He wrinkled his brow at me. “These games are the opportunity for each court to showcase their best fighters. It sends a message to the other courts exactly how powerful we are. And with the magic soon to be restored throughout the land, it is important that we send a message of considerable strength. My fighters will not lose, Raynella. They will give their lives before they dishonor our court.”
On that rather ominous note, he shifted his attention back to the field below. The sands were barren save for a few large boulders scattered throughout the space, so I assumed the earth battle would be first.
My suspicions were confirmed as Harpyn and the rest of the terriservians made their way out onto the sands. Elona and her Gold Court partner, Lanset, still looked nervous from the earlier revision to the rules, but Harpyn and his partner, Grelkin, exuded sadistic violence as they postured in front of the crowd, flexing and beating on their bare chests.
The clamor of the crowd died to a hushed whisper of anticipation as each combatant took their assigned positions.
I chewed on a nail, as I waited for what would hopefullynotbe a bloodbath to begin.
The horn bellowed once, and the arena erupted.
One moment six casters stood spaced in a wide circle, and the next the air was choked with a cloud of dust as rocks ranging in size from pebbles to wheelbarrows pinged and crashed against the walls of the arena. The crowd fell to its first perfect silence of the day as everyone waited for the dust to settle so they could lay eyes on whatever chaos had ensued.
When the field was visible once more, only four combatants remained standing. Elona was sprawled on her back, blood leaking from her mouth and pooling on the ground beneath her. The loud wail I heard from below sounded like Peywyn, and I sent out a silent prayer that Elona was just knocked out.
Off to the far side, Koasha coughed once before falling unconscious, her body draped over the edge of the arena like a ragdoll.
In an instant a third of the fighters were out of the game. My eyes slid clockwise around the ring, taking in the remaining ones.
Jaelin was building up a swirling cloud of dirt while Lanset eyed her warily, his right hand clamped tightly to his left arm which hung loosely at his side. Gorge rose in my throat as I realized a shard of bone jutted out from the skin. His healingmagic stemmed the flow of blood, but I doubted it would be enough.
On the other side of the arena, Harpyn, in all his Olympian glory, was unabashedlyloungingon a fucking throne built of stone.
I blinked at him, unable to believe the cocky bastard had taken the time to shape a boulder into a seat, as if the chaos and violence surrounding him was of no concern.
Continuing around the ring, I paused when I noticed Grelkin pulling massive chunks of rock toward himself, molding and shaping them to his body. After a second, he fully disappeared within a squat stone golem, its legs thick as logs with arms hanging nearly to the ground.
In reality only a few seconds passed as the four remaining casters sized up one another, but time slowed to an agonizing crawl amidst the adrenaline and excitement that permeated the arena. Eyes snapped back and forth from warrior to warrior, each one trying to suss out who would move first.
Lanset made the first strike, lunging forward and swinging his fist in an uppercut motion. A boulder shaped like a ram’s head ripped from the ground and flew toward Harpyn.
Completely unruffled, the Silver Court caster put the back of one hand to his mouth, feigning a yawn, while his other hand flicked out. Part of his throne popped off and knocked the stone ram out of the air.
Satisfaction filled me, however, when Harpyn realized his arrogance had caused him to miss the sandstone anaconda that rose up behind him. The stone snake struck, and coil after coil of serrated shards wrapped about him. His bellows of rage could be heard even over the raucous crowd.
Across the arena, Grelkin’s behemoth began to move, loping forward on massive knuckles and stumpy legs. My heart, alreadypumping with adrenaline, kicked into triple beat overtime as I tracked its trajectory toward Jaelin.
The Diamond Court female flowed to one side, the cyclone she created shifting with her as the stone monstrosity crashed by, missing her by inches. With each swing of her hands, Jaelin’s cloud spun faster, the sand, grit, and rocks condensing into dozens of jagged hailstones. She let out a whooping war cry, and the stones began rapidly firing out of the cyclone.
They chewed into the monster's left shoulder and chest, sending fissures through the stone body that threatened to crack the whole thing apart.
Barely phased, the behemoth set his feet and charged Jaelin once more. She dove nimbly to the side, but as Grelkin charged past, his stone arm broke free and flew through the air to smash into Jaelin mid leap. Throughout the arena, cries of terror and blood thirsty shouts of victory rang out in equal measure when her body crashed to the ground with a horrific thud.
Slow and stumbling like a drunkard, the behemoth began stalking toward Jaelin’s prone body.
Too afraid to watch, I turned away from that fight in time to see Harpyn burst free from the snake. Calmly shaking the dust off, he swirled his left hand. A stone hand formed out of the remains of his throne and swept Lanset up in a crushing grip.
The Gold Court male struggled for a second, then hung his head and held one hand up, his fingers curled into a C shape.
“What is he doing?”I asked Jo.
“He is making the cedo gesture. He yields to the brute.”
I waited for Harpyn to drop the wounded fighter, but the stone fist only squeezed tighter.
Lanset’s head rocked back, eyes bulging in fear and pain as he shouted, “Cedo! Cedo!”
Harpyn’s evil smile grew a little wider, his eyes a little more manic. I watched in stunned horror as blood poured fromLancet’s mouth and dribbled through cracks in the stony fingers. His pleas grew weaker as the popping of bone grew louder, until his head lolled limply to one side.
