Page 28 of Trial of Thorns
“She’s nothing. We’re almost there,” Brielle says, her voice steadier than I’d have expected. “And she’s distracting them.”
“She saved us. You know that, right?” She’s right though, we have a moment to breathe while they rip her body to shreds. There will be nothing left to bury.
“It’s doesn’t matter now! I have enough energy for only a few minutes. We’ll have to run.”
I look up, we are more than three quarters of the way across. “I can do another minute once yours fails, but we’ll still have to move fast.”
I stand and press on, Brielle’s fingers clawing into my back as I march. Her fire shields us as the creatures resume their attack. I pull out my sword this time, knowing they’ll bust through the fire easier than my light, and I’m ready when teeth attack. I shove my blade into the first’s jaw, black blood splattering.
I step. And step. And slash as claws fly. Step. Step. Step. Slash.
Brielle’s fire dims to a flicker and I measure our distance. One hundred feet or so. I take a larger step and blast every ounce of magic I have left in my body. It takes down two creatures and gives me the space I need to take another ten feet. I do it again, another ten feet. My well is drying. Each blast is smaller. Dimmer. We’re fifty feet from the edge.
We can do it. We have to do it.
A massive black shadow blocks out the light of the sun, and we pause to look up to find a wyvern twice the size of the rest. “Run!” I shout. We abandon our shields and our balance as we sprint the last fifty feet. Brielle screams, losing her balance and pitching to the right. I reach for her.
Our hands clasp, but it throws me off balance and we’re both falling towards the pit below. A vine whips out in front of me and I grab it as I fall. One hand holds Brielle’s arm and the other the vine, and we swing into the cliff side, my right shoulder taking the brunt of the blow as we crash into the amber stone.
Brielle’s body is limp, and I can’t climb up while holding her dead weight. And that’s besides the fact that my shoulder is roaring in pain, muscles ripping, possibly out of socket. I use every ounce of magic I have left in me to shield us once more, but it’s only delaying the inevitable. Except, I have friends left in this thing, and the vine I still cling to retreats, pulling us toward the summit.
I hold tight to both, forcing my magic until hands grip my under my arms and my vision flickers to black.
Caelynn
There’s only fifteenminutes left in the challenge, and before me is an impossible obstacle.
The wide open canyon is filled with shadow-wyrns. This... is going to be interesting. Across the opening, a blinding light glows, pulling up higher and higher until it reaches the top and then flickers out. It’s hard to even tell what’s happening but every shadow-vyrn swarms the light.
The moment it puffs out the creatures dive below into the dark smoke veiling the bottom of the open cavern.
Three fae are shifting slowly across the one metal wire connecting the two sides, balancing precariously. The wyverns turn their sights onto these fae, only a quarter of the way across.
I curse when I notice those on the other end of the cavern aren’t leaving. The fire bearer is over there. Her heat would be more than enough to burn this metal wire and send those fae still crawling across falling into the pit of shadow-vyrns.
My chest heaves, and for the first time I wonder if I can make it. One challenge and I’ve failed. I have fifteen minutes to run three miles, and that includes crossing this now impossible cavern.
