Helix

Chapter 17 - Ruby

"Begin!" With a holler and a loud drum roll, Hady and I were set off against our opponents. For a second, it was kind of hard to believe that we were already thrown into the next stage of White Phantom, but the booming cheers from the crowd encouraged me. I spared a second to scan the crowds, and a warm sensation bloomed in my heart when I saw my dorm mates cheering for me on the first row.

Our opponents were a hunter girl and a hammer-wielding boy. I assessed them thoroughly: in such a small area, it would be hard to take full of advantage of the distance hunters specialized in stretching. She would probably rely less on her bow and more on the hunter close-range weapons, like a small knife, but it's likely not her best weapon. Hady and I just needed to keep her from switching to a bow and deal with the boy's hammer.

The fight ensued. Our two teams circled each other, assessing each other's skills like predators preying. Finally, the fragile tension broke like thin ice. I lunged forward, jabbing my rapier precisely at the unprotected space in the boy's light chainmail armor.

That was something Toph had taught me to do. Fight smart, not hard, he said, explaining how I could use the speed of the rapier to disarm and dis-armor my opponents. I hid a smile, remembering how Toph grinned like a dog awarded with a bone.

No, competition first. The boy jumped back just in time, but I managed to scrape a few scraps of his chainmail. I jumped back before he could take a swing.

"Step back, Elaena," Hady said behind me. I reacted quickly to her voice and ducked, just in time to hear a whoosh of her rapier penetrating the air above my head. It latched on to the boy's chainmail again, but I didn't wait to see the end of Hady's attack. Instead, I focused on the other girl.

I pounced at her like a swordfish jumping over a waterfall, the tip of my rapier slicing through wind. "Hiya!"

Just like that, Hady and I seamlessly switched between our opponents. I had to admit, our teamwork was flawless with perfect timing when switching our positions. Our switching confused our opponents, and with them having to constantly adapt to our different fighting styles, we were winning. I could see the girl and boy creeping back, little by little. A hint of a victorious smile crept its way on my face.

I was just about to switch places with Hady again when suddenly a numbness shot through my abdomen. It wasn't like from the Labyrinth, where the numbness was a side effect of poison. The numbness I felt right now kind of hurt, like an increasing pressure was applied, knocking the breath out of me. My knees buckled, and I stumbled forward. I jammed my rapier into a crevice on the ground, but it did little to steady me. Instead, I crumbled onto the floor. The numbness had turned into hot, searing pain like thousands of tiny needles were repeatedly jabbed into me.

Hady!

Suddenly, all of Toph's warnings made sense. Every time she asked me about Idyrith, when she switched to rapier, last night's dinner invitation..... I whipped my head around, glaring at Hady. But before I could talk, she laughed, pressing her voice low. "Well, look where you are now. Liking my poison?" Her lips twitched up maliciously.

I didn't want to give her the satisfaction of succeeding with her poison, so I tried to hide my anguish. I was pretty sure I did a horrible job, however, because the wicked glint in her eyes shone even brighter.

I was getting dizzier, the arena spinning around like it was on a merry-go-around – this effect was eerily similar to the dizziness I had from the Labyrinth. I shot a glare at Hady, spitting, "That was you, wasn't it?" I struggled to keep my eyes open and gritted out, "The push at the Labyrinth."

But Hady just chuckled and shrugged. I then ignored her, because the poison was really kicking in. My mind was groggy, and I couldn't differentiate between anything or anyone anymore. In my peripheral vision, some motion blur appeared, and my mind vaguely registered it as the boy attacking with his hammer. I knew I should duck or roll or at least do something, but my limbs wouldn't listen to me.