Chapter Text
Chaos gets you killed. Yet I was standing in the midst of it waiting for the professors to let us in. Among the crowd there was forty-two other marked all scattered. Unlike all the other bright eyed, glory seeking twenty year olds us marked don’t have a choice. We have to be in the deadliest quadrant where it’s killed or be killed. We’re also marching to our death without getting to have our parents with us since the commanding general in charge of this death college killed them in front of us.
soon the line started inching forward towards the table we sign in. I pulled my thick curly hair into a ponytail. Someone grabbed my elbow, spinning me around. His glacial blue eyes pierced into me, his lips were set into a scowl.
“North, what the hell are you doing here?” He hissed, keeping his tone low.
I raised a brow, pulling my elbow free from his grip. “Signing up, just like you.”
He leaned in closer, “You have another three years.”
“I want it to be on my terms. Besides, the streets aren’t what they used to be.”
He frowned, “What the hell does that mean?”
“Barlowe.” I sighed, “I’m a pretty marked girl on the streets of Navarre. I know you’re more brawns than brains but you aren’t that stupid.”
He scowled, “So disappear. You’re good at that.”
“I don’t want to. Now focus on yourself before you get me killed.”
He stared at me. “You’re insane, you know that?”
I shrugged, facing forward. “I’ve been called worse.”
Jack huffed before shoving a few other cadets out of his way, until there was a good few between us. I let out a breath. At least he’s loyal to the code.
Eventually I got to the front of the line where Garrick sat next to a scribe. Garrick’s eyes widened at the sight of me. If he ratted me out, I would find a way to skin him alive. I paid him no mind as I signed my name on the scroll. My name would instantly give me away but luckily for me, Not much was ever known about my family. Much less how old I was.
I passed the table, heading up the flight of stairs. I huffed at the crawling pace we were forced into as we were packed into the stairwell like sardines. A few flights in and the young man in front of me was already wheezing. They weren’t going to make it if they were already winded. he managed another flight before doubling over to catch his breath.
I rolled my eyes, slipping a knife free and pressed it to the small of his back “If you don’t keep moving, I will traumatize the rest of the candidates by throwing your body over the side of the stairs.”
The guy tried to twist around, I dug the knife in deeper. “Move.”
He swallowed but kept moving. Eventually we reached the start of it where — FUCK! I quickly pulled my hood up, over my face. My mind whirling with ways to get past him without him knowing.
No wonder the line had been crawling, they’re asking everyone their names. Fuck! I am so screwed. Xaden was staring directly at me. He’s going to be so pissed.
He ignored the idiot in front of me, letting the other rider beside him get the poor guy’s name. When I stepped up he stared me down. I kept my gaze straight ahead.
“Name?” he grit out.
“Cedar North.” I stepped past him onto the parapet directly behind the guy in front of me. I feel Xaden’s eyes on my back as we walk forward. I let the guy get about a quarter of the way on the parapet before pick pocketing his weapons and grabbed his pack, roughly forcing it off his shoulders. I hooked my leg under his, making him trip. He fell sideways off the parapet, down towards the river, hundreds of feet below. I heard somewhere that it’s not the impact that kills you but the fall itself. It was the most merciful death Basagaith would allow.
I put the man’s sack on, over my chest and continued walking the stone platform. Many only brought one bag, which was stupid when the rules are you can bring whatever you can carry across the parapet. The wind was picking up, pushing against me. I adjusted my footing, going quicker along the stone pathway. If you knew how to work with the elements and you had good balance it wasn’t as bad as most try to make it sound. Then again most people weren’t jumping rooftops and balancing on narrow ledges since they were thirteen.
Ahead of me a young woman lost her balance when another gust hit us on the parapet. I quickened my steps to catch her just before she fell.
“Give me your bag, It’ll help you stay on.” I told her, giving her a smile.
She hesitated, already eyeing my full load.
“I’m used to this sort of thing.”
She gripped her bag before relenting and passing it to me. Once I had it in my hand, I pushed her off. I watched her hazel eyes widened as she tipped over before her screams drilled into my ears. I felt nothing for her. I crossed the rest of the parapet. I froze on the edge of the parapet as piercing green-gold eyes met my identical ones. I looked back towards the parapet where the next candidate was approaching. I definitely should have waited three years. I sighed, clutching the stolen bags tighter, raising up my shields so my older brother couldn’t mentally talk to me. I stepped down from the parapet.
“Cedar North.” I told them for their scrolls, not meeting Chase’s glare that pierced into me.
I quickly moved past them and found a hidden alcove knowing that he wouldn’t be able to chase me down while having to wait for the first years to cross. I untied my boots that were dangling from my pack to put them on. Then I opened both stolen packs to see what supplies I had gained. I gathered the personal items and went back to the parapet, much to the riders confusion I climbed back on after the next candidate jumped off and tossed the personal items off the side.
I went back to the bags and sheathed the daggers on my person and in the bags tied around my waist. Then I moved the packed food into the bag on my back and dumped out the books and clothes onto the ground. I put the books back in first before rolling the clothes into one bag leaving the other empty in case they had a problem carrying one and not wearing it. I put the full bag on over my chest and carried the now empty bag further into the courtyard and found a relatively empty corner. I pulled out a sharpening stone and went to work on my new daggers, not trusting their previous owners knew how to keep them in proper condition. That and it usually meant people would leave me alone.
Unfortunately, I had forgotten about Chase’s blue haired twin. My sharp senes hones on Tide’s familiar salty scent as he heeled boots softly hit the stone below her feet. I was good at keeping my walls up and ignoring the overwhelming information my heightened sense assaulted me with. But wolves were harder to ignore. Especially Kin. They stood out like a beacon in the noise.
I refused to look up from my sharpening stone as I traded out my knife for another one. Tide stood directly in front of me, her bare arms - one’s that were free of the rebellion relic were crossed over her chest.
When she didn’t leave after a minute I sighed, risking a glance up. My stomach plummeted at the mix of anger and overwhelming dissapoint swirling in her gold rimmed, sea-green eyes.
I sighed, looking back down. “If you keep making it so obvious then people are going to realize we don’t just share an odd eye colour.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t put your walls up against us. Or better yet, not being here.” She all but growled.
I glanced around at the chaos around us. “It’s a bad look for the unmarked to be fraternising with the marked. Not to mention a second year talking to a fresh-faced cadet.”
Her eyes flared. “Like anyone is going to notice in this chaos when we still have hours to wait.”
At least Xaden would have made my death quick.
Tide knocked her boot against mine. “Cedar, you disappeared and then all of a sudden you show up here apparently Three years older than you’re supposed to be.”
I winced, “You wouldn’t understand.”
She scoffed, tucking her bright blue braids behind her ear, making the gold trinkets softly clink together. “Try me sappeling.”
I shook my head. “Not here.”
“Fine. But that means you have to deal with Chase.”
I groaned, scowling up at her. “For Fuck’s sake. Just kill me now.”
She grinned, “Oh, no. That would be far too merciful for what you’ve just done.”
“Then are you going to leave me alone?”
She hummed, looking me over before pausing at the two extra bags. “How the hell did you carry all those up the stairs and over the parapet? I reconize Anubis’s bags but the other two?”
I grinned meeting her gaze, “The rules are we just have to cross the parapet to keep bags not that we have to bring them up with us.”
The disappointment was back, her shoulder dipped. “Tell me you didn’t.”
I shrugged, “Survival is a bitch.”
“What happened to you?”
My gaze hardened, “Survival is a bitch.” I repeated.
She looked me over as if I was a stranger which, for the last four years, I have been. She looked over the crowd, toward the entrance to the parapet where her twin was.
“We’re going to talk again, but you’re right. I shouldn’t be drawing attention to us.”
I nod, focusing back on the knives that didn’t really need sharpening. She walked away, melting into the crowds - despite her bright blue hair, leaving a pit gnawing at my stomach that weren’t the usual stabs of hunger.
Over the next couple hours, more cadets slowly fill the corridor as a storm rolls in overhead. I titled my head up, I closed my eyes giving myself a moment of vulnerability as droplets hit my dark skin, running down my face.
I counted to ten before opening my eyes, scanning the courtyard once again. Second and third years were slowly filtering in as well, meaning the first challenge of conscription day was nearly over.
Another hour passed before the bells rang and the riders taking names joined the mass. Xaden was with them, he scanned the courtyard before his dark onyx eyes met mine. He looked away soon after but I saw some of the tension in his shoulders ease slightly. He turned walking up the dais with nine others.
An older man stepped forward and the crowd slowly fell quiet.
“Three hundred and one of you have survived the parapet to become cadets today,” The man began, giving a smile meant to fool the crowd into a false easiness. “Good job. Sixty-Seven did not.”
My mind flashed to the two that I put onto that list. There would be more names added. Murmurs rose from the first years around me. I tuned them out.
“As the codex says, now you begin the true crucible!” The man shouted, clearly hyping up the cadets. I tuned the rest of his speech out.
He droned on for a few minutes and then gave the stage to a younger woman. She called out to the second and third years to get into formation that we were soon to join. I got called into Second Squad, Flame Section, Second Wing. I let out a breath seeing that Xaden wasn’t in charge of it.
That relief is dashed after everyone is sorted when Xaden goes over to our Wing Leader. The woman that spoke earlier calls for us to switch with some other squad. I mentally curse Xaden until I realize he isn’t looking at me, instead he’s looking at the woman in front of me with the silver tipped hair.
I follow the rest of the squad to Fourth wing. I couldn’t help but drag my feet a little. Not only was I now under Xaden’s fucking supervision. It was going to be easier for him to get me alone so he could yell at me. Maybe I should’ve waited the three years so he would be gone. I let out a long sigh. His dark gaze flicked to me. The only reaction i gave was a raised brow.
His jaw ticked, and forced himself to look away. He scanned his Wing. “You’re all cadets now. Take a look at your squad. These are the only people guaranteed by Codex not to kill you. But just because they can’t end your life doesn’t mean others won’t. You want a dragon? Earn one.”
I rolled my eyes seeing cadets around me pale. What he didn’t mention was that no killing didn’t mean others in your squad couldn’t make you wish for death. It would make more than a few get a false sense of security towards their squad.
The courtyard fills with cadets cheering. I scanned the sections for the marked, scowling at the ones joining in on the cheers. Those were the marked that barely had the right to call themselves marked. Their parents had kept them too far removed from the realities that got their parents killed. They were the closest to being Navaren.
Xaden’s voice rose over the crowd, looking at the silver haired one again that surprisingly also kept silent. “And I bet you feel pretty badass right now, don’t you first-years?”
The cheering got louder. I smirked realizing where he was going with this.
“You feel invincible after the parapet, don’t you?” Xaden shouts. “You think
you’re untouchable! You’re on the way to becoming the elite! The few! The
chosen!”
The cadets cheering was soon accompanied by the beating of wings. I looked down to the stone beneath my feet to hide the grin.
The dragons land on the walls surrounding us. Their beating wings sending gusts of wind that funneled through the courtyard. A cadet behind me knocks into my back, sending me a step forward. I twist around to scowl at the idiot.
“Keep your balance.”
“Sorry i’m human, unlike you.” he retorted.
I huff, looking up towards the beasts. The wolf in me bristled at the larger predators. It still baffled me that my siblings had willingly bonded with these beasts.
The navy blue one looked down our line and exhales a blast of heat at us. Between the rain and the dragons, my hair was going to frizz. The rain was keeping me cool but it was slowly starting to ease up. There was eight dragons in total, all staring us down like we were snacks. I had to force down the low growl building in my throat.
A few cadets from other Wings bolted back towards the parapet. They were dust before they even made it halfway. That was the second merciful way to go. Heat crawled up my back and sides from the blast. I could feel my face flush. I slowly took off shades old jacket. My senses dulled as my head swam.
“Anyone else feel like changing their mind?” Xaden shouts, scanning the
remaining rows of cadets, he had a similar expression to the blue beast behind him. Of course he’d get the most terrifying. “No? Excellent. Roughly half of you will be dead by this time next summer.”
The formation is silent except for a few untimely sobs from my left.
“A third of you again the year after that, and the same your last year. No one cares who your mommy or daddy is here. Even King Tauri’s second son died during his Threshing. So tell me again: Do you feel invincible now that you’ve made it into the Riders Quadrant? Untouchable? Elite?”
I saw the corner of his mouth lift up. He was enjoying this. I couldn’t blame him. It was one of the few times he could humble the Navarrians without it looking like treason.
Another blast of steam hits our wing. I scowl as sweat dripped down my back. My vision swam as my head felt heavy. I widened my stance enough to stay standing. The rain was barely falling anymore. I looked to Xaden hoping he would realize and if I was right and that blue one was his, he would make her direct the blasts of steam elsewhere but he wasn’t looking at me.
I missed the last part of what he said. Soon we were starting to walk out of the corridor. Chase came up to me in the chaos and grabbed my waist, helping me to keep my footing. “Walk.” He commanded, leaving no room for arguments.
I stumbled, leaning heavily against him. I followed his lead away from the dragons into the mage-lit stone hallway that was currently bottle-necked with cadets. The air is instantly cooler than it was out in the courtyard, even with the chill of the rain. we’re funnelled down a hall and Chase grabbed the sleeve of a pink haired woman I vaguely recognized. The woman turned clearly about to yell when her eyes widened seeing me. I closed my eyes, leaning further on my big brother. The roar of all the cadets that I could no longer block out, faded until there was no sound at all.
I gasped when cold water hit my face. My eyes shot open as I spat the water out. I looked around, finding myself in a small alcove with the pink haired woman in front of me. My body also felt lighter. I glanced around and my bags weren’t anywhere. I glared at the woman.
“What happened to my bags?”
The woman blinked, “You mean all the bags that somehow didn’t pull you off the parapet? Chase took them to your dorms. Which speaking of, I knew you had a death wish after you pulled your stunt during the execution but I didn’t think you were this much of an idiot.”
I scowled, calming down knowing my bags were still mine at least. “Who the hell are you?”
“Imogen.”
My eyes widened. I was so screwed.
She huffed, “Come on North. We need to get you to dinner, luckily you’re already in black so you’ll blend in. I’ll figure out how to get you standard issued clothes later. For now we have to make it look like you’ve been apart of the group.”
I nod and follow her down the corridor to the mess hall. It was loud when we got there and there was still a large line for food. I joined the back of it and no one paid me any mind.
My mouth watered at the full plate of food I got. I breathed in the aroma and cherished the kind of warmth that food gives off. I scanned the tables and found Jack was already surrounded by a group of young men. I saw some of the marked at a table with Narvarrian cadets but there was already too many clustered together. Then I found an empty spot at the table the silver haired woman and the other woman who had kept close to her since the courtyard. Another woman with short black hair sat beside them was the man that pushed into me and another man beside him.
I sighed, knowing the marked would not take kindly to one of them sitting with a Sorrengail. Though I’ve never fit with the marked anyway. I went over and took the empty seat without asking.
The groups conversation slowly died as they stared at me.
“I’m just here to eat. There’s limited tables.”
The silver haired one looked to my rebellion relic on full display without Shade’s jacket overtop. I dug into my chicken.
“Relax Sorrengail, only Navarrian punish the children of their enemies.”
She flinched, the young man from earlier staring at me with his mouth hanging open.
“I knew you were not a people person but damn.”
I shoved a piece of chicken in my mouth. It took all my self control not to melt as the juices ran over my tongue. My grip tightened on the ceramic and I couldn’t help but slightly hunch over it. I shrugged, keeping my expression neutral.
“I’m not here to make friends.”
“Clearly.” The woman beside Sorrengail muttered.
i reached for another roll of bread in the middle of the table and when no one was looking, I slid it into one of my pockets.
“Rumour is you killed two candidates for their belongings.” The woman with the short hair said.
“Before you accuse me of murder, you should introduce yourself. I heard it makes murderers harder to kill you if they see you as a human.” I smirked at her. She bristled, glaring at me.
“Sawyer.” The redhead said. “And you?”
“Cedar North.”
Everyone at the table shared uneasy looks.
I rolled my eyes, “You don’t want your food getting cold and we only have so long to eat. I suggest you stop wasting time.”
“You’re the forgotten North.” The man that pushed into me earlier said.
I rolled my eyes, “I never did like that title. My family were just private.”
“You killed two Navarrien soldiers before anyone even knew you were at the execution.” Sorrengail said.
“Everyone knows that. Now are ya going to tell me your names like civilized humans or do I have to keep mentally calling you Sorrengaill, woman two and woman three, idiot and Sawyer.”
The woman next to Sorrengail looked to the other girl. “Am I girl two or three?”
I stabbed a carrot. “I’m going from Sorrengail to Sawyer, guess.”
“Names Tara.” The woman with the short hair said then pointed to the one beside Sorrengail. “That’s Rhiannon. The one you call idiot is Ridoc and Sorrengail is Violet.”
I nodded, “Was that so hard?”
Ridoc huffed, “Sorry it took us a second while you were insulting us.”
I stabbed another carrot, “If I was insulting you it’d be much more personal then just calling you what you are.”
Ridoc scowled, “I should’ve bumped into you harder. I finished my meal and stood. “That’s your mistake.” I smirked. I turned to put my plate away and waved back to them without looking back.
“You know she was playing with you, right?” Sawyer told the table once he thought I was out of earshot.
“I don’t trust her.” Violet tells them.
“She seems like she’ll be a problem.” Rhiannon agreed.
Tara hummed, “I think we have to be careful. But during the entire conversation she was guarding her plate, and her shirt hangs off her like she doesn’t have much weight to her-”
I tuned them out like the rest of the noise as I left the dining hall.