CHAPTER SEVEN #2
“Welcome, competitors!” Maverick’s voice boomed from my left.
He sat in one of the lowest rows, the one closest to us.
Still, he was high enough that I had to tilt my head again to see him properly.
He must’ve been using magic to amplify his voice over all the noise.
The cheers did not cease. They became near deafening as he spread his arms wide.
Not one of us moved. No one knew what to expect next. But that didn’t matter. Not to the spectators, and certainly not to Maverick.
Diana sat two seats to his left, and Kodhan’s father directly to his right.
Even from up there, her scowl was prominent, rendering her an unmoving statue of stone and disapproval.
She’d switched out her elaborate gown for a mist-grey dress much simpler in style, but still screamed elegance, nonetheless.
Gone was the diamond necklace, though the ones that dangled heavily from her earlobes had to be worth twice as much.
Purchased with money she’d made from the blood on my hands.
If I spiraled down into that train of thought, I’d never make it out. So instead I forced my attention back to Maverick, who returned my stare with one that bore right into my soul. The right corner of his lips tipped up just a fraction—a gesture anyone else would’ve missed.
“I must applaud you all for your efforts in making it here.” Another round of cheers at that.
“Each and every one of you are here to compete for something that will change your lives entirely. Your mothers and fathers, your siblings, cousins, and friends, have died for the same reasons you stand before us now. Your choices will determine if you make their memories proud, or if you will plague their names with disgrace.”
I shifted my weight uneasily, tracing a line in the dirt with my feet. Beyond the stars, my parents watched. Would witness my failure if I was too weak. They’d died trying to find a cure for me. If I didn’t win, then they would have died for nothing.
I’d already wrought enough shame upon them. No more.
“Let’s not waste any time,” Maverick called out, chuckling on the final word. A wave of laughter followed from the crowd as if answering to an inside joke we were not privy to.
The ground began to rumble beneath my feet. I would’ve lost my footing had I not shot my arms out for balance.
“Here we go,” Brannon muttered, his tone catching me by surprise. Anything could happen—anyone could die in a matter of seconds—but he sounded annoyed.
Kodhan had the nerve to look bored, the extent of it practically seeping through his pores. Only Theia’s reaction was reasonable. Worry lines creased her mouth and forehead.
“Stars, help me,” I muttered to myself just as we began to rise, the dirt under our feet giving way to a wooden platform large enough to hold us all.
Kodhan shook his head, hearing my plea despite the still-deafening cacophony of the audience. “The stars cannot do anything for you here, little viper.”
I fixed as much poison in my glare as I possibly could. “The gods certainly won’t do any better where I’m involved. Might as well pray to the ones who actually listen.”
He ignored my glare completely, sucking his bottom lip between his teeth as if to refrain from whatever retort sat readily on his tongue. Instead, he stepped closer to my side once the platform finally stopped trembling.
“We’re too close to the others,” Theia murmured close behind me. The platform was wide enough to hold us all but gave no real opportunity to spread out properly.
“You think one of them will try and score a cheap hit?” Brannon mused. His amber eyes roved with a predatory focus.
Kodhan snorted. “I dare them to try.”
Brannon’s smile was all teeth. “My thoughts exactly, brother.”
The crowd was beside themselves now, pushing and shoving to get a better view. But it wasn’t the crowd that planted a seed of dread within my chest. It wasn’t the chants demanding death that fed its roots.
Before us spread a map of death.
Knee-high blades jutted from a platform to the far right.
Heavy pendulums shaped like axes, suspended by nothing but air, sliced across the narrow path before it, with no other way to pass through if we wanted to get across.
To the left of the platform of blades was a far less deadly alternative; a large wall of stone at least thirty feet in height.
Though it was completely bare—without any means to climb it.
Of course, those with high affinities in earth could try and obliterate it, or at the very least coax more cracks and ridges into its surface.
But stone was remarkably stubborn. It would take far too much time for too little gain.
Across the Dome, past every obstacle, swayed a white orb the size of my palm. Like a small star, waiting to be captured.
Brannon nudged my shoulder with his arm. “That’s our jackpot.”
I hadn’t even noticed him move. I hadn’t noticed any of them move.
Too long did it take me to realize they’d strategically placed themselves between me and the danger that lay ahead.
Theia lingered at my back, blocking me from the other competitors.
Brannon angled himself to face both me and the obstacles in front of us.
And Kodhan… he faced me fully, close enough that his body brushed against my side.
But his back was explicitly turned to Maverick.
I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it all. And yet, if only for a fleeting moment, it was nice to feel protected. No matter what their motives were.
“How quaint.” Kodhan’s brows pulled together in distaste.
Theia hummed in agreement. “I expected much worse.”
Of all things, they seemed unimpressed. “Are you all mad?” I accused.
“I don’t know,” Kodhan quipped. “Are we, Theia?”
“That depends.” She tapped a finger against her chin. “When you say it that way, the contrary sounds rather boring.”
Every ounce of blood drained from my face. No, the stars would not help me here.
My thoughts moved far too fast for me to grasp any thread of idea for what might save me from the last obstacle sitting across the orb.
A monstrous gap yawned so wide along the final portion of the path that no running start could help one jump across it without any magical assistance. And nothing would catch their fall, either. No net, no mat on the ground. We were easily a hundred feet in the air.
That was my biggest problem.
Everyone would be able to use some form of magic to cross that gap. Everyone except for me.
Bracing myself, I tore my eyes away from the gap quickly enough to catch Diana whisper something into another woman’s ear before they both stood from their seats and made their way out of their designated row.
What are you up to?
They shuffled past other seated members of court, who paid them no heed as they disappeared down a set of stairs likely leading back into the castle.
“Strange,” I said quietly. Strange that she would disappear right as the most anticipated event of the year was about to begin.
A piercing scream rendered the air, followed by a mangled shout.
My stomach plummeted down the hundreds of feet leading to the ground below, returning only to crawl up my throat. Nausea turned my insides to hot, bubbling liquid.
The girl with hair of fire’s skin began to move.
There was no better description for what plagued her other than hundreds of tiny insects, burrowed there—unwillingly.
It almost seemed like they were trying to escape, through any means possible.
Her screams turned from fearful to pure, undiluted agony.
The boy next to her proved no better. He’d already fallen to his knees, mouth agape, skin rippling with the same intensity.
Oh, stars.
Mercifully, the scene was cut short moments later. They simply vanished. Not a single physical trace of them remained. Even the dirt was undisturbed, like they’d never existed at all.
Though their screams still echoed. As if the wind purposely held their pain in its fingers and continued to weave it into the air for us to keep reliving, over and over.
The audience applauded their bloodlust. Stomped their feet for more.
I spat out the saliva that had been building on my tongue, aware of Kodhan’s eyes tracking my every movement. Death had its hand on all our shoulders now. Ready to collect its prize.
But it would have to work much harder if it wanted anything from me.
If death was a melody waiting to capture me in its wake, then I was ready to dance.
One by one, the lights decorating the Dome went out. Cries of alarm rang out from all sides. The paths and their obstacles were barely visible now, nothing but mal-formed shadows, fractured occasionally by faint light emanating from the stars above.
“Only fitting for the stars to guide you through your first trial,” Maverick taunted. “They are the map that leads you to the Temple of Borealis if you win, after all.”
Not if. When.
The low, steady keening of a horn pierced through the chants of the crowd.
For the first time since our arrival within the Dome, Maverick’s words had difficulty finding their way over the newfound level of noise. But they hit their mark all the same, the charge of magic now filling the air as those around me prepared for war.
“Welcome to Strength.”