Chapter 24 #2
As if he planned this, the arena lights shut off, only to flash back on suddenly, all at once, nearly blinding me with the brightness from the glare off the ice. “Welcome to the third trial of The Ludi. It’s a shame not all of you will be leaving in one piece…”
The man motioned for the figures surrounding him to leave Ellery, Lilah, and Lexington on the ice.
“The trial is simple.” His voice was filled with a malicious glee, leaving no doubt that he would be smiling if his face could be seen.
“These three have been given a lethal dose of alprazolam, and your Little Queen will slowly have her limbs stretched until each one pops out of place. Slowly. Painfully.”
Worth jerked, trying to free his arms and hands. He stared wildly around with a slightly vacant gaze in his eyes. I saw the moment everything fell into place in his mind. The damning sense of dread as he realised what the next words would be out of this man’s mouth. “No. N—”
Worth’s anger was cut off as the man continued, like he was calmly stating what would be offered for dinner and not delivering the death blow to someone’s career or family.
“A choice must be made for a son to be found once more. A trial to test your loyalty and honour, to make you choose between the family bound by blood or the one bound by choice. In the end, it will all come down to you.”
The four masked men stepped up now, each one carrying a new object in hand. Pucks. Hockey sticks. Vials. One by one, they stepped forward and set the items down. The one holding the hockey stick paused, taking a minute to grab Worth by his arms and haul him to his feet.
“It is simple, really. You have half an hour to make three goals—one for each of them—and secure the cure to the poison in the vials over there. After each goal, The Rose will deliver the antidote and escort the saved from the ice.” The man dubbed ‘The Rose’ moved forward in what could only be described as calmly controlled fury.
“Meanwhile, the posts secured to little Audrey’s limbs will slowly begin to drift farther apart.” The Rose jerked, as if in pain, as tension curled thickly around him.
“She will have about fifteen minutes before her shoulders dislocate, and then maybe another five before her knees go, then her hips…” Behind The Rose, one of the other men stirred, only to be roughly pulled back by the man who had the tattoo peeking past the edge of his sleeve.
Snakes and Roses. Roses and Teeth.
“You will be able to free your Queen only after you successfully save your friends. The Shadow will see to it that she remains lucid enough to watch what happens if you were to go against me.”
I dropped my head, resigning myself to not show any fear or pain. You are an Ellsworth. We bow to no man. We bend no knee. The mantra circled my brain, the words my mum said years ago, fortifying my walls as their leader delivered his final blow.
“A choice must be made: your friends, your family, or your future. All laid out so beautifully and tragically for you to try and refuse or hesitate.”
Finishing his speech, he turned on his heel, displaying an elegance that one was born with. Waving his hands, the man who entered with him walked to his side. Right as he hit the edge of the boards, he turned, dropping one final shot before disappearing into the darkness off the ice.
“The Sun will stay as well, forced to watch the consequences of trying to change the outcome of a trial set forth by me…”
“Let this be a warning for what happens if anyone dares to try to outplay me. You have thirty minutes, Prince, do with it what you will. Impress me.”
The ticking of a clock began shortly after their leader left. Red lights flashed in my peripheral, signalling the countdown had officially begun. Lifting my head, I looked at Worth, who seemed just as defeated as the others who were lying comatose on the ice.
Three masked men stood in a solid line behind the others, blocking any chance of escape.
The one in the middle started forward, drawing his hood back to reveal a gold and black mask forged in the shape of a skull, only instead of a jaw and teeth, sharpened blades glimmered in the light, causing my eyes to be drawn to the faintly shimmering Xs marking his eyes.
“Your thirty minutes begin now. One puck for each vial of antidote, but you'd better hurry, Worth, and decide.” A roughened inhale broke his monotone statement as he finished delivering a blow no doubt meant for Worth’s ego.
“Are your dreams of playing hockey worth more than making sure your Little Queen will make it out of here alive?”
His palms twitched like he was fighting back from lashing out, knuckles blanching a ghostly white as he clenched his fist against his side.
No doubt his face would be showing a petrifying level of rage if his mask were not covering it.
When Worth looked blankly across the ice, the masked stranger lost his patience.
“I suggest you figure out how to hold your stick and shoot, or I may decide that more than one soul leaves broken tonight,” he snapped in that strange robotic voice.
As if waking up from a dream or nightmare, Worth lurched forward, catching his balance at the last minute and maintaining a shaky grasp on his hockey stick.
“How…” he mumbled to himself, as he manipulated the cuffs to allow what I was assuming was a more comfortable grasp on the stick that was more like an extension of his arm.
Looking across the ice, he locked eyes with me, a tick in his jaw becoming visible right as the posts of the goal began to move apart.
His eyes flared as he saw my limbs straining against the ropes that anchored me to the net.
With a glint of determination, he stepped up to the first puck, shaking out his frame as much as he could, and he readied himself to shoot right as a new eerie voice echoed around the arena.
“Make it count, Kenton. You only have five pucks to shoot…”
Worth interrupted whatever the man with the ram’s horns was about to say as he pulled back and fired a shot right in the upper left corner of the net. A satisfying swoosh was heard behind me as the puck sailed right where he aimed. With a grunt, Worth relaxed his stance again.
“Lilah, please.” The request was more of an order than a question as he nodded toward the vial and then toward the tiny girl at the end.
“You have no room to make demands, Kenton. Maybe watch your ego and keep your pride in check.” The final man’s voice from the edge of the shadows surrounded the action on the ice.
“After all, you know now what will happen to the Little Queen.” A stilted scream left my lips as the posts inched further apart, pulling my shoulders higher and making me bite the inside of my cheek.
I told myself I could bear through the pain as the man with knives for teeth jolted forward, hands still white-knuckled as he strained to keep control.
“Tick, tock. You can’t rush the clock…”
Worth glared over at the man who seemed to take delight in taunting him.
Then, like he had decided to tune him out, he set up his next shot.
Missing it by just a breath, he released a tense exhale, and the anger radiating from the golden masked man seeped across the ice, casting a chill through the air as I spotted sweat beading on his brow.
“Again. And this time. Do. Not. Miss.” The ‘or else’ was left unspoken at the end, but the implication was clear. If he missed and permanent harm befell me, it was now Worth’s life that would be on the line by the man barely controlling his fury at tonight’s twisted game.
This went on for ten minutes, each shot barely missing the goal by less than a millimetre.
Worth made it down to one shot left with only Lexington to be saved, when the man who had been hiding in the darkness came striding forward, his gait similar and hinting at a familiarity on the ice that was hard to teach.
“Come on, Kenton, your Little Queen doesn’t have many inches left before her joints start popping from their sockets and she screams bloody murder from the pain. ”
As if his words were a trigger, the posts separated more, pulling my limbs farther apart.
The scraping sound of the goalposts forced a whimper from my throat.
Worth swallowed, his face turning green as his eyes bounced between his brother and me.
He stepped up to the line right as a feral roar was heard from the sides.
The man whose rage had been barely leashed since this trial began was now fighting the hold of the one who was next to him.
His head tilted up towards the light, showcasing bulging veins in his neck as they tried to calm him down, his black robes open just enough for the faint lines of ink to show.
“End. This. Now,” he yelled, the robotic voice catching and crackling as it tried to scramble his true sound in the wake of his fury.
Worth shot, and seconds later the final puck slammed into the goal, signalling that the last of the antidote vials was on its way to Lexington.
“No, no. No.”
A shout tore through the arena as the posts continued pulling apart, straining my arms and legs until the pain became unbearable with the first gut squelching pop.
Looking around the ice, I paused on the stranger whose golden knives gleamed as he struggled to maintain his grip on the ever-shortening leash.
Monster. I strained to see more of the insignia that I knew was inked across his chest, just barely hidden from view.
“Five minutes, Kenton, best find a way out of those cuffs…or else I may just let go of the man who’s been lost in a fury since he saw it was your Little Queen being tied to the posts.”
The man with the ram’s horn mask loosened his grip fractionally on the guy who was barely containing his rage.