “it’s so they can fix the arena after the mess those worms made of it earlier. We can’t fight in a swamp.”
“Fair point.” I kicked mud off my shoes and waited for the signal.
At a bell’s ring, I was off, and so were the others. The Air Element hadn’t specified what the tokens actually looked like, which was probably deliberate. Everyone scattered through the area, digging into bushes and picking up rocks.
Cage of Fire (Parallel Magic Book 1) Page 4