Bloodied Grins

Kathrine scrambled over the barricades slamming her back against the wall. She swung her sniper rifle up, gazing through through the scope for barely a second before pulling the trigger. The bullet slammed into her opponent, moments before he would have thrown his own knife to slit her throat.

She stayed there for a handful of heartbeats, catching her breath as she listened to the sounds going on around her.

She peeked over the edge of her the barricade out into the rest of the arena.

Figures fought everywhere she could see, long braids half drenched with red, short hair matted in dried blood, and dented helmets that now adorned the bodies of those they failed to protect.

Teenagers and adults alike clenched weapons in blistered hands, while all around a surrounding crowd cheered.

The Warcraft Trials.

Whenever the ruler of the Enamored Throne, the leader of the realm, died. Any citizen over the age of seventeen had the chance to join the Trials.

It was a series of tests, situations, and outcomes that were designed so that, only the quickest, most cunning, most willing to do whatever it took, would come out on top, and become the next Quinn (King/Queen) of the land.

Kathrine’s birthday wasn’t for another month, but no one else needed to know that. This was her chance to do something. To be able to make a difference, to change things.

She had passed the first test easily. All she’d had to do was run, it was so easy, especially with the monsters getting distracted by the slower contestants. 

This second one was going to be a bit trickier. Almost five hundred people had walked through the arena gates today, the goal? Only fifty could leave, be one of the fifty.

She didn’t know how many were left, but from the looks of it, this wouldn’t go on much longer.

Katherine brought her scope up again, aiming for a boy with red hair. She missed, but only because he tripped at the last second, the bullet nailed the girl he’d been fighting instead.

Katherine didn’t know the girl’s name, she didn’t know anyone’s name, it was generally a bad idea to get close to anyone in the trials.

The boy’s head whipped around, spotting her, he waved in thanks. She would have dropped him too if the ending bell hadn’t rung to signify that the trial was over.

Katherine lowered her rifle after chambering a round and wiping her bloody hands on her pants; she gave him a friendly wave as well.

He walked over to her and her brain instantly supplied her with an archive of information.

5’9”, height advantage on his part. Steady stride, easy posture despite the crimson splattered on his cheek. Well trained then, he knew how to fight. His weapons of choice were two swords, one on his hip, probably around two feet long and another sword was strapped to back, this one a monstrous four feet long. But she was more wary of the bullet mags attached to his belt. She didn't see a gun.

His eyes scanned, gauging her as well. He nodded, satisfied she wasn’t a helpless child, she did the same and some sort of agreement seemed to make its way between them.

They didn’t know what the next trial would be, they both knew the other could fight, and it might be useful to have an ally, at least for a little while, then they would part ways when the time came.

His name was Brett, he wasn’t seventeen either. They’d both laughed over how easy it was, to get that lie past the administrators.

They had a week before the next trial. So, they trained and prepared. Everyone whispered about what it would be, more fighting? A puzzle of intelligence? An impossible task?

No one knew for sure; Katherine didn’t worry, she would do whatever it took to get herself on that throne.

Brett knew too, he’d watched her train, watched her fight. It would be a shame for either one of them to die, it was a shame they couldn’t rule together. Normally he would have left the thought at that, but he had seen her in action, seen the gleam her eyes got whenever she had her rifle in her hands.

He knew he would never be able to beat her, fair or unfair fight, he would lose.

So, he went looking for a way that would get him through this alive, she could win, he would just have to find a way to win with her.

Katherine was sharpening her throwing blades; it was two days before the next trial, when Brett came to her with, with a smirk stretching across his face, and a secret held in his hands.

He whispered of ascending the throne, of her hopes and dreams, of him at her side. He told her what they could become for this kingdom, and he told her of how they could do it.

Her grin was all the answer he needed.

Hell yes.

They would talk about those Warcraft Trails in the years to come.

Talk about the girl with sniper rifle and the boy with dual blades.

Talk about the mysterious disappearance of various administrators, and how they both seemed a little younger than they should be.

The talk of how overnight, a visiting king and queen were poisoned.

The kingdom thrust into a civil war and the other contestants found dead, their bodies still quivering in a pool of water that thrummed with electricity.

The realm had needed a ruler, only two had been left. The boy shouldn’t have lived, but in the haste to get a ruler on the Enamored Throne he was overlooked.

The girl became the High Quinn. By the time anyone thought to ask about the boy, he had been so thoroughly cemented among the councilors, generals, and leaders, that it was far too late to remove him. Doing so would only anger the Quinn and destabilize an already precarious nation.

Atop the throne Kathrine smiled as she carried out her darkened dreams. Placing the crown from a newly conquered kingdom in the forge.

It would be melted down just like all the others, made into the soles of her boots.

Brett grinned back at her as he sharpened his sword, who knew that an agreement between two underage contestants, could prove to be so beneficial?