Escape from Cirices Part 1

Chapter 17

The man nodded and the wolf riders lowered their bows. The four travellers were asked to step off their horses while a few wolf riders took care of them.

"Right, blonde girl, we will start with you first. What's your name?"

"Lokeyia." she said shakily.

"And your special skills are sword fighting, root digging, using a staff, whatever that is, using a mace and a bow and arrow?"

"Not a mace."

He nodded. A wolf rider passed her bow to Lokeyia.

"Shoot into the tree."

Lokeyia shot, and the arrow stuck in the tree. Then he told her to shoot a thinner tree. This tree, as it was very thin, she missed. Then they moved onto root digging. Lokeyia was very good and passed every single test. Then they moved onto fencing, which Lokeyia passed without blinking an eye.

Then they moved onto Magda. She passed the dagger test also, without blinking an eye. When it came to gathering, she only got two things wrong, which Abigail never even heard of or knew.

Then it was Abigail's turn, and she stepped up and took the bow which Lokeyia used. She strung an arrow and shot it into the tree. Abigail thought she was too nervous and did very badly, but her friends and the Wood Inhabs assured her she was very good at archery. Then she began shooting, she shot down a rabbit and a squirrel, but missed a skunk in the tree. When Abigail turned around, she saw a thin man with sandy brown hair give her the ghost of a smile.

Next it was Sara's turn. She did cooking, tree climbing and disguise. She passed disguise and cooking considerably well. She didn't pass tree climbing that easy. She could go high, but she needed a lot of time to do so.

Next, the thin man, the horse rider and a few other Wood Inhabs went off and consulted one another. Other Wood Inhabs who guarded the four travellers built a large fire. When the rest of the Wood Inhabs returned, four buckets were hung over the fire.

"Now, here we are to announce whether these four young girls are true or not. Are they true Tarabians or not? If they aren't, they'll be thrown into the heart of the fire, if they are true, then they'll be draped in the Water of Honesty." the horse rider said. The crowd was so quiet you could hear a pin drop on a bare patch of ground.