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“Are you saying our fair queen has shown poor taste?” Javer inquired, looking utterly unphased by Rhea’s demise. “I’m shocked.”
Odessa shrugged. “Chances are high that anything she threw at them would try to eat them.”
She was right. Harpies. Fenrirs. Goblins. They were ravenous for blood and flesh. Just like the undead fae children. It wasn’t like it got any better–or worse–than this.
I hoped Rhea had drowned quickly and not had to experience the torment of being devoured alive–like Lancelet had.
Avriel was already moving on.
“Does it matter who gets to the top of the cliff first?” I asked.
Odessa shook her head. “Not this time. But that could be a factor in the next challenge. In the past, some of the trials have been timed.”
“And if you don’t complete the trial in time?”
She glanced at me briefly. “Then you don’t come out. The spectators leave though. Eventually.”
I swallowed. “Lovely.”
Avriel was in the lead.
I watched with interest as Brasad followed Rhea’s path, copying the route she and Avriel had taken, right down to the very rock she had fallen from. But as Avriel had already gone ahead, Brasad was in no danger this time as he crossed the pool. He reached the other side, breaking into an eager run. If his arm still bothered him, he wasn’t showing it.
Behind him came the others. Draven and Lyrastra, with Vespera close behind. Erion and Selwyn had stuck with Malkah in a way I thought was admirable. Draven seemed to have committed to clearing a path ahead.
Together he and Lyrastra and Vespera cleared the next pool, throwing rocks in to bring out the goblins, then slaughtering them as they emerged.
Draven entered the pool first. It was deeper than the last one he had waded through. My heart sped up as I saw he would have to swim.
But he reached the other side untouched, with Lyrastra and Vespera closely following.
Together, they urged Selwyn, Malkah, and Erion on. I watched as Malkah stepped into the pool first. She swam across it effortlessly, even under the pain of her injury, skimming over the water like a fish.
Behind her Erion and Selwyn followed, her loyal guardians.
Draven, Lyrastra, and Vespera had already gone on ahead.
Which was how Malkah came to be alone when she reached the far side of the pool and emerged only to be ambushed by a pack of goblins who raced out from the shadows of one of the caves, slathering and snarling.
Malkah did not shriek or scream like Rhea had. She simply stood up slowly, wearing a look of grim resolve on her face.
“Where are her weapons?” I asked, leaning forward. Selwyn and Erion were swimming as fast as they could towards where Malkah stood but I feared they would not reach her soon enough.
“Just watch,” was all Odessa said shortly.
The goblins pounced. Malkah raised her arms. Blades shot out–directly from along her wrists. They were thin and pointed and white like bone. Sharp, fish-bones.
She pierced through the chest of one goblin, then whirled to slide a bone-blade through the eye of another.
Selwyn and Erion were climbing out of the water. Raising his dripping ax, Selwyn decapitated the closest goblin to Malkah while Erion threw his spear into another.
Then Malkah shouted a warning. More goblins were appearing from the pool they had just swam out of.
“How is that possible?” I muttered.
Odessa tapped her fingers on the rail. “They’re endless. The pools are connected, down below. You can never truly clear them. I’m sure Draven figured that out already, don’t worry.”
The trio was quickly becoming surrounded. I watched as a look of panic came over Erion’s face.
