It was the morning of the Trial, and Reyna hardly slept.
Which was most unfortunate because it was going to be the warmest and most comfortable she would be for the next week, and she knew she needed to enjoy it while she could.
But the moment the sun peeked over the mountains on the horizon, she was awake putting on her fur-lined leathers, her heaviest socks beneath her toughest boots, and stuffing her hands into her gloves as soon as she the tied back her hair. No weapons, so supplies... and no more time to delay.
With a final glance at the cabin around her, and the silent prayer to the gods that she would see it again, Reyna left and walked across the camp. She ignored the stares thrown her way and focused her attention towards where the other initiates waited for the beginning of the Trial.
And among the leaders and lords of the camp, Thessan stood. Other trainers were supposed their trainees, and when she saw him she held her breath, her chin held high as he approached, falling in step with her. "How are you feeling?"
She glanced at him from the corner of her eye as she walked toward the main gathering circle where the Trial would begin. "I'm here, aren't I?" But there was something in the look he gave her- something that made her think she would need to assure him as much as she needed to assure herself. "Why do I feel as though I should be asking you the same question?"
"And what question is that?" he inquired, turning his attention wholly to her as he continued walking at her side, hands clasped behind his back.
She stopped, turning to face him. "How are you feeling, Thessan?" Because in the times she knew him, the years they were training, now once did Thessan dare to ask- or care- about how she felt.
Thessan's brows furrowed and his eyes narrowed slightly, but he stopped beside her all the same. "What does that matter?"
She peered at him a moment longer. She must have misread him, and waved a dismissive hand as she began walking towards the others recruits. "I only need to survive a week. What's so hard about that? I've survived the last three with you. "
"Well, the other males will hardly offer such good company, compelling conversation, or charm. You'll miss me."
His tone was almost amicable and caught her attention, but as they neared the circle of initiates, Thessan merely said, "Good luck," just loud enough for her to here and clapped her on the shoulder before turning to join the rest of the trainers.
He was gone by the time she could get "Thanks" beyond her lips. And as she watched Thessan walk away, she realized a small part of her would miss him... and swore to beat the shit out of him when she got back because of it.
Reyna remembered the stories she heard from her father about the Trial- going unarmed into the mountains, magic banned, with no supplies or clothes beyond what you have on your back.
Any Northern male who wanted to move from novice to true Warrior took the Trial, and now it was every Northern male, plus Reyna.
There were a few hundred of them heading into the mountains at the beginning of that week, and she knew not all of them came out in the end.
But she would.
They would kill each other. For food, for clothes. She knew there would be those who homed in on finding her- for vengeance, for glory.
Well, so was she.
She had a feeling she was at an immediate disadvantage the moment she was brought into the mountains. The camp's strongest magic-users ported each initiate to separate, allegedly random locations. But it didn't take Reyna long to discover that not only was she alone, but also absolutely the furthest from the camp than any other male taking the Trial.
And so it began.
For five days Reyna survived the rough wilderness of the Northern Mountains. The mountains were harsh and relentless and she was so, so cold. Food was scarce, but she used her survival skills to craft weapons from sticks and stones to kill a rabbit, and even dared a fire one night to cook the meat while she attempted to stay warm.
She slept in the trees- she didn't trust the ground, and for five days she was able to get by without seeing anyone. She supposed part of the benefit of being so far from any of the other males was that she didn't need to worry about any of them finding her, especially as she was in the absolute opposite direction from where they needed to end.
And then she woke in the early hours of the sixth day.
Though woke was truthfully the furthest from the word.
Forcefully shoved from a tree and waking up as her face hit the frozen ground was more like it.
There were six of them, lit by torchlight, and somehow they all had blades.
Renya pushed herself up from the ground, chuckling at the situation as they surrounded her. "Can't even try to beat me without cheating," she spat. "Typical males..."
A boot to her gut sent her careening onto her back and her arms were suddenly pinned to the snow-covered ground by two more males she didn't notice behind her.
Eight.
Eight against one.
She would not let panic seep into her bones. Instead, she struggled against the weight of hands that held her hers down, but a fist met her temple. The impact snapped her head to the side, and she saw stars brighter than what was in the night sky above them. Soon her legs were pinned to match her hands, but she continued to struggle even though she knew it was in vain.
They had the advantage, and there were too many of them.
Eight of them with blades...
She almost forgot about the blades until one of them was drawn across her stomach, through her leathers. She let out a gasp at first, which quickly turned into a cry as the cold blade sliced through her flesh.
"You stupid bitch," one of them snarled as hands began to roam over her body in every place she did not want hands to be. A fist grabbed her hair, more held her legs apart, as others tore at her clothes.
"Did you honestly think you'd get through the Trial alive?"
"Did you think a female would ever survive?"
"That a female could ever best a Northern male?"
"We'll send you back piece by piece once we've finished with you."
"That's all a female is good for anyway."
She felt the hands, the blade, and Reyna knew she was dead.
Or would wish she was by the time they were finished.
The panic she tried too hard to ignore finally overtook her.
She screamed, both internally and out loud. Through every fiber of her being. To anyone who could listen, to anyone who could hear her. She didn't care who or how...
"HELP ME!"
As she screamed, something within her felt as though it awoke. A burning ember of life and power that begged to explode at the surface of her being, threatening to decimate her bones, her blood, her very body just to get out.
And in the night, death exploded around her.
Reyna wasn't sure if she lost consciousness.
Her eyes were closed tight, and the tears that ran down her cheeks froze against freezing night air. Her breathing was deep and she shuddered with heightened sensitivity at the sudden chill of the world around her.
She didn't know if she should laugh or cry.
She was alive.
But then she opened her eyes and looked around her.
The snow was red with blood. There were bits of bone and flesh, hair and leather, but mostly blood.
She killed them.
She killed them all.
But how?
Then she felt it, lingering under her skin, within her bones.
Magic.
She found her power. And she killed them.
Letting out a shaky breath, even the night now felt more alive with the power that seemed to exude from her very being.
However, she needed to move.
Where they came from, more could follow.
There had been enough death for one night.
She moved to stand but flinched as an unfamiliar pain made her stumble. Glancing down, her stomach was victim to a very deep and very open wound that was just barely starting to heal, but also very slowly. Clutching her arm to her stomach she stood carefully, and by the light of the newly rising sun, she gathered her bearings and made her way slowly back to the war camp.
The walk back to the camp was long, cold and painful, but Reyna trudged along as if her life depending on it.
It practically did.
But there was something awake within her now, and a part of her no longer feared what could be waiting for her on the other side of all of this.
She would finally come into her own.
No, she had come into her own, and no one could deny her one bit of it anymore.
She had magic. She had power. She had...
She stopped as she stepped from the dense forest into the clearing nearest to the camp. She didn't realize she had come upon it so soon. And there in front of her stood her parents.
But why?
She was about to run to them, to ask them herself, when she smelled it.
And she stopped everything as the world around her stilled.
"Reyna?" Her father's relieved tone was muffled to the pounding of the blood rushing to her pointed ears.
But her attention was not on her father.
Her eyes lifted to meet those of Thessan, who stood next to her father, and there she felt it.
The snap. The pull.
The bond.
Her eyes widened as her heart pounded in her chest.
"No no no no no-" was all she could think to say as her breath escaped her.
"Reyna?" Her father's tone turned now turned concerned.
But no...
No him. Not now.
She knew the moment Thessan sensed it, too. His eyes widened, and he dared take a step forward, closer towards her.
She only discovered she was moving closer to him once she was halfway through the clearing.
"No no no."
She was panicking.
And she did the only thing she could think of.
She thought of the one place in this world where she was safe. A room with colorful silks, plush pillows, and an endless amount of drink to wash away any problems.
She pictured the one person in this world who cared for her not as the Heir, or as a Warrior, but as a female who wanted and needed friendship and love and affection as much as anyone else deserved.
So she looked deep within her, and dove into the new well of power begging for release. Closing her eyes, picturing that sanctuary, she willed herself there, in mind, body and soul.
And so she ported herself away from the war camp in the mountains, away from her parents, and away from Thessan. She left behind everything she had fought so hard to accomplish and refused to look back.