Shield of Fire

A few small rocks scattered on the dried soil begin to bounce as the ground beneath starts to shake. The cold air fills with a swishing sound. Something’s moving underground.

Crini looks around in terror. No matter how prepared she might have been to handle a foe, dealing with things she couldn’t see made her skin crawl. The others around her seemed more ready to face whatever was thrown at them, even hell itself.

Even Zoiki - whom Crini had categorised as a ‘scholar’ - had taken his position, with his fists clenched and eyes sharp, scanning the area.

The dilemma was playing in her mind on repeat. Should she take out the metal cylinder from her boot? She had to defend Tadal at all costs - this is what she promised to Queen Tesfira - well, what she was forced to promise. She didn’t really give her any choice.

But if she did, she will have to face the consequences of her actions afterwards, when everyone would be against her for cheating. And when they learn that Crini wasn’t supposed to participate because she’s a slave… She tried to shove that thought away. She didn’t want to go that far.

Adrenaline and blood were racing through her veins, hammering at her temples. She needed to make a choice and time was running out. The ground was rumbling beneath their feet. Whatever was slithering under it, was coming for them.

Crini’s hand slipped into her boot, grabbing the cylinder in her palm tightly. Getting safe and sound out of this threat was a priority. To hell with what they’ll say.

Everyone held their breaths as a dark liquid spurt from underneath the soil at a close distance to where they were standing. The light of the fire behind them was illuminating brightly their surroundings, making it visible to everyone.

“We need to blow out the fire.” Lura’s voice - colder than the air surrounding them - broke the audiovisual crescendo of terror.

“And how we’re supposed to fight without seeing it?” Koniaak argued from the other side of the circle. “The fire stays.”

Lura signalled his disagreement at Koniaak’s statement with a groan escaping his throat. Though none expressed any other opinion on the matter, the fire remained burning in the middle.

“Be prepared” the order came out naturally from Tadal’s mouth. Everyone’s postures stiffened, taking a deep breath in.

The dark liquid they witnessed earlier, started to erupt from multiple holes between the cracks in this part of the wasteland. The shaking became more intense. Crini could feel it in every cell of her body and squeezed the metal in her hand tighter.

With a loud hissing sound, a dark long form bursts out of the ground. Crini’s eyes widen at the sight of multiple spineless forms jumping out of the soil around them in all directions.

A wave of squeaky sounds hits them. It’s deafening. Crini puts her hands to her ears to block it but the sound seems to pierce everything in its way. Everyone’s grimacing - the sounds these creatures are making are not pleasant at all.

A bunch of them seems to spot the group’s location. Turning in direction, they slither with incredible speed on the harsh soil. As the distance between them shortens, Crini gets a glimpse of their features. And wishes she hadn’t.

Their skin has a dark - blood-like - colour. She cannot spot eyes on the part that naturally would be the head, but the two sliced-up parts of flesh - that reveal two rows of razor-sharp teeth - make the dread within conquer her senses.

All of a sudden, one of them jolts forward in Crini’s direction. She freezes momentarily but last moment decides to duck, avoiding it just in time. But then - the gears in her mind turned quickly - and she realised what she had just done.

They were in a circle and letting one of these creatures enter the circle meant that it will attack the next one found on its way. Crini felt that time stopped as she turned behind to see Tadal standing on the opposite side of the circle, his back to the creature that had just passed from above her head.

Without further thinking, she pushed her fist up, holding the cylinder in the air beneath the creature’s skin. Metal clanking filled the air as in a swift move, the cylinder expanded into a longsword. The creature screamed as the blade pierced its flesh.

Crini placed both hands on the handle, pushing the sword further into the worm’s flesh dragging it all the way up until it was split in two. Tadal turned around and froze in place when the creature’s head landed just in front of his feet. His gaze drifted from the dead worm to Crini and back to it. He gave her a nod that Crini considered as thanks and turned around to attack a wave that was approaching.

Everyone seemed to be occupied in their own fight and none has spotted what just happened. Well, the better not to notice the sword but Crini thought this was a stupid thing to hope for.

One after the other, the worms were falling lifeless. Apparently, even though they had no weapons, the killing skills of Ethnians were far beyond the species differences. Crini thought she had to take a mental note of that.

The first rays of the sun splashed the dark sky above them. Aerial masses of gas - forming something like clouds on Earth - were floating from the south. The fire at the centre was nothing more than a pile of ashes.

The only sounds filling the area were the panting noises coming out from Moiki, Zoiki and Crini. All the others seemed perfectly fine like they weren’t fighting full force a few moments ago.

Crini’s shirt was clinging to her body. Sweat was running from the back of her head, on a downward river following the line of her spine. The air was hot already and it was just the break of dawn.

Her body felt less tense with every deep breath she took. Her shoulders soon dropped to their usual spot as the adrenaline was leaving her. Crini dropped her head, looking at her clothes that had a lot of holes.

“It’s the Firfiri saliva,” Jato addressed her questioning expression like he could read her mind. “It corrodes anything it touches. You’re lucky it didn’t touch your skin directly. You could have died.” The Qatonian added.

“Where did you find it?” the Sopolian noble female spoke, looking suspiciously at Crini. Unfortunately, the sword was still in her hand. She couldn’t figure out how to fold it back into the hand-fitted cylinder it was before.

Oh shit…

“Em…I snatched it from within the crack in Fundanes spring. It was next to the map” Crini responded quickly.

An unpleasant feeling of being watched stirred in her stomach. Everyone’s eyes were on her, including prince Tadal who was looking at her with a deadpan expression.

Crini’s mind felt empty all of a sudden and her tongue turned into a knot in her mouth. What should she say? Should she reveal that Queen Tesfira pushed her in this to guard her beloved son?

No one would believe her and they will accuse her of disgracing the Queen’s name. Prince Tadal would have her head on the spot to cover his place. Because he knew. He knew everything regarding Crini’s arrangement.

“You know it is against the rules to have weapons with you.” Ada stated with a stern voice.

Crini lifts her head matching their gazes. All of them were looking at her, suspicion and accusation flashing behind their eyes. Everyone except Helion.

“If I recall correctly, the rules specify that if a weapon is found during the journey, it can be used and carried along the way until the end.” Helion’s voice was smooth, flowing naturally, like a steady stream of a river in the wintertime.

Moiki was the next to speak. “I think you are correct, Count.” he addressed him. “The rules are quite clear on this.”

‘So he is a Count…’ Crini thought.

“And how do we know that she’s not playing with us?” The Sopolian noble said with disgust.

“If you could fit to enter the crack with me, you could have seen it,” Crini answered, her voice trying to be heard unaffected by her accusing tone.

There were a few gasps from some of the contestants, while the rest just stood there looking one at Crini and one at the noble female questioning her. They didn’t like that someone dared to talk back to someone as special as she.

“Do you know who I am?” The Sopolian female spat enraged that someone so small dares to question her status and authority.

But Crini wouldn’t care less.