While not typically a rule breaker, Anders had wanted to compete so badly that he persuaded Uncle Theodor to lobby the judges with him for an exception. Reluctantly the judging committee made an exception for him. Theodor had served alongside several of the judges during The War of the Magicians and was able to talk them into bending the rules for Anders.
Unfortunately, after all of that effort, Anders failed to complete the last event of the competition, the mountain race. While he was running back down the side of the mountain, one of the other contestants pushed him off the trail and down into some jagged rocks. He fell out of control and broke his leg. On top of the pain, he was forced to show an incomplete time and forfeit the games as well as miss several months of work on their family farm. Theodor regretted helping Anders compete illegally and in the end paid a price for it. With his hardest and most valuable worker unable to help during the busiest part of the harvest, their family was hardly able to make ends meet.
Since recovering from his broken leg, Anders had been training hard for all four events in the competition. The events required performance of a special skill, a demonstration of strength, a test of knowledge, and finally, completion of the challenging mountain race. He wanted to make sure he would be prepared for anything the games could throw at him this time around.
Between working on the family farm and pulling in waterlogged fishing nets with his cousin, Anders had grown very strong for a nineteen-year-old. His work routine took care of his strength training. He spent the evening hours studying books his uncle kept in his private library. An avid reader and lover of knowledge, Theodor helped Anders sharpen his mind. For his specialty skill, Anders had been practicing knife and axe throwing. From an early age, he’d been a natural at throwing any object with remarkable accuracy, so it seemed like his best option. As for endurance training, Anders often spent any free time he had hiking far into the mountains behind their house. The winter months made it more difficult to hike great distances in the snow, but he did his best to fully prepare for the competition.
After eating smoked salmon and freshly baked bread for breakfast, Anders and his family traveled to the registration tent on the beach where the Grandwood Games were to begin. Upon arriving, Anders joined the long line of contestants outside the tent waiting for their information and placement in the games’ different heats.
Anders stood in line behind a young man who must have had his eighteenth birthday only a few days before. The young man seemed to be in especially high spirits and spoke loudly to anyone around him who would listen to his jokes, many of which were inappropriate for children’s ears. Anders stood behind him and heard every word, often laughing at the comic relief he was supplying. He found the jokes amusing; they took his mind off the competition, settling his nerves. Anders introduced himself.
The dark-haired lad replied in kind, “Hello, Anders, my name is Max. Glad to meet you. Where’re you from?”
Getting a good look at him face-to-face, Anders noticed Max had several inches on him in height. At around six feet tall, Max had a more slender frame than Anders’ toned muscular body. Max’s black hair was tied tightly into a bun near the top of his head.
“Grandwood. How about yourself?” Anders asked Max, curious of his origins.
“I come from the Riverlands of Westland. Just outside a town called Brookside. I came here with my younger brother, Bo, who’s in the crowd somewhere,” Max said in perfect Landish, humankind’s most common language. Squinting as he looked over Anders, he scanned the gathering crowd for his brother. Not able to locate him, Max shrugged and continued, “We heard people talking about how difficult this competition was, and, well, I had to come try it. I love a good adventure, and it’s not like me to turn down a tough challenge.”
“You seem confident and in good spirits. I’m sure you’ll do well. Best of luck to you,” Anders said with a smile and Max returned the sentiment.
One by one contestants filed into the tent. Soon Anders heard someone inside shout, “Next.” He entered, searching the room for the amber-haired girl he’d met the day before. She was standing near the back of the tent sorting through some parchment. He approached the table where a man sat scribbling into an open book.
“State your name, age, and where you’re from,” he said swiftly.
“Anders Valgner, nineteen, of Highborn Bay, Grandwood City.”
The man raised his head when he heard Anders’ name. He leaned back in his chair and looked to the far end of the tent where Maija stood with her head down, concentrating on her task.
“Hey Maija,” the man shouted. “Is this the lad?” he asked, pointing his quill in Anders’ direction.
Her head perked up. Upon seeing Anders, she smiled brightly and Anders weakened in the knees, “Yes, it sure is. Thanks to him we can offer prize money.”
Anders blushed through his already fading sunburnt cheeks and shrugged bashfully.
The man was not among those who’d been in the tent the day before. Otherwise he would have thanked him yesterday. He rose from his chair and grasped Anders’ hand, shaking it. “Well thank you kindly for getting that money back for us. It would’ve been a terrible loss if you hadn’t chased that thief down.” The man reached down and pulled a pouch out of a box next to his chair. “Here you are, take this.” He handed Anders the pouch. Anders took it hearing the coins inside clink together. “A little reward for your generosity.”
Surprised, Anders said, “Thank you,” putting the pouch in his pocket and looking over at Maija who was smiling at him.
The man sat back down and grabbed a piece of charcoal and stuck it out toward Anders. “Take this and write your number on your left arm and right leg,” he said. “Your number is forty-three. Then make your way down to the shoreline and the judges will explain what to do from there.”
Anders did as he was told. As he left, Maija shouted, “Good luck, Anders!”
He smiled and waved to her as he left the tent. His family emerged from the crowd to wish him good luck. They met him near the group of men and women waiting for the judges to provide further instructions.
“It looks like you’ll have some stiff competition this year,” Theodor said eyeing the diverse group of contestants.
“Yeah,” Anders agreed. “I can tell from the tribal tattoos that quite a few Rollo Island warriors are here.”
The battle-tested warriors of the Rollo Islands were known to be very hard to beat in physical competition. Anders suspected one of them had shoved him off the trail during the last Grandwood Games because he’d heard a string of Native Rolloan words as he fell into the rocks.
“Just remember your training,” Theodor said reassuringly. “Many of their warriors lack the ability to think for themselves and don’t know how to perform when they aren’t given orders. It could give you the advantage during a battle of wits.”
“Thanks, I’ll do my best,” Anders replied.
Standing on a large rock at one end of the beach, a judge announced that he would be describing the rules shortly. Thomas, Kirsten, and Theodor all wished Anders good luck one last time as he joined his competitors for their meeting.
The judge stood tall on top of the boulder calling for them to gather around him and listen.
“This competition will involve four parts, each testing a different skillset. The first is a test of strength, which is made up of three challenges, with a maximum score of thirty points. Next will come a test of wits and problem solving, followed by a demonstration of a specialty skill chosen by the competitor, worth ten points each. The fourth and final event, the mountain race, will be timed. The faster your time, the more points you will receive.
“You will be judged individually on each of the four events. The contestant who has the highest overall score wins. If you fail to complete any of the four events, you will be disqualified, showing a ‘no score.’ The other four judges and I will determine the points awarded during each event. In the case of a tie for first place, we’ll hold a sudden-death round, which will be explained if such an event occurs.
“You’ll compete in six heats of ten. The last heat will only have eight, as there are fifty-eight of you competing today. Those are the rules. You’ll be starting with the strength portion first, which is located here on the beach. The first heat will begin now. Contestants with the numbers one through ten written on their arms and legs follow me to the starting area,” the judge said as he climbed down from the rock.
Anders was number forty-three, which meant he would have to wait and watch the first four heats compete before he would get his chance. He made his way over to a central location where he could see the first event clearly. The strength event included three parts; the first required lifting heavy stones. The five large rocks lined up for each contestant on one end of the beach varied in size and weight. Contestants would have to pick them up, carry them across the sand and place them on their appropriate stands.
Anders watched as the contestants in the first heat carried the heavy stones and struggled to place them on the stands. The tallest of the stands was just above head height, so it behooved them to place the lightest of the five rocks on the highest stand, and the heaviest on the lowest.
Anders knew from his experience in the previous games that he couldn’t place the largest stone on the lowest platform if he tried to do the others first. He had figured that trick out two years ago when he did the lighter stones first and was too tired to pick up the heaviest one. He watched many other people make that same mistake. Those who couldn’t get all of the stones on the stands received lower scores.
The second and third parts of the strength event required distance-throwing. One of them tested to see how far individuals could toss a heavy log. Each would have to toss the log in such a way that the log made at least one flip end-over-end. The person who threw the log the farthest would earn the highest score. If the log failed to flip at least once, the thrower received an automatic minus two points. The second throwing challenge was a spear toss. The longest toss earned the most points.
Anders watched the four heats of contestants go before him. He knew that if he could put up all of the stones in the first challenge and make the log flip in the second, he would have a decent chance at placing in the top ten no matter how far he tossed the spear.
When his heat was called to compete, all ten of them stood in a line on the beach. Anders was placed next to Max, the lad he’d met earlier outside the registration tent. On his other side stood a tall, burly-looking Rollo warrior. Anders recognized him as a second-time competitor from the last Grandwood Games, making him at least three years older than Anders. The warrior wore his clan’s markings on his caramel-toned skin. He had a nest of dark hair curling down from his head. A large, full beard matched his unkempt hair and concealed much of the warrior’s face. The Rollo Islander was intimidating, to say the least; Anders knew he had his work cut out for him if he wanted to beat the muscular man.
When the starting signal was given, Anders flew through the lifting portion. He started with the heaviest stone, which he could barely place on the lowest stand, then swiftly worked his way through the rest. At the log throw, Anders hoisted the heavy log up by its base. He held the log firmly against his shoulder, careful not to let it tip over. For a moment, it wobbled. Using the log’s momentum, he leaned forward and began to run with it. After ten or twelve steps, Anders heaved the log up with all his might.
He watched as the top of the log rose up into the air, turning at a downward angle as it began to fall. The log spun one-hundred-and-eighty degrees in rotation before landing and sliding across the ground. He was able to gain enough speed before releasing it to see it fly through one full rotation. He was very happy with himself and knew then that he could relax a bit for the third part of the event.
When it was his turn, Anders picked up the spear, gripping it tightly. He raised it up behind his head and marched down the beach with increasing speed. Before reaching the throwing line marked in the sand, he planted his feet firmly and twisted his body, tossing the spear with everything he had. He watched as it flew through the air and bored head first into the beach.
A judge ran out and measured the distance. Anders knew he’d done well, regardless of what the mark was. He threw his arms up in excitement and grinned as he saw his family cheering for him in the excited crowd.
As the sixth heat gathered to take its turn, Anders went to check the scoreboard the judges posted for each event. He was tied with about half of the people for second place, with a score of twenty-eight-and-a-half points. The Rollo warrior in Anders’ heat took the lead with a score of twenty-nine-and-a-half.
In the test of knowledge that followed, each contestant would face the same problem and have to use his or her intellect to get through it. Contestants were not allowed to watch one another during this event, so nobody would have an unfair advantage on completing the challenge. It was designed to put their minds to the test and weeded out those who were only physically adept.
By the time it was Anders’ turn, a quarter of the contestants had been unable to complete the event, forcing them to drop out of the games. As he walked up to the event’s location, the large Rollo Islander nudged him aside, cursing him in broken Landish under his breath. Anders’ instinct was to push the large man back, but he forced himself to avoid the conflict. In that moment, he realized the man was just trying to get in his head and throw him off his game. He didn’t retaliate by engaging in a fight, but instead focused on beating him in this next event. If Anders could do that, he might be able to surpass the warrior’s lead in the competition.
One by one the contestants were directed into their own private tents. The area around the tents had been walled off from the crowd, so they could concentrate without distractions. When Anders entered his assigned tent, he found a table in the center of the tent. Seated on the table was a large wooden tower about three feet tall. Anders instantly recognized the tower from a book of puzzles and riddles Theodor had in his library. The Lumbapi people of Southland created it, if he remembered correctly.
The puzzle was designed to hold a centerpiece hidden within the tower. The challenge was to extract it without making the tower fall over. The puzzle was especially challenging, he remembered reading, because you weren’t allowed to completely remove any of the pieces. The pieces had to be arranged in a specific order to complete the task. Anders saw a piece of parchment next to the tower.
Picking it up, he read:
Before you sits the renowned Lumbapi Tower Puzzle. This impressive work holds a treasure within. Do the puzzle correctly and the treasure will reveal itself. Handle the puzzle incorrectly, and the tower will crumble. No piece of the tower is to be completely removed.
