Belvedor and the Four Corners (Belvedor Saga Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

they found a particular stone, the size of a small child, which wobbled under her touch.
    Pushing her fingers on the stone, it fell inward, landing with a thud. Her mind lurched backwards as she placed her hand in the center of the cold rock, remembering the moment which had led her there so long ago.
     

     
    “I’m trying, really I am,” she said, breathless.
    “Not hard enough!” screeched her trainer. “Pick up your damn sword, you lazy excuse for a girl!”
    Another swing came at her head, but she lifted the heavy, wooden blade. She moved quick enough to block the strike, but the weight of the blow left her back on the ground, sweating in panic. Mud covered every inch of her, and a large gash bled above her elbow.
    “Come on, get up!” said her opponent, a boy in her ninth-year group. Everyone always praised his skill. “Practice makes perfect.”
    His sword pointed at her face, waiting for her next feeble attack. He looked like a real warrior standing over her then, a scar across his chest.
    “I swear on the High King, if you don’t get back on your damn feet, I’ll have you thrown in the Pit, twenty-two,” said the trainer. The man stayed faceless in her memory, but his voice sounded cold and rigid.
     Nothing scared her more than the Pit. No slave could survive that punishment. Even with the fear of that fate weighing on her, she knew she couldn’t win this battle.
     “I can’t… I can’t fight anymore. I’m not strong enough,” said young Arianna. “I yield.”
    Her sword dropped to the ground. The other slaves in her group laughed, all except one, a flaxen-haired boy who just stared in the other direction. Liam.
    “You’re pathetic. Absolutely not worth a single second more of my time,” said the trainer. “In this world, you earn your freedom! You’ll be lucky if you ever even see a glimpse.” She prayed for that luck.
    He turned and walked out of the arena with the others at his heels, leaving her alone with the boy who mocked her with his smile. As beautiful as he was, she hated him then. “Next time at least make it a fight. You’ll be dead and buried in the tombs before you reach your next ceremony,” he said with a smug smirk.
    The boy slung his wooden sword to his side and then spat at her feet. He left her there alone, whistling the tune of the Free Bird as he went.
    A few weeks later, he died
    “This is the destiny you choose if you forget your place here,” said General Ivo. “Look upon the child that was destined for greatness. Now he’s nothing more than a rotting corpse. May freedom find you in death,” he said with a sinister smile as he dropped a single white rose into the Pit.
    Arianna had never before seen such a beautiful flower outside of books and scrolls. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the darkness as it swallowed up the rose. She wondered at that moment if the general spoke the truth.
    Would his soul be set free even though he died a slave? She hoped not. She hated that boy even in death.
    “Mark my words,” said the general. The entire crowd silenced in order to hear. “You are nothing more than a number here, and I’ll not hesitate to snuff out the slightest hint of defiance inside of these walls. Dismissed.”
    The crowd dispersed to get back to their duties, and Arianna found the motivation to train harder. 
     

     
    As Arianna climbed through the hole in the mountainside, she reflected on the emotions of that day in her past. The embarrassment she felt, and the humiliation that had led her to hide under the barracks all came back to haunt her now.
    Desperately wishing for a way to escape the little boy and the taunts of her ninth-year peers, something had answered her prayers all those years ago. When she had leaned her small body against the loose rock, she revealed a secret like none other. Now, at seventeen, she had traveled there countless times.
    Replacing the stone in its rightful stance, she became blinded in momentary darkness.