Free Web NovelChapter 207: Chapter 200: The Cost of Distance
Day 5 — 04:35
Team Two
The gorge announced itself before Team Two saw it.
Water struck stone somewhere below the forest floor, growing louder with every step until the trees ended at a sudden drop. The opposite side stood less than thirty metres away. Far below, the stream appeared as a narrow white line between black rocks.
Varro, the team’s scout-trained knight, studied the cliffs. "This is why the predator drove us south."
One candidate leaned carefully over the edge. "You think it wanted us down there?"
Varro pointed toward a shelf halfway into the gorge. Bones lay beneath an overhang — most belonged to deer, a few did not. "Nesting ground. Or a place where prey cannot escape."
The team checked the trees behind them. Nothing moved. The six-legged predator had vanished after they turned north, and its absence had stopped feeling like good news. Their incomplete map placed the marked point beyond the gorge. Turning back would cost at least a day and return them to the creature’s hunting route. They had enough rope to cross. Barely.
Varro selected two trees near the edge and tested the roots. "We anchor here. One man crosses and establishes a second line."
"How does the first man cross?" someone asked.
Varro pointed toward a leaning trunk extending over the gorge. "He jumps."
The lightest candidate followed his gaze. "That is the entire plan?"
"It is the part involving you."
They tied the rope around his harness. He climbed the trunk, reached its end, and looked across the gap. "Controlled mana," Varro warned. "Too much and you miss the ledge."
The knight released a brief reinforcement into his legs and jumped. For one breath he hung above the gorge — then his hands struck the opposite edge, the rope tightened, and the team hauled until he found a foothold and pulled himself over. He secured the second anchor. The crossing began.
Day 5 — 05:20
Team Two
Three candidates reached the far side without difficulty.
The fourth was halfway across when the canopy moved. Varro saw the branches bend above them. "Contact!"
The predator dropped from the trees — longer than the tracks had suggested, six limbs built for climbing, a narrow head protected by ridged bone. It landed beside the first anchor and went straight for the rope.
The suspended knight swung over the gorge. Varro and the final candidate attacked together. The beast retreated up the trunk before their knives reached it, then descended from another angle. It had no interest in fighting them — it wanted the rope severed.
"Pull him across!" Varro shouted.
The candidates on the far side hauled. The hanging knight moved several metres before the predator caught the loose line behind him and pulled. The rope jerked hard enough to drag one candidate toward the edge. He dropped flat and locked his legs around a root while the others seized his harness. The predator pulled again. Two men were now tied to the same struggle.
Varro watched the rope tighten. If the beast gained another metre, it could drag both of them into the gorge.
The knight beside him understood. "If you cut it, we lose the line."
"If I do not, we lose them."
Varro waited until the suspended candidate swung closer to the far wall. "Pull!"
The far-side team hauled with everything they had. Varro cut the rope behind the hanging knight. The severed section snapped back with the predator. The candidate struck the cliff, found a foothold, and was dragged over the edge. All four men on the far side collapsed.
Varro and the final knight remained behind. The predator recovered quickly and turned toward them.
Varro looked across the gorge. "Throw the surviving rope back."
The others released the far anchor and threw the line. It fell short. The predator began advancing. The final knight moved between it and Varro. "Cross."
"With what?"
The beast’s claws still held part of the severed rope. Varro pointed. "With our property."
They moved away from the gorge instead of defending it. The predator followed. When it passed beneath a low branch, the second knight dropped onto its back and locked an arm beneath the ridged neck. The creature twisted violently, trying to crush him against a tree. Varro seized the rope from its claws. His teammate released and rolled clear. Both men ran.
They tied the recovered section to the surviving line with a reinforced knot — it wouldn’t withstand repeated crossings, but it only needed to survive two. Varro crossed first. The knot slipped once, then held. The final knight followed while the predator moved along the cliff searching for another route, and the moment he reached the far side Team Two pulled the rope free.
The beast paced the opposite edge and released a low, frustrated call. Varro looked back at it. "You had several opportunities to attack us directly."
One candidate sat against a tree, breathing hard. "Are you offended?"
"Yes."
The predator withdrew into the forest. Team Two had crossed, broken the pursuit, and kept all six members alive. It had also lost most of its rope. Varro cut away the damaged fibres and divided what remained.
A knight examined his bleeding palms. "We traded half our rope for the gorge."
"We traded it for six people."
"That is annoyingly difficult to argue with."
Varro looked north. "The marked point is that way." The team resumed moving.
Day 5 — 08:10
Team Six
The directional plate recovered from the ward station led Team Six through the final stretch of warped land.
The distortion had weakened but hadn’t left their mana channels — reinforcement responded unevenly, sometimes failing and sometimes arriving with dangerous force. Renn prohibited mana use.
Soren, the knight caught by the corrupted creature’s draining pull, had complained of fatigue since leaving the station. By sunrise his hands had begun trembling. Caldus walked beside him. "You are slowing."
"I am walking."
"That was not the observation."
Soren ignored him. Half an hour later he stumbled on level ground. Renn stopped the team. "Sit."
"We are close to the boundary."
"That does not improve your condition."
Soren lowered himself onto a stone. His face had gone pale, sweat across his brow despite the cold. Renn checked his pulse — too fast. The creature hadn’t merely taken mana. It had disrupted Soren’s channels enough to prevent normal recovery.
One candidate studied the northwestern valley. "The distortion is weaker there. Perhaps two hours."
Soren stood again. "Then we move."
Renn blocked him. "You may damage your channels permanently."
"And remaining here will repair them?"
"No."
"Then the direction remains obvious."
Caldus touched the rescue flare on his harness. "We could signal."
Soren looked at him. "For exhaustion?"
"For possible channel damage."
"We do not know that it is permanent."
"We also do not know that it is temporary."
Renn ended it. "We reduce pace. Soren carries nothing. If his condition worsens, we use the flare."
Soren opened his mouth. "That was an order."
The team redistributed his equipment and continued.
Day 5 — 10:25
Team Four
The leaking container betrayed Team Four shortly after sunrise.
Small scavengers followed the damp trail across the badlands — three at first, nine by midmorning, working among the rocks. Too small to attack five knights, but their calls carried across the open ridges.
The engineer looked behind them. "They are announcing our route."
Rellan lifted the damaged vessel. "I can discard it."
"With water still inside?"
Rellan studied a western ravine. "No." The leader recognized the look. "What are you planning?"
"A false trail."
"You will not go alone."
The earlier Rellan would have argued. This one nodded.
He and the engineer carried the leaking container west, letting a thin line of water mark their passage. Beneath an overhang, they hung it low enough for the scent to pool and the water to drip slowly. The scavengers followed. Rellan and the engineer returned across bare stone.
When they rejoined the team, the calls had shifted west. The leader handed Rellan a sound container, which he accepted carefully.
"No leaks."
"That is the traditional design," the engineer said.
They turned east. The damaged equipment had created the problem. Used correctly, it had also solved it.
Day 5 — 11:50
Team Seven
The ruined watchtower stood above the forest canopy, two floors remaining and the stone stairway intact. Arven sent Oris ahead while the others waited below. He returned ten minutes later. "No beasts. Storage chamber. Several sealed tins."
Daren looked pleased. "Food."
"Possibly."
They climbed. The first tin answered the question when Daren opened it. Pell turned away from the smell. "That died before the tower did."
The second contained powder that might once have been grain. They left the others sealed.
Daren looked at Arven. "You distrusted free food."
"I distrust food older than several governments."
They searched a warped wall cabinet instead. Beneath rotted papers, Oris found a map fragment showing old patrol routes around the tower. Their assessment map sent them around a long eastern bend. The older map showed a narrow path cutting directly across the northern ridge.
Arven compared both. "This could save half a day."
"Assuming it still exists," Pell said.
"It existed when those tins were edible."
Daren looked toward the storage room. "Then it may now be philosophical."
They tested the first stretch before committing. The path remained visible beneath the undergrowth. Team Seven turned north. The spoiled food stayed in the tower. The useful information did not.
Day 5 — 13:30
Team One
Team One’s route around the frozen lake descended through a narrow snow channel.
The temperature had risen since morning, and meltwater moved beneath the upper layer — weakening the slope without changing its appearance. The mountain veteran heard it first. "Spread out."
The court-trained knight looked downhill. "Why?"
The snow beneath him shifted.
A shallow slide broke free and caught two packs, carrying them down before striking a rock outcrop. The team recovered one. The other split open and a weather sheet, part of the fire kit, and a cooking container disappeared beneath the moving snow.
Two knights began digging. The veteran stopped them after twenty minutes. "The slope is warming."
"We need that equipment."
"We need the mountain to remain above us."
They recovered the rope and one ration packet. Everything else stayed buried. Team One continued with insufficient shelter for six. The mountain had already taken time. Now it had started on supplies.
Day 5 — 15:05
Team Three
Smoke rose beyond the wooded hills.
Team Three approached carefully and found three charcoal burners working beside a temporary camp. The civilians saw the plain uniforms and knives. One reached for an axe. The border veteran raised both hands. "We are passing through."
The oldest worker examined their mud-stained clothing. "You look as though the swamp tried to keep you."
"It was enthusiastic."
He noticed the empty strap where their cooking container had hung. "You need food?"
The candidates exchanged glances. They had been forbidden to steal, threaten civilians, or use rank to demand assistance. Nothing prohibited accepting help freely offered.
The court-trained knight stepped forward. "We can trade labour."
"For food?"
"And directions."
The workers agreed. Team Three spent an hour moving charcoal sacks under cover before afternoon rain reached the camp. In return they received bread, boiled roots, and what the workers knew about the northern ridge. Nobody learned their titles. Nobody demanded anything.
When the team prepared to leave, the oldest worker pointed toward the eastern hollow. "Avoid that path. Something has been taking goats."
The border veteran nodded. "Useful."
The court-trained knight looked at the bread in his hand. "So accepting help is permitted."
"Demanding it was forbidden."
"That distinction seems important."
"Most distinctions do when you are hungry."
The hidden observer recorded the exchange in full.
Day 5 — 18:40
Eastern Training Grounds
The reports filled the central board.
Team Two had crossed the gorge and broken the predator’s pursuit. Team Four had redirected scavengers with a false trail. Team Seven had recovered a shorter route. Team One had lost shelter equipment to a snow slide. Team Three had traded labour for food and directions. Team Six remained inside the weakening edge of the distortion.
Lucas read Team Three’s report twice. "They worked for the food."
"Yes," Malen said.
"Does that count as receiving outside help?"
Cedric checked the rules. "They threatened no one, revealed no title, and demanded nothing."
Lucas considered it. "Then they discovered employment."
"Temporarily."
Lucien studied Team Six’s position. "Soren?"
"Worsening exhaustion," Cedric said. "Still mobile with assistance."
"Recovery team?"
"Within response range."
Malen watched the marker. "They are close to the boundary."
"That makes the decision harder," Lucien said. A flare fired far from the objective was straightforward. A flare fired after surviving the worst stretch required something more.
Lucas looked at the board. "Team Five withdrew because continuing would have worsened an injury. Team Six may face the same choice."
"Different injury," Malen said.
"Same pride."
Lucien kept his attention on the marker. The flare offered no honour and no punishment beyond failure — only survival, waiting for someone to decide whether determination had become something else.
Day 5 — 21:15
Team Six
The first normal tree appeared after sunset.
Its trunk stood straight. Its branches stayed where distance claimed they were. Renn stopped beside it. Behind them, the warped hills leaned toward one another beneath the darkening sky. Ahead, the land descended into an ordinary valley — no repeated markers, no folded paths, no pressure against their mana channels.
"The boundary," Caldus said.
Soren managed a weak smile. "Then we made it."
They hadn’t. The final descent remained steep, and Soren’s legs trembled continuously now. Two candidates supported him while Renn chose the safest path. Caldus carried the flare openly. "If he collapses before the valley, we signal."
Soren answered through clenched teeth. "If I collapse after it?"
"We discuss it there."
"That sounds bureaucratic."
"You have spent too much time with exhaustion."
The valley remained visible below and did not grow closer quickly enough.
Day 6 — 04:55
Team Six
Dawn reached the valley first.
Sunlight crossed ordinary ground beyond the final ward marker. Renn stepped over it — nothing shifted, the compass turned once and settled north, correctly. Caldus crossed next. The others followed while supporting Soren between them.
The moment both of his feet touched the ground beyond the boundary, his knees failed.
Renn dropped beside him. Soren remained conscious, but his breathing had turned shallow and rapid. His hands had stopped trembling and gone still — which was worse. Caldus removed the cap from the rescue flare. Soren caught his wrist. "We crossed."
"You cannot walk."
"Let me rest."
Renn checked his pulse. Worse. The marked point remained at least two days away. The distortion lay behind them. The valley ahead looked easy only because everything behind it had been harder.
Caldus looked toward Renn. The flare waited between them.
For five days, Team Six had rejected false directions, abandoned broken instruments, navigated folded distance, and killed a creature that drained mana. Now the greatest threat existed inside one of their own.
Renn looked toward the sunrise, then back at Soren. "Give me the flare."
Soren tightened his grip. "No."
"You are no longer mobile."
"I crossed the boundary."
"The extraction point is not here."
"You can carry me."
"For two days?"
"If necessary."
Caldus crouched beside him. "You were ready to fire this when the route became confusing."
"That was different."
"Yes. You were frightened then." Caldus held his gaze. "Now you are injured, and you are pretending that makes the danger less real."
The words settled over the team. Soren’s grip weakened.
Renn took the flare. "Can we wait?" another candidate asked. "Perhaps the exhaustion will ease outside the field."
Renn checked Soren’s breathing again. "Twenty minutes. No more."
They wrapped him in weather sheets, elevated his legs, and gave him measured water. No restorative medicine had been issued — the absence felt cruel now, though that too was part of the trial. They were learning what it meant to survive without the support they had always taken for granted.
Twenty minutes passed. Soren’s condition didn’t improve.
Renn raised the flare. Soren closed his eyes. "Do it."
Renn fired.
Day 6 — 05:19
Team Six
The red flare climbed through the dawn and burst against the pale sky.
Team Six watched in silence — no relief, no shame, only the particular exhaustion of people who had made the right decision and found it cost them everything they came for.
Caldus rested a hand on Soren’s shoulder. "You were right about one thing."
Soren opened his eyes. "What?"
"You survived long enough to complain."
A tired laugh escaped him and became a cough. Renn looked east. "The recovery team will come."
"And then we fail," one candidate said.
"Yes." There was no anger in the answer. Only fact.
They had crossed the hardest route in the assessment, solved problems the observers hadn’t expected them to solve, and reached a point where one member could no longer continue safely. The flare had promised two things — survival and failure — and it delivered both.
Day 6 — 05:21
Eastern Training Grounds
*TEAM SIX — RESCUE FLARE.*
The bell rang once. Lucien reached the central table as Cedric opened the observer report. "Severe mana-channel exhaustion. Conscious but deteriorating. Team reduced pace, redistributed load, and crossed the containment boundary before signalling."
"Recovery time?"
"Twenty-three minutes."
"Healer ready?"
"Yes."
Malen moved Team Six’s marker into the withdrawal column.
Lucas read the report. "They escaped the distortion before firing."
"Yes," Malen said.
"They solved the route."
"Yes."
"They made the correct medical decision."
"Yes."
"And they still fail."
"Still Yes."
Lucas looked dissatisfied. "That seems designed to be unpleasant."
"It is designed to test whether an operational team reaches the marked point," Lucien said.
The assessment didn’t reward suffering. It measured whether a team completed the mission. Team Six couldn’t. That didn’t erase what they had demonstrated — it simply wasn’t what the trial measured.
Cedric added the final recommendation: *Renn for field leadership. Caldus for improved judgment. Soren for resilience under mana disruption. Recommend all five for later review.*
Malen looked toward Lucien. "Agreed?"
"Agreed."
Lucas glanced at the withdrawn marker. "So failure can still produce recommendations."
"The programme is selecting people," Lucien said. "It is not worshipping the test."
The recovery signal changed from red to green. Five teams remained.
Day 6 — 07:40
Team One
The mountain temperature had fallen again after dawn.
Without enough shelter for six, Team One had shared layers through the night and moved before sunrise to preserve warmth. Fatigue had slowed them. The mountain veteran checked the route. "One more day to the lower valley."
The court-trained knight looked at the remaining weather sheets —
*Knight Candidate Assessment — Updated (Classified)*
Candidates active: 28
Active teams: 5
Rescue flares available: 5
Teams disqualified: 2
Candidates safely recovered: 10
