“Welcome to the Proving,” a deep male voice says pulling my attention from the twins and back towards the colosseum. The twins vanish into the changing room and Reyluke smiles down at me. I roll my eyes and he chuckles. “I didn’t want you to do this, so don’t start giving me attitude.”
I turn on my heels, already sick of this conversation and begin walking towards the northern end of the arena. I barely mind saying, “Says the male who has more venom in his words than a viper.”
Reyluke laughs harder and matches pace with me. “I’m here to tell you about your trial.”
“I’d rather go in blind,” my words bite into him and I watch his big hands become fists. He can’t hold back his rage and I smile to myself. He looks down on me and I hear the quietest ripple of his growl. Even the roar of the talking faeries can’t subdue his true hatred towards me. I’m glad the feeling is mutual. He has no reason to hate me, he just hates Jax. “I’ll never forget what you did.”
He knows exactly what I’m talking about as he reaches for his belt as if the whip is coiled there, but for my sake, it’s not. I doubt Brennan would allow Reyluke to escort me with a weapon. The High Lord knows how I feel about Reyluke and how Reyluke feels about Jax. Reyluke whipped him and then me! He wants nothing more than to see me gone. If I have any reason besides retrieving an army to compete for, than this is it. To show Reyluke that he cannot overpower me, Jax, or other people.
“What I did was ordered by the High Lord. I was following my commands.”
“My father wanted me murdered, but none of his sentinels followed through with the order,” I fire back and I have no idea what Reyluke’s power is, but I feel a wave of heat smother me. I choke on the hot air and stifle a cough.
“You’re mortal guards are weak and unloyal. If you were dead you’d save Abella a lot of trouble,” He shoots back and I can’t help but feel the blow. I want to deny his words, but at the end of the day they’re the truth. I played a big role in kick starting this oncoming war. My mother was planning to enslave all mortals in Abella, but what I did when I attacked her kingdom and tried to turn her people against her had caused her to move twice as fast and aim her first target at me. And the only reason I’m getting this army is to defeat her, to get my best friend back. I’ll deal with the Solarians when I reach the southern Mortal Kingdoms and ask for their assistance.
I don’t retaliate against Reyluke and focus on the path. We have reached the curve of the oval colosseum and are only northwest on a compass, but a long staircase to our right descends straight down to the arena floor. Reyluke bows for some dramatic effect and follows after me when I start the never-wracking walk towards my first trial. The roaring faeries start to hush one another as I walk by in my Proving getup. The last woman to be seen competing in the Proving was Lhys, the High Lady of the Winter Kingdom. I know she has healing powers, but I wish I was around to witness that performance. Lhys seems like a force to be reckoned with, even beside her husband.
Kane, Jax, Brennan, and Lhys, greet me at the floor of the arena and I receive a hug from Lhys which I wasn’t expecting at all. Her dress is made of jagged ice and her skin is painted like mine. Kane wears a Barbarian style fur getup and even his tattooed body is adorned with more dark paint. The High Lord Brennan wears a fur tunic, black pants, and a billowing blue cloak. His face is covered in electric blue spots across his cheeks, nose, and forehead. Jax is the only person not decorated in paint or regal fashion. He wears a simple shirt and pants; his cropped hair has grown on me the past couple of days. And although I want to wonder why Jax doesn’t have the patterns of the Proving painted onto his skin, I know without asking only past competitors wear the symbols.
“Good luck,” Kane says and gives a thin lipped smile.
“You’ll do amazing,” Lhys whispers and rubs my arm reassuringly. Her touch makes my skin rise in goosebumps. It’s comforting, yet unsettling.
The High Lord, instead of offering wishes of luck looks out to his people, sitting in the stands waiting in anticipation and I look to Jax as Brennan calls, “Let the first trial of Ariadae Vox, Queen of Titanium Antlers’ Proving, commence!” Some magic he uses allows his vice to resound clearly over the colosseum and the roaring I heard before is nothing to the ground shuddering quake of excitement that comes from the Winter Kingdom. I cover my ears in shock and Brennan only laughs. Jax grazes my forearms with his fingertips and I smile at his touch, he mouths, “I love you” before placing a kiss on my forehead, avoiding the drying paint. Brennan gestures me forward and waves a dramatic hand towards the archway leading into the valley. As I pass Kane I notice his angered stare of jealousy and I look away. I know he’s my mate, but it’s becoming easier to ignore him. At least that’s what I keep telling myself at least.
I step through the open doorway and drop five feet into the dirt floor of the arena. Another earsplitting scream shakes the mountain and I don’t feel the need to cover my ears, now I am somehow used to the roar. I take a step towards the lush trees that fill the northern part of the valley and I watch them twitch and shudder. After a decent amount of time wandering through the forest in the arena. The boughs crack and snap, shedding the bark revealing ivory branches. Skulls sprout at the end of every branch; even some that are finger thin, grow and hang from the ends. White wax rises from atop the skulls and candles wink to life. The hundreds of candles, one for every person in the colosseum, make the arena as bright as midday. I walk through the maze of bone trees and try to find a way out of the forest. Each ivory trunk makes me think of another person I killed, another death I caused, a different life I stole. Every skull stares down at me, the open eye sockets full of slithering darkness. I look away from the roiling shadows that are between the boughs and trunks. Somewhere in the distance hinges whine and iron scraping on stone makes a horrifying song. The crowd screams with excitement and over the screaming people I hear the guttural wail of an abomination I have met many times.
My first trial is defeating a Dreag.
“Silence! Everyone we do not want to startle our participants,” Brennan shouts above the faeries that become instantly mute. I smell the carrion on the air and I hear the rattle of chains. The faster I defeat this Forsaken the quicker my trial is over and I can move on. I follow the sounds of the Dreag and head to the eastern wall. I weave between only three bone trees when I finally get a good sight of the Forsaken. My stomach turns. “This year is different! Ariadae will face altered trials and will have to complete all five, instead of ten, in twenty four hours!” My chest caves in. I duck behind an ivory trunk and look at the again Dreag. The typically frail and skinny abomination is taller with veined muscles. The sight is sickening and I watch the beast drop down onto all fours like a hound. Its dark eyes scan the forest and I look away in fear that it might see me.
I need to complete this trial faster than I figured. I only have about four hours per trial and if I’m timing this correctly it’s already been thirty minutes of my first hour! I take a deep breath relaxing my panic and ignore the questions I have for the alterations of the Proving. A crackling breath pants next to me. I glance in my peripheral vision and regret it. The Dreag is standing five yards from me. It sees me. It stands on its hind legs, the grey wrinkled skin of the monster is taught against the rock hard body. The Dreag’s claws click in anticipation, blood lust.
It launches forward. Claws out, teeth bared, leaping through the air and I stumble around the tree using an ivory bough to swing my body around the thick bone trunk. I hear the claws slicing the air like blades and land on uneasy feet. I lurch into a staggering sprint as fear makes my body shake violently. Adrenaline has begun flowing through my veins making my muscles work better, any shaking subdues, and any unease vanishes. The Dreag’s bounding chase shake the earth beneath my feet and I continue weaving throughout the bone forest, dodging tree after tree as they leap in my way.
I think of my powers and let a part of me uncontrollably call to the invisible chest within the dark ocean in my
mind. I dive into the dark waters and swim deeper and deeper into the flowing waves of my past, memories, regrets, promises, and many more. I need to pass it all and make it to the chest buried at the bottom. There are two and I need to open the right one or this can all go wrong.
I feel the Dreag leap, the absence of ground shaking pursuit and I leap to another bough and swing around the side of the trunk. I run back towards from where we came and before the hulking Forsaken can start its chase again, I jump onto a trunk and pull my body up onto the branches. The bones crack and shake as I climb higher and higher up the ivory, the smooth, soft texture is a foreign feeling against my calloused hands. Though I’m exhausted from the stairwell and the fast moving sprint from the Dreag I don’t feel any burn in my leg muscles. All I can see, hear, and feel is the pounding of my heart as the Forsaken approaches. It stalks like a cat, close to the ground, ready to pounce. It sees me and smells me within the tree, but I also see and smell the abomination. It reeks of carrion and I calculate the distance.
Within my skull I whisper now and tear open the chest of invisible bubbles that fly to the surface in unfathomable speed and explode outward from within me. I feel the trunk of the tree with invisible telekinetic fingers and crack the bones. I lean on my thick bough and an earsplitting crackle pops into the air as the world tilts. The skulls fall from the branches and the Dreag howls as the hundred bone pikes penetrate its muscled skin and hold the Forsaken against the dirt. I hang onto my branch and lift my toes which dangle inches from the dead Dreag, pinned to the ground by the bone branches of ivory, now stained crimson. The silence in the colosseum makes me sick and I quickly climb out of the cage of bones and walk away from the corpse. I take my time weaving through the forest of marrow and within minutes I leave the ivory trees behind and the faeries howl with excitement. They stomp on their stands, cheer, jump, and even scream my name. Brennan keeps to himself, Jax runs into the pit and grips me in a body crushing hug. Lhys cheers beside her husband and Kane stares everywhere, but at me. I want to ask him why, but the threatening glare I get from Reyluke is too euphoric.
One trial down. Four to go.
Chapter Twenty
~Ariadae~
I barely have time to take a drink before I’m being shoved back into the valley. They dragged me and Jax out of the pit after the first trial. I sit on the stone seating that is offered to the thousands of faces watching the Proving.
“Why the hell are there alterations?” I curse out before gulping a large amount of water.
Brennan just smiles to himself and Lhys looks furious. I begin to wonder if she was aware of the alterations or not. “Brennan changed the Proving for you,” Lhys growls facing her High Lord and I keep my eyes away from him. I’m afraid my rage might snap and I don’t want to do something I’ll regret.
“Yes, well the Winter Kingdom court agreed to the changes and have approved each one I made,” Brennan turns his stare to me and approaches me like a prowling wolf. A part of me knows beneath his skin, he is a hound. “My kingdom has seen the same trials be completed three times before. If the Proving is only completed every so often I might as well start changing the trials.”
“But why is this Proving the first time you’re doing this?” Kane rises from his seat and saunters up to his father. Brennan glares down at his son and Kane matches his stare. I can feel the tension taut within the air, so I focus on continuing to hydrate myself.
“You know damn well why he did this!” Jax leaps down Kane’s throat and I drop my bottle in an attempt to hold Jax back from his brother whose sea-green eyes shift to him. Jax growls and Kane bears his teeth.
“Enough,” Lhys hisses at the two brooding males. Brennan tries to hide his smile, in some twisted way he finds enjoyment in all of this. “People are watching. Remember we have an image to uphold.”
Before I can ask any more questions or request more water Reyluke itches with excitement to get me back into the pit. “It’s time, High Lord.”
Brennan nods and guides me to the archway leading to the valley. He looks out to his audience and announces, “Let the second trial begin!” The crowd jeers with excitement. This is the first time they are seeing trials back to back let alone different from the past Proving’s trials. I understand their enjoyment of the affair, but I can’t shake the feeling of being humiliated. I am on display for all of these people, to show them what? To show them that I deserve their army? A part of me wonders if a different agenda is my reason for playing the Proving.
Two Frost guards walk up to me and begin binding my wrists and ankles. My hands are bound in front of me instead of at my back. I jerk away on instinct and Brennan is quick to hold me still. “Don’t struggle,” He whispers in my ear. “This is all part of the second trial.” What in the god’s could test me with my hands and feet bound? I can barely do anything! I hiss at the tightening cords of rope that constrict my skin. The rope surprisingly burns, even beneath the wrapping on my arms.
I look over my shoulder at Brennan. His wrinkled face has stubble growing along his jaw and his sea-green eyes, Kane’s eyes, look down at me. I swallow my pounding heart that slams against my ribcage and ignore the voice telling me to run, or hop away.
“What is my second trial?” I choke on the words and ignore the Frost Guard adding more binding around my ankles. Brennan smiles and looks to the valley. The song of iron gates rising fills the mountain and a roar drowns it out. Not a roar of cheering, but instead the rushing flow of unyielding power. The salty smell overpowers the scent of dirt and stone within the mountain and I shiver at the sight of the valley being swallowed by churning blue waves. The dark waters remind me of the ocean within my brain and I feel as if I’m drowning already when the forest of bones, the hills, the snow covered plain are drowned by a manmade ocean. The lapping waves crest like a storm and pool onto the lower levels of the colosseum seating. Even the four foot walls surrounding the twelve foot drop into the pit don’t stop the water from rising above the edge. Some faeries around the chamber shout at the water splashing onto them and others rejoice in it. I can’t tell if it’s cold or warm, but I take my time saving my breaths. I need to relax. I need to prepare myself for what I’m going to do.
I inhale deeply.
Hands slam against my spine and I tumble over the railing and into the midnight blue water. I almost lose my mouth full of oxygen by the extreme cold that bites through my clothes. My skin instantly becomes ice and I try wiggle towards the surface. The only light within the dark ocean, but I am being dragged down. I fight against the pulling force which does nothing due to my bound hands and feet. I look to my toes, the dark shadows at the bottom of the manmade ocean, and realize that no abomination is dragging me down. A large anchor is woven through the cords of braided rope around my ankles. I shake beneath the surface and try to avoid panicking. I should’ve focused on what the Frost Guard was doing, so I could see how to unlatch it. Instead I let Brennan distract me; I let him talk me into doing this damned Proving. How can I win?
I have to get free, but I feel the building pressure in my chest. It feels like the stone I once had while being a mortal, but instead of becoming heavier its expanding. It’s widening and growing with every passing second and I waste many seconds trying to wiggle my hands free. No matter which way I twist the cords, they seem to become tighter instead of looser. Pain roils within my gut like a coiling snake drawing the air from my lungs. One, two, three.
I yank in opposite directions and I literally feel the tightening rope. Within the dark, cold water I expel some pressure in my lungs, subduing the pain and send a waltzing throng of bubbles to the surface. My breath of air is still big enough to last me a bit, but is depleting quickly. I sink down further, my anchor is settled on the bottom and I see the thousands of dancing lights flickering down through the surface. It partially illuminates the dark. The salt in the water burns my eyes, but I ignore pain and try to reign in my focus on my ankles. If I can pull myself free from the bindings, or the anch
or, I can get more air. I try to pull against one of the cords, lifting up with all my strength and grab at another. If I can maybe pull different cording of rope it will loosen the binding, but at the back of my ankles I feel the ropes tighten. I try a different side and then the opposite tightens. If I pull right, the left side tightens. I never find an equal ground. My pounding heart becomes a hammer banging against the bones in my chest and a drum in my ears. The floating feeling that overcomes me is shocking. My mind feels light, but I know my limbs are heavy, even with the anchor at my feet.
The ropes around my wrist and ankles tighten like constricting snakes and I thrash around the water. The burning in my lungs and throat is excruciating and finally I cry out in frustration. My breath leaves my mouth as I scream and bubbles rise. I try to save some, but it’s barely enough. If only I could somehow untie the cords I could rise to the surface. Wait! Why didn’t I think of this before?
The Reign of Queens: A Kingdom of Diamond Antlers Novel Page 19
