Ziggy Malone's Arc

Chapter 1 of 8

Ziggy Malone had trained eleven months to fight atop Jennings Peak, and she still didn't know when the solstice tournament took sign-ups. She sat on the floor of her home, an old blacksmith's forge with soot-black walls, wrapping her knuckles with tape. The tournament happened once a year. Miss the sign-up, and she'd wait another twelve months. Her hands were ready. Her plan was not. She stood five foot three, thick through the shoulders, purple mohawk stiff with sweat. She threw a punch at the iron anvil out of habit and grinned when it stung. Then the grin dropped. "Okay," she said to the empty room. "So I can hit things. Doesn't help if I can't find the door." Nobody advertised the fights. That was the point. The tournament ran underground, and the people who knew kept quiet. Ziggy had asked at every gym in town. She'd gotten shrugs, and once a laugh in her face. Time was gone. The solstice was three days out. She pulled on her jacket and went to the one person she'd been avoiding. Jade Monroe leaned against a weeping willow at the edge of the training yard, tall and lean, short curls loose in the wind. She was peeling an apple with a knife and didn't look up. "Come to beg?" Jade said. Ziggy hated that she needed her. Jade had fought on the Peak twice. She'd also beaten Ziggy in a sparring match last spring and never once let her forget it. "I need the sign-up," Ziggy said. "When and where." Jade cut a slice and ate it slow. "Everyone needs something." She studied Ziggy's taped hands. "You've been busy." "Eleven months. Every day. You know I'm not quitting." Jade pushed off the tree. The willow branches swayed behind her. "Sign-up isn't a place," she said. "It's a person. You find them the night before the solstice. They ask you one question. Answer wrong, you're out." "What's the question?" "They ask who sent you." Jade smiled, sharp. "You say my name." Ziggy's chest went tight. "Why would you help me?" "I'm not." Jade tossed her the apple core. Ziggy caught it. "I want to fight you up there, in front of everyone, and win clean. Can't do that if you never make it past the door." She turned and walked off. "Two nights from now. The tavern with the black dragon painted over the bar. Come alone." Ziggy stood under the swaying branches, apple core in her fist. She had her answer. She also had a debt to the one person who'd already beaten her. The door was open now. What waited on the other side was Jade.