Page 760 of Hell Hath No Fury
SAVAGE
A ZODIAC ACADEMY PREQUEL SHORT STORY
CAROLINE PECKHAM AND SUSANNE VALENTI
CHAPTER ONE
Merissa
The clock ticks ever on. Light shifting into dark. Each beginning leading to an end. And try as we might, none can escape the last breath eternally. All must face that final call. The question is; what mark will you have left in your wake, princess of the burning empire?
The clash of distant blades rang out close to me, smoke catching in my throat as a sharp inhale forced me from sleep and my fingers curled tightly around the shaft of the spear at my side.
Eight days. I had been out here in this jungle for eight days now with nothing but my wits and training to keep me alive as I took part in the Marriage Trial, our empire’s great and most esteemed tradition. If I could survive two weeks in this sweltering jungle hell with nothing but my own cunning and skills to sustain me, then I would be rewarded with the Awakening of my magic. Until then, I was little more than a mortal clutching a rudimentary weapon in the dark. A mortal with the gift of The Sight and a lifetime of preparing for this trial, but there were creatures living between these trees born of nightmares beyond the imaginings of any sane Fae.
The leather armour I wore was stifling in the heat of the jungle and a bead of sweat slicked down the hollow between my breasts, though that discomfort wasn’t a good enough reason for me to move. The thick brown material covered me from neck to upper thighs, buckled and fastened in such a way to allow freemovement while providing me with protection against attacks I may not see coming. It wouldn’t stop a spear or sword at close range, but a thrown dagger or arrowhead would be a whole lot less lethal with the protection it offered, and I wasn’t fool enough to risk removing it even for some relief from the heat.
I was on my feet in less than a heartbeat, my foot sweeping across the ground to cover the signs of my resting place as best I could with so little time before I would be discovered, a vision flashing through my mind of a savage girl headed my way, a lethal dagger in hand intended for my heart.
Lethia had been hunting me since the trials began. There were no rules to state that the Fae taking part in this tournament had to fight one another, only that we had to survive this place, but in the centuries that had passed since the trials had been instated, it had become the expectation.
Only the highest-ranking members of my father’s court took part. Only those of us with enough power in our blood to rattle the stars when it was Awoken. These trials tested our grit, our mettle, our suitability to rule with an iron fist. And they also opened up the possibility to steal ranks beyond those of the Fae taking part.
Lethia was my cousin, though no love was lost between us. We had been raised knowing these trials were headed our way and that this day would come. If she managed to kill me out here in the wilds, she would claim a place closer to the throne for herself and her family. I may have been her princess, but I was her competition too and wiping me from the board before I had even come into my magic would be the perfect way for her to advance her position once she left this place. Assuming she also managed to survive those who were hunting her.
I slipped from the path, damp foliage brushing against my bare arms as I circled the huge tree which I had slept beneath for those few, fleeting hours.
I had spent the last couple of days evading her, but my visions only grew bloodier, the death she intended for me growing more violent every time I slipped from her grasp. Her rage was potent, a thing I could practically taste on the air as she closed in on me, and though I had thought to leave her breathing for the sake of my aunt, I could see now that that path was no longer available to me.
I pushed a stray lock of black hair away from my eyes with dirt-stained, sun-kissed fingers, the dark strands having fallen loose of the braid I had bound them in. This place was a far cry from the beauty of the castle I had grown up in and I was hardly recognisable as the perfectly presented princess known by all in our kingdom. But I had been training for this day since I was old enough to hold a practice sword. We were a warrior people at heart, and I had always been just as at home swinging a sword or firing an arrow as I was when dancing at balls or debating politics. Fae were always fighting someone regardless and I enjoyed the simplicity of a blade just as keenly as the cut of a perfectly phrased remark.
My pulse slowed as I released a slow breath, my gift whispering to me as I closed my eyes and gave in to the call of it.
Bare feet stepping silently on damp soil. A heavy blade clutched in her right hand. A sharp dagger intended for the killing blow in her left. Another step. And another. She was closing in on me. She was-
I whirled from my hiding place, my braid flicking out behind me, my toes pressing into the mud and my spear aimed true just as Lethia broke from the dense foliage exactly where I’dseenher coming.
My cousin’s razor-sharp eyes flashed with a mixture of fury and triumph at finally finding her quarry, and I gave her a wicked grin as she managed to slip to the right, avoiding the sharpened point of my spear by little more than a breath.
Her short sword swung for my head, but I twisted aside, the shaft of my spear smacking into her left wrist hard enough to knock the dagger she’d been trying to hide from her grasp.
Lethia cursed like an alley cat doused in cold water.
I was behind her before she could get her guard up again, my bare foot colliding with the centre of her spine, making her stumble forward even as she countered the move, spinning my way once more.
But I was already there, had alreadyseenwhat she would do, and with a sound which I was certain would forever stain my memories, the tip of my spear carved straight into the centre of her throat, impaling and ending her with that one, savage strike.
Our eyes met, her death hanging in those endless seconds as she gasped for a breath she could no longer take, her ambitions and plots all come to naught in the face of this single mistake.
“I wanted peace,” I breathed, reminding her of the offer I had made her weeks ago in my father’s castle. The promise I had made to her to elevate her position at my side if only she would abandon this desire to end me in the trials. I had alreadyseenthe refusal in her before I even spoke the words, but I had spoken them all the same. I had given her the choice to change this fate for herself, and she had chosen to ignore it. That choice had caused the end of her. She had been running short on time all along and had never even known it.
Her lips mouthed a word even as she choked on her own blood, and I felt the echo of it reverberating through my core.Coward.
I jerked my spear back and watched coldly as Lethia slumped to the floor, her hands moving to her throat as she convulsed there, her gaze moving beyond me as she hunted for some gap in the canopy above, any small hint of the stars who watched endlessly on. Did they enjoy it when fate came for someone like this? Did they take pleasure in knowing I had taken steps toavoid this, only to end up in the design they had selected all along?
I supposed it wasn’t my place to question that.
I stooped to lift the dagger Lethia had meant to kill me with before hurling it skyward with lethal aim. The blade cut through the leaves above us, carving a small gap which allowed that view of the sky Lethia had been hunting for before disappearing into the jungle out of sight.
