I choose Power

ONE

"I will take the Behemoth this year. I have to, I made a bet with Zanaf. I get her gold spiked helmet if I win!" Peony screeches and Dahlia winces. 

"And what does she take if she wins?" Rose asks, raising her arms for the squire to place her armor on her shoulders.

Peony sulks. "My jade snake pendant." They all groan simultaneously. The pendant was their mother's gift to her last year for their sixteenth birthday. Everyone knows how much Peony loves snakes but neither that nor the mesmerising jade is the best thing about it. The pendant is ensorcelled so that the wearer never has to worry about being on the receiving end of Voice again. It Voids all efforts and also magnifies the wearer's Voice. It is perfect for Peony, who has always had a powerful Voice. With the pendant, she is nearly unstoppable, except of course by Cecille, one of our oldest sisters.

Rose had been gifted a section of the palace which had been built like a puzzle. Countless blocks line the room, so heavy someone with an average Strength could never dream of lifting them, all shaped like different pieces of a whole. Instructions are carved into each piece, some reading 'Assemble' and others, 'Pulverise'. There is also magic in the stones because the 'Assemble' parts have to be placed exactly or they do not fit, and the 'Pulverise' parts have to be smashed completely or they do not make a sentence which will be a crucial clue in the assembling of the pieces. The puzzle is a test designed to test her strategizing skills, as well as build up her strength. Their mother promises that when she finally assembles puzzle, her reward will emerge, wilder than her wildest imaginations. Rose spends all her spare time in the room now, and is often seen stomping out in frustration, leaving a trail of broken floor in her wake.

Lily had gotten a hawk, not the raven she has always wanted because ravens are bad luck, their mother says. It did not matter much because Lily and her hawk, ironically named Raven, are now inseparable, as evidenced by the occasional cawing from the bird perched on the window sill. Lily had taken a challenge to race her pet and they are often seen, the bird flying overhead and Lily flying over the field below. She says one day, she will be faster than her hawk. The day is not today, or any day at all.

Dahlia had gotten a Splayer, an abominable mix of a horse and a saber-toothed tiger. A Splayer is one of the most coveted animals in the world, the animal being the fastest and most dependable travelling companion. They can run for days without tiring, jump impossible distances, tear apart foes with only their teeth and swim across water if need be. Their top halves are mainly tiger while their lower halves are all horse. Her Splayer, Kaderin, is sandy grey in colour with a large mouth filled with sharp teeth as long as her hand, a long mane of hair, and the fiercest most intelligent grey eyes. She would never trade it for anything in the world.

"A golden spiked helmet will not save your hide if you win and Cecille loses." Lily says, sitting down on a chair with a groan of metal. Her armor is most like Dahlia's, light and supple, designed to aid her speed and agility.

Dahlia scoffs. "She cannot win every year. I'm taking the Behemoth this year, and Freya help whoever stands in my way."

Peony titters. "How many times did you practice saying that pretty speech?" They all laugh and she grabs a wooden ball and throws it in Peony's direction. Lily is there right before it hits her shoulder, the ball in her hand.

"Not fast enough, Lily." She says, flexing her biceps to test the strength of her ties. Her squire picks up her helmet and places it over head. "You want to catch it right in the middle, makes more of a statement."

"I'm getting there." Lily says, throwing the ball out the window and sitting back. The squire places her helmet on her head. A moment later, there is a shriek of outrage from outside in the yard and they all freeze for a second before bursting into laughter.

"Welcome, my people, to the Annual Behemoth Challenge." Queen Thalia Tallhorn the eleventh says. She stands on a raised dais designed for the entire royal family. The royal children, however are all in the Yard with the rest of the competitors. Her husband, King Consort Silas Tallhorn stands beside her. Behind them on a tall ornate throne sits the King Consort's mother, Cassia Liman, a funny old woman known for her jokes. The guards present are a formality, for nothing rarely happens in the kingdom that is not in the control of Queen Thalia. The king and queen are similarly attired, in simple white silk that wraps around their royal bodies and gives a lot of room for movement. The Tallhorns are fighters first, and decorators somewhere down the line. A silvery cape floats over her slender shoulders. The only adornment on the queen is her huge ancestral crown, laden with the rarest jewels and passed down from generation to generation of Tallhorn queens from the beginning of time. The only adornment on King Silas is his slender iron crown, which arcs sharply up in the shape of a hawk taking flight.

The people of Solaria fill up the Yard, the largest clearing in the kingdom, used to host the biggest, most important outdoor ceremonies. Around the Yard are numerous raised seats completely surrounding it. Every family is present or represented, and the seats are completely filled, with even more people left to stand behind. It leaves a large space in the middle on which the challenges for today are carefully arranged. Every family has had the time in the past moon to present their representatives, a custom that is not compulsory on each family. The representatives are tested with new and various challenges and only if you pass are you allowed proceed to the Behemoth Challenge. All the competitors stand in the middle of the Yard now, in straight rows and columns, perfectly motionless, attention fixed on their queen. There are one hundred and sixty six contestants this year, a greater number than last year's one hundred and fifty eight.

"The Challenge has been made and our Children answer the call." She says the customary words, her voice which is never raised carrying to the farthest reaches of the gathered audience. "Who will be our Behemoth this year? We will find out soon." She raises her arms and her cape billows backwards. "With the blessings of the great mother, Freya, the all-powerful father, Oden, and the wise Valkyrie, Maxine, I bid this years Annual Behemoth Challenge, begin."

A horn sounds at the end of her statement and the competitors pump their fists into the air and shout simultaneously three times to each blessing.

Dahlia inhales deeply and exhales, shaking off her fist and rotating her shoulders, trying to rid herself of the customary nerves. She looks down the line towards where Cecille, Celeste and Celaena standing side by side, each as golden as the last, nearly identical. They could have been carved of stone the way they stand perfectly still. She tries to imagine them feeling nerves of any sort and fails. They look like they were born for this. Cecille is the most powerful Voicer that has been seen in many generations. Her scream can shatter eardrums, throw heavily armored men back, and her Voice can freeze almost anyone and make them do anything she wishes. Average Voicers cannot Voice anyone, but have destructive screams.

Celaena is the fastest of the royal family, able to accelerate to the speed of the palace horses, covering miles in one hour. She is currently the only person faster than Lily.

Celeste is the one among the triplets to have Strength, the same power as Queen Thalia. She is of course, the second strongest in the royal family, second only to the queen.

Dahlia reminds herself that she does not need any power, she is a weapon herself, forged through tests and hardships. She might be the only female Tallhorn without powers but she is not called Dahlia the Brave for nothing. She looks up at the dais, where her father and mother sits on their ceremonial thrones and her eyes lock onto her father's. With a tilt of his lips, he raises a hand and forms a slow fist with it, a sign for luck. She grins back at him.

Her helmet is jarred and her head rattles as Rose smacks the back of her head. "No fair, you are his favorite." Rose says with a grin.

"Oww! I would throttle you if we were not about to begin the most important challenge of the year." She says, adjusting her helmet. "Perhaps, I do have to be good at something. Hey!" She shrieks as Peony also smacks her helmet, though with considerably less force than Rose did.

"You do not need to prove anything to anyone. Powers or not, you are a Tallhorn. You do not have to do anything."

"I know that." She growls, though her heart fills with love for her three womb sisters who have never treated her differently despite her being the only female Tallhorn with no powers. To them, she was just Dahlia. "I smell sabotage. Lily, do not even think of smacking my helmet." She says to her third sister who stands beside Peony.

Lily sniffs. "Sabotage? I would never stoop so low."

"She would." Peony and Rose both say at the same time and they all burst out laughing.

Many of the competitors turn to look at them, unsurprised. The quadruplets are famous for public spectacles when they are together. Marcus, the only son of Elder Vinath looks back at them with a sneer on his lips. The boy is mean and cruel to people below him in social status and she looks forward to someday wiping the floor with his smirk. The announcer clears his throat pointedly and resumes outlining the various challenges that lay ahead of us. She focuses on him, letting his words sink in and controlling her breaths.

"And for this year's pairing," the announcer begins, "we have Cecille Tallhorn and Goliath Baywater." They both walk forward and take their designated spaces facing each other. "Celeste Tallhorn and Marguerite Jumpstone. Celaena Tallhorn and Esme Mildheart. Maximus Tallhorn and Cornelius Armsguard. Rose Tallhorn and Shamal Guilder." Rose steps out from beside her and moves forward to take her space facing Shamal, a strong bald-headed girl from amongst the commoners. The order of the names is mostly according to how well they all did the previous year. After three more pairs of names including Aurelia, Zena and Mila, her sisters, her name is finally called.

"Dahlia Tallhorn and Marcus Vinath." She automatically steps forward and begins moving to her designated space before she recognizes her opponent's name. Marcus. The gods do listen afterall. She continues walking until she has taken her space. She looks up to the ever present sneer visible beneath his helmet.

"What do I look like? A joke?" He says at a low enough volume that only she can hear him. "I am saddled with the wingless Tallhorn." Her hands clench beside her. "Tell me, Tallhorn, what are your powers? I hear you never had one." Her blood roars in her ears.

"Shut your mouth." She grits out from between clenched teeth.

"What do we call a Tallhorn without powers, I wonder. Why would a Tallhorn not have powers at all? Perhaps you are no Tallhorn. Just a mere imposter. A commoner dining among royals." He says, his grin wide and condescending.

"You dare." She growls. "You dare to accuse the royal family of treachery. To accuse the queen of treachery."

"No one is accusing the queen. Just speculating on how an impossible occurrence, an abomination, stands in front of me." He says.

She sees red.

Her hand on her sword hilt, she is surely about to attack him when the horn blasts out, cutting across her consciousness and jerking her back to her senses. Her distraction costs her. She barely has time to drop and roll away beneath Marcus's cleaving blade. She comes up and draws her sword in one single motion, barely having the time to raise it and parry his next strike, losing a little more ground.

The instruction given was to incapacitate your opponent as fast as you can and cause no grievous injury but Marcus it seems, does not care.

He is on the offensive, raining down blows and blows in fast succession. She parries, arms straining, eyes on her opponent, looking for his pattern.

"Weak. Pathetic." He flings at her between his strikes, mouth twisted with bloodlust but the words have no effect on her. She is back on familiar ground now, her sword in her hand and she will not let him distract her a second time.

When he swings at her neck, she parries and he quickly recovers and swings low, a blow that would have cleaved her stomach open if she had not danced back on her heels. He immediately gives chase, spearing at her shoulder and she slides to the side and grabs his arm, uses his momentum to spin herself to his back and slams the hilt of her sword into his head. He staggers, destabilized and she kicks his knee, blowing out his kneecap and he howls, collapsing onto his other knee. She kicks his sword out of his hand and delivers a round house kick to the back of his head and he drops like a stone.

"Scum." She says, straightening. She looks around to find many others in similar tussles. She spies Celaena a second before she crashes into the blue gel and disappears behind it.

Sheathing her sword into her scabbard, she takes off at a run, pumping her arms for speed. Celeste races past her a moment later and zips through the gel. She does not stop or lower her speed, to do that is to be stuck in the thick gel. At full tilt, she crashes into the gel, instantly feeling the resistance. With a last burst of strength, she pushes forward and the gel lets go with a twacking sound and she crashes to the floor on the other side. Turning the fall into a roll, she springs back up and and grins. The challenge has begun.

She is in an open-roofed passage of stone and there is no sign of anyone else. The gel behind her bounces slightly and she hears grunts as more people struggle to cross. Resuming a light jog, she keeps a hand on a wall to orient herself and runs until she hears the sound. Running water. Increasing her speed, she follows the sound until she comes across it a manmade ravine, dug to a width of about ten metres, she makes a guess. The walls are gouged to enable slow difficult climbing. She looks down at the bottom, about fifty metres away, overflowing with water and no stones. A fall down the ravine will be painful, but not fatal.

Taking several steps back, she gauges the distance and the wind action and takes several more backward. Just as the first person bursts into the clearing; Lily, she takes off. At her highest speed, she runs until she nearly reaches the edge of the ravine and she takes a leap. She feels the wind on her face for an instant before she tucks her legs close with her arms behind her knees, cutting through the air in a roll. At the end of her tumblesault she unfold and swings her weight forward. Not enough, but so close! She crashes into the edge of the ravine, nails digging into the edge and legs hanging off below. With a grunt and a flex of her arm muscles, she flips over the side of the ravine onto solid ground. She lay there, catching her breath for a second before scrambling back up. Lily is still on the other side, trying to gauge the distance to make a leap while several others find logs and branches they will try to fashion into a bridge. She grins at her sister before taking off in the opposite direction.

She sees the next challenge far in front of her. And her sister, Cecille. There are bows and arrows on stands and twenty prizes directly above, high in the air at an almost impossible distance. Still running, she watches her sister grab an arrow and notch it, drawing and aiming it. She releases it and after a few moments, her prize comes crashing down and she grabs it and takes off at a run. Dahlia arrives, gauges the sturdiest bow and grabs it and an arrow which she notches. Looking behind her, she finds Zena logging the trunk of a huge tree like it weighs nothing on the other side of the ravine. Lily is still there too. She looks up at the array of prizes and aims at one. Drawing the bow with all of her strength, she takes a deep breath and releases. Her arrow flies straight and true, piercing the thin line holding the prize up and her prize drops down. She leaps and catches it midair with a whoop. The prize is something hard wrapped in green-dyed linen. She shakes it but it does not make a sound. Hooking it to her belt, she takes off in he direction that Cecille had gone.

She runs through the passages until she sees a large cabin. She looks around, and finding nothing else in the area, grabs the door and swings it open. Just before she enters, she feels the familiar breeze that means one of her Speed sisters is hot on her tail and with a heave, she swings her body inside the cabin and slams the door closed, just as fists bang against it. The room is almost completely dark, but she follows an eerie glow to another door, opening and disappearing behind it. She enters five more chambers and then, there is a slightly brighter one. At the end of the room is a wide door. There is smoke swirling beneath it and a huge red eye right in the middle. The eye blinks at her and a reedy voice emerges from the general direction of the door.

"To pass, you must answer one question. If you fail, you relinquish your chance."

"I am ready." She says, facing the door squarely and looking it in the eye.

"Voiceless it cries,

Wingless flutters,

Toothless bites,

Mouthless mutters."

"The wind." She says.

The eye blinks once and then becomes cloudy and the smoke swirls from beneath the door, spinning upwards.

"Proceed, Dahlia, daughter of Thalia, descendant of Maxine."

She takes a moment to absorb the words, letting them wash away the tide of doubt that Marcus and his cruel words had incited in her.

"Thank you." Flicking her raven black hair over her shoulders, she smiles and strides across the open door.

She is instantly assailed by the light. Wincing, she shields her eyes with her hand, giving them a moment to adjust. She looks around, at the passages of stone and finds none of the other competitors. She begins jogging, her light armor a whisper of movement. She emerges from the passages into a clearing. And loud cheering. The rest of the kingdom is visible above them and they shout and and gasp in delight as Celeste grabs a spear and with a swing of her arm, sends it crashing into a ridiculously small triangular lock. The lock shatters on impact, c***k lines zigzagging from the impact and the roar of the crowd is deafening.

Not wasting any more time, she runs and grabs a spear, noticing that many more contestants arrive from the cabin and pour into the clearing. She aims it at her target, another triangular wooden lock above her and at a far distance. Putting her weight behind it, she lets her spear fly. It cuts through the air accurately and slams into the lock, splintering it. The door slides up and she races for it. She has to lean forward to keep her balance on the slope leading up to the door but at last, she stands at the top, grabs the second prize from where it hangs above her and hooks it to her belt beside the first one. Grinning, she looks out and freezes.

Extending in front of her is a beam so thin that her one foot couldn't possibly stand comfortably on it. It extends into the distance, the end unseen because a thick fog swirls around, fogging her vision. A trickle of sweat crawls from her nape down her back, she detests heights.

At the other end of the clearing, Celeste strides forward, her arms extended out to her sides for balance. A few beams farther, she thinks she catches an outline of Cecille, somewhere further out in front of Celeste. As she looks around, getting back her nerves, Celaena races up the slope, her helmet taken off and the wind in her hair and without slowing, zooms over the beam into the foggy distance, arms extended behind her. Another bead of sweat crawls down her back.

"What are you doing? Get moving!" Lily is on the beam next to hers. Her armor is entirely covered in dust.

"In a moment!" She calls back.

"See you on the other side!" Lily says cheerfully and stamping her feet to gain speed, uses the same technique as Celaena and zooms over the beam. A moment later, there is a scream and she sees a faint outline of her sister falling over the bridge down below.

"Lily!" She shrieks, looking down but she sees nothing. She is sure the fall will not be fatal but Lily will be furious.

Taking a deep breath, she does not look behind her as she raises her arms high and tilts her body sideways, a leg extending upwards until her hand touches the beam below and she grabs onto it. When her other hand touches the beam, she kicks off the safety of her wide wooden plank and concentrates on executing her cartwheel. Without looking below or letting herself think of the empty yawning space beneath her, she uses the momentum to start another cartwheel, with her hands and her legs as her safety. She loses track of time as she wheels across the beam and when her feet land on solid crowd, she straightens, surprised and elated. She made it! She resists the urge to melt to the ground in relief and on slightly shaky legs, races forward. There is an assortment of gloves, only two pairs remaining of the original five. She grabs a pair and pulls them on at a run. The last challenge is before her, a test of strength and endurance.

A high rock face towers above her, grooves carved into it for climbing. She looks up to find her three eldest sisters above her, Celeste at the helm, Cecille in the middle and Celaena below.. At a noise behind her, she turns to find her brother, Maximus grabbing the last pair of gloves and running for the wall. This last challenge is all out. The instruction for the climb is to do anything to win except cause grievous harm. Cunning is however allowed and so, she makes sure her prizes are well secured to her belt before beginning.

Quickly grabbing a pair of drills, she leaps and narrowly misses her groove but catches it at the last second, jarring her arm as she hangs suspended. Balancing her weight on the drill, she takes another leap and catches a higher groove with her other drill. Her arms burn with the effort and she lets the pain fuel her. With strong, leaping motions she is easily faster than any of her siblings and is right beneath Celaena when she shrieks.

"No! Don't you dare!"

She looks up to find Cecille grinning wickedly above Celaena and just has time to swing her weight sideways when she sends Celaena crashing down. The crowd goes wild, hooting and shouting for Cecille. Her sister's weight hits her, jarring her entire body and sending shockwaves up her arm. With a shriek, she holds on, saved from sprawling after her sister by the very point of her drill but her second drill falls from her fingers, tumbling after Celaena. Sweat pours down her body, getting in her eyes and stinging them and her arm trembles from holding up her weight. Looking up and calculating the distance she has left, not much, she removes her glove with her teeth. With her toes, she finds a groove and pushes upwards, leaping and digging her fingers into a higher groove. Her nails break and a layer of skin scrapes off her fingers but she grits her teeth and takes the next leap. Four more leaps later, she crawls over the edge and collapses at the top of the rock face and lay there, panting. When she can take a breath without it tearing into her lungs, she looks down and finds a furious Celaena at the bottom of the rock face, stuck in glue that will not let her move a muscle. They must have flooded the bottom after the five gloves had been taken. Maximus is at the middle of the rock face, drills searching for a groove.

Scrambling back up, she expects to see one of her two eldest sisters about to pick up the Behemoth prize but they are not even close.

A lone path leads from the edge of the rock face up to about fifty meters distance. And at the end of the path, on a high pedestal lies the glowing Behemoth prize. In the middle of the path, Celeste walks as if moving through molasses, excruciating step by excruciating step.

"STOP." Cecille's Voice rings out, layered like many Cecilles had spoken at once and echoing at the end of the word, and Celeste freezes as if someone reached out to her and jerked her to a stop. And then Cecille tries to go around her and Celeste's hand jerks out, sending her staggering backwards. She struggles to put a foot in front of the other again, muscles straining. Voice against Strength. A powerless person could never resist Voice, especially not from Cecille but having powers mean that you also have an extra boost and Celeste's Strength gives her enough power to push against Cecille's compulsion. The more powerful a person is, the greater their ability to resist other powers. She looks back down to where Maximus struggles upwards. He stands no chance. And neither does she.

She had not been able to reach this stage last year. Cecille had won with Celeste second, and Celaena, Rose and Maximus filing out behind them. The rest of the others had watched in frustration from below, Dahlia included. This year, Rose is below and she is above and her sister looks up at her and points urgently. She should go and get it. Perhaps Rose could have overpowered the both of them if she had been the one up here. But as Marcus has so eloquently pointed out, she is powerless. The roar of the crowd is deafening as they watch this match of inner strength but her eyes find her father's, far away on his throne. He winks at her and raises his fist again. Good luck.

With a grim nod, she takes off, running. She runs at full speed until she is nearly onto her sisters and flies, cutting through the air in a somersault and landing in front of them.

"STOP." The command comes from Cecille and she expects her body to freeze up but nothing happens and without looking back, she keeps on running, straight for the Behemoth.

"STOP!" The command is louder, more powerful. She stumbles to a shocked pause, it has absolutely no effect on her. So close! The Behemoth is just twenty meters away. Grinning, she takes off again.

"STOP!!!" Cecille's voice echoes over the rock face and in her periphery, she notices several people in the audience freeze, Voiced. Her feet fly over the ground.

"YOU ARE FREE." She hears from behind her. Her hand is extended and she is just to grab the Behemoth prize when something crashes into her helmet and her world goes dark.