by Rohini Menon
The walls were a shade of dark grey and the couches were made of leather.
“Have they gone?” someone said.
“Ahh,” I spun around.
“Sorry, I didn’t meant to startle ya,” a boy said.
“Sure, Irish right?” I asked.
“Uh yes… I’m from one of the neighbouring kingdoms.”
I remembered seeing this guy at the meeting. He wore a loose black silk shirt and white trousers. His blonde hair was slicked back, blue eyes facing the ground.
“I’m Aaron,” I said.
“I know, well everyone knows.”
I chuckled.
“My name is Aengus Mcgrath,” he continued, “son of king Rudolf Mcgrath. We rule the land of the north.” He beamed and I wondered: Does everyone introduce themselves like that… I’m Bob Howard, son of Rob Howard and we tailor clothes for families, now 20% off.
“Are you actually the son of King Strider?” he said, looking like a kid mesmerized by seeing a toy gun.
“I’m told so,” I replied.
“That’s awesome, but can I ask you a question? Where were ya all this time?” he said, and for some reason this made me remember Zaniyah’s confession. “I’m sorry, didn’t mean to pry or anything.”
“Nah! You shouldn’t feel bad,” I said quickly. “I should be expecting that question anyway. But I have a question to ask you: who are those people in the room before?”
“Those are the princes we are competing against“
“Oh! And who’s that English dude; is he competing too?”
“Ah! I forgot you just arrived. That’s Harrison Winston, son of Sienna Winston. Their kingdom was the last enemy this country fought. That was a bloody battle, so many people lost their lives defending this kingdom—good thing we won.”
“What happened to his father?” I asked, hoping I was wrong and maybe Sienna was a man’s name.
“Your father killed him.” He gave me a look like that was obvious. I may have just arrived and maybe everything was going too fast, but one thing I knew was that I had a lot of enemies…and, seeing as everyone had their purpose to be there, it was time I accepted mine.
• CHAPTER 13 •
The Ball
“Coming,” I said as I ran to the door to be faced with a smiling Victoria Valequez.
“Here you go,” she said as she handed me a tuxedo. “The party starts at seven. I have asked Zaniyah to accompany you, she will be waiting for you by the balcony next to the stairs.”
Before I could say anything, she smiled and left. I exhaled deeply and looked at the time 6:40 p.m. Better take a shower before the party.
***
“Well don’t you look dapper,” I said to myself, looking at the mirror. It was 7:20 p.m. Better late than never.
***
-Zaniyah’s POV-
“Why me?” I asked mom.
“Are you not his best friend, Zaniyah?” she said as she curled the last strand of my hair. “Are you not his guardian?”
“Yes, but why am I the one to be his partner in the dance.” I didn’t tell her how I lashed out on him and ‘accidentally’ told him the truth.
“There you go, finally you look like a lady,” mom said, ignoring the question. I looked…different. “Oh! Look at the time, it’s 7. Off you go.” She pushed me towards the door. “Zaniyah, loosen up, this might the last day that you can.”
That was the last thing my mom said before slamming the door in my face. I looked towards Aaron’s room, his door was closed… Maybe he was already at the ball, or maybe he was sloppy as usual.
Everyone was smiling, and all the competitors were enjoying the night because everyone knew it was the only night they might live to see. I came to the balcony, but Aaron was nowhere to be seen—late as always.
7:30, where is that idiot? The dance is going to start anytime soon.
“Hey…whoa,” he said.
Now that sounded the stupid I knew… “What took you so long?” I turned around and saw him there, standing in that tuxedo looking strong and defined. His big brown eyes looking straight into mine, the suit hugged his arms making a perfect outline of his forming biceps.
What are you doing, Zaniyah? Focus.
“Where were you?” I asked, trying to make myself sound stern. He looked like he was in deep thought, so I snapped my fingers in front of his face to gain his attention.
“Huh… What?”
***
-Aaron’s POV-
Shoot, I thought, realizing that I was late. Zaniyah must be waiting for me. I reached the party. Everyone was happy and smiling. But…why did I feel like most of them were forcing it? I saw the balcony and I started walking towards it but there was a girl standing wearing a black dress.
“Hey...whoa,” I said as she turned around. Zaniyah was wearing a black satin lace top with a huge flowing black skirt. She had done makeup; now I could see her eyes more clearly. Her usual stern grey eyes now sent out an elegant vibe. Her lips were plush red, the dress showed her curves, her black wavy hair fell down to her shoulders… I had never seen Zaniyah like this. Now that I had, I wouldn’t ever be able to forget.
“Huh… What?” My thoughts were interrupted when she snapped her fingers in front of my face.
“Where were you?” she asked sternly.
“I’m late, I know, I’m sorry,” I said.
She sighed than chuckled “Never seen you in a tux before.”
“Never seen you look gorgeous before,” I murmured.
“What?” she asked.
“What” I replied as if I’d said nothing.
“The dance will now begin,” the speakers boomed with waltz music.
“What dance?” I asked.
“It’s the Strife dance,” she grumbled, folding her arms. “All competitors must dance with their partners; it’s tradition.”
“Then you’re my partner, I presume?” I said.
“Yes, but I don’t know how to waltz.”
“Just leave it to me,” I said, as I dragged her to the dance floor. You might think I’m exaggerating but I literally dragged her to the dance floor. It was like a dad dragging his kid out of the supermarket. “Well we’re here,” I said.
“Yeah, so how do we start?” she asked.
I took her hand and placed it on my shoulders and carefully placed my left hand on her hip and entwined our hands together. “Now we dance,” I said.
“How?” she asked.
“Well, I was hoping you would know,” I admitted.
“How would I know? I told you I can’t dance.”
“Yeah… I thought you were being modest.”
“What happened to ‘leave it to me?” she demanded.
“I was trying to give you confidence, it’s not like I know how to waltz anyway.” I said.
“Amazing. Now we both are standing in the middle of the floor like a bunch of statues.”
“Why don’t we try this: how about we just walk?” I said.
“What do you mean? We have to dance, not walk.”
“Look at everyone else; they’re walking, but just more gracefully,” I said.
“Okay fine, so when you walk front I walk back and vice versa right?”
A few tries later we were gracefully walking across the dance floor. “Thank you for your time ladies and gentlemen,” the song stopped and the lights brightened.
“That was awesome Aaron,” she squeaked in excitement.
“Yeah, I know,” I rubbed my neck.
“Look…” she said. “About this morning, I didn’t mean to—”
I interrupted her “I can’t be angry with you, that’s a fact. But I need you to give me some space, after everything that’s happened it’s going to take some time to process everything.” I turned around and left the hall, trying to restrain myself from looking back.
• CHAPTER 14 •
The Beginning
I woke up in the
morning surrounded by leaves and wilderness. “Where am I?”
“I don’t know,” a voice said from behind the trees.
“Am I dreaming…or did that tree just speak?” I said confused.
“What an idiot,” Zaniyah came into my vision. “Here go change.” She threw my clothes at me. It took me a while to process what was going on but then I realized we were in a forest.
“How did we get here?” I asked, after changing into sweatpants and a shirt.
“I was blindfolded and escorted here by the guards. You, on the other hand, were carried by the guards because you were sleeping,” she replied. She looked tired. I didn’t think she’d after last night. “I think we should move straight and try figuring a way out of here.”
While Zaniyah mentally planned where we were supposed to go, I found an easier exit. “I can see lights from here,” I screamed as loud as I could.
“SHUT UP” she whisper-screamed. “Do you want the others to know we’re here?”
I nodded and pressed my lips together.
“Here, never lose this,” she said and gave me my sword. We jumped over the grass wall. “Oh no!”
“Well let’s get back up the wall again,” I said, changing my mind about the competition.
“We have to go through this, Aaron look at me,” she grabbed me by my pants and pulled me down.
“What?” I said irritated.
“We have to win, no matter what,” she looked at me with those hopeful eyes. “No matter what“
“So, what’s the big deal about this place?” I asked, immediately regretting it.
“This is where all the competitors lose their lives“
“What?!” I yelped.
“Goodbye Aaron,” she said menacingly. Then she chuckled a little. “…I’m just kidding.”
Phew.
“But it’s true,” she continued, “people do lose their lives here.”
Looking closer, I could see that the walls were filled with blood stains, very old blood stains. The houses looked empty. I understood why people start to fear silence.
“Be on guard,” she whispered.
“Noo please!” we heard someone scream. Zaniyah ran in that direction and, being the idiot that I am, I too ran in the direction where death was screaming its lungs out.
When we reached the spot, we hid behind a wall. There were people huddled together and looking at the person on the floor—the person on the floor, please don’t tell me he’s— “He’s dead,” someone said.
“Then we shall send him like a prince,” the man with the funny looking crown said. How did someone already die, this was starting to freak me out by the second.
“We have to find an exit,” Zaniyah said.
“No kidding” I replied.
“And I know how to get there…” her face suddenly lit up and she dragged me into one of the huts that were empty.
“What are you doing?” I asked, as she started rummaging through their draws.
“There has to be a uniform here somewhere,” she said.
“What uniform?”
“These are the Raiku Tribe,” she said. “They mostly survive on the money we give them to help us in the strife.”
“Help in the strife? You mean kill people?”
“Technically, yes, and those who are part of the killing squad wear special uniforms that look something like this.” She held up leather armour and a long blue scarf. “Here.” She threw it to me.
“What about you?” I asked.
“I can hold up a fight,” she replied. “Just pretend that you’re holding me captive.”
We walked though grasses and tried to avoid being noticed as much as possible. The gate was almost there when— “Hey!” someone caught us. “Who are you and who is that?” he asked. He had a West Indian accent.
“I’m from the Raiku tribe and this is one of the contestants,” I said in the deepest voice possible.
“I know you’re from the Raiku tribe. You’re supposed to kill all contestants you capture!”
“Yes, I shall kill,” I say.
“Okay,” he said and stood there.
“Wouldn’t you want to turn around or something,” I suggested.
“No, kill fast,” he said in an agitated manner. Am I ruining this guy’s kill schedule or something? I brought my sword towards Zaniyah’s neck when the light from the lion’s symbol shimmered.
West Indies realized the lie right away. “YOU IMPOSER,” he said and threw his dagger at me, but Zaniyah covered it by using me as a shield. It hit my chest directly but didn’t penetrate through the leather armour. He called for backup and we were cornered.
“OK,” I said in the hot tension. “There are three guys trying to kill us… What are we supposed to do again?”
“Actually, it’s more like four,” she replied.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t specific enough!”
One of them ran towards me and through instinct I used my sword to counter attack. Apparently, I’d picked up something from fighting with Zaniyah, as I was able to parry it.
“Nice,” she complimented me, while holding off 2 guys… Then she climbed up the wall next to us and jumped over the two, landing directly on them. The man I was handling broke away from me and charged head-on, holding his dagger above his head.
I dodged the attack and pulled a dagger from of my armour. I charged and threw the dagger at him at such speed that it pierced through his hand and hit the bush wall. “Not bad,” Zaniyah said with three men sprawled on the floor and one stuck to the wall.
“Come on,” I ushered as we exited through the gate.
• CHAPTER 15 •
Camping 101
“Are they following us?” I said trying to catch my breath.
“No, but we should get going,” she said. The path in front of us was leading towards the woods.
“How do you know it’s the right path?” I asked.
She looked at her sword and spoke “It’s the only path that will lead us to where we want to go.” We started walking towards the forest along a narrow way covered with leaves. I had to be careful after the first three times of tripping over tree roots.
It was getting late and we could barely see where we were going. Our only source of light was the full moon. After hours of walking around, Zaniyah suddenly stopped. “It’s getting dark,” she observed.
“You’re noticing that now,” I muttered. Either: she chose to ignore it, or she didn’t hear me.
She examined the area and spoke “Bring me that nest and the bark off the tree; we’ll be resting here.” I took my sword and sliced the bark off.
We build a fire: smoke emitted as sticks were twisted against the bark; the black residue was then rubbed against the nest and—voila—fire! “That was…impressive,” I said trying not to sound like a six-year-old kid receiving his birthday present. But it really was cool.
“Camping 101,” Zaniyah said, rubbing the dirt off her hands and pants. She removed her jacket and placed it on the ground “We’ll leave tomorrow as soon as the sun rises.”
I nodded and laid down on the grass, looking up at the night sky. Living in the city, I had grown used to having the orange glow of streetlamps outside my window, their light filling the gaps between the curtains. When I tilted my head skyward I could see, clearly, millions of bright stars dotted on the black canvas of night, yet none of that light seemed to filter far enough down to make any difference. When I turned, I saw a snoring Zaniyah. She looked like she was in peace.
Slowly, my eyes became heavy… Dreams were the only place where I could escape from the reality of the strife, where anything was possible, where I would find relief. But, if I had known how I would wake up the next morning, I would never have closed my eyes that night.
• CHAPTER 16 •
The Deal
Sun rays penetrated through closely packed trees. I slowly awoke. Wait, did I just wake up on my ow
n? I was pretty sure that I hadn’t gone to sleep that way. “Zaniyah!” I exclaimed.
Panicked, I bobbed my head around, as if she might suddenly appear from a certain angle. Where was she? Part of me thought that this might be one of her pranks and that she would jump out from behind a tree, but the other part thought something else.
Her jacket still laid on the ground, but her sword gone. That meant she had probably left for a purpose, maybe in a rush. I got up trying and tried to gather my thoughts when something glinted from underneath her jacket… My sword.
Looks like she left that out for me, expecting that I would see it. I picked up my half-sheathed sword. “Onwards,” I said to no one in particular, remembering the words she engraved on the bark of a tree. Straight.
***
-Zaniyah’s POV-
My vision blurred, then the nightmarish boys ahead of me sharpened. Him. Crocegia was pacing about worriedly. “Good morning” he said, in an obviously sarcastic tone. This was anything but a good morning for me.
I don’t think Harrison felt any other emotions other than sarcasm. “This is considered an abduction…as you know“, Harrison said, giving me an amused look.
“Not when the abductee puts up a good fight,” I growled, “then threatens to kill the abductor…” Last night’s events flashed through my head: waking up because of footsteps; Seth jumping out of nowhere and trying to knock me out; me predicting his move and sidestepping, then slashing at him before being hit on my head really hard; and my sword falling out of my hand.
My sword. I instinctively looked around for it but the rope tying me to the tree limited my search. “If it’s your sword, you can have it,” Harrison said, snapping his finger. A girl with jet black hair stepped forward, waving my sword in her hand.
“Don’t worry, we don’t need a low tier’s sword,” Seth said.
“Tsk!” was all I said.
He was about to throw it to me, but Harrison caught him by the hand making him lose his grip over it and it clattered out of reach from me. “This is why I’m the head,” Harrison said, glaring at Seth, then he turned back to me. “Now, I’m sure we can make a deal and then I’ll let you be on your way.”
