‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙
The sound of screams and cheers echoed throughout my buzzing head as the initiates were marched from the barracks to the large course that was in the middle of the grassy field of the camp. The course itself had been built nearly overnight, thought it looked awfully menacing for something built so quickly.
I couldn't see anything from here, but I knew that the obstacle course was going to be beyond difficult. The agility course was not designed to be easy. It was a mile in length, and one had to practically sprint the stretches between obstacles if they wanted to make a good time. The nervous excitement from before was now gone, initiate's were quiet and close-lipped, all of our faces were pale and fingers were trembling at sides. I could almost taste the fear that was swelling from our small group.
"Do you think you're ready?" I asked Callan as we marched to where we could see Helen and Foley. A wave of panic had washed over me at the sight of him, but I forced myself to remain calm and kept on walking. I didn't want to show him how much he had affected me last night. I had to be like my ice. Cool and hard. Unbreakable. Although I felt breakable, hells, I already felt like I was cracking, nearly shattered.
"Um, no," he said, letting out a nervous laugh. "Do you think you are?"
"Not at all," I muttered, digging my nails into the palm of my hand, clenching and unclenching until the pain worked to clear and focus my thoughts. I could do this. Do it for the Killers of Kings. Do it for Tellie. Do it for Heather.
"You'll be fine, really, I think you're one of the best initiates here. Besides me of course." Maybe it was the nervous energy inside of me, but I cackled at that. Pushing him in the shoulder lightly. Maybe my laughter was also from the fact that I wasn't even supposed to be a soldier, I was here for information as a spy, and I was outdoing the ranks. The irony...
"Okay, well don't be too humble about it," Callan muttered, running a hand through his hair.
"No, I just think it's funny," I said. "I never thought I'd be one of the best." That wasn't a lie. Callan only chuckled and kept close to me as we walked across the flat ground and to where our leaders were. The cold wind brushed over my cheeks and through my hair and I felt it soak into my pores, the cold giving me strength.
"Welcome initiates!" Helen said, grinning broadly at us. If I had thought that she looked excited on the first day of bootcamp, it was nothing compared to what she looked like now. It looked like she was a child on Winter Solstice day... on drugs.
Foley didn't even glance at me as I walked up with the others. Good. I was pretty sure I'd spit at him if he so much as looked at me. The phantom feeling of his fingers ghosting over the bare skin at my hips flickered through my mind and I shuddered, wrapping my arms tight around myself to ward off the feeling of disgust.
"You've made it to the end of your initiation," Foley said, pacing before us. It brought me back to when we first arrived. "This is the last stage of bootcamp, the agility course. This is the most rigorous challenge you will face since you started here. It is not easy, some have suffered bouts of nausea, concussions, ruptures, or broken bones on the course. But if you trained well and applied yourself these past few weeks, it will be manageable..." His blue eyes swiped over the whole of us and I saw a few initiates crying. I forced my own worry down.
"You'll have an hour to complete the course, after an hour, those of you still left will be forced to finish in ten minutes or concede," Helen said, practically bouncing with giddy excitement.
"We wish you the best of luck, all of you have come a long way, and some of your progress has been...surprising." Foley's eyes cut to mine and I swallowed down a hiss. I clenched and unclenched my hands again and again. "You may proceed to the starting line. We will meet you on the other side."
We did as we were told and walked to the starting line. The first obstacle set was a tall wooden wall that we had to climb over to continue. If one couldn't get over this wall then they might as well have just forfeit. You couldn't proceed unless you had the skills to overcome it. Nervous energy nipped at my heart at the thought that I couldn't do it. But I had trained for this, I had weight trained and ran and swam for hours in preparation. I could do this.
Screams greeted my ears as we walked up to the white line that marked the start. Spectators that consisted of some soldiers, mostly workers, and other officials, lined up on either side of the course to watch. They'd run with us, taking shortcuts to get to the different spots to watch. This was something that everyone in the camp looked forward to, no one would be missing it. I glanced around for Lason to see him towards the middle of the long line of people. He was glancing around with a disgusted look on his face. He probably didn't appreciate the cold or the obnoxious people around him. I didn't blame him. I felt the same.
"At the shot of the cannon, you will proceed to run forward. Remember, no shoving or purposeful hurting of any kind. Any signs of cheating will be taken seriously and you will be eliminated," a voice called out loudly, probably using some sort of magic to project it outwards. I felt my insides twist and my heart thud loudly as the people around my shifted in place. Some crouching to get a better start, others cracking their knuckles and popping their necks. Gross. I bent my legs and adjusted my footing, keeping my hands in loose fists. The way Callan taught me.
"Good luck," I heard him whisper in my ear. I only barely had time to glance at him before there was the ear-shattering sound of the cannon exploding. A mass of people shifted around me almost in slow motion, and I moved with them, not hesitating for a moment. My feet slammed into the ground and my arms moved quickly at my sides, propelling me forward. Adrenaline made those first few moments fuzzy, but I made sure to shove away anyone too close, keeping my elbows out slightly so that I could give myself some sort of space to move. People were getting past though, I heard others fall, some scream out in frustration as they were shoved and pushed. I couldn't focus on them though. I had to keep moving. And so I did.
I got to the wall fast. I wasn't at the front of the group, those people were already climbing up the top. I recognized Ethan and Raven already moving over the wall. Raven. She was who I trained my sights on. I needed to match pace with her. She was one of our best girls, if there was anyone to beat...it was her.
I forced my body up the wall. The wall was made of logs linked together with some sort of cement. I tucked my hands into the thin space between logs and hauled myself upwards. Hands were skimming my legs and elbows were stabbing at my sides but I ignored them, hauling myself up, up, up.
I got to the top and felt a shove at my back. I barely had time to gasp before I felt my hands going loose at their handholds and I was suddenly falling forward. Wind whipped around me for a brief few seconds before I was slamming into the soft, muddy ground below. They had dug trenches into the course, keeping it a foot below the actual ground to separate spectators from participants. Either way, I was grateful, if I had made that fall onto hardground I would have certainly broken something.
People slammed down next to me, running off deeper into the course. I growled, forcing myself into a standing position before pushing my stiff, aching limbs to run. I picked up speed fast, practically flying as I weaved through fellow initiates. I kept my breathing controlled as I sprinted. All those days of running with Callan had conditioned my body well. I felt like I was soaring.
People hissed in annoyance as I passed them but I found I hardly cared as my boots darted through the mud. Rain started to patter down from the sky and I fought back my annoyance. Rain meant that this was about to get so much harder...
The next obstacle came a few hundred feet later. I turned a sharp corner and let out a scream through my teeth as an arrow went whizzing by my head. I glanced up to see archers on either side of me, hiding in the trees. Oh, that was just great wasn't it? There was no cover here, I was going to have to run fast and make myself a hard target. I swallowed, my dry throat felt like it was closing up.
Another arrow whizzed past me, this time skimming my shoulder. I hissed at the pain that emanated from the cut. Iron...they were using iron. I used that as my cue to go and launched myself forward. I could see Raven now, she was ahead of me but not by a considerable amount. I could get to her, I just had to move faster.
More arrows flew past me and I felt my breathing heave as I twisted and turned, not sticking to a straight line as I ran. I didn't keep to a measurable pattern either, I kept my movements random and quick. It wasn't good enough though because an arrow came so fast at me that I almost didn't feel it as it skimmed my thigh, deep enough to cause me to cry out and stumble. I glanced down to see blue blood already soaking through my pant leg. I wanted to stop and assess the wound because the iron was making it hurt like hell...but I had to keep going.
Gritting my teeth, I continued. I forced my screaming leg to continue running, I needed to keep sprinting, if I stopped I wouldn't make it in time. The setback had caused Raven to get a small lead on me and I clenched my jaw to try and whittle it down. I didn't know where Ethan had went, but he was no longer behind her, he was closer to me. His breathing looked labored and his face was bright red. He looked tired. I skimmed his body to see it littered with harsh cuts. He had been scratched with the iron arrows, a lot, judging by the way he was starting to stumble. He was experiencing iron poisoning. Lason had told me about it, if fae had come into contact with too much iron, their body began to shut down as it tried to conserve itself.
I wanted to go over to him and help but I forced myself to go past him. This army taught us to be independent, that our one victory mattered over those of others. I hated it, but I had to blend in, even if that meant I had to go against all my morals...
But I did manage to defy them a little. "Iron poisoning!" I shouted over my shoulder to him. "You need medical." Ethan only shook his head sharply and I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Alrighty, you just let yourself fall into cardiac arrest then.
I continued to run, my body now numb to the cold. The area around my thigh was burning though, it felt like a tiny fire had erupted there and was coursing through my veins. I'd get help for it later. I couldn't focus on that now.
The next obstacle was one we had to climb to access. The ladder in front of me climbed up to a tall platform. Attached to the platform was a rope, stretching out far until it connected with another platform. One couldn't have simply ignored the tether, it was like a bridge. They had carved a pit and filled it with pieces of shattered, sharp pieces of iron, one had to climb the rope to cross it and get to the next part of the course, but any fall on that would be...deadly.
"Shit," I breathed, I glanced behind me to see other initiates jogging in my direction. I had a lead, but any hesitation would seriously dwindle it. Gritting my teeth, I ran to the ladder and climbed it faster than I thought possible. The soles of my shoes slammed into the rungs so harshly I was surprised they didn't come loose altogether and clatter to the ground. I heard other initiates shouting at me and I felt someone else begin to climb up the ladder below me. I forced my body to go faster, faster, faster. The palms of my hands were rubbed raw before I got to the top and my muscles were shaking with the exertion.
I glanced at the taut, black rope that was strung between the two tall structures. It was the only way to get across, though they hadn't taught us how to do this. I looked down to see the other initiate who had been making her way up the ladder was nearly halfway up. I had to go now.
I clambered to the rope and ripped off two pieces of my shirt. I wrapped the soft fabric around my sore hands, hoping it would act as a buffer between my skin and the rope. There were more shouts as I heard that person come closer. Gritting my teeth, I grabbed onto the rope and hooked my legs up as well. I kept my ankles tight together as I was now dangling in mid air. I didn't let the fear swell, didn't let myself think of what I was doing, or the fact that I was now a hundred feet above a pit of iron. I simply climbed.
I clambered down the rope, my muscles shaking as they were pushed to the edge. I could feel the burn from the iron even with all the space between it and I. I could hear people screaming and cheering from down below. Were they really enjoying this? This torture was their amusement? No wonder Elda was so sick of the king and his followers. They were sick.
The other initiate had gotten onto the rope now, except she was hanging from just her hands. Rookie mistake. I watched her face pale as I continued to move down the rope. My hands were shaking now but they were nothing compared to those other initiates. Lucy, I thought her name was. Her hands were shaking so hard I could feel the tremors travelling down to me.
I couldn't help her just like I couldn't help Ethan. People were watching. I kept climbing. I had to close my eyes and twist to scream into my shoulder as I saw her hands loosen and her body plummet to the ground. Tears burned my eyes and streamed down my cheeks. But still I climbed.