They separated into the two teams, attaching colored armbands to identify themselves. Jamie realized uncomfortably that beside himself and Allyra, Jason and Rosalie were also in the gold team. He didn’t know whether that was a good thing or not.
Both Jason and Rosalie were favorites to win the competition, so they would be expected to get through this first Trial. The problem lay in that he didn’t trust either of them. In fact, given the opportunity, he was sure that they would quite easily sink a dagger in his back or anyone else they considered a threat.
Rounding out the gold team was one of Eva’s new cronies; Lara, as well as three other Oceanics; Lin, Eric and Ian. There was another Inferno; Cole and a sole Terra; Pierre.
Once they’d sorted themselves into their respective teams, Marcus set out the final instructions. “Take your flags. Each team will have thirty minutes in which to strategize, after which the game will begin and continue until one team is declared victorious. Good luck.”
The Gold team was handed two flags; yellow and red – Air and Fire. The Water and Earth flags were in the possession of the White team. Finally, the silver Elemental flag would be placed within the Arena.
Everyone began talking at once, each trying to sell his or her strategy and assert dominance as the leader. Amongst the noise and raised voices, there were sound strategies such as dividing the team into a defensive and offensive force, to protect their flags and to search for the other flags. But there were also some completely absurd suggestions, which included digging a hole and hiding their flags. That particular golden nugget came courtesy of Lin, and received a magnificent snort of derision from Jason in response.
Pierre – their sole Terra eventually managed to make himself heard over the crowd. He came from good, strong Afrikaans stock, a rugby field being his natural habitat. He looked like a gentle giant, fair haired, brown-eyed with a liberal sprinkling of freckles over his good-humored face. His voice however, was authoritative. He’d once mentioned six younger siblings, and perhaps out of necessity he’d developed a certain skill in herding uncooperative and bickering people.
“Half the White team are Terras. They’re going to take up a defensive strategy.” Pierre said simply.
The truth of his words sank slowly into the team. The idea of five Terras, Gifted with supernatural strength, and able to withstand an impressive amount of pain made for an intimidating prospect.
Only Rosalie appeared completely undaunted – she rolled her eyes at Pierre. “If you’re right, they’re going to use Audrey and Andy to go on the offensive, then the game is as good as over because Jason and I can take them any day.” She said, referring to the two Infernos on the other team, her voice dripping with overconfidence.
Jamie couldn’t restrain himself any longer and let out a mocking laugh next to Rosalie. She turned on him angrily, her hands clenched at her side. “If you have something to say, farm boy, say it!”
“Farm boy, hmmm.” Jamie drawled, turning and tasting the words on his tongue, considering them – taking his time to deliberately provoke Rosalie. He wanted to force their attention onto him rather than Allyra. “I like it. But getting back to the point at hand. If you know that you and Jason can take Audrey and Andy, then they probably know it too. Therefore, we can conclude – “ He paused, dangling the words over Rosalie, waiting for her to fill in the rest of the sentence like a teacher with a particularly slow student.
Her only reply was a furious splutter, so he completed the thought himself. “They’re not going to use the Infernos to go on the offensive. They’re here to win – same as us. So stop being an arrogant ass – believing they’re just going to lay down and allow us to walk all over them to the win.”
Rosalie looked as if she was going to explode, or at the very least claw his face off. She made to move forward, but Jason held up his hand. It was a small gesture, but it got the desired effect as the Gold team fell into silence. He spoke languidly as if they were discussing nothing more important than what to have for dinner.
“I’d like to hear what our Atmospheric has to say.” Jason drawled, his voice low and smooth, fixing his indigo eyes on Allyra – sending uncomfortable chills through Jamie’s body.
Despite his best efforts the spotlight had somehow landed on her. But Allyra didn’t seem to have been following the raucous discussion; instead she had her eyes trained on the Arena, her expression remote and distant.
She turned to Jason slowly and met his eyes steadily, her gaze cool and metallic grey. “Eva is on the other team –“
“Thank you for stating the obvious.” Jason said sarcastically, drawing out a nasty snicker of support from Rosalie.
Allyra remained completely unruffled, her eyes resting briefly on Rosalie, and then moving on as if she was something not quite worth noting. It was enough that Rosalie tightened her hands in anger, while Jason remained mildly amused and so much more dangerous. Whatever Allyra’s strategy was – if she actually had a strategy – she was attracting the attention of all the wrong people and making his job of protecting her that much harder.
“Eva isn’t an idiot – that much should be obvious even to you.” Allyra continued lightly. “We need to expect the unexpected – she’s a strong tactician. She’ll do whatever is necessary to try and outwit us.”
Rosalie made to say something and again Jason stopped her. “Fine, so what do you suggest we do?” He asked, directing his question at Allyra.
Jason was testing her – she was the unknown element amongst them, and whatever his other flaws were, Jason was smart enough to recognize that the unknown could present a significant risk to
