Page 197 of Unbound

Malakai sees me glaring and has the audacity to wink at me.

A horn blasts from high on the walls, vibrating through my chest. We're all shoved and pushed toward the center of the courtyard.

Voss waits for us there, silver hair gleaming in the moonlight. Behind him, Empire emissaries watch with cold eyes. I try again to spot my friends and Raith in the chaos, but the darkness and confusion make it impossible. Around me, others are moving around frantically searching for their teams of five. A few pair up but most are still looking.

"The Crucible begins now," Voss announces, his voice carrying over the frightened murmurs. "Your objective is to reach the quarry, retrieve the ceremonial blade, and return. The winning team will earn legacy status."

"What about—" someone begins, but a second horn blasts, and the world twists inside out. Magic rushes through me, pulling me apart and reassembling me somewhere else entirely. My insides lurch as my vision clears, revealing dense forest bathed in the first pale light of dawn.

I double over, vomit from sudden nausea, and wipe my mouth with a grimace as I take in my surroundings. I’m not in the courtyard anymore. I’m not surrounded by the chaos of hundreds of bodies.

I’m alone. Alone in a fucking forest somewhere outside the castle. Thick wisps of early morning mist curl around me, shrouding everything from my knees and below in white.

Was I just teleported? I didn’t even know teleportation was possible, but I suppose I don’t know much about the power of a true primal. Maybe it’s some form of air magic?

"Typhon?"I whisper, trying to get my bearings.

He materializes instantly, his small fish form darting anxiously through the air."I'm here. The others were transported elsewhere. Deliberately separated and disoriented, it seems. I should note I sense the magical interference Serena spoke of. This area is shielded. Invisible to any but those who are here in this forest."

Before I can respond, a cry echoes through the trees—pain and terror cut suddenly short. I press myself against a massive trunk, breathing hard as I try to locate the sound.

But I remember the stasis tokens. With any luck, I didn't just hear someone die. They were only put into stasis. Taken out of the challenge. I creep closer to the sound of the scream and spot a downed pair of water affinities in a small rocky clearing.

Corpus, one of Malakai’s elites, looms over the downed girl.

The girl is frozen stiff, surrounded by a shimmering blue kind of shield.

The stasis worked, then. Thank the gods.

But Corpus kneels down and presses his hand against the shield. Blue energy flares at first, repelling him. He tries again, more slowly this time. His hand slips inside the barrier, letting him rifle through the clothing of the frozen girl. He jerks his hand back, clutching the stasis token.

Her shield snaps out of view and she gasps, eyes fuzzy with confusion, as if she just woke from deep sleep. Before she can get her bearings, Corpus grips her hair, jerks her head back, and drags a blade across her throat.

The world lurches beneath my feet as I watch red blood flow in the moonlight, spilling down her uniform and disappearing into the swirling white mist. Corpus clutches the hem of her shirt, wipes his dagger, and stalks off into the darkness.

Gods.It’s as if he knew exactly how to bypass the stasis. How to make sure they could still murder fellow students, even with the protections Voss put in place. I think I might be sick again as the implications settle, but I don’t have time.

Someone else is coming toward me. Fast and loud.

Footsteps crash through the underbrush and someone gasps for breath between pained whimpers. A girl with an air affinity mark on her left hand bursts into view, terror etched across her face. Her elemental, a small water fox, streaks alongside her.

Behind her comes another student I recognize as one of Malakai's elite. It's Titus, the huge water affinity who tried to kill me in weapons training. His water turtle elemental glides silently through the air beside him. The girl doesn't see him raise his hand, doesn't see the blade of compressed water forming between his fingers.

I don't think. I just move.

I use a thread of earth essence to fling dirt into the air and a burst of wind essence to blast it into his face. Titus flinches back, nearly stabbing himself with his own water blade as he reaches to wipe his eyes.

He never sees me coming.

I’m on him in a heartbeat, rapier flashing and catching him below the arm. The empire steel bites deep, punching into his flesh and drawing blood.

Titus howls in pain, losing his water blade as his concentration is broken. He spins to face me, teeth bared in rage. His elemental abandons the pursuit of the girl, turning black eyes toward me instead and opening a beak that looks sharp enough to sever limbs. But Typhon darts in, distracting the turtle with powerful jets of magical water sprayed from his mouth.

"Thorn," Titus snarls, recognition dawning on his face. "Malakai will reward me well for your head."

He lunges, summoning another water blade. I parry, my rapier singing through the air. It's different fighting with real steel—heavier, deadlier, an extension of my arm rather than the flimsy training weapon I'm used to.

Titus slashes wildly, but I can see the patterns Raith has drilled into me.

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