Of course, it was a climb.
Kaelric stepped behind me, hands braced beneath my hips.
“I’ll boost you.”
I didn’t argue.
His strength launched me up high enough to catch the first hold. I climbed, fingers numb, feet slipping. Valkaryn offered no help this time. This was all me.
To my left, a fellow candidate, the one who’d been burned, slipped mid-climb. She hit the stone edge hard, bounced once, then dropped into the darkness.Her bonded wolf roared with fury, but couldn’t follow.
That was two dead on this course alone… That meant it was just me and one other. My mind spun with panic, and the loss of concentration cost me. I slipped, my fingers gripping the oily vines. Valkaryn pulsed at my hip, and I finally found purchase, but had lost all the height I had gained.
‘Beside you,’she called.
I looked over to see House of Vexalor Elite, Kirk Vexalor, and his wolf. They stopped mid-climb, and Valkaryn pulsed at my hip again.
‘I’m blocking his magic,’she told me.
He was probably trying to boil my blood again. I couldn’t reach for Val without letting go of the oily vines I was barely hanging on to. So when the Elite’s foot kicked out quickly, connecting with my ribcage, I lost my grip and started sliding. A scream ripped from my throat as the blackness below seemed ready to swallow me up.
As I was sliding past Kaelric, who was underneath me, his arm snaked out and caught hold of me. The sheer force of my falling weight dragged Kaelric down a few feet, but he was able to hold on to the slippery vines. My hand was coated in oil, and so was his. I could feel his grip slipping on me.
“Don’t let go,” I whimpered.
With a growl, he swung me, like a pendulum, once, twice.
“Grab the vines!” he commanded.
On the third arc, I grasped the vine, wrapping it three times around my wrist. At that moment, my hand slipped from Kaelric’s. But I was safe.
I glanced up to see House of Vexalor Elite and his wolf had reached the top.
“Don’t worry about them, let’s go,” Kaelric said beside me.
I nodded. My arms were so weak. I’d been hanging here for so long. But I had to push through. With every pull up the vines, I growled, screamed, and grunted.
Kaelric was right below me, cheering me on, ready to catch me if I fell. I finally reached the top and was met with a closed gate. Kaelric stood beside me, panting, peering at the gate in confusion. Then realization dawned over his face. Reaching forward, he slammed his palm against a button I hadn’t noticed on the right side of the gate.
“You have to do it, too!” Kaelric urged.
I peered to the left and saw an identical button. They were about ten feet apart, too far for one person to reach with their single arm span. This was meant to bring only bonded pairs across. I mashed my hand across the button, and it flared blue as thegate opened.
Kaelric was beside me. We were both scratched, bruised, and coated in dust.
But we weren’t done yet. A bridge led to the next obstacle, which was my worst nightmare.
I peered out at a line of endless, rusted monkey bars suspended above another drop into nothing. A black chasm of death.
The crystal pulsed at the end, a beacon of salvation at the finish line.
The Vexalor team was already halfway across. The Elite bearer clung with shaking arms, his bonded wolf behind him. But I noticed blue ropes of light wrapped around his hands, keeping him magically stuck to the bars. He paused, looked back once at us, then kept moving.
My arms trembled already.
I glanced at Kaelric. “I don’t think I can do this,” I whimpered.
Arm strength wasn’t something I possessed. I was already so tired. I didn’t have magic to get me across. This was a death sentence for me.
