Page 99 of The Prison Healer

Kiva knew he was referring to the rest of Zalindov’s inhabitants. She wondered if Tipp had been ushered away with the crowd on his way back from the entrance block, hoping he was with Mot or Jaren and not lost among a sea of burly lumbersmiths or quarry workers. But she also knew the young boy could fend for himself, so she chose not to worry about him and instead sought to make sure Naari had comprehended her message.

Rooke, however, had now noticed they were lagging behind and slowed his steps, forcing them to catch up. When Kiva looked over at Naari, she didn’t seem alarmed, revealing that she hadn’t understood what Kiva had said, or the importance of it. She needed to find a way to explain, and fast.

But then Rooke turned off the main rail track line, heading further east, somewhere Kiva had never traveled before, and she realized she was right about where they were taking her, her heart leaping into her throat with the dreaded confirmation.

The abandoned quarry.

A flooded deathtrap.

The perfect place for her Trial by Water.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Like before the first two Trials, Kiva’s pulse was pounding in her ears as she approached her third. Unlike the immense quarry she and Naari had visited over a fortnight ago, the abandoned one was significantly smaller in width, but was said to possess a considerable depth, with workers having mined deep into the earth before the luminium was eventually depleted. It was impossible to judge how far down it went, since years of rainstorms and underground springs had fed into the open mine, filling it with water.

Kiva hadn’t considered the quarry for her third Ordeal, having forgotten it even existed. She was kicking herself now, scrambling to guess what her task might involve and whether Mot’s potion would still help.

As the Warden led Kiva to the top of the cliff overlooking the pit, some distant part of her couldn’t help thinking it was beautiful. The water was a brilliant turquoise color, the limestone and other minerals having bled into it, with a hint of glitter on the surface from traces of leftover luminium. On a summer’s day, it would have called to her, begging her to take a dip. But right now it was still winter—and unlike the aquifer, which was kept temperate from the tunnel heat, there was ice crusting the edges where water met stone.

Kiva wasn’t sure which was worse: how cold that water must be or that there was no telling what was hidden beneath it. Submerged rocks, deserted mining equipment, mineral toxins ... the list of dangers was endless.

“Move,” Rooke said, gesturing for Kiva to keep following as he headed off along the rocky path. “We’ve a little further to go.”

Kiva tried not to look at the prisoners surrounding the edges of the quarry, the three thousand–odd people who were staring down into the water and waiting to see what would happen next. The anticipation in the air was palpable, even more so than before her Trial by Fire. Excitement ... Anger ... Resentment ... Jealousy ...Hope... It was a heady melange of emotion, something the guards must have felt as well, since the ones Kiva could see interspersed among the prisoners had tight grips on their weapons.

Danger,Kiva’s mind warned.Danger!

But she couldn’t give a second thought to her audience, not when every part of her was beginning to tremble with dread. All she knew was that Jaren, Tipp, and Mot were up there somewhere, willing her to stay alive. She wondered if they were more or less anxious than she, being made to witness, yet helpless to act.

When Rooke finally came to a stop, they had traveled perhaps halfway down the quarry from where they’d started. There was still a sheer cliff between her and the surface of the water, which Kiva guessed was between fifty and a hundred feet away, but it was hard to tell with the disillusioning turquoise color and its reflecting stillness.

“Kiva Meridan,” Rooke said in a loud voice, the words echoing around the stone and up to the awaiting prisoners and guards who surrounded the quarry. “Today you will face your third Ordeal, the Trial by Water. Do you have any last words?”

Kiva wished he would stop asking that before each Trial. What was she expected to say?

But then she remembered that shedidwant to say something, and she looked at Naari, trying to communicate with her. In return, the guard gave the slightest of shrugs to say she didn’t understand.

Knowing she was running out of time, Kiva turned back to Rooke and shook her head, still thinking madly about how she might steal a moment with Naari before the Trial began.

Rooke was oblivious to how distracted she was and proceeded to reveal what she would have to do. “The average person can hold their breath underwater for up to two minutes.”

Kiva froze, but Rooke wasn’t finished.

“The record is half an hour.” The Warden paused, before sharing, “But that man suffered irreparable damage afterward, and complications that later led to death.”

Depriving the brain of oxygen for so long ... Kiva was amazed the record holder had survived at all, let alone lived for any length of time until his complications set in.

“To pass today’s Trial,” Rooke continued, “we’ve taken those times into consideration, along with the temperature of the water. As such, you’re to be weighted down and sent into the quarry, where you’ll remain submerged for a total of fifteen minutes.” He kicked a limestone boulder resting at his feet, and the coiled rope attached to it. “At that point, we’ll pull you back up. If you’re still alive, you’ll have succeeded.”

Kiva only remained upright because Naari took her arm in a pincer-grip, the pain from her nails all that kept Kiva’s vision from succumbing to the panicked black dots creeping in at the edges.

Fifteen minutes.

Fifteen minutes.

Not once had Kiva considered whether she’d have to hold her breath underwater, not even when she’d envisioned all the scenarios involving the aquifer. She’d thought she would beswimming,notsubmerged. And while she knew there were free-divers who could hold their breath for that long, most notably the fish farmers off the coast of Albree and workers in the Grizel Catchment, she wasnotone of them. The only experience she had was playing in the river as a child, where she’d gone for perhaps a few minutes at a time—enough to worry her parents, but no longer than that.

Fifteen minutes ... It wasimpossible.

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