"You need to move faster, or Darrin will reach the checkpoint before us," Lexi called from above, hoisting herself over the cliff edge.
Ariel always had fantastic stamina, but Lexi noted that he struggled to make the climb. Finally, he pulled himself over the ledge, collapsing on the ground.
"I'm…sorry," he said through heaving gasps, trying to catch his breath.
Lexi took deep inhales, catching her own. The two were far from unfit, but swordsmanship and mountain climbing required far different muscle groups.
"I imagine we'll gain much more respect for those climbers," Lexi laughed through her own breaths. "Now I see why they make it their whole life!"
Ariel turned on his stomach, his eyes closed, "I never want to climb another damned mountain again. I don't even want to look at one!"
Lexi sighed, "that makes two of us."
A day had passed since the trial began. Lexi had expected the strongest of the prince candidates to hunt them down and pick off who they might think were the weakest of the candidates but seemed like they meant to avoid them altogether.
Perhaps the Darkwood name will finally begin to serve me, she thought, amused.
But her amusement quickly faded. She knew having more enemies would not serve her. With a stain such as the one she bore in her blood, she would have to prove herself trustworthy. She considered that even Maren may doubt her, knowing who her family was.
Still, she thought with a cheeky grin, I didn't imagine that look she gave me earlier.
"You look mighty amused with yourself," Ariel commented, shooting her a flat look.
"Just admiring the shining sun today," she responded, gazing at the sky.
Bright.
Clear.
Blue.
Lexi inhaled deeply, appreciating the scenery. That's when she picked up on something. It was so faint, she wasn't sure if she truly smelled anything at all.
Still, she wasn't willing to risk anything. Not in such a vulnerable location.
"That's enough of a break," she announced, lifting from the ground. "I wanted to take this way because it was the fastest, but we should make it off the slope before sunset."
"Why?" Ariel frowned, following her into a standing position. "Not that I'm complaining about moving to flatter land, but the weather's perfect. If it gets us to the top faster, I don't mind the climb."
"It's not that," Lexi responded, staring into the horizon.
"We haven't even found Prince Darrin yet," he said.
Lexi closed her eyes, searching for her patience. However, in her training as a Knight, she learned that the best leaders listen to their subordinates. Prince Ariel was right, of course. When they'd started the ascent, Lexi whispered to Ariel about Prince Darrin — that she suspected cheating was involved and they'd level the score by following him up.
But the man moved through the woods like an owl in the night — completely silent and they'd lost track of him entirely. Climbing the slopes would give them a fast path upwards, and their best chance at finding the Forsythian Prince before he made it to the top.
Still, Lexi now had a new concern — far more pressing than finding a cheating prince.
"It's the weather I'm worried about," she said finally.
Ariel frowned. "But we're out of the cold season. The weather is warm."
"We should be out of the cold season," she said, a dark look in her eye, "but nature has a way of doing what it wants, and I'd rather not be caught on a slope in the rain."
***
Prince Darrin glanced down at his map.
At the start of the trial, his mother informed him that she'd hidden a map of the quickest path upwards in his pants pocket. Her eyes were wide as she gazed at him, like she was pleading something silently. But she had this grin that told him otherwise.
Those expressions were like they belonged on two different faces.
Even so, Darrin wasn't keen on cheating.
He'd told his mother he didn't need help and the grin fell like a pile of rocks. Dread overtook her expression and she responded by guilting him. The change was so instant and overt. It was not at all the carefulness of his mother that he'd always known.
She told him with all the hard work she'd put in to make him Emperor. She finally said that he doesn't have to use the if he didn't want it, but that this was the labor of her love and he was tossing it to the side like trash.
He sighed, shame twisting in his gut as he gazed down at the parchment.
Darrin knew the area by heart regardless of a map, but this area would now be marked by puzzles and landmarks. The trials couldn't be too difficult, lest certain Kingdoms wanted the evil eye of neighboring Kings set upon them. But they couldn't be overtly easy either. Otherwise, it'd be like calling the prince candidates weak.
Darrin spotted two landmarks on each path, including the one he was on, closest to the slopes. The middle path and one on the far left were worse by far.
I can't believe my mother laid such a trap, he thought. Or that she would want to.
The path furthest west had two checkpoints, like all the others. This one was marked with a red X that said 'River' beside it and another at the top that said 'Stones.'
To anybody not from Forsyth, the first checkpoint may seem like a leisurely hike beside a riverbank, but Darrin knew better. The rainy season may have been over in other parts of the Empire, but Forsyth was a Kingdom in the eastern mountain range, with a seaside kingdom next door and several of its own seaside towns along its border.
Rain always made its way to Forsyth this time of year, carrying the leftovers of winter behind it.
His eyes moved across the paper, honing in on the middle path.
This was another that seemed like it may be the fastest upwards. It was a straight shot — easy.
His eyes fixated on the first checkpoint.
'Wolves' were marked beside it.
Darrin shivered with disgust.
This is cruel, he thought. And horrible enough to play innocent.
Darrin had noticed a change in his mother's behavior through the last few weeks. There was a strange urgency to put him on the throne that she'd never had before. But it was also more than the urgency — something he simply couldn't put his finger on.
He didn't have much interest in getting married yet. He was still young, and having two wives honestly seemed like more trouble than it was worth. But his mother started in on him. She told him he was ungrateful and cared not for his parent's honor or the honor of his Kingdom. She yelled at him until her voice was hoarse and her eyes were red with tears. And even through her scolding, not a single part of her expression had softened.
He thought it was unnerving.
She felt like a different person altogether.
Between them, his father was the one with a cruel streak and his mother often remained quiet, poised and sweet. But suddenly, when talk of organizing the first trial came up, she practically begged his father to allow her to organize it.
But it wasn't excitement that fueled her need.
It was desperation.
And that was so unlike her. He thought his father may notice the change in her, but he was a selfish man. His father, being deeply uninterested in organizing such an event, he allowed her to take charge of it. He was overjoyed, even.
Even though his instincts told him she was acting strange, he decided to make an effort. He didn't want to have to go through that again with her — the rage and the yelling and the guilt.
Then he met the Princesses.
That's when he laid eyes on Maren.
She was beautiful, with a sweet, gentle aura. She was exactly the kind of woman he was interested in. And suddenly, the idea of getting married didn't seem so bad.
But as he started to get to know her, there were things that simply didn't sit right with him.
The biggest being her relationship with Princess Cora.
Darrin paused in the path, covering his face with the map.
"It's not that I don't like it," he mumbled aloud to himself. "It's just that between them, how could there be room for anyone else?"
Room for me, he thought.
He sighed and continued on, glancing back down at the map once more.
The far right path, nearest to the slope — his path — was the longest, marked by two checkpoints.
'Missing' on the first.
'Darkest' on the second.
He knew instantly that the first checkpoint was hardly a checkpoint at all, but a mental game. This path seemed to veer off, and merge into the middle path.
But that wasn't true at all.
He knew this path and walked it often as a child. All he had to do was continue on and the path would reopen.
He thought it odd, though.
The first checkpoints on both the left and middle paths were physical obstacles, but the obstacles on his path seemed reversed. He was sure 'Darkest' had to refer to something physically dark. But he also knew it couldn't possibly be a cave.
The only cave on the side of the mountain they climbed was at the very top, likely where the object was being held.
Darrin's eyes moved to the top of the page, where the cave was marked.
He grimaced.
It was scribbled in dark ink, over and over.
The markings in that spot were wild, carved in quick, frantic strokes — almost fanatic.
There were no words that gave away what the object was or where he may find it.
It was just a circle of dark chaos.
Darrin bit the inside of his cheek, folded the map back into a little square and tucked it into his pocket. He tried to shake off the shiver that ran down his pack like an army of spiders. He tried to push aside the feeling that something was very, very wrong.
But he couldn't forget the look on his mothers face when she handed him the paper.
There was a fear in her eyes that he couldn't place.
It didn't feel like fear for him or fear of him losing the trial.
She glanced down at the note, and back at him. It was like she was telling him something. Like she was begging for something from him.
He almost hadn't noticed it, distracted by the wide grin that seemed plastered to her face.
But he didn't understand. And more than that, he hated to admit he was almost a little bit afraid of her.
He loved his mother dearly, but lately, she felt a bit like a stranger.