Page 39 of Ironhold, Trial Three

"And if I succeed, I get to fight and maybe die here," she says.

“And perhaps you could be free,” I point out. “If you make it through your five seasons.”

“Do you think any of the citizens are truly free?” Alicia says with a laugh. “But thank you, I’ll bear it in mind.”

Lord Darius comes in as we're standing there. He goes to the chalkboard at one end, used to set out the details of upcoming games. He starts to set out names opposite one another. It seems that Ravenna was right, this will be a series of one-on-one bouts.

My name is drawn opposite hers. In that moment I think I start to understand some of what's going on.

Why would she want to control what's going on in the trials? I had thought, just in terms of money and political influence, about her being able to point people in the right direction fortheir bets, but now I can see there's more to it than that. I can see that from the start of this, she has been setting this whole contest up the way she wants. All to come to this point.

I know what people have told me, about her not having the power to do it, about her not being able to influence Lord Darius, or fool Selene Ravenscroft. I understand that, because I've been able to throw off her control before, and I've certainly been able to feel what's happening.

But now I think I can understand how she has done this and what her endgame is.

“Ravenna could be a difficult opponent for you,” Alaric says, looking at the board. “One on one, with her focusing all her mental control on you… she’s dangerous.”

“You mean you're worried she will make me kneel before her while she cuts my throat,” I say.

Alaric swallows. “If you aren’t careful, yes.”

"I know exactly how dangerous she is," I assure him. She is a deadly, manipulative opponent who has been affecting things since the start of these trials, if not before. And tomorrow, I suspect she will have at least one more trick for me. But I think I might have one of my own.

I just hope it will be enough, or I will be fighting her with my powers restricted while she has full access to hers.

Chapter Twenty Six

My nerves build moment by moment as I make my way down to the arena in the morning. This is to be the last day of the Champions Trials, and in some ways it is to be the simplest. Today we will fight the way we would normally fight in the games. No tricks, no strange environments or dangerous animals. Just two gladiators on the sands with our powers and our strength.

The crowds are more subdued after yesterday's trial with the thunder hooves. Fewer people are cheering my name, and the more I think about it, the more I suspect that's a part of Ravenna's plan, along with the rest of it.

I can feel the way the pieces are fitting into place for her. I can see the point of all this for her now and what she hopes to gain. I just hope I'm going to be able to stop her, because if I can't I'm going to die today.

I look over to Alaric, marching down to the games. His eyes meet mine. He isn't playing to the crowd today. He looks worried, not for himself, because nothing could pierce his self-belief when it comes to his abilities in a fight, but for me. I want to reassure him that I will be fine, but I cannot do that here and in any case I'm not sure it's the truth. Ravenna has laid her trap well, and my only chance of coming out of it alive is to walk into it first.

I walked down to the arena with the others, moving through the slums of the city and the noble parts. The colosseum awaits us ahead, and we go inside, moving straight through to the sections beneath to await the call to fight.

I sit there with my spear across my knees, waiting, trying to calm my racing heart. How long I sit there I don't know. Outside,I can hear the emperor welcoming the crowds. All too soon, a trainer comes for me accompanied by guards.

“It's time,” the trainer says. “Move.”

I go with them, heading to the iron gates and then stepping beyond them. Ravenna is already out there on the sand, waiting for me.

“These are to be your first two gladiators to fight,” the emperor says. “Lady Ravenna and the mistress of beasts, Lyra. Gladiators, are you ready?”

"I would speak first, my emperor," Ravenna says, loud enough that she's heard by the crowd.

I know this is a part of it, a part of what she's been building up to. I must survive this part as much as what comes next.

“Very well,” the emperor says.

“The gladiator Lyra has been interfering in these games,” Ravenna says, the shape of her plan finally revealed. “We all know that someone has, and look at the things she has done. She has cheated the crowd of the blood it wishes in the maze. She has sought outside help within the fire ring. She has conspired with one of her lovers in the fight in the temple, neither of them truly fighting one another. Somehow she managed to persuade people to give her the challenge of the thunder hooves in the fourth trial, and there again she cheated the crowd of the true spectacle of all of us fighting for our lives.”

Around me, the crowd is booing, starting to believe her. I realize that's part of the point of her plan. She wants to make me into a villain so that she looks like a hero for killing me. That, or she will demand my execution rather than having to fight me.

“And how do you believe I've influenced the trials?” I ask.

“Probably you got your patron to speak into the right ears,” Ravenna snaps back. “I'm sure you have her to the point where she will do anything you ask.”

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