The Amari War

Chapter 10

We met the others at Pyre Rock, where they were laying out Skye's mangled body beside her shortsword. I was surprised that they'd managed to retrieve her body after the chaos of the dragon's arrival.

Skye's best friend, Ada, sank to the ground beside her. She gripped Skye's cold hand, despite the blood that now coated Ada's hand and trickled down her arm. "Trey. How did it happen? I didn't see."

I stayed silent for a moment, trying to think of a way to phrase it gently. Then I decided that death wasn't a thing to be taken lightly, and being euphemistic wouldn't help anything. "The dragon picked her up in its talons, then crushed her and dropped her. I don't know when exactly she died, but she was already dead by the time I reached her. If she said anything, I didn't hear it. I'm sorry."

Ada winced in vicarious pain, gripping Skye's hand even more tightly. Nora nudged her away. Trace had already piled sticks around Skye, and I lit the fire. The white flames sprang up, roaring higher and obstructing our view of our friend's body.

This time, it was Felix who took charge. "Skye was a good soldier and a wonderful friend. Her life was tragically short, but she is now free. She will always be with us.

"Lila was killed in the seventh-year trial by Maya. She was avenged by an unknown Coven soldier three years later.

"Maya was killed in training at the age of ten. She may or may not be avenged.

"Emma was burned at the stake after being caught in the eleventh-year trial. She may or may not be avenged.

"Mia was killed in the thirteenth-year trial. She has not been avenged.

"Skye was killed by an enemy dragon. She has not been avenged."

Our death list was getting progressively longer. There were now five of us among the ranks of the dead. And we'd only just become adults. Would any of us make it to retirement, or would we all be killed before we could live full lives? How much more destruction would be wreaked by this war?

The fire slowly burned out. Skye's shortsword lay among the red-hot, smoldering ashes, cleaner and newer than all the other weapons. We'd cremated Mia not long ago, but her knife was already mostly buried in fresh ashes and other weapons. How many people had died in the last week alone?

As the coals stopped glowing, we scattered, going back to our lives. The sun was setting behind the mountains. Skye would never see it rise again. How many more sunrises will I see? Accompanied by these thoughts, I followed the rest of my year group down the mountain and away from Pyre Rock.

Samantha met me just outside the barracks. "Trey, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure, why not." I sat down against a tree, and she sat down across from me. She didn't say anything for a while, busying herself by yanking grass out of the ground and letting it fall.

Abruptly, she asked, "Do you think the Queen would let me leave the army?"

I physically flinched, shocked by this question. "Of course not. The ancient Queens assigned you here, so you're stuck until you die. If your skill would be particularly useful in a different context, she might allow it..."

She looked nervously up at me. "I can manipulate friction. It lets me slow other people down and speed myself up, but if I speed myself up, I slip really easily. It's not a great skill."

"That sounds pretty useful, though. You'd be able to block anything. It would take a long time to get used to it, but once you knew how it worked, you could keep yourself pretty safe."

"That's the thing, though. I'm not used to it. I actually haven't been using it that much, because I keep making mistakes. Once I slipped and got my arm cut off. I have it back, thanks to Regeneration, but I keep imagining what would happen if my head got cut off instead." She shuddered and lowered her head, continuing to tear up the grass.