Two riders emerged into the clearing, partway up the hill. I saw them as I trudged awkwardly up the slope. I had to lift my feet high to avoid tangling in the long grass. Everything was harder in the suit. But it was distinctly getting easier. As much as I felt clumsy and awkward climbing the suit, there was no comparing my fluency of movement with how I had started the day. Even since Lauren had left me, my skill had grown considerably.

I thought of the others. Especially the big dogs, Lance, Gideon, Katya. After the additional hours spent moving through the valley in their suits, fighting the monsters, how would they have improved? Had they gained fluency in the griidsuits? Were they able to move more easily, more swiftly? Had they gained attributes?

I imagined Lance, more nimble than before, and it worried me. His smugness could only have been fed by being the first to return with a fiend’s head. But I smiled at the thought as well. In a way, that had been a mistake. He would have spent many hours less in the suit than I had this day.

Then I imagined Lance adding BEAM or CUT to his armory of moves and my smile faded. I had no idea what he had achieved while Lauren and I chased our fiend.

I wanted the suit. I was beginning to understand that I wanted it for myself. Oh, I needed it for father. Needed it badly. But I wanted for me as well. But if I couldn't have it, I'd much rather see Lauren or Katya wearing it. This wasn't just me favoring them because I thought they were pretty, found them attractive. Lance was an asshole. And they had both treated my like another human being.

I wasn't a fool. I was my father's son, and, for all my lack of practice at interacting with others, I understood that people were driven by selfish motives that weren't always apparent. Both Katya and Lauren had things to gain from me. But I thought of Lauren's kiss on my cheek, Katya's playful offer of marriage. At the very least, noble-born or not, they saw me as someone with my own inherent value.

To Lance, I was nothing. At most, I was a possible threat to the established order that he and his family so valued. If he considered me at all, that was how he saw me. I was not the same species as he was.

The horsemen had seen me. They were letting their horses pick their way carefully down the slope. I pushed on. A breeze stirred the gass and I felt a strange regret at returning to the others. Apart from the time with the suit, this had been a time of peace. The time passed in the forest, with none apart from the voice to pester me, had been special.

Reaching the top of the hill, I paused to catch my breath. I was higher now, far from the valley floor. Through the trees I could see the stretch of farmland beyond me. It connected the forest to the city. Boston was only a spec from here. But, on a whim, I used SIGHT. My first level SIGHT wasn’t enough for me to see people moving at this distance, but the buildings sharpened and magnified. I smiled.

The weight of my father’s expectations plucked at me, even in a moment of pure distraction. My growing desire to have this powerful thing for my own also nagged at me. I could feel the pressure building inside of, deep in my guts. It stressed me to think I might feel this way for days to come.

The horsemen reined up in front of me. I've learned much history since that day. In a time gone by, these warriors might have been called knights, but that term was reserved for a very different category of fighter in this time. The men were mounted on beautiful chargers, horses bred for battle. Man and horse alike wore heavy armor. These men fought far from the city, when they fought. They fought far from order. It was sword and bow for men like these. They probably knew the rifle as well, but neither carried one. It wouldn’t work out here.

One of the men said, "Priest Mario sent us to find you."

His tone was respectful; for all he knew, I could be the next Sword of Boston. He knew who’s son I was. It would do him no good to make an enemy of me. My dallying had cost both of these men some hours in searching for me. He would be within his rights to be annoyed with me.

The other was either less aware or less kind. He snapped, "Come on, everyone's waiting. The day will be over when you return."

I just nodded and trudged away behind them, stumbling and tottering as I climbed the slope. An observer might have noted that my difficulty in walking only seemed to increase.

The two horsemen walked in front of me, guiding me back. As we passed under trees, the hooves crunched noisily on fallen twigs.

The two horsemen occasionally glanced back at me as we continued up the slope. They spoke in low tones to each other. They thought their low voices brought them privacy. But SIGHT wasn’t all I had added that day. It was a matter of willing it activate HEARING. Then their words came to me clearly. Their words did not lift me. It was clear they doubted my ability to succeed,. Their words stung me. Then I felt shame for invading their conversation. Having the power did not mean having the right.

Emerging from the trees at the clearing on the top of the hill, I squinted. The day had been dimming and dying. But on the hilltop there was no cover. The sunlight was harsher here. The air was different too. The earthy, green, loamy smells of the forest faded. Instead the fresh hint of salt carried on the wind from sea.

I could see the wagons lined up nearby. The nobles who had joined us for the day were already mounted. They seemed impatient. The cages that once held the fiends were empty now.

Suddenly I remembered. Through all my distraction and planning I had completely forgotten that I didn’t know I had even qualified for the next round. As I pushed through the last branches and emerged onto the clearing, the anxiety raced back to interrupt my sense of pleasant detachment.

There was no guarantee Lauren had made it back in time. If Theo and Felix had managed to return before her, all my efforts would be wasted. More than that, I didn’t know if my returning last would disqualify me in an event. I had taken a gamble and thought no more. But now the thoughts came. The thought of my father's disappointment, the loss of our fortune, and the humiliation of failure weighed heavily on me.

My ten other classmates were gathered together. They had been relieved of their Griidsuits, the black cylinders from earlier mostly reformed into their original shapes. Mario paced impatiently in front of them. Lord Baltizar and the Bishop stood off to the side, passing idle talk. Lord Baltizar looked bored, uninterested, while the Bishop engaged him in conversation.

The servants and guards were no more pleased with the delay I had caused. They had families, suppers and pints of ale waiting for them in town

As I looked on, I could see Felix and Theo standing to the side. They wore different expressions to the other eight. They glared at me with dark eyes. That darkness lifted and lowered me at the same time. It told me what I needed to know, but I didn’t enjoy the ugliness of it today any more than I had on the day before, with Olaf.

Then Lauren was jogging toward me.

I can't begin to describe the feelings I had as she ran to me. The very simple fact that she had some enthusiasm to greet me made my heart swell. She seemed to realize that eyes were on her. Lance especially scowled with disapproval at her enthusiasm. She slowed, and what might have been a hug—a dream of mine, maybe never a possible reality—became an extended hand. I reached out with my armored hand and shook hers, careful to be gentle. Her eyes were damp with relief and happiness.

She said, "I thought something happened to you."

I replied, "I'm slow. That's why I told you to come back without me."

She said, "It's been hours. You're not that slow!"

I looked sheepish, looked down, and said, "I kinda got lost too..."

She stared at me, measured me. I could tell she was thinking something, barely suppressing the desire to say it. I asked, "Does it count? Am I through too, even though I didn't make it back with you?"

Mario's voice was abrasive as he pushed her aside. "Yes. Of course, you're through as well. As much as it disgusts me, you'll only survive so long scraping past as you have. You rode her coattails to the next round, but the next round won't be so easy for you to coast through." He punched at something on the neck of my Griidsuit, and it dissolved, pouring itself along the ground, becoming a part of the cylinders.

I felt the coolness of the air again, and a strange sense of loss as the sensory input of the suit was replaced with the feeble senses I had been born with. Mario snarled, "If I could eject you, I would. I had such dread that something had befallen the suit you were wearing, the Mystorium. I beseeched the Bishop to let me send you home with those other two pathetic candidates, but the Bishop is a stickler for the rules." As he turned to walk away, he paused and looked back at me viciously, cruelly. "I suppose I'll have to wait one more day to see you removed from the competition."

As Mario walked away, Lauren said, "Tiberius, thank you. I might be going home now as well if it wasn't for you."

I replied, "No, thank you, Lauren. The only reason you were at risk of ejection was because you got lumped with me."

She paused, considered that, then shook her head. "I don't know about that. I think our fiend was the fiercest of them, the cleverest. I'm glad I was paired with you and not someone else."

I blushed, my eyes darting away from hers. She said, "Well, I guess tomorrow we'll be competing again."

"Yeah..." I thought for a moment, then met her eyes again. "Lauren, if I can't win the Griidsuit—and I probably can't—I hope you get to claim it."

It was her turn to turn her head away, but she gave me a sidelong glance with those huge eyes and smiled.