Avenging The Triplet Alphas - Chapter 47: Chapter 47

Sawyer’s POV
Today was going to be the last day to complete the last of the challenges. They had been at it for five days now and they had managed to survive, escaping some by the skin of their teeth.
The previous task had nearly claimed Ethan’s life. He was obliged to pass through a cave filled with lycanthropes after being injected with wolfsbane to dull his strength, he was required to fetch a wooden chest hidden somewhere in the cave following a trial and at the same time fighting to stay alive by fending off the assaults from the Lycans.
I rubbed my hands together as I waited for the last of the challenges to start. My brothers were next to me as we had been with one another throughout the entire course of this challenge. Ethan wasn’t properly healed yet but he refused to stay home and recuperate. In these words, he wasn’t going to miss the last of the tasks for anything.
I turned towards Zane who had remained silent throughout the entire morning. He had barely spoken to anyone the previous night as well.
“Is anything the matter?” I asked him. “You’ve been unusually quiet.”
I tried to read his expression as he turned to face me but it was impossible to do so. Very few people masked their emotions better than he did. “I’ve been thinking a lot about today and what would happen afterward.”
“When I complete the task today, we take Maeve back home and that’s all that would happen when I’m done,” I replied.
“Do you think she’s going to willingly follow us back or if Ethan wouldn’t object when you succeed later on?”
I could now understand his brooding. There was a lot to think about and if war broke out, they were greatly outnumbered and would be taken care of quickly.
“The law is the law. Never in their wildest dreams did they think we would make it this far?” I began. “We’ve been putting our lives on the line just for Maeve, if they both thought we would go back home empty-handed, they were sorely mistaken. When I complete this task, she’s coming home with us.”
“I have a surprise for you both,” Ethan cut in. I heard the excitement in his voice and I wondered what mischief he’s been up to. Zane and I turned around to face him.
“What did you do this time around?” I asked him, crossing my arms across my chest.
“Nothing you both wouldn’t be grateful for,” He grinned and I sighed, rubbing my temple.
“Can you get down to it? Maeve and Ethan would be here any minute now.” I began, hoping he would cut to the chase.
“I had the same worries as Zane did,” Ethan began. “The thought of being outnumbered and forced to leave without Maeve after we must have completed every challenge Maeve would put our way from the Book of Impossible Tasks. So I reached out home and with the help of a few generals, I was able to rally our troops and have them make their way down here. If it comes down to war after we’ve succeeded, we would be ready to fight back and bring Maeve home.”
I nodded, feeling particularly proud of this shrewd move. We would need the support when the time comes.
Right on cue, Maeve made her way toward the field in the company of Ethan and a host of their pack warriors. It was time for them to begin and I was mentally prepared to carry my family on my back and take us across the finish line. We were so close to our goal that I could almost taste the sweet feeling of victory.
It seemed rather poetic that I would be one to complete this last task after enforcing our coming down here to bring Maeve back on my brothers. For the first time in a long while, we were finally going to make our father proud of the three of us.
“You arrived earlier than expected,” I watched as they both took their positions on the platform.
“If I didn’t know any better, it seems like you’re all so eager to get this over with and head home.” Maeve finished with an amused smile on her face. Unlike the last three days, she seemed rather excited today which had me a little bit worried over this last task.
“We’ve been away for a week. The pack isn’t going to run itself and we’re feeling rather homesick. Don’t get me wrong, this place looks beautiful but it’s nothing close to home.” I replied.
“Who’s going to represent the rest of you on this task?” She asked.
“Myself. I’ll be doing it this time around.” I started. “But before we begin, I have a couple of questions and they’re directed towards Ethan.”
Ethan raised his eyebrows at me and I took it as my cue to continue.
“When I succeed with this task what happens afterwards?”
“Are you toying with me?” Ethan frowned but I didn’t care about his emotions right now. I had to hear him say the words out loud.
“I asked you a question, Ethan. You would do well to answer.” I replied.
“If you succeed, Maeve goes with you. This is always been the arrangement.” He eventually answered after a long pause.
“That’s all I wanted to hear.” I nodded, satisfied with his response before turning to Maeve. “Let’s this over and done with.”
“For your final task, you would be required to provide the correct answer to three distinct riddles before the sun sets. Failure to do this would mean you failed and failure means you would be required to go home the same way you came.”
I nodded. This was an unexpected twist, I hadn’t seen this coming but if there was one thing I excelled in, it was brainstorming.
“Let’s get started, shall we?”
“This is the first of three riddles, you are in a room that is completely bricked in on all four sides, including the ceiling and floor. You have nothing but a mirror and a wooden table in the room with you. How do you get out?”
“You look in the mirror, you see what you saw, you take the saw and you cut the table in half, two halves make a whole, and you climb out the hole,” I answered after half an hour, it had been pretty difficult but I wanted to be certain of what my answer was.
Maeve frowned but she maintained her composure.
“Three playing cards in a row. Can you name them with these clues? There is a two to the right of a king. A diamond will be found to the left of a spade. An ace is to the left of a heart. A heart is to the left of a spade. Now, identify all three cards.”
I couldn’t believe my luck. I was an avid card player, it wasn’t difficult for me to name all cards lined up correctly.
“The first card would be the Ace of Diamonds, the second would be the King of Hearts, and the last card, the Two of Spades,” I answered without skipping a beat.
The surprise written on Ethan’s face was a joy to behold. They hadn’t seen this coming from a mile away but I was too early to gloat. I had two more riddles to figure out.
“Are you ready for the next one?”
I nodded.
“You walk up to a mountain that has two paths. One leads to the other side of the mountain, and the other will get you lost forever. Two twins know the path that leads to the other side. You can ask them only one question. Except! One lies and one tells the truth, and you don’t know which is which. So, What do you ask?”
Just like I expected, the difficulty level had gone up a notch. I racked my brain thinking about a possible answer that encompasses both the truth and a lie and how I would manage to figure it out.
“You can only give one answer,” Maeve added. “So do not go off sprouting answers.”
I nodded, if anything this was payback. Unlike the previous times, this task had begun at 3:00 PM and I had less than five minutes to complete this riddle or we would fail.
I knew one of them had a hand in it and if I asked either of them whose idea it was, they would both lie in my face. The chances of either of them telling the truth were rather slim but what if one of them did?
What if one of them did? I mused. One had to tell the truth and one had to lie.
Suddenly, the answer began to form in my head. I could ask them the same question I wanted to ask Ethan and Maeve but unlike both of them. One of the twins would be required to speak the truth unfailingly.
“You can ask each twin the same question, what would your brother answer? And this would work because… Let’s start all over.” My head was a scrambled mess and I was trying to piece it together in a comprehensive manner.
“Let’s say the correct path is on the left and you ask the lying twin that question, the lying twin already knows his brother would tell the truth so he would say it’s on the left side, but since he’ll lie by default, he would say right. And the honest twin would say right as well because he knows his brother will lie. That’s how you know the correct path is to the left.”