Chapter 6
After breakfast that morning, and once the security video had been shown, displaying Maeve trying to smother Rune, Stone hurried over to speak with her.
She appreciated the gesture. Others gasped at what they saw.
Specifically, Lolita and Iris. Others looked shocked.
Pari, Fang, Vesper, and Xena only smiled.
“I’m okay,” Rune told Stone, who looked so concerned.
“Maybe you should go home. I don’t want to see you hurt.”
She smiled and kissed his cheek, shocking him. “No one is going to threaten me and send me home.”
At least she hoped not. It really was a quagmire. She wanted to return home, sure. But she wanted to be the one who decided it, not some wolf fae who tried to eliminate her from the game.
The Game Master started talking about the new mission.
"Eleven of you are still in the competition.
For this mission, six rope bridges will be available to cross.
I've decided who will pair up with whom, based on strength, to make this more even and competitive.
Because we have an uneven number of competitors this time—"
Everyone looked at Rune as if she were at fault.
"Lolita will be on her own," the Game Master said.
Poor Lolita looked worried. Rune felt concerned for her.
Then they were fae-transported to a forest at the edge of a canyon.
Six double A-frame monkey rope bridges, ten feet apart, crossed the river to the other side of the canyon.
With a wet roar, the dark river churned thirty-five feet down in dips and swells.
The bridges were composed of a triple span of ropes stretching a hundred and fifty feet across—two lines to grip above and one rope underfoot.
They were already swaying in the wind before anyone set foot on them.
But then she saw boats down below, waiting to fish out fae competitors who fell off the rope bridges into the river, giving her some sense of relief.
"You must reach the other side as quickly as you can," the Game Master continued. "The first one to find the wolf totem hidden in plain sight will win the challenge. It emits a low humming sound to help you locate it. The game begins…now!”
Everyone raced to the six rope bridges. Rune ended up on the rope bridge parallel to the one Stone was on, with a girl named Pari trying to catch up to her. She had been Maeve's packmate and friend, and Rune knew she had it in for her from comments she’d made to Vesper.
Vesper was behind Stone and trying to shake him off the rope bridge. Stone fell on the bridge, straddling it where it would hurt the most, but managed to get himself back up and looked like he was in pain.
Pari was behind Rune and trying to catch up to her, but she was having trouble balancing on the rope bridge. Rune knew she had to get to the end first, then dash off to find the idol. She couldn’t help but glance at Stone again, who was sluggishly trying to maintain his distance from Vesper.
Suddenly, Pari was behind Rune, closing the gap between them on the twisting, swaying bridge, and reached Rune. Rune couldn’t let her pass her. But Pari was determined to throw Rune off the bridge. She kicked her in the back of the legs, and Rune buckled.
No, no, no, no!
Rune lost her balance and fell but grabbed hold of the foot rope with one hand before she plunged into the frothing river below. Instead of just passing her, Pari ground her boot on Rune’s hand, grinding it, making it hurt like the devil.
“You hurt Maeve and put her out of the game,” Pari accused.
“She tried to kill me.”
Pari already knew all about it. “Too bad she failed. You won’t be the Chosen One.”
Rune gathered her inner strength and reached out with her other hand, grabbing Pari by her ankle.
Taking Pari by surprise, Rune yanked her off the rope. Pari screamed all the way down to where she splashed into the river. Rune quickly swung her leg up onto the rope and hurried to stand, the rope swinging with her.
She glanced over at Stone, whom she thought might have already reached the end of his rope bridge. He was the only one she would cheer on, but he was still fighting Vesper. Both were trying to throw the other off the rope.
The others in the competition had likewise decided to eliminate their competitors and were still far behind her on their ropes. At the same time, they fought each other, trying to throw their opponents into the river.
Then she had an idea. She could make it to the end of her rope bridge and dash off for the idol, or she could take out as many of the other competitors so they wouldn’t reach the end of their rope bridges. She would show them she wouldn’t be trifled with if anyone else came after her.
Since they were out to get her, she might as well deal with them first. She finally reached the end of her bridge, much quicker now that she wasn’t fighting with a competitor who was trying to throw her off.
Then, with her sword in hand, Rune dashed to the rope bridge where the next pair of fae were still trying to dump each other into the river.
They stopped fighting when they saw her coming.
They were too far away from the end of their bridge to stop her, and she took great satisfaction in slicing through their rope.
She didn’t wait to see their shocked expressions when they fell into the river, though she would have loved to, but she raced off to the next rope bridge to take care of the next of her competitors.
They were so busy fighting each other that they didn’t see what she’d done to the other rope bridge or that she was coming for them. She cut through the rope, and they fell into the river without even realizing what she’d done to them. No fun. She preferred that they had seen her coming for them.
The next one she went to cut, the two males were fully aware of what she was doing, and both were scrambling to reach the end of their bridge. Too late. They suffered the same humiliating defeat as the others: the bridge fell, sending them into the water.
Lolita, the smallest fae, looked once at her in horror.
She hadn’t had a partner to fight her, which meant she wouldn’t have lasted, but she was too much of an underdog as it was, and Rune wouldn’t do her the unkindness of forcing her into the river.
If the smallest fae won the challenge, Rune was all right with that.
Rune knew that Lolita only went along with the others because she had no choice. Rune saluted her with her sword, then dashed back to where Stone and Vesper were fighting. She wouldn’t cut the line, but she knew if Vesper got past Stone, he could run faster than she could.
“Do it!” Stone shouted at her when he saw her draw close.
She couldn’t. He still had a fighting chance if he could dump Vesper off the rope. “Knock him off the bridge already!” Rune ran off to find the idol.
Stone was irritated with Rune that she wouldn’t just cut the rope bridge he was on as Vesper punched him in the gut, and Stone doubled over in pain.
But when Vesper tried to hit Stone in the head, Stone grabbed Vesper’s leg and lifted it off the rope, throwing him off balance.
He fell backward and off the rope, but managed to catch it in the nick of time.
Still in pain from the first fall Stone took, and now from the beating from Vesper, he jumped on Vesper’s hand, grinding into it.
Vesper cried out, but he wasn’t letting go.
Before Vesper could reach up with the other hand to grab the rope and pull himself up, Stone suddenly kicked Vesper in the head, sending him flying into the river.
With no time to lose, Stone made his way to the end of the rope bridge and dashed off, well, staggering as he went.
Stone smelled Rune’s scent and tracked her, but when he found her, she hadn’t located the idol yet.
“Oh, I’m so glad you made it. And Vesper?” Rune asked.
“He went for a swim. But you should have cut the rope.”
“Nah. I knew you could handle him.” Then she began searching for the idol again.
He spread out from her to see if he could locate it first. They were both looking at the trees around them, the mossy stones, and the tall bracken. It could be anywhere.
He heard movement to his left. Rune had been to his right. Suddenly, a cantankerous boar charged out of the woods and headed in their direction. He scrambled onto a pile of rocks as the beast snorted and pawed at the earth below, its tusks gleaming in the filtered sunlight.
Then Stone saw Rune heading his way. “Watch out for the boar!”
Rune ducked down and traveled through the tall bracken until she could reach the other side of the rocks. They were taller there. She couldn’t get a handhold or foothold. Stone hurried over and reached his hand out to pull her up.
“Thanks,” she said, climbing up with his help and standing way above the boar with Stone.
“Did you find the idol?”
“I thought I heard a faint hum coming from this direction. And you can hear the burbling creek nearby.”
He listened then, the boar having distracted him so he hadn’t paid any attention to anything else. They began to climb to the top of the boulder, with him helping her whenever the rocks were too large for her to climb. It helped to have longer legs.
When they reached the top, they saw the idol sitting in an alcove near the creek. The humming was faint, the water rolling over the stones in the creek nearly drowning it out. Which made sense, or it would have been too easy for the wolf shifters to find.
They both raced down the rocks and reached the idol at the same time.
“It’s ours,” she said. “Take hold of it at the same time as me, Stone.” She said it in a commanding tone.
He cast her a smile. He wasn’t used to being bossed around. He wanted to object because she had really heard it first. She had stopped the others from playing in the game, giving them the advantage. She was the clear winner as far as he was concerned.
When he hesitated, she grabbed his hand, and they touched it together. Half of the wolf statue was suddenly covered in a sprinkling of silver stars. The other half of the stone they touched revealed a full moon.
They stared at it in amazement. Then they heard movement and feared it was the wild boar again, but it was Lolita, panting, out of breath, her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath.
“Wow,” Lolita said. “That’s just beautiful. I didn’t know that two people could win a challenge simultaneously.”
“We were here at the same time, so we had to try it,” Rune said. “If no one won the challenge, it was all right by me.”
“By all rights,” Stone said, “Rune should have won. But I’m glad we could do it together.”
Lolita smiled. “Me too. And thanks, Rune, for sparing me a dunk in the river. I know that I’m not much competition…”
“Sure you are. If you had found the idol first, we would have been happy for you. We know you're still siding with the rest of the wolves in your pack because you don’t have any other choice, but we don’t hold it against you,” Rune said.
“Can I stick with you guys?” Lolita asked.
“We’re not a team,” Rune quickly said. “It just worked out this way.”
Stone agreed. “And for your safety, I think it would be better if you stay with the larger group, keep your head down, and go along with their gameplay.”
“I really don’t want to, but I’ll go along with it, for now,” Lolita said.