Into The Ruins by Bob Blink

the unlucky woman.  It was long enough in the past that the circumstances were poorly recorded, but despite the Guild’s claim it had never happened, everyone knew otherwise, and each participant had to carry that thought with them as they made their way into the open space above the deadly drop.
    In fact, the accident hadn’t ever happened.  The belt had never failed, but once again, one of Carif’s predecessors had wanted to add a bit of fear into the ceremony.  The added concern allowed a bit of manipulation.  With the fears each contestant carried with them into the attempt, the results could often be somewhat influenced by enhancing the individual’s fright.  Magic could be used to make the pathways appear narrower, or the jump farther and more difficult than it was.  If the Guild wished a family to be removed from the list, normally there was no other way to do so without fear of a public challenge to the removal.  But causing their delegate to the ceremony to fail provided a foolproof way of eliminating them, at least until someone else in the family was able to make an attempt, which meant three years minimum when they would be out of consideration.  This year there were two families the Saltique wished removed from the list.  They stood high enough in the rankings at the current time that they couldn’t easily be ignored when the selection of one of the five offerings for Queen was made.  But, they hadn’t had a successful contestant in too long, and unless they passed this time, they would drop out of the Hundred.  They were families that were strong supporters of Rosul, and Carif wanted no more like her to deal with.
     
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    Later, dressed appropriately, Carif pulled the rope which would trigger the chimes in the rooms of her Specialists, informing them she wished to meet in the private conference room.  The replacement of the Queen wasn’t the only matter the Guild needed to focus on.  The creatures that were crawling out of the Wastelands in ever increasing numbers were taxing the country’s abilities far more severely than anyone had ever expected.  This was an area that Carif had argued with the Queen many times.  Her Casters were not equipped to deal with the problem any more than the soldiers currently assigned to the task.  Certainly skilled Casters could have made short work of the beasts that made it to the border, but to venture into the forsaken lands where magic failed was pointless.  Out there, her strongest Runemasters were less able to protect themselves than the simplest of soldiers who at least had skill and a strong blade against the beasts.  Unfortunately, the number of soldiers required to effectively patrol the long border drained the very forces that were becoming necessary to deal with the increasingly bold Baldari.  She hoped that one of her advisors might be able to offer some idea that would allow an effective use of their magical powers that didn’t entail a dangerous and potentially disastrous trip in those forbidden lands in hopes of finding the source of the creatures.
    As for the Baldari attacks, she had lost too many Casters in the past year.  Several had been women she knew personally.  With all their power, Casters could be killed.  Given a sufficiently determined foe, or so many enemies that they couldn’t be dealt with in time, normal blades and arrows would bring down the most powerful Caster.  She also feared that the Baldari might stumble upon the secrets of magic.  If so, the problem would be magnified.  Somehow they had found a way to cross the Wastelands to get here.  If that secret could be discovered, not only would they have a way to pursue the elusive little warriors, but they might have a better means of dealing with the magic capable beasts