The Dragon Games

Stone Hedge

The final stretch to Stonehedge had us hiking all morning and afternoon, and somewhere between the first hill and the twentieth, a realisation struck me. A few weeks before he sold me out, Chick and I shared a moment that I have been thinking about ever since. 

On a boiling summer afternoon, he and I were crossing the burrow's western banks when I caught him staring at me. His eyes – usually a swampish color – burned like emeralds in the sun, and his face was uncharacteristically sober. He opened his mouth, on the verge of telling me something important, only to shake his head and change the topic.

Now I finally understood what he had wanted to say. Chick was forced into a situation that didn't have any good options – if Drax caught us escaping, he'd kill Chick slowly and thoroughly, making an example of him, but If Chick let me escape by myself, then all the punishment would fall on his shoulders. 

Betraying me was his best shot at survival; so what if we were friends? In a kill-or-be-killed world, there is no such thing as friends, in the same way that if I want to survive this arena, Sammy must be the exception, not the rule. I glanced at Elio. By the time he looked back at me, I was already looking away.

When night fell, the moon glowed a blazing crimson, redder than any previous night. Not long after, Stonehenge came into view. Ten massive stones formed a circle in the middle of an open field. 

Iraxus symbols were carved into the rocks, and when the moonlight caught the grooves, the stones appeared to bleed. Behind the stones, the woods began. Fog rolled across the sea of black, spindly branches, obscuring what lurked in the miles of wilderness.

"What do the carvings mean?" Grace asked Elio.

"He who steps through the stones ..." He spoke slowly, translating each word as he said it. "... offers his life for forfeit."

A chill swept across the woods. The Windsors filed into the stone circle, but my boots locked in place. I had a bad feeling, static electricity pricking the back of my mouth. It swept along my veins, squeezing my guts into ribbons until every bone in my body screamed get out. If I stepped into that circle, I was going to die. Every last one of us was going to die.

"Go on," Elio murmured, his hand ghosting my shoulder.

Before I could reply, Tobias grabbed my arm, hauling my forward. Grace set the clue on the ground, and Tobias shoved my hand over the parchment. I jerked back when he pulled out a dagger but he only squeezed harder until I stopped struggling. Then he pressed his dagger against the inside of my wrist, right against my vein.

"No mortal wounds," Grace said. She shot me a meaningful look, the implication heavy in the air. The raider won't die ... so long as she obeys.

Grunting, Tobias shifted his dagger to the palm of my hand and traced a thin line across my middle crease. Reddish-black blood welled to my skin. Before it could fall, Grace knocked my hand away.

"What is this?" Her face murderous, Grace shook my arm above our heads for the whole group to see. "Who checked her blood?"

Another bead of blood rolled down my wrist. While it wasn't black, it sure as hell wasn't red and healed, either. I checked this morning and couldn't move so much as a blade of grass without intense cramps seizing up my arm.

"Who?" Grace demanded.

A Windsor stepped forward, his face ashen. "I – I don't understand. It was black just a few hours ago."

"I warned you," Elio said. "Hurting Raven would only work for so long. Now her blood has healed too much and will only become lifeblood again if she uses her divine, regardless of what you do to her body."