The prince lies there, still not moving.
Nobody does a thing. The king stands there, looking down on his son.
Why does nobody react?
I feel my blood boil. Blood starts flowing from his head. I can see the puddle of blood next to his head. My ears ring. I must do something. I jump off my rock, making up a plan and then I see him, my da. He runs over to the prince. It is vague, but I can make up his words. I am not even sure how he has the courage to talk to the king like this.
It must be because of the deal he was talking to him about. Because no guards drag him away the moment he opens his mouth.
“Get a healer, you fuckers! Do you want him dead?!” he screams, looking at the king. He turns around looking into the crowd and everyone around him starts running.
Chapter 6
Braxton
I use my hand to cover the blinding light coming from between my eyelids, furrowing my brows together. A few faces appear above me, and I snap my eyes close, counting to three before opening them again.
“Great, you’re up,” a familiar voice whispers. “At least you saved me from fighting today,” the voice says, clapping a hand on my shoulder. I open my eyes and turn to the voice. I stare right into the poisonous green eyes of my brother who is smirking. I sit up, not sure why I am still lying here on the first hand.
“Jeezz, you scared me to death, kid.” Fintan sighs, running towards me, ignoring the group of people he was just talking to.
“It is nothing, I am fine,” I growl. I climb up, my legs still shaking as I do. My fingers brush my skin, next to the spot that makes my head pound so much, but there is no wound to be found. All there is left is a scar the size of a grape.
“Where is my next fight?” I say under my breath, glaring at my trainer. Fintan responds to that, not showing any emotion.
“It is over there. It is okay to take a break you know, kid?”
“As I said before, I am fine,” I hiss, stomping towards my next fight, feeling kind of offbeat, ignoring my pounding head. “Seven more to go, right?” I ask my trainer, stretching my fingers. He nods, giving me a little, not so happy smile.
I ignore him.
There I go, straight into my future.
The candidates are chosen. The last seven fights went okay. Five candidates lasted ten minutes and the other two I won. My anger didn’t rule me these times. I felt in control of my emotions and didn’t let my mask slip—it will never happen again. In total, eight participants won or lasted during the fight with me, which makes including me and the secret candidates ten in total. Everybody has gone home, including the fresh new candidates. They needed to freshen up, because tomorrow, ten days before the trials, their names will be announced to the rest of the continent. Afterwards, they can go back home for four days, to celebrate with their loved ones. They are given four days of relaxation and expected back with seven days to go to prepare at the palace. Or at least that is what I overheard the guards saying to each other. I hear a girl giggle as I walk through the forest at the end of our garden.
“Stop making fun of me and start praying.” The girl giggles.
“Be quiet, dear,” a familiar, raw man’s voice interrupts.
“Stop calling me after an animal and maybe then you will get what you want,” the girl purrs. I take a step forward, trying to get a view of who are fooling around. My brother and the redhead from earlier, whose name is Hazel, are standing very close. She looks over her shoulder at him, nose crunched up and arms folded over each other as my brother steps behind her. Putting his arm around her and holding her.
Apparently, he is capable of love. It is not really my business, so I take a left instead of my normal route. I need to walk a bitfurther but that is fine, better than interrupting their moment and making it all awkward again. Hazel is also in the trials. She fought against me. She has a nature signet. She used her signet to tie me to the ground. Her plants crawled to me. I used my sword to cut myself loose. She is feisty and held out the ten minutes of our fight, so she is in. I am not sure if she should be happy about it.
Maybe she is tricking my brother in letting her win?
No, it can’t be. He doesn’t know what is going to happen in these trials either as far as I know. I shake my head. What does my brother have to do with these trials? I keep marching deeper into the woods that belong to our garden. In the distance I can see my destination. I shut my mind off and try to keep it off until I arrive.
With my left shoulder I shove into the rusty oak door of my hiding spot. It opens with difficulty. I step inside of the little house—my little house. I turn the light switch on and the whole place changes from a derelict place, to a beautiful, brightened cabin. It is small, but perfect. There are windows everywhere. If you open the door, you come into an open room. On the left side there is a staircase which leads to a small loft. I climb up the wooden stairs, every step creaking under my weight. In the loft, against the window, is a small desk. Everywhere I look are drawings. On the floor, the walls, and even some on the ceiling. It is my secret drawing place. Sometimes everything feels like too much. The king for example. Whenever I need to clear my mind I go over here and draw my heart out. I plop down on the beanbag beside my desk, grabbing a clipboard from the side. With the sun shining on my face, I shut my mind off and do what I can do best.
I draw.
I draw and draw, till the morning comes. Time’s passing by fast, and I am not letting sleep take me. Not letting my nightmares drag me away again. I draw and draw until my hands are sore, but no blister appears on my calloused hands. I draw and draw until my eyes can’t stay open anymore and a horrendous scream fills my ears.
I skip some of the steps, trying to get down as fast as possible. I slam the door open using my signet. My gaze scans the place, looking for the person that screamed so badly. There is a girl, sitting on a stone, next to a tree, holding her hand in front of her mouth. She has blonde, long hair, blue eyes, and a red face from shock. I curse under my breath.
Manes.
I thought someone was getting killed right in front of me. I stroll towards her, her eyes widening as I get closer.
