by Ren Ryder
Most notably I saw Lord Eurius, surrounded by a retinue of sylphs, staring straight at me like he wanted to bite my head off.
I elbowed Bell and pointed her father out discreetly.
“Hey, daddy!” Bell waved. “Look, we’re doing it!”
An angry wind picked up in the glade in response.
I rubbed my face with my hands and shook my head.
Although there were human observers in the crowd, none other than Fin remained to champion them from the fifty-plus that began the first trial. That was a staggering realization: he was the last remaining human champion.
My eyes drifted towards the monstrous human representative, Fin Macool. His loose-fitting clothes still did nothing to hide his bulk, and he dwarfed the gnome he was paired up against. I could sense the gnome’s unease from here, and I didn’t blame him.
“Can you believe he’s human?” Bell asked.
“It’s hard to wrap my head around.”
I was especially intent on trying to see any rectangular brands under the jewelry covering Fin’s forearms, but I didn’t see anything. Either the test of iron left no mark on him, or he had managed to circumvent Lady Maere and her tests. Among the twenty-some champions, he looked to be amongst several champions that had accomplished the feat.
We exchanged nods when he caught me looking at him. It made me aware of all the eyes on us. I shifted my attention to something more innocuous, the crowds.
Oberon’s voice rose over the din, drowning it out. “This trial recognizes power. No king can rule long without it, and the second trial ensures the Seven Year King is possessed of the bare minimum required to secure a place on the lowest rung of the ladder of kings.”
Silence fell upon the glade.
Anticipation built inside me as the situation came to a head. I shifted on my feet and took a steadying breath.
“You can do this,” I told myself.
Oberon’s voice projected over the glade once again. “Through magic alone you must exert yourself against your counterpart. This is a test of magical ability, not brute strength. Channel attribute-less mana into your magic stones to wrestle with your opponents and overwhelm them with pure magical force. No other means of combat will be allowed. Step outside the circle and you will be eliminated.”
Seeing as the rules had rendered it useless, I set my staff down outside the circle. Hrodebert mirrored my movements, his staff jangling as he set it aside. We stepped back into the circle and approached the magic stone in tandem.
The puck’s hackles were up. “You can turn back without shame. No halfling whelp can stand up against a pureblood. However determined you may be, it is not enough to bridge the gap between us.”
I scoffed. “What makes you say that? What do you know about me?”
Hrodebert’s ears laid back against his head. “I need know nothing. These are the facts.”
I laughed in the puck’s face. “Quite the developed worldview you have there.”
Hrodebert shook with rage. “The Seelie Courts have always been ruled by its betters, and always will be. You will see.”
I wasn’t going to lay down for this, or any of the fae that thought I was lesser as a consequence of my birth. Lord Eurius and Oberon would be watching. Here and now I was going to show the Seelie Court that I could stand on my own.
My heart pounded against my ribs. “Bell, why don’t you sit this one out?”
“… you sure?”
If I relied on Bell as a crutch, it would have the opposite effect. I had to do this without her.
I nodded, not taking my eyes off the faery opposite me. “I’ve got this.”
Bell gave me two thumbs up and winged over to an observer’s position, outside the circle. “Okay, have fun~”
Hrodebert guffawed. “You stupid boy. That sylph is your one chance of beating me, and you would throw her away?”
“Enough words,” I spat. “Speak with your actions, or not at all.”
Hrodebert opened his mouth to hiss at me, revealing a mouthful of fangs. “I will make you regret this.”
Hrodebert’s aura exploded as he charged himself with mana. It rolled off the puck in waves, smooth, controlled, and powerful. My ears popped as pressure built in them. The circle was acting to contain any magic produced inside it.
“Champions, prepare yourselves!”
Clenching my jaw so tight my teeth creaked, I drew upon my source like a drowning man upon a lifeline. Mana bubbled out my skin and flooded my body. My hair stood on end. The feeling of power that flowed through me was sickly-sweet, overwhelming in its intensity.
I called up more power than I’d ever dared to, fighting to cycle it through my mana channels without losing control. Sweat beaded on my brow and trickled down my face. It felt like rolling a boulder up a cliff.
Oberon’s voice boomed across the clearing. “The second trial will commence on my mark. One… two, three— begin!”
All the mana I could bring to bear, I channeled into the magic stone. A shockwave of pure force exploded from the gemstone, crushing flat the grass and flowers in the area.
A foreign power flooded the magic stone a half-breath behind mine. The puck’s mana was sharp and powerful. It wrestled with mine for control of the magic stone.
My chest and back itched like crazy. It felt like a colony of fire ants was biting me all over. It threatened to draw my focus away from what I was doing as I fought the urge to let go of the gemstone. I almost fumbled the whole trial then and there.
There was a collision of pure force within the magic stone. With nowhere to go, it ripped dirt, grass, and flowers out the earth, filling the air with dust and debris.
Tendrils of pure force whip-cracked all around us.
Whips lashed me: shoulders, legs, wrists. I clenched my teeth over the pain and growled. I knew if I let go of the magic stone or lost focus for an instant, I was doomed.
Inside the magic stone, storms of pure energy collided, beating against each other.
Hrodebert hissed. “I will allow you to concede if you submit yourself to me here and now.”
“Fat chance of that happening,” I scoffed at the puck’s offer.
Hrodebert’s ears were laid back as far as they would go. “Die then!” the puck screamed.
Renewed waves of energy poured out Hrodebert, providing burgeoning strength to the puck’s pure force construct. It plowed through the magic stone and shredded the power I’d brought to bear. A sharp crack rung out from the magic stone as thin spiderwebs of cracks ran across the gemstone’s surface.
Force-whips struck me all over, and a wall of force slammed into me from above. My back bent under the weight of it all. I hunched under it and kept myself upright using the strength of my lower body.
My skin felt paper-thin, and my bones ached. Veins stood out on my skin and tendons strained past their breaking points. Refusing to submit, I cried out as my muscles tore off bone and my tendons snapped.
I was losing ground. Mere moments separated me from a humiliating loss.
It wasn’t enough. I needed more. More power.
I dove deep within my source, submersing my consciousness in its depths. The well of magic deep within me had grown out of proportion to my ability to withstand it, let alone control it. If I wanted to win, I had to surpass my limits.
Screw the consequences.
I brought every bit of power I had to bear.
Most of it exploded out my body without direction, but I forced as much as I could out my fingertips into the magic stone. The crystalline structure of the magic stone warped as a tidal wave of mana poured into it. Force-walls batted aside Hrodebert’s raging storm of mana the way a giant would dwarf a human’s pitiful strength.
“No. No!” Hrodebert cried out.
As my power swept aside the puck’s and my victory seemed certain, I felt a hard tug on my neck. My many-colored cloak writhed like a living thing and began to choke the life out of me. I gagged as my lungs were denied air.
<
br /> My skin lit up like a lighthouse.
I began to feel faint. My eyes bulged out of their sockets and my body screamed for air. Dark splotches and stars filled my vision.
Tensing the muscles of my neck as hard as I could, I threw away my future for a few more seconds. My vision grayed over and I started to lose feeling in my body.
More, more, more, more more more more!
I channeled more mana into the magic stone, superheating the gemstone and making it run like liquid glass. From my source through my fingertips I funneled my remaining strength.
The magic stone shattered in my hands and every bit of force contained within it was unleashed.
My mana was a tsunami, washing away the puck’s paltry strength and crashing into Hrodebert full-force.
A terrible high-pitched scream brought me back to my senses.
“You won, Kal, it’s over! Stop, stop it!” Bell was nearby, but I couldn’t see her.
I tore at my neck, reaching for the clasp on my cloak with grasping hands. With failing strength I was able to remove the cloak and toss it on the ground, where I proceeded to stomp it underfoot.
I gasped when my sight returned.
Hrodebert, or what remained of him, lay in a tortured mess a good several paces outside the gold-and-silver circle. The puck’s whole body was one big open wound. His clothes and skin had been ripped clear off, revealing strips of muscle and dark green blood. Both eyelids and half his face were gone, and his teeth were sticking out one side of his cheek.
Hrodebert’s bloodshot eyes pierced me as he struggled to speak, but his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell unconscious before he could get the words out.
All eyes of the Seelie Court were on me. Their attention pinned me in place, and I could tell they saw something other, something monstrous. With blood dribbling down my chin and filling my mouth with a harsh metallic taste, I grinned.
Chapter Eighteen
My hands were full of shrapnel and third-degree burns from holding onto the liquefying magic stone while it exploded. I plucked all the gemstone shards from my hands one at a time and stuffed them into my trousers for safekeeping. Each time I did, my skin would wriggle and the wound would close up without bleeding.
It was sort of horrifying to watch, and I got nauseous when my thoughts returned to how my body had undergone such dramatic change from my stint in the Otherworld.
“Woah, cool~” Bell, on the other hand, was amused.
It looked like Hrodebert would live, but even the fae’s healing magics had limits. I bet he would keep the scars from our battle for the rest of his life. Considering the way Dayside’s faery society seemed to condemn otherness and put beauty on a pedestal above even strength or ability, I knew I would be responsible for making him an outcast.
“I don’t think Hrodebert will forgive me for beating him,” I said as he was carried away on a stretcher made of giant leaves and twined branches.
“Who cares!” Bell cheered, glee wrote all over her face. “You won! By yourself! We should be celebrating!”
Dismissing yet another enemy with a personal vendetta wasn’t so easy a task for me. “Hmm.”
Looking around the battleground, I spotted Fin Macool.
Fin emerged from the second trial unscathed. He didn’t even look winded. The gnome he fought had been pounded into a misshapen hunk of flesh and left for dead without even seeming to provide a challenge for the superhuman. His shock of flame-red hair didn’t seem to have a single hair out of place.
The sole remaining human champion ambled over to my circle and made a show of our meeting. “Name’s Fin. I saw you made short work of your opponent. Congratulations,” Fin said, stretching out a hand for me to shake.
“Well met, Fin. I’m Kal,” I said, trying to seem nonchalant as I grasped his hand in mine and shook. “Your win was overwhelming compared to mine.”
“I got lucky, that's all,” Fin said in a humble tone, but I could see a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
Doing my best not to seem suspicious, I glanced around to ensure no one was paying undue attention to our little tryst. Both of us were upstarts and our fights might have been seen as upsetting the natural order. To my surprise though, it was almost like the crowd was avoiding looking at us. Like they refused to recognize the monsters in their midst.
Oberon’s voice projected over the crowd. “If any champions wish to resign prior to the third trial, they may do so with honor. Passing the second trial is an accomplishment without peer, and there is no shame in bowing out.”
“That’s confusing. Why give champions an out at this point? There has to be a reason,” I said.
“There has to be a reason,” Fin grumbled his agreement.
Bell was suddenly all up in my grill. “Kal, you can’t! Don’t do it!”
I threw out my hands and shook my head. “I wasn’t going to?”
Bell wiped her forehead clear of imaginary sweat. “Oh. That’s a relief.”
My thoughts harkened back to my earlier conversations with Fin. He had always maintained that he wasn’t competing for a victory, but for survival and a way back to his family. The announcement seemed to affect Fin most of all.
“How about you, Fin? Is this the end of your path?” I asked.
“I’m free now. I could go home,” Fin grumbled, almost to himself.
There was a seriousness about him that made me think twice about interjecting my thoughts.
I tried not to sway him one way or the other. “You could.”
“I need to think this over. Excuse me, Kal,” Fin said, then strode off.
I let him go without a word. My stomach did flip-flops at the possibility of confronting Fin in a life-or-death scenario. His strength was so overwhelming that I wondered whether I stood a chance at all, despite my growth.
Bell watched the human champion recede into the background. “You think he’ll resign?”
I trotted outside the circle to pick up my staff. “I don’t know,” I said, hefting my staff while dreading the possibility of an all-out battle with Fin Macool.
Willow was wringing her hands at the boundary of the area cordoned off for champions. She was waiting for me, as obvious as can be.
Heading towards the nymph with a heavy heart, I dragged my cloak behind me. I was forced to take off my shirt too since I discovered the fine silvery powder irritating my skin during the trial was some kind of contact poison.
Bell stared at the blotchy mass of irritated skin on my torso. “Gross. Remember, I told you—”
I cut Bell off before she could get on a roll. “Yes, I know. You were right, okay?”
Bell’s eyes sparkled. “I was? Wait, what— can you repeat that? I’m not sure I heard you.”
“You were right. I should’ve listened to you. Willow is in bed with the enemy.”
Bell clapped her hands and looked merry. “It sure does feel nice to hear you say that, hehe~”
We crossed the stretch of ground separating us from Willow faster than I would have liked. I would have avoided her if I didn’t think it would come back to bite me down the line.
Bell hailed her. “Backstabbing nymph, how’re ya?!”
I nodded. “Willow.”
Willow burst into tears. “I’m, I’m so sorry, Kal! I didn’t mean— I didn’t want to do what I did. You, you have to believe me!”
Frustration welled up inside me alongside the confirmation from Willow herself that she had acted to kill me.
“Cry all you want, it won’t make it so it didn’t happen,” Bell said, her words sharp as a blade. “You tried to kill Kal!"
As we spoke, my many-colored cloak thrashed around, trying to free itself from my grip. “I want to know why.”
Tears streaming down her face, Willow began, “I, I—”
Bell interrupted, “Why even bother asking that? I know why! She’s just another no-good, self-serving brat!”
Willow looked down at the ground, shame wrote clear on he
r face. “Whatever my reasons, I know, I know it doesn’t excuse what I did.”
I tried to push down my feelings to get the heart of the matter. “Oberon’s holding something over you, isn’t he?”
Ever so slight that I might’ve missed it had I not been paying close attention to her, Willow nodded her head up and down.
Bell had been taken over by her rage. “Kal, why does it even matter?! She did what she did, that’s the end of it! It’s only fair we respond in kind, give her a taste of her own medicine,” Bell said, licking her lips.
I ignored Bell’s angry retort and addressed the teary nymph. “Look Willow, you want a chance to make it up to me?”
“Wha-what? You would— y-yes, of course! Please, I’ll do anything you ask. Anything.”
I lowered my voice so no one around could hear. “When I win this thing, things are going to get dicey. I’ll need a way out. Can you manage that?”
Bell exploded on me. “Kal, are you insane? Give her another chance, and she’ll just use it to drive the final nail in your coffin!”
Doubling down, I pulled the gray shirt back over my head and clasped my many-colored cloak back around my neck. “I’ll even keep wearing these.” My skin burned on contact with the soft material of the shirt, but for the moment my cloak settled into place without a fight.
Bell was pissed. “What’re you doing! Take those off!”
“Look Bell, it won’t kill me to play along. Willow had her reasons, and I have mine. If she promises to help us out later, it all balances out.”
“Kal, what’re you thinking? This is crazy! Why handicap yourself?! She’s given us no reason to trust her— just the opposite!”
“I think she deserves a chance to redeem herself. Don’t you?”
“No! I don’t! Ugh, you’re a stupid, dumb idiot, always putting your trust in the wrong people!”
Unperturbed by Bell’s fit, I asked, “Willow?”
Willow wiped away her tears and raised her head up to show the determination in her eyes. “I’ll do it.”
“You’re going to regret this, Kal,” Bell warned. “There’s no way this all works out the way you want it to.”