Ratface shot away from the rest of her group. The current dragged her away and back into the sky. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the same happening to the other test takers. This would be the trial then. She twisted through the sky as the current carried her in circles.

  She didn’t bother fighting the current. If it was strong enough to keep her moving this quickly then no amount of struggling on her part was going to save it. She might as well save her breath.

  She needed to save it too. The water wasn’t letting her out and she could feel it crushing against her. At least some part of the trial was to get out of the water.

  One of the trial takers was doing fine. Lily’s squire shot past Ratface deeper into the city. She managed to give Ratface an insufferable grin before she did so. Honestly Ratface was a little impressed by the pettiness of that.

  The rest of the trial takers were making about as much progress as Ratface herself.

  What was the point of this trial? It couldn’t just be, ‘how long could you hold your breath?’, that was less a trial and more something kids did for fun, besides, other than Ratface all of the trial takers were casters. They’d all cast some form of spell to help them breathe. She could tell by the lack of panic in their eyes as they went around in loops.

  Meanwhile, she could feel her limited air supply running out as she kept doing loops. She kept herself as still as she could as she tried not to waste any air.

  It wasn’t so obvious that they all immediately got it, but it was obvious enough that the Champion’s squire had. She doubted the other woman had told her what the trial was beforehand. For all she disliked Ratface she’d still observed the rules in that moment.

  The orc’s eyes widened and the water around her wobbled. She changed direction and shot past the rest of them. Her teeth clenched as she fought against the current until it gave way and let her past. She’d been aiming for that change in current. After that a lot of the test takers clued in and started scribbling spells to change their directory. Ratface couldn’t do that. Her lungs were beginning to ache from the effort of not taking a breath. So much of her dedicated to not trying to breathe that she struggled to think about the problem.

  It couldn’t be as simple as being in a different current, but it was related in some way. A swimmer could find the difference in the current whilst in it but this wasn’t a trial for a swimmer. Wait.

  Kryssa had called this water conjured. She’d been filled with disdain at the thought too. The city used that current to cart themselves around. Still, they’d had a predetermined destination. Ratface doubted they could change it once they were up here.

  The squire hadn’t been struggling that much, only the orc had fought to get into the right current. So there was a trick. So far none of the other takers had worked it out.

  She was thinking about this the wrong way. This was a trial for rune knights, but another way of thinking of a trial was a test, or a lesson. It had to be related to the mana somehow. On her hunch, she focused her eyes.

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  The current lit up around her. The test takers were on a loop, it was almost a perfect one too. The magic was twirling around itself and there were only a few tiny hitches. The orc must’ve missed her spot and forced her way back to one of the hitches. Impressive given how much mana she would have had to fight against. The hitches led down into the ground and into some wells. So, the test didn’t end with this part, this was the first stage.

  The problem was that you were meant to use magic to change the track onto the hitches. If you timed it right, it would probably not require much at all. A problem for Ratface who couldn’t cast.

  Except that was a magic user’s way of thinking of things. Ratface was a goblin, and goblins knew that most of the time you could do things without magic.

  She tried swimming to the hitch first. She doubted it would, but she had to get the obvious out of the way. It didn’t do much but use up her breath. She eyed the current again as she thought. There was one hitch that they all connected on. It must be the main flow point or something, she didn’t really have the linguistics to explain it. Their currents all went in different directions, but she bet if she got enough of them. She just had to get them all there at the same time. A problem given they were carefully spaced. She searched until she found who she was looking for, one of the trial takers past the same hitch with her from the opposite side. It wasn’t perfect but it would work. She waved at the person, the movement far more tiring than it should be, until the noticed her. She pointed at the point and motioned a grabbing motion until they nodded. Her lungs ached and her vision was giving out but if she could just manage this, she’d be fine.

  The person got closer and closer and Ratface kept her eyes on them even as her vision receded. They hit the point and Ratface reached out and grabbed them. It hurt, like two people on horses crashing into each other, but she made it. There was a small bubble of air around their head and Ratface smashed her head into it and took a grateful breath. Air! Sweet, sweet air.

  “Uhh,” the person said. Up this close Ratface could see it was a girl with her hair cut close to her head. She was blushing at Ratface as the goblin took grateful gulps of air. Ratface didn’t recognise the cut of her armour. It was like a skirt around her legs, as well as a breastplate and some greaves. A lot of places Ratface could still cut. The two of them wobbled in place as their opposing currents tried to get them to move. It was hard to hold on to and Ratface pulled the girl closer which only made her blush harder.

  “We need more than the two of us,” she told her. She looked around until she found the next person closest and waved at them until they got the idea. She got the blushing girl to hold her as she reached out for them and grabbed them.

  They kept doing this, and with each extra person Ratface could feel the magic wobbling. When she concentrated, she could see the magic shaking as well. If her guess was right, then once there was enough of them it would break, and they’d get pulled into the well.

  They kept grabbing people and still the magic held. Eventually there was only one person left. If it didn’t work with them, they were screwed.

  Ratface held her breath as they grabbed them. For a moment the magic held.

  It groaned and broke under the pressure of the different currents. They hurtled down towards the well and Ratface grinned until she realised that all of them were going to the same well.

  They slammed through the well it a jumble of limbs. Ratface hit into a wall and cried out at the pain, her cry was mirrored by others as they ricocheted through the it and into the depths below.

  They hit the ground in a pile and Ratface’s breath was pushed out as someone landed on her. Her body groaned at the punishment she’d put it through. The other lesson goblins knew; subverting magic usually hurt.

  There were gasps as the others took in their surroundings. Ratface groaned and closed her eyes. She was sure whatever they saw was amazing, but she was just going to lie here for a moment. She’d earned it.