Chapter 8 The Trial Begins
“Lord Ivicarus, if you will?” Thorne calls, stepping aside on the platform to make room for Silas to take his place at the podium.
Everyone hushes, all eyes now on the queen's brother rather than the dangers waiting beyond the portal. He takes his place and stares at each one of the challengers with a hungry smile in his dark eyes.
“Every year the people of Amaranthine gather to watch the young and the bold compete for a chance to become the fiercest warriors we’ve ever known. Every year, it falls upon my humble shoulders to create a new way to test each challenger.”
So he’s responsible for demanding blood at the signup…
“Only the strong of heart, body, and mind will survive this day,” Silas continues, his dark gaze sweeping the crowd like a cold wind. “As always, the first step, the trial, has changed. As always, only I know what awaits beyond this portal. Are you all ready to hear what you must do in the first step to become a dragon slayer?”
Cheers rise from everyone around me. Brave men and women ready to die for their chance at becoming a legend. I stay quiet, my eyes glued to Silas. I know the things he says aren’t always the truth. I know sometimes he weaves clues into his words that most would not catch. Close attention must be paid, and those who are celebrating and hollering in excitement will not hear his secrets.
“This year's challenge is a deadly maze,” Silas announces, raising his hands to the sky and causing the lands within the portal to crackle with lightning. Rain pours down at his command, a deluge like we only see in the spring when the great storms batter the cliffs of Stormcoast. It obscures what little is visible. In no time, the world beyond will be saturated and sodden.
Danger number one is electrocution. Avoid pools of water. Silas is a mage, and will no doubt be directing the storm to weed out the fools.
“Inside you will face the deadly minotaurs, armed with blades and protected by magic. They will hunt you down and slay you. Just like a dragon, they will not tire, they will not slow. They are starving, and I’ve fed them only human meat. They want to eat you, and they will do everything they can to fill their growling stomachs.”
The cheers finally go silent. Silas has been breeding monsters for our destruction. I’m not surprised he’d go this far, but I’m disgusted. Human meat? Who has he killed to feed these creatures?
Danger number two is man-eating monsters.
“Not only will the monsters be chasing you, but the maze is alive. The very earth is empowered with hatred, it’s one desire to kill you as fast as it can.” Silas smiles, the motion somehow mimicking the very loathing he’s speaking of. As if this maze is an extension of him. “It will feed you to the minotaurs with twisting vines, it will poison you with plumes of psychoactive spores from mushrooms gathered in the deepest reaches of Amaranthine.”
Icy dread crackles through my veins. Will anyone survive this? Is this just an execution for Silas’ pleasure? My gaze darts momentarily to Thorne, who’s still smiling like a cat with a fat mouse. His fingers stroke his staff slowly, tracing the carved runes as if he’s caressing a lover. He seems unconcerned, and as a slayer trainer, his career relies on people surviving the trial. His actions actually soothe me. They tell me there will be a way to make it through.
“Nearly one hundred have gathered today to test the fates and risk their lives, but only five can become Slayers.” Silas licks his lips, a snake-like movement as he watches us look at one another with trepidation. “Your final threat today is each other.”
Malachi’s eyes find mine, and he raises a small dagger to his throat and mimics slicing it before he points it at me.
I stand taller, raising an eyebrow at him, and crook a finger to beckon him closer. Bring it on, bastard.
His face twists in rage that I don’t fear him, but Silas’ voice pulls everyone’s attention forward.
“As you know, there are five types of dragons plaguing our land. The green dragon, an elusive shapeshifter. They can blend in with any plant life, seem to be invisible, breathing a sticky poisonous spray that will paralyze you on contact so they can eat you alive at their leisure.
“The blue dragon, a water-borne creature that can swim faster than any ship and call lightning from the sky itself.
“The red dragon, this is the one we see the most. The fire-breathing dread that flies over our towns and villages and burns everything in its path.
“The black dragon, a creature of the night, the elusive beast of shadow. They make no sound as they fly and have the biggest death toll of them all. They breathe fire like the red dragon, but their flames are hotter, melting more than burning everything in their path.
“Lastly, the silver dragon; we’ve only seen him once, fought him once, we failed to kill him. It’s believed that he’s the only one of his kind. We believe he’s their leader.”
The crowd stirs, chills running up every spine. The silver dragon, the most powerful of them all. The one I’m hunting. The one that ruined everything.
“He breathes fire, he camouflages, he hides in shadows that he can summon even on the brightest day. His scales drip with poison, his heart is filled with malice. He’s the enemy of all in Amaranthine. He controls the lesser dragons and sends them out to murder our people.”
Silas goes quiet, his head lowering in respect. “He killed our king, he slaughtered the Princess of Obsidian Reach. It was the first time we’ve seen him and the last. He left only one thing behind. A scale.” He lifts his head again, his eyes alive finally coming alive—with excitement. “This is what you will be searching for. Challengers will search for a scale from each type of dragon. Only those who find them, and know how to handle such things without dying, will become the next dragon slayers.”
My breath feels thin in my lungs. The winners must each find one of the five dragon scales.
Which means that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
“Of course,” Silas chuckles, his eyes reflecting the flashing lightning inside the portal. “You will have to escape the maze with the scale to be considered a winner. Friend and foe alike will turn on you, no one can be trusted. No place is safe. Once you find the scale, you are not considered a winner until you have passed the portal barrier and returned to Stormcoast. Those without a scale will not be able to pass through the barrier and will be left in the maze to die.”
Gasps of surprise echo around the courtyard. One ricochets through my own chest. This is new. Those who have failed in the past were allowed to return the following year and try again. Never have the losers been doomed to die if they didn’t find the key to Silas’s games.
This year, it’s win or die.
Which is what I was planning anyway…
A hand slips into mine, cold but strong. I turn and see the serious green gaze of Sylvain.
“No matter what he says, I’ve got your back,” she promises. She looks brave, but I don’t miss the slight tremble on her lips when she turns back to face Silas again.
Most of us won’t be returning from this.
That’s really shit odds, even for a kick-ass warrior.
Silas grins, clearly enjoying sharing these instructions. “No one can leave now, no one can back out. Your signatures were signed in blood, that is how the portal can block you.” His grin grows, a sick twisted motion. “May you succeed or may you die swiftly.”
Silas cackles as he steps away from the podium. Now there’s no cheering, there’s no celebration. All that can be heard besides the raging storm on the other side of the portal is the soft wailing of those crying for their loved ones.
Zaries turns to me and smiles a cold, deadly smile, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. Together, we turn and look toward his mother. She’s pale and trembling, but she isn’t looking at Zaries. She’s looking at me. He follows her gaze and when his eyes find me again, the hatred is fully alive once more, blazing and burning like the sun itself. He wants me dead, and today might be the day he gets his wish.
I break eye contact, looking down and adjusting my sword at my hips.
One thing I know for sure is this: if anyone is making it out of this maze alive, it’ll be Zaries. Even if I have to die to make it so. Zaries will survive, I swear on my life.
“Are you ready to begin?” Thorne asks, his voice almost as vile and menacing as Silas’s.
No one is ready for this, but everyone steps toward the portal together. A sheen of watery reflection bubbles before our eyes, then drops. The splash of water soaks every contestant to the bone, wrenching out a ripple of gasps. It’s shocking—the water is ice cold, and the salt content within sticks to my skin.
Both sensations are a stark reminder of danger number one: electrocution.
That this is real.
That our bodies are going to feel every drop of danger thrown at us.
A calmness settles over me, seeming to ripple through the crowd.
It’s time.
Let it begin.
A roar rises amongst the challengers, all of us preparing to fight to the end. As one, we stampede across the barrier and forge into the storm beyond. Every single person signed their life away this morning, and every single one of us is ready to die.
The portal snaps shut behind us. I try not to look behind, try not to let the reality sink in that these will be my last moments, whether I live or die as the demure, innocent woman I’ve pretended to be for so long, or live to slay dragons.
A scream echoes, the sound piercing through the night sky louder than thunder. From the corner of my eye, I see a large man with his monstrous sword plunged through a woman's chest. He raises her body toward the sky and laughs as she slides down the blade, kicking and screaming for her life.
Lightning flashes as the man cackles over his kill, bright, garish, and merciless. It strikes the blade he’s raised, booming with its own victory, killing them both instantly.
“Idiot!” I snarl, darting into one of the many maze openings.
Two down already. I can hear the cheers from the courtyard as clearly as I can smell the seared flesh of the two who died. There's no time for anyone on this side of the portal to mourn them, no time to think about the way their flesh split as the lightning ripped through them. I can be traumatized later.
The maze looms ahead, dangerous and deadly, and the closer I get the more I feel as if the openings are nothing but mouths waiting to swallow us all whole. My adrenaline pumps as I run blindly around the first corner, trying to force my thoughts only on putting distance between myself and the other challengers by any means necessary.
So I can find a scale and win this brutal test.