The Dragon Games

Target

Regan followed a beat later, her eyes dim. Cassian pretended not to notice her jolt and clutch the walls when the driver took off. She had never rode in a carriage before.

They rested midway through the journey, and while Cassian pissed in the woods, Regan didn't even consider trying to escape. With no money and no contacts, it was only a matter of time before someone caught her, wether that be the knights or Drax. Best bide her time and wait for the perfect opportunity to strike. So instead of running, she haggled with a street vendor, trading her compass for a bottle of rum. 

Not her best negotiating, but she only had one possession she couldn't afford to lose — a small bronze pendant. The charm, a flat circle engraved with star shaped indents, was cracked in two. Sammy had one hald, and she wore the other half around her neck as often as her tattoo, touching it every hour or so, as if she needed a reminder that it hadn't ghosted her like Sammy had. Her mouth twisting, Regan took another swig of rum. Suddenly, Regan realized someone was watching her. Cassian had returned, his stare pinned on the bottle.

"Ay," Regan said, whipping her mouth on the cuff of her jacket. "Want some?"

"Sure," Cassian said. Then he chucked it into the woods.

Regan gaped at him. "My rum!"

"Do you have any idea how unprofessional that is? No pledge would be caught within fity feet of a bottle this close to the competition."

"But... my rum..."

Cassian was already striding past her, grumbling, "Welcome to Skydescent."

"I don't think you grasp what you're walking into," Cassian said, once they were back in the carriage. The horse pulled them down the road, the trodden dirt path somehow less rocky than their conversation.

"I wasn't trying to have a party or anything," Regan muttered. That's what the high brows assume. They didn't grow up in an orphanage that handed out drinks like candy, as rewards for finishing chores or a quick way to shut the criers up. 'If the budget is between buying food or buying medicine,' the caretakers liked to say, 'why let the children starve when ale is ten times cheaper than pain relief?' Made perfect sense to her.

"It's not just about the rum," Cassian said. "You are anomaly. The vast majority of pledges were not handed an entry into the Blood Moon Festival. They are scouted young, then spend their childhoods turning themselves into a weapon. In their eyes, you committed crimes deserving the death sentence and got awarded with the very thing they worked their entire lives for. If you really want a fair chance, you will pick a new name and leave 'Regan Black' in the dungeons."

"Alright, I get it," Regan said. "I'll behave."

"I'm serious," Cassian said. "It's common knowledge that a raider was given a parlay, but no one knows which raider or what they look like. Change your name, hide your tattoo, and leave the burden of your reputation behind.

"But what's my name got to do with it? People knew me by me alias. The name Regan Black has nothing to do with Crenshaw's Pet or the raiders."

"Black is the name given to... well..." He tugged the back of his nape, not quite meting her eyes. "Given the connotations, people might make connections."

"I am not ashamed of who I am." She was named Regan afer the street she was abandoned at as a babe, so what? She was named Black like every other orphan, bastard, and unwanted child in the kingdom, so what?

"But are you willing to die for it?"

Regan blinked. "I thought violence wasn't allowed at Skydescent. The knights could hit me, because they're not competing. Another pledge couldn't have done that."

"Unwarranted violence is not allowed, but there is a difference between what is allowed and what actually occurs, between playing by the rules and playing fair." Cassian caught her eyes. "A little shame never killed anyone. In this case, it might even save your life."

Regan made a face. She could change her name, stop drinking, and jump through whatever hoop Cassian gave her, but she couldn't become a different person in the length of a carriage ride. If her success depended on her ability to blend in with the elites, she may as well tie the noose herself. Best case scenario, there would be other parlays around to share the target.

"Look, if you're ever confused about how to act, think of what the raiders would tell you to do –" With great patience, Cassian grabbed her wrist, pushing her dagger away from her teeth. She had been trying to pick a thread of meat. " – and then do the opposite. 'I'm keeping my head down' and 'I'm just grateful to be here' are your two best friends. And if you're hiding something, now is the time to say to come clean, before we arrive at Skydescent. Is there anything from your past – personal or raider – that is going to cause trouble?"

Regan eyed Cassian at length, wondering how much she could trust him.

"Anything at all?" he prompted.

"No." Regan offered him a lopsided grin. "I'm just grateful to be here, y'know? Just keeping my head down."

The carriage turned, cutting their conversation short. They neared heavy bronze gates engraved with the same symbol Cassian wore, and when Cassian called out his name, knights opened the gate for him. The winding dirt path stopped at the edge of a lake, where groups of pledges crossed by rowboat. The vast majority of pledges were fit young men, tall and bulking. Regan was not only smaller than them, she was on the younger side too. Since the age cut-off was sixteen, give or take a year, most pledges joined a couple of months shy of their eighteen birthday, to give themselves the greatest advantage.

Unbidden, her hand wandered to the tattoo hidden below the high collar of her uniform. Once, flashing that tattoo would get her just about anything she wanted. Now, it would have the opposite effect. No unwarranted violence, Regan reminded herself. Just then, a blood-curdling scream rang out across the lake.