Athena Sorrengail (yep, that's me) has been preparing for the Healers quadrant her whole live, but her mother seemed to have a different plan.
Or so everyone thought
In secret has I have been preparing to become a rider since I turned 12.
The only...
Don't underestimate the challenge of the Gauntlet, Mira. It's designed to test your balance, strength, and agility. The times don't matter for shit, only that you make it to the top. Reach for the ropes when you have to. Coming in last is better than coming in dead.
—Page forty-six, the Book of Brennan
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I look up, and up, and up, excitement raging through my body, like it did when I looked up to the Parapet.
"Well, that's..." Violet swallows, her head tilts just as far back as mine as we stare at the menacing obstacle course that is carved into the front of a ridgeline so steep, it might as well have been a cliff.
The zigzagging death trap of a trail rises above us, climbing in five distinct switchbacks of 180-degree turns, each increasing in difficulty on the way to the top of the bluff that divides the citadel from the flight field and the Vale.
"Fantastic." I sigh.
Rhiannon and Violet turn, both staring at me like I hit my head. I just shrug.
"I agree. I've been waiting years for this!" Aurelie grins, her normally serious black eyes dancing in the morning sun as she rubs her hands together, shifting from one toned leg to the other in glee. "My dad - he was a rider until he retired last year - used to set up obstacle courses like this all the time so we could practice, and Chase, my brother, said it's the best part of being here before Threshing. It's a real adrenaline rush."
"He's with the Southern Wing, right?" I hear Violet ask while I focus on the obstacle course running up the side of a cliff.
"Yep. Pretty much desk duty for all the action they see near the Krovlan border." She shrugs and points about two-thirds up the course. "He said to watch out for those giant posts jutting from the side of the cliff. They spin, and you can get crushed between them if you're not fast enough."
I locate the series of nearly touching, three-foot-wide logs that jut out from the rocky terrain like a set of round steps rising from the ground to the switchback above it and nod.
Go fast. Got it. Quick as lightning. Queen Lighting or maybe Lightning McQueen.
You know lighting always reminds me of Violet. Quick. Beautiful. Most importantly. Deadly.
"Still not sure why they call it the Gauntlet," Ridoc says from my right, blowing into his cupped hands to ward off the morning chill. The sun hasn't touched this little crevice, but it is shining above the last quarter of the course.
"To ensure dragons keep coming to Threshing by weeding out the weaklings." Tynan sneers from Ridoc's other side, folding his arms over his chest as he casts a pointed look at Violet.
I shoot him a glare and then shake it off. He had been rather nasty ever since Rhiannon handed his ass to him on the mat at assessment.
"Knock it the fuck off," Ridoc snaps, earning the entire squad's attention.
