It’s humiliating. Mortifying. We’re the privately trained team who can’t work together to save our lives.
We don’t get a single yellow card, even though my spear clearly tore the stupid mannequin’s head right off. If any of the other teams were still unsure whether we’re a threat, they surely have their answer now.
“Right. That was … interesting.” Fritz garners nodsfrom the balcony as he herds us back into the group. I catch a flicker of something in his expression. Malice, maybe. “That’s the last of our competitors. But fret not, folks, because there’s more fun yet to be had. A few moments ago, Harry here got handed something very special.”
“Very special indeed.” Harry brandishes a scroll tied with a red-and-gold ribbon. “It would seem the Games Master has a message for our competitors.”
Competitors’ Brief
From the desk of the Games Master…
Esteemed competitors,
Welcome to the Obsidian Banquet. I trust you have indulged in the finestfoods our three principalities have to offer: the honeyed wines of Solara, the golden-baked heliocorn loaves from Astraloria’s farmlands, and the fruits ripened atop the snow-dappled mountains of Wrisha.
By now, you will have showcased your elemental prowess to those esteemed nobles and dignitaries in your company. Normally, at this point of the night, I would bid you rest. I would send you on your way, to dream of the journey ahead as you prepare to sail for Aurora Isle at dawn. But those of you with your wits about you might have noticed that things are different this year. There will be no slumber, no gentle passage to the Isle. The first trial, dear competitors, begins now.
Good luck. For the tide pulls fast, and those who hesitate will be left behind.
Yours ever-watchful,
The Games Master
Chapter Seventeen
My stomach drops. No one said anything about a trial tonight.
The other competitors exchange uneasy looks, but there’s no time to react because it would seem Harry isn’t done reading.
“It says here you have ten minutes to reach the ship on the horizon,” he says. “Only the first twelve teams aboard will travel to Aurora Isle. Dinghies are waiting on the beach at the base of the mountain, just beyond the woods at the edge of the palace gardens. This is about thinking fast and acting upon instinct. Good luck.”
A loud gong rings, signalling the start of the trial before I can process what’s happening. The peaceful garden is no more.
I don’t think – I move. Taron and I jostle against thecrowd as we race through the gardens, tearing across an open plain towards the looming woods in the distance.
One competitor elbows me to get past. Someone else runs into me when I trip on the hem of my dress. The night air is alive with footsteps pounding against the earth.
Cries of determination ring out beneath the three moons still converged as one, and the sea below roars eagerly, waiting to swallow us whole.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I gasp out as we crash through the trees ahead. Gnarled branches reach for my face like fingers as they twist and bend in the moonlight. “You abandoned me back there!”
The air is dense, woven with fog, but still I suck it in greedily.
“Why do you want those people to like you so much?” Taron asks.
“Because when influential people like you, Taron, they treat you better. For example, not sentencing you to death when you’re discovered impersonating two contestants in the biggest tournament of the decade.”
“Is now really the time for this?”
“I just don’t understand…” My skirt snags on a branch. I try to pull it free, but the lace is knotted around it. I’m trembling too much to untangle it. “Tar— Wren, wait!”
He spins and mutters something in frustration before bending down and grabbing the fabric of my skirt.
“What are you doing?” I ask. “We’re losing time!”
“Hold still. We won’t reach the beach with you in this thing…” He tears my skirt so it hangs above my knees.
His face is close to mine when he rises, his breath soft against my skin. “Now, run like your life depends on it,” he says, his voice a little rough. “We’re getting on that ship.”
