CHAPTER 15
It was nine pm and none of us had eaten dinner yet.
Instead, we were all being held hostage in the sparring room, while Septimus had us performing the most archaic obstacle course ever designed.
My legs burned and my chest ached. Sweat dripped down Lana’s nape as she balanced on a beam ahead of me, her pale hair plastered to her neck.
I swiped my palms against my sparring leathers, keeping my feet planted firmly on the narrow beam I stood on.
It couldn’t have been bigger than the length of my foot and was six inches wide.
My core clenched as I strained to keep upright.
If I fell, Septimus would make me start all over again, and there was absolutely no way I was doing that for the fourth time.
Lana sucked in a breath as she hopped to the next beam, and I readied myself for the jump.
I bent my knees slightly, channeling focus.
I jumped, my left foot landing on the beam.
My arms flailed at my sides, trying to stabilize my balance, my right foot dangling behind me.
I used it to propel my weight backward, my abdominal muscles tightening as I fought gravity to remain balanced.
The obstacle course had not been designed for the faint of heart and we had been going at this for the past four hours. Everyone was spent. I did not dare risk my careful balance by looking behind to Moric or the others. I knew I would find haggard faces that mirrored my own.
I had skipped lunch earlier in favor of more research on Cosanus and regretted it. My stomach growled embarrassingly loudly.
The second Trial was scheduled for tomorrow. If we kept going at this rate, we were going to be too exhausted to compete by the time morning came.
Lana cleared the last beam with frightening ease, landing on the next horrific part of the obstacle course, and my complete and utter downfall – the spinning wheel.
I had a new tactic for passing the wheel this time, though, having fallen off it three times too many. I propelled myself forward and onto the next beam, my arms righting my balance before I could tip backward. By the time I had straightened, Lana was already past the wheel.
Before I could second-guess my new strategy, I leaped.
I kept my eyes straight ahead and not on the rotating wheel beneath me as I sprinted.
Miraculously, for the first time tonight, I landed on the other side without falling on my ass.
I didn’t have too much time to be chuffed with myself though, because the next part of the course required me to rappel myself across a large gap with a flimsy looking piece of rope, which dangled from the ceiling.
I wiped my palms against the side of my pants again, needing them to be bone dry for this part.
Fatigue weighed so heavily on me that it was an effort to even keep my eyes open, let alone launch myself across the space.
The rope was suspended in the middle of the gap, so I took a few steps back, hoping to make a running jump.
I could see Moric from the corner of my eye, hurtling across the spinning wheel. I had to make a move, and now.
I jumped across the gap, hands outstretched and legs kicking at the air to propel me forward.
My fingers gripped the tough fibers of rope and my knees slammed against each other as they fought for purchase around it.
I swung forward, praying my timing was right, trusting blindly as I let go.
My arms reached for the lip of the landing.
My fingers brushed air, grasping nothing. And then I was falling.
I landed hard on my hip bone, pain lancing up my side.
Frustration and disappointment tore a hole through my chest, sizzling and aching worse than the fall. I had been so godsdamned close.
“You know the drill, Aldhur,” Septimus sang from the sidelines. “Back of the line.”
“Fuck off!” I called back. “I’m done with this.”
Septimus’ eyes narrowed. “You’re done when I say you’re done.”
“Then tell me I’m done. I swear, if I have to do one more fucking lunge–”
A shrill beeping rang throughout the room, cutting my words short. The sound startled Rayna so much that she lost her balance on a beam and clattered to the floor.
She rose to her feet angrily as the sound cut off. “What the fuck was that? It’s not fair for me to start over.”
Septimus rubbed his hands together, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “You’re in luck, mortals. That noise was the sweet sound of the end of the obstacle course.”
“Thank the gods,” Moric muttered. He dropped down from the rope – my latest downfall – and wiped the sweat dotting his forehead.
Lana swept her hair to one side, panting as she dropped from one of the rungs that had been fitted on the wall for scaling. “I’m starved. I can’t wait for dinner.”
I dropped an arm to the ground to scoop up my tunic, which I had abandoned around the second time I had had to restart the obstacle course. Lana and Moric had already begun heading for the door when Septimus cleared his throat.
“Not so fast, candidates,” he said. “There’s been a slight… change in plan. Your second Trial will begin now.”
Nine pairs of eyes snapped to him. And then chaos broke out.
“The second Trial isn’t supposed to start until tomorrow!” Rayna yelled.
“You can’t expect us to compete right now!” one of the more muscular men in her group called out. “We haven’t even eaten tonight.”
“It’s outrageous!” a woman in the first squad shouted. “We were told the second challenge would take place tomorrow.”
“And now you’re being told it will start tonight,” Septimus said. “Things change. Roll with it.”
“We’re exhausted! You’ve had us running around this obstacle for four hours,” Rayna cried.
Lana shook her head and said, “That’s part of the challenge, isn’t it? We’re tired, we haven’t eaten, we’re dying to crawl back to our rooms. They want us to feel like this going into the Trial. It’s fucking cruel.”
Septimus whistled long and loud to quiet the chatter. “You can shut up and listen, or you can all be the ghoul’s next meal. Your choice.”
There was complete and utter silence.
Sweat rolled down the side of my neck. It was so hot in here I felt like I couldn’t breathe.
“You will have the next thirteen minutes to all work together as one team to solve a riddle. If you manage to provide me with the correct answer, I’ll let you go up to the mess hall, where a feast has been prepared in honor of the completion of the second Trial – fresh rolls and lamb, cold beverages and crisp, crunchy summer salad.
There are even roast potatoes this evening. ”
My stomach ached like a hollow pit. I knew exactly what Septimus was doing, yet his words conjured up a picture that distracted me so wholly from the Trial ahead that I feared I had lost before it even started.
“If you provide me with the incorrect answer, however,” Septimus continued, “I’m afraid the ghoul will have its own second Trial feast.”
Moric gulped audibly beside me.
“The riddle is simple, but take some time to discuss amongst the nine of you. All you have to do is let me know how many letters there are in the alphabet. I’ll be back in thirteen minutes to hear your answer.” Septimus strode toward the exit, shutting the door behind him.
“It’s so obvious.” One of the men in Rayna’s group marched toward the door. “Everyone knows there are twenty-six letters in the alphabet.”
“Wait!” Rayna called out, before he could shout for Septimus. “What alphabet?”
The man turned back to her, walking forward slowly. “The Grilish one, obviously.”
“But what if they’re not talking about Grilish, Caleb? The elven language, Rrasur, has thirty-seven letters.”
Caleb scratched the side of his head. “So, how are we meant to know which alphabet he’s talking about?”
“We’re not,” Lana said. “That’s the whole point of the riddle. Grilish is the common tongue amongst the mortal isles, but many of them have developed their own native language as well.”
“She’s right,” Moric said. “In Foulkan, Grilish is the dominant language, but the old language of Afsar is still spoken by many. And there are seventeen letters in that alphabet.”
I didn’t have much to contribute to the discussion. I didn’t know of any other languages spoken on Serila. I had only been taught Grilish by Umma and had never heard anyone in the governor’s house speak a different language.
“Well, if Grilish is the most common language, I say we use that alphabet as the answer,” Caleb declared.
“Caleb.” Forced patience filtered through Rayna’s voice, and I was sure she’d had a similar conversion with the man before. “Our lives depend on this answer. We have to be sure.”
“There’s no way to be sure,” he retorted. “I’m fucking exhausted. My brain hurts. I don’t have the mental capacity to figure this shit out.”
“Maybe,” Lana suggested, ignoring Caleb, “it’s not the type of alphabet we’re thinking of. It could be numerical or musical.”
“But there are an infinite amount of numbers,” a woman from the first group said, and her only remaining partner nodded.
“Unless we’re talking about numbers on a clock, in which case there are twelve.
With musical notes, there are also twelve of those and we know the elven have a particular proclivity for music. ”
“The natives on Koli speak a language with only twelve letters,” a man with round spectacles framing his face said.
He was another member of Rayna’s group. “I’m from Koli.
It’s the smallest isle on Tarlor and is said to have been the first island ever created by the gods outside of Dorisport.
The native language was a gift from the gods themselves. ”
“Are we going with twelve, then?” Caleb scoffed like it was a bad idea.
“It seems more likely than going with Grilish,” Rayna said. “Grilish seems… too obvious.”
The door snicked open and Septimus stepped back inside, looking at us all expectantly. Had thirteen minutes already passed? It seemed far too quick. I swallowed nervously.
“Your time is up,” Septimus said. “Have you come to a decision?”