Page 100 of Once the Skies Fade

“And you saved me, how? Why?”

As if in response, a gust of wind swirled by. A memory flashed through my mind of us registering at the castle and Phillip demonstrating his power.

Air.

“Got you breathing again. You helped me push past my fear; figured saving your ass was the least I could do. Though don’t get used to it. We’re still opponents.”

“But you weren’t supposed to?—”

“Would be a dick move to report me to the general now,” he said, his brow rising in challenge.

“Fair,” I said around a quiet laugh that brought a stabbing pain to my side.

“Can you swim back to shore?” he asked, but before I could answer he shook his head. “Never mind. I’ll get you out.”

We remained silent as he hauled me back to the lake’s edge, and when he dropped me with a thud onto the grass, I simply lay there for a long while, staring up at the sky, watching it fade to a cerulean blue as the sun sank lower. Then Isa’s face slid into view, regarding me with a peculiar look that seemed a mix of relief and impatience, as if my nearly dying had caused me to return late.

“Welcome back, general. Whenever you’re ready, we can award points,” she said flatly.

I lay there for a few moments longer, slowly moving my muscles little by little to ensure they still worked. It wasn’t until I bent one of my knees that pain shot up my leg. Oh, right. I’d been stabbed. Twisting my leg a bit, I noted the wound had just barely started to heal, still slowed by the earlier poison.

Damned Korben. Apparently the punishment he’d received hadn’t been enough to deter him.

Hissing through my teeth, I inched my way up to sitting and then groaned as I pushed to stand. My injured leg buckled under my weight, and I would have toppled to the ground like a toddler learning to walk had Phillip not caught me by the arm. I nodded my thanks, glad that he released me just as quickly and simply walked attentively beside me the whole way back to the carriages.

Isa stood beside her carriage, a portable table setup beside her with a brass scale waiting. Near her, Graham sat in the grass, his long legs bent so he could rest his arms and forehead on them. Unlike my leg, his appeared to be healing nicely—at least from what I could see through the rip in his trousers. The bleeding had been staunched and the ragged edges of his flesh and skin had begun to reconnect. He’d have a pretty impressive scar from that one.

Phillip walked me over to my carriage, opened the door, and directed me to sit there. It groaned slightly under my weight, and I once again offered Phillip my silent gratitude as Isa cleared her throat.

“Congratulations on surviving the second trial,” she said. “General”—I jerked my head up to acknowledge her—“the others have described the unfortunate fates of Seb and Beck, and my own guards have ventured under the water to verify. For this reason, I am not waiting until dark to close this event. Did yousee anything under that water that would warrant waiting the entire allotted time?”

Blinking slowly, I flicked my gaze to Korben, who stood proudly opposite Isa, his foot resting on the large stone lying in front of him in the grass and a purpling bruise over his right eye where I’d kicked him. He leered at me, daring me to accuse him of attacking me––but doing so would have been a waste of precious air. It had happened during the trial; it was fair play.

Shaking my head, I closed my eyes. But the images of Seb being yanked into the darkness and Beck being killed instantly played against the dark backdrop of my eyelids. I opened them quickly to find Isa still staring at me, concerned confusion playing across her features.

“No,” I said, my voice still hoarse. “There’s no one to wait for.”

She nodded once in acknowledgment. “As of this morning, Graham had fifty points, Korben had forty, Phillip had twenty, and Matthias had zero.”

Of course, Korben sniggered at my pitiful performance. Graham raised his face wearily, his gaze landing on me, though I couldn’t read his expression at all. Was he angry at me for saving him? Did he even know I had saved him? Phillip had been the one to carry him back to shore, after all. If he didn’t know, then it would have been for nothing. Not that his life was worthless, but finishing last in two trials was not going to keep me in the running long enough to learn what I needed to.

“Graham, do you have a stone to present?” Isa asked, glancing down at him. He reached a hand into the pocket of his pants and produced a stone about the size of a chicken egg. Isa picked it up and then placed it on one of the scale’s plates, which crashed to the table with a heavy clang.

“Phillip, you next.” Isa gestured for him to step forward and place his palm-sized stone on the opposite plate. The scalegradually shifted until Phillip’s side now rested on the bottom. Isa hummed and moved Graham’s off to the side of the table.

“Korben?” she asked, but he was already on his way, heaving his stone onto the table which creaked under its weight. When he started to retreat, she flicked a hand at him. “On the scale, please.”

Korben balked, rolling his eyes, but obeyed, though he seemed to drop it haplessly onto the scale so that a resounding clank rang out. Haughtily he walked back to where he’d been standing, glaring at me as he passed by.

“And Matthias? How about you?”

Patting my still-damp shirt and undershorts, I frowned. “Damn thing must have fallen out while I was busy doing other things.”

Isa’s gaze narrowed. “And whatthingswere you doing?”

I pinched my lips together, but I was too exhausted to take this act as far as I normally did. Shrugging, I answered, “Stabbing the vestiliaga to save Graham, trying to save Beck but getting stabbed, and killing the beast so Phillip could get Graham safely back to shore.”

Isa stared at me with unblinking eyes for a moment before swinging her attention to the others in turn. “Is this true?”

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