Tin Thoughts (The Downfall Saga Book 2) Page 21

  “That’s something that I’d love to learn about. I was about to ask what it’s like living in Kern, but I realize how foolish of a question it is.” Kort took several minutes trying to put words to the question that had been on his mind since he’d entered the room. “I noticed that many of you have marks from previous injuries. Is it that dangerous in Kern?”

  “In Kern, no,” said Aplite with a smile. “In Cragtor, yes.” The smile left her face.

  “And Cragtor is ...”

  “It’s where we learn to use our magic, but surely you knew that.” She looked at him and must have read the confusion on his face, so she continued. “I understand that humans wait until they are nearly grown before testing them. You look like a man, but I was told that you’ve only been training for less than two years. Me, I am still a child. I will see my fourteenth summer this year, yet I’ve been training for half of my life.”

  “I won’t be considered a man until next year, but I get your point. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to start so young. I felt unprepared when I started, but you must have been terrified.”

  “Yes,” she said bluntly, “but they quickly cured it.”

  “I don’t see how that is possible.”

  “Cured might be too strong of a word. We are taught the discipline to mask our emotions during our training, but they still come out when we’re home with our friends. It forges everyone together to where we never want to be apart. Is it so at Haven?”

  “We can show our emotions. I have many friends at Haven, but most students are only my classmates. I expect that I will only stay close to a few of my friends when I leave Haven.”

  “That is a shame.”

  “It is.” Kort thought about how much his life had changed in the last two years, and wished that he could mend fences with Ravyn. He would gladly forget about what she had done, but he knew that she would somehow shift the blame onto him, and it would only make things worse. Why did she have to be so stubborn?

  His gaze roamed around the room before settling on Syen’s scarred arm.

  “So why didn’t they heal you so you wouldn’t have the scars?”

  “I earned those scars. Besides, we’re not some scared human who begs for healing whenever their feelings get hurt.”

  Kort fought to keep a straight face, but failed and burst out laughing. The laughter was infectious and it took several minutes for it to die down.

  “What are our other opponents like?”

  “They’ve kept to themselves. They sure are surly this year. There’s some sort of strife between the horse herders and the bauble makers, so they sent two separate teams.”

  “Two teams! You mean there’s four teams competing?”

  “The human can count,” said Syen. “I owe you a crescent.”

  “What is that suppo—”

  The vessel shuddered, throwing them around the room.

  Kort banged his head on the floor. He woozily pushed himself onto his hands and knees.

  A deep ringing sound continued long after the room stopped shaking.

  “What happened? Are we sinking? Let’s get out of here.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you,” said Syen, playfully shoving him onto his back with her foot.

  “It was a serpent, I think,” said Aplite.

  “Serpent? You mean a sea serpent?”

  “What other kind would you expect to find?”

  “I’ve got to go. We need to get out of here.”

  Kort scrambled back to his feet and raced out of the room. He bounced off the walls as he tried to navigate the tight intersections between narrow passageways. He ran down the passageway leading to their quarters, and stopped so fast that his feet nearly slid out from beneath him.

  A small glass window, shaped like half a bubble was mounted in the wall. The world outside was cloaked in a blue mist. It must be a massive storm outside, except ... he thought he saw something dark moving through the mist. He moved closer to the window, his nose practically touching the cold glass.

  A dark shape moved outside.

  It seemed to block out the entire world as it moved past the window.

  Kort held his breath.

  Kort had to gulp down another breath of air before the shape left the window. His last thought were of a giant fin extended from the largest tail that he had ever seen.

  Chapter 24

  “We don’t want to be late for the feast,” said Ravyn, heading up the hillside.

  Their camp was setup on a broad hill near the center of the island. The hill was the designated safe area for the competition and a thick line had been burnt into the grass around the hill, about halfway up its side, so there was no confusion about where the division was. They’d erected a large pavilion for when they had to meet as a group, as well as several smaller tents where they would be sleeping. Their camp was setup far away from the other teams so that they didn’t need to worry about teams spying on each other.

  “You don’t have to tell me twice,” said Finian, racing up the hillside after her.

  Everyone else followed along at a slower pace.

  A large bonfire was burning in the communal area near the crest of the hill. Two dwarves were busy preparing the food for the feast beside the fire. A blanket lay spread across the grass for their team to sit on during the meal. The members of the Kernish team were already there, and Donovan saw several of them wave at Kort, but he swore that he could hear them laughing when they turned away to resume their conversation.

  Headmaster Marrok, Nads, and Osmont split off to go sit at a table with the three members of the dwarven delegation at the judges table. Donovan quickly picked out Tuff by the firelight reflecting off his bald head. He recognized Eban from when he had visited Haven earlier in the year, and Caddaric had told him that the woman’s name was Breccia.

  He glanced over at the two other blankets and saw that neither elven team had arrived.

  He looked to see if anyone else was curious, but only Caddaric seemed interested about the elves’ absence.

  The two dwarves from by the fire began ferrying food to the three groups several minutes later. The food was simply prepared, but plentiful, and smelled delicious.

  Donovan picked up a plate and began piling food onto it. There was roast boar that was still dripping with grease, and several types of sweet, fleshy fruits. The smallest platter held several white roots about the size of a small carrot.

  Donovan picked up one of the roots and took a bite. It was hard and chewy, but as he worked it in his mouth for several minutes, it began to release a bitter tasting juice which made his lips feel numb.

  Numb lips didn’t stop him from enjoying the rest of the meal. When he was done, he felt like he couldn’t even stand up to walk back to their camp because of all the food he had ate, and the front of his shirt was covered in grease, but he had a big goofy grin on his face.

  He heard a new voice and looked up to see two elves striding towards the table. They were long and lean, with their hair pulled back from their faces. One had a pale, ageless face. The second elf had the dark tan and worn skin of someone who spent much of their time working under the sun. They gave polite bows before sitting down between Tuff and Headmaster Marrok. Eban gestured towards the platters of food on the table, and both elves shook their heads.

  “Everyone sit up straight,” said Ravyn. “Don’t embarrass me.”

  “Don’t be so serious,” said Donovan. “You’re embarrassing us.”

  The look she gave him made him shut his mouth and sit up a little straighter.

  Eban got up from the table and walked off into the darkness. He returned several minutes later with a stack of papers in his hand.

  “We are not big on pomp and pageantry,” said Eban in his deep, gravelly voice. “This year’s Paragon Prize Tournament has begun. I hold in my hand the first of three tasks.”

  Everyone leaned forward in anticipation, not wanting to miss a single word.

  “There
are five items written on here which you can find on this island. Teams may leave the safe area any time after dawn tomorrow. Any team member who returns to the safe area after the task has started will not be allowed to leave again until after the task is finished.”

  Donovan glanced over at Ravyn who was starting to fidget. She looked back in the direction of their camp, before turning back to Eban with a sigh. Donovan knew that it must be eating her up inside to not have anything to write down the rules that Eban was telling them.

  “The first team back with all of their items will start the second task before the other teams. How long you finish behind the winning team is the penalty that you will suffer at the start of the second task. If you do not return with all five items, then you will start a full day behind the leading team.”

  “Everyone listen,” whispered Ravyn urgently. “We need to remember exactly what he said.”

  “The other rules are simple,” continued Eban. “You can consult with the advisers that came with you, before the first task starts and between the other tasks, but never during a task. There will be no direct violence against the other teams. You may impede or distract them, but never intentionally cause direct harm to each other.

  Eban split up the pile of papers and passed them to Tuff, Osmont, and the two elves who hadn’t bothered to introduce themselves.

  The elves gave Eban a polite nod before leaving the area.

  Osmont came walking over to them.

  “Ready to get started or are you still hungry?”

  “Both,” said Kort around the piece of meat he was chewing.

  “I’m sure they won’t mind if you bring it with you,” said Osmont.

  They headed back to their pavilion, Kort carrying the platter of meat in his arms.

  The tent itself was empty except for a rug rolled out on the ground. When they had all settled down onto the rug, Donovan noticed that Headmaster Marrok and Professor Nads hadn’t come back with them.

  “You two are in charge, but I’m here if you need any guidance,” said Osmont.

  He handed the sheets of paper to Caddaric, before retreating to the corner nearest to the opening.

  Caddaric handed out the sheets to everyone in the room.

  Donovan saw Ravyn relax when she saw that the rules were written on one side of the paper.

  “What’s a heractis?” asked Finian.

  “We’ll get to that later,” said Ravyn. She looked over at Caddaric.

  “Right,” he said. “We need to agree upon our strategy first.”

  “I say we split up,” said Ravyn. “Each person is assigned one item, and we send two after whatever we think is the most difficult one to find.”

  “That sounds too risky to me,” said Caddaric. “If we don’t finish, then we start a day behind for the second task.”

  “You play to win, not so you don’t lose.”

  “There are three tasks. We can’t win the competition during the first one, but we can lose it.”

  The two of them crossed their arms and waited for the other to respond.

  “Can I say something?” asked Donovan.

  “Yes,” said Caddaric.

  “No,” said Ravyn at nearly the same time. “Fine, go ahead.”

  “What if we split into smaller groups?” asked Donovan.

  “A couple groups would cut down the time,” said Caddaric.

  “Three’s quicker,” said Ravyn.

  Donovan tried to make eye contact with the other members of the team, silently urging them to help break the stalemate, but they all stared at the pieces of paper that they were holding, except for Kort who tossed a piece of meat into the air and caught it in his mouth.

  “Let’s ignore the first thing I said, and discuss the items we need to collect,” said Caddaric. “If we can agree on the difficulty of finding each item, then it may become apparent which approach to take.”

  “We’ll start with the easiest first,” said Ravyn. “The manzilla fruit grows in abundance near the coast.”

  “I can handle it on my own,” said Kort.

  Ravyn and Caddaric exchanged a look, before Caddaric gave a small nod.

  “That will eliminate one of our problems,” said Ravyn. “Remember not to eat the fruit or touch any of the leaves. Don’t even go near the tree if it’s raining unless you want to get covered in burns.”

  “I think that I’m capable of picking some fruit.”

  ***

  “What are they doing?” asked Brighid.

  “They’re killing them, that’s what,” said Ravyn. “It can’t be on purpose. No one is that stupid.”

  “Why don’t we go ask them?” asked Donovan.

  “Don’t be stupid.”

  They crouched behind a ridge of rocks, watching the two elves kneeling beside the tidal pool. They’d been watching the elves try unsuccessfully to extract the salt pod from the heractis living in the pool.

  The elves picked up another heractis from the pool and cut it open with a knife. One of them poked around inside with their finger before tossing the carcass onto the pile beside them.

  “I can’t watch this,” said Donovan.

  He stood up and hurried over to the pool, his cloak flapping behind him in the cool ocean breeze. He kept his hand against his sword sheath so it didn’t keep bumping against his leg.

  The elves heard him coming and stood to greet him.

  “Why are you here?” asked the male elf. He was clad in brown leather and had a scowl on his face.

  “The same reason why you two are here. I’m Donovan by the way.”

  “Eva.” She had the grace of a predatory cat as she stepped towards him, and her smooth tanned skin told him that she spent a lot of her time outside. Her black hair was cut short, and her were eyes the color of a deep ocean. “That’s Treowe.”

  He grunted but didn’t set down the knife in his hand.

  Donovan shook her hand. His hand came away covered in slime which he hoped had come from the heractis.

  “My twin brother.” The two of them looked similar, except Treowe was a little broader in the shoulders and had longer hair.

  “You going to stab me if I come over there?”

  “I might.”

  “Do you want him to?”

  “Not right now, but you should check again later.”

  He walked over to shake Treowe’s hand. Treowe hesitated for a moment before shifting the knife to his off hand and shaking Donovan’s hand.

  “Looks like you’re having some difficulties. Mind if I bring the rest of my group over?”

  “What?” He looked around, nose sniffing the air, and settled his gaze on the ridge of rocks where Ravyn and Brighid were hiding.

  “Come on out!” called Donovan.

  They stood up and slowly walked over, Ravyn’s hand never left the hilt of her sword.

  “Everybody calm down so we can get this done as fast as possible,” said Donovan.

  Ravyn slowly moved her hand away from the sword and reached out to shake Eva’s hand.

  Ravyn knelt down beside the pool and looked at the colony of heractis living there. They had a dark red cylindrical stalk. White tendrils were tightly clustered at the top of the stalk, protecting the salt pod.

  “You can’t just pull them out of the water or the pod will disintegrate,” said Ravyn. “There are fertilized eggs in the center of the pod surrounded by a pocket of air, so it can float away from the colony, and allow them to spread out over each generation.”

  “Which helps us how?” asked Eva.

  “They release them in the summer when the temperatures are hot, and the water level is low. All we need to do is create those conditions.”

  “You can change the seasons?” asked Eva, raising one eyebrow.

  Ravyn looked over at Brighid, who bent over the pool. Brighid cupped her hands and held them over top of a cluster of three heractis. She slowed her breathing, before spreading her hands apart. The water slowly flowed outwards as she moved h
er hands apart until there was a bowl shaped depression over top of the heractis. The water level at the bottom ended an inch below the top of the heractis.

  Donovan turned away to hide his surprise. He’d seen their professors perform many impressive feats, but for some reason the control that Brighid displayed while gently shifting the water amazed him more than anything else that he’d seen.

  Brighid stayed there, motionless, while Ravyn held out one hand towards the exposed heractis.

  Donovan moved back and watched the heractis over Ravyn’s shoulder. He could feel a gentle heat reflecting off his face.

  The white tendrils slowly spread out and reached down into the water where they gently undulated. With the tendrils out of the way, Donovan saw that they hid a golden mouth on top of the heractis. An opening appeared and slowly began to grow in the center of the mouth. The stalk split into four sections, and opened like a blooming lotus.

  Donovan moved to the edge of the pool and leaned over top of the heractis. He could see the white salt pod sitting inside of it. He reached down, intent to prod the cluster with his finger. The mouth snapped shut, trapping his finger inside. Its insides felt warm and slimy. Its muscles were surprisingly strong, and he couldn’t pull his finger free. The tendrils started lashing against his hand, leaving red welts wherever they touched.

  He yanked his hand upwards, it left the water with a splash, but the heractis didn’t let go. He stared at it, still clamped onto his finger, his mind momentarily blank from his surprise to see it still there. The pain brought him out of his stupor, and he swung his arm down, smashing the creature against the rocks. After several impacts, it went limp and released him. He left it lying motionless on the rocks, and examined his finger which had turned purple and was starting to swell.

  Treowe began to chortle. “Don’t stick your fingers in strange places.”

  “I’d like to see you do better,” said Donovan.

  As he spoke, the mouths of the two remaining heractis in the shallow water began to open. It continued to spread and blossom, until it had split far enough that the entire thing was underwater. The salt pod slowly drifted out and bobbed on top of the water.

  Treowe reached down and calmly collected the two pods.