The Other Sorrengail

Gauntlet Practice

Chapter 7

Gauntlet Practice

The next few days was like a blur for Lily. Garrick would walk her to breakfast and with her to classes and battle brief. He still sat with Xaden at the Command table. Lily couldn't be happier. And night they would spend talking outside till curfew, getting to know each other. Lily learned of his childhood, and he learned about her. Violet could see a change in her sister, and it made her happy.

Today was the first day of Gauntlet training. Lily, Rhiannon, and Violet stared looking up at it.

"Well, that's..." Rhiannon said, swallowing as she tilts her head back. They stare up the menacing obstacle course that was carved into the front of the ridgeline so steep, it might as well be a cliff. It was a death trap of a trail above them, climbing in five distinct switchbacks of 180-degree turns, increasing in difficult on the way to the top of the bluff that divides the citadel from the flight filed and the Vale.

"Amazing." Aurelie sighs. The girls look at Aurelie with raised eyebrows.

"You think that hellscape looks amazing?" Rhiannon asked.

"I've been waiting years for this!" Aurelie said. There was a bounce in her step as she rubs her hands together. "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?" Lily asked, looking at the obstacle course. It looked like a death trap. Garrick told her before she left to come here that he saw her doing good at this. She wasn't so sure.

'You can do this.' Lily thought.

"Yep. Pretty much desk duty for all the action they see near the Krovlan border." Aurelie said. She 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."

"Oh, good, I was wondering when it might get difficult." Rhiannon mumbled.

"Thanks, Aurelie." Violet said. Lily was still looking over everything.

"Still not sure why they call it the Gauntlet." Ridoc said. He was sporting a nice bruise that Garrick gave him from kissing Lily. He wore it proudly.

"To ensure dragons keep coming to Threshing by weeding out the weaklings." Tynan sneered. Lily and Violet shoot him a glare.

"Knock it the fuck off." Ridoc said.

"What's your problem?" Tyran said as he shoves a strand of hair out of his face.

"My problem? You think because you made friends with Barlowe and Siefert that you have the right to be a dick to your squadmate?" Ridoc yells.

"Exactly. Squadmate. Our times aren't just ranked individually, Ridoc. We're scored as a squad, too, which is how the order for Presentation is decided. Do you really think any dragon wants to bond a cadet who walks in after every squad in the processional?" Tynan said. Lily rolled her eyes.

"They're not timing us for Presentation today, asshole." Ridoc said.

"Stop. Take it from someone who made it through Presentation last year: your time doesn't mean anything. The last cadet to walk in last year bonded just fine, and some of the cadets in the first squad onto the field were passed over." Sawyer said.

"Little bitter about that, aren't you." Tynan asked. Sawyer ignores him.

"Besides, it's not called the Gauntlet because it weeds out cadets." Sawyer said.