Moirai
Chapter 14

Latifurn waitedfor the cheering that followed his announcement to die down before continuing.

“In this firsttest, the battle of wits, I will present both of you with a series of threepuzzles which you will be given one minute to complete. At the end of the oneminute, I will ask you to tell me your answers. I will warn you that lying ispointless as the Praesul are monitoring both of you to prevent this method ofcheating.”

Latifurn’sdroning voice barely registered as he explained the rules. It was all veryformal and official and I wondered if he, and most of the onlookers, knew quitehow intense and important the Trial was.

“The firstpuzzle.” He announced next, and picked a stick up from the ground. In the dusthe marked nine dots arranged in a square with sides that were three dots inlength. He repeated the drawing in front of Centurion. “When one minute iscomplete, you will take this stick and draw four straight lines through allnine points without removing the tip of the stick from the ground.”

“Your timestarts now.”

I looked down atthe square. I was quite a fan of riddles and brain puzzles, and oftenresearched them on the internet. I knew I had come across something similar tothis before, but I couldn’t remember what. My brain had frozen and wouldn’tobey my commands to even try and think of a solution.

Centurion wasmuttering under his breath, his eyes darting from one point to the next, miminglines with his finger.

Simple geometry, I told myselffuriously. The time was slipping away and in my mind I could hear the tickingof an imaginary clock. At least half a minute had passed. My breathingincreased in speed as I tried to mentally draw four lines connecting the ninedots without removing the stick.

“Ten seconds.”Latifurn remarked dryly. “Five.”

Suddenly theanswer presented itself to me, and I felt an icy bucket of relief pour down myentire body from my head to my toes.

Latifurnpresented me with the stick and, hands shaking slightly with anxiety, I drew aline from the bottom left point to the top point, then diagonally down to thebottom right point, then left back to the first point, then diagonally up tothe top right point.

There were foursolutions in total and could have used any corner of the square, so I heldlittle hope of Centurion failing, but at worst we had tied, which was betterthan losing.

Latifurn nodded.“You are correct. Centurion?”

I handed thestick out to Centurion, but he didn’t take it, glaring at it so hard that Ihalf expected it to burst into flames in my hands.

“I…couldn’tsolve it.” He growled, each word sounded like the grinding of metal againstmetal.

I attempted tohide my surprise. Perhaps Centurion was not as quick-witted as I had given himcredit for.

Latifurn noddedat him as well, showing neither pleasure nor disappointment. His nonchalancewas starting to get to me.

“Alnya is thevictor of the first puzzle test. Now, the second puzzle:” he looked at both ofus to make sure we were paying attention. I was, but I could also feelCenturion fuming silently beside me. Another Dryad came forwards and handedLatifurn two metal pots. He placed them down in front of us, pointing to eachas he explained. “One bowl has a capacity of five cups of water, the other hasa capacity of three cups. If you had a large water supply, how would you usethese two pots to measure exactly four cups worth of water?”

Panic seized meonce again as I realised that, though this would be easy to solve given enoughtime, would I have enough time to do it?

Unlike theprevious puzzle, my mind now seemed to be working overtime. Thoughts bouncedaround the inside of my skull with the speed of bullets, but nowhere did theanswer appear.

Fill the smaller pot and tip it into thelarger, then fill the smaller one again and tip two cups into the larger pot tofill it up, then you are left with one cup…

I knew I wasgetting somewhere, but I just couldn’t seem to see the end of the road. I triedagain a different way.

Fill the big pot and tip three cups into thesmaller one, then empty the small pot…

The answer wasstaring me in the face and I felt like screaming in frustration, knowing that Icouldn’t see it.

“Your time is up.”Latifurn’s voice was quiet, but it cut like a whip through my thoughts, almostpainful in the knowledge that I hadn’t done it in time. “Alnya?”

I shook my head.“I couldn’t work it out.”

Then, whenCenturion explained that he hadworked it out, and that it was using my first method – by pouring the one cupinto the big pot and then repeating the small-into-large step so that therewere four cups in the big pot – I very nearly did scream out in annoyance at myown blindness.

My frustrationand panic was only added to as Centurion’s voice couldn’t be any smugger if hetried.

“Lastly, thethird puzzle:” Latifurn said. There were no props this time; it was a wordpuzzle. “What is more unstoppable than time, more certain than death, what thepoor have, what the rich need and what, if eaten, will surely kill you?”

I literallybreathed a sigh of relief as, after a few moments of consideration, I realisedthat the answer to this one was quite easy. I waited out the minute, glancingover at Centurion. I frowned upon seeing that he looked similarly relaxed.

Latifurnsignalled the end of the minute and asked me for my answer. “’Nothing’ is theanswer to all of those.” I said.

He nodded.“Centurion?”

“My answer isalso ‘nothing’.” He said with satisfaction.

Latifurn lookedtowards the Praesul, who chorused, “He tells the truth.”

“Then Ipronounce this battle tied!” he proclaimed and I took yet another deep breath.It was better than losing, I kept telling myself. “It is time for the secondtest, the battle of arms, to begin. Retrieve your swords.”

Centurion and Iboth walked over to Kasanda who handed us the weapons, hilts first. “They havebeen guarded to prevent major injury. Good luck.”

The comment wasdirected at me alone.

Latifurn was nowat the edge of the clearing. “Stand at opposing ends.” He instructed. Centurionstayed where he was, leaving it to me to walk to the other side. “The fightwill end when one of the competitors is in a position that would mean imminentdeath if the swords were not guarded. Prepare! Three…two…one!”

Centurion barelywaited for the countdown to end; with a fierce yell he closed the gap betweenus faster than I would have ever thought possible. I intended to weaken hisgrip on the sword with a hard block, but his speed meant that I was only barelyable to stop it from winding me.

He didn’t changehis tactic, keeping on the offensive. I realised that I should have preparedmyself for how different this was to fighting Mayran. Centurion’s mannerismsand controlled movements made it clear that, if the swords weren’t protected,he would quite easily kill me.

As it was,within the first few minutes I had gained a hard blow to my chest and anotherto my leg. Unlike the way Mayran guarded our swords, these did not feel like rope.Instead, they rather resembled thick wooden poles. I quickly realised that theTrial was taken more seriously than I had originally thought, if the risk ofinjury was accepted. We were banned from aiming higher than the collarbone, aseven a dulled blade could kill through a hard enough strike to the neck, butCenturion continually aimed as high as he could. I, on the other hand, couldn’teven touch him.

We lockedswords, his strength making me lean backwards as sweat rolled down the sides ofmy face with the effort of merely holding him at bay.

“What’s thematter, Alnya?” he hissed, his own face shining with perspiration. His eyeswere so evil...his expression reminded me of something, but I couldn’t put myfinger on what.

He grinned sinisterly,and everything clicked together in my mind. The dream…Indina’s knowledge of theTrial…my theory…

“It’s you.” I breathed.Centurion was Indina’s spy. I didn’t know how, but the way he was looking at mewith a sense of satisfaction, glee and malice, the ring around his irises thesame red that Indina’s were, I knew I was right.

But I couldn’texpose him now. If I did, he would just claim it was a ploy to escape theTrial. No, the only way to do it was to beat him.

As though heheard my thought, he suddenly dropped his sword, removing the pressure andthrowing me off balance. The next thing I knew, his hilt was slamming into myleft shoulder, sending a wave of agony through my arm. I cried out and rolledaway as he went to stab downwards.

Getting shakilyto my feet, trying hard to ignore the throbbing of my shoulder, I braced myselfand lifted my sword in defence.

Come on, Alnya! A voice that soundedvery much like Mayran cried.

At the lastsecond, before our swords met, I ducked under his swing – which would have justclipped me under the chin; an illegal move – and twisted around behind him,resting my sword against his neck.

The battle waswon, and I dimly heard Latifurn announce it so. There was a roaring in my earsand my mind was teeming like an overturned anthill from adrenaline and therealisation of who Centurion was. Now I just had to best him with my aura. Thelikelihood of that was questionable.

In a way, I feltcomforted that Indina was relying on a spy rather than using her aura directlyagainst me; at least Centurion was something solid to fight.

As we walkedback over to Kasanda and returned the swords, I lingered behind and whisperedto her. “Centurion is Indina’s spy. Wait until the end of the Trial.”

“Well done.” Sheresponded loudly with a nod of understanding, making it look like I had been askingher how I had performed.

“The final testis the battle of auras. It is won when either competitor can no longer fight,due to exhaustion or otherwise.” Latifurn’s voice drifted over me as I stood,once again, next to Centurion. Now that I knew what he was, my hatred of himhad intensified.

I was stillbreathing heavily from the fight, and my arms felt like lead from swinging thesword. My one consolation was that Centurion would be feeling the same. I justhad to make sure that I remembered what Mayran and Kasanda had told me and notoverexert my aura.

Latifurn told usto return to opposite sides of the clearing, then performed another countdown.

Once again,Centurion acted instantly. From his palm sprouted balls of fire. As it was myfirst encounter with someone using their aura offensively, I hadn’t reallyknown what to expect, but quickly recovered my surprise. I leapt and rolled anddarted around to avoid the fire, thinking that I probably looked quite sillybut not really caring. One grazed my side, singing the clothes of and justcharring the skin. It hurt a lot, but, like my shoulder, I shut out the pain.

I saw inCenturion’s eyes that, had I been unable to dodge one of the fireballs, hewould not have obeyed the rules and stopped it from killing me. The Praesulwould, of course, but it would instantly disqualify Centurion.

I tried torespond, summoning up the warmth of my aura and creating a small earthquakedirectly underneath his feet. He wobbled unsteadily for a moment before lightlyleaping off onto solid ground.

Though it hadn’tworked, a sudden rush of exhilaration filled me upon the release of my aura. Now,in the heat of battle, it felt so right.My aura wanted to be used, and for the first time, I really wanted to use it.

I continued withthe earthquake strategy, making it his turn to jump around the clearing like anacrobat. Then, I felt his aura warwith mine as he stilled the ground.

I couldn’tpredict what he would do next, so it came as a complete surprise when an unseenforce struck me in my stomach, throwing me backwards out of the clearing – the Dryadsquickly got out of the way – and into a tree.

Winded andaching all over, I dropped to all fours, coughing breath back into my lungs.Centurion approached and I felt again a force lift me back to my feet and pushme against the tree, pressuring my windpipe.

Somethingclicked within me, and the warmth of my aura grew stronger, filling me up to myfingertips. It wasn’t uncomfortably hot either, but only served to strengthenme.

Bringing my willto bear against his, I used his own force against him, pushing him back severalfeet. I then imagined it pushing down on him.

I raised my armschest-high and slowly pushed them downwards. Centurion was shocked enough thathe was forced to his knees, then all fours, before his magic responded. Ourbattle became invisible to the naked eye, but to me it was as though our auraswere two blazing lights fighting for control.

We pressedagainst each other, mentally, for many minutes. Time lost its meaning and Ifelt my strength ebbing out as the struggle increased in intensity. Mybreathing became weaker, while Centurion got paler and paler. The rest of theworld faded away into less than the background. Nothing else existed but himand me. I brought all my rage towards Indina to the forefront of my mind,hoping it would add to my flagging strength.

One ofCenturion’s arms slipped onto the ground, and the other shook. If I could justhold on for another couple of minutes…

Every muscle inmy body was shaking, too. My vision blanked out, only seeing Centurion. I knewthat if this went on much longer I would have to give up as I would surely dieof exhaustion.

To my shock,Centurion pushed his other arm up and I felt his efforts increase again.

I knew I had topull in a final stand. I closed my eyes, trying to gather all of my aura atonce; every speck of the warm, golden power, leaving myself feeling rather cold,but at the same time every single vein in my body felt like it was thrumming.It was a strange, yet pleasant feeling. I waited for as long as I could,seconds that felt like aeons, before releasing my aura against Centurion’s,crushing it to splinters. The pressure from his side gone, I stumbled forwardswith a gasp. Centurion collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

I dragged myselfto my feet, breathing harder than as if I’d just run a ten mile marathon.Drained and empty. Mayran, Loni and Kasanda were in front of me, but I couldn’tremember seeing them approach. Their faces were severely blurred, and theirvoices so muffled that I couldn’t make out anything they were saying. The onlything that broke through the fog was Latifurn’s voice, “Alnya is the victor ofthe Trial!”

In a whirl ofcolour, I hit the ground and knew no more.