Chapter 7

Sleeping was no longer an option. I looked at that map for the rest of the day, well into the night. I was fairly certain that I had an idea of how the island worked, what was where, and maybe one or two locations where the temples were, but I wanted to be certain. By the time I finally passed out, I think I was woken up again two hours later by the elf maid, Tarja.

“Today is the big day.” said Tarja.

“The first day of the end of my life, yeah, I know the drill,” I said.

“I am to prepare you.” said Tarja. I could have continued to be snarky about how she was treating me like a turkey and not a human being, but I held my tongue as Tarja led me into the bathroom, allowed me to bathe alone, then dressed me in a short white dress, black cinching belt, knee-high white socks, and knee-high brown boots. I, of course, made it a point to put my dad’s jacket on over the dress as soon as I got the chance. Before I went to meet Tarja in the hallway, I grabbed the map and placed it in my dress and slipped the amulet under the dress where it wouldn’t be seen.

Tarja sighed when she saw my jacket, but she made no attempt to stop me from wearing it and just led me out into the hallway, through the twists and turns, until we made it out the castle towards a carriage, where the other girls were waiting.

“Tarja,” I said, “Thank you for all your help. I know it’s just your job, but I wanted you to know that I appreciate you.”

“Thank you, Ms. Newman.” said Tarja.

“Riley.”

“What?” Tarja glanced back at me.

“Call me by my first name. You’ve earned it.”

“Okay… Riley.” Tarja turned back to face the carriage, and walked away when the guard grabbed my arm and forced me into the back, next to Katie. I didn’t get a chance to see her face again.

“Hey Riley, how you holdin’ out?” Katie asked.

“Shut up, maiden!” said one of the guards as they closed the carriage doors. Katie flipped him off before the doors fully closed.

“I’ve been holding on,” I whispered, “I think we might have a chance, but I’ll tell you when no one else is listening.”

Katie nodded as the carriage started moving, buckling on the dirt road and shaking all of us around in the carriage. The girls across from us, the ones who couldn’t speak english, were crying, but making no sound as they did so, which made me wonder what these people had done to them to keep them so quiet, especially after the mute spell they put on us on day one had ended.

“Well, this sucks.” said Katie, out loud to no one in particular. The rest of us turned to look at her, and she gave an exaggerated shrug in response. I smiled, but I didn’t feel much like laughing, considering we were being taken to our deaths.

The ride went on in silence. Katie stared down at the floor after making her crack and didn’t say anything else. The russian girl with dark hair, Emma something, stared stoically at the wall on the opposite side of the carriage, barely moving, and the other two girls were just sobbing to the floor, tears dripping and splashing down on the floor. I was just thinking, of a lot of things.

I had a map hidden in my dress that could help all of these girls escape with me, but three of them couldn’t speak english, so communication was out of the question. I would have to figure that out before we all got killed.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I completely failed to recognize the carriage stopping until the doors were roughly ripped open and the guards started dragging us out and towards the big wooden stage that was in the middle of the arena, where we all stood in a line as people started filing into the arena, jeering and booing us.

Katie immediately started flipping off everybody within her eyesight, giving me brief smiles when she looked in my direction. I wanted to join in, but the dirty looks that the guards were giving me were keeping me still and silent.

The jeering of the crowds stopped when someone appeared in the stands, in an elevated section for one person. I didn’t even need to take a good look to know that the person in question was the emperor, that pink-skinned asshole that announced we were going to die when we first ended up in this horrible place.

For a minute, there was mostly silence as everyone in the stands calmed down to allow the man to speak.

“Welcome, my loyal subjects, to the one-hundredth Requiem Run!” the emperor said, his voice booming despite his lack of a microphone.

The crowd started cheering and roaring again, much to the horror of my ears. The other girls weren’t having much of a better time, even Katie didn’t have anything snarly to say or do.

“Our lovely maidens have been prepared and have met our Runners,” the emperor continued, “So let’s introduce them now!”

Thunderous applause, then the Runners started walking out the door that we had just been forced through. Killian even blew kisses, which just made me want to barf. I glanced over at Katie and we rolled our eyes at each other, clearly having the same idea.

“Our magical, stoic rose elf, Kydro Crollet!”

Kydro waved as he stepped up to the stage, behind us girls, and stood there, waiting for whatever was going to come next. He gave me a blank look before looking up at the crowds.

“Your favorite vampire, Killian Renwick!”

The crowds went wild as Killian blew kisses, waved to each of us, and blew each of us kisses that made me want to heave. Katie straight-up flipped him off when he blew a kiss to her, while I mentally hoped he would try to touch me so I would have an excuse to kick him where it would hurt the most.

“Your powerful wolfman, Xelsa Polimtal!”

Xelsa flexed for the cheering crowds, then drew his finger across his throat at all of us. Once again, Katie and I just rolled our eyes, though Xelsa’s sharp-looking nails did make me worried for what we were about to go through.

“And our mystical snow elf himself, Saulon Zappiel!”

Zappiel stepped onto the stage with the grace of a god and wasn’t looking at anyone but me. As usual with Zappiel, my heart started pounding the moment we made eye contact, and I was forced to break it before my heart popped out of my chest.

“When the horn sounds,” the emperor continued, “Our fair maidens will run into the buffer woods through those big metal gates, which will take them into the closest region, Buldruth’s Fields!”

The emperor paused as the crowds cheered, then continued.

“After seven hours have passed, the horn will sound again and our wonderful Runners will be sent in to kill them! So be sure to keep an eye on your projection screens and watch the fun!”

The crowd, apparently full of cold-blooded sociopaths, cheered loudly once more.

“The horn will sound soon! Be ready!”

The crowd went silent. Nothing happening, long enough that Katie looked around and seemed just as confused as I was. The audience, from what I could see, seemed okay with the abrupt silence, and the Runners made no moves like they were concerned with anything.

“Uh, hey,” said Katie as I kicked lightly at the wooden floor of the stage, “Is something supposed to happen, or…”

The horn sounded, the big metal gate dropped, and I received a hard push from the guard behind me that knocked me off the stage. I hit the ground hard, but got back on my feet quickly thanks to Katie, who dragged me to my feet as the other three girls disappeared from our sight into the thick woods, scrambling and screaming.

“Keep your wits about you,” said Katie, “We need to come up with some kind of plan.”

“Good idea,” I said as I nearly tripped over some upturned roots but just barely managed to stay on my feet, “I have a map I smuggled in with me, we can use that to guide us!”

“Awesome!” said Katie as we approached a big rushing river, “Where did you get something like that?”

“Zappiel, believe it or not,” I said as I took the map out and started unfolding it, “He gave it to me yesterday.”

“That seems… surprisingly nice of him,” said Katie, “He was kinda cold and unfeeling when I met him.”

“Hold on, are we talking about the same person?” I asked, “Cold and unfeeling doesn’t sound like the guy I met.”

“Maybe he’s into you?” said Katie, giving me a smug smirk, “Are you into him?”

“That would suck for him, since I’m not even into guys at all.” I said.

“Oh, lesbian?” said Katie. Her eyes lit up when I nodded.

“Sweet, I’m bi.” said Katie, which made my heart leap. That meant I actually had a chance, but for now, we had to focus on staying alive.

“Anyway, we still have time to figure out where we’re going to go from here,” said Katie, “What does the map show?”

I held out the map for her to see, pointing to the circle that clearly indicated the arena and it’s surrounding forest.

“Alright, so it looks like there’s a cliff to our right…” said Katie as she looked over my shoulder, “So this river must head into a waterfall. If we cross it here, then follow it over to that waterfall, we’ll be close to those fields that pink asshole mentioned.”

“But where do we go from there?” I asked, “We have to find the temples!”

“Oh, Zappiel told you about the hidden rule too?” said Katie, “Makes sense, since he told me. He probably told the other girls too.”

“If they could understand him,” I said, “In the meantime, let’s get across this river. I don’t think swimming’s gonna be an option.”

“Yeah, the current would sweep you away.” said Katie as she scanned the area. Then, she pointed over to some rocks and said, “We could hop over those!”

“Uh, that sounds dangerous as hell.” I said as I followed Katie over to the rocks.

“Our lives are on the line here Riley,” said Katie, “Everything we do from now on has to be dangerous!”

As if to push her point home, Katie jumped from the edge of the river’s shore to the closest rock, stumbled a little, but kept her balance to the next rock, then the next one. Within seconds, she was on the other side of the stream.

“Easy!” she called over to me, “Your turn!”

I took a moment to look at the raging waters, then gulped.

“You’re gonna be fine, just go for it!” Katie called, though I could barely hear her from the loud rushing waters. My heart was racing, and my brain was screaming at me to look for a safer way around, but Katie’s words were too infectious.

Before my common sense could fully kick in, I took a running start and hopped to the first rock, nearly slipping just like when Katie did it the first time. I was nowhere near as graceful as she was, but I managed to stay on my feet and get to the next one with no problem.

“You got this!” Katie called from the other side of the river. I smiled over at her, and hopped to the next rock, halfway there. My confidence was growing and I got to the next one no problem, and jumped for the shore.

I almost made it, but slipped into the water on the mud of the shore. I would have been swept away by the rapids if I hadn’t managed to claw my hands into the mud at the last second, then Katie rushed over to drag me the rest of the way out.

“Too close for comfort!” Katie said when I was safely on dry land. I, meanwhile, had to take a moment to let my heart not pop out of my chest. Katie helped me back to my feet and started trying to pat the mud off my dress, to complete failure.

“Welp, sucks for whoever has to clean that.” said Katie.

I couldn’t help but grin as Katie and I started walking alongside the river.

“Nice bracelet.” I said without really thinking when I happened to glance at it on her wrist.

“Thanks, my brother made it for me.” said Katie as the two of us started walking alongside the river, “God I miss that asshole.”

“Oh, you two aren’t close?” I asked.

“Are you close with your siblings?” Katie asked, giving me a stink eye much to my confusion.

“Yes, actually,” I said, a little offended at what she was implying, “My little sister and I are super close. I mean, we used to fight sometimes, and I once nearly beat the crap out of her for getting mud on my favorite sweater, but I’d take a bullet for her!”

“Well, good for you,” said Katie, “My brother went and got his stupid ass thrown in jail when I was thirteen, and since our parents sucked, I ended up in foster care. I haven’t seen him in a long time.”

“Oh, that… sucks.” I said.

“You don’t know the half of it,” said Katie, “I mean, he wasn’t the worst, he threatened to fight my dad when he tried to put his hands on me, and that stopped him dead in his tracks, but he was supposed to take me in and he failed at that… I don’t even know how to feel.”

“Family can be a pain sometimes,” I said, “My mom was terrible to me and my sister after my dad died. I knew why, she was mourning too, but my sister’s kept her at a distance for a while now, and she used to be a total mommy’s girl.”

“Your dad’s dead?” Katie said, “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Yeah, aneurysm,” I said, “Came completely out of nowhere, no reason, no one to blame… made my sister and I super close, but I don’t think either of us will ever have the same relationship we had with our mother afterwards. You know, assuming we get out of here alive.”

“Oh, we will,” said Katie, “We’re gonna be just fine Riley.”

I had to admit, Katie’s confidence was something to aspire to. The water and land cut off in the distance, which meant we were approaching the waterfall she had been talking about. As we got closer, the loud rushing water overtook all our senses, and we stopped at the edge so we could take in the scenery and fields beyond.

“It actually looks kinda nice.” I said.

“Totally,” said Katie, “If we weren’t running for our lives, I’d like to live in a place like this.”

“A medieval-style kingdom with magic and swords?” I asked.

“That, but also a cottage in pristine, untouched forest where I don’t have to deal with people,” said Katie, “Though the magic and swords do help, I’d like a little less murder, you know what I mean?”

“I hear you,” I said as the two of us got to the side of the cliff, “It’s… picturesque.”

“That’s the word.” said Katie. She stepped to the edge of the cliff, raised her arms out, and yelled out, “Queen of the world!”

I smiled, but when I saw the dirt underneath Katie’s shoes start to give, my smile shattered and I threw myself forward and pulled Katie around so that she wouldn’t fall. Katie fell on safe ground, but I ended up clawing at the edge of the cliff as the dirt gave out from under me.

“Riley!” Katie scrambled forward and grabbed my arm just before I could go over the edge. I made the stupid decision to look down in a panic, then promptly panicked more when I saw the trees in the distance far below.

“Help!” I shrieked, trying to claw the side of the mountain so I could climb back up. Katie squeezed my arm so tightly she was cutting off the blood flow.

“Hold on Riley!” Katie screamed, “I’ll pull you back up!”

Katie struggled to pull me up, but I could tell, even in my state of panic, she wasn’t going to succeed. I saw the root she was gripping that kept her from going over with me starting to break out of the ground. I knew, right at that moment, that only one of us was getting out of this alive.

“Katie… I’m sorry.” I said. My mind was blank and I was speaking automatically, as if my brain was refusing to comprehend that these were going to be my last few moments alive.

“Shut the hell up Riley, you’re going to be fine!” Katie screamed, her voice cracking as she did so. Her grip on my arm only became tighter, and I realized what I had to do. I took a deep breath, and clawed her arm.

Katie did exactly what I thought she was going to do; she screamed and loosened her grip, just enough that when I let go, I slipped right out of her grip and fell.

“NO!”

Katie’s scream was the last thing I heard before everything went black.