Icebound (Legends of the Shifters Book 2) (10 page)

-Chapter Sixteen-

At
half-past one, Sir Lochlan came to retrieve me. As we walked, he glanced over
and asked, “How are you settling in?”

“What’s
the point of settling in if I’m going to leave in a few days?”

His
gaze returned to the floor. “True… Are you ready for the challenge?”

Another
surprising question. Why did he care? “I can’t be ready for something I don’t
know anything about.”

“One
thing I can tell you—the arena will be overflowing. It usually is when the king
holds a challenge.”

“Does
he do it often?” I asked.

“Maybe
once or twice a year. I got to give some input on the obstacles this time.”

“Oh,
really?” I stole a look. “Did you take it easy on me?”

His
mouth broke into a secretive smile. “Not in the slightest.”

After
emerging from the castle into the bright sunlight, he led me up to a carriage
and helped me inside before settling in across from me. He knocked on the
ceiling and we heard a
hyah
!
and
the crack of a whip as the horses were spurred forward.

I
gazed out the window as we neared the docks. The ship we’d come in on was still
there, with not a soul on it. Around the palace gates, there were guards, but
only a few villagers gathered along the road. “It’s strange to see it so empty
out there. They know the king is coming, don’t they?”

“There
will be more soon,” he answered, resting his head against the wall.

It
didn’t take long to see that he was right. Many people were walking by the road
even before we hit Erabyn. Some waved at the carriage as we passed.

Erabyn
was a strange city. Unlike Achron or Redrune, even the heart had wide, open
streets and buildings spaced far apart. The closer we got to the arena—which
appeared to be a smaller, round replica of King Giddon’s castle—the more people
clogged the road ahead of us.

Ahead,
the gates opened, and crowds began to pour in. I heard the carriage driver
shouting, “Make way!” as he slowed the horses to a walk.

We
entered in those same gates and skirted around the side of the building until
we were at the back, where a single black door stood, dwarfed by the sandstone
wall.

Sir
Lochlan pushed the carriage door open, stepped down, and held it for me.
“Quickly,” he ordered.

I
climbed down and he slammed the door shut behind me, ushering me toward the
black door. It opened into total darkness.

“The
servants must not have gotten back here to light the lanterns yet,” he
remarked.

“I
guess not,” I said, squinting. Slowly, my eyes adjusted to the darkness enough
to see faint, flickering light bending around the curved tunnel.

We
walked toward it, soon finding two servants who worked quickly to light the
way.

“This
should have been done half an hour ago,” Sir Lochlan grumbled as we approached.

The
younger servant blanched while the older man bowed and said, “I’m very sorry,
sir. This was unexpected.”

“Hurry
up and get them lit before the king shows up.”

“Yes,
sir,” he replied as he turned back to his work.

We
continued until the tunnel split into two separate paths, one to the right,
going up a set of stairs, and one to the left, going down. We went left and
walked on until Sir Lochlan turned into a giant arched opening in the wall. I
peered through, but my eyes searched in vain. There was nothing to see except
black emptiness, everywhere.

“What
is this?” I whispered.

“The
cage,” Sir Lochlan replied. “It’s formed by wizards. To everyone outside, the
walls aren’t even here, and the darkness seems like gray fog. They will be able
to see everything, even when you can’t. These illusions will be able to hurt
you, so don’t slack off in combat.”

Why
do all trials have to involve wizards?
“How long is this going to take?” I
asked.

“It
won’t stop until you’re broken,” was all he said in reply.

“Broken?”
I asked as I turned to him.

All
I saw was his retreating silhouette, outlined by the torchlight in the tunnel.
“It starts in ten minutes. I suggest familiarizing yourself with your
surroundings.”

My
heart quickened when a black wall materialized where he had gone, pitching me into
total darkness. I stretched out my hand as I walked forward, trying to feel for
the wall. As soon as my flesh met the liquefied shadow, it seemed to take hold
of me. Before I knew it, it was crawling up my hand, reaching for my arm. I
jerked back, but it held fast.

With
all my might, I pulled until I tumbled to the ground.

Though
the hand that had touched the wall was completely numb, my other hand felt the
cool grass I’d fallen on. Grass that I was certain hadn’t been there before. As
I pushed myself up, the room became brighter until I gazed upward at a full
moon and stars, shining through a meadow that continued to grow taller around
me. The dark corners in the sky were the only things left that hadn’t been
taken over by the illusion.

I
got to my feet as the growth of the grass slowed to a stop and a few dead trees
pulled themselves into existence beyond the field. Eyeing the trees warily, I
started forward. I found a large tree and pushed my back up against it until I
heard a small voice that must have come from outside the cage.

“Settle
down, everyone! The trial will start in about a minute.”

Fear
clenched my stomach, cold and bleak, as I counted down the seconds.

Fifty-nine,
fifty-eight, fifty-seven, fifty-six…

Three.

Two.

One.

The
low sound of a horn echoed through the cage, but…nothing changed.

Then,
I heard them. Footsteps coming up behind me, silent as the whispers of grass.
Quickly, I unsheathed my sword and struck. Blade met flesh and a scream pierced
the air, ricocheting off the walls of the cage as the body of a black panther
melted into the earth.

I
looked up to meet several pairs of glowing eyes. Wolves, cougars, lions,
tigers, hyenas. All warrior forms. They snarled as they closed in on me.

A
lion with a thick black mane got to me first. I struck at him, but he dodged to
the side and lunged forward, tearing through fabric and skin. I narrowed my
eyes as I pushed him off with a growl.

The
sword got in the way. This would have to be a test of might.

I
threw my sword to the ground and bent my knees, hands held at the ready.

Through
the walls of the box, I could hear the faint sound of a laughing crowd.

The
lion lunged again, thunder rumbling from his throat, but this time, I caught
his front leg with my hands and swung him into the line of enemies. His body
crushed two wolves. While their broken remains sunk down into the earth, the
giant cat got up again, limping, his lip curled in a fierce snarl.

The
tears on my shoulder and hands throbbed as they started repairing themselves.

I
didn’t hear the crowd laughing anymore.

I
was anticipating his next move when all the warriors began to shift into their
human forms. While their bodies and features looked normal, their eyes were
pupil-less and void of emotion. I reached down and grabbed my sword’s hilt,
waiting for someone to strike.

The
man that had shifted from the lion acted first. He swung his ax at me, but I
dodged the blow and easily sent the tip of my sword through his heart. When I
slid it back out, there was no red, no dripping blood. The man sunk to the
ground and melted just like the two wolves and the panther had.

They’re
not real,
I repeated in my mind as I focused on the rest of my enemies.
Illusions.

More
closed in on me, but my fear was ebbing. I broke into full attack mode, hacking
through armor and flesh, melting all the warriors down into the earth like wax
until only one female warrior remained.

We
clashed blades together in a volley of movements. Within seconds, my blade slid
into her stomach.  She stared at me with gray pupil-less eyes, and to my
horror, began to speak. “You think you’re finished,” she said in a monotone
voice, “but I have more brothers and sisters. They’re coming for you.”

I
jerked the blade out and the woman sunk into the earth. As soon as she was
gone, warriors appeared throughout the field, too numerous for me to count.
Unlike the last ones who were slow to attack, these ran at me, weapons drawn. I
narrowed my eyes and shifted into the phoenix, hefting myself into the air with
a stroke so strong that the first line of attackers was blown back.

I
dodged spears and arrows that were aimed to ground me.

The
grass is dry. The trees are dead.

It
was obviously the wizards’ intention for me to set the entire cage aflame. So I
did.

I swooped
downward, flame erupting from my beak as I drenched the warriors in fire. The
grass caught easily and began to spread. Within minutes, the blaze stretched
high and hot, consuming everyone until the last fighter fell to the ground.

My
heartbeat jolted in my chest when a sudden explosion of light lit the sky
accompanied by an earsplitting clap of thunder. My ears rang as rain poured
from the sky and my fire sizzled into smoke. The storm got stronger and
stronger until the wind seemed to gust from the ceiling, working with gravity
to push me to the ground.

Except
there was no ground. Instead, I was plunged into the tossing waves of an ocean.

I
tried to make my way to the surface, but the swirling current held me captive
until I was dizzy with the lack of air. As a last resort, I shifted back into
first form, and kicked as hard as I could. Finally, I broke through, flailing
and spitting up sea water.

I
gasped in a few breaths before realizing that the rain and wind had stopped.
The choppy waves stilled into a gentle roll, and the clouds cleared away to
expose a blue sky. The sun beat down on me as I floundered in the middle of the
ocean.

I
spun around in circles, waiting for something to appear above the waves, but
there was nothing. No pirate ship, no land in the distance. And then, something
touched my foot. Something big.

I
yelped and shifted into the phoenix as fast as possible, flapping my wings
clumsily and somehow managing to get into the air.

I
studied the seemingly endless ocean, waiting for the enemy to make an
appearance. Then, a row of copper-colored spines broke through the surface and
slithered back into the waves.

A
sea serpent. Just like Roland. I remembered that Sir Lochlan said he had helped
plan out the obstacles, but if he’d helped with this, it was going too far.

The
serpent resurfaced, one brown eye staring at me. And then it lunged. I dodged
out of the way just in time. His teeth snapped the air where I’d been flying
moments before.

He
plunged back into the water as I circled around, not wanting to hit the wall of
the cage. I was still tilted to the side when the sea serpent struck again, too
fast for me to dodge. It clamped down on my wing and started to sink back into
the water. I shrieked in pain and blasted the serpent with a ball of white-hot
fire. He let go with an angry roar and dove back into the water. I tried to
keep my wing from collapsing under the pain, but I’d taken too much damage. I
spiraled into the briny ocean, wincing as salt invaded my wounds.

I
opened my eyes underwater even though it stung.
What now?

Desperate,
I shifted into half-form and unsheathed my sword awkwardly.

I
jumped when movement flickered beside me and struck at it as hard as I could.
My blade pierced through scales, and it seemed as if the entire ocean trembled
with the roar of the serpent. It lashed its tail at me, and suddenly, I was up
in the air once again, arms and legs thrashing. When I came back down, I hit a
hard surface. A cold surface.

I
hit ice.

The
blow knocked the breath out of my lungs and I gasped with the effort to get it
back. As soon as I was able, I pushed myself to my feet unsteadily. The entire
ocean had frozen into a white, choppy wasteland. I fully expected the sea
serpent to break through and swallow me whole, but to my horror, a voice spoke
up from behind me instead.

“It’s
been a while, Ivy. A few weeks, perhaps?”

Dread
filling my heart, I turned around to find a dripping Roland, the water that
splashed onto the ice mingling with blood that pooled from his stomach. He held
my sword in his hand.

“Roland.”
In my mind, I knew that it wasn’t really him. This was just another nightmarish
mirage. But for some reason, this one involved blood.

He
came closer, twirling the sword in his hand, his eyes dark.

“Don’t,”
I said, backing away. My foot slipped, and I collapsed onto the ice. Roland
took the opportunity to rest the tip of my sword on my throat.

“This
is the end, Ivy.”

I
narrowed my eyes as my mind whirred to find a solution. “No. It’s not.”

And
at the same moment that he would have slashed down with the sword, I channeled
fiery heat into the ice and plummeted down into the freezing water. I drifted
in icy cold for a few moments before everything disappeared and I hit the floor
of the arena, shivering uncontrollably. The crowd was silent. At the edge of
the cage, three stone pedestals of wizards fought amongst themselves, some
angry, others dazed.

“Ivy,
come with us.”

I
looked back to see Grix and Sir Lochlan.

Fiery
anger raged through me as I reached for a sword that wasn’t there. “How could
you?” I growled at Lochlan. I lunged for him, but Grix held me back. I knew I
was strong enough to toss him away, but even in my anger, I didn’t want to hurt
him.