The hunter raised her eyebrow in a challenge, and Roar answered, “You’re on.”
She lined up and set her sights on the finish line as Jinx pulled a jar filled with dark clouds and swirling rain from her holster. “I’ll keep the storm contained so it doesn’t spread too far. You just be ready for whatever comes,” Jinx told her.
Jinx pulled the cork and threw the bottle. Dark clouds began to rise from the jar like smoke as it flew through the air. When it hit the hard earth, the jar shattered and a gust of wind blew out in all directions. It picked up the sand, carrying it on the wind like a frothing, bloody wave. Roar covered her eyes, but she was too slow to close her mouth and she choked on the dust. Thunder cracked, so loud and close that the ground rumbled beneath Roar’s feet. And then it began to rain, the clouds reaching out like groping hands to snatch up more of the sky. It took a few moments to remember that she was supposed to be running, and by the time she did the rain had reached her, pummeling her skin and making the sand clump to her boots.
She set off at a hard run, her eyes fixed on that line of earth that was her goal. So she did not see when the ground bulged up only a few strides ahead of her. She tripped and went sprawling, mud spattering across her face. She looked behind her, and beyond the newly formed mound of earth was a smiling Jinx, standing still in the pouring rain.
Roar shoved herself up off the ground, and her hands sunk into the sticky mud. She slid back on her knees, her entire front covered in muck. Her boots were caked and heavy when she stood and began to run again. This time she saw the next trap coming, and she hurdled over the rising barrier.
Wind and rain lashed at her face, and she had to squint to protect her eyes. Another test came at her only moments later, but this time it was no small bit of earth made to trip her. It was much bigger, and the ground actually did quake as a wall of dirt sprang up in front of her. She tried to stop, but her feet slid in the mud, and she turned just in time for her side to collide with the blockade. It was tall, but narrow, so she used her momentum to spin, letting her back roll against the wall, until she met open air again. The downpour had only gotten heavier, and clods of dirt had plopped onto her head and shoulders from the impact. She brushed off the bigger clumps and ran again.
She was not even halfway to the end of the course, and what had looked like a simple distance to cross now loomed out in front of her as an endless muddy sea. Her eyes stung, but she did not dare try to wipe them. The rest of her was far less clean.
She leaped and dodged and spun over a few more obstacles, and her breath ripped from her lungs in heaving gasps. She just had to get to the end. She could do that. She was three-fourths of the way there now.
When the earth shook again, she readied herself for another wall, but instead the ground began to split in front of her, a chasm opening that stretched all the way across the magic-made obstacle course. Roar jumped. But the rift kept widening while she was in the air, and soon the ledge was out of her reach. Her feet landed on the slope of the crevasse. She clawed at the ledge above her, trying to pull herself up, but the wet earth kept coming loose in her fingers. Her feet slid until she came to stop in a trench that had to be at least ten feet deep.
The water was already up to her ankles, and more was pouring in, sliding down the walls of the pit like a waterfall. She could try to find the end, but she imagined Jinx could just keep lengthening the trench forever if she wished. And it would not take long for the water to rise. She could wait until the water was high enough to carry her to the surface, but there were too many things that could go wrong. Better to attempt to climb out before all the walls turned to mud around her.
She looked around, but could find no footholds. So she decided to make her own. She pulled one of her knives from the holster on her back, and cut into the wall of the trench. She scraped until she got past the wet surface to the dry earth behind it. She made a notch just large and deep enough to put half her foot inside. She knew she would only have a limited amount of time to dig the next one before the first foothold became too saturated by the rain and crumbled beneath the pressure of her boot. So she grabbed a second blade with her left hand and took a steady breath.
Quickly she used her blades to scoop out the dirt that she had cut loose, then she lifted her leg and shoved the toe of her boot inside. She sunk the knife in her left hand into the wall high above her, and pulled herself up. She held her breath, hopeful, and when the wall did not collapse beneath her, she quickly carved out another notch in the dirt. She shoved her next foot in, and did it all over again. Two more notches put her high enough that she could see over the ledge.
The end of the course, that final low-lying earth wall that Jinx had made at the beginning, was ten, maybe fifteen paces ahead of her. The rain stopped just shy of that line, so unlike the rest of the land around them, that barrier stood dry and firm. Roar pulled the crossbow anchor from her hip and aimed it at that wall. She pulled the trigger just as the footholds that held her up gave way. She slid down the wall in a splash of water and mud, the rope attached to the arrow uncoiling fast from the pouch at her hip. When the flight of the rope halted, she gave it a tentative tug. It held.
She had no idea if she’d hit the wall; she fell before she could see if it made contact, but she hoped that whatever it hit was strong enough to hold her weight. She sheathed one of her knives, keeping the other to sink in the wall and give her added leverage if she needed it, then she used the rope and began to climb.
When she made it back to the ledge again, she heaved herself up by the rope one final time. Her belly scraped over the edge of the trench as she pulled herself free. She crawled first on her hands and knees, then scrambled to stand and began to sprint as hard as she could for that ending line. She expected another obstacle, another test, but nothing came. And when she cleared that final hurdle of the wall with a jump, she landed in a patch of dry, red sand, untouched by Jinx’s storm. She collapsed onto her knees, rolled onto her back, and laughed.
The sand stuck to her muddy clothes and skin, but she did not care. That was … amazing. She laughed again, louder, the sound echoing out across the land.
Jinx appeared over her a few moments later, the sun haloing around her head, and Roar realized the storm was already gone—dark clouds had disappeared to reveal blue once more.
The witch crossed her arms over her chest and nodded. “That was pretty impressive … novie.”
Treat others with kindness. For you do not know which souls will visit you again as storms rather than men.
—The Book of the Sacred Souls