The Sorcery Trial

by J. A. Armitage

  “Lead the way!” Orin yelled back.

  I took off across the slippery terrain towards a wrinkle in the hillside. Skirting along the edge, hopping from slick rock to rock, trying to keep my boots out of the worst of the rushing water, I paused, looking up.

  A huge outcropping of boulders loomed above us, still monoliths silhouetted against the dark of the sky. I turned around to find Orin and Ben panting behind me, Orin dripping wet, but Ben completely dry thanks to his protective enchantments. “I think there’s a cave up there!”

  “Thank god,” Orin said. “Let’s go.”

  I picked the rest of the way up carefully, scrambling over a huge boulder, pulling myself up beneath another one that loomed above, blocking the rain. I’d been right. There was a cave here. The relief flooding through me stuttered as I grew nearer and realized that there was a light flickering in the cave. The light of a fire.

  I paused, turning to Orin. His dark hair was slicked to his forehead, water cutting rivulets down the hard angles of his cheekbones. “There’s someone in there,” I said. “They might not be friendly.”

  “I would fight the Faerie King himself to get dry,” Orin said, shaking his hands off. “Let’s go. I’m ready.”

  I felt the same. I was shivering and cold to the bone. We couldn’t last a night like this. We’d get hypothermia. I crept around and pulled myself up onto the final ledge that led into the cave. “Hello?” I took a step forward, my hands in fists as I walked around the bend in the cave towards the fire. My eyes widened. “You!” I said, dripping in a puddle on the cave floor.

  “You,” Tristam said, his finely wrought features twisting into a smile.

  “You.” Sophia was significantly less excited to see me.

  Orin and Ben hauled themselves up onto the ledge, and we moved into the cave, migrating towards the warmth of their fire. It wasn’t a huge space, just tall enough to stand in, but it went back a ways to where Sophia and Tristam had set up their fire. Most importantly, it was blessedly dry.

  “Come here,” Orin said. I turned, and with a motion of his hand, the water drained from my clothes and hair, leaving everything stiff, but dry.

  “Thank you,” I said, surprised at the kindness.

  “This cave is already occupied,” Sophia said, her dark eyes flashing at us.

  “Nonsense,” Tristam replied. “There’s plenty of room. No need for you to drown out there.”

  “Thank you,” I said. “We have some food. We’ll share.” I moved and sat down by the fire, not waiting to be invited. Orin and Ben followed, Ben turning off his camera. Orin had dried them both out too. Tristam and Sophia’s camerawoman was sitting in the recesses of the cave, her red light blinking. No need to have two cameras going at once, I guessed.

  “How have things been for you two?” Tristam asked, nodding as I passed him a piece of soggy cooked panther meat, pulled from my pocket. I handed one to Sophia too, which she took with a grimace. I guess she didn’t hate me enough to reject food.

  “Not easy,” I let out a laugh. “The first two checkpoints have been no joke.”

  “The last will be the hardest,” Tristam said.

  “Did your daddy tell you that?” Orin asked darkly. “You getting behind the scenes info to make sure you get there first?”

  “Orin,” I exclaimed, shocked at his rudeness. Tristam could have kicked us back into the thunderstorm. I knew how Orin felt about the Faerie king, but there was no need to be a complete dick.

  “On the contrary,” Tristam said smoothly, not bothered by the slight. “I know nothing more than the rest of the competitors. It was just simple deduction. The hardest challenge always waits at the end.”

  “Have you run across any other teams?” I asked.

  “Dulcina and Phillip near the Erl-King’s home. They’re ahead of us, I believe.”

  That was bad news. “Yael and Duncan, briefly as well.”

  “Poor bastards,” Orin muttered under his breath.

  “What do you mean?” Sophia asked, leaning forward. Even in a cave, dirty and smeared from travel, she looked beautiful, her thick locks pulled into a braid over her shoulder. I was glad I didn’t have a mirror. I was sure I looked like a complete disaster.

  “Yael and Duncan are out,” Orin said. “The Red Caps got them, and they used their emergency ring.”

  Tristam whistled. “So then there were ten.”

  “Genevieve and Zee are ahead of us too,” I said. “We saw them further up the mountain this afternoon.”

  “Then I guess we all better get moving come morning,” Tristam grinned.

  He was right. We didn’t know where Ario and Molly were, but if they were ahead too, then whatever team in this cave got to the third checkpoint last, would be in last place. That wouldn’t do.

  “Gonna get some sleep,” Orin said, clearly done with this conversation. Our sleeping bags had burned in the fire, so he scooted up against the cave wall, crossed his arms over his chest, and closed his eyes. I wondered why he didn’t conjure up another one. He had for me, but maybe then he’d have to do the same for Sophia and Tristam and perhaps he wanted them as uncomfortable as we were. Or, perhaps, the spell wasn’t as simple as a wave of his hand. I’d have to remember to ask.

  Tristam offered me a spare jacket as a pillow, which I took gratefully. We all lay down around the fire, which Tristam kept stoked through some magic spell. So, though the ground was hard and rocky, at least I was warm and dry, which I couldn’t say for every night over the Hedge.

  But still, I couldn’t sleep. My mind raced through images of tomorrow, what it could bring. The dragon on the sword worried me. It would be just like FFR to pit us against a dragon for the final showdown of this trial.

  Finally, resigned to lack of sleep, I stood, wanting to stretch my sore body. I walked a few steps from the fire towards the mouth of the cave, watching the rain outside. I’d always loved the rain as a kid—there were few things better than watching rivulets pour down the windowpane while snug inside with a blanket and a mug of hot cocoa. It was one of the things I missed in L.A. Rain.

  “Hard to believe we’ve come this far,” a voice murmured behind me. I turned to find Tristam joining me.

  “It still feels surreal,” I agreed, hyper-aware of his presence. He smelled of mint and magic, an intoxicating combination.

  “I knew you’d do well. Tell you a secret?”

  I raised an eyebrow but nodded.

  “Even though you can’t do magic to save your life,” he whispered, “I wanted you as my partner.”

  My blood surged in my veins. I licked my lips. “Part of me hoped for that too,” I admitted. “Or anyone but Orin.” I chuckled softly.

  “Has it been awful?”

  I considered. “Less awful…than I expected.”

  “But still. We would have been a perfect match. Your skills and my magic.”

  “I guess I shouldn’t have finished last in training,” I said ruefully.

  “That was bogus. You are more powerful than any of these humans. More capable. There is something about you Jacq…you are…more alive than other humans I’ve known.”

  “Thank you?” I said, warmth blooming in me at the strange compliment. Though, no matter how alive I seemed to Tristam, I was mortal. Which meant I could still end up just as dead.

  He turned to me, and my breath caught in my throat. The firelight flickered off the gold in his hair, setting it alight, glowing. It wasn’t fair that he was so handsome; it made it impossible for me to focus around him. To think coherent thoughts.

  “I want to give you something,” he whispered. “Don’t tell Sophia, she’d kill me.”

  He pulled a silver necklace out of his pocket and held it out to me. It swung softy in the air between us. The pendant was an intricate Celtic knot of intersecting and twisting lines. “It’s beautiful, thank you,” I said, not sure what to say.

  “It’s not just pretty. It’s a talisman. Things are going to get harder before this is
done. More dangerous. This will keep you safe. If things get really bad, take it in your hand and say the word ‘diogelwch.’”

  “Bless you,” I joked. It sounded like a sneeze.

  “I’m serious,” he grinned. “It will protect you. Save you. Now say the word.”

  “Diogelwch,” I said.

  “Good.” He dropped it into my hand and curled my fingers around it. Then he leaned forward, pressing his lips against my cheek, hot as a brand. I pulled in a breath as he whispered, his words tickling my ear. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

  22

  I woke up feeling much warmer than I expected to. At first, I thought Tristam’s fire might still somehow be lit, but as my fingers curled around something soft, I realized that someone had covered me with a blanket. Tristam?

  I opened my eyes to find myself looking at the back of someone’s head. Dark waves of hair tickled my nose and left me in no doubt that it was Sophia whose body was practically wedged against me in the small cave. I thought back to the night before.

  After coming in from the mouth of the cave, I’d laid myself down next to Orin. To my delight and minor panic, Tristam had lain down on my other side. I’d closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep, my stomach flipping at the thought of being so close to him after what had just happened. He’d kissed me! Okay, so it wasn’t on the lips, but he’d given me a talisman, and I hadn’t seen one around Sophia’s neck.

  I’d waited until his breathing had deepened, and only then, did I dare open my eyes to peek. He really was the most extraordinarily beautiful male. The firelight only served to highlight the deep cut of his cheekbones, the fine sculpted shape of his top lip and the beauty of his features. I’d finally fallen asleep myself, aware that our hands were mere inches apart.

  So why, if I’d fallen asleep that way, was I currently looking at the back of Sophia’s head? I sat up and rubbed my eyes, trying to get a measure of where everyone was in the dark. The only other person awake was Tristam and Sophia’s camerawoman who jumped up, pulling her camera to her shoulder ready to film at the first hint of anything exciting. I gave a quick yawn, and sensing that I wasn’t going to do anything of interest, after all; she put her camera back down and slouched back against the wall of the cave.

  Orin hadn’t moved from last night, though he’d turned in his sleep. I glanced over at Tristam, wondering if we were all so cramped up because the cave was smaller than I’d remembered. But no, on Tristam’s other side was a space big enough for two or more people if needed. Which begged the question, why was Sophia squashed between Tristam and me? I had a feeling it had nothing to with wanting to cuddle me in the night. She must have woken up in the night, seen how close Tristam and I were and squeezed herself between us, creating an FFR contestant sandwich.

  “We should probably head off.”

  I jumped at Orin’s voice. I’d thought I was the only one awake. He was watching me in the low light. I wondered, guiltily, if he could sense the direction of my thoughts.

  “Shouldn’t we at least wake them?” I whispered.

  “Nope,” Orin replied with no follow-up explanation. He stood and headed to the mouth of the cave, nudging the sleeping Ben lightly with his foot as he passed.

  “But…” I hissed.

  He turned and held his forefinger to his lips. Walking back to me and bending his knees until he was at my level, he spoke in a low voice. “May I remind you that there are at least two teams in front of us, possibly more. If we stay here and let these two know we’re leaving, they’ll want to come with us, and if that happens, we may as well count ourselves out. Besides, I can’t bear to spend another minute in pretty boy’s company. The guy makes me sick.”

  I fingered the pendant in my pocket and stood up. The blanket fell to my feet, and I left it there. It would come in handy in the future, but it wasn’t mine to take. With a great deal of regret, I followed Orin out of the cave.

  “This way.” Orin pointed to a field in the distance. Beyond it was the base of Emerald Mountain, rising majestically into the gray dawn.

  My mind wandered as we trudged through the thick grass, caught up on other things. Well, one other thing—Tristam. He’d singled me out. Not his own partner, but me. At any point, he could have given the pendant to Sophia, but he hadn’t. He’d given it to me. He wanted me to be safe. That thought bubbled up to the surface, but it was what had happened just afterward that filled my mind. I’d been so surprised by the heat of his lips on my cheek that I’d just stood there in stunned silence.

  What would he think when he awoke to find us gone? I’d wanted to stay, at least until he was awake so I could say something to him. Not that I knew what. Something. Just leaving without a goodbye or some acknowledgment of what he’d done for me felt unnecessarily rude.

  I was so caught up on my own thoughts that I didn’t notice the log in the tall grass. It caught my foot and sent me tumbling to the ground. Orin didn’t even break his stride to come to my rescue. To be fair, he probably hadn’t even noticed I’d fallen. I rubbed my leg and looked crossly at the log. Except it wasn’t a log at all. Logs don’t have red hair for a start.

  “Zee!” I screamed, pulling myself up from where I’d landed on the ground. Her mouth was open and her eyes, devoid of any spark of life, gazed unseeing into the sky.

  “No, no, no,” I breathed as I bent forward, hovering my ear close above her lips, praying for some sign of life. But I already knew what I’d hear. Still silence. Judging by the state of her body, she’d been dead for at least a few hours, if not closer to a full day. No one could have survived the injuries she had, human or fae. Her upper half was normal, but her legs and hips had been crushed.

  Sorrow ripped through me with a fierceness that took my breath away. A sob broke from me, and I pulled her head to my chest, as the tears began to fall. I’d not known her long, and we’d not had much of a chance to bond, but she had been kind to me when she didn’t have to be.

  Anger curled through me, mingling with the despair. Whatever happened to her could have happened to any one of us. The studios, the Faerie king, all of them were responsible for this, and what for? She’d died in this stinking cesspit of a kingdom just so some bored housewives had something to watch on TV every night and so fat cat studio execs could get even fatter. I didn’t know how she died, but I knew she deserved better than this. They hadn’t even had the decency to move her body.

  “What are you doing…What the…” Orin must have heard me shouting Zee’s name out because he appeared behind me.

  “She’s dead,” I sobbed, my tears running free. I’d made a pact with myself that I’d not show emotion, not cry in Faerwild, and I was breaking that pact in the most public way. But in this moment, I really couldn’t care less. Zee’s death affected me on a personal level. The least I could give her was a moment of realness in this fake reality show nightmare.

  “Where’s the other one?” Orin growled, checking the grass around Zee’s body.

  Genevieve! I’d not thought of her, I’d been too caught up in Zee. But if Zee was here, where was Genevieve?

  “Found her,” Orin said staring down at something about fifteen feet away from where I sat. His voice was flat. “Jacq…I don’t think you should come over here.”

  Ben rushed over, his camera ready to film, but he stopped short suddenly, his hand flying to his mouth. As I watched, he turned and retched. Orin and I hadn’t eaten breakfast, but Ben had a full supply of food in his pack. Whatever he’d consumed that morning came back up, splattering into the grass.

  I looked up, wondering if I was being filmed right now. Ben certainly wasn’t doing it, but that didn’t mean there weren’t other secret cameras hidden nearby. This place was full of them.

  “You should have taken their bodies,” I shouted up into the air. “You can’t leave them like this.”

  I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. I didn’t need to look back to know it was Orin.

  “I’m sorry Jacq, but we ne
ed to leave,” he said with an air of urgency. “There’s nothing we can do for them, but whatever flattened them could still be out there. We need to get out of this field and quickly. Here, take this.” He threw something by my side, and I recognized it as Genevieve’s pack.

  Lowering Zee’s head back to the ground, I picked up the pack as Orin took Zee’s. He was right. However much I wanted to stay with Zee and Genevieve, the thing that had killed them was still out there. I didn’t want to hang around to find out what it was.

  But I couldn’t leave them here. I didn’t know where their cameraperson was, or if someone was being sent to collect them, but whatever the hell was going on, it was taking too long. A bolt of inspiration struck me.

  Pulling the ring from Zee’s hand, I pressed the button inside, but nothing happened. There was no flash of light or any other magic I could see. Why wasn’t it working?

  Without asking Orin’s opinion, I turned to Ben, who had recovered, and was filming us once again. “Zee’s ring has malfunctioned. I am summoning the FFR officials on her behalf. We do not need extraction.”

  “Jacq, n—” Orin said, but it was too late.

  I twisted the ring on my own finger, pulled it loose, and jabbed the small button inside.

  Almost immediately, purple light shot up into the air. It would be seen for miles around.

  “What have you done?” he screamed, reaching for the ring, but it was too late. Like it had with Yael and Duncan, a portal opened in the sky, and two faeries in FFR uniforms flew through.

  Throwing the ring at Zee’s body where it glowed bright purple, I grabbed Orin’s hand and tried to pull him away from it as fast as I could.

  “Stop,” Orin commanded, refusing to be towed away. “Why are you even trying to run? We’re disqualified! What the hell, Jacq!”

  Instead of answering him, I turned to Ben and his camera and the two FFR officials.

  “I told you, we don’t need extraction. We’re not in danger. I don’t want to leave the race,” I stated as plainly as possible. “I used the ring so you would pick up Gen and Zee. I couldn’t just leave them. It’s not right.”