The live feed had come back on, so I sat back down. The air pocket was empty of any of the participants but there were a few sea snakes swimming around. The screen flashed to a narrow crevice in which Wyatt was swimming off course in a direction that the cameras were not able to film. Tyler and Rillae were behind him trying to get him to go in a different direction, but he kept going. Since they were not supposed to separate as a team, and because of Tyler’s innate need to protect the Fare, the pair followed him off course and farther away from the cameras.
Once they were out of camera range, their optical cams turned on. Wyatt was leading his team into uncharted territory and there didn’t appear to be another air pocket in sight. Several other teams came into view, also led by their High Caste Fare. It seemed that they had all hatched a plan to deviate from the course. In the lower left hand side of the screen, a small box popped up. Within it was a graph of vital signs for each of the participants. Some of them were in amazingly good shape for having held their breath for the better part of 5 minutes. Others were dangerously near asphyxiation. Upon a closer look at the vitals I noticed that only the Lower Caste Fare were in trouble, and one or two of the Stewards.
“Solomon,” I asked quickly, “those Stewards there, with the low vitals…what is their background? Are they of mixed lineage?”
A shadow of sadness passed over his face as he nodded in answer. Those Stewards were the offspring of disgraced parents who had ‘over-stepped’ their place in our world and entered into relationships with either Vampires or Fare. Now, their descendants were fighting for their lives underwater. I was certain Wyatt and the other Fare had somehow sabotaged them, but not sure how. Like everyone else in the arena, I just sat there, waiting.
The screen flashed to all of the other mounted cameras and showed no participants, only the growing number of underwater creatures. I assumed, from the mumblings in the crowd, that these animals were either larger or different than what was commonly known for the area. It was obvious that the event organizers hadn’t thoroughly investigated the areas in which they would be sending their citizens. Although each participant and their families knew the Ludos could be dangerous, no one really thought anyone would die. Now the reality that several of their children and friends might perish, and at the hand of the High Caste, had the entire arena silent.
The High Caste Fare, led by Wyatt, swam farther away from the cameras causing every optical cam to come on. The big screen now had 15 different vantage points. Being a symbiotic relationship, the optical cam was powered by the energy of the person it was in. Since several of the participants were low on energy, their cams were becoming shaky and blurry. The others had crystal clear pictures and still possessed the zoom in and out feature. This feature allowed us to see the gestures between Wyatt and the other High Caste Fare. Their conversation, though silent to us, was clear. They meant to drown the other participants and leave them in an underwater tomb.
Of the 27 participants there were 9 Stewards and 6 of each caste of Fare. We could see the 6 Lower Caste Fare were being held down by some invisible force while the other followed the rising air bubbles toward the air pocket. Being the strongest of the participants, the Stewards made it to the air pocket first, despite all of Wyatt’s maneuvering. Driven by their innate need to protect, each Steward emerged, inhaled once and returned underwater to retrieve a Fare. Although they were searching for the Fare on their team, these Stewards weren’t going to leave anyone behind. Tyler came up for air with a small female Fare on his back and Rillae in his arms. He made sure that they were holding onto the rocked wall before he dove to help the others.
Wyatt and his band of High Caste Fare were glaring at the two females and undoubtedly spewing threats and insults at them. Time was running out for the other participants and the air pocket was becoming more crowed as the Stewards continued to swim up with Fare in tow. Rillae’s optical cam showed Wyatt give a command and swim off with his devotees hot on his heels. Wyatt’s optical cam showed Rillae give him a gesture that I was certain wasn’t complimentary.
Tyler, Gretchen and the rest of the Stewards, having completed the task of rescuing the Fare, were visibly laboring to breath. Nicole and Rillae hugged and began to speak quick and deliberately as they instructed the others in the next moves. Adrianna came to sit next to me and Chloe and started to translate the conversation. I looked at her strangely, wondering if extreme hearing was an attribute that I hadn’t been informed of.
“I can read lips, silly. Nicole is telling the Stewards that they are at least a half mile off course due to the speed and direction of the current. And, that swarm of sea snakes is getting larger.”
After she finished filling us in, I wasn’t sure we were better off knowing what their true situation was. Ignorance is bliss, as they say.
“They are coming up with a plan to head off Wyatt’s group and try to keep the integrity of the Ludos.”
By the time Adrianna finished, Governor Ezekiel and his senators had gotten another lip reader and the rest of the conversations were available for the crowd to read for themselves. After each sentence, it seemed there were murmurs and gasps that rippled through the arena. This was definitely a first for the Coetus Essentialis.
The remaining participants went in a different direction than Wyatt’s rebels and were soon in the range of the official cameras. Unfortunately they were also in the midst of a horde of swarming sea snakes. I wasn’t sure of the dietary needs of these snakes but I wasn’t excited to see them again. The Stewards had taken a more proactive stance, flanking the Fare so that none of them fell behind. As a group, they swam through the middle of the sea snakes toward the next marker in the course.
Wyatt’s optical cam interrupted the progress of the larger group with scenes of distress. Several of the other Fare were fighting off what appeared to be tiny octopi that were attacking them from the air pocket they were resting in. The optical cams of the other Fare caught the frantic expressions of the others and we knew that they were in danger. They were off course and being led by an egotistical idiot, and, to make matters worse, they didn’t have a single Steward with them to offer the type of protection that they were raised to depend on.
“Royals, clans, Stewards and Fare,” Governor Ezekiel’s face filled all of the screens, no doubt trying to distract us from the scene we were witnessing.
“Special commemorative souvenirs will be available after the conclusion of the Ludos,” he continued on as if it were the appropriate time for a commercial. “Some of you will find these items in your rooms when you return from the ceremony tomorrow. Others can see their Stewards for further instructions.”
With that, his announcement ended and the cameras came back online. As I was sure was the plan, Wyatt’s group was no longer on our screens. What we saw was more concerning than his little posse going off course. One of the Lower Caste Fare was bleeding from an apparent snake bite. The Stewards had fabricated a makeshift tourniquet in an attempt to stop the bleeding, but her forearm looked as if there was a chunk of meat missing. There were tears streaming down her cheeks and she was shaking her head at the Steward speaking to her.
“…does it hurt to move it? Are you sure? Then let’s get out of here!”
The caption ran under the image of Gretchen and the injured Fare. She was so calm and collected in her mannerisms that it was easy to see just how their breeding and upbringing was different than humans. She couldn’t be much older than 21 or 22 but she was combat ready. Chloe must have been thinking the same thing because she nodded and made a note. Even though we had told Solomon that he would be selecting our Stewards, we would steer him in Gretchen’s direction.
The rebel group finally came into view of one of the mounted cameras. They had taken a shortcut and were now several yards in front of the larger group. Their wetsuits had holes from a battle with angry octopi but they were swimming quickly enough that I didn’t think any of them were worse for wear.
A quick head count of th
e participants worried me. Wyatt had 4 High Caste and 2 Middle Caste Fare with him. So, there should have been 7 in the rebel group; I had counted 6. I counted again and came to the same conclusion; they were missing someone.
“It’s Wyatt! Wyatt is missing.” I said it out loud before I could stop myself. The other members of my clan gathered around our TV screen and counted for themselves, each coming to the same conclusion. The organizers must have realized the same thing because the big screen hanging in the middle of the arena split to show eight camera views at once. With everyone in the crowd glued to one screen or another, I was reminded of a train wreck; it was horrible to see, but you couldn’t look away.
After two revolutions through the cameras, one spotted Wyatt and zoomed in. His mouth and nose were just barely visible in a small air pocket and his foot was caught between two rocks. It appeared that he had tried to swim into a crevice that was just scarcely big enough for his body. He was struggling so much that a dark figure swam beneath him to investigate the situation. It was so dark that I thought it had to be black or dark green because it didn’t lighten when the pale light from the camera swept over it. The more the figure circled his feet the more frantic Wyatt became; it was a vicious cycle. And each time it came into view, the figure seemed to grow in size.
The rest of the rebel Fare continued to swim away from the dark beast. It would be ironic if they abandoned Wyatt in his time of need and left him to die. If they were true followers of Wyatt, they might have learned cowardice as well as bullying from the master. If it had not been a life or death situation, it would have served him right. And yet, they were looking around as if trying to find a way to help him, so I guess they weren’t truly heartless. One brave Fare began to swim away from the nearest marker and towards the area where the larger group had to be. He had to know that their best course of action was to be in the company of Stewards.
The Fare collided with the larger group and immediately started swinging as if he was being attacked. It took three Stewards and a Fare to calm him down long enough to get to an air pocket in a nearby cave. The closed caption told us that he was explaining Wyatt’s situation and giving directions to his location. The Fare were apprehensive, but the Stewards, being predisposed to the service of others, sprung into immediate action. Tyler took charge splitting their group. He formed a rescue party with a few, while he instructed the others to continue the labyrinth.
Large sea snakes turned and followed as they swam away. From where I sat, t looked as if they were thinning the herd. Rillae must have thought the same thing, because she swam after them. The situation had the potential for disaster, gaining the undivided attention of everyone in the arena. The current moved so swiftly that the plants in the reef were leaning sideways. I wondered if any of them would get out of there alive.
A loud noise made me jump. I turned, along with everyone else in our viewing box, to see a ceramic column collapse in on itself. The dust from the debris quickly filled the air and everyone began to cough and sneeze. Zander and Jordan were there in a flash, coming from the Miklos viewing box to check on their family. Violeta’s twin, Dominic, and a few other Miklos clan members were there holding up the stone canopy that we were sitting under until the pillar could be reinforced. It turned out that Chloe, Adrianna and I were pumping out too much unfocused and untrained energy and were dangerously close to bringing down a portion of the arena. Taking a deep breath and concentrating seemed to help; the other girls did the same.
Stewards, it appeared, were jacks of all trades. Within minutes there was a full crew of carpenters building a scaffold around the pillar. They were quick, efficient and extremely proud of their work. Watching them manage the construction as well as the Vampires, made them less like slaves building the pyramids and more like skilled craftsmen taking charge of a project. Between the work they were doing and the lecture from Rillae, my disapproval of the system was thinning. I had to admit that the Coetus Essentialis might just be the best society Vampires could have conceived.
While the Stewards were securing the pillar, the three of us tried to get to the closest TV screen to see what was happening to the participants of the Ludos. We saw Rillae swimming after Tyler, Gretchen and two other Stewards towards Wyatt, who looked panicked. As the five of them came to the air pocket, the sea snakes attacked. Several of them went for Wyatt; he was an easy kill being trapped and all. They bit deep into his limbs until the water turned red with his blood. Blood in the ocean was a beacon for predators. Rillae immediately went to work with a small rock in her hand, hitting the snakes in the head. She kept this up while Gretchen and Tyler worked on the rocks that pinned Wyatt’s foot. The other two Stewards were taking turns breathing into Wyatt’s mouth which was now an inch below water. If my guts weren’t in a nervous knot I would have been awed by their ingenuity and teamwork. Instead, I just sat there, terrified.
Gretchen was the first to come up for air, leaving Tyler to continue to move the rocks. Her face was strained with exhaustion but I could see determination in her eyes. She waited just long enough to let one of the other Stewards reassure her that Wyatt was getting enough oxygen and then she returned to her twin’s side. He had almost gotten Wyatt free and was using his left leg to push the final rock away when he slipped and fell away. Since he was underwater he simply went slightly sideways, but the large rock had begun to roll and had landed firmly on his leg before he could move clear. Wyatt was free, but Tyler was stuck and couldn’t reach the air pocket. It was too much for me, so I ran to the railing that overlooked some bushes at the rear of the viewing box and lost my lunch. My world began to spin and darkness took me.
As my world turned black, I fought it, only to loose against its power; darkness took me. In the distance I saw a tall woman with long raven hair and bright blue eyes. She was smiling at me with the familiarity of a friend, but I had never met her. She extended her hand to me and we walked through a wonderfully fragrant garden filled with deep purple Angelonia, yellow and red Amaranthus, and pretty little white Chrysanthemums. We walked until we came to a stone bench which sat under an old Southern Oak tree with several feet of moss hanging from its branches. I put my hands in my lap and smoothed silk and lace fabric, not the pants I had on when I passed out. The mysterious woman took my had and squeezed gently as she gestured to a young girl who knelt at my feet. I felt a burning in my throat as I found a throbbing vein and bit down, letting the wonderful warmth flow down my throat.
“Cheyenne? Cheyenne, wake up, Sweetie.”
I opened my eyes and saw Efia looking at me with concern. I was dreaming her history more and more lately; as if she was waiting for me to discover some secret that she was unable or unwilling to tell me herself. Every time I looked at her with renewed curiosity and weariness. She was my grandmother several times removed but I had to get to know her through these inconvenient dream trances. Dream trances were extremely rare inherited attributes that were coveted by all Vampire clans. Quite frankly, I was simply annoyed by them.
With much effort, I put the dark haired woman out of my mind and returned my attention to the Ludos and Tyler’s precarious position. He was still trapped in the area that had once held Wyatt. Wyatt, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found. The cameras scanned the area until a few of them focused on his retreating figure swimming away from Tyler and the rest. The two Stewards who had been breathing for Wyatt continued to do so for Tyler as Gretchen tried to roll the rock away. Rillae, not being as strong as the Stewards, had surfaced to take a few breaths in the air pocket before she returned to fight off the sea snakes.
The snakes were attacking Tyler’s face and limbs and making it hard for the Stewards to give him air. Rillae’s attempts in fighting them off were failing and the rock was unmoved under Gretchen’s efforts. The scene looked as bleak as it could possible get and I was certain that Tyler would die in front of our eyes. Of all the attributes that I was prophesied to acquire, not one could be used to help Tyler from this distance. Regardless,
I stood up and tried to will him to live. This wasn’t the type of thing I had signed up for; this wasn’t the life I wanted to live, where, at every turn, someone I knew could die. I had to finally face it; I wasn’t in Kansas anymore!
The blood from Tyler’s snake bites had made it impossible to see the group clearly. Although the cameras remained on the area, our screen changed to show Wyatt swimming up into the air pocket that turned out to be a cave large enough to fit him and the other 21 participants. He immediately began to speak to the group who had followed him before and they began their preparations for departure. It looked as if Wyatt was going to lead them back to help his rescuers, but that was wishful thinking. He was the kind of person who never thought of anyone but himself. He was as selfish as they came and just as dangerous.
After a while, the remaining 21 began to get antsy. One by one they slipped off and swam away. They, no doubt, thought that Tyler and his group were too far gone to save and had decided to save themselves before the tide rose, filling their cave with water. The screens in the arena switched as the first team emerged from the underground caverns. The trio was wet, dirty and out of breath as they staggered to a patch of dry land. The finish line was in the arena, so they still had about a mile to go before they could rest for the night. Before the first team could get their bearings, the second and third teams emerged. Like the first team, they looked like they had been through a war. Each of them stopped on the dry patch of land and turned to look at the opening. Wyatt and his posse of pompous High Caste came next. Though they were all a part of teams whose members were with Tyler, they had decided to swim toward the finish instead of to the aid of their teammates. Soon, there were remnants of ten teams standing on the sand and it became apparent to the crowd that none of the teams was willing to leave until they were certain that all of the participants had made it out safely.
Blood Descendants (St. Clair Vampires Book 1) Page 17