Solis strode into the arena beside Phoenix, eyes not on her nor Telsan, who walked at the front of the group, but on the strange imprints in the piecework stone floor, and the styles of garb that the other five contestants wore. The strength of the wind, just a bit too heavy for good flying weather. He was waiting, and his nervous mind didn’t like waiting.

  The mood of the crowd ringing the arena seemed to have changed, though Solis could not tell how exactly, as he’d been quite distracted in the last round. Everyone seemed to hold their breath, waiting to release the anger they surely shared over the Magnates’ cooperation with the Harbinger’s insane game plans—yet their attention was gripped now by the anticipation of excitement. The kind of excitement seldom seen in humble Megeth . . . the darker kind.

  When they were all in the marked circle, assembling in a rough ring shape, there was a pause as all looked to the Magnates, who stood twenty to thirty yards to one side. Solis was beginning to wonder what they were waiting for when a strange feeling tickled the back of his neck. He shivered, shifting his folded white wings and glancing around. The air grew darker somehow, a somber tint overtaking the horizon, and then they saw him: The Harbinger, descending from above. The black form plummeted just as the first time he graced the isle of Ameros. The Magnates apparently removed the Wards in time, as there was no crash with this arrival.

  The Harbinger leveled out his dive a hundred or so feet off the ground, spreading his wings and slowing his descent shockingly fast. The air seemed to vibrate around the black figure, and his braking came with a dense bass clap! He was in beast form, the shaggy humanoid bear with the cloak-like wings. He looked the Magnates’ way with a fiery gaze, and the three leaders stared back like guilty children. “I see I am just in time,” he said aloud, shortly before gliding down to confer with the Magnates. Probably getting the latest from them. Then he rose up once more, driving his great bulk upward on his mammoth wings.

  Solis looked about the group of eight, reading a spectrum of fear to awe on their faces. Arms crossed, the Harbinger looked down upon the arena with an ominously concentrated look. Suddenly, the ground began to quake. Solis braced himself as the arena began to collapse in places, cracking around him and especially behind, dropping away entirely just outside the ring of contestants. This allowed an eerie view of the dark cavern beneath—though not the table-strewn room into which they had stumbled—complete with rocks glowing like stars. The blackness was vivid despite the Sun’s light. The quaking did not stop there, however, crumbling the arena into jagged pieces between the eight combatants and finally dropping the floor of the cavern below into the infinite sky. Finally, Melka erected a Ward around the pit, walling them all in.

  “Now,” growled the Harbinger, “Show me what you can do. Fight until one, and only one, is standing!”

  What followed was a silent agreement between three friends to survive whilst surviving the other contestants. They would worry about the technicalities of winning once it was in hand. Solis began by making his way to Telsan, hopping over the large gaps with short wingbeats and precise footing. “Telsan! With me!”

  Solis charged on, making for one of two combatants he knew nothing about, a short but stocky youth, usually quiet, who was still eyeing up the arena warily. He was the weaponless one. Villa and Chester had banded together to fight with Tam and the other whom Solis didn’t recognize, while Phoenix hung back. Probably smart for now, Solis thought. She’ll be fine. The stocky boy turned, eyes narrowing instead of widening, and took to the air to avoid the dual attackers. Of course, they were two of the fastest, so he got nowhere before Solis had him by the feet. Telsan wrestled his arms into place with his wing wrestling technique, and the two brought him down on one of the bigger nearby floor pieces.

  Solis poked the squarish end of his blade into the boy’s ill-armored back, forcing him down against the stone. To his credit, he made no whimper or cry, though he did relax visibly when Solis demanded surrender. He wasn’t stupid enough to fight two opponents unarmed. Solis looked upward and shouted, “Take him away!”

  After the battle medics had hauled the boy out of the arena—Melka allowing them in and out through the Ward—Solis and Telsan watched the fight between the elementalist and Tapiq warriors. Chester and Villa were an unstoppable force of nature, twin arcs of fire and water working in harmony as though they’d trained together. Their assault was all aerial, surprisingly aggressive, using the advantage of their magical wings to stay afloat while spinning through the air. As Telsan and Solis approached warily, Villa caught the unnamed boy with her trident following a landing spin, throwing the water of her wings on him as a trident tine pierced his side. It caught it just so that the edge sliced the whole way through the skin, ripping free. She seemed as shocked as he, muttering a high-pitched apology. Just the same, she didn’t move to his side to check the wound as he fell clutching it. She was too smart for that.

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  The medics hovered overhead, simply watching. Villa began to call for their aid, but Chester shushed her, still trading poleaxe sweeps with Tam’s greatsword. The fallen man, cursing, got back up, still clutching his side with one hand and his morning star with the other. He came back at Villa, catching her off-guard. Fighting more erratically than before, she sucked the water back that she had doused him with, pulling him off his balance and directly onto her trident. She shoved forward even as his weight was moving sideways, and Solis gritted his teeth, knowing the young man was dead. It was a horrible thought, and he felt almost worse for her.

  Villa fell to her knees, not even bothering to pull out her weapon. Her victim clutched at it, but seemed to lack even the strength to pull it free. There was a pause in the other fight as the medics came to collect him. A hush had overtaken the crowd. When it resumed, Tam fought with a fresh vigor, anger in his eyes. At them, for killing the boy, or at the Magnates?

  Chester did not let up, however. He spun his poleaxe, driving Tam backward, and Villa eventually joined in as well. It wasn’t long before Tam was at an edge, dripping blood from a few wounds. Between ragged pants, he said, “I yield.”

  The two elementalists honored his resignation, waiting for the medics to pick him up before turning to face Solis and the birdman. Villa had tears running down her face. “Is this where we kill each other too?” she said bitterly.

  Solis shrugged his arms, which held the katana and hefty shield. “I mean, what else is there? Look, we can make this as civil as possible—”

  He cut off as a wave of heat came from his left. Someone was screaming. Turning in surprise, he began to call Phoenix’s name. He got no further before a blast hit them all, red and burning. It was too sudden to react, and he was sent flying through the air, vision confused. He hit sharp stone and let out a grunt. Fortunately, his wings softened some of the impact, but it still took a moment to get his breath back.

  Someone was laughing. And arguing . . . Phoenix? Yes, that’s . . . He sat up with a groan and got his bearings, finding himself on one of the outlying rock pillars. Telsan and Chester were nowhere in sight, while Villa lay unmoving on another stone platform. The voice was only Phoenix, babbling incoherently. She stood where they had all been moments before, staring vaguely in her victims’ direction. Her hands hung limply at her sides.

  “The fire inside . . . wants to be free. I know. But . . . but I really have to kill them all?”

  “Phoenix!” Solis shouted. “What are you thinking? Snap out of it!” He called Telsan as he rose to his feet, wincing at the pain it caused his back. His friend made no response.

  Phoenix looked his way. “I’m sorry, Solis. I can’t—she won’t—agh!” She clutched at her head, and then spewed fire outward, tongues of flame flicking from her back and shoulders around her scaled leather vest. The flames . . . stayed, licking the air hungrily. “I’m sorry, but I have to do this.”

  Her words struck a horrible, dissonant chord, and he recalled the way she’d looked following Colla’s mysterious death. The pieces started to fall into place. “Phoenix . . . no. No . . .” His friend was no murderer. But what was with her strange mannerisms and words—had this all come with the unexplainable heightening of her powers?

  Yes . . . said a cold voice in his head. Yes, this must be her doing. The shadowspinner. Do not engage this girl.

  Solis took to the air, approaching Phoenix. She didn’t move, but simply stared almost mournfully at him. “I’m sorry, Solis,” she said again as he landed. “I don’t want to . . .”

  “Phoenix, what’s going on?” he demanded, knowing that the repetition was futile. Would she really kill him? The wildness in her flames and the unstableness of her mind indicated that she might just.

  Run.

  Again, Solis ignored the voice in his head, though he felt a strange surge of strength in his bones, like the one he’d felt in the final bit of the first test, when assaulted by his teammates. Was it that strength that empowered him to deny the voice, or did it belong to the voice? Regardless, he took a couple steps toward his friend. “Phoenix, please—”

  Again he was cut off, this time by the Harbinger. “Stop the fight!” he roared.