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The desert garrison had not the numbers to turn back a massive invasion. All they could do, Father said, was hold their ground defensively and take their losses for long enough to give messengers time to reach the king and call the main army into play.

He commanded the defense with such skill—for the main army had time to be alerted and march to the rescue—that he was rewarded with a captaincy. We never heard one word more about the highborn Patron captain, although we suspected our father had killed the man to stop him from dooming his troops to a complete slaughter. Of the 512 men garrisoned at the five desert outposts, 128 survived. Father remembered the exact numbers, and the day he told us the story he recited their names in the form of a praise poem.Advertisement

Even when you face defeat, he told us, you must not falter.

19

All adversaries know that the architects of Fives courses can rig them to favor an adversary based on political favor or a crowd’s preference. Tana and Darios have changed the practice course to emphasize upper body strength over agility. I have no hope of defeating Lord Thynos and Inarsis on a court rigged for pure strength.

But I am a soldier’s daughter. I won’t falter.

Naturally Tana starts me on Trees, my weakest obstacle. This new configuration emphasizes straight climbing up and down poles and includes a rope climb that I manage by leveraging my leg strength. My arms start aching sooner than they should. My left elbow develops a persistent “pop” every time I bend it. The obstacle finishes with a ladder that has no rungs. Hanging from a wooden bar I have to jump it up four pairs of posts.

I’ve trained on the “jumping bar” but rarely managed a complete set. The first try I miss getting the bar into the hooks and fall, butt to sawdust. The second I get up two posts but miss my timing and crash, rolling to avoid a clumsy stumble. The wooden bar hits my face. My nose hurts but is not broken. What if I can’t do this?

In the mines, you’re whipped if you don’t work. People get whipped to death.

I get back up.

The third time I focus on how the swing of my legs gives me lift. Sheer grit propels me. When I reach the fourth set of posts and lurch onto the resting platform, I collapse, panting. My arms feel like they’re going to break apart, my nose throbs, and my hands won’t open because they are cramping.

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In the mines, overwork, rockfalls, or bad air will kill you no matter how obedient and hardworking you are. No person sold to the mines comes out alive.

I breathe through the first few moves of the menagerie called cat, all slow stretches.

Finally I stop shaking, uncurl my hands, and go on. I enter Rivers rather than Traps next because I’m betting they’ll have rigged Traps for strength too. The spectators watch in silence, brushed by flows of murmuring as one of the others manages a neat trick, nothing I can see.

I get through Rivers well enough but I know I am far behind when I hear an adversary enter the maze of Pillars behind me. I am pretty sure it is Lord Thynos. I scramble hard, refusing to let him pass me, and in fact I catch a glimpse of him in the maze as I climb the resting platform and then dash for Traps.

When I brush past the gate, I see Talon on the ground rubbing her ankle. Daggers would have a friendlier impact than the piercing stab of her gaze. I stare back at her in a way I ought not.

No one on the court will ever intimidate me. Never. This is the only place I am truly myself.

A trainer’s whistle shrills. A crease of fierce anger lights Talon’s face so startlingly that the whole world seems to shift under my feet like I’m seeing a vengeful spirit instead of a person. Darios has pulled her from the run and she’s furious.

I’ve allowed myself to become distracted. Focus. Focus. Focus.

The first task in this Traps is another jumping ladder, this one higher than the last. It’s the only way to reach the beams and ropes. My courage plummets.

Think first, Anise taught us.

Don’t see what everyone else sees, Father would often say. See what they are missing.

The rules of the Fives give each obstacle a specific restriction: In Trees you have to complete all the climbing tasks, although you are offered a choice between a short path with harder tasks and a longer path with easier ones. In Traps you have to get through the entire course without touching the ground; otherwise you have to go back and start over.

So I race up the ramp, leap, and just catch the bar. I don’t jump the bar because it’s not required in Traps; that was Talon’s mistake. I hook a knee over and pull myself up so I can just climb the side post. It’s got no flair but it’s easy. The rest of the balances and bridges are simple except for the intimidating height, but the trap is sprung when I discover that the last trap needs the wooden jumping bar to fill it in. It’s easier to go back to the beginning and do it over again, this time bringing the wooden bar with me. pqdm.com