Chapter 295: The Quarterfinal

Ren read the quarterfinal notice at the Worldroot before taking the map down to the cove.

Two mirrored courses shared one arena, each with three stations that had to be opened in order. Continuous occupation completed a station’s timer and opened the next. A completed station stayed open. Leaving an unfinished one empty reset its timer; an enemy inside the boundary paused it until the contest ended. Friendly entrants could exchange places as long as their occupation overlapped.

The first squad to complete all three won. At the deadline, completed stations decided the result, followed by progress on the next unfinished timer. Interference was permitted on the opposing course outside its protected staging area.

Water ran through every station boundary. Between the first and second, the channel passed beneath a low shelf of rock. Beyond it, a shallow bank route offered a longer way around. Between stations two and three, a hot stream followed a narrow ledge. The notice gave its temperature beside the depth.

Ren kept his finger on the submerged stretch. Riptide could swim beneath the rock, but Keep’s cradle had to remain above water.

— • —

Bolt waited in the cove’s sheltered shallows. Ren had it turn both ways, watching the flank where Petra’s runners had cut it. The second turn was as tight as the first. Beside it, Snap planted against a flat rock and fired across the empty approach. Its repaired side held through the recoil.

Ren was still crouched with his hand in the water when Kaia spoke.

"She’s awake, Ren. She’s watching Wick."

He looked up the slope toward the Worldroot. He had last seen the princess asleep in the warm pocket, Wick beside her and Loom tending the current.

Bolt brushed past his wrist. Ren checked the healed flank once more, then stood and carried the map over to Vesper.

Eight entries would use the full eighteen: Vesper with Mistwhisker, three; Tarin, three; Eira, Keep, Snap, Riptide, Bolt and Pell, two each. The narrower course gave the smaller water creatures room to pass one another. He left both whales home.

Vesper held the map while Ren indicated the sheltered ground beside the submerged section.

"Keep waits here with Eira. Riptide secures the far exit, then comes back through the shallow route to help move the cradle around. Tarin stays close enough to cover that bank until they’re across."

"If they reach Keep first?" Vesper asked.

"Call the attack. Pull back whoever’s nearest. Don’t send anyone into the next station until you’ve accounted for the ones returning."

She followed the bank route with her finger and nodded.

Tarin indicated the hot passage.

"You and Riptide draw water through it," Ren said. "Keep the flow steady until everyone is clear. Pell stays in the water with the others."

They checked the return route and the connecting channels before Ren sent the declaration. Vesper kept the map to show Eira where the cradle would wait.

— • —

Only eight Lords’ sections were occupied when Ren reached the hall. Selene stood at the gallery rail, and Halvern had taken his place with the sponsors.

Adrien Sol sat two sections away with a map on his knee. On the surface, his six entrants waited in pairs beside their staging boundary. Ren matched their positions to the roles on the public sheet, then set it beneath his own course map.

The attendant checked his plate. His words would reach Vesper; nothing she said would come back through it.

He watched her raise a hand to confirm the channel, then lower it toward the squad.

The signal sounded.

— • —

The first stations began counting within a breath of each other.

Snap and Bolt occupied the water inside Ren’s boundary. Tarin watched the channel mouth while Vesper stood with Mistwhisker on the bank. Riptide kept the cradle above the water beside Eira.

Four of Sol’s entrants occupied his station. Two moved ahead while the other two remained, then exchanged places without leaving the boundary empty. His flank pair had already disappeared around the outside of the course.

Ren followed them when the view widened. They were taking the long bank beside his submerged section, keeping clear of the protected staging ground. He touched the plate.

"Two coming around our outer bank. Keep them in sight before you move the cradle."

Vesper turned toward the route and signaled Tarin closer.

Both first stations opened. Sol’s four continued toward his second, and Riptide brought Keep alongside the sheltered patch of ground.

— • —

Eira steadied the cradle as Riptide lowered it. The serpent slipped beneath the rock and emerged at the far exit. Tarin followed through the flooded opening while Pell waited near Eira, its Lawfire on the water.

Vesper and Mistwhisker took the bank above them. Snap stayed in the shallows near the cradle, with Bolt farther along the channel.

Sol’s pair reached the bend before Riptide could return.

One rushed Eira while the other cut across the shallow bank route. Tarin turned back from the far exit, but the second attacker forced it toward deeper water. Riptide tried to pass behind them and found the narrow approach blocked.

Eira stood between the first attacker and Keep. She gave ground along the bank when it struck at her, keeping the cradle behind her until the second broke away from Tarin and came around its other side.

Snap shifted to fire. Eira was still between its claw and the attacker.

Vesper ran back along the higher bank with Mistwhisker ahead of her. Ren could see the cradle below them, close enough to reach if the slope had been clear. It ended in a short drop, and the attacker reached Keep before they found a way down.

A blow tipped the cradle against the rock. The attacker raised its arm again, and the safety light closed around Keep before the next strike landed.

The cradle vanished.

Ren pressed the plate. "Keep extracted. Eira’s still on the near bank. Both attackers beside her."

Vesper pointed toward the first station. Pell turned down the channel, and Eira withdrew as Mistwhisker reached her.

— • —

Sol’s pair left by the outer bank. Vesper stopped Tarin from following and called the squad back toward the first station’s open ground.

Ren watched Pell reach Bolt in the forward water and turn with it. Riptide came back through the submerged section. Snap moved off its bracing stone to join Eira in the shallows.

Vesper checked each arrival before placing Tarin at the front and Pell farther along the bank. When Bolt came into view, she raised her hand and started them forward together.

Ren could see the seven entries, with Mistwhisker beside her. Beyond the bend, his second station was still empty.

Sol’s four were already holding theirs. Its timer completed as Riptide returned to the shallow route, this time with Eira walking alongside and no cradle to carry.

An attendant stopped beside Ren.

"Your extracted entrant has reached event recovery."

He nodded and looked back at the surface. Sol’s flank pair was nearly back on its own course. Vesper had lost more time gathering her squad than they had spent returning from the attack.

She waited at the far bank until the last of her people cleared it, then moved them toward station two.

Pell stopped at each bend until Tarin came into view. Vesper kept Eira beside her on the bank, turning to check Bolt whenever the channel curved away. Each stop gave the others time to catch up, but Sol’s station was already open ahead of them.

— • —

Snap and Bolt entered the water inside the second boundary. Vesper followed on the bank with Eira, while Tarin guarded the approach.

Pell went ahead as far as the hot passage and returned. Vesper bent over the map, looked toward the connecting water and pointed Snap that way.

Ren found the channel she had chosen. It branched before the hot stream and ran below both third stations, with a submerged neck too low for the land bodies. Snap could pass through it and brace on the rock beyond.

Its departure left Bolt in the boundary with Vesper and Eira. The timer continued.

Across the arena, Sol’s four had reached their third station. One remained inside to start the hold. The other three spread toward Ren’s passage, leaving the returned flank pair to cover the route behind them.

Ren pressed the plate.

"Three forward from his third. One coming down toward the hot passage."

Vesper looked along the ledge. When her second station opened, she sent Tarin and Riptide into the stream together.

— • —

They drew water from the cooler channel behind them, keeping it moving through the hot stretch. Bolt followed within the flow, Pell’s Lawfire close behind. Vesper and Eira went along the ledge with Mistwhisker between them.

Sol’s forward entrant came down from the dry bank where the ledge narrowed. It reached toward Bolt as the jetmaw passed below.

Vesper stepped into its path. She caught its first movement on her raised arm, then recoiled as a cut opened along her forearm. Mistwhisker darted past her feet at the attacker’s legs.

Vesper stayed between it and the channel while Bolt cleared the narrow point. Mistwhisker pressed it back up the bank, giving Eira room to pass behind her. The attacker withdrew a few steps and waited above the ledge.

Riptide maintained the flow until Pell was through, then followed the others into the cooler pool beyond. Tarin moved ahead to the third station’s water entrance.

Vesper reached the boundary with blood running to her wrist. The timer started as she stepped inside.

Eira caught her arm and brought her to a low rock within the marked ground.

— • —

Sol’s holder had already completed most of its period.

Ren looked down the connecting channel. Snap emerged beneath the opposing station and worked its way onto a submerged shelf. Its repaired side settled against the rock while the claw rose above the surface.

The holder saw it and shifted toward the far side of the boundary. Snap adjusted its aim, fired into the wet ground at its feet and sent water and stone across the remaining space.

The holder jumped backward over the line.

Sol’s timer reset to empty. There had been only one body inside it.

Snap braced again. The holder hesitated outside the boundary, then moved back in from the far corner as one of Sol’s covering pair ran down toward the channel.

Ren checked his own timer. It was still running.

— • —

Eira had Vesper’s forearm across her knee. Blood marked the cloth beneath it, but her hands stayed steady as she worked along the cut. Vesper sat facing the approach with her free hand raised toward Tarin.

Two of Sol’s entrants came down the ledge. Tarin met the nearer one at the water entrance; Mistwhisker pressed the other against the bank outside the line. The entrant from the hot passage tried to pass them along the shallows.

Bolt turned beneath it and struck with a jet. It staggered back against the ledge before crossing the boundary. Pell moved into the gap beside Tarin.

Ren held his fingers above the plate. Eira was still inside with Vesper. Either could keep the timer running, but an attacker crossing the line would pause it long enough for Sol to recover his lead.

Tarin yielded a step along the entrance, keeping its spear across the narrow approach. Mistwhisker followed the second attacker’s turn. Eira did not look up.

On the other course, Sol’s holder crouched inside the far corner while its teammate approached Snap along the bank. Snap backed off the shelf into deeper water. It had fired once; the restarted timer was now behind Ren’s.

His third station opened while Eira was pressing the cloth back around Vesper’s arm.

The signal sounded.

— • —

Three stations to two. Ren read the result beside the surface while Vesper lowered her free hand and Tarin withdrew from the entrance.

Snap stopped down the connecting channel, then turned toward its own course. Eira remained beside Vesper to finish the binding. The seven active entries were still in the arena; Keep had been the only extraction from Ren’s squad.

Before he left his seat, the attendant confirmed that Keep had passed through the home gate and reached the cove.

Ren folded the result and went to the boards. Adrien Sol joined him there with his map rolled in one hand.

"Your regroup took longer than their return," Sol said. "I’d make that trade again."

"It worked."

Sol looked down at the connecting channel on Ren’s map.

"I’d leave someone there next time."

He indicated the water below his third station, then moved aside as the attendant brought the semifinal pairings.

— • —

Four names went up. Ren found his own and read the name opposite it.

Mara Delhouse.

He took a copy of her roster from the board. Four entries: two at five points and two at four, filling the eighteen. Two roles were listed as hold, two as strike. No declared companions, relay or support entries.

Ren looked back at his course map. Leaving one of those four behind would cost her a larger share of the squad than Sol had spent, but the sheet told him nothing about how much ground a single entrant could control.

He had read the roster. He hadn’t seen them fight.