I'm really really sorry about the long wait but I hope this makes up for it even though it's really short! I still don't own any characters or plot line.
Gavner and Kurda scurried off as soon as they had dropped the twins off at their cell. It was clear neither was parental enough to bother to console the two half-bloods when Gavner tried to make them feel better by telling them that they would probably not have to face the Hall of Death since most failing vampires died while completing the trial. They spent the time waiting quietly, both too immersed in their thoughts about the prospecting trials to speak about them. No sibling moved a muscle until Larten appeared at the doorway, awkwardly standing with an arm resting on the frame.
"Gavner told me that you two did not know the consequences of failing the Trials." He almost sounded guilty.
"It's okay." Elena said managing a weak smile. "How bad can they be?"
"Bad." Arra said nudging Larten out of the way so that they could stand in the room with her family. "Hasn't Kurda told you what he calls them?"
"The trials of death." Darren muttered, fingers playing with the edge of his dark grey sleeve.
Larten shot her a steely glare. Arra simply shrugged her shoulders, feeling it was better that they know what was in store than to feed them falsities.
Larten turned his gaze away from her and towards his children. Darren sat with his knees drawn up, arms wrapped tightly around them as if he was clinging for dear life. Elena sat on the edge of her hammock, feet swinging slightly, looking at the floor appearing and disappearing beneath her. He couldn't help but feel immense guilt. He was well aware he was the cause of their current state and the suffering they would have to go through in the coming weeks was all because of him.
His guilt was overpowering enough for him to lose control over his emotionless mask and blurt out his feelings. Something that hadn't really happened since his days as a cub.
"I am sorry." He blurted, nearly sobbing. Arra regarded him with surprise, she had never seen this side of him before.
"It is all my fault you are forced to do this, I should have waited to blood you. I am so sorry." He continued, looking terribly saddened at what his children had to go through.
"I'd do it even if the Princes didn't force me." Elena said proudly. "I'd do it to prove I was worthy for myself."
Larten groaned, still sounding like he had a relatively large lump in his throat. "You are too much like your mother."
"Hey!" Arra protested, punching his arm hard in jest.
"I did not say that was a bad thing." Larten defended himself.
"It was implied." Arra challenged.
"Well I had no intention of it being offensive." Larten said wrapping his arms around her.
"Suck up." She replied, but made no move to pull away.
"So what are the trials going to be?" Darren asked still fidgeting nervously.
"There are hundreds of trials, however," Larten said as his children's eyes grew wide, "you only have to complete five each." Larten said.
"How do we know what ones to do?" Darren asked again.
"You will pick a stone for each trial, the number engraved on the stone is the same as the trial you'll take.'
"Of course, I talked it over with the Princes and they are willing to remove the trials that are impossible for a half-vampire." Larten replied.
"Really?" Darren questioned, eyes widening once again.
His father nodded, "They also found a rule that if requested, the vampire may know about his trial a day in advance so that they may train for that particular trial."
"I didn't know about that rule." Arra mused.
"Because it has not been used in centuries." Larten scoffed, "Other than this case, it would be shameful for a vampire to ask such a favour."
"What do you mean a day in advance?" Elena asked alarmed.
"Most times you only get a few hours upon knowing what your trial is to train directly for it." Arra explained.
"Then how do they pass if they only have a few hours?"
"While training before and in between you train for all the trials. There are several things tested in more than one trial you can train for."
"Like?" Elena asked.
"Well," Arra said, "Like speed, agility, endurance, those things."
"So will we have to train for those things?" Darren asked.
"Absolutely." Larten said sharply. "You would be a fool to take the trials without training for the very basics."
Arra placed a calming hand on his arm from her position of being wrapped in his embrace.
"I've already asked Vanez to train you two. He expects you in the Games Hall early tomorrow evening as soon as you've picked your trials."
"You mean you're not training us?" Elena exclaimed looking disappointed.
"It is tradition for a mentor to hand off their students training to another." Larten said. "Besides, Vanez is a good teacher, who has trained many vampire's for the trials."
"He trained me twice." Arra piped up in the hopes of making her children see that this was what was best.
"Twice?" Darren asked.
Arra smiled, "I've taken the trials three times."
"But why?" Elena asked her.
Arra's eyes hardened, "Because that's what it took for them to respect a woman."
"Oh." Elena said quietly, knowing that respect was important to the clan. She wondered if she'd have to do the same as her mother.
"But you aren't our mentor," Darren said to his mother, "couldn't you train us?"
"I could," Arra admitted, "but many in the clan see me as your second mentor as your mother."
Darren sighed, "Oh alright."
"Besides, you would not get proper training with me or your mother." Larten said.
"Why not?"
"Because neither one of us is willing to hurt you." Arra explained. "This is whats best so that you both pass. I don't really want to see my children pierced by stakes after I've trained them."
"Fine." Darren grumbled. "When do we start the trials?"
"You'll pick your trials tomorrow, and then you'll spend the rest of the night training" Larten said.
"So what do we do now?" Elena asked.
"You get to sleep." Arra said softly brushing her fingers through Darren's hair and letting her hand fall to her side. "It's getting late."
She made her way out of room, careful not to show how terrified she was about the impending trials. Larten followed suit, glancing back at his children briefly before leaving.
"Do you think we even have a chance?" Elena asked her brother dejectedly. Darren shrugged his shoulder at her, pulling back the thick animal skin blanket to avoid answering her question.
"Darren?"
He climbed into bed in silence, pretending to fall asleep immediately instead of facing the truth that he'd have to tell her he didn't think either of them had much of a chance. He believed that he at least, would be flattened in his first trial. He just hoped that he would die in the trial rather than dropping on a pile of stakes.
The next evening, Larten entered to the dim light of the cell, Harkat was missing-Larten suspected that he was being questioned for the majority of the day in the Hall of Princes. But Darren and Elena were both in their hammocks, their forms gently moving up and down with their shallow breathing. If he could, he would leave them as they were-sleeping peacefully, and blissfully unaware of the vampire world around them. However he knew that was impossible. Heavy hearted, Larten strode over to Elena's hammock and shook her awake gently, she stirred but did not wake.
"Elena." He said, shaking her again, "Honey wake up."
She mumbled incoherently before waking up, turning to look at her father with sleepy, half-lidded eyes. She brought her hands to her face, rubbing her eyes. Larten kissed her forehead before standing to go wake Darren.
Elena let out a large yawn before pulling the heavy animal skin off her and standing up. Larten meanwhile had tried shaking Darren, talking to him, and to no avail. Frustrated, he ripped the animal skin off the hammock and onto the floor. Even this proved to be a struggle as Darren clutched his cover with an iron grip. He woke with a start as Larten managed to pull to take his cover, exposing his skin to the cool air of the mountain.
"What?" Darren said alertly, sitting up to look at his father.
"You both need to pick your trials, and then after breakfast you'll start training immediately." Larten said throwing a shirt at Darren, Elena had already dressed while Larten was fighting with her sleeping brother.
Darren pulled the shirt his father had thrown at him with a grimace. He yawned, "Is anyone besides Vanez training us?" He asked.
"I am sure that other vampires will also help with your training. However Vanez will be your main trainer."
"Who else will?" Elena asked curiously.
"Your mother and I will, if the need arises. Of course, we will be overseeing your training anyway to see how you are doing." Larten said.
"Are we leaving now?" Darren asked.
"Someone will come and tell us when we are needed."
As if on cue Arra entered the room, "They're ready for you." She said.
Elena and Darren followed her while Larten pushed ahead to stand by her. Neither half-blood, caught the worried expressions on the older vampires' face, but both of them saw Arra reach her hand out and clasp Larten's tightly.
When they reached the Hall Of Princes, all three of the princes were there, and Paris with a bowl filled with stones, each had a number engraved in the side of it that coincided with a trial. Arra and Larten pulled Darren and Elena in front of them to face the princes.
"Sires." Larten said bowing a little. Darren and Elena followed suit.
"Who wants to take their trial first?" Paris asked.
Both twins were silent for a while before Elena piped up, "I will."
Arrow nodded his approval at her as she walked to Paris to pick her trial. She picked a sand coloured stone that was surprisingly smooth save for the groove where the number eleven had been engraved. Silently, she held it out to Paris.
"Trial Eleven!" He called out.
"The Tracking Trial." Mika said, "If you possess your mother's skills this shouldn't be a problem for you."
Elena glared at him as Arra began to protest in outrage.
"Peace Arra, Mika." Paris said putting a wrinkled hand up as a sign to stop. When they had both settled down, although Arra still glared hatefully at her former mentor, he spoke again, "Darren come forward."
Darren approached carefully, and he too took a stone out of the bowl. Paris took it from him and announced, "Trial Five, the Water Maze."
Larten and Arra both let out the breath they had been unknowingly holding. Darren and Elena had both picked relatively easy trials as far as easy trials go, for their first.
"You may both commence your training immediately with whomever your mentor has chosen for you." Arrow said dismissing them, and everyone else from the Hall.
Darren and Elena met their parents in a passage that was away from the commonly used Halls.
"What do we have to do for our trials?" Darren asked the moment he set eyes on his parents.
"You have to carry a boulder through a maze." Larten said.
Darren looked relieved, "That sounds easy enough."
"It is one of the easier trials." Larten agreed, "But the maze will fill up with water slowly as you go through it, you have to be as quick as you possibly can."
Darren gulped, "Right."
"What about mine?" Elena asked.
"Your trial is still one of the easier ones." Arra told her. "All you have to do is track a Vampire General on a section of the mountain."
"Do I have to bring them back?" Elena asked.
Arra shook her head, "The only thing you have to do is find them. They will follow you back but you have to be at the right entrance of the mountain in an hour."
"I think I can manage that." Elena said with a nervous laugh.
"You better be able to do it." Larten said.
"Why?" Elena asked.
"Because I do not think I would be able to live with myself if you two failed." Larten admitted.
Neither one of his children said anything. But unknowingly Larten had just added another weight upon their already shaking shoulders. They both were afraid that their failure would mean their lives as well as their parents. Or that their failure would cause one of them to go mad the way Murlough had. Elena shivered at the thought of her father ever becoming what Murlough had been.
"Come on," Arra said putting an arm around Darren, "Vanez will be wondering if you two ran away!"
Larten and Arra led the way to the Games Hall, the Trials of Death had officially begun.