Death Wish

Oshar looked down on the final penitent with interest. He had returned here several times over the past several days to see how they were faring. The teen Silina had woken from the dream screaming but a day into the trial. The priests had carried her from the room and Oshar had watched them ushering her away to wherever the failures would be kept. Handmaids for the victor he suspected, though a quick and quiet death would surely be the most efficient solution to the surplus.

From his vantage point Oshar had seen the younger girl fall the previous evening. She had doubled over and then fell to the ground unconscious. At this point the failure could be as much to do with dehydration and hunger than any true test of the spirit. Five days was a long time to remain kneeling with no food or water, regardless of whether the penitents were conscious for the ordeal.

From time to time the priests would enter and drip water into the mouths of the three... now one. He considered the ease of which poison could be secreted into that vital liquid. A small drop of the blue dragon would surely do the trick.

He looked down now at Islana as she knelt alone and oblivious to the passage of time around her. Could it be that this girl, this foreigner could steal the precious gift that was the birthright of his people. His hand gripped the grip of his dagger until his knuckles were rendered white with rage.

Perhaps she would fail. Perhaps she would fall and be carried away into obscurity. He prayed to the twins that it would be so.