Realm Drifter: Cruel King

~Chapter Ten~

Chapter Ten; Trial Elle-Athena

-

Alannah tossed her sword at the feet of the Cruel King, her bones shaking from exhaustion before she finally gave her body permission to collapse, her small frame gently being caught but the nearest guard. 

"What now, sire?" He asked with his hand bowed, cradling Alannah. The King has a thoughtful look across his face, his eyes squinting as plans formulated in his head.

"Bring her to the 'erre. She was the last one." He said, his sentence lacking context. Alannah's group was the final to participate in the trial, one-hundred and fifty-five women, thirty-one trials: only thirty remained. 

The king was very displeased with the winner of one trial, surviving only out of pure luck. He himself had watched trial happen, five women entered, and one sniffling wench came out. The woman who was supposed to survive had unfortunately succumbed to a poisonous berry. This had caused the final survivor to come out of her hiding spot, in which she sat the entire time crying. 

~

When Alannah awoke, her eyes struggling to adjust to the low light as she looked around. Alannah sat in a wooden chair, her arms propped on the armrests to keep her body from dirt slipping. She sat in a small room, the smell of dirt prominent. She was underground. In front of her, she noticed a small hole in the wall, and with closer examination, she noticed it had a long shaft that reached to the surface but was blocked off, ruining any chance of any more light. Sitting in the gap, she noticed a sheet of paper.

~

Dear Reader,

Welcome to Trial Elle-Athena. 

To get out of this basement and survive, you must use all and your mind. 

Only those with higher intelligence will make it out.

~

Alannah groaned, rubbing her hands together for warmth and she placed the note back down. She was beyond sick of these st*pid trials. 

Licking her parched lips, she looked around again. There were no doors, stairs or even windows (Obviously). 'Interesting' she thought, her mind wandering through every possibility as if it was a blueprint in front of her. 

She was finding it difficult to concentrate, but she could almost hear the modern-day clock ticking. She wasn't quite sure how long she had left to go, and by go she meant to escape. 

"Dig?" She muttered aloud, her voice let out a 'tut, tut, tut'. 

"I could possibly climb but that seems far too easy.

A dummy perhaps to use as bait in case something horrifying is waiting above. Seems plausible but how would I make the dummy? 

"No, far too easy. Must put on a show. What if there is a hidden exit perhaps. Someone waiting." She sighed, first, she had to see what was at the top of the tunnel. She could use her training to climb it without assistance but how would she explain climbing a 10-meter tunnel all by her own? 

As if a light-bulb had just been lit, she looked up with a wickedly genius look on her face, use the chair she woke up in, to provide a stepping stool to climb the tunnel. But what then? She would only be half a meter higher than before. 

She groaned; this was by far the worst thought out trial, how would they even recover those who failed the trial? Then it clicked: a ladder. Using the wood from the chair and the leather from her clothing, she could de-construct the chair and turn it into a makeshift ladder. 

With the plan in motion, she lifted her leg and crunched hard onto the set of the chair, the wooden legs and arms falling apart as if it was simply held together with mud... and it was. Alannah looked closer in shock, how could mud holding pieces of wood together withstand the weight of a human?

 Of course, how could she be so stupid? Each piece of wood was placed perfectly on top of each other, the mass weight of her body sitting directly in the middle of the seat, her arms further evening the weight of her body by her arms being placed on the arms of the chair. 

She let out a light chuckle, perhaps this the trial was thought out after all. 

~

"Argh!" I groaned, smacking my hand against the crickety ladder, watching as it fell to pieces instantly. Perhaps using leather as a pound wasn't the best idea. Now what?

"Leather is a no go.

"What if I placed the wooden pieces between other wooden pieces, like how the chair was placed?"

~

Turns out, it doesn't work. The bruises on my chins provide evidence for this fact. 

I was getting sick of this room.

~

Saliva and... other bodily excrements failed to work too, apparently. I feel absolutely disgusting and I keep having to use my articles of clothing. I don't have shoes anymore and my sleeves have been completely torn off to be used as a makeshift brush. 

I really didn't want to try bodily excrements and fluids again, but I was running out of options and I had a solid four hours of sleep for the last three days. 

It clicked, I had been so ridiculously stupid, the leather didn't work because it had nothing to stick to, and the bodily excrements hadn't worked because it had nothing to bind the pieces of wood together to assist in the 'home-made glue'. If I tried them together perhaps it would work... except it would take awhile before I could... access the 'home-made glue'.

My life is absolutely amazing. If you couldn't tell, that was heavily coated in sarcasm.