Rise (The Order of the Krigers #1)(60)

There were six men on the ground—not a single one dead. My heart pounded and adrenaline coursed through me. As I turned to my father, his body vanished, and the blue light appeared in his place. Had that been my challenge? It felt real, even if it wasn’t entirely logical that soldats would have been here with my father.

The light moved to the opposite wall, and the rocks parted, revealing yet another room. Keeping a firm grip on the hilt of my sword, I followed the light, wondering what was next. The blue light disappeared, and the entire room glowed pinkish red. The room contained twelve alcoves, eleven of them empty. My eyes landed on the twelfth one where my bo staff rested. Mesmerized, I moved toward it.

A laugh echoed behind me. “You’ll never get it,” Morlet said.

I spun around to face him.

“Surprised to see me?” he asked. “I always show up for this part of the trials.” He pushed his hood back and folded his arms, intently watching me.

He couldn’t be real. He had to be a figment of my imagination, like my father in my last challenge. “What do I have to do? Kill you?” I gripped the hilt, ready to wield the sword if necessary.

“Yes,” he murmured, “if you can.”

“Put your hood back on.” He needed to look like Morlet, not a normal person.

He shook his head, his blue eyes sparkling with amusement. “You have to look me in the eyes when you stab me in the heart.”

Beads of sweat covered my forehead. He made no indication he was going to defend himself as I neared. “Do you plan on using magic?”

He shook his head. Raising the sword, I prepared to strike.

“Kill me,” Morlet said, his voice gentle, almost pleading.

I swung the sword toward him; he didn’t block me. I pulled back at the last second, barely missing him.

A smile spread across his face. “Can’t do it?”

I lowered the sword. “I want to. Especially after all you’ve done. You’ve killed innocent people, you tortured me. You deserve to die.”

“But I also healed you.” He took a step toward me.

“Only to keep me alive so you can kill me when it benefits you.”

“Is that what you think?”

“It’s the only reason that makes sense.”

“You should kill me because when I get the chance, I won’t hesitate to take your life. There is nothing worth saving nor is there anything redeeming about me.”

“I think there is,” I whispered. At least a sliver of who he used to be before Skog Heks’s evil magic consumed him. If only there was a way to help him, to save that part of him, instead of killing him.

“My dear Kaia.” He removed his cape, the black fabric puddling on the ground around his feet like water. He reached out to me, resting his palm on my chest, directly over my heart. “Never change.”

His face contorted in pain as his body turned into smoke, melting into thin air. I dropped the sword, and it clanged to the ground.

What had just happened? Had I failed the challenge since I couldn’t kill him? The blue light reappeared in front of me. It slowly drifted over to the bo staff. Before I could get too close to my weapon, the light darted away and went to the wall on my right.

A wooden door slowly opened, revealing yet another room. The light went inside, so I followed. Stepping through the archway, an elderly woman was sitting on a rocking chair, mashing leaves in a bowl with the handle of a wooden spoon. This was Grei Heks’s hut.

She looked up at me. “Hello, dear. Have a seat.” She pointed to the chair at the table.

I sat down. “I failed.” My shoulders slumped forward. She kept mashing the leaves, not answering. “I’m not well suited to being a Kriger, seeing as how the one thing Krigers are supposed to do is the one thing I can’t.”

Grei Heks put the bowl aside and looked at me. “My dear child, you did not fail.”

“I didn’t?”

“No.”

“But I didn’t kill him.”

Grei Heks slowly stood and walked over to me, placing her hand on my shoulder. “The only way to regain balance is with Morlet’s death. I sense your feelings are torn on the matter. I’m sorry—it wasn’t supposed to be like this. I had envisioned another way, a better way. But Skog Heks destroyed her and changed everything.”

“I don’t understand.”

She pulled me up, and we headed toward the other room, our arms linked together.

“You don’t need to worry about Morlet right now. Nothing can be changed. The spell is cast, the curse is underway.” We stood in front of my bo staff. “All the other Krigers have a small seedling of Heks power deep within them. When a Kriger dies, the seed moves on to the next male human child born so that there are always eleven Krigers. The only way for each of them to access their power is with their individual weapon.”

“Is it magical?”

“It is infused with Heks power. It only works with the right Kriger. You’re different. The Heks power inside of you is stronger. None of the other Krigers can use their power without their weapon like you can.” She pointed to my bo staff. “Yours is also more powerful than the others. Before you can even think of going up against Morlet, you must learn to control both so they do not control you.”

My bo staff was made from a beautiful, dark red wood. I reached out and took hold of it. It was taller than me by about a fist and felt perfectly balanced between my hands. Toward the top, there was a strange marking.