Renegade Rising (The Renegade Series) by J.C. Fiske

arrives.” The children nodded in response.
    “And for the last test, there sits a soldier by the name of Blur. He is graced with such a name because he is arguably the fastest man in all of Karm’s kingdom, after Captain Scarrr of course. If Scarrr ran this test, it would not be fair to any of you!” Ricard said. Cheers erupted upon hearing Scarrr’s name.
    “Blur’s reflexes are uncanny and what he lacks in power he doubles in speed. There are ten pots and under one of those pots is a pebble. The test is simple enough. The pebble will be placed under a random pot in plain sight. Blur will then begin to shuffle the pots around the table and when he is finished, you must guess which pot the pebble lies under. There are ten pots, so if you lose sight of the pot for any reason, you have a 10% chance of guessing correctly. What you can’t make up in skill, you better be able to make up with luck. Some have it, some don’t. Now! You have heard the rules of all three tests, good luck to you all. I am eager to see the results! Let the games begin!” finished General Ricard and he made his way to the observation balcony with his two comrades.
    The soldiers began to lead the groups to different sections of the courtyard to begin their tests. Gisbo looked around at his group. There were about seventy kids in all. He began to think about what a small amount would make it. A nervous rush of doubt started to sink in, but he knew he had to fight it. This was all he had. There was no plan B. All of his eggs had gone into one basket.
    The other kids around him jumped up and down with excitement, talking to each other and bragging to their friends about who would pass and who wouldn’t. Gisbo looked ahead to see which test the soldiers were leading him to. He could see a large table with ten clay pots upon it. Gisbo’s first test would be the eye test.
    Everyone watched as Blur made his way to the large table and called forth his first contestant. It was Thomson. The General’s son would not have to wait in line. He would probably be the first for every test he took, Gisbo assumed. Either way, Gisbo was thrilled to find out he was in the same group as Thomson. He wanted to see the little butt nugget fail miserably. Thomson approached the table with an arrogant, assured smile. As always, his minions cheered him on, doing their Black Wolf Pack cheer. Awwwooo! Awwwooo! Gisbo cringed at the sound. In their own little world, they may have thought they sounded like wolves, but to Gisbo and many others, they sounded like coyotes with a bad case of the runs.
    “All right, let’s get this thing over with. Show me what you got, Blur boy!” Thomson sneered. Blur cracked a sly grin and looked down at the pots.
    “Watch closely and we will see just who the boy is,” Blue replied. He held up the pebble for Thomson to see and then placed it underneath one of the pots.
    “Are you ready?” Blur asked. Thomson nodded and Blur cracked his knuckles, placed his hands on two of the pots and began shuffling them about the table. He shuffled them slowly at first, and then, in a breath’s pause, Blur’s hands started to move back and forth and up and down, touching all the pots and moving them about with blinding speed. Thomson’s head darted back and forth for a quick instant and then stopped as the pots continued to speed in front of him. He threw his hands into the air with a frustrated curse.
    A few moments later, Blur’s hands stopped and a single pot wobbled back and forth, echoing across the wooden table. The line looked on as Thomson scratched the back of his head. Gisbo relished Thomson’s nervous tension. Then, all of a sudden, Thomson’s head jerked down. His eyes wandered almost as if he were thinking, but Gisbo could see he must be looking at his father out of the corner of his eye. Gisbo quickly turned his gaze to the General and he swore he saw him quickly flash a hand gesture from his seated position.
    Was I the only one who