‘You can compete and still care – just like you can be an avatar and still keep your friends.’ Annev’s response was intended as an accusation, but it also affirmed his decision not to betray Titus and Therin. His words gave Kenton pause, but then the other boy straightened up to his full height and shook his head.
‘I don’t want to be friends with any of you.’ He glanced towards Titus and Therin. ‘I’m going to win and you’re going to spend the rest of your stupid lives as stewards.’
Titus bit his lip. ‘Kenton—’ he began.
‘Don’t say a bloody word, Titus,’ Kenton growled. ‘Just get out of my way.’ Titus meekly stepped out of Kenton’s path, but Therin and Annev held their ground.
‘You don’t know which door to choose,’ Annev stalled, wondering what to do next. Is this what Tosan meant, about Sodar influencing me too much? We should have attacked him as soon as he came through the scissor-field …
Kenton was looking from one to the other when Titus spoke.
‘It’s the third door.’
Annev turned, surprised by Titus’s lie but immediately latching on to it. He hissed at the acolyte, feigning anger, and Therin took the charade a step further, thumping the smaller boy on the back of his head.
‘Keos, Titus! Why’ve you got to muck it up for the rest of us?’
Titus looked between Kenton and his friends as genuine tears formed on his face. ‘I didn’t … I’m sorry.’ He sobbed and dropped his face to the ground, ashamed. The act was convincing enough that Annev felt his stomach twist into a knot.
Kenton moved to the third door, silent as a shadow, and looked inside. When he pulled his head out, it was to cock his ear towards the scissor-field: they could all hear Fyn’s laboured curses as he navigated the obstacle course. Kenton looked back.
‘Thanks, Titus.’
The scar-faced avatar stepped through and closed the door; they heard the sturdy thud of a bar dropping into place.
‘Good job, Titus,’ Annev said, surprised their ruse had worked.
‘Nice touch with the tears,’ Therin added.
‘Quick,’ Titus said, wiping his face. ‘Fyn’s coming.’
They ran for the second door. Annev grabbed the drop bar as Therin eased the door shut, being careful not to tip the bucket of purple liquid that continued to froth and bubble just a few feet overhead.
With the door closed, the passage fell into darkness and Annev dropped the heavy bar in place by touch. Seconds later, Fyn’s frustrated roar echoed from the chamber. Annev smiled to hear it before wordlessly leading his friends down into the dark.
A resounding smack came from somewhere behind him.
‘Ouch!’ Therin yelped. ‘Why’d you do that?’
‘Why do you think?’ Titus said. ‘Next time don’t hit me so hard.’
Therin snorted. ‘Oh, is this going to be a regular thing?’
Annev shushed them both.
They stumbled along the dark tunnel, which turned first left and then right. Annev shuffled forward with his hands stretched out in front, searching what lay ahead, while Titus and Therin moved at his sides, running their hands along the walls to make certain they didn’t miss any intersecting corridors. The pitch-black passage continued its twists and turns, then dipped down several feet and turned sharply to the right.
‘We’ve turned around,’ Therin noted.
‘Looks that way,’ Annev said after a moment of silence.
‘Did we take the wrong tunnel?’
Annev thought back to Ather saying the correct door led forward while the rest led back, and he started second-guessing himself. He reconsidered all the paths they had taken thus far in the test, but he felt no regrets about their decisions.
‘No,’ Annev said, sounding more confident than he felt. ‘The ancients wouldn’t make the choice random, and the second door was the only one they trapped.’
‘Was it too obvious?’
Annev chewed his lip as they walked on. ‘Perhaps,’ he admitted, ‘but I still see no better choices.’
They came to an intersection in the winding underground passage. The main corridor continued on and two other tunnels branched off. After some quick deliberations they decided to stick together on the main route, forgoing any intersecting paths they came to.
They had passed a second junction and followed another bend in the tunnel when Annev suddenly spied light trickling through the cracks of a door. He searched for traps then grasped the key around his neck, hoping it might be the answer to this puzzle, but when he tested the handle he found the door unlocked. With practised care, he eased the door open and the three boys stepped into the final testing room.
Only it wasn’t the final testing room – it was the first testing room. The door led to a shaded area beneath the winding staircase the students had climbed after entering the testing arena. Ahead of them stood the great wooden barricade; to their left, the staircase. Tosan, Ather and Myjun were still watching the competition from the platform at the top.
‘Uhh …’ Therin moaned, taking in the scene. ‘Are we where I think we are?’
Annev nodded, forcing the words out. ‘We’re back at the start.’
‘But we did everything right,’ Therin whined. ‘Were we supposed to follow a different path in the tunnel? Kenton or Fyn might have already won!’
‘No one’s won yet,’ Titus said. ‘They always announce it when someone does.’
Annev sighed. ‘I don’t get it. We must have missed something.’ He scratched his forearm beneath the patchwork Glove of Illusion, unconsciously seeking out the invisible seam where his elbow and the prosthetic met. He tuned out the other boys’ conversation and tried to think. What had Ather said? He clutched the iron key around his neck, trying to remember the exact words.
‘Only one path leads to victory,’ Annev said, whispering the words. ‘To find that path, you must descend and tread where you have gone before. Only then will you find the door that leads forward.’
Titus nodded. ‘That’s what Ather said. “Find the door, and you will find the path”.’
Therin scratched his mop of messy brown hair. ‘So we took the wrong door. We need to descend into the arena, go back to those three doors, and find the one that leads forward.’
‘Maybe,’ Annev said, still rubbing his key. ‘Or maybe …’
‘What?’ Titus asked.
‘“Tread where you have gone before”. They’ve used the arena for every Test of Judgement, so no matter which path we take, we’re going over old ground. Why say that unless—’
Therin frowned. ‘What?’
‘“Everything else is a distraction”.’ Annev bit his lip, thinking. And then it came to him.
‘The door is here. On this side of the barricade!’
‘It’s the door we just came through?’ Therin asked.
Annev shook his head. ‘No. The arena is the distraction. Ather wanted us to descend … and walk where we had just been …’ Annev grinned then pulled the loop of leather off his neck. ‘Those bastards,’ he said, holding up the iron key.
‘What?’ Titus said, confused.
‘It’s for the trapdoor!’ He flashed them both a smile and raced between the wide pillars supporting the observation deck above.
When the three boys reached the trapdoor on the other side of the staircase, Annev threw himself at it and shoved the small key into the padlock. Iron scraped against iron as the key slipped inside and Annev twisted.