Page 14 of The Ordeals
The woman across the courtyard smiles knowingly. ‘You all seem so afraid of stepping into the unknown. How about we show you what you face?’
She looks left then right and I notice two people flanking her. Two men, one white-haired with age, one with slicked-back red hair. They raise their hands as one and the courtyard erupts in a chaos of light, illuminating the courtyard and the game board of death before us.
This is …what the hell is this?
Some squares are doused in flames that ignite, then recede, only to reignite, some sprout coiling plants that slither over those unmoving bodies whilst a few others are just … empty. I blink furiously at the wall of intense heat, trying to discern the real from the illusion. If the squares with nothing in them are harmless, why has no one succeeded in crossing them?
‘Now you have a clearer view of the challenges in the Crucible,’ the woman calls. ‘Perhaps now you will brave the courtyard.’
‘DeWinter, talk to me,’ mutters Alden next to me, eyeing the flames. ‘I’m guessing that all seems real to you? You don’t seem in any rush to shove a limb into it this time.’
I swallow, eyeing the nearest square, roaring with green flames. In moments, one of the empty squares nearest us also ignites, a fresh blast of heat forcing me to turn my head away. ‘It seems pretty real to me.’
‘I can’t go home and tell them I’ve failed,’ a beefy dark-haired man to the left of us says. I look at him, the sweat prickling along hishairline, his shirtsleeves thrust up to his elbows. ‘I’m second-generation. They’ll disown me.’
‘Better a failure than baked, my friend,’ says the young woman standing next to me. She shrugs, pointing at the nearest body, that plant slowly devouring it. ‘Or eaten by a damn vine.’
The man shakes his head, stepping from side to side, as though gearing up. ‘There’s got to be a way. Those two walked in a straight line, but what if I just run? Maybe it’s not a test of magic, maybe this is agility, maybe they just want the strongest, the fittest wielders, the most courageous—’
‘I really don’t think—’
‘I’m doing it!’
‘Oh, here we go …’ I mutter as the man emits a feral cry and leaps through the square of green flame. He makes it halfway, charging from square to square before a vine lashes out, gripping his ankle. He trips, falling flat on his belly, and rolls quickly, angling a blade for the vine. He cuts himself free, twisting as the vine slithers aside. Then he’s on his feet, moving again, ten paces away, five—
‘Watch out!’ a woman further down the wall shrieks.
But it’s too late. The vine he cut snaps towards him again, coiling like a snake along the courtyard, wrapping around his head. His gasp is cut short as his head snaps to the side. I flinch as his body collapses to the ground, just three squares shy of victory. The vine coils around him, tighter and tighter, his head lying at a sickening angle until all we can see are his shoes.
Fuck.
Chapter 5
Games of Death
‘At least the flames seem to be an illusion,’ Alden remarks dryly.
‘Not all of them,’ the woman next to me with the tortoiseshell hair clip says, leaning around to pin her gaze on him. ‘The first one who tried to cross was toasted like a marshmallow before the vines got her.’
I cover my mouth, stomach lurching, and realise she’s right: the woman’s body is still smoking faintly. ‘That’s grim.’
‘That’s the Crucible.’ The woman shrugs. ‘I’m Tessa by the way. This is Greg.’ A gangly-limbed man next to her waves like an absolute dork and I wonder if he’s accidentally stumbled in here. He’s the human equivalent of a puppy. ‘We’re probably all going to die in the next ten minutes, so we might as well know each other’s names.’
‘Sophia, and this is Alden.’
‘And you’re …’ she points a finger between us ‘… together?’
‘Well, we were earlier today …’ Alden says softly.
‘What Aldenmeansis that we were in the first bit together,’ I say, glaring at him as he chuckles darkly.
Tessa raises an eyebrow. ‘Right. And neither of you are put off by this? No second thoughts?’
I glance over to where three hopefuls are swiftly exiting through the door on our far left, the door back to their normal lives, awayfrom the risk and peril of the courtyard. Clearly, they have far less at stake than me. I clench my jaw, setting my sights on the far wall. ‘None whatsoever.’
Three more determined hopefuls begin the crossing, a slight woman with short black hair and two men that are built like Alden. All brawn and very little brain as it turns out, as they charge forward, wielding botanist magic as the lashing vines shrink away, and despite their near victory, are both toasted in the middle squares. But the woman takes her time, fingers dancing as she flicks the vines away, seeming to know which flames to cross and which to avoid. I study her path, trying to glean any information I can and realise there is a pattern to the flames. She doesn’t charge up the middle, she veers left, hopping in a meandering route, avoiding the flames for the most part except for two squares, which she leaps through. They must be illusions, but I’m too far away to tell. When the young woman gets to the other side of the courtyard, she turns back andgrins.
The woman in the twinset who I’m beginning to suspect is a professor takes her hand and holds it in the air. ‘The first hopeful to complete the Crucible!’
