I noticed then that she was sitting on a small page that had not been there before I left. “What’s that?”
“Oh.” Calendula stood, dusting off her dark gown. Silver sparks flickered from her like ash, sifting through the air to land on the page. “It’s from Kilian. He asked me to make sure you read it.”
“I really don’t want to.”
“I’ll get into more trouble if you don’t.”
I gave her a defeated look, well aware that she was manipulating me. I reached for the page, dusting the embers off as the sprite nibbled at the first strawberry.
Lirah,
I wanted to speak to you today, but I have been called back to
Greyhaven on urgent business.
I will be back on the evening of the second challenge.
Try to stay alive. There is much we still have to discuss.
Yours,
Kilian.
Yours.
Mine.
I folded the note and slipped it beneath my pillow.
CHAPTER 15
It was nine pm and none of us had eaten dinner yet. Instead, we were all being held hostage in the sparring room, while Septimus had us performing the most archaic obstacle course ever designed. My legs burned and my chest ached. Sweat dripped down Lana’s nape as she balanced on a beam ahead of me, her pale hair plastered to her neck.
I swiped my palms against my sparring leathers, keeping my feet planted firmly on the narrow beam I stood on. It couldn’t have been bigger than the length of my foot and was six inches wide. My core clenched as I strained to keep upright. If I fell, Septimus would make me start all over again, and there was absolutely no way I was doing that for the fourth time.
Lana sucked in a breath as she hopped to the next beam, and I readied myself for the jump. I bent my knees slightly, channeling focus. I jumped, my left foot landing on the beam. My arms flailed at my sides, trying to stabilize my balance, my right foot dangling behind me. I used it to propel my weight backward, my abdominal muscles tightening as I fought gravity to remain balanced.
The obstacle course had not been designed for the faint of heart and we had been going at this for the past four hours. Everyone was spent. I did not dare risk my careful balance by looking behind to Moric or the others. I knew I would find haggard faces that mirrored my own.
I had skipped lunch earlier in favor of more research on Cosanus and regretted it. My stomach growled embarrassingly loudly.
The second Trial was scheduled for tomorrow. If we kept going at this rate, we were going to be too exhausted to compete by the time morning came.
Lana cleared the last beam with frightening ease, landing on the next horrific part of the obstacle course, and my complete and utter downfall – the spinning wheel.
I had a new tactic for passing the wheel this time, though, having fallen off it three times too many. I propelled myself forward and onto the next beam, my arms righting my balance before I could tip backward. By the time I had straightened, Lana was already past the wheel.
Before I could second-guess my new strategy, I leaped. I kept my eyes straight ahead and not on the rotating wheel beneath me as I sprinted. Miraculously, for the first time tonight, I landed on the other side without falling on my ass. I didn’t have too much time to be chuffed with myself though, because the next part of the course required me to rappel myself across a large gap with a flimsy looking piece of rope, which dangled from the ceiling.
I wiped my palms against the side of my pants again, needing them to be bone dry for this part. Fatigue weighed so heavily on me that it was an effort to even keep my eyes open, let alone launch myself across the space. The rope was suspended in the middle of the gap, so I took a few steps back, hoping to make a running jump. I could see Moric from the corner of my eye, hurtling across the spinning wheel. I had to make a move, and now.
I jumped across the gap, hands outstretched and legs kicking at the air to propel me forward. My fingers gripped the tough fibers of rope and my knees slammed against each other as they fought for purchase around it. I swung forward, praying my timing was right, trusting blindly as I let go. My arms reached for the lip of the landing. My fingers brushed air, grasping nothing. And then I was falling.
I landed hard on my hip bone, pain lancing up my side.
Frustration and disappointment tore a hole through my chest, sizzling and aching worse than the fall. I had been so godsdamned close.
“You know the drill, Aldhur,” Septimus sang from the sidelines. “Back of the line.”
