Shield of Fire
The map

The sound of water was becoming stronger with every step forward. The ground beneath was shaking from the trampling of multiple pairs of feet, running fast—all except Crini, who was struggling with panting breath to reach them.

She straightened her body lifting her head to see the place they were heading, but with so many people in front of her - and much taller than her - this was not possible. She would have to wait until they were there to see the place.

How could she manage to guard prince Tadal when she couldn’t even reach him when running? How Queen Tesfira thought that something like this could be possible? Unless she was expecting him to be attacked by assassins with the speed of snails, could Crini be effective to guard him.

What better way to get rid of someone than to make it look like an accident? Of course!

Crini prayed mentally to be strong and survive the tournament. And then she would make a lovely conversation with Queen Tesfira before she vanishes into the wild. Because after that, the guards will be all over the place for her head. No one insults the Queen and Crini was thinking of a lot of insulting words to say when that time comes.

She was lost in her thoughts, making mental notes of what she was about to say to Queen Tesfira when the collision with something hard broke her trail of thoughts. Crini was pushed back from the impact, backing a few steps back but before she meets the ground a strong hand caught her mid-air.

Crini turned to her side to see Lura - the Encreean - next to her, his massive hand taking a firm grip around her arm. His emerald eyes were pinned on her, watching closely like he was alert for something.

Seriously? I’m not such a significant threat to him, Crini thought.

“Thank you,” she said, finally taking her eyes off him. This man was making her nervous with his interrogating look and stern expression. He didn’t say a word in response. Just nodded. Crini pretended to look for someone walking away from Lura to check why they had stopped. Even the air around him was tense, or so she thought.

Crini navigated herself through the crowd that was looking at a particular spot ahead. With ease, she walked through the tall bodies through small empty areas between them, until she found herself at the front. Her mouth fell open and her eyes grew wide.

For the time they were walking once they got out of the city walls, all Crini could see was flat land and dust sporadically interrupted by some bushes that manage to survive in this harsh environment. The sun was up above them, dominating the sky and spreading its rays all around. But…this was beyond expectations.

In the middle of the sea of dust and dried land, there was an oasis. Tall trees - with large pointy leaves and branches that were reaching almost their trunk height - were spreading around a pool of water. In the middle of the pool, three big rocks were standing - one on top of the other in perfect balance - and from the very top rock, water was coming out, falling through the rocks into the pool. The rock column was taller than the rest of the Ethnians. Crini thought that for her, this could be considered a waterfall.

The view of the running water and the trees around was a miracle for anyone wandering in these lands. Crini spotted Moiki and Zoiki - the two Sopolians - kneeling on the edge of the pool and scooping water with both hands to drink and wash their faces. Soon, the rest of the contestants followed, throwing water on their faces and drinking some to take away the heat. Ada pulled a small leather flask from her pocket and placed it in the pool to get some water for the road.

Crini followed their lead. The freshwater was a very welcoming feeling on her dried throat and felt refreshing on her face, taking some of the sweat away. If she knew that they would have to wander in the area around Anive for so long, she would have requested Tronstad to make her a flask.

But apparently, she was the only one that was not informed about what lies ahead in this tournament. All the others were pretty prepared on this matter. Almost all had flasks with them. Perhaps they also knew where they should head next. Crini was only trained hastily on some basic fighting in order to be thrown next to Prince Tadal as his bodyguard. Such a stupid idea.

She would be the first to be out and soon.

When most of them were done freshening up and saving some water for later, they stood up and started to look around, searching for something.

“What are we looking for?” Crini asked Ada. She seemed more easily approachable to talk to. Ada turned to her with a confused look on her face.

“For the map, of course,” she replied with a soft smile, despite her worry. “You are not informed?”

Crini shook her head sideways. “No idea.”

“Strange…” Ada said, continue looking around her. “Usually those selected passes from induction. All of us went through that boring procedure but is essential so we have an idea of what the dangers might be. If we proceed, it means we accept to honour the selection.”

“Well, not all as it seems…” Crini whispered a bit embarrassed she was left behind. Well, she was a slave and so not considered to be fully informed about what this tournament entails.

After all, the queen’s intentions were other…

Crini let out a sigh and her soldiers sunk deeper. She felt defeated even though nothing had happened yet. A thought crossed her mind. Should she try to keep going or stay behind and end up wandering in the same lands where she found herself in the first place? She felt that it was an end game for her and she wasn’t the winner by all means.

With a quick look around, Crini noticed everyone looking intently in all possible places to replace what Ada said to be a map.

Ada and Ezpa - her twin brother - were digging the slightly less hard ground around the water pool. Moiki and Zoiki were up in the trees, looking if something is hidden on the top of the trunks. Loftak was ready to enter the water while Koniaak was taking out his boots, rolling his trousers up to the knees, following her lead. Lura - the Encreean - together with Jato - the Qatonian - were searching on the round rocks in the pool, looking between the cracks for anything that might be hidden in there.

Everyone seemed occupied, except the group of four standing further away, watching closely while the rest kept looking. Crini felt a wave of disgust stirring in her stomach. They are part of this and should contribute to the search. Did they join only to do the heroic battle thing?

Stupid nobles, she thought.

Don’t know where to start, Crini decided to go search on the rocks. Maybe her small size could be of use as she could go into the cracks and take a better look. She glanced at Lura and Jato, the water was reaching their knee level so for Crini, it should be reaching up to her chest.

Taking her boots, she placed them near the pool and jumped in. She managed to hide the metal cylinder general Kra’ko had given her on the inside, so it won’t be shown when she would exit the pool with soaked clothes. The moment she came in contact with the water, the clothes immediately drenched, clinging to her body as she swam to reach the rocks.

She thanked herself for changing the cylinder’s place.

Jato turned to her with a puzzled look on his blueish face while Lura snapped at her with this usual interrogating expression his face was taking when he was looking at her.

“I came to help.” she smiled at them to ease the tension suddenly created between the three. Jato’s face grimaced - to something it would be called a smile in Qaton - while Lura seemed to be frozen because nothing changed in him.

Crini tried to climb up the first rock, but it was higher than what she expected and round and sleek enough not to hold her grip. After a few attempts - which of course were unsuccessful - Crini puffed the air out of her lungs annoyed.

“Can you lift me up please?” she addressed Lura. Frankly, she wanted to have as much less interaction with him as possible, but Jato was on the other side of the rock pile so Lura was the only option at the moment.

Lura seemed reluctant for a second before he reaches down and gets hold of Crini by the waist, lifting her carefully on the round rocks. Crini could feel his nervousness. Maybe he was afraid to push harder in case would break a bone or something. After all, Ethnians had never seen a human. It was expected of them not to know how to treat her.

“Thank you,” Crini said with a smirk on her face when Lura placed her on the top rock.

Not a word again, only a nod of his head.

From there, Crini had a good look at some of the cracks in the rocks. There may not be large enough for them to go in, but for her, it was piece of cake. She found the first crack and pushed herself in. The rock inside was sleek as the outside. Small rivers were sliding down the inside. The water rivers were shining in the sunlight.

She looked around but nothing was there. Crini was about to turn and leave when something got her attention. A strong ray of sun fell into the dark inside, and something glistened. With careful steps she moved forward, bending slightly to push herself deeper within the rock. In a small cavity, there was something placed. She reached for it and felt the cold metallic texture of the object. It was a small box, very light in her hand.

On the outside, everyone had stopped what they were doing, their heads turned on the pile of rocks. They jumped in their places when a small hand jolted out of the crack holding something dark in her hand.

“I found something!” Crini’s cheering voice echoed from within the rock.