Chapter 13
Darrow
Astrange sense of peace filled my body, easing my agony so that I floated in nearly pain-free darkness. My mind could rest and recover from the torment. It felt familiar, but I couldn’t say why. I only knew it lasted a short while before the respite came to an end.
A new setting appeared before me, and dread swelled in my throat.
Rugged mountains blanketed in heavy snow surrounded me, with thin, needle-like trees that looked more like skeletons dotting the uneven landscape.
They had gray bark with sharp, magenta foliage.
In the summer, they filled out thickly, but in the winter, they appeared half-starved.
We called them pine blood trees because if someone bled from a wound beneath their canopies, they would capture the person, using their branches and roots to drag them into the ground to consume them whole.
It was said to be a slow, painful death.
I stood in a small clearing just out of their reach, wounded and under-clothed.
My bare feet and calves were buried in the snow, leaving me shivering with the cold.
All I wore was a long-sleeve tunic, a belt, and a thin pair of soaked pants that were plastered to my skin.
In this dream, my body was much smaller and thinner.
I remembered this day from when I was only fourteen years old, and I’d been in the mountains at the north end of Karganoth.
In the hours before, they’d lined up two dozen boys and begun whipping us.
Nearby, young female relatives sat in cages.
They’d chosen whoever they thought we might care about, and my twin sister had been mine.
I had lost my ability to love by this point, but I still felt a strong connection to Faina as she huddled, shivering, in the metal enclosure, with no cloak or boots to help keep her warm during the coldest part of winter.
They’d required that we share twenty lashes of the whip between us.
It was up to me how many I took, but my sister had no choice except to receive the rest. The dark elf instructors hadn’t gone light with their strikes.
Each crack of the whip had broken skin and drawn blood.
One boy had only made it to five before collapsing in the snow, crying for it to stop. He was only thirteen.
Next, they had hauled out a dark elf female of maybe fifteen, dragging her kicking and screaming.
To shut her up, they punched her hard in the jaw to knock her out.
Then they lay her on her stomach in the snow and pulled up her tunic so she could take the next fifteen lashes.
She had woken when the second one struck.
They held her down to finish the rest until her back appeared shredded, and her lifeblood pooled around her. Fighting them always made it worse. She’d whimpered as she’d lain there. Despite the severity of her injuries, they wouldn’t kill her. It would likely be what came next.
They returned their attention to the rest of us, and one by one, the boys around me called for an end until only two of us remained.
Bogdan and I shivered with cold as we stood with our backs ripped to shreds.
We’d made it to fifteen lashes so far. As the highest-born and most powerful males in the group, though, they expected that we could handle more than the others.
Like me, my cousin had a sister. His was younger, having only turned twelve a few months ago and gained her magic soon afterward. She was still small and frail. That didn’t stop them from forcing her to train with us, though it was no surprise since many of us started at that age.
Bogdan and I looked at each other. His dark gray eyes reflected the pain and misery I felt, but we were also determined. No matter the agony, we would not fail our sisters. We forced ourselves to straighten, and the lashes continued.
“Dare, stop this!” Faina screamed from her cage. Her brown-black hair was a matted mess around her dirty face as she gripped the bars and shook them. “I can take the rest.”
She could, but it would make what came next even harder for her.
I still remembered how much she had meant to me before the curse took over, and it motivated me to protect her, no matter the cost to myself.
Four more lashes struck before I collapsed into the snow next to my cousin, who’d taken three.
My sister would receive only one, and Bogdan’s would have two strikes from the whip.
Their chances of survival would be much higher than those of the other dark elven girls.
They dragged us away to a nearby building where they cleaned our wounds, placed fresh tunics and pants on us, and gave us warm mead to drink.
I knew what consuming it would do, but I finished it anyway.
Bogdan did the same. We wouldn’t receive any more sustenance for a while.
“Good luck,” he’d said.
“Same to you,” I replied. A few minutes later, we’d fallen into a heavy sleep.
I’d woken deep in the Jandopal Mountains.
They’d placed me just far enough from the pine blood trees that the roots and branches couldn’t reach me, but going anywhere from here would be hard.
My wounds had barely closed during my rest. As I trudged through the snow, shivering and teeth chattering, my movements pulled at my barely-knit gashes.
One across my shoulder blades had already reopened and began dripping down my back.
It was hard not to feel sorry for myself. The forest was frightening, cold, and lonely, especially with the sun setting soon, and I was in so much pain. I didn’t sense anyone nearby, but that didn’t surprise me. I already knew they wouldn’t put us near each other.
Every year, they forced us to participate in these dangerous mountain trials.
This time, we had three days to reach a point at the foothills of the mountains.
I had a waterproof map they left me, which marked my starting and end points.
They’d dumped me halfway to the peaks, which left a lot of rugged terrain to cross.
It would have been tough to reach if I were healthy and had proper gear.
The dark elf instructors only left me with a dagger sheathed at my hip on a belt and a canteen of water.
They’d given us the most challenging task yet since I began the winter trials two years ago.
I didn’t know how I’d do it, but I would make it to the end.
Failing would please my uncle, and I refused to give him the satisfaction.
Radan had hated me ever since I came into my powers because they were like his, but I started stronger than him at the same age.
He was a fool. My mother said that if he’d had any brains, he’d have tried to cultivate favor with me, so that I could be helpful to him.
After the countless awful things he’d done, I’d never do anything for the Karganoth heir.
Each crunch of the snow bit into my feet like ice needles.
Elves were resistant to frostbite, but if our bodies became too weak, it could happen.
That was likely why they set the three-day time limit.
They would pick up anyone who remained out here after that and punish them harshly.
I didn’t want to find out what that involved.
Finally, I reached an open area that led straight down a slope.
My thighs burned, and I’d only gone about a mile.
I estimated that with the terrain before me, I had over twenty more to go.
Was it even possible? Maybe they’d set us up to fail, which was the real reason for the time limit. Dark elves were cruel like that.
My foot caught on a log hidden beneath the snow, and I tripped.
The next thing I knew, I was rolling end over end down the mountain.
My shoulder slammed into a large rock as I went over it, but that barely slowed me as I screamed in pain.
Then I felt my ankle twist, followed by crashing into a massive boulder protruding from the snow.
My chest took the brunt of the collision, and sharp agony exploded through my newly broken ribs.
I gulped in air, and tears filled my eyes.
Why did they do these things to us? Why did my mother allow it?
I’d seen her stop her family from doing terrible things to Faina and me many times, but she never argued with them about the trials.
She said it was a rite of passage for all dark elves who met the power requirements, and we had tested among the highest.
Still, it was hard going back each spring to my father’s home after everything we’d faced, pretending as if none of it had happened.
Light elves didn’t treat their children like that.
It wasn’t to say they didn’t challenge them, but rather that they didn't put them in situations where they could easily die.
Every year, Karganoth lost a few youth in these mountains.
They considered it a process of weeding out the weak.
I slowly lifted my head to get my bearings, blinking to clear my vision.
My tumble down the mountain had taken me halfway, and the boulder that stopped me sat perilously close to a pine blood tree.
Dribbles of blood snaked down my back underneath my tunic from my reopened whip marks and would soon soak the snow.
Already, the tree groaned as it woke from slumber.
The pain I suffered made it hard to concentrate, but I refused to die here.
As I searched for the power I’d only begun to control, roots burst from the ground and wrapped around my body.
I screamed as they dragged me away from the boulder.
Blood smeared across the white snow as I clawed for something to grab.
Rage filled me like I’d never felt before. Seeing my sister in a cage would not be my last sight of her, and her seeing me broken from the whip would not be the last she saw of me. We were in this fight together, even when apart. How could I protect her if I were dead?
With a shout, I cast my telekinetic powers broadly, grabbing everything within fifty feet.
Then I imagine squeezing it all into dust. An explosive sound rent the air, hurting my ears, but to my surprise, everything was gone around me.
Even the snow had disappeared, leaving only the frozen ground underneath.
The tree and its roots had disintegrated, their remnants being carried away by the wind.
I’d never managed to destroy anything at that level before.
This was the first time I noticed you, the God of Wrath said in my head. So much power in a small boy, and you did this without my assistance. It is one reason why I help you more than the others.
It took me a moment to remember I wasn’t fourteen anymore and this was all a memory, despite how real the cold and pain felt. The god had put me through many difficult memories since he took control of my mind this time—far more than he’d ever done before. Sometimes, he made comments like now.
When will this end? I asked, desperate for it to be over.
He chuckled. Only when you submit to me fully, and your mate cooperates.
Rage filled me that he would involve Aella in my punishment. What does that mean? She has nothing to do with this! Keep her out of it, or I swear I’ll…
You’ll do nothing, dark elf. I am your god, and all you will ever know unless you learn to submit. I’ve warned you many times that using my power would come at a cost. Do not pretend you didn’t know.
My mind spun as he put me in a new memory. Another rite of passage, from when I was twenty-two years old. That was when I received the scars across my chest that lingered to this day. It was the last time I’d had to maim myself to prove my devotion to the deity.