by D. S. Murphy
“It has been my honor and pleasure to serve you,” she said, after we’d gathered around her. “Whatever happens today, remember you are each other’s best assets. It will be easier to finish the trials if you work together.”
“It’s a competition,” I heard Jessica whisper, “not a playdate.”
“Finishing the trials is the first step towards your new roles,” Master Svboda continued. “You’ll finally be able to choose your own direction. Doors will open to you, filled with experiences you can’t now imagine. You’ll get a taste of freedom that may leave you dizzy. Don’t freeze up or hesitate. When the door of opportunity opens, go through it.”
We bowed to the king, then were shown to a large vase with flat wooden sticks. On the end of each was written a number—our starting positions. After we’d picked a number, we were given a small glass vial of elixir. Guards pointed out the direction, and we followed a series of stairs, climbing higher until we emerged on the round roof of the palace, high above the city.
“What are we doing up here?” Jazmine said. “I thought they were going to give us a challenge.”
“I hope they don’t make us fight,” Mary said.
“They won’t put us together deliberately,” Jessica sniped, “but accidents happen.”
“Look at this,” Camina said, calling us over to the edge of the roof. The bright walls of the palace unfolded below us, itself on a raised platform. From this height, I could see the whole city was shaped like a boat, with concave walls that met at a point like hands praying. The royal palace, renewal center and high-end shops were all enclosed in the upper distract, where we were standing. At other end of the citadel were the gardens, where Damien had taken me my first night. On the sides, the walls fell swiftly away, disappearing into the dark woods and gray mist.
Camina reached down and grabbed a black rope that was hanging off the edge. I hadn’t noticed it before, but as she swung the rope, I realized it reached all the way down to the valley floor and disappeared into the trees far below. Connected to the wire was a metal holster and a wooden slate with a number scrawled on it.
“Piece of cake,” said Jazmine, checking the other tags until she found hers. She reached for the harness and strapped it around her waist and shoulders.
“No way,” Mary said. “They want us to jump?”
A sudden wind pushed me closer to the edge and I felt my heart rate spike. The height was dizzying.
“See you on the other side,” Jazmine yelled. She tightened the straps on her harness, then stepped backwards off the platform and disappeared over the edge. She plummeted nearly a hundred feet before picking up the slack in the line. Then she zipped out suddenly parallel to the ground, racing towards towards the forest. She looked like a large pink bird, soaring above the dark trees. I held my breath, then cringed as she hit the platform hard.
But then she stood up and brushed herself off.
Camina sucked in a breath of relief next to me.
Some of the other girls were already following Jazmine’s lead, eager to get a head start on the others.
“It’s smart,” I said. “Physically, it’s very simple. But our mental anguish will drain the elixir. Those who lose elixir to the early rounds will have less available later. It’s testing our courage.”
“So what should we do?” asked Mary.
“Wait until the last minute to drink the elixir,” I said. “Then jump. Hopefully you’ll arrive before the elixir kicks in. That way you won’t lose as much.”
I strapped into the harness and uncorked my screw. I downed the elixir and stood on the edge. A gust of wind blew my dress. I looked around to see most of the girls had already jumped. The wires spread out in all directions from the roof, leading to starting positions outside the gates in the woods.
“Is it safe out there?” Mary asked, her voice wavering. I remembered what Tobias had told me, that the other chosen might try and hurt me, that they might also have extra elixir on them in secret. What would I face in the woods? I felt ridiculous in this gauzy pink dress. And completely defenseless against the ash. But then I felt the elixir kick in. Suddenly the height, which a moment ago made my palms sweat and my knees weak, no longer intimidated me.
“We’ll go on three, okay?” I asked.
“Three!” I yelled, jumping off the roof of the palace. My heart flew to my throat as the ground rushed up at me. But then I felt myself whisked sideways. I opened my eyes, my face down towards the trees. I lifted my arms out like wings and whooped, a broad smile on my face.
Then I looked up towards the quickly-approaching platform. I was going way too fast and I had no idea how to stop. A flash of movement caught my eye—a figure was leaping across the trees, towards my platform. A saw the flash of a blade as they leaned over my wire. A second later the line snapped, and I fell like a stone into the trees. I brought my arms up to fend off the branches, but one caught me in the stomach and I felt my rib crack. With the wind knocked out of me, I tumbled through the branches and hit the ground hard. I couldn’t breath, I couldn’t move. For a moment I lay there, feeling the warm dirt beneath me. A light ash was falling, and I felt a flake singe my cheek. The glowing ember burned my skin, but I didn’t even flinch. It felt like a mosquito bite.
Seconds ticked by, but then I felt the elixir warming its way through my body, it slid up my legs and when it reached my ribs, I felt an intense burning sensation. Suddenly my lungs opened and I gasped down a gulp of air, feeling a searing pain in my side. But then it faded, and I could breath normally again. I rolled over and checked my bracelet. 3%.
I’d lost over half my elixir already and the trials had barely started.
I climbed back up the tree quickly, pulling myself easily from branch to branch. When I reached the platform, I saw no sign of the figure who’d slashed my line. I took a deep breath, feeling the ash in my lungs, but it didn’t hurt or burn. I knew the elixir would protect me, but it felt strange to be in the ash without a mask of some kind.
The platform was linked to another with a thin wooden log. Without thinking, I dashed onto the log and sprinted across it. After smashing into a tree at full speed, this hundred foot drop didn’t seem so scary. I followed the logs, which made a path back towards the citadel, until I heard the hum of drones. I looked up and saw dozens of them flying towards me. Extruding from their round bodies was a small metal arm glowing with blue light. One of the drones flew next to me and flicked the little baton at my arm. My body went rigid as electricity coursed through me. I clenched my jaw and bit my tongue so hard I tasted blood.
I ducked as the next orb came at me, almost slipping off the log. I dodged the electric baton this time, then punched the side of the drone, knocking it away from me. I took two large steps forward across the log but another drone flew directly in my path. This was going to take forever. I jumped on top of the orb, then dove towards another flying higher up. I grabbed it with my fingertips and brought it down hard against the log, smashing it nearly in two pieces. I tossed it down in a plume of sparks and smoke. Another one shocked me from behind, drawing my shoulderblades together. I saw a glint of something shiny on a platform about half a mile away. I sprinted, burning up as much elixir as I could, with the drone right on my heels. Then I jumped for the sword.
Camina got it first. She grabbed the blade and rushed towards me. I ducked as she sliced the blade over my head, cutting one of the drones in half, then skewered another.
“They’ll keep coming,” she said. “We have to keep moving.”
I took her hand as she helped me up, eyeing the sword warily.
“Mrs. Svboda asked me to keep an eye out for you. Live together or die apart, right?”
“Right,” I said, with a sigh of relief. “Let’s do this.”
We raced forward, Camina with a sword, until we caught up with the others. Mary and Jazmine were waiting on a large platform near the city gates.
“What’s the problem?” Camina asked.
“Tightro
pe,” Jazmine pointed. “But it goes straight into that wall. There’s nothing to hang on to or climb. The top of the wall is too high to jump.”
“Several girls tried it already,” Mary said. “They fell down there. They didn’t come out again.”
She pointed down into the dark chasm beneath the wire. I kicked a pebble over the edge and waited, but we never heard it make contact with the bottom.
“Maybe there’s another way in?” Camina asked.
“I came from that direction,” Mary said. “Jazmine come from the other way. Between us we’ve nearly walked all the way around the citadel. All the gates are locked and guarded.”
“There’s a vial of elixir up there,” I said, pointing. About thirty feet above the tightrope, a narrow hole was cut into the wall, barely a foot high. Inside, I recognized the familiar shape of a glass vial.
“If one of us could reach it,” I said, “maybe she could pull the others up.”
“But it’s too high,” Mary said. “Even if we work together, we won’t reach it.”
Just then, Jessica climbed the stairs and joined us on the platform. She glared at us, but before we could react, I felt the platform shift. A buzzer rang, and I heard a mechanical clink above use, then a swish as something heavy was released.
“Look out!” I yelled. I pulled Jazmine away from the ledge, just as an enormous blade whizzed past us. Six more fell, swinging like giant double-edged axes. They missed the wire by a hair.
“What did you do?” Mary shouted at Jessica.
“Nothing,” she said, “I couldn’t find another way around.”
“It’s pressure sensitive,” Camina said. “They must know we need a certain number of people to reach that ledge. Now that Jessica is here, we have to cross together, and help each other up. Remember what Master Svboda said. She was warning us we had to work together.”
“And fast,” I said. “I think those blades are getting lower. If they cut the wire, we’ll all be trapped here.”
Through the blades, which shrieked through the air like spinning guillotines, we could see a small platform jutting out from a vast stretch of smooth concrete. It was barely wide enough for a toe-hold. Far above, was the entrance—a thin wedge cut into the rock.
“We’ve got to do this quickly,” Camina said. “Jazmine, you and I go first. We’ll form a ladder. You get the vial and toss it down to me. I’ll lift everyone up.”
“Why do you get the elixir?” Jessica asked.
“Because I have the longest arms,” Camina replied, crossing her arms. “I’m also the strongest.”
“Physical strength doesn’t matter as much as our ability to harness the elixir,” Jessica said.
“There’s also the fact that none of us trust you,” Jazmine said.
“Fair enough,” Jessica shrugged, tossing back her hair.
The blades were low enough now I could see the wire vibrating.
“There’s no time,” I said. “We have to go. Now!”
I held my breath as Jazmine paused, counted, then stepped forward in a series of carefully times steps, placing her exactly between the swinging blades at the right moment. Camina went next, then it was my turn. With the elixir, my nerves were steady and calm. I watched the giant axes swooping low, and counted the gaps. My body seemed to move on its own, dancing across the suspended cable, which was now vibrating wildly. Each time the blades dropped, they were sawing through the cable. I took the vibration in my legs, holding on to the cable with my feet as I sped between the axes. I was almost to the platform when one of the blades sliced sliced through my dress, leaving my left thigh exposed. A scrap of pink fabric floated gently down towards the treetops.
I spun around the final blade and clutched onto Camina and Jazmine, whose feet already took up most of the platform.
“You first,” Jazmine nodded at me.
I climbed on Camina’s back and stood on her shoulders, leaning against the wall. Mary was right behind me, followed by Jessica, when the cable split. A look of panic crossed their faces and things seemed to move in slow motion. Jessica dove for the end of the wire and sank below the blades. I saw a bit of her hair get trimmed off at a diagonal angle.
Mary disappeared completely. It took me a second to find her. She’s been knocked off by the last blade, but had somehow turned in midair and was clinging to the long thin beam holding it up.
Jessica climbed up the rope until she was on the platform, and then pulled herself over the top of us until she was on my shoulders. She stretched herself up, but was still too far away to reach the ledge.
“Push me up higher!” she shouted.
“It’s no use without Mary,” I said, pointing as Mary swung by us at tremendous speed.
“Jump!” I shouted. On the next pass, Mary dove off the swinging axe, but I knew immediately she’d got the angle wrong. She was heading straight at the wall.
“Catch me!” Jessica shouted, then she dove into the air. I had just enough time to grab one of her ankles, which pulled me backwards off Camina’s shoulders, head-first into the dark chasm. I felt a tremendous weight and groaned, but held my grip. Looking down over my head, I could see Jessica had caught Mary. I held her leg with both hands and realized we’d stopped falling. Jazmine grabbed my ankles, and Camina was holding hers. We were connected, a string of chosen dangling in the wind. I looked over and saw a camera drone, with its blinking red light, and imagined the crowd holding their breath in suspense.
“I can’t hold you!” Camina shouted. She’d wrapped her legs around the broken wire for leverage, but her face was red from the exertion.
“You need to climb up,” Jazmine yelled down at me.
“Mary first,” Jessica yelled. When Mary crawled over me, I saw she had a deep gash in her leg, and she was losing blood fast. But she made it to the platform, followed by Jessica. When it was my turn, I climbed over Jazmine to the platform, then continued up the wall. I climbed up on Jessica’s shoulders, then Jazmine climbed up on top of me. Camina was heavier, but we bore her weight as she climbed to the top of our pyramid.
“We’re still too short!” Camina shouted when she got to the top.
“Can you jump?” I asked.
Camina took a tentative jump upwards, then tried again, higher.
But Jazmine missed her foot and she slid down, catching herself on my shoulders. Mary yelled out and nearly lost her grip. Her face was white and her skin sweaty. I heard her bracelet beep as it hit zero.
“Wait!” I yelled. “Mary needs to be the one to get the elixir.”
“But then how will we get in?” Jazmine asked.
“Mary’s life is worth more than winning the trials. Right?”
“If you say so,” Jessica smiled sweetly.
“Mary, once you get the elixir, you’ll haul us up.”
We changed positions, and Mary climbed until she was standing on Jessica’s shoulders.
“I can’t reach,” she shouted.
“Who has the most elixir left?” Camina asked. “Maybe they can push us up high enough for Mary to grab the ledge?”
“I have the most,” I lied.
I strained my neck towards my wrist, then bit into the hidden capsule in my sleeve, sucking down the precious drops of elixir. I felt strength surge through me. I pushed up as hard as I could, throwing both Jessica and Mary higher. Mary grabbed onto the edge of the platform, but then cried out in pain as Jessica grabbed her legs.
“Let go!” I yelled. “She can’t climb up with your weight.”
Jessica looked down at me, a sly smile on her lips, then climbed over Mary and seized the vial.
“Don’t do it,” I warned. “Mary needs that. She’s hurt.”
“Oh come on, they wouldn’t actually let one of us die, would they? You always thought you were better than me, didn’t you. Everyone fawning over you, the prince’s chosen. But you’re nothing. I’m going to win the trials. I’m going to be the Champion.”
She smiled, then gulped down the elix
ir and raced ahead.
“That bitch,” Jazmine said.
“Camina, can you throw us up again? If I can reach Mary, we’ll all climb up together.” Camina groaned, but extended her arms, pushing us several feet higher. I used the momentum to kick off Jazmine’s shoulders, then ran several feet up the vertical wall, twisting off it to catch Mary’s ankles.
I felt extra weight below me and checked to see both Jazmine and Camina hanging below.
“Quickly,” Mary yelled, “I can’t hold it!”
Camina scrambled up into the alcove and grabbed Mary’s arms. Camina climbed up next. Then it was my turn. I breathed a sigh of relief when I ducked into the narrow ledge. Then I reached back to help Mary up. I froze when I saw the flash of a knife.
Mary’s eyes were glassed over, staring at the horizon, but her aim was true. I grabbed her wrist with both hands, halting the blade an inch from my chest. But I had no leverage, and now that she’d let go of the wall, Mary’s weight pulled backwards. We plummeted towards the whirring blades. I fell unto the small ledge below and grabbed Mary’s dress as she fell past me. I heard the fabric ripping, but it held. But then Mary turned towards me, her eyes blank and unfocused.
“Don’t,” I said. “Don’t make me do this.”
She swung the blade, and there was nothing I could do but let go. I cried out as she fell backwards into the dark cavern, and was swallowed by the abyss. I pulled myself up onto the narrow ledge with my back against the wall. My legs trembled as I looked up at the ledge above me. Camina and Jazmine peered down at me. There was no way to reach them.
“Go ahead,” I yelled, “I’ll find another way.”
“We won’t leave you,” Jazmine shouted back.
Even with my brain firing with elixir, I couldn’t see any way to reach the narrow ledge by myself. I checked my device and saw I was at 8%. I reached down for the tightwire and ripped it out of the stone. I tried to toss one end up to Camina, but it was too short.
The blades continued to swing past at a dizzying speed. I paused to watch their full arch and realized how close they got to the top of the wall. If I could use their momentum to fling me over… before I could think too much about it, I made a loop with the wire and tossed it around the front edge of axe. It took all my strength just to hang on as I was whipped sideways, then tossed high into the air. Too high. I sailed up over the wall. There was a weightless sensation just before I began falling again. I pulled out the sides of my jacket, catching just enough air to angle me forward towards one of the sculpted bushes inside the citadel. I landed hard, but the leaves and branches broke my fall. I lay in the dirt, catching my breath.