Chapter 44
44
I had fallen asleep by the crackling fire on the pile of braided palm fronds. I was so tired from the fourth trial that oblivion claimed me faster than normal, my eyelids heavy and the sweet scent of burning firewood quickly lulling me to sleep as Callum kept watch on the other side of the fire, his gaze sweeping the forest around us every so often as he tended to the fire.
When I was roused from my slumber, I realized the distant sound of shouts had awoken me.
I pushed myself up to a sitting position, my borrowed white tunic shirt smelling like embers of the dying fire before me. The morning sunlight was dusting the palm trees in a warm glow. As the yelling got louder, I could make out voices.
Tristen and Callum.
I shot to my feet, tugging on my socks and boots before running to the beach where the sound of the argument was coming from.
“…I’ve got something you’ll want to see,” Tristen was saying.
“The only thing I want to see is you walking away from this beach!” Callum yelled back.
I burst through the treeline, and saw Tristen with his shadowfire glowing at his hands, Rachelle prowling beside him. Callum held a sword aloft, preparing for a fight.
All of their heads swiveled to me as I stepped onto the beach. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing. Go back to the camp. I’ll handle them,” Callum said, gripping his sword.
Tristen turned a bored expression to me. “Your warrior thinks we’re here to kill him. If that were the case, he wouldn’t be breathing.”
My feeling of relief of seeing Rachelle and Tristen alive wavered a bit from the implication of them all being here on this beach. “Why are you here, then?”
Tristen watched me, his gaze assessing me. “We finished the fourth trial. And now we’re headed into the fifth.”
“ What ?” I asked, fear vibrating the marrow of my bones. It was as if I had been doused with cold water, and I was suddenly wide awake. I looked around the stretch of beach we were on. Our area was shielded by palm trees, but just around the bend, the palm trees disintegrated into endless swells of desert and rocky outcroppings with sweeping ocean views.
Tristen made a step toward me, but Callum put himself in Tristen’s path. “Don’t get near her.”
Tristen leveled a death glare at Callum. “Don’t tell me what to do.”
Callum took another protective step toward me. “I’ll tell you whatever I want.”
Tristen sighed, and doused the shadowfire at his hands and reached into his pocket. He withdrew a small scroll, gilded in gold, and unfurled it. He began to read. “‘Welcome to the Fifth Trial. You must survive and find safe passage through The Eternal Sands, returning to the Stone Coliseum.’ I found this on the beach this morning, and Rachelle found one as well with the same message. When we saw your campfire, we decided to do you the courtesy of filling you in on what to expect in case you hadn’t found one as well.”
“What are The Eternal Sands?” I asked.
Callum shifted his gaze past where the trees end. “We have to cross through Dragon’s Tail to get there. Both Dragon’s Tail and The Eternal Sands are some of the most dangerous stretches of the island.”
“Well, we better get going, then,” I said, looking at everyone.
“We are not traveling together,” Callum said.
Rachelle growled at Callum, flicking her tail in annoyance.
Tristen cocked his head. “You think that’s wise?”
“Please,” I said, stepping forward and putting a hand on Callum’s shoulder. “Our odds are better if we all go together.”
Callum sighed. “Fine,” he bit out, but then leveled another glare at Tristen. “But I’m calling the shots.”
Tristen raised an eyebrow, but quick as a flash Rachelle shifted into her human form. “I’m tired of you two bickering,” Rachelle said. “ I’m in charge.”
“Sounds good,” I said.
“Good with me,” Callum said, sweeping his arm around my waist. Tristen watched, his expression cool and deadly. “We need to collect our things at camp. We’ll meet you back here in a few minutes,” Callum said, corralling me back to the treeline.
“Make it quick!” Rachelle said, putting her hands on her hips like a mother hen.
“Yes ma’am,” I said, tossing her a smile before Callum and I disappeared into the small wooded area beyond the beach.
We headed back to our small camp, and I got a better look at Callum. He had a bit of stubble on his face, but below his eyes were dark circles.
“I should have kept watch for part of the night,” I said, realizing he was going into this fifth trial without any sleep.
“I’m fine. I’m used to being tired,” he said.
We picked up the rest of our weapons we had left back at camp, and I fumbled a bit with strapping my dagger to my thigh over my skintight leggings.
“Nervous?” he asked.
“Yes and no,” I breathed. I was still reeling from the fourth trial and the mind tricks it had played on me, but I felt adrenaline running through my veins in a way that pushed me onward.
Callum studied my face, as if he was memorizing my features. “We can leave on our own,” he offered. “We can go now and get a head start.”
I frowned, shaking my head. “We need them. They’re… my friends.”
Concern flashed across Callum’s face. “Saffron…”
“I know we’re almost at the sixth trial,” I breathed, knowing what he’d say. “I just… I can’t let them go.”
“The Assassin wants you dead,” Callum challenged.
“Maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t.”
“Even if he… cares for you in some twisted way, he will always choose his rebellion over you. His kingdom needs him to win these trials—even if it means slitting your throat.”
I took in a sharp breath. The truth felt so cold laid bare like that. But it was the truth, wasn’t it? I had powers that had helped Tristen survive this far. He was a cunning assassin, renowned for his ability to lie and manipulate. Why would I think he wouldn’t try to manipulate me—his competition—and just use me as a stepping stone for him to save Stormgard against the rule of Luminaria and the King’s goals?
“We travel together,” I said. “Then, we regroup before the sixth trial.”
Callum took a step back, but nodded. “I’ll go along with this. But if he touches you, he dies.”
Callum and I returned to the beach to meet up with Tristen and Rachelle. Rachelle remained in her lioness form as we started walking down the beach together, an awkward alliance, but one that I hoped would hold. We didn’t even get to the where the line of the palm trees ended before I saw Priscilla and two other prisoners packing up their campsite.
“Priscilla!” I called, and ran over to them, grass turning to stale dirt beneath my feet. “You saved me in that last trial—I wouldn’t have escaped without your help.”
Her eyes shone. “I’m glad you made it out.”
“Take a step back,” Callum’s voice said firmly. Before I could protest and say Priscilla wasn’t a threat, I saw that the two prisoners behind Priscilla had their swords out.
The first one I recognized as Issac—the boy whose life I had told Callum to spare even as he had revealed that I was the Siphon. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days, and his white tunic and breeches hung loose on his frame as if he’d lost weight.
“ You ,” I spat, whirling on him. “You gave me over to the King.”
Issac shrank back. “I h-had no choice. Cassandra said she’d hunt down and kill my little sister if I didn’t spy for her.”
“But you had no problem handing Saffron’s life over?” Callum asked, his eyes blazing with anger.
Issac’s lower lip wobbled. “I couldn’t risk my sister.”
I sighed, my anger fizzling. “Be careful what side you do favors for,” I said. “Cassandra is only out here for herself—and she’ll discard anyone she doesn’t find useful.”
Priscilla’s eyes jumped between us. “The three of us got the scrolls about the next trial. Are you all headed to The Eternal Sands as well?”
“We are,” Tristen said, stepping into the conversation as Rachelle continued to circle all of us, as if trying to assess any potential threats.
The second prisoner behind Priscilla was a quiet man with a mop of brown hair. He cast a wary look to all of us—especially at Rachelle. “Priscilla, do you trust them?”
“I trust Saffron,” Priscilla said, then her gaze slid to the rest of us. “I can’t say the same about her friends.”
Tristen sparked an inferno from his hands, and everyone stepped back. “I’m tired of talking. If you want to fight, let’s get it over with already.”
“How about we all travel together?” I said. “Who knows what we’re about to face next. I meant what I said—we should all make a pact to get to the other side of this trial together and then it’s everyone for themselves in the sixth and final trial.”
Everyone looked at me like I was speaking tongues.
“Do any of you think you can take whatever is ahead on your own?” I challenged.
The men behind Priscilla studied me. Priscilla turned to them. “She’s right. The Assassin will provide great protection for whatever is up ahead. Let’s make a pact to fight together until the sixth trial. Agreed?”
Everyone nodded, and Tristen let his fire extinguish. “This way, then.”
Tristen turned, and started to lead the way. I followed him, Callum falling into step behind me as Priscilla and her crew finished packing up their campsite, Callum keeping his body in between me and them.
Rachelle shifted back into her human form and threw her arms around me. “Hi Saffron.”
“Hi Rachelle,” I murmured into her curly red hair. I released her, and we continued walking, staying a few paces behind Tristen. “I’m glad you’re unscathed from the last trial.”
“Perks of being a shifter. I can be one big bad barracuda and avoid making deals with the pesky mermen. My kind loves to use their bargains to fuck with outsiders.”
I might have imagined it, but I thought I saw Tristen stiffen a bit in front of me where he led us down the path beyond the last of the palm trees.
“I would have preferred not to have bargained with them,” I said. “They made me give them my worst fear. I saw… I saw you die. All of you.”
Rachelle’s eyes went wide. “Your worst fear… was seeing us die?”
I tried to keep my voice steady. “I don’t know what kind of friends I had before these trials, but I already know that you’ve changed my life in more ways than one. Thank you for your help—and I promise I’ll do everything I can to help you and Leah escape.”
Rachelle’s eyes were shining with tears. “Friends to the end?”
“Friends to the end,” I said, and we joined pinkies. “I know the sixth trial is coming?—”
“A wise peacemaker just said we’ll figure it out when we get there. So let’s just focus on surviving this one first, okay?” She punched me in the arm.
“Okay,” I said with a grateful smile.
A few birds squawked above us, and Rachelle licked her lips. “One second, I’m going to get some breakfast.”
She shifted into a hawk, flapping powerful wings as she leapt into the sky and then dove after the smaller birds with her razor-sharp teeth. I grimaced and looked away as blood rained from the sky.
Tristen had paused, watching Rachelle as I fell into step beside him as we passed the last line of green.
“Hey,” I said, tentative.
“Hey,” he said back, and I saw a bit of warmth flicker in his dark obsidian eyes. “I’m glad you got out in one piece from the castle.”
“Me too. What did you see inside?”
Tristen paused as if debating whether or not to tell me. Then, he blew out a breath. “I saw you choose Callum over me.”
I nearly tripped over my own feet. “What do you mean?”
Tristen didn’t meet my gaze, keeping his eyes fixed ahead at the horizon as we climbed the rocky ground that was leading up to a small hill. “I mean what I said.”
“You’re married.”
“I am.”
“I’m… missing something.”
Tristen looked right at me, a deep unending sadness in his expression. “I am, too.”
I tried not to gape at him, tried not to feel the headiness of the emotion rolling off him. What did Tristen mean by that? Had his greatest fear been… losing me? To Callum? Why?
Rachelle cawed from above, continuing to hunt birds with a vengeance. Tristen looked up at her and then back at the rest of the group, Callum and the others trailing behind us.
“Be careful out here,” Tristen said quietly, breaking my reverie.
“I think you’re the biggest threat in this group,” I joked, trying to lighten the mood.
Tristen’s gaze was still dark. “He sees you as his now. You still need to be careful.”
I knew exactly what he Tristen was talking about. “I can make my own decisions.”
“Of course you can. I just… I wish I could tell you the truth about him. Because he certainly won’t.”
My face grew hot. “I could say the same about you.”
Tristen started climbing an incline path that was leading up to a small hill with a rocky outcropping. “I’ve seen into Callum’s mind. He’s the kind of man who takes what he wants.”
“And you?”
Tristen turned back, his face grave. “I fight for those I love.” He turned back to the view of the valley below. “And we may be in for quite a fight.”
I stepped up beside him, and what I saw stole the breath from my lungs.
Below the outcropping, stretched out for miles in front of us, were thousands of unhatched eggs—each easily the size of a tree. They were embedded in a rocky desert, not a living thing growing in the craggy landscape. At the center of the mass of unhatched eggs was a skeleton. Its bones towered above the eggs, the ribcage easily the size of a hundred men stacked on top of each other. Beside the ribcage were wings made of gleaming ivory bone.
At that moment, I knew exactly what was resting in the wild desert graveyard before us.
A skeleton of a dead dragon.