“Get ready.” Cedric’s voice floated into Elyria’s ears as he moved behind her, turning so his back was to hers. His sword was already in his hands.
Her own hands trembling, she pulled one of her daggers from its sheath at her thigh. She scanned the horizon, searching for movement, for any sign of whatever cruelty the Crucible was serving them now.
Nothing happened.
The champions exchanged cautious glances. “Was that supposed to be some kind of warning?” Kit asked, clearly dubious.
“Yes, perhaps the trial has gone on too long and the Crucible is simply urging us along,” Zephyr agreed, though she didn’t sound too convinced.
Cyren exhaled. “How anticlimactic.” Sheathing his sword with a theatrical flourish, he grinned at Elyria. “Here I was thinking we were in store for some kind of dramatic finale after all this.”
Elyria rolled her eyes. “Crossing a flaming lake by the very skin of our teeth wasn’t dramatic enough for you?”
He winked, grin widening. “I suppose I’ll have to find another way to drum up some excitement. You wouldn’t happen to?—”
A deafening roar split the air.
The flames around them surged upward, creating a fence of fire that licked at the obsidian surface of the island and the invisible barrier that seemed tied to the edge.
And then the lake came alive.
Liquid fire churned and roiled as a massive form burst from its depths. A towering serpentine creature with scales that gleamed bright orange, like iron newly pulled from the forge.
Glowing red eyes narrowed on the group from below horned brows.
Elyria’s breath caught in her throat.
“Fyre wyrm.”
36
HEADS WILL ROLL
CEDRIC
The lakeof fire surged as the wyrm’s roar sent a tremor down Cedric’s spine. It wasn’t just the sound—deep, guttural, primal—but the sheer power of it. It rattled through his bones, echoing off the glassy obsidian ground like a physical force.
Stupid. He’d been so stupid. He thought that after the bullshit of the labyrinth itself, the trial’s final challenge had ended when they found a way to get across that stars-forsaken lake. The cooling relief he’d felt as they crossed through the ward, the nearness of the gate...he’d thought it all a sign that they’d made it to the end.
He should have known better. Now, as the huge, snake-like body of the fyre wyrm slithered out of the flames, he realized the Crucible never gave freely. Not the respite from the heat, not that briefmoment of hope.
“Solaris save us,” Cyren muttered under his breath, all traces of humor wiped from his face as he stared at the beast.
It was massive, its sinuous body easily spanning the length of the island they stood upon. Glowing orange scales darkened into a deep purple, turning matte as more of the wyrm’s body rose from the lake, almost as if they were cooling—molten metal forging into blackened armor.
A head crowned with jagged horns topped the creature’s monstrous form, eyes like coal burning within its sharp, reptilian face. Cedric swallowed hard, his hand tightening around his sword hilt. He could feel the heat coming off the wyrm in waves, the nearness of it sending a ripple of fear and wonder through him. The great beast was as horrendous as it was mesmerizing, and he found himself unwittingly taking a step closer as the wyrm’s massive head tilted, regarding the group.
“Get ready,” Elyria muttered behind him, her voice tense but steady.
They all moved at once.
“Go!”
With a hiss, the wyrm lunged forward, the speed of its movement startling given its size.
The others were already scrambling, scattering like leaves in a gale, as the lower half of the beast’s body swept across the island. Cedric dove to the side just as its tail whipped past where he’d been standing, shattering the glassy surface, shards of obsidian pelting his skin.
“Hit it with all ye’ve got!” Thraigg yelled, brandishing his hammer. He was the first to charge, smashing the blunt end of his weapon into one of the wyrm’s coiled segments, the ground beneath it cracking under the impact.
