Forged in Frost and Fire (Book 1 in the Chronicles of Kings trilogy)

Chapter Nineteen

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

The sound of screams and cheers echoed throughout my buzzing head as the initiates were marched from the barracks to the large course that was in the middle of the grassy field of the camp. The course itself had been built nearly overnight, thought it looked awfully menacing for something built so quickly.

I couldn't see anything from here, but I knew that the obstacle course was going to be beyond difficult. The agility course was not designed to be easy. It was a mile in length, and one had to practically sprint the stretches between obstacles if they wanted to make a good time. The nervous excitement from before was now gone, initiate's were quiet and close-lipped, all of our faces were pale and fingers were trembling at sides. I could almost taste the fear that was swelling from our small group.

"Do you think you're ready?" I asked Callan as we marched to where we could see Helen and Foley. A wave of panic had washed over me at the sight of him, but I forced myself to remain calm and kept on walking. I didn't want to show him how much he had affected me last night. I had to be like my ice. Cool and hard. Unbreakable. Although I felt breakable, hells, I already felt like I was cracking, nearly shattered.

"Um, no," he said, letting out a nervous laugh. "Do you think you are?"

"Not at all," I muttered, digging my nails into the palm of my hand, clenching and unclenching until the pain worked to clear and focus my thoughts. I could do this. Do it for the Killers of Kings. Do it for Tellie. Do it for Heather.

"You'll be fine, really, I think you're one of the best initiates here. Besides me of course." Maybe it was the nervous energy inside of me, but I cackled at that. Pushing him in the shoulder lightly. Maybe my laughter was also from the fact that I wasn't even supposed to be a soldier, I was here for information as a spy, and I was outdoing the ranks. The irony...

"Okay, well don't be too humble about it," Callan muttered, running a hand through his hair.

"No, I just think it's funny," I said. "I never thought I'd be one of the best." That wasn't a lie. Callan only chuckled and kept close to me as we walked across the flat ground and to where our leaders were. The cold wind brushed over my cheeks and through my hair and I felt it soak into my pores, the cold giving me strength.

"Welcome initiates!" Helen said, grinning broadly at us. If I had thought that she looked excited on the first day of bootcamp, it was nothing compared to what she looked like now. It looked like she was a child on Winter Solstice day... on drugs.

Foley didn't even glance at me as I walked up with the others. Good. I was pretty sure I'd spit at him if he so much as looked at me. The phantom feeling of his fingers ghosting over the bare skin at my hips flickered through my mind and I shuddered, wrapping my arms tight around myself to ward off the feeling of disgust.

"You've made it to the end of your initiation," Foley said, pacing before us. It brought me back to when we first arrived. "This is the last stage of bootcamp, the agility course. This is the most rigorous challenge you will face since you started here. It is not easy, some have suffered bouts of nausea, concussions, ruptures, or broken bones on the course. But if you trained well and applied yourself these past few weeks, it will be manageable..." His blue eyes swiped over the whole of us and I saw a few initiates crying. I forced my own worry down.

"You'll have an hour to complete the course, after an hour, those of you still left will be forced to finish in ten minutes or concede," Helen said, practically bouncing with giddy excitement.

"We wish you the best of luck, all of you have come a long way, and some of your progress has been...surprising." Foley's eyes cut to mine and I swallowed down a hiss. I clenched and unclenched my hands again and again. "You may proceed to the starting line. We will meet you on the other side."