“So, my suggestion is that we concentrate on what wedoknow and work together to ascertain what we may be up against.”
Pryce frowned. “It’s a competition. Why should we help one another?”
“I am by no means suggesting that we help one another come up with strategies or solutions,” Keryth explained. “Only that we put our heads together at this phase and try to figure out what we’ll need strategiesfor. And,” she added, her pitch rising on the word, “this isoneof the things we know: The White Trial is a competition in a different way than the Black Trial was.”
“How so?” Raelah asked, and I realized with some measure of relief that I wasn’t the only one in the dark on that matter.
“In the Black Trial, everyone who survived was allowed to move forward.” Keryth’s gaze fell heavily for a moment upon Yoslyn, who—to her credit—stared right back at her. “Not so in the White Trial. This time, only the eight fastest times will move competitors forward, even if all ten of us succeed in our task. The two slowest, even if they survive, will fail and be expelled.”
A discontented rumble echoed around the table as the shock of that information sank in.
“How do you know that?” Wilder demanded softly. “I’ve heard nothing of the sort.”
“We uncovered that information the same way any of you could have,” Lennox said from Keryth’s right. “Through observation and research. Skills we should all be perfectly capable of, at this stage in the game.”
“I went back through my notes,” Keryth clarified. “I’ve kept record of which Mastery-year students succeeded in each trial for the two years we’ve all been here, and only eight made it past the White Trial both years. That seemed like more than a coincidence, so we looked into it.” She aimed a glance at Lennox, and I noted that it was somewhat less warm than usual.
Was competition getting in the way of their bond?
Lennox pulled something from the bag at his feet, then stood and dropped a heavy leather-bound book on the table. “It’s a ledger. Turns out the Alchemary keeps a record of trial participants, as they keep records of everything else. This one is the White Trial. It was right here in this library, free for the looking.”
For a moment, we all stared at the book. Then Yoslyn leaned forward and dragged it across the polished surface of the table.
“They’re correct.” Cressa didn’t even look up from her doodling.
Yoslyn opened the thick ledger to a page marked by a gold ribbon, about a third of the way through hundreds of sheets of fine, thin, delicate,expensiveparchment. The right-hand page was blank.
The left-hand page was labeled with the date of last year’s White Trial, and below that was a numbered list of the participants, including the time it took each to complete the trial.
Eleven had begun. Three names were crossed through. One of them had no completion time.
“Ten survived,” I said, staring at the crossed-through names. “But only eight moved on.”
Yoslyn flipped the page. “It was the same the year before. Nine of ten survived, but only eight moved on.”
Keryth nodded. “It’s been eight for every one of the past twenty-three years, except for two years when only seven survived. At no point in almost two and a half decades have more than eight Mastery-year students gone on to the third trial.”
“We’re guessing some new policy was put into place that year,” Lennox said. “Before that, everyone who survived moved forward.”
Yoslyn closed the ledger and slid it into the center of the table.
Keryth aimed a magnanimous look at our entire group. “We’ve chosen to share this knowledge with you all, when we did not have to.”
“How long have you known?” I asked, staring at the ledger.
Silence descended from every direction as chatter and nervous fidgeting ceased. Several heads turned my way.
“Pardon?” Keryth asked.
“I said, how long have you known?” When neither of them answered, I met her scowling gaze. “A while, right? Maybe since last year? And you’re just now sharing that information.”
“This is a competition,” Lennox said, his voice hard. Defensive.
“As is my point,” I said. “You’re not sharing information to be generous. You’re sharing, months after you came by this knowledge, because you need help. Because you haven’t been able to figure it out for yourselves.”
Cressa smiled down at her drawings.
“That doesn’t change the calculus,” Keryth insisted. “Helping one of us helps all of us.”
