38. Chapter 38
Yareli squatted behind a shrub, watching the egheur graze in the small clearing.
Its bobtail twitched every once in a while.
Once on the ground, she doubted she could have held onto its back.
Its shoulders stood above her head, and muscles rippled underneath its thick skin with every movement.
She shuddered at what had awaited her if she had jumped.
Someone tapped her shoulder, and Yareli flinched, freezing as she brushed against the shrub. Yareli met Vanessa’s wide eyes as she listened for a reaction from the egheur. After a long moment, they relaxed, their shoulders dropping in unison.
Sorry, Yareli mouthed.
Vanessa shrugged it off and pointed at the drawing she had made on the ground.
Egheurs were herd animals, casting out juvenile males that threatened the alpha; a lone one in the wild was a small blessing, as a fully-grown male would have required a team double their size.
The dirt drawing depicted the egheur in the center of four corner points.
The plan was simple—boiling down to lassoing the animal to its knees.
Then, it was a matter of individually presenting themselves and asking it for permission to mount it.
Yareli pitied the egheur; she didn’t like the idea of domination, but it was necessary to win.
And she wasn’t selfless enough to sacrifice her victory for the sake of an animal’s dignity.
Into positions, Vanessa ordered, and they dispersed to their assigned corner.
Yareli was up front with Dre, who carried the magical lariat they were using.
He was in charge of the initial lasso, and once it was hooked around the egheur’s neck, the lariat would separate into four individual ropes, landing at designated clock positions.
The magic behind it confused Yareli, but she had nodded during his explanation as if magical rope was an everyday occurrence.
Dre gave her a short nod and headed to his position.
She flexed her fingers, gathering magic at her palms and feet.
She would need strength, and although she didn’t know the spell for it, magic was increasingly responsive to her desires.
It would do as she requested as long as she controlled how much power she used to fuel it.
Control was also becoming natural; it was a feeling, like knowing when exactly she had poured enough water into her cup without looking.
It was curious, almost weird, how easy it was for her.
She’d have to ask Augrys about it later.
Vanessa’s signal came through their minds: Now.
Drew threw the lariat. The juvenile egheur sensed something was wrong a moment too late, whipping its head to the side, but the lariat had already landed around its neck.
Yareli’s portion of the rope flew into her waiting hands; she bore down and pulled.
For a moment, it was too easy, like they had already won, but then she jerked, stumbling forward a foot or two.
“Hold!” Vanessa’s voice ripped across the air, and Yareli dug her heels into the ground, gritting her teeth.
She still lost ground, the force of the egheur’s bucking threatening to send her flying in the air.
She needed more strength. Yet, she knew even before she checked that she was already using all the magic available to her.
Sweat dripped down her forehead, trickling down her face in rivulets.
If she didn’t hold, they would fail, and she would lose the alliance offer, which was unacceptable.
She reached into her magic core’s fissure and yanked out more magic. A hot arrow of pain pierced through her, and she bit back a yelp. Pain she could deal with, she thought. What she couldn’t bear was the thought of Allyah’s arrogant smirk if she failed.
She pressed the magic down into her muscles, steeling it against the egheur’s resistance, and she stopped moving forward. After no further ground was lost, Vanessa signaled them to move backward.
“Easy going. One… two.”
Vanessa’s voice, breathless from the strain, served as a numbing agent to the duress Yareli’s body was under.
She clung to Vanessa’s chant, her feet keeping in tune with the count.
Her sense of self disappeared as she became an organism intent on breathing—in, out.
Magic swirled in her vision, draining her core until it turned a murky brown.
She saw before she felt it—the connection snapped; her core turned black, and her magic dried up.
A cramp shot up from her abdomen, and she gasped as it reached her chest.
“Here, I got it.” Dre’s voice was like the clouds breaking and the sun peeking through, and she handed him the rope.
He nailed it into the ground, then frowned at her. Yareli was breathing hard, and she resisted curling up in pain. Dre put his hands up in front of her, moving them in a slow, rhythmic motion to help her regulate her breathing.
“There ya go,” he said when Yareli’s breath returned to normal. “You pushed yourself hard, didn’t ya? You don’t look like the strength type.”
She swallowed, shaking her head; the lie rolled off her tongue. “I’m short bursts of power.”
“A duelist. Vanessa’s one too.”
He gave her a once-over, noticing the way she hunched over her stomach. “Ya sure ya feeling okay?”
“It’s a cramp, don’t worry.” Technically, it wasn’t a lie; the discomfort was similar enough to her period cramps. This was nothing.
He eyed her for a moment longer, but when she didn’t pass out in front of him, he moved away and said, “Let’s go meet our egheur. Best not to keep it waiting.”
She shuffled behind him, using the opportunity to massage her abdomen.
Pain radiated outward; the hot aches made her wince, but more worrying was the chill settling in her toes, crawling its way upwards.
She didn’t release the strengthening spell, holding the dwindling magic in her muscles.
Something told her if she did, she would stop moving.
She straightened as they approached Vanessa and Erbert.
Vanessa patted her on the shoulder. Hair strands were plastered on her forehead. “I knew you had it in you!”
She smiled, replying, “I’m glad it worked.”
“Of course it did! Dre invented the lariat specifically for this!” Vanessa pointed a thumb at him, adding, “He created it during his school years. Brilliant, right?”
Yareli gawked at Dre, who adjusted his headband in embarrassment. “That’s amazing!”
“Thanks.” He cleared his throat. “Let’s say hello before it loses its patience and breaks free.”
“It can break free?” Yareli asked, startled.
“Of course it can. It doesn’t out of respect for our display of strength.”
“Interesting…” Yareli said, filing in line behind Vanessa and Dre and passing by Erbert, who caught her wrist. She flinched, wrenching her arm free of him.
“What?”
He watched her with an inscrutable look on his face, his boyish face still flushed from the exertion.
“You…” His eyes flickered down to her abdomen.
She fought the urge to cover her stomach with her arms.
“Take this.” He shoved an unmarked rectangular package into her hands. “Eat it.”
Warning bells went off in her head.
Erbert read the hesitation on her face, and he huffed. “It’s medicine for your pain. I’m a medic.”
Heat rose to her cheeks as she realized he had recognized her misgivings about him. “Thanks.”
She ripped the small package open, popping the honey-colored medicine into her mouth.
It was chewy like a granola bar, but the effects were almost instantaneous, dulling her pain and the chill in her legs.
Satisfied that she ate it, Erbert walked in front of her, greeting the egheur with a quick bow of his head, and retreating once it bowed in return. She was the last one left.
She approached the animal. It blinked lazily, its red eyes calmer than she would have expected.
Its flat, black snout snorted as though it was telling her to get a move on.
She almost laughed, but she kept her face stoic and dipped her head in greeting.
She waited for it to return the nod, but it watched her instead, eyes flicking down to her feet and back, and she met its stare.
So what if I’m short? I still held you down, didn’t I?
She raised her chin, daring it to reject her for something as inconsequential as her stature. A moment later, it neighed, lowering its head to her, and she smiled. Thank you.
A few minutes later, Yareli rode on top of the egheur, her arms hooked onto Dre’s waist. Vanessa sat behind her, her arms resting against Yareli’s tender abdomen, and she was grateful for the painkiller Erbert had given her.
She would have been in agony otherwise. The egheur trotted into the forest—seemingly unaffected by whatever magic had trapped Yareli in an endless loop—following a path visible to only it.
Soon, they arrived at a large clearing cut in half by a trickling stream.
The egheur stilled, seemingly waiting for them to dismount, and Yareli was the last one to hop off.
The egheur sauntered over to the stream, drank heavily, and ignored them.
The stream gurgled, birds chirped. It was an utterly normal clearing.
“Have we done it?” Vanessa asked. “Completed the challenge?”
Erbert walked forward. “No. If we had, a portal would have awaited us. We’re missing something.”
“The instructions were to dominate an egheur,” Vanessa shot back.
But her words didn’t feel right. They were a dissonant sound that scratched at Yareli’s ears, as though they were an erroneous note in a score.
“No… it wasn’t just to dominate,” Yareli said. “Flame General Allyah said we could only succeed by dominating an egheur. It has shown us the way. The answer is here.”
Yareli surveyed the clearing, noting nothing of interest. The egheur neighed and stomped its foot. She glanced at it by the water; the pieces fell into place. She searched the stream and noticed a sparkle. She walked over and squatted down, seeing what looked like a round gem.
“Over here.” She called the group over, lifting the gem toward the sun. It was a brilliant shade of blue, one that reminded her of the Water Court.
She stood, turning to the group and sweeping her arm toward the water. “There might be more.”
The group scattered, searching for more gems, and the egheur nickered, its soft, low tones flitting over to Yareli.
She dipped her head in gratitude. It had led them directly to the answer, even showing them the stream’s importance.
It flicked its head away, its hair sweeping to the side like it was saying, I told you so.
Vanessa’s voice rang in the clearing. “Got one!”
“Me, too,” Erbert said.
Dre held another from his spot farther down the stream, and Yareli drew closer to the group. She passed her gem to Erbert as they shared their gems in search of differences, but they looked identical—blue and round.
“They’re pretty, but there’s nothing significant about them,” Dre announced.
Yareli noted Vanessa’s frown and the way her lips parted slightly and closed.
“Vanessa?” she prompted.
“Well,” Vanessa started. “They could be tokens.”
“Tokens?”
“Sometimes they’re used as an entrance ticket to the next challenge.”
“You’re right.” Erbert interrupted, pointing at something behind them. “Congratulations, everyone. We’ve just passed.”
Yareli turned, synchronized with Vanessa and Dre’s spin.
A blue portal hovered over the ground, its swirling energy churned silently as though waiting for them to take notice.
It looked like the one Tuom had used before.
Erbert approached it, and it turned red.
Unfazed, he touched his gem to it, and the portal shone blue.
“It’s our exit ticket,” Erbert said, stepping through the portal and vanishing without another word.
Yareli met the stares of the other two, mirroring their jubilation with her smile, and she hurried to the portal, eager to get out.
She pressed her gem onto the portal, surprised at its elasticity.
She had assumed it would have been more mist-like.
Pushing through the slight resistance, she stumbled out the other side, landing in front of the Fire Court’s trifecta.
Erbert waited on the side, his face serious.
The shift in temperature was jarring; she shivered in the autumn chill and walked forward.
“Lieutenant Ines,” Andre said, a twinkle in his eyes, “Congratulations. You have passed the second challenge.”
She straightened as cheers erupted across the clearing. She eyed the roaring audience, concealing her dislike of their attention, and bowed.
“Thank you.”
She walked toward Erbert, rolling her gem in her hand, and Vanessa came through the portal next. Another wave of hurrahs exploded, and she was relieved for the diverted attention. Erbert cleared his throat.
“Take this. You’ll need it.” He handed her another medicinal packet.
She had just thanked him when goose bumps rose on her skin.
She whipped her head to the side; Allyah rested her head on her palm, a lazy smirk on her face.
Yareli’s eye twitched, but she raised her chin, a smirk of her own gracing her face.
No matter what Allyah’s game was, she wasn’t going to back down.
I’ll win, no matter what you throw at me. You’ll see.