Page 118 of The Star's Sword

She looked from the rock to me, then to the vampires behind her, and I could see her calculating.

The rock was only ten feet away now, and getting closer.

My entire body was tensed, as I got ready to move down with the impact.

Then I saw it, a shimmer in the air around Vasara, making her wave in front of me for a second, dust flying across my vision.

Fuck.

Vasara still stood in front of me, but using my scenting abilities as Cayne had taught me, I could sense where she really was.

She was using an illusion to disguise the air around her so that she could slip over to the door of the arena. I could smell but not see her.

I focused, letting my telekinesis wrap around her ankle, trapping her just outside the arena.

Meanwhile, the illusion in front of me showed a fake Vasara, looking up at the boulder.

“She ran, Simon!” I yelled, as Simon looked from the boulder to me. He stared at the pedestal, where Vasara still looked like she was braced for the boulder. Then he walked into the arena, holding up a hand for the boulders to stop.

His vampire telekinesis was unmatched.

He walked forward, then put a hand up where Vasara was. His hand passed right through her, like she was a hologram.

Instantly, she appeared where I was holding her in my telekinetic grip as Cayne had taught me.

“There!” I said, pointing.

Simon sighed, looking at the vampires standing on Vasara’s side, looking up worriedly. “Well, I did try to warn you.” He looked at Vasara, who was struggling against my hold, scowling at the vampires, who were now yelling at her and trying to get off the tiles they were bound to.

I heard howls of despair, and betrayal, and other vampires outside the arena telling the doomed ones to shut up.

Only ten feet above the arena, the boulders merged and then grew and grew, till they made up one large, flat rock that could cover the entire half of the arena that Vasara’s vampires occupied.

I swallowed, a lump in my throat as I looked up. Reluctantly, I released my telekinetic hold on Vasara so I could pay better attention now that the trial was over.

“The contestant has left the battlefield, forfeiting this trial,” Simon said. “Therefore, her fellow combatants must take the penalty they agreed to.” Then he walked out of the arena, leaving the huge rock slowly floating down.

“Damn, Simon, that’s cold,” Cayne muttered, as the stone was mere feet from the heads of the vampires.

Simon merely gave him a smile. “No more than they would have chosen for my friends if the shoe were on the other foot.”

I heard screaming as the bound vamps began to push upwards on the huge shelf of rock coming down on all of them, pressing down against their heads as they fought to stand. It was gigantic, shading them and making it hard to see as it moved lower.

I heard cracking as vamps attempted to resist the fall, saw them kneeling and using their legs to push the rock up.

As the screaming started in earnest, hundreds of voices letting out unearthly sounds of despair and pain, still calling for Vasara to save them, I wanted to turn away.

But I forced myself to stay steady and watch, as the stone was only a couple feet from the ground, and the vampires were dying now, crumbled over each other, crawling on their bellies. The stone moved lower, lower, and bones cracked and crunched and screams broke out, some instantly silenced by the crushing of a skull.

In a few minutes, it was over, and even the moans had ceased, the rock flat against the now flattened bodies of the vampires who had stood behind Vasara.

Black blood oozed out over the tiles, and I heard cries of despair and shock from the crowd.

“The third trial commences tomorrow!” Simon said, looking around to see where Vasara had gone. “Well, that’s if you can get your champion to show up.” He shrugged and walked into the arena, offering me a hand to get off the pedestal.

I fell into his arms, shaking from the pain, and Simon handed me off to Cayne, who held me up so I didn’t fall.

My nerves were still recovering, and my body was badly damaged. But my friends were okay, and I had won.

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