Page 92 of Terragnata and the Heir of the Earth

Remember, contestant, you may eliminate your competitors at any time.

Skøl!

Jana smiled at me—a smile full of a warmth so bright it beamed like love. “I am ready to reunite with Reece, to move on. You have many here that will help guide you.” She glanced sideways at Leiya. “And I have no doubt you will stand bravely against anything you face. Finish what you have started here,and then chart your own path. Seek your Siphon. It will help guide you to your destiny.”

Her cryptic message hardly registered over Tey’s ever increasing wailing,over the roaring in my head. Jana and Leiya had lied, yes, and perhaps used me. They’d withheld the truth about who I was to get me to cooperate with them. But seeing them stand before me… I felt no lingering anger or pang of betrayal. Only admiration and respect. My face grew hot as I fought back the tears that welled. I looked at Leiya; she met my eyes stoically, a true warrior who would accept any fate dealt.

“I don’t think I can,” I whispered, to them, to myself. I shook my head. “I don’t think I can.”

Before Jana could protest, a buzz filled the air. Tey’s blades had left her armor and were soaring above her.She will win if she kills one of them,I thought numbly.She won the second event. This would seal her victory of the Skøl.

Tey extended her arms out, her face to the sky, red and puffy. The knives reached their apogee and came diving down, with a force so immense that when they punctured their target, blood exploded in every direction.

It happened so fast I blinked to make sure of what I saw. The blades had sunk into Tey’s body, not the girls’. They burst out into tears themselves, coated in the remains of their sister. And then they vanished, portaled away, as if they had never been there.

The phantom crowd went wild.

Xinlan and I locked eyes. If she felt as sick as I did, she did not show it. She simply turned to the couple in front of her and bowed deeply. The male stepped forward and drew the sword strapped to his side. But before the edges of their metals could even collide, she lifted her weapon in the air, and sliced his head clean off.

I fought the urge to look away. The female next to him did not make a sound. She did not look at the rolling head that bumped against her foot, with eyes still open, nor did she flinch at the blood that sprayed across her chest. She only bowed deeply to Xinlan, and then was whisked away along with the body, vanishing through the depths of a portal.

As Xinlan turned towards me, a shimmering gold ring appeared on her forearm—matching mine. It would only be a matter of moments before she’d take her shot at eliminating me. We were tied, each the winner of one test—a draw in the eyes of the Fae. But to her, victory could still come if my life ended, or if I failed to complete the final task.

“Terra, dear, it has to be now,” Jana urged.

“I can’t kill you,” I whispered while racking my brain for an alternative. I needed a loophole, some solution to this problem. But before I could string a conscious thought together, Xinlan’s blade slashed towards me. I rolled out of the way and unsheathed my own sword, finding my feet quickly.

“His death cannot be in vain, Terra,” she said plainly. “I’m sorry.”

Our blades collided. She didn’t fight as fast as Tey, given her injured thigh, but she certainly was just as strong. We parried and danced. Out of the corner of my eye, Leiya flinched at every clash of metal. The distraction cost me—Xinlan’s leg found my ankles, sweeping my feet from beneath me. I fell, and she leapt on me in an instant. Without thinking, I portaled, leaving her fumbling on the ground, and appeared behind her, my dagger pressed to her throat.

“I’m sorry too, Xinlan. I don’t want this… this fight,” I choked out, pulling her up. “Drop your sword and forfeit. We will be tied.”

“You have to finish the task for that to be true,” she spat. She did not release her weapon.

“Please,” I whispered, digging the edge of my dagger into her skin just slightly. “Please don’t make me do something I’ll regret.”

Jana stepped in front of Xinlan, lifting up the tip of the contestant’s sword and resting it on her own breastbone. Xinlan froze. “Terra, by honor of the king, do you choose me to die, to pay for my sins against the crown and otherwise?” Her voice was firm, confident, a contrast to her decimated state.

I shook my head, all words dying in my throat, as the tears broke whatever dam I’d tried to maintain against them. “Jana,” I warned. “Don’t.”

“Daughter of the Earth, it is time. Look at me! I am withered to a ghost. I have many sins to pay for and souls to reunite with. It istime.” She began to lean into Xinlan’s blade, drawing blood.

Xinlan’s muscle twitched, as if to take the choice away from me.

Before she could complete the kill, I whispered, “I choose you.”

Jana leaned full force into Xinlan’s blade.

And the gong rang again.

“Two final contestants! What a delight!”the Skølmaester’s voice rang out above the mirage of spectators’ unnatural cheering. It was the first time we’d heard him speak—his hair-raising tone carried across the dusky sky. Xinlan bucked against me, releasing herself from my grip, which had weakened anyway. My attention focused only on the Witch lying at our feet. A moment later, her body disappeared—Leiya too, was spirited away. Only Cobal remained near me, alert, sensing.

My gaze lingered on where my aunt’s blood stained the ground. I’d barely known her, yet she’d sacrificed herself for me.

At least we’d tied.

“But we will not accept a draw in the thirty-third Skøl, per decree of the king!”

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