“Here they come.” He smiled and patted my shoulder before nodding at the group that had assembled behind the dragon’s enclosure. Everyone was dressed head to toe in black, everyone except me. But it didn’t matter.
Because I was one of them. One of the nine.
The king smiled at the challengers and then at the small group of cheering onlookers, including the teary face of my mother and the wrinkled face of the king’s sister.
“Let the Choosing Ceremony begin!”
13
Amber
“Guards, lead the challengers to their stations.”
In the centre of what appeared to be a large, dirt floored arena, were nine round stone circles with chains and shackles bolted to them. Nerves fluttered against the walls of my stomach. The snorts, growls, and hisses coming from the nearby animal enclosures were loud. And they sounded vicious.
While Reece was being shackled to the spot, he cleared his throat and pointed at the metal bars keeping the animals at bay. Because of the position of the sun it was difficult to see into each enclosure. One animal seemed to be pacing, and I caught a glimpse of something golden, a quick flash, as it passed the bars briefly. I couldn’t be certain, but it seemed the size and colour of a lion.
Axel stood near the king but I raised my brows at him and he moved to my side.
“Has anyone ever been killed at a Choosing Ceremony?”
He swallowed thickly and stared for what felt like ages at the very last enclosure. “Not in the last fifteen years,” he offered.
A loud roar erupted from the first enclosure and my knees buckled. Axel grabbed me by the arm and for one embarrassing moment I fell against him, chest to chest, and then it got worse. I banged my mouth against his.
“Woah!” He released my arm and put his hands to my waist. They were warm. We were so close I could feel his breath against my face.
Our eyes met. His blue eyes were red. He’d been crying. My heart twisted beneath my ribs.
“Sorry,” we muttered at the same time, and we sprang apart.
“The Choosing Ceremony is over for Firestarter,” said Reece, who high-fived Reuben with his free hand. I rolled my eyes and watched the guards lead Reuben to the shackles.
“What animals are in there anyway?” I asked Axel after a minute or so of awkward silence between us.
He grinned. “I already told you.”
“Unicorns and dragons are mythical creatures.”
“In your world, yes, but not in the afterlife. Remember, these animals are creatures from the human soul’s wildest fantasies. Whatever they want in heaven, they get.”
“Or hell.”
He grinned wickedly, in a way that made his eyes sparkle, and I was glad that the sadness was gone. For now anyway.
My stomach did a little somersault and I turned away. Surely I wasn’t crushing on the guy. Who did that? Who fell for someone while facing certain death at the hands of nine heavens or hells?
A laugh erupted from my throat.
This must be a dream.
“Well, it’s not.” Axel was staring at me intently, his teeth gnawing at his bottom lip.
Great. I must have said it out loud.
“Are the animals dangerous?”
He said nothing for a while before he shook his head slightly and spoke from out the corner of his mouth because Prince Ollie, who had only just joined us, with Bella glued to his side, was glaring at him.
“Just pray you get the unicorn.”
“Unicorn?”
“Yeah. Trust me.”
I didn’t know what to believe. I could hear a neigh and lots of snorts, horse-like sounds, and there was something smoking up the last enclosure, which may or may not have been a dragon.
A dragon.
Noah would die happy if he got the dragon. Wait. Erase that thought. I didn’t want to think of anybody dying. Not yet.
My stomach stirred. If these animals were mythical creatures, and I hoped they were, it would double confirm to me that the possibility to get my brother back was very real and that there was more than just a slim chance to do so.
There was a loud snort, followed by what sounded like a fart. Everybody laughed.
“That one’s for you, Noah.” Rueben said, and Reece and everyone but Jacob, Axel, and I laughed.
Noah blushed but Axel shook his head and leaned in to me again.
“You don’t want that creature, trust me. No one does. Remember when you asked if anybody had ever been killed here in the Choosing Ceremony? Well, that’s one of the animals that did it.”
My entire body began to shake.
The guards led me to my station and shackled my arms and legs. They placed me between Jacob and Axel, but I didn’t look at either of them. My eyes were fixed on the nine sets of black bars in front of us, my mind conjuring up the many terrifying possibilities as to what was behind the gates.
The creatures rattled their own shackles and started to stir up a fuss. Dust stirred and drifted from out several of the enclosure gates.
My stomach churned. My ankles and wrists strained against the shackles.
The king led his sister, Ollie, Bella, and the remaining maids, cooks, and old guards over to the tiered seating at the fringe of the arena. He chose seating that was partially shaded from the harsh glare of the morning sun with the lush branches of a large tree.
Once the king was seated, everyone followed suit.
With a wave of his hand, he motioned for the guard stationed in front of the enclosures to open the first gate.
My heart stopped and I braced myself, pressing my back against the wooden station I was shackled to.
“It’s going to be okay. It’s going to be okay,” Jacob kept shouting.
The guard took several hesitant steps toward the opened gate, some kind of metal tool in his hand—maybe a key of some sort—until he disappeared inside the enclosure for about two seconds before he ran out and flung himself over the fence, to where the king and the other spectators were seated.
An almighty roar thundered out of the opening.
Claire screamed.
Everyone, including myself, strained against their shackles, trying in vain to escape.
A flash of sandy-orange leapt out into the arena, sending dust up my nostrils.
It paused to study each and every one of us, and it was then, when its head turned slightly, that I saw its other head. Two heads attached to the giant lion’s body. The head of a lion and the head of a goat.
“Shit! Shit Shit!” shouted Kyle as the creature, its tail slashing like a snake, crouched slightly and prowled over to where he and Claire were shackled. It paused once again, its giant yellow lion eyes on Claire, while its red, goat eyes fixed on Kyle, saliva dripping from the lion’s fangs.
The creature lunged towards Claire, who screamed so loud I started to scream as well. We all did.
I couldn’t look. I just couldn’t look.
Just when I expected to hear Claire shriek with horror, the creature’s growl was cut short and replaced with a yelp.
Peeking out the corner of my eye I watched as the animal clawed at the ground, only inches in front of Claire, his two sets of eyes glued to her as it desperately fought against who or what was dragging him away from her.
Dust stirred, but it wasn’t so thick that I couldn’t see the guard re-appear, and another, each with a pitchfork in hand which they used to guide the two headed creature back into its enclosure.
The spectators cheered, including the king. One of the women, the one who I’d seen crying earlier, her eyes on Axel, seemed to sway a little in the crowd. A large woman caught her from behind and sat her down.
“You okay, Claire?” asked Reece, who, when I strained my shackles and leaned forward to take a peek, looked pale.
Jacob swore beneath his breath.
“I know, right,” I said in response.
Noah strained against his shackles. “I don’t know that I want to do this now. I might stay wi
th...”
The second gates were drawn and out bolted a wild boar, unlike anything I’d ever seen before. It was huge, double the width of the lion, and had sharp tusks that grew into twin spirals that looked deathly sharp. I tried not to imagine what had happened to the guy or girl who’d been killed by it years ago and winced as the boar ran directly for Rueben, stopping an inch away, its tusk scraping against Rueben’s leg, revealing chocolate coloured skin beneath the black tights.
“Holy shit!” Rueben shouted, breathing heavily as the animal snorted in his face. “That was fucking awesome!” He whooped and the spectators clapped. Jacob and I shared a laugh, a very nervous one. Axel sucked in a deep breath and kept his eyes on the third gate.
The king and the others continued clapping as the chain was drawn and the animal dragged back into its enclosure.
The third gate revealed a six metre crocodile, which scuttled straight to Reece, who shut his eyes tight as the huge creature snapped its jaws at his toes.
The fourth was a snake.
“Serpent,” corrected Axel, his wrists straining. Sweat beaded down his temples as he watched the thing slither across the sand, its green eyes like gemstones twinkling my way as it moved closer.
“No, no, no...” whispered Axel. “You don’t want this one.”
“Of course I don’t.”
Oh God, go away. Please go away.
I’d seen plenty of snakes, mostly dugites and brown snakes but this...this was something else. Its body was huge. It could have opened its jaw and easily swallowed us all down the line, one by one.
It paused to regard me first, then Axel. Well, its head paused, its body, however, continued to slither into a coil. The jewel-green eyes of the serpent gleamed in the sunlight, then, to my surprise, it slithered away from us, darting towards someone at the other end. Bruce, by the sound of his cursing.
“Did it get him?” I asked Jacob, whose head was in the way.
“No. Just scared the crap out of him.”
Axel breathed a sigh of relief but shook his head. “Poor guy.”
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“No. I mean poor guy. The two who survived documented each death, in order. Whoever the serpent chose, died first on both occasions.”
I closed my eyes, my heart pounding too fast and my head light and dizzy. I was almost grateful for the shackles because at least they were holding me up.
Somehow I managed to keep it together through four more choosings. Kyle got a gryphon, Jacob a phoenix—at which Axel sighed and whispered that he’d wanted the phoenix for me because it was the next best thing to the dragon or unicorn. Noah got a Minotaur—a half bull, half man, though he seemed more beast than man—something Axel nodded his approval at.
Axel breathed in deep as the second to last gate was opened.
“This one’s you or me.”
My stomach turned and a wave of dizziness overtook me. “What’s left?”
Axel was about to answer when the most beautiful, pearly coated white horse trotted out into the area. It snorted at the spectators and when it tossed its mane and turned back to face the challengers, the sunlight caught against its glittering horn. An actual horn.
“A unicorn,” I whispered, and Axel laughed.
“I’ve ridden her.”
I smiled at the beautiful creature as it edged its way, trotting lightly towards us. “Come on, beautiful girl, you can choose me,” I whispered. “Come on.”
My hopes rose as it neared me and I stuck out the flat of my palm, even though it was shackled to the post, so that it could sniff me.
Axel was smiling, happy that he was to get the dragon. Well, he could have it for all I cared. I wanted nothing to do with a creature that could breathe fire. I wanted nothing to do with fire full stop.
I was about to say it out loud when the unicorn snorted at my offered hand and turned to nuzzle its nose into Axel’s side.
The spectators all cheered, all except for the king, who shook his head as though a disaster had occurred. The woman I’d seen crying earlier, clutched at her chest, and the others immediately swarmed around her.
“Congratulations,” said Axel, his voice tight as he stared at the unicorn’s lush, purple tinted mane.
“Why congratulations? Dragons are scary.”
Axel didn’t answer me.
“What if it breaths fire at me?”
Worse still, what if it didn’t choose me? Just because I was the only one left didn’t mean that the creature would want me. Would I then be disqualified as a challenger? Would Bella be forced to go in my place?
Prince Ollie stood up and clapped, his beady eyes fixed on me. I shivered. There was no way I’d stay here, at the castle, without the others. Even if I was forced to, I’d sneak away and set off into the Veiled World myself and face the nine heavens and hells alone.
My heart thundered in my chest and my blood pounded in my ears as the last gate was drawn open.
“Has anyone died at the hands of the dragon?” I asked. “You said before, that the wild boar was one of the animals that had killed at a Choosing Ceremony. Which one is the other?”
The guards ran from the enclosure, leaping over the walls as a roar erupted from the darkness of the enclosure, trembling the ground beneath our feet as flames spewed out of the entrance.
Heavy steps followed. They made me think of dinosaurs, and the cup of water during the Tyrannosaurus rex scene from the movie Jurassic Park. Sam and I had been obsessed with that movie as kids when we went through our dinosaur phase.
A collective gasp broke the silence as the most beautiful blue-tinted, emerald green creature stepped out. It walked on all fours, gracefully, despite the sound its steps made.
I sucked in a deep breath and held it while I watched the dragon pause and rest on its hind legs, then throw its head back for another roar as it belted the sky with flames.
“Thank you, God, for this moment, oh thank you!” said Noah, and I would have laughed had I not been the only one left who hadn’t been chosen, and shackled to a wooden post in front of a dragon.
I realised then that the chains containing the dragon, no matter how short, had no way of preventing it from burning me to a crisp.
The animal unfurled its massive wings and beat them several times, the movement sending waves of dusty wind over our faces and that of the spectators.
I held my breath and watched with squinted eyes, riveted, as it raised itself of the ground, its wings beating furiously, making a whirring sound.
It was trying to escape, but the shackles forced it back down. It snorted flames and tried again.
I could tell by the look on Axel’s now pale face that he considered this a bad omen. The dragon didn’t want me. I wasn’t meant to be a challenger.
My heart thrummed against my chest. Choose me. Choose me. But don’t bloody burn me.
The dragon seemed to read my mind, for it stopped flapping and settled on its back legs again, drawing itself to full height before leaping closer.
It snorted and I felt the warm breath against my face.
Sweat dripped down my back and every muscle in my body ached from trembling so hard.
It looked me in the eye, its hard orange eyes unblinking as it sucked in a large breath that caused its green scaly chest to swell.
It was going to burn me alive.
I screamed inwardly and shut my eyes.
But the flames didn’t come.
Instead I felt a strong brush of air against my face, as the animal flapped its wings. More dust swirled and I opened my eyes just as the shackles on the animal’s hind legs snapped and the dragon soared up into the sky, straight up, until it disappeared altogether.
From across the arena, the king shook his head and motioned for the guards to untie me.
“What does this mean?” I asked Axel, who watched me, wide-eyed, his face still pale. The king was sharing heated words with Ollie, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying.
Axel finally
sprang into action, straining against his shackles and swearing at the guards.
“Leave her alone. If you dare put her in the dungeons, I’ll kill you. I swear I’ll kill you all.” He glared at the king. Perhaps there was something I didn’t know. Something bad that happened to you when you didn’t get chosen.
The other challengers had now been unshackled and were rubbing their wrists and moving away from me with a mixture of pity and fear in their eyes. Axel had been released, but was being held by a guard while the other two unshackled me.
The guards had only just managed to unshackle my arms when a dark shadow passed over us.
“Run!” somebody shouted.
The guards leapt to their feet and ran. So did almost everyone else.
Jacob, Axel, and Noah turned to me. Axel was being forced to run by the two guards who held him.
“Run!” Noah screamed at me, but I couldn’t. My legs were still shackled.
The shadow passed over me again, and then again.
The dragon was circling above me, like I was its prey.
Jacob fought against Reece, who held him and screamed into Jacob’s face that it was too late. The spectators were scrambling over each other to get out of the arena. The animals in their enclosures were going crazy.
I closed my eyes and stood tall, hoping that if I stayed still the dragon would ignore me, but a sudden explosion of heat surrounded me, taking me straight back to the worst day of my life. The day my brother died.
His tortured screams filled my ears, but I knew they couldn’t be real.
Bits off the ceiling started to rain down on my head, burning chunks of it. No. No. No. It was only a memory.
But why could I still feel the heat of the flames?
Sunlight streamed against my face as the shadow disappeared and when I opened my eyes I saw the dragon, through a wall of flames, fly off, over the glass castle and into the clouds.
It was the most beautiful thing that I’d ever seen. And suddenly my racing heart slowed and I felt at peace.
I looked around. The king, Ollie, and Axel stared at me with wide mouths and eyes, and I could see why.
The flames had started to die, but there was no mistaking that the dragon had chosen me, for it had breathed a ring of fire around me. Claimed me as its own.
The Veiled World Page 11
