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Once everyone was settled, Rokath joined Rapp in appraising us. “The rules are simple. Don’t break your thread and return within an hour. You’ll begin in groups of three. Step forward now, and the rest of you, arrange yourselves.”
The first three sets of three stepped forward, and I was happy to see some of my friends among them. Fierce determination straightened their postures, their entire focus ahead as if they were preparing to face a real enemy. We found our place in line about a dozen rows deep. Rokath raised his torch high in the air, the fire sending sparks dancing into the night. “On my mark.”
Muscles tightened. My heart rate picked up.
“Go!” he shouted, waving the light. The first groups sprang into action, and the following ones waited a beat before racing forward themselves. One by one, they crested the hill, until suddenly, it was our turn to pass by my mate.
I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, and he gave me an encouraging nod. But this wasn’t about us. It was so much bigger than that. So I dragged in a breath and faced forward, my sole focus on keeping this rope intact.
And showing these males why we deserved to be here.
Uzadaan, Darrx, and I scaled the hill with ease, coming immediately upon the first obstacle. A giant pit of mud waited, holes already sucked deep by previous footsteps. Thank the Weaver the moon hung high and fat among the stars—without it, we would have sunk in seconds.
“To the left!” I pointed, slowing my strides until Uzadaan and Darrx had time to process my words. Racing off on my own would have broken our rope immediately.
“Good call,” Darrx commented, shuffling behind me. Uzadaan did the same in front of us. In single file, we wound along a narrow strip of earth, the sticky substance adhering to our boots despite the firmness of this path.
“Halt!” Uzadaan shouted, and I paused immediately. His foot, unfortunately, had gotten stuck despite our best effort. Most of the others in this part of the course were in similar situations. I squinted around his frame, gauging how far we had to go.
Uzadaan spread his hands wide like he was calling on his shadows to assist in freeing his boot from the muck. Nothing happened, not even a whisper of power dripping from his fingertips. His shoulders tensed. “What the fuck?”
Curious, I dove into my well and tugged on the threads of onyx. They didn’t move.
“I don’t think we can use magic,” Darrx said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Mine isn’t rising either.”
Uzadaan cursed and looked around us for anything to assist him. I studied our placement in the mud. “Here’s what we need to do. Darrx,” I shot over my shoulder, “scoot backward so we can give Uzadaan room to wiggle free.”
Darrx’s hands pressed into my shoulders, and I was grateful he wasn’t as large as Rokath, otherwise we both would have sunk in. He steadied me, ensuring we weren’t drifting too far apart, as we backstepped. Then, he reached around me and grasped Uzadaan’s waist. Wedged between their bodies, I held my breath. Uzadaan yanked one boot free, but the force pitched him to the side. My heart leaped to my throat.
We can’t snap our thread already!
My arms shot out, managing to catch him before he tumbled below our waists. Muscles screaming from the effort of supporting him, I gritted my teeth. Darrx smashed me between them again, reaching around and hauling Uzadaan upright. We remained locked like that as Uzadaan unstuck his other foot.
“Good to go,” he a
The dead grass was a welcome reprieve. “Let’s jog. If we stay tight, we should be able to make up time.”
“Who knew you had a competitive streak?” Uzadaan teased, flashing his extra sharp teeth.
“An unfortunate consequence of being mated to the Halálhívó,” I quipped, and Darrx barked a laugh. I couldn’t help the grin that split my face as we ran forward. That familiar camaraderie was returning, blooming hope it could grow between males and females across the magic-wielding units.
A breeze drifted over the cliffs, bringing with it a fresh wave of briny air. I sucked it down greedily, despite the chilly sting in my lungs. Torches blazed ahead, and I focused on the shadowed shapes around them, trying to discern what our next challenge could be.
“It’s a lattice of some type,” I panted. “Let’s slow now.”
We did together, taking a moment to study the obstacle and the others scaling it. I peered beyond too, counting the groups ahead of us. But my attention was torn back to the net when a male slipped, a cry tearing from his lips. At the last second, the other snatched his arm and hauled him back onto the net. I held my breath, waiting for their thread to break with how tightly it was now stretched between the three. The faller scrambled up again, easing the tension. Izze
“We have to stick to the same level,” Darrx murmured, observing the rest of their ascent. “With our height differences, it might be tricky. Szélhámos, you should go first.”
We reached the base just as Izze
“We can’t let them beat us,” I insisted, grasping the bottom of the net. The squares were tiny, barely large enough for me to gain a foothold, let alone the bigger males. It looked like they’d taken some fishing nets and strung them together before stretching them across these poles. The thin strands dug into my fingers as I climbed. Once I was several feet off the ground, Darrx and Uzadaan followed. We stuck close to one another, keeping as much of an eye on each other’s holds as our own.
One mistake, and our thread could snap.
Halfway up, the net slickened. Whether it was from the previous climbers’ sweat or if the officers had intentionally oiled it, I wasn’t sure. Either way, traversing it was proving difficult.
“Fuck,” Darrx swore, his foot slipping. His forearms flexed as he gripped the net tighter, which honestly wasn’t much better with how sharply the twine dug into the skin. With a grunt, he dug the toe of his boot into a warped section.
“You good?” Uzadaan asked from my other side.
Darrx nodded, and then we continued our ascent. At the top, however, my stomach leaped to my throat. Now we had to go down, and my shoulder muscles already trembled from exertion. Angry welts crisscrossed my palms, courtesy of the unforgiving net. I flexed my hands and rubbed them together, trying to ease the ache.
“How do we turn?” I asked, studying our positions.
“Within our own ropes. There’s no other way,” Darrx said, giving his a tug. Uzadaan and I loosened ours, then carefully swung our legs around so we faced the other direction. Once we were all draped to go down, we tightened them around our waists again.
“On three,” I wheezed. “One.”
The males’ grips changed.
“Two.” I shuffled my own.
“Three.” I eased myself down, boot slipping immediately.
That damn mud.
Sucking in a sharp breath, I found another hold, then grasped a lower section of net. Uzadaan and Darrx shimmied down on either side of me. We worked in silence, focused on our tasks. About halfway down, Darrx said, “We can drop from here if we’re careful.”
My lashed hands agreed immediately. “Let’s go.”
“Bend your knees to take the impact and lock hands so we don’t pitch to one side,” Darrx instructed. “Ready?”
I visualized what he was asking me to do. Uzadaan and I indicated we were prepared.
“On my mark,” Darrx said. My breath lodged in my throat. “Jump!”
I released my holds, careening toward the ground. Keeping my knees soft, I grasped Darrx’s hand. At the last second, he tugged me into him, and we hit the earth with a jarring thud. A wobble threatened to snap my rope, but as I pitched forward, the net caught me. The three of us righted ourselves, and a sigh of relief loosened my chest when I noted our thread was still intact.
“Fuck yes!” Darrx cheered.
Digging my sore hands into the bind around my waist, I loosened it again and spun. Once all of us faced forward again, my enthusiasm faded like the setting sun. There was still so much of the course to go, and I was so, so tired.
“Ready?” Uzadaan asked. Nodding and steeling my spine, I prepared to jog once again. On three, we took off, the grass flying beneath our feet. My lungs burned from the effort of keeping up with their long strides.
A brief thought of faking a sore knee rose, just so we could slow and I could suck down some much-needed air. But then we passed one group. And another.
“There should only be about seven groups ahead of us now!” Darrx shouted, somehow still able to breathe.
Embers blazed in my chest. We’d started not too far back, but with how many we’d passed already, we stood a good chance of placing in the top.
I would not give up.
Uzadaan whooped, and I let out a cry of my own. “Let’s overtake them all!”