The Burning Lawn
Chapter One
"Katniss Everdeen has foiled me for the last time!" President Snow said, pounding his fist on the table. "She will not outlast this next maneuver."
"What do you have going for the 78th Hunger Games, sir?"
"Sheer terror," President Snow said, giving his malicious smile.
Lana was dragged before him.
"I need you and Britney here to revive a lion."
"Um, how is that going to work?"
"She will take care of bringing the body back into existence. You will repair the body."
"Okay, I can comprehend that. But how are you going to summon the lion's soul?"
"Is the soul needed?" President Snow asked, stroking his beard.
"Well, chuh," Lana said. "It isn't likely a creature can fight without their soul."
"Maybe I just want him to be a drone."
"How exactly did this lion die, anyway?"
"By what we discovered, he was eaten by hyenas."
Lana stared. "A lion who had that done to him will not be happening upon returning to life."
"Which is where you come in."
"And Britney. But you still haven't said what you're going to do about the soul."
"Another prisoner will take care of that, my dear," he said, patting her on the head. "You just worry about your part."
Britney was brought before President Snow..
"Do you understand the task expected of you?"
"I think so, sir," she said.
"Reviving a lion might take a lot of concentration."
"It probably will."
"Do you want any juice to begin?"
"No, but I'll need…"
"Go on. Finish what you were going to say."
"I'll need the hyenas who consumed his body."
"I thought you'd never ask," President Snow said, grinning. He snapped his fingers and _Crater left the room, coming back a few minutes later with hyenas in ice encasements.
"Can you do it now?"
"Yes," Britney said. "Or, I believe so."
She began concentrating. The hyenas inside the ice had their bellies ripped apart by something unseen by the eyes of the viewers. Half-digested debris came shooting out of their torn stomachs, flying down to the ground before Britney.
Lana felt sick looking at it. And she knew what she'd be asked to do…
"Is that all of it?" President Snow asked.
Britney nodded.
"Lana, it's your turn."
She stepped forward, tentatively. Then she pressed her hands against the digested material, feeling that she just wanted to wash her hands. Then a surge of heat went from them into the meat. She felt like a huge wollop of energy had fled from her body, going into this mass of a partly-consumed corpse…
Opening her eyes, she saw to her horro that the meat was in the form she had seen it before.
"What went wrong?"
"I don't know; I was sure I did everything right?"
"Try again, dear. This task must be done."
He nodded at the cremation table, indicating that Lana would find herself there if she didn't bring the lion back to life.
She concentrated harder, until she felt as if every last ounce of energy she had ever had stored in her body was leaking out into the corpse.
When she opened her eyes, she found a nearly completed lion corpse in front odf her. That is to say, it was no longer butchered, but pieced together in a perfect fit. The hyena teeth were still all over it, however. And the tail wasn't affixed. Lana had to take care of all that. She pressed her hands here and there. Soon the slashes and other marks made by the hyenas were gone, and all that was left was the tail.
Lana picked it up with reluctance.
President Snow glared at he, which spurred her on. She affixed the tail to the lion's body and healed it so that it stayed firmly in place.
"Good," President Snow said. "Now get Lissa."
A girl with blond hair was dragged in a few minutes later. "I'll bite you if you don't let me go!" she screeched.
"Lissa, I'm sure Crater would love to snuggle with you."
"Don't be crude, sir."
""I will be as crude as I desire to be, Lissa."
"You should call me Vasilisa, Mr. President. I am royalty, you know./."
"And I know that you are only taking that snotty tone with me because you lost your dharmpir friend three years ago."
"You ought to let me go free. The Moroi won't attack you if you die."
"I have heard you say so many times, precious," President Snow said, stroking her under the cheek. "But you will do my bidding."
"I won't," she said, stomping on his foot.
"Just for that, I might have you cremated."
"You can't cremate a Moroi princess."
"Why not?"\
"Because…we just turn strigoi when we are set on fire."
"That is not so."
"it is," Lissa said, glaring at him.
"I don't like your attitude , young lady. And you know what I do when I dfdon't like a teenager's attitude?"
"Thrust them into the Hunger Games over and over?"
"Too right, you are. That's exactly what I do."
He pinched her cheeks.
She scowled
"What do you want me to do?"
\
"Bring back the spirit of the dead lion there."
"Oh no. I only summon human spirits."
"You've never tried a lion before."
"I may have. You don't know all my history."
"You can tell me it later, while I'm deciding whether to cremate you or not."
"You will regret it if you do," Lissa said, through gritted teeth.
"I will regret it if I don't. So I msut." Presdient Snow snapped his fingers a. Crater began dragging Lissa toward the limekiln.
"No! I'll try to summon he lion."
"That's better," President Snow said.
Crater looked like he still wanted to carry Lissa over to the limekiln, but he refrained.
Lissa shut her eyes and it seemed like the moon and stars were lowering themselves for the entire company. Then a green wisp sailed around the room, going through one of Lana's ears and coming out the other. It made a gasping noise bevore it was engulfed in the waiting lion's mouth.
Then the lion opened its eyes, looked around the room, and pounced in President Snow's direction.
Crater tossed a rope, the noose of which landed around the lion's neck just as it nearly got its teeth in Lissa.
"I could have taken him you know."
"You're a regular beast, Lissa dear," President Snow said to her, before striding forward to stand before the new arrival.
"He has a huge scar on his eye. Lana, are you sure that's not a wound from the hyenas chewing his body?"
"It was there pre-death," Lana said. "SDo you want me to heal it?"
"No, don't. I think that will be a fitting name for him. Scar."
President Snow gazed admiringly at the lion. The latter growled, seeming ready to bite Preside3nt Snow's head off. He lunged at the president, but Crater yanked on his chain, pulling him back.\
"Now, now, be a good boy, Scar. I'm not your enemy."
He snapped his fingers. An image of Katniss Everdeen appeared on the wall, every pore on her face visible. "She is your enemy."