A heavy iron portcullis slammed into the stone channel behind Caleb Conway, cutting off any retreat to the upper mountain terrace.
The air within the sunken pit smelled of churned manure, rotting meat, and wet clay. Below the observation decks, the second trial ground sprawled across a vast circular depression enclosed by fifteen foot walls of polished granite, slick with moisture to prevent any desperate candidate from scaling the perimeter. Rain from the previous night had settled into the lower hollows, turning the entire arena floor into a treacherous basin of thick, ankle deep mud that pulled at the candidates' boots with every step.
Around Caleb, forty surviving applicants from the staircase trial stood in ragged clusters, shivering despite the midday heat as the wind blew cold mis
