The Dragon Games

Campsite

If the drake attack rattled Bianca, my hallucinations pushed her over the edge. She waved off my apologies, insisting she was fine, all the while her hands shook and the color had yet to return to her face. It reminded me of Sammy's trial periods. 

He didn't let anyone join the raiders without passing, saying that you never really know who someone is until they're thrown in the gauntlet. You could have the perfect candidate with all the right qualifications, only for them to crumble at the first brush of death ... or the first swarm of drakes, I suppose.

By the time we started preparing our campsite, I could count the number of words Bianca said on one hand – on my four-fingered hand. Instead of talking to us, she turned her attention to starting a fire. 

Bianca bashed two rocks together, and every time she failed to produce a spark, she swung harder, until she missed the granite and scored flesh. For a moment, she just stared at the blood welling to the surface of her skin, her lips trembling. Then she dropped the rocks and sank to the ground.

Gordo heaved a heavy sigh, dropping the twigs he was collecting to take a seat beside her. 

"Ah, Bianca. Bianca, Bianca, Bianca. If I said it once, I've said it a hundred times. Ladies are not cut out for the trials and tribulations of Blood Fest. I feel deeply torn about their presence. On one hand, it saddens my heart to see such unnecessary pain and suffering. On the other, it makes my competition that much easier."

Bianca lowered her hands from her face, her eyes thunderous. "I am fine. And I don't know what gives you the right to make claims on behalf of all ladies, because as you can see, Raven is also doing fine."

Gordo smirked. "You have said the words 'I am fine' so many times that I fear you will choke on them. And I am not sure what Raven is, but lady, she is not."

I stared into the distance, picking my teeth with my dagger, its blade still crusted with drake blood. At the sound of my name, I turned to Gordo. "Hm?"

"I am trying to cheer Bianca up," Gordo said smoothly. "She does not think she deserves to be here."

"Don't let 'deserving' stop you," Elio said, returning from a piss in the trees. "Who's to say what any of us deserve? There is no justice in this world except what we make for ourselves."

"I couldn't agree more," I said, slapping a hand across my knee. "I'll tell you a secret, Bianca. I never let little things like deserving, common sense, or decency stop me. I didn't even let a lack of talent stop me. When I was a kid, I never passed the DRA."

Bianca looked annoyed. "I do not need a –" Then she stopped short, as if to really hear what I said. "You couldn't pass the DRA?"

Gordo levelled me with a flat, loathsome stare. "That's absurd. You have one of the strongest divines in this arena. Of course, you'd pass the DRA."

"I didn't," I insisted.

"Even I passed the DRA," Elio said. "And I don't have a fraction of your divine."

"I swear I didn't. I couldn't even get the book past my knees. It was so humiliating that I skipped my formal testing day."

Bianca tilted her head, her brows pushing together. "Were you born in the early months?" 

Every year, some jilted parent petitioned to change the DRA's rules to base eligibility on months rather than years. They complained that kids about to turn ten had an unfair advantage over kids who had just turned nine.

I shook my head. "I was one of the older ones. I would have been almost ten when I was supposed to—"

"Hold on," Elio cut in. "A minute ago, did you say you had to lift a book?"