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The stream will guide you to a divide
Then chase the tracks to find the prize.
I looked up at my teammates, thrilled that our stone was away from the snow-covered peaks. That meant I wouldn’t be scaling ice or climbing to a high altitude.
Then one of the cadets huffed out a laugh. “Stream doesn’t seem like the right word.”
I knew little about the Gilded Peaks, but the look on his face made me worry.
The fourth-year and our de facto leader shook his head, leveling his gaze at me. “Be sure not to fall in. Once the rapids take you under, there is little chance of pulling you out.”
Rapids? That didn’t sound like a stream at all.
Chapter
Fifty-Three
Torq
“Where is he?” I spun around as I surveyed the assembled Blades in our school atrium, which also served as an armory. Weapons hung on the walls of the circular space, the gleaming, steel blades and ancient, bronze shields glinting in the light from the overhead skylight. The eternal flame that burned in the middle of the room was blue as it danced in the high, stone brazier.
We’d gathered around the senior Blade instructor who held the black envelope, but I couldn’t focus on him or the clues he was about to reveal. Not when Dom was missing.
“Who?” Kort cut his gaze to me briefly, before returning his attention to the elder Blade.
“Dom.” I said the name quietly, as if saying it too loudly might summon him. I both wanted to be rid of him and to keep him in my sights. “He isn’t here.”
Kort flicked his gaze to one side and then the other, finally bobbing one shoulder. “I would think you would be glad he is not here, since he still holds a grudge from the climbing wall.”
I hadn’t told my friend that Dom’s hatred of me had nothing to do with my strategy on the wall. It had nothing to do with me, at all. If I confessed that, I would be confessing to my brother being a craven killer, and I wasn’t sure if I could admit that yet. There was little love lost between me and my older brother, but the thought that he would kill another Drexian over nothing more than status made bile churn in my gut and shame scorch my cheeks.
“He is probably late,” Kort suggested, even though Drexian warriors who had made it into the academy did not run late. Dom was missing for a reason, and I dreaded what that reason might be.
The Blades surged forward, as the envelope was handed to a fourth-year with his black hair tied up in a top-knot. He ripped it open and tossed the black envelope to the floor, his eyes scanning the white card inside.
“Four ebony stones from the Black Mountains that have been placed within the Gilded Peaks. Each stone has one of the school emblems carved on it. We have to return with our stone to win the battle.”
“At least it isn’t a water challenge,” I muttered, remembering our holo-chamber practice where we ended up waterlogged and exhausted.
Kort grinned at me. “I will take the mountains over the sea any day.” Then he furrowed his brow. “But how do we find a rock among giant rocks?”
The fourth-year waved the card in the air to quiet the rumble of conversation that had burst forth once the challenge had been revealed. “The rocks are large and have not been hidden underneath any other objects, but they can be inside caves or crevices.”
“So, we have to scour the Gilded Peaks for a black rock with the Blades emblem carved on it.” Kort rubbed his hands together. “It could have been worse.”
I nodded, even though I was barely focusing on the task. I could only think that Dom wasn’t with his fellow cadets from Battle because he’d already left. He was tracking Jess because he’d decided she was the best way to inflict damage on me. I did not know how he’d come to this conclusion when I’d been so careful, but my gut told me I was right. My instinct told me that Jess was in danger.
The fourth year had started to go into the details about our stone, but I’d tuned him out. If Dom had left, that meant he had a head start on me. It meant he was already in pursuit of Jess. I could not wait until the Blades decided a plan of action. I needed to find Jess before Dom.
“I will catch up with you,” I told Kort, as I started to back away. “I forgot something in my quarters.”
His eyes widened. “Catch up? We might be halfway up the mountain. Didn’t you hear our clue? The Blade stone is covered in ice, which means we have a long trek ahead of us.”
I wondered if this was yet another way for the Blades to be punished, but I also did not know if we were the only school with a stone at the highest part of the mountain range. Even if we were, I could not say that some of us did not deserve it.
“Then there is more time for me to rejoin you.” I managed to smile at my friend. “Do not worry.”
Kort did not look so sure, but he finally got pulled back into the burgeoning discussion about the trek to the ice and what supplies we should take from the school. As my fellow Blades moved to the walls to select weapons, I slipped from the hall and hurried down the corridor.
