Page 102 of Prince of the Sun

“Quinn,” Daerios says, “if you don’t explain what the hell you’re talking about—”

But before he can finish his sentence, I shout at the Trial Gate, “Vor naur laman faul minui mítha.”

“Black fire tames my only kiss?” Berendir repeats in English, face twisted into a grimace. “What the hell does that m—?”

He stops speaking when the riddle disappears and the gate starts to open.

The light slides open in either direction, revealing a space through which we can comfortably pass. Through the opening, I spot a second Trial Gate in the distance.

Great.

“Come on.” I bend over to scoop up my pack and march through the Gate. “Let’s get the hell past this thing before it closes and we have to answer another riddle.”

It’s just over a hundred yards from one Trial Gate to the next. We encounter no guards or beasts roaming the interior, which unsettles me. If they don’t feel they need reinforcements, the second trial must be even tougher than the first.

I reach the Gate before the others. Without hesitation, I press my palm to the solid wall of light. The airy voice echoes out into the forest before my companions even reach my side.

Daerios sighs. “If the Shadow Elves didn’t already know we were approaching Árrion, this godforsaken voice is sure as hell going to let them know.”

“That’s probably the point,” I say.

“SOD E’ VAASKA,” the Trial Gate calls into the night.

“Find the vaaska?” Berendir translates. “What the hell does that mean?” He starts to look around, as if expecting bread to swoop out of the sky, but then the Trial Gate resumes speaking in Lukkarin.

This time, there are no verses. No breaks in the lines. It is straightforward prose, much longer than the first riddle. In English, it translates as follows:

A week before Zitheälrea, a clever loaf of vaaska hides from a family that wants to eat it during the festival. There are five boxes in a straight row. The vaaska hides in one of the boxes. Each night, the vaaska moves one box to the left or right. Each morning, the family can look in one box to try and find the vaaska. How can the family guarantee they will find the vaaska before Zitheälrea?

Note: There are only six mornings until Zitheälrea.

Note: The vaaska must move every night.

For a long, horrible moment, we just stare up at the Trial Gate, dumbfounded.

At last, Berendir breaks the silence by saying, helpfully, “But vaaska can’tmove.”

I turn to the rest of the group to say that we’re fucked. But before the words leave my mouth, I notice the enormous grin plastered to Cara’s face.

“What is it?” I ask, hope prickling tentatively at my chest.

“Oh.” She turns to look at us, grin widening. “Don’t worry, everyone. The Computer Science major has got this one.”

“Huh?” Berendir frowns at Cara. “What does CS have to do with elvish bread?”

“Nothing.” Cara drops to her knees in the dirt and picks up a stick. “But this is a mathematical riddle. And that, my friend, is myshit.”

She starts to drag the stick along the earth. She draws five boxes and labels them1-5. “Right,” she mutters, drawing a series of lines between the boxes. “If they check in the order 223443, they can know that, by checking 2 twice, if they haven’t found the vaaska, it must be in 3, 4, or 5. Then when they check 3 the next morning, it must be in 2, 4, or 5. Then when they check 4 the next turn, it must be in 1, 3, or 5. Now they know that for the subsequent turn, the vaaska will be in 2 or 4.”

Daerios and Berendir look at me, dumbfounded. I shrug. This is just how she is.

She’s still going at it. “For the sixth morning, pick 3. Either they find the vaaska, or it’s 1, and then will have to move to 2 the next night. So, if they had a seventh check, they would open box 2 and…” She freezes, staring at the boxes and the confusing mess of lines drawn between them. Then, without warning, she thrusts her stick toward the sky and hollers, “WAIT!”

We all jump.

“I overcomplicated,” Cara says, using the stick to scratch out all the lines around the boxes. “All you have to do is do the last three steps twice.”

“What?” Berendir asks.