62. Kami

62

Kami

I am so incredibly sick of waking up by being dropped into a stadium surrounded by cheering, homicidal fae.

The only plus to being here is being out under the clear blue sky while a pleasant breeze bathes us in faeberry dust and rush roses.

"Finally. I've been waiting for this." Oz cracks his knuckles and smiles down at me. "Awake finally?"

"Yeah, but I have to…" I blush.

"Commode's over there." Crash nods to the side, where tributes in Lancer, Asrai, and Godtown colors swarm a small building.

Ries rolls his eyes. "Sure. Let's send our dryad over there by herself with fae who want to kill her thanks to Enwiss. Oh, and let's not forget Beyrthnel's boon to whoever takes her out. Great idea."

Crash scowls. "I didn't mean?—"

"Idiot," Ries throws over his shoulder as he escorts me to the building .

A glance shows Crash giving him an obscene gesture, which makes Ries grin.

"You like irritating him, don't you?"

"What gave it away?" Ries chuckles. "The angrier he gets, the stronger he gets. And we're going to need that today. It's last man standing. All of us fighting against each other, beasts, monsters, and the monarch's magic. Algraas is playing too. That freak."

I really need to use the bathroom, nerves making it worse. I'm almost dragging him with me as he elbows some ghouls out of the way and waits while I enter a closed-off stall.

I quickly do my business and try not to blush as I wash up at the row of sinks across from the commode stalls.

It's still tough to believe I've been so open with my companions. Not like I had a choice, but I've been shy my entire life. Until I lost my brother, who did his best to shield me from interacting with others.

"Hurry up, Kami. We need to rush or we're not going to get any food."

My stomach rumbles, and I realize it's been a while since I've eaten. I can't remember my last meal, only that I've been feeding on fear for so long that physical needs have been pushed to the wayside.

I rejoin Ries and notice he's washed up, his hair wet, his face clean.

"Do you miss it? Your magic?"

"Yes." He's somber, regret lacing his response. "It's like I have a hole inside me. A loss I can't fill."

I pat his arm. "You'll get it back."

He leans down and whispers, "I already am." He shows me a drop of water on his finger that turns into a tiny frog and hops away, into the air.

I gasp. "Thank the Meld." Before I can add how worried I've been, he punches a shifter who gets too close and drags me out of the way.

The violence around us is so commonplace, I'm not even upset.

Ries isn't either. He doesn't comment on it while we continue back to the others. "That tiny frog is about all I can do so far. But I'm feeling the magic. I think we're going to compete in or very close to Lake Divine."

I swallow. "Um, I'm not the best swimmer." At all.

"Focus on breaking Rilitar's spell. Do you think your connection to the goddess can help?"

Something I've been wondering since she appeared before me. "I don't know. I can try again. But nothing has worked thus far."

I concentrate, searching for strands of her.

And find nothing but a swarming mass inside me, waiting for the right moment.

Whatever that is.

"Nothing yet." I sigh.

Ries sighs with me.

We rejoin the others, wolf down the food on the tables, what's left of it. Then we line up by the gathering near the announcer.

There's a lot of blue and gold and purple and green. Not many Asrai appear to be left.

But there are a lot more tributes remaining than I would have expected there to be. Which makes me wonder just how many the leaders of Sacred Lakes sent for the Radiant Trials.

Way more than the numbers Oz had figured.

Just thinking of all the sacrifices strengthening Beyrthnel gives me hives. We have to stop all this killing on the war god's behalf.

Which means we really need to get out of here .

Magic sparks in the air before a booming voice announces, "And now, to my fae kin, to our revered monarch and his coterie of beloved friends, and of course, to the great Beyrthnel the Bold, we bring the last of the Radiant Trials!"

The crows freaks out, as expected. It takes a while for them to stop cheering, the bloodthirsty asshats.

"This, our final trial, will take place on the Island of Death in the middle of Lake Divine. We will be transported there, held in place by our temple in the sky."

I exchange a glance with Oz. "What is he talking about?"

Oz leans in with the rest of us and explains, "The monarch has godlings at his disposal in addition to a shit-ton of air elementals. The crowd will literally watch from above as we fight to the death on his island in the lake."

Godlings? They're extremely rare, as the gods rarely dally with mortals to breed. Sex is all well and good, but actual procreation takes a special kind of mortal to survive the birthing.

And with so many pantheons having mingled when our realms collided during The Meld, the gods rarely get along within their own godly realm, let alone with us here on earth.

I've never met a deity, with the exception of Caethybdue, but I've heard they can be super arrogant and more than a little scary. Just dealing with an Ever is bad enough.

But what else is new? Everything in this fucked up trial has been scary.

"In the lake?" Ries nods. "Good, good."

"Not good." Crash scowls. "I can't swim that well."

"Me neither," I remind everyone.

"It's okay. The island is just to keep us from getting away," Oz says. "The deaths need to happen on land consecrated to Beyrthnel. Drownings don't help him. "

"They likely help Mac Lir, though." Ries sounds thoughtful.

I'm not familiar with a lot of gods. Well, excepting Caethybdue and her annoying war god of a brother. "Mac who?"

"Mac Lir. A troublesome water god. He normally hangs out in the sea, but I've heard rumors he, or maybe one of his brothers, has been hanging out in the Sacred Lakes. And if it's Mac Lir, it's not good."

"Of course it's not," Crash says with a hard laugh. "Why should anything about this fucking trial be good?"

"I love that attitude." Malkar slaps him on the back. "Now let's listen up and get ready to kill our enemies."

I glare at him. "You mean get ready to escape. We need a plan to get out of here and end everyone, mortal and immortal, from turning into a massive problem." I narrow my stare. "And I do mean everyone. Even annoying demons."

He smiles, and I swear his fangs grow. "Now, Kami, I?—"

The world upends, and we're standing on an island facing dark blue waters.

Behind us is a mass of tropical trees and warm-weathered foliage. I'm sweating when moments ago the breeze felt like the welcome blessing of spring.

None of it makes sense, except apparently Goras Vamyar wants us to boil while we die for his war god.

"Look at that." Ries whistles.

I turn back around. In the distance, the fin of a large water serpent flashes before it disappears under water again. A large blue tentacle whips out, turns pink when it hits the air, and crushes the serpent in its grip.

We watch the serpent flail and fight, but it's no match for the giant kraken—redundant, I know—who tosses it up in the air .

The sea serpent is the size of an ancient school bus, which some of the regulars use in the eastern cities as a way of getting around.

And we're watching one soar high in the sky, tossed with little effort.

By Death, this isn't good.

In seconds, the serpent falls into the fanged first mouth of the kraken, which bites the thing in half before disappearing under the water again.

Oz blinks. "I'm going to say escape by water is out."

"Most definitely." Crash is scowling at the water and takes a step back.

Not that I disagree. That kraken is the stuff of nightmares. Pink only when out of the water, the blue creature has large tentacles with razored suckers. It also has three mouths. Only one isn't ringed with orc-sized, sharp teeth and leads to one of its two or three stomachs.

Ahza used to be fascinated by giant spawn, and he made a habit of freaking me out with their dietary details.

Where the hell did the elves get a kraken? They're supposed to live in the ocean, not lakes. With a tentacle that size, the thing must be as large as Rilitar's castle.

Heck, it probably views Lake Divine as a lap pool.

"Well then." Oz slaps his hands together. "Time to not get killed."

He sets up a quick strategy for making our way to a safe spot he happened to overhear Rilitar and Goras talking about. It's a small cave on the northeast side of the island that just happens to connect underground to the stadium.

The Nyte Guard and many of the monarch's best fighters will use it to come in and try to kill us.

Just as Oz says, "Any questions?" a horde of shifters parts through the jungle behind us and heads our way .

They're armed with blades and look like they're coming straight for us.

Or rather, for me.