Chapter Thirty-Three

Darkness covered the trail up the mountain to their plateau at the edge of the sacred valley. Harmony walked at the front of the line. The one with the shortest legs should set the pace otherwise they'd get left behind, right? Maybe if she didn't have stamina. Red, blue, green, and yellow lights bounced with the group. Harmony had chosen a blue one, the water-based light had a cool calming effect that [Cold Touch] reacted to. She'd seen enough to know its efficiency increase would only be minor.

It wasn't midnight yet. They'd get there when it opens. Loap had mastered the timing of the ticking so they wouldn't be too early or late.

"Two minutes." The bunny beast-kin announced.

Scouts had said the barrier surrounding the valley was difficult to approach while it was up. Even now, Harmony let her pace slow because of the uncomfortable scraping feeling of being too close was getting to her.

Meet at the Sacred Valley for the third competition!

The notification came paired with the dissolution of the barrier. With the resistance gone Harmony launched herself to the plateau and gazed over the valley. Darkness covered everything like it was a flat nothingness, except the valley wasn't as deep now. [Shadowed Graves] and Hyacinth provided plenty of experience with shadows.

"No…" She tossed her blue light over the edge following the light. It hit with a faint wet slap and bobbed about illuminating the dark water. All her plans washed away. They were good plans too.

"We'll need to strip! It's a water challenge!" She yelled out to the group.

The spider carapace, while solid enough armor, was too buoyant. Someone put a request on the contribution board to craft a personal raft to float on at the lake, but it was a low priority. For this competition, one wouldn't want to jump in wearing a floatation device.

Other things needed to be left behind too like Owlsley's explosive surprise and the other items she was unsure would work in the water.

Adric added his tools to the pile. A knife crafted of lightning gems and scrap metal that sparked every few seconds. Tyler dumped his king spider armor armor. Loap, well, it was more normal to see her naked anyway.

The pile grew as others added to it.

"Um. Lady White?" Gareth spoke up, the numbers man sweating and shaking.

Was there some aspect of this competition she hadn't calculated?

"I have to confess I can't swim." He finished.

While not struck dumb, she couldn't stop herself from blurting out in shock. "But you've chosen and you've evolved?" Hazeldown had a river running through it and several small lakes that were popular. Not everyone liked water, but once you chose you received physical skills with either your class or profession that knocked off physical, sensory, or balance issues that made such a basic task difficult.

"I had an incident before my choice. I just can't. I can't control myself in water." Gareth admitted.

Fear. She'd touched upon the uncontrollable nature of it often enough. Gareth had probably a mixture of fight and flight, with maybe freeze contributing to sinking? If he'd told her earlier, she could have trained it out of him using [Shadowed Graves] to try to trigger awe while in the water? Too late now.

"How bad is it?"

The way he shamefully looked away said it all. "I panic, fighting, skills and all."

She knew what he was talking about. Ultimately this was a failure in her leadership for not checking if anyone had any traits, tendencies, fears, or weaknesses that might put the team at risk. Not that the bookie shouldn't have brought it up. He'd talked about odds enough to know how such a thing could derail a match.

"Let's see what the contest is. Maybe we can work through this. You stay up here. I'll go in and see if that triggers the start."

Harmony went over the sheer cliff face. Distance shouldn't be too great to dive in, if the floor hasn't risen, there should be plenty of depth. Someone with a [Swim] skill could probably beat her, but between [Style and Grace] and [High Kick] swimming wasn't difficult. Pointing her toes she broke the plane of the water.

Get your tribes to swim through the underwater rings first and receive a feast that will last a week.

It wasn't half-step potions or even access to whatever the armory was, but in some ways, it was worse. This was the perfect reward to drive competition if every competitor was forced to eat something similar to root-spider soup, or worse. Gareth's problem was an issue, a dark corner of her mentioned that if he was dead he probably wouldn't count. An easily dismissed intrusive thought, others might not dismiss such an idea though. Someone saying they'd kill for a decent meal wasn't just a turn of phrase. Harmony kicked back up to the surface.

A rope of collected spider webs waited at the edge of the plateau. Useless in the water, as the lower portion was already starting to break down in the water. Harmony hauled herself up easily, a testimony to her vital body's improved strength even sealed.

Gareth was getting picked on. Eric loomed over the man while two other competitors flanked him. "Why shouldn't we vote you out if you cost us this competition." He demanded of the bookie.

"There isn't a reason you shouldn't." The man admitted half-panicked as the group's pressure moved him closer to the edge.

If Harmony had to pick dead weight, Eric would be at the top of the list far ahead of Gareth. "Hey! We all have weaknesses and this is his. We've all failed to admit them openly so we can compensate for them. I'm the shortest one here, and if there is a height requirement for any of these competitions, I'm out."

Eric's eyes didn't meet hers as he shifted attention to harmony but not her face, and she had the most covered chest here. "Jokes aren't fitting and we're losing the advantage of being here so early."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"Do we really have that advantage?" Harmony asked.

Milo Viners shook his head. "Papi says other groups are here already. We're the most visible with our lights."

"We're at a disadvantage because the task is to get all of our tribe through underwater rings and we have more people. Gareth had the foresight to warn us of this possibility. I say we call this a loss and plan accordingly. I have business with other tribe members. I know some of you might as well and maybe we should use this time to communicate. Maybe we can talk and trade. Contact other associates, and gain information we've missed."

Eric let out a frustrated squeal. "So you can plan against the rest of us?"

Harmony skipped forward quicker than Eric could stumble back, reaching up she lifted his head until his eyes actually met hers. Something at this point she'd wished she'd done days ago. Delve playing nice. "I'm the one with a plan to confront Felix over what he did to Kenny and his lack of sportsmanship. I don't see you volunteering to defend your fellow Calestian."

Eric flinched, but even as he jerked back he couldn't move his head back further than Harmony's strong grip would let him. "You…" he started to growl and she could feel him reach for skills. Harmony slapped him with [Final Silence], which shut him up and his skills down. Fear painted his face and she let go, allowing the man to stumble back, unaided by physical skills, and fall onto the hard ground.

His compatriots in the bullying had faded into the crowd. [Recall] wouldn't let her forget them if needed. Cliques were forming

"I know this isn't an ideal situation, but this is a long game and we have to plan for losses as much as wins. Tomorrow I'll go out and get some full meal bars, but tonight I'm going to make the best of this situation. Join me if you want or pick a new leader when we get back" The authority that crept into her voice let her voice carry over the crowd.

Adric and Tyler both puffed out their chests beside her, adding their silent support. This wasn't meant to be a debate. Time was wasting and Harmony turned away and dove back into the dark water. Others joined her. There would be consequences from this night. They'd gotten overconfident after the first competition and the runner-up finish for the second competition was still stinging even with their gains.

Hyacinth rose up beneath her, a moving mass she could stand on. Adric climbed up to join her. "Too forceful?" She asked them.

"Grooap," Hyacinth answered indifferently.

"I felt like it was leader-like. I kind of ignored those tutors. Rose could probably give you pointers if you asked?"

Rather than answer him she reached up and straightened his wet hair. Through [Familiar Bond] she assigned Hyacinth targets to hunt. Water might not be his favorite medium to hunt in. But he'd never been opposed to diving in Hazeldown's river to grab fish when hungry. She'd eaten a few he'd brought up when it was just her and him on the streets, easier to share fish than cats despite how much he'd advocated their taste and nutritional content.

The toad's powerful legs pushed them further into the drowned valley. Adric had a yellow light to help light the way. Behind her, a half dozen lights of others who'd taken her call for action could be seen getting fainter. What mess would she wake up to this morning? How much would her neck be on the line when the elimination vote happened?

Hyacinth's burst of speed and grunt through their bond signified he'd scented one of their targets.

Felix Campbell, their target, was traveling quickly above the water. It wasn't surprising that others had skills or bonds that let them travel this way. He was however riding on one of his swords, his feet balanced on the blade gliding over the top of the water. This time he didn't have his extra gripped in his teeth or oddly equipped. A sturdy harness of sheaths criss crossed his body, not that both of his hands were empty of the blades he was polyamorously bonded to. Arrogance and superiority weighed heavily on his posture.

"Mr. Campbell, what a surprise to see you. I'd like to have a word with you." Harmony started, as Hyacinth slowed his approach.

The legate blade halted his momentum, but didn't sink as his sword held him in place.

Harmony extended [Cold Touch] through her feet creating an ice cap for her and Adric to stand on as she had against the big squirt as Hyacinth sank underwater. Adric's hand gripped his sword, one of the black crafted blades she'd structured a spirit container with. His [sure-footed] skills allowed him to stand stably on the ice platform. The distance between them was carefully measured to match the extent of the attack she saw him use during the last competition.

Felix gave a bow, but never lowered his head or eyes from her. "Lady White, don't we have more important tasks to complete?"

"You attacked one of my tribe members at the end of the first competition. I think that bears having a discussion. Is blood and death how you plan on playing these games?" Death and authority coated the question adding weight to the words.

The man from the broken isles didn't react. Nothing was suppressed by a hint of frozen or glassy application of a social skill. The man simply did not care. An attitude Harmony had seen many times when someone spoiled felt everything was beneath them. "Are you really objecting to me removing a weakling early? One removes weeds and a garden thrives for it. Even if he wasn't weak he offended one of my girls, to present such a lowly compliment as nice."

His long pointy swords would be female to him. Harmony chewed a bit of fate with her heart, enough for a flash of true sight. Living yes, but female no. Each had two skills, and if they were sealed possibly more. Felix had a denseness that showed he too had an advanced body. This wasn't the battlefield to fight him on. To him Kenny was dead. He didn't know he failed.

"You don't weed another person's garden. Do you think you know women, beauty, aesthetics? All I see is someone stomping their feet into another's territory and swinging their hips wide. I don't doubt your strength, merely how you comport yourself. You take offense for others. Excise what you don't understand, unasked."

"Come to challenge me? Lenny warned me, but who thought it would be so exciting. If only you were a blade then I'd have to grip you in my fist. Sharp as you are, it would be an upgrade to your weak flesh." The sword in the man's right hand vibrated. "Oh, you've made Lux jealous. It's okay, gorgeous, you know you're all mine." Taking the sword he licked down the length of the blade, cutting his tongue in the process and leaving a streak of red.

Add crazy and creepy to arrogant. Rarely could Harmony feel Prince Adric through her pet bond. Here and now with just one signal, he'd attack. The hair on his arms was raised up the raised hackles of an angry dog. How much of Felix was true or an act? [Keen Investigative Awareness] didn't care about that, just that this wasn't the right battlefield. This would be too much of a fair fight, and that was one thing Harmony despised more than this man's presence.

A splashy emergence forestalled further words as a bubble rose up, one constructed out of a mage shield, all blurry from the water sloughing off until the top collapsed. "Plagiarized papers, Felix. We have rings to get through and you're dallying about up here?"

"Len?" Harmony asked.

"Hi, Harm." Len automatically answered before turning back to his tribemate. "I've sent you the signal ten times." Len's eyes went wide and darted back and forth between the two other competitors. "Harmony! This is bad Felix. I warned you."

"Len Bristwight, are you working with this man?"

The conspiracy theorist shrank into himself. "We're on the same tribe. I deserve to try to win as much as you do. And the riddles here. It's doing wonders for my profession."

"Lenny, Lenny, Lenny, you put your own worries on me. To have me think that this girl was a threat. I suppose I have been burning time."

"It's not…" Felix Cambpell's blade that he was riding twisted and cut a tunnel into the water he dove into, not letting Len finish. "I had him contained, barely, but contained. Now you'll have to break him. Sorry, it was the best I could do."

With that slightly cryptic bit of words, Len's shields reformed the bubble and he dived back into the ocean.

"At least we got permission now."

"I don't like that man," Adric grumbled.

Hyacinth resurfaced. "Groap." He complained about the lack of action.

"Boys." Harmony groaned, mentally poking them both.

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