Chapter 18 Hector
HECTOR
Tomin Hopkin was the first to move. Whereas the rest of us worried that stepping onto the sands would result in us being blown up, Tomin didn’t care.
To him, this really was all one big game.
And the fact he confidently stepped onto the sand, head high and shoulders rolled back, further proved my point.
He didn’t fear death, especially when it was a concept that he was evidently familiar with.
With long strides, Tomin walked into the stadium’s heart. He extended his arms at his sides, spun around to drink us all in, and then proclaimed his desires to the army of Hunters watching. “Well, you heard the demon. First to kill Hector Briar…”
That was all that he needed to say.
As one, thirty-something Hunters charged at me. A wall of flesh-entombed hate churned up sands as they ran towards me, fists balled with the promise of pain. I was vaguely aware of Romy and Kai as they gave chase behind them.
I took a deep breath, readied my fists and—
“Touch him… and die,” Arwyn growled as he put himself in front of me.
Before I could blink, Arwyn swung a meaty fist towards the closest Hunter to him, snapping bone upon impact. Blood sprayed; teeth shattered. There wasn’t time to contemplate how Arwyn fought his own people for me, not when I had the rest of them to deal with.
With all my might, I lifted my hands, conducting my Gift to follow. I had enough vigour and focus to send every one of these bastards flying into the air, but as I whipped my arms forwards, nothing happened.
No power, no Gift. Not a single speck of sand even so much as shivered.
As the mass of bodies closed in on me, I was sure I felt the gleeful chuckle of Bahmet vibrating through my bones. Finally, it seemed the demon had claimed back the Gifts he’d given witches when my ancestors sold our souls to him.
But that didn’t mean I was entirely powerless.
“Hekate,” I called out. “If there was ever a time I needed you, it is now!”
A symbol burned in my mind’s eye in some divine answer. Glowing bright white and as hot as a dying star, the depiction of air was undeniable. I grasped for it without hesitation.
Winds flooded around me just as the first Hunter got close enough to gouge his nails into my flesh. A scream ruptured out of my very core, fuelling the force that was my conjured gale.
In a blink, the Hunter was blasted backwards. He knocked down a few more on his way, a bullet of muscle and flesh that tore down my approaching enemies.
Old magic continued to pour out of me, sands whipped up in an attempt to blur my enemies’ view.
I heard the groans of shock as sand infiltrated the eyes of Hunters.
Turned out, it was easy to turn the stadium back against those who partook in the trial.
As my arms pinwheeled, more sand was churned up and sent blasting out towards the Hunters who longed to kill me.
Good luck to them.
I was so focused on what was before me, that I didn’t notice the body moving in on my side. Rough hands grasped my shoulders, shocking me out of my focus. As I turned, the symbol for fire ready and waiting in my mind, I came face to face with Arwyn.
He was gasping, eyes wide, face splattered with blood.
I noticed more blood smeared over his torn knuckles, rivulets dripping down his wrists and forearms. Beyond him, laid out on the sand, was the body of an unmoving Hunter.
Their face was unrecognisable. Just a mound of pulp and gore, a caved-in mess.
“You killed him,” I said, which was a strange thing to point out considering I had no love for the Hunters. But it felt like such a blatantly obvious fact, and yet I couldn’t wrap my head around it.
“And I would do it again, to every one of these fuckers, if it meant keeping you alive.”
The severity of Arwyn’s words took my breath away. There was so much left unsaid between us, and no time to embark on uncovering it all. And yet, in the middle of my sandstorm, as our gazes fixed to one another, I felt as though some vulnerabilities had been dragged out into the light.
“The Drowning,” I gasped, pushing my hesitance about Arwyn aside. “Heard of it before?”
Arwyn shook his head, eyes roaming over me like the desperate hands of a lover.
“What do you think it could—”
A scream ruptured the sky beyond my wall of sand and wind. I snapped my head in the direction, my focus splitting so much that I couldn’t hold on to the old magic.
In tandem, both of us said a name. “Romy.”
I pulled back my magic. Golden sand fell like rain, revealing Hunters cowering on the ground, trying to pry the small specks that had invaded their eyes. A few were standing, skin rubbed raw from the abrasive storm that rubbed at their skin.
I searched the stadium to find Romy, and when I did relief uncoiled through me. Her scream, as it turned out, was not from fear or pain.
It was the song of fury.
Kai was behind her, fists balled and knees bent.
At their sides lay three bodies simmering with smoke, flesh charred and burned.
The only sign of fire was the burning balls that overcame Romy’s hands.
The element dripped like liquid from her fingers, falling onto the sand and turning it into black glass.
I followed her focus to Tomin who stood watching Romy with his arms crossed. He didn’t fear the fire.
But Verena did. The Hunter’s witch put herself between Romy and Tomin, using her body as a shield for a man who couldn’t die.
I couldn’t hear what she was saying to Romy, but whatever it was must’ve taunted her.
Because the balls of fire she conjured turned to pillars so brilliant, that it cast Romy’s braids off her face in a gust of volcanic wind.
“We need to get to her,” I said, already taking steps in that direction. “Now.”
“It’s not Romy we should be worried about,” Arwyn said, gaze trailing over the Hunters who were beginning to regroup again. “My aunt would be a fool to go against Romy right now.”
I couldn’t fathom that Arwyn had just referred to the woman as his aunt. What else didn’t I know about him?
“Well, that’s not a risk I’m willing to take,” I replied. “We don’t even know what this trial requires to pass it. Anything we do could lead to failure.”
Arwyn couldn’t argue with that. As a man who had been groomed his whole life to partake in the Witch Trials and win it, someone who had studied previous trials and was a walking encyclopaedia for previous challenges.
If anyone understood that to pass a trial, you had to follow its unspoken rules, it was him.
And yet, The Drowning was a new player. Unknown territory.
“What I do know is you have an upper hand. Old magic is still at play, especially since Bahmet has taken our Gifts back.” Arwyn must’ve worked it out too, and yet he had not studied the old magic as I had.
No wonder he hadn’t conjured flame or torn the very ground in two with a single thought.
“I say we take out as many Hunters as we possibly can, removing them from future trials, and saving us the hassle.”
“We kill them all, then we will be left fighting each other by the second trial,” I reminded as that piece of the puzzle slotted in place.
Arwyn looked down at his blood-coated fists, brow furrowing. “Shit. You’re right.”
“Of course I am,” I said. “We need as many of them to survive as possible.”
As if me speaking that aloud triggered something in Bahmet, it seemed that I had figured out exactly what he was trying to do.
With Bahmet goading the Hunters to kill me, the demon knew that without weapons they would be powerless in their pursuit.
It was because the demon wanted me to kill them, all of them.
Removing the players of the trials would pit me against my allies.
“You really are a thorn in my side.”
I clutched my head, despising the discomfort the demon’s presence left. My nails dug into my palms. “Bahmet?”
The dark voice didn’t answer me with words. Instead, a ground-shuddering groan overcame the stadium. Everyone looked up to the origin of the noise. Almost everyone.
In the confusion, a single Hunter took the moment to run at me. Even though Arwyn attempted to put himself in harm’s way, I was faster. I had enough pent-up fury that a little rough and tumble wouldn’t go amiss.
I met the Hunter face-on. Before we connected, I dropped my shoulder and drove the full weight of my body into his chest. Something cracked, perhaps his ribs?
The combined force sent us both sprawling on the ground, me on top of him.
He screamed at me, so I quickly scooped a handful of sand up and stuffed it inside his open mouth.
The Hunter gripped his neck, gargling on bile and sand, thrashing around like a fish out of water. I drew back, just as something wet hit the back of my head. I thought it was blood until I lifted a hand and ran my fingers through it.
The liquid was clear. Scentless. I almost popped it on my tongue before Arwyn snatched my wrists in his large hand. “Could be poisoned. Best you don’t put random things in your mouth.”
Arwyn hoisted me off the Hunter’s body. As I stood, more droplets began to fall in tandem. It was like it was raining, except when I looked up all I saw was blue skies and the wisps of clouds.
No, I was wrong. Because the sky was shifting, moving apart as though curtains were being drawn open. And from the gaping mouth of darkness came more water. Not droplets this time, but a gushing ravine as though the sky just dumped the body of Loch Ness upon the stadium.
I only managed to get out one final word. “Fuck.”
Arwyn dragged me into his chest just as the body of water hit the stadium.
The force crushed the few Hunters who’d stood beneath it, then swept out in a gushing of waves.
There was but a few seconds before the foaming white monsters reached us, knocking our feet out, and dragging us under.
I barely had enough time to take a final hulking breath in.