The image vanished.
Gray wisps re-formed, swirling ferociously this time, as Tejus’s mood became blacker and more hopeless. Another image stood before us. This time it was Jenus as an adult, his large frame slightly bent and his greasy long hair hanging loose over his black robe. His back was to Tejus, and he was walking away, following the trail to black nothingness in the pits of the cave.
Tejus called out his name, but Jenus didn’t turn around.
Tejus fell to his knees, and the bond we shared was awash with a terrible sense of loss and loneliness.
“Forgive me,” Tejus said. “I have failed you, brother, and I am alone. I am lost, that is my truth,” he spat out the words, “there is no one left who gives a damn.”
I wanted to shout out and tell him that he was wrong—it was just the hallucination playing tricks on him—but before I could say a word, a shaft of light appeared above us in the rock, and something rolled down, landing with a soft thud in Tejus’s open hands.
The golden seed.
It gleamed in the dull light, and suddenly I was pushed out of Tejus’s mind and was back in my own, standing behind him as I had been the entire time.
Tejus jumped to his feet, his face slowly lighting up with victory. The feelings that he had been drowning in a moment ago ceased to exist, and he rushed out from the cave and into the bright light, dragging me by the arm.
Ruby
Ash drank down the liquid, grimacing as he did so. I reached for his hand, and he clasped it in his. We entered the cave together, my heart thudding in my chest as we entered the gloom.
I didn’t know what to expect, and I didn’t think Ash did either, so we just stood in the darkness, side by side, waiting for something to happen.
Soon enough, Ash started to shake, the fingers that encased mine starting to tremble. I could just make out his expression, and soon wished I couldn’t. His eyes were open wide at some inexplicable horror that only he could see.
I closed my eyes, trying to get a grasp on his energy, reaching out with my mind so that he could take some comfort from it and quell whatever fear he was facing. I sent calming and tranquil energy through our bond when I felt it form, but he resisted it.
“No…” he whispered. “I think this is something that I need to face on my own.”
He let go of my hand and ran his hands through his hair as if he wanted to tear it all out. His eyes grew wider still, and I could see perspiration forming above his brow.
“What can you see?” I asked, hating that he was enduring this alone.
“It’s...it’s the Emperor,” he stuttered, “everywhere… his body is everywhere. The dead Emperor.”
I felt sick.
Is this some kind of joke?
But no, it was just a hallucination. A figment of Ash’s imagination.
“It’s not real,” I replied, trying to soothe him, “it’s just tricks in your mind.”
“But it is the truth,” he whispered back in a tremoring voice. “I have done this…”
“No, Ash! This is the liquid—you need to focus on the task—can you see the seed?” I cried, imploring him to stay in reality and keep his mind on the trial.
“I can see it.” He blanched. “But it’s all the way over there.”
He pointed to the other end of the cave, and I squinted. Sure enough, a dull glint appeared in the gloom. I stepped forward—if Ash was unable to reach it for whatever reason, there was nothing stopping me from doing so.
“Stop!” he said. “I need to do this. This is my responsibility.”
“Can you get to it?” I asked, feeling a bit stupid. The path to the stone was completely clear to me.
“Yes, I just need to stand on the… the bodies—I need to stand on the Emperor’s body to reach it.” He gulped.
He took a step. He looked like he was going to be sick, but he kept his eyes ahead, fixed on the stone.
“You can do it, Ash,” I whispered. I felt completely useless—but if he wouldn’t let me use our bond to send him peaceful thoughts, then there was little I could do but stand and watch.
“This is my truth,” he suddenly announced to the room in a low, solemn voice, “I am ruthless. I will stop at nothing to achieve my goals.”
He took another step toward the seed, and then visibly relaxed. Whatever had been haunting him had gone.
Ash grabbed the seed, and turned around to face me. He held it aloft, panting slightly from the exertion of the last few minutes, and then ran toward the opening of the cave. I followed him.
We raced toward the hole in the earth, cheers erupting from the crowd as Ash emerged from the cave. He bent down to place the seed in the earth. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Tejus further down the causeway, doing exactly the same thing.
Was it a tie?
The crowd fell silent as it collectively held its breath.
“Well, congratulations!” cried the minister, making his way along the causeway to the two caves. “It seems we have a close call, but I believe Tejus was, in fact, first out of the cave.”
A red-robed watcher whispered in the minister’s ear, and his beaming smile faltered momentarily before he regained his composure.
“Yes, I think that Tejus was in fact—”
“One moment, please!” a voice called out from the royal box in the center of the crowd, and I recognized the blue robes and black hair of the same woman who had spoken out for Ash in the disk trial.
“I believe that you, esteemed minister, are wrong. It was Ash who planted the seed first—Ash who was first out of the cave. It is he who is, in fact, the winner of this trial.”
Cheering erupted once again from the crowd, and the minister’s face became contorted by fury.
“I am sorry, Queen Trina, but our watchers here almost unanimously agree that it was Prince Tejus who emerged from the cave first.”
The watcher opened his mouth to speak, but the minister quickly silenced him with a raised hand.
“With all due respect, your highness, you couldn’t have possibly seen the details correctly from your position,” he continued. “You are too far—whereas our watchers are trained for this kind of thing, and were closer to the action.”
“Minister,” the queen sharply reprimanded him, “have you forgotten who has the best gift of True Sight in all the kingdoms? My skills are unequaled, and I tell you Ash was first out!”
I supposed by ‘true sight’ she meant what Ash could do—the ability of some sentries to see far ahead in the distance, and through whatever might stand in their way. If that was true, maybe Ash had won the trial.
The red-robed watcher, sick of being ignored, burst out, “I agree. Queen Trina is correct—it was Ashbik who was the first champion out of the cave!”
No sooner had the words left his mouth than another champion came tearing out, his hands clutched over his eyes. “No, no, no!” he cried, over and over again. He dropped to the floor and cowered there, crouched in a fetal position, his body tremoring.
The crowd gasped, and the crying sentry was followed by another, then another. Some emerged victorious, white-faced and drenched in sweat, but more often they didn’t and collapsed on the ground, or ran off into the meadows as if the devil himself was chasing them.
The crowd started murmuring, and soon a slow chant erupted from a small pocket of sentries, and spread out till the entire crowd were crying Ash’s name.
“Order!” commanded the minister. “It seems I stand corrected. Ashbik is the winner of this trial, gaining twenty points. Tejus gains ten points, as do all the others who emerged with the golden seed.”
The muttering of the ministers standing by the royal box grew. One look at their faces and I could tell that they, like the minister of ceremony, were vastly displeased with the outcome. It wasn’t the same with the crowd. They applauded loudly, and Ash took a bow, grabbing my hand again, as we smiled and waved at our cheerleaders.
I glanced over at Tejus and Hazel. She looked downc
ast, her eyes fixed on the floor, and I wanted to walk over and talk to her—and would have were it not for the looming presence of Tejus by her side. He stood unmoving and expressionless as if the outcome of the trial didn’t affect him in anyway.
I looked back at Ash, still waving at the crowds with a huge grin on his face, and I felt suddenly afraid for him.
What might Tejus be capable of if he didn’t win the trials?
Hazel
Tejus sat on the sofa in his living quarters looking off into the distance. Lucifer strutted into the room, weaving in and out of Tejus’s legs, purring obnoxiously. Tejus absent-mindedly patted him until the lynx curled up on his lap.
“Are you okay?” I asked him after a while. The silence was starting to get to me, and after we’d shared that experience in the cave, it felt strange that he was suddenly so distant and unapproachable.
“I’m fine,” he said.
I wanted to tell him that what the hallucination had showed him wasn’t real, that people did care about him… at least, I did… even if it was just a little.
“I saw everything,” I murmured, “your brother falling from the tower, Jenus as a boy… all of it.”
He looked up at me, his expression bleak.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“I mind-melded with you. I could see what you saw.”
I sat back in my seat. His expression was starting to frighten me—his hands clasped together so tightly that his knuckles were turning white.
“That’s impossible. I tried to stop you seeing. You shouldn’t have been able to do that… I thought you had gone.”
“It was the hallucination, I think,” I replied. “It stopped you from seeing or hearing me, maybe it stopped you from feeling my energy as well.”
Now would have been a good time to tell him about the stone I’d stolen from the Hellswan sword, but I held back. It was crucial that I kept it in my possession—already it had helped us get back into the running for the trials, and were it not for stupid Queen Trina, we would be on par with Ash by now…what was she even doing here anyway, if the borders were up?
“Maybe,” he agreed, but his brow was low and puzzled.
“Do you blame yourself for what happened to Danto?” I asked cautiously. I had been in the castle on the night that it had happened, right before the labyrinth trial that the Emperor had concocted for his sons. Tejus hadn’t said a word about it—none of them had. They had gone to a very brief funeral in the morning, and then seemed to forget all about it while they fought for their chance to represent Hellswan in the kingship trials.
“No, of course not.” He sighed. “Hazel, you need to forget everything that you saw in that cave. That liquid is potent. It works on the deepest subconscious of the mind, supplying fantasy that does not trouble me, nor has ever troubled me, in my waking life. Do you understand?”
I didn’t believe him. The image of Danto had been on an almost continuous loop, and it wouldn’t have been an image that Tejus would have been able to see with his own eyes, as the perspective was all wrong—which meant that he had imagined it, and who the hell wouldn’t have something like that haunt them, whether they thought they were to blame or not? I didn’t understand why Tejus had to keep himself closed off all the time – did he think it was a weakness that he cared for his brother, that he mourned his death? The idea seemed absurd to me.
As I looked at his unapproachable figure – the constantly tense muscles of his frame and the weary way he smoothed his forehead back with his hand, I felt a sudden and strong desire to try and get through to him. To at least try and connect with him on a level that was more human.
“Okay, I’ll forget what I saw. But I want you to know something.” I paused, trying to find the right words. “You’re not alone, I—”
“Leave it!” Tejus bellowed suddenly, so loudly that Lucifer scampered into the next room.
“Fine,” I bit out. “We’ll just sit in silence with you brooding, as per usual, and me wondering how we’re ever going to win the trials when Ash is so far ahead!”
I rose from the sofa, getting into the swing of my mini-rant, overwhelmed by a sudden and unaccountable anger. Obviously he didn’t want to make any kind of connection with me. Where I saw Tejus as an almost friend, he clearly just saw me as a tool to help him win the trials. I thought we’d gotten beyond that - since our mind-melding had developed into something much more personal and intimate than him merely syphoning off my energy - but apparently I was wrong.
It hurt.
“And who is that woman who keeps cheering for him anyway?” I exclaimed, trying to focus on the trials alone, and not my increasingly conflicted emotions. “We would have won the trial if it wasn’t for her, she’s been biased from the beginning! Why isn’t anyone saying anything – why is she even in the kingdom?” I stood with my hands on my hips, facing Tejus. I wanted answers.
“They don’t defy her because she’s a very powerful queen. Her kingdom is one of the most powerful in Nevertide. She holds a lot of sway over the ministers, but as for her preference for Ash, I couldn’t tell you why,” he replied, his voice much quieter, his eyes not quite meeting mine.
“Why is she even at the trials then? If she’s from a different kingdom, why is she even here – what’s she got to do with the outcome of the Hellswan trials?” I asked.
“The trials are a spectator sport. Anyone can witness them – all of the royal kingdoms have at least one minister present to report back on the progress, who were permitted access before the borders went up. It’s more imperative to them now than ever before, with the imperial trials happening as soon as the kingship trials are concluded – they all want to know what they’ll be up against. Queen Trina is permitted to be more... vocal, as she holds more sway than the others.”
“And her obvious dislike of you? Do you know why that is?” I demanded.
“No.”
I huffed. He was lying to me, I was sure. I just didn’t know why.
Perhaps it’s a good thing he didn’t win the honesty trials, I thought. Tejus might be able to face his own truths, but he certainly had no problems lying to me.
I felt better about keeping the stone a secret from him. Clearly we each had limits to how open we could be with one another, and if he wasn’t going to tell me why we were at such a disadvantage, then I wasn’t going to share our one and only advantage—my secret weapon.
Benedict
The sleeping bodies on the floor meant that every time I needed the bathroom, I’d have to first complete an obstacle course—avoiding stepping on hands and feet, or waking anyone in the process. We had thirteen kids with us now, mostly around my age, but some were younger, and they usually slept in Ruby’s room. We’d given them beds out in the living room, but every night they would make their way into her bedroom and nestle themselves at the foot of her bed, fighting for space. I supposed Ruby provided them a bit of adult reassurance.
Yelena tossed in her blanket as I stepped over her. She had originally been given one of the actual beds because she was one of the first, but had given it up for another kid who was malnourished and worse for wear—like she was aiming for sainthood or something.
“Hey, you up already?” Julian hissed at me from our bedroom.
“Yeah, I couldn’t sleep… going to the bathroom,” I whispered back, wincing as Yelena tossed again. I hadn’t been sleeping well since we got here, and the nightmares of that horrible corridor and that stupid stone came every single night without fail.
I hated this castle.
“Wait.” Julian yawned. “I’ll come with you.”
Julian and I had stopped using the bathroom in our quarters a few days ago. Ever since the other kids arrived there was always a line and it smelled weird—I guessed from the combined odors of sixteen people all constantly using it and only Jenney ever bothering to clean it up properly.
We pushed against the doors quietly, Julian in no more hurry to wake the others up than I was.
“Are the kids keeping you up?” Julian asked.
“No, not really—just dreams.” I yawned loudly. “This place just generally gives me the creeps, I guess.”
Julian nodded. “I can’t wait to get out of here. There are only four more trials to go, and they seem to be happening daily. It shouldn’t be long now. If they stick to their word.”
After we nodded a ‘hello’ to the guards posted outside our door, we continued our way along the corridor. The guards had given me an idea though.
“You know, I was thinking. We’ve got a bit of an army back there… all the kids, I mean. I know they’re not up to much, but maybe we could become, like, a team or something… learn to protect ourselves from the sentries, and make sure we’re armed at all times so we don’t get kidnapped again.”
Julian was silent for a moment, then said, “That’s actually a good idea. I’ve been wondering what will happen once the trials are over. I mean, I know we were promised freedom, but what if the sentries decide they want to keep us? Who’s going to stop them, right?”
I nodded. We only had the word of two sentries—and neither of them were that trustworthy. I kind of got the feeling that Ash was only promising Ruby whatever she wanted because he fancied the pants off her, and with Tejus—well, he just wanted to use Hazel to win.
“I bet they have a load of old swords and armor here,” I continued. “We could train them to sword fight—in secret—and then we’d always be prepared for whatever they threw at us.”
“I should speak to Jenney, see what she can find around the castle,” Julian said.
“Yes, and we should think of a name, like a group of vigilantes or something, like the multiplayer teams in Hell Raker… something cool.”
“Well, no one here will have heard of it. Why not just call ourselves the Hell Rakers? It’s no sillier than the Hellswans,” Julian concluded.
I nodded in agreement.
I briefly imagined us charging the sentries, a team of thirteen kids behind us, brandishing swords and dressed in the heavy chain mail I’d seen decorating some of the hallways of the castle, our faces marked with war paint, our cries heroic…
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