Page 24 of The Chosen Fae

Stone struck Vesper's fire sword with such a ferocious strike that he heard a crack in the metal. He wasn't sure if it was his sword or Vesper's. And then the fire was extinguished, and when Vesper looked at his sword, forgetting all about fighting Stone—for the moment—Stone struck his sword again, making sure he broke Vesper's sword all the way so he couldn't use it against him further.

As soon as the swords connected, Vesper, caught off guard, lost his sword, but not before it broke in half and the top part fell to the ground while Vesper was left holding only the hilt and short part of the sword.

The pack members who were opposing Vesper's pack clapped and whistled. Though Stone knew they weren't cheering him, only cheering the defeat of one of their better-trained opponents.

Lolita didn't cheer, or she would have been in trouble with her own pack, but she did smile at Stone when no one from her side was watching.

Then Stone sheathed his sword. Vesper grabbed the two pieces of his sword and stalked off. Not only had he not won the fight, but he had also lost his sword. Stone felt a wave of satisfaction wash over him. Rune finally smiled.

Rune couldn't believe that Vesper's sword had burst into flames. Her heart had nearly stopped when that had happened. But when Stone's sword turned into ice, she was truly astounded. She glanced at her starry sword and wondered if hers had any other special abilities, should she need it in a fight. She could see herself having to deal with Pari or some of the others and relying only on her ability to fight with a sword.

But she was so proud that Stone had done so well when she knew all of the rest of the competitors were proficient in their weapon skills, unlike her and Stone. Then the gathered fae finished their breakfast.

She wanted to congratulate Stone, but everyone was covertly watching her actions with Stone, and she wanted to keep them guessing. Then she left the room with the others, glancing at her own sword, wishing she knew if it could help her when she needed it. Hopefully, she wouldn't need it as Stone had against Vesper.

After three days of weapon practice, relaxing, drinking water, but not being allowed to eat, the next part of the games was to catch a pirarucu in the Amazon jungle in the human world, which could reach twelve feet and four hundred pounds. It was a freshwater fish, a predator that crushed its prey.

Wolves could go without eating for 12 days up to four weeks, often eating up to twenty pounds in a sitting if they hadn't eaten for days. They were kind of on a feast-and-famine schedule if they couldn't catch food, so no one was so famished that they were starving.

Rune and Stone were used to it. Sometimes they couldn't catch anything and had to do without. If one could catch something, they shared it with the other. But they'd gone a week without food during a severe snowstorm one year and actually settled together in her den to stay warm.

Wolves in a pack had food because someone in the pack provided for them.

So the pack wolves probably had a harder time dealing with the hunger than Rune and Stone.

"You'll have to find the pirarucu before you can catch it. Watch out for jaguars. They eat them too, and they can take care of the lot of you. If I were you, I would vanish if you see one so the jaguar will only concentrate on the fish," the Game Master said.

Vanish, as in turn invisible. They still couldn't fae transport.

"Where are we?" Iris asked.

"The Amazon jungle," the Game Master said. "You have as much time to take care of this quest as it will take to locate one and then capture it. You can take care of this any way that you want to, but if it were me, I would recommend you do this together as a team."

"You said the fish can be huge. What if we get a pirarucu that's smaller?" Silas asked.

"It’s allowed, as long as it's at least six feet long."

"If we get one that's smaller accidentally?" Iris asked.

"You lose. Unless no one gets one that is the right minimum size or bigger. They eat birds, fish, and small mammals that get too close to the water's edge. Also, the black caiman frequents these waters and can reach thirteen feet long, and they'll eat anything—you, humans, fish, birds, other kinds of mammals. You will stay overnight in the jungle as part of the challenge. So be careful. If you don't catch a pirarucu in three days, the game ends with no winners. If there are no further questions, the game is on."

Rune, Stone, and Lolita ran along the riverbank, peering into the water, but didn't see any sign of a giant fish. Rune said to Lolita, "If we see it, don't you get in the water."

"But I need to help."

"When it's dead, you can help us pull the fish onto shore," Stone said, agreeing with Rune.

Everyone had gone off in their own directions looking for the required size fish except Lolita, Rune, and Stone, who stuck together.

"It's okay if I stick with you guys, isn't it?" Lolita asked.

Stone smiled. "For sure. I'm afraid one of your teammates, or the other packmates, might toss you into the water as bait."

Lolita smiled. "They would!"

Rune loved that Lolita could take the dark subject and smile about it. And she was glad she had come with them.

"Oh, there's one!" Lolita said. She might be small, but she had sharp eyes.