Page 31 of Daring the Drakarn Warrior Lord
"Tunnel routes." Vega pointed farther down the corridor. "I’ve scouted some of the lower passages. They're slower, but they're hidden. Less chance of running into warriors who can snap us like twigs."
"How much slower?" Lexa asked.
"Maybe double the time of a direct route. But we'd actually make it alive, so there's that."
I considered it.
The logic was sound.
Take the safe path, avoid confrontation, reach the Temple through routes the Drakarn wouldn't expect or bother watching. We might not win, but we'd survive. We'd complete the trial. We'd prove we could finish what we started.
But that wasn't why I was here.
"No," I said.
Vega's head snapped toward me. "No?"
"If we take the tunnels, we're just confirming what everyone already thinks. That humans can't compete directly. That we're too weak to handle the real challenge." I met her gaze. "I didn't enter this thing to hide in the shadows. I need to beseendoing this."
"You entered this thing to prove a point," Vega countered. "Dead people don't prove points. They just prove they were stupid."
"She's not wrong," Lexa said.
"I know she's not wrong." I pushed away from the wall, rolling my shoulders to loosen the tension building there. "But think about it. If we skulk through hidden passages and somehow manage to reach the blood-flame, what does that prove? That we're good at sneaking? Everyone already knows that. They've been calling us weak and fragile for months. Taking the coward's route just confirms it."
"The smart route," Vega corrected. "There's a difference between cowardice and tactics."
"Not in this."
Silence fell between us. Somewhere in the distance, metal rang against metal. A roar of pain or fury echoed off stone walls. The competition was already getting violent.
Lexa broke the quiet. "So what's the alternative? We run straight down the main street and hope nobody notices?"
"We be visible," I said, "but strategic. Not suicidal. We use the main routes enough that people see us. See us holding our own. But we're smart about when to engage and when to avoid." I looked at Vega. "You're the tactical genius. Tell me there's a way to make that work."
She stared at me for a long moment. Then she sighed, the sound carrying more resignation than agreement. "There might be. Emphasis on might."
"I'll take it."
"You're going to get us killed."
"People don’t usually die in the Skalanth."
"That's not as comforting as you think it is," Lexa muttered.
Vega pulled out a small piece of charcoal she'd tucked into her belt and started sketching on the stone wall. A rough map took shape. Lines for corridors. Circles for major intersections. X marks for what I assumed were danger zones.
"Main routes are here, here, and here." She tapped three lines that converged toward the Temple district. "Most warriors will take the upper paths. Faster if you can fly. Senior warriors will be positioned at chokepoints." She marked several spots with heavy X's. "We avoid those. Stick to secondary routes that are still visible from the main thoroughfares. We'll be seen, but we won't be trapped."
"What about the Temple entrance?" I asked.
"That's where it gets messy." Vega's charcoal hovered over the map. "The Temple will be heavily guarded. No way around that. We'll have to either fight through or find another way in."
"We'll figure it out when we get there," I said. "First, we need to actually reach the Temple."
Vega nodded and wiped away her map with one sleeve. "Stay close. Move fast. Don't engage unless we have to."
We moved back toward the main corridor, staying tight to the wall. The flow of warriors had thinned slightly as competitors spread throughout the city, but enough remained that stepping into the open felt like diving into rapids.
