Blood Descendants (St. Clair Vampires Book 1) (23 page)

The next objective was
climbing a tree and swinging to another tree not unlike Tarzan.
Wyatt's approach brought murmurs from several people that he would
probably cut the rope and leave his teammates behind. The murmuring
got so loud that Matthias got up and left the arena. If he had
stayed, he would have seen his son’s failed attempt to lop the
vine from the tree and the Steward Tyler Filmore catch him when he
fell. It was truly a blow to the High Caste ego.

The teams were making
good time and had all arrived at the last obstacle before the cutoff
time. They were now tasked with swimming through the lagoon, entering
a series of underground caverns and coming out on the other side of
the island. The next section of the competition was one that we, the
spectators, would only see on the big screens. After the event, the
Ludos organizers were going to provide DVDS to anyone who wanted to
relive the memories.

All of the teams
entered the water with the same amount of enthusiasm. The underwater
cameras flicked on, giving off an eerie glow on the big screens
throughout the arena. It was hard to make out the images at first,
but the organizers had been ready for such an occasion. Each of the
teams had a different color thread sewn into their wetsuits that was
illuminated by the underwater UV lights. There was also some type of
mechanism that displayed the names of the participants every time
they were in range of the cameras.

The big screen that
hung over the arena had a multi-camera display, making it possible to
watch several different positions at the same time. For those of us
who wanted to follow specific teams, there was a remote control that
allowed us to change the camera views. Some of the cameras were
mounted to the ocean walls while others were mobile, trailing behind
or ahead of the participants. From their vantage points you could see
exactly what the participants were seeing in real time. I wasn’t
afraid of the water, but I couldn't say that I envied them this
experience.

The camera following
Rillae was eclipsed by a large reptilian figure, causing our entire
viewing box to flinch. From my reading about the marine life
surrounding the island I knew that the Bay of Bengal had one of the
largest and most diverse marine ecosystems on Earth. That not only
meant that it was excellent for feeding the island inhabitants, but
also that it was full of animals that needed to eat. The large figure
passed in front of the camera again, slower this time, and I was able
to identify it as a kerilia jerdonii, a sea snake. They were normally
a meter long, which is about 3 ½ feet, but this one appeared
longer…and thicker than it should have been. Rillae, Wyatt and
Tyler had found the first of the air pockets in the labyrinth and
were getting precious breaths of air and seconds of rest before
continuing on. Even without audio, it was obvious that Tyler and
Rillae were trying to talk Wyatt out of his next course of action.

The screen changed to a
feed of Gretchen, Nicole and Cameron. The three were rounding a
ragged corner toward Wyatt’s group as another large sea snake
appeared on the screen. This time the monster snake had friends with
him and we all leaned a little bit forward in our seats. The first
air pocket must have been in view because they started to swim
faster. But it wasn’t just the air pocket that had their
attention. The sea snakes had begun to swarm and nip at their heels.
One of the huge reptiles went for the mobile camera and the
connection was temporarily severed.

To keep from freaking
out over the thought of my new friends being stuck under water, I
walked around the St. Clair viewing box. Surrounded by hundreds of
people, I had never felt so lonely. I missed Tabitha. I knew that she
was an integral part in the rebuilding of the Miklos clan, but it
didn’t make me feel any less alone. When I stopped by
Adrianna’s area for a moment to say hello, her parents were
gracious, sincere and immediately likeable. There were several other
clan members whom I spoke to briefly and I was able to determine
that, if these were a representation of the entire clan, Efia had a
good group at her disposal. It made me wonder why she did not simply
ask them to kill Grigor for her.

The live feed had come
back on, so I sat back down. The air pocket was empty of any of the
participants but there were a few sea snakes swimming around. The
screen flashed to a narrow crevice in which Wyatt was swimming off
course in a direction that the cameras were not able to film. Tyler
and Rillae were behind him trying to get him to go in a different
direction, but he kept going. Since they were not supposed to
separate as a team, and because of Tyler’s innate need to
protect the Fare, the pair followed him off course and farther away
from the cameras.

Once they were out of
camera range, their optical cams turned on. Wyatt was leading his
team into uncharted territory and there didn’t appear to be
another air pocket in sight. Several other teams came into view, also
led by their High Caste Fare. It seemed that they had all hatched a
plan to deviate from the course. In the lower left hand side of the
screen, a small box popped up. Within it was a graph of vital signs
for each of the participants. Some of them were in amazingly good
shape for having held their breath for the better part of 5 minutes.
Others were dangerously near asphyxiation. Upon a closer look at the
vitals I noticed that only the Lower Caste Fare were in trouble, and
one or two of the Stewards.

“
Solomon,”
I asked quickly, “those Stewards there, with the low
vitals…what is their background? Are they of mixed lineage?”

A shadow of sadness
passed over his face as he nodded in answer. Those Stewards were the
offspring of disgraced parents who had ‘over-stepped’
their place in our world and entered into relationships with either
Vampires or Fare. Now, their descendants were fighting for their
lives underwater. I was certain Wyatt and the other Fare had somehow
sabotaged them, but not sure how. Like everyone else in the arena, I
just sat there, waiting.

The screen flashed to
all of the other mounted cameras and showed no participants, only the
growing number of underwater creatures. I assumed, from the mumblings
in the crowd, that these animals were either larger or different than
what was commonly known for the area. It was obvious that the event
organizers hadn’t thoroughly investigated the areas in which
they would be sending their citizens. Although each participant and
their families knew the Ludos could be dangerous, no one really
thought anyone would die. Now the reality that several of their
children and friends might perish, and at the hand of the High Caste,
had the entire arena silent.

The High Caste Fare,
led by Wyatt, swam farther away from the cameras causing every
optical cam to come on. The big screen now had 15 different vantage
points. Being a symbiotic relationship, the optical cam was powered
by the energy of the person it was in. Since several of the
participants were low on energy, their cams were becoming shaky and
blurry. The others had crystal clear pictures and still possessed the
zoom in and out feature. This feature allowed us to see the gestures
between Wyatt and the other High Caste Fare. Their conversation,
though silent to us, was clear. They meant to drown the other
participants and leave them in an underwater tomb.

Of the 27 participants
there were 9 Stewards and 6 of each caste of Fare. We could see the 6
Lower Caste Fare were being held down by some invisible force while
the other followed the rising air bubbles toward the air pocket.
Being the strongest of the participants, the Stewards made it to the
air pocket first, despite all of Wyatt’s maneuvering. Driven by
their innate need to protect, each Steward emerged, inhaled once and
returned underwater to retrieve a Fare. Although they were searching
for the Fare on their team, these Stewards weren’t going to
leave anyone behind. Tyler came up for air with a small female Fare
on his back and Rillae in his arms. He made sure that they were
holding onto the rocked wall before he dove to help the others.

Wyatt and his band of
High Caste Fare were glaring at the two females and undoubtedly
spewing threats and insults at them. Time was running out for the
other participants and the air pocket was becoming more crowed as the
Stewards continued to swim up with Fare in tow. Rillae’s
optical cam showed Wyatt give a command and swim off with his
devotees hot on his heels. Wyatt’s optical cam showed Rillae
give him a gesture that I was certain wasn’t complimentary.

Tyler, Gretchen and the
rest of the Stewards, having completed the task of rescuing the Fare,
were visibly laboring to breath. Nicole and Rillae hugged and began
to speak quick and deliberately as they instructed the others in the
next moves. Adrianna came to sit next to me and Chloe and started to
translate the conversation. I looked at her strangely, wondering if
extreme hearing was an attribute that I hadn’t been informed
of.

“
I
can read lips, silly. Nicole is telling the Stewards that they are at
least a half mile off course due to the speed and direction of the
current. And, that swarm of sea snakes is getting larger.”

After she finished
filling us in, I wasn’t sure we were better off knowing what
their true situation was. Ignorance is bliss, as they say.

“
They
are coming up with a plan to head off Wyatt’s group and try to
keep the integrity of the Ludos.”

By the time Adrianna
finished, Governor Ezekiel and his senators had gotten another lip
reader and the rest of the conversations were available for the crowd
to read for themselves. After each sentence, it seemed there were
murmurs and gasps that rippled through the arena. This was definitely
a first for the Coetus Essentialis.

The remaining
participants went in a different direction than Wyatt’s rebels
and were soon in the range of the official cameras. Unfortunately
they were also in the midst of a horde of swarming sea snakes. I
wasn’t sure of the dietary needs of these snakes but I wasn’t
excited to see them again. The Stewards had taken a more proactive
stance, flanking the Fare so that none of them fell behind. As a
group, they swam through the middle of the sea snakes toward the next
marker in the course.

Wyatt’s optical
cam interrupted the progress of the larger group with scenes of
distress. Several of the other Fare were fighting off what appeared
to be tiny octopi that were attacking them from the air pocket they
were resting in. The optical cams of the other Fare caught the
frantic expressions of the others and we knew that they were in
danger. They were off course and being led by an egotistical idiot,
and, to make matters worse, they didn’t have a single Steward
with them to offer the type of protection that they were raised to
depend on.

“
Royals,
clans, Stewards and Fare,” Governor Ezekiel’s face filled
all of the screens, no doubt trying to distract us from the scene we
were witnessing.

“
Special
commemorative souvenirs will be available after the conclusion of the
Ludos,” he continued on as if it were the appropriate time for
a commercial. “Some of you will find these items in your rooms
when you return from the ceremony tomorrow. Others can see their
Stewards for further instructions.”

With that, his
announcement ended and the cameras came back online. As I was sure
was the plan, Wyatt’s group was no longer on our screens. What
we saw was more concerning than his little posse going off course.
One of the Lower Caste Fare was bleeding from an apparent snake bite.
The Stewards had fabricated a makeshift tourniquet in an attempt to
stop the bleeding, but her forearm looked as if there was a chunk of
meat missing. There were tears streaming down her cheeks and she was
shaking her head at the Steward speaking to her.

“…does it
hurt to move it? Are you sure? Then let’s get out of here!”

The caption ran under
the image of Gretchen and the injured Fare. She was so calm and
collected in her mannerisms that it was easy to see just how their
breeding and upbringing was different than humans. She couldn’t
be much older than 21 or 22 but she was combat ready. Chloe must have
been thinking the same thing because she nodded and made a note. Even
though we had told Solomon that he would be selecting our Stewards,
we would steer him in Gretchen’s direction.

The rebel group finally
came into view of one of the mounted cameras. They had taken a
shortcut and were now several yards in front of the larger group.
Their wetsuits had holes from a battle with angry octopi but they
were swimming quickly enough that I didn’t think any of them
were worse for wear.

A quick head count of
the participants worried me. Wyatt had 4 High Caste and 2 Middle
Caste Fare with him. So, there should have been 7 in the rebel group;
I had counted 6. I counted again and came to the same conclusion;
they were missing someone.

“
It’s
Wyatt! Wyatt is missing.” I said it out loud before I could
stop myself. The other members of my clan gathered around our TV
screen and counted for themselves, each coming to the same
conclusion. The organizers must have realized the same thing because
the big screen hanging in the middle of the arena split to show eight
camera views at once. With everyone in the crowd glued to one screen
or another, I was reminded of a train wreck; it was horrible to see,
but you couldn’t look away.

After two revolutions
through the cameras, one spotted Wyatt and zoomed in. His mouth and
nose were just barely visible in a small air pocket and his foot was
caught between two rocks. It appeared that he had tried to swim into
a crevice that was just scarcely big enough for his body. He was
struggling so much that a dark figure swam beneath him to investigate
the situation. It was so dark that I thought it had to be black or
dark green because it didn’t lighten when the pale light from
the camera swept over it. The more the figure circled his feet the
more frantic Wyatt became; it was a vicious cycle. And each time it
came into view, the figure seemed to grow in size.