Alana looked at me as the room steadily emptied. “Are you going to be covering Penny?”
“No.” I shook my head. The punishment was harsh, but it wasn’t unjust. “She brought it on herself.”
The Castellan cleared his throat. “There are five teams taking part in the Challenge,” he said, bluntly. “Well, four teams and a lone competitor. We’ve numbered you from one to five, for various reasons. Name yourself something else if you wish.”
Francis nudged me. “The Greatest of the Great?”
Alana overheard. “The Big Heads, more likely.”
“Maybe later.” I’d never thought of naming the team. Perhaps I should have thought of something clever - or amusing. Some of the sports teams had names no one dared write down. “Right now, I think we have other problems.”
“From this moment on, there must be no more sabotage,” the Castellan said. “Go collect your gear, then take it to your rooms and wait. Do not speak to anyone outside your team on the way. I’ll be with you as soon as I can.”
He dismissed us with a wave of his hand. I looked from face to face - Francis and Harvard looked confident, Louise and Tobias nervous, Saline impassive - and nodded at the door. My stomach churned. I tasted acid at the back of my throat. This was it. The Challenge was about to begin. In hindsight ... I recalled Magister Grayson’s words and kicked myself, silently, for not paying closer attention. He’d practically told me the Challenge was about to start.
“Here we go,” Francis sang. “Here we go ...”
“Shut up.” Louise sounded terrified. “I ...”
“Too late to back out now,” Francis mocked. “We’re committed.”
“And we’ll see it through,” Saline said, firmly. “All of us.”
I smiled at them as we made our way to our lair, collected our supplies and headed over to the barracks. We’d filed six bags with various pieces of gear, from food and drinks to potions vials and Devices of Power, but ... it felt as if we hadn’t packed anywhere near enough. I placed the spellbreaker in my pouch, then felt the sword on my back. No one had told me I couldn’t take the sword onto the field. I intended to hang on to it as long as possible.
The barracks looked to have been freshly cleaned, probably by lowerclassmen working off their punishments. Someone had placed mattresses and blankets on the bunks, along with a handful of supplies. I peered into the toilet and noted that it had been cleaned too. I wondered, as I sat at the table and waited, just how long we were intended to wait. An hour? Or a day? Or ... or what? I wished, once again, that I knew what was about to happen. It could be anything.
“Whatever happens, we did our best,” Louise said. “That’s all that matters, right?”
Francis snorted, but he didn’t have his normal bite. “Winning is what matters,” he said, dryly. He sounded as if he didn’t really believe himself. “Better to be a winner than a loser.”
“Hey.” Saline rested a hand on Louise’s shoulder. “We’ll have tried, if nothing else.”
“Yeah,” I said. “We will have tried.”
I allowed my eyes to wander around the room, feeling an odd surge of comradeship. We’d worked together, we’d formed a team ... no one, whatever happened, could take that from us. It would be good to win, but even if we lost ... I winced, inwardly. My father wanted me to win outright, for the family. Anything, for the family. I wondered if victory would be enough to balance the scales, after Penny had been caught bullying younger students. It was lucky it hadn’t been Isabella. That might have been enough to bring our father’s position crashing down.
The door opened. The Castellan stepped into the room, carrying a bag slung over his shoulder. We rose.
“Be seated,” the Castellan ordered. He walked to the table and sat down. “For what it’s worth, this is your last chance to back out. If you don’t want to compete, you will be placed in seclusion until the Challenge is over, after which point you’ll have to live with yourself.”
I shivered. I wanted to back out, but ... I had to compete. I didn’t have a choice. The others ... I watched, wondering if anyone would leave. They all looked back at me, evenly. I could tell they were all scared, some more so than others, but ... none of them left. I told myself that was a good sign. We’d had our problems, but we’d come together as a team. Win or lose, that was all that mattered.
But winning would be good too, I told myself.
“Very good,” the Castellan said. His voice was very even. “You are now committed.”
He met my eyes. “After this discussion is over, you will each drink a potion. It will put you to sleep. During that time, you and your competitors will be transported to the field, where you will wake. The Challenge is generally considered to begin once you open your eyes. Don’t worry. It will take some time for the other teams to get their bearings and come after you.”
I shivered. That didn’t sound good.
“You have three objectives,” the Castellan said. “First, you must make your way to the castle at the centre of the field. Second, you must hold the castle - against both your competitors and your enemies - until the former have been eliminated. And third - finally - you must convince us you’ve won, that you deserve to be Wizard Regnant. You’ll have to think hard to put forward a good answer.”
Francis looked disappointed. “So it’s basically a more advanced version of Capture the Flag?”
“You could say that,” the Castellan said, evenly.
Louise had a more pertinent question. “When you say eliminate, you mean ...?”
“You are allowed to stun them, freeze them, transfigure them or put them under compulsion spells,” the Castellan told us. “Should all members of a team be eliminated, the team itself will be deemed to have lost; as long as there’s one member still active, the team is still considered active. That person can easily free his comrades.”
“If he can find them,” Francis muttered.
The Castellan opened his bag and handed out a set of armbands. “Each of you will wear one of these,” he said. I took one and studied it, thoughtfully. “You’ll notice there’s a simple spell woven into the gem. As long as that spell is active, your team is active too. The light” - he snapped his fingers, bringing the gemstones to life - “is your team colour. Should you wish to surrender, you may do so. That’ll change the colour, binding you to the other team. Otherwise ...”
He shrugged. “You are not allowed to remove your armband, while you’re on the field, and you are not allowed to remove someone else’s armband. Trying to do so will mean automatic disqualification. Bear in mind that we do have ways of monitoring you.”
“Of course,” Saline muttered.
I leaned forward. “Do we have a time limit?”
“No.” The Castellan smiled. “The Challenge continues until all but one team has been eliminated. If you really cannot continue, take off your armband. We’ll come get you.”
“I see.” I wasn’t sure what to think. How did the Challenge relate to the patronage-client system? Francis was right. It sounded like a glorified war game, not ... not something serious. “You mentioned enemies ...?”
The Castellan’s smile grew wider. “You’ll find the field itself is dangerous,” he said. “There are a lot of traps in the area, from concealed hexes to animated golems. Should you be caught ... well, you might lose. Teams have lost, at times, without ever facing their competitors. And yes, your competitors can attack you too.”
“It appears to be the fastest way to win,” Francis said.
“It does, doesn’t it?” The Castellan produced six vials from his bag and placed them on the table. “These have been specially calibrated for you. Drink them when you’re ready. We’ll come and take you to the field.”
He paused. “Do you have any other questions?”
“What about our classes?” Harvard looked irked. “I’m supposed to be duelling this afternoon ...”
“Cancelled,” the Castellan told him, bluntly. “Don’t worry. It w
on’t be held against you.”
“Of course it will,” Harvard said. “I’ll be knocked down.”
“There will be no suggestion that you rejected the challenge to the duel.” The Castellan sounded very firm. “And you will have time to make up for your missed classes later.”
“How very understanding,” Louise said. “We’ll still be behind.”
“You’ll have more than enough time to catch up,” the Castellan assured her, calmly. He passed out the vials. “Put on your armbands, if you haven’t already, then drink the potion. I have to go speak to the others ... unless, of course, you have any more questions.”
Francis grinned. “What is the price of sliced ham, per portion?”
The Castellan gave him a sharp look. “Save your witticisms for the enemy, young man. You might just distract them long enough to escape.”
“Yes, sir.” Francis sounded calm, but I could tell he was nervous. “I’ll crack jokes like no one has ever cracked jokes before.”
I had a different question. “What about our supplies?”
“Put them there” - the Castellan pointed to the floor - “and they’ll be shipped out with you.”
Francis whistled, softly. “Good thing you asked.”
“Quite.” The Castellan stood. “And now, if you don’t mind, I’ll see you afterwards.”
“Thank you, sir,” I muttered.
I stared at the vial in my hand as the Castellan left, the door swinging closed behind him. I didn’t need to test it to know there was a locking spell in place, keeping the door firmly shut. The only way we’d be leaving the room, at least before the challenge was over, was unconscious. I hesitated, unwilling to open the vial and take a sip. There was something about the concept of deliberately putting myself to sleep that worried me, even though I was surrounded by friends. I’d never liked sleeping potion when I’d been a child.
“Well, it was nice knowing you guys.” Harvard stood and made his way over to the nearest bunk. “I’ll see you on the flip side.”
Tobias opened his vial and took a sniff. “Basic sleeping potion,” he grunted. “Not dangerous, unless you really overdose.”
“Thanks.” Louise didn’t sound reassured. “Are we just to go to sleep?”
“It certainly sounds that way,” I said. It felt like Winter’s Night, where children had to be in bed and asleep before the Ancients delivered their presents. Isabella and I had tried to stay up, when we’d been kids, but ... somehow, we’d always fallen asleep and woken to discover a pile of presents at the end of our beds. “We don’t have a choice.”
“I didn’t know I was going to have to put myself to sleep,” Louise protested.
“None of us did.” Saline helped Louise to her feet and led her to the bunks. “Better to get it over with.”
“I guess so.” Francis looked at his vial. “Akin, I ...”
He shook his head. “What do you think happens if we don’t go to sleep?”
I shrugged. “I have no idea,” I said. “Maybe they enchant us to go to sleep instead. Or ...”
A snore split the air. I glanced at the bunks, surprised. Harvard was snoring loudly, the empty vial clasped firmly in his hand. It must have been a strong potion or ... I had to smile. A person as sporty as Harvard probably didn’t need potion to get a good night’s sleep, not on a regular basis. He could wear himself out on the sports field.
Maybe there’s something to be said for sports after all, I thought.
“Well, goodnight,” Francis said. “If I die, tell my father that I loved him.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m sure he already knows it.”
“Hah.” Francis stood and stumbled towards the bunk. “Night, night.”
He lay down and drank his potion, his eyes closing a moment later. I stood and looked around. Everyone was asleep, everyone but me. They all looked so innocent, so untroubled by the coming ordeal. I felt a frisson of fear as I made my way to my bunk, wondering what I’d see when I opened my eyes. The Castellan had said much, but ... I had the weirdest sense I’d missed something. He’d told us something important, something I needed to remember, yet ... what was it?
I lay down and opened the vial. The smell alone was enough to make me dizzy. I wanted to throw it away, but ... bracing myself, I put the vial to my lips and drank. It tasted cloying, a far cry from the sleeping potions I’d taken as a child, the ones I had later learnt to brew for myself. The world started to spin around me, no matter what I did ...
An instant later, I was fast asleep.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Something had crawled into my mouth and died.
I ... I jerked awake, coughing to get the taste out of my mouth. The others were no better, coughing and sputtering like firsties fleeing their first potions accident. I rolled over and sat up, one hand reaching for the spellcaster on my belt. If we were attacked ... I fumbled with my bag, silently blessing the person who’d insisted we pack water. I took a long drink to wash the taste out of my mouth, then passed the bottle to Saline and looked around. We were lying on an earthen floor ... a shack, I guessed. Light was streaming in through the open windows and the doorway. The actual door itself had been removed long ago.
“Where are we?” Francis looked as bad as I felt. “And what’s outside?”
“It could be anything,” I said.
I peered outside. The shack - it was definitely a shack - was surrounded by foliage. A handful of paths led into the distance, all vanishing into the woods. Birds flew through the trees, undisturbed by our presence; I could hear insects buzzing in the distance, the sound so pervasive that it started to blur into the background. I stepped outside, one hand raised to cast a shield charm, but there was nothing beyond warm air. I closed my eyes and reached out with my senses, but there was nothing beyond vague hints of magic somewhere in the distance. Or ... I wasn’t sure quite what I was sensing. There was something muffled in the distance.
“Look,” Francis said. “That’s our destination.”
I followed his pointing finger and saw a castle, rising in the distance. It looked to be at least a mile away, perhaps two ... I wasn’t sure. It wasn’t familiar either, even though I thought I knew every castle within twenty miles of Shallot. Where were we? I glanced at the sky, trying to determine how long it had taken to get us to the shack? It looked to be just after noon, but it was hard to be sure. Once we’d taken the potion, they could have kept us asleep for days if they’d wished. It wouldn’t have been that hard.
They can’t take us out of class indefinitely, I told myself, as I brushed down my uniform. In hindsight, perhaps we should have changed into something a little more suitable. Our parents would kick up a fuss if we missed more than a couple of days of class.
Louise joined us, looking out of place. “Where are we?”
“I don’t know.” Francis sounded concerned. “We could be anywhere within fifty miles of the city.”
He nudged me. “Well, fearless leader? Which way do we go?”
“We attack the nearest team,” Harvard suggested. “Take them out before they can take on us.”
I shook my head. We weren’t in any shape for a fight. The other teams probably weren’t in any better shape, but ... we didn’t even know where they were. And they might hear us coming, if we started crashing through the bushes. I turned to study the shack as the rest of the team stumbled out, dismissing it as a possible base. I’d played enough games of Capture the Flag and Storm the Fortress to know it would be next to impossible to defend, even against firstie spells. Our enemies could simply set the building on fire, then hex us when we came stumbling out.
“We’ll go to the castle,” I said. “Grab your kit. We have to be off before they come looking for us.”
I forced myself to think as I hefted my bag and slung it over my shoulders. The Castellan - and his staff - wouldn’t give any of us an unfair advantage. Logically, the other teams would be scattered around the castle, giving us all roughly the same distance
to travel before reaching its walls. And yet ... I frowned, turning the matter over and over again. There was definitely something simplistic about the whole affair, as if ... the game wasn’t complex enough. I was sure I was missing something. But what?
“We should have changed into sports kit,” Louise muttered, as we regrouped outside the shack. I could see sweat glistening on her forehead. “Or worn something a little more suitable.”
“None of us knew we were going today,” I reminded her. I cleared my face. “Francis, Harvard; I want you to take point. Watch for traps. Saline and I will stay in the middle; Tobias and Louise will bring up the rear. If they attack us, remember to counter their spells as well as hexing them back. We don’t want to be wiped out in the first engagement.”
(The Zero Enigma Book 6) The Family Pride Page 34