CH3: Nothing goes as planned

Magic was finally allowed in the games.

Rythian let out a contented sigh as he was teleported into the glass tube, the partners shown all around him. Xephos was to his left, but he was likely to run off with Honeydew, whom he could also see. On the opposite side of the room, he spotted Zoey and relief swept through him like a cool breeze on a hot day. She was officially partnered with Sjin, but with this scenario, it didn't really matter. What was Ridge playing at then? Was there any point in what he'd just done? No, he did everything for a reason. There was something more to this.

Suddenly, a big number 3 appeared on the tube and he prepared himself. Magic would be his tool. He had no need of weapons.

2...

He looked over to Zoey who nodded. She was not afraid.

1...

He took a deep breath, braced himself and waited for the bell.

GO!

And everything went black.

Rythian knew better than anyone what being teleported felt like. When he opened his eyes, he was lying on a stone floor. He heard another person groan and stumble to his feet. Rythian managed to stand without stumbling too much and steadied himself on a wooden wall.

"Surprise!" shouted Ridge's voice over the loudspeaker, "I'm very sorry, but your plans to run off in your pairs were so transparent, I had to do something!" his laughter echoed around the arena, "Now, choose. Allies, or enemies?" There was a definite click as he stopped speaking.

Xephos locked gaze with him a second, his blue eyes shifting as if the iris' were made of water. Obviously, he was unarmed and there was a sheath on his back where a diamond sword should have been. If he was planning something, his eyes didn't show it, but instead displayed a kind of underlying intelligence. As if he knew more than Rythian could ever know or would ever want too. There was a few moments of unnerving silence before he extended his hand.

"Allies?" he asked. Rythian noted that his hand was trembling slightly. He had no problem with Xephos at all, he had heard he was a good man, and that was a rare thing these days. Rythian took his hand and shook it,

"Allies," he declared. Xephos smiled and looked around the room,

"Where the hell are we?" he asked. They appeared to be on the top floor of whatever building they were in. There was a bed at one end and the wall on Rythian's right opened onto an impressive balcony that stretched the length of the whole house. Behind him was a staircase leading down to the rest of the building. Rythian couldn't push the idea that he'd been here before.

He walked out onto the balcony which overlooked pens of animals, including one massive paddock full of various horses, including one Nightmare and a black horse with gold armour hiding in the shade behind the stables, Zoey and Shadowmere.

"This is Pan's old Farmhouse." he declared.

"Pandora? As in, Duncan's apprentice?" asked Xephos, joining him on the balcony, "She really likes horses, hu."

Rythian cracked a smile and wandered back into the room. Slowly, he headed downstairs, noting that Ridge had removed her condenser. Of course, he couldn't possibly make this easy, could he?

"So if you've been here before, where did she keep her supplies?" his companion asked, following him down the stairs and examining the two armchairs sat beside the raging fire.

"Under the stairs." he replied, gesturing to the room tucked into the corner. A thought crossed his mind, "If we each have unique weapons, what are the chances Pan's musket is in here somewhere?" he asked. Xephos' eyes lit up and he wandered into the supplies room. Together, they scavenged some food, torches and some mushrooms, which made Rythian painfully aware of who he was missing.

BOOM

The cannon sounded, and even the birds were silent for the first casualty of the games.

"How long until dusk? " Xephos asked, his eyes betraying fear.

"Too long." Rythian replied, looking up at the sky through the slots on the front door only to become infuriated by how slowly time seemed to be passing.

"If that was Hannah, I swear to Notch..." he mumbled, obviously thinking that Rythian couldn't hear him. For some reason, he felt the need to console the spaceman.

"Lomadia's tough, she'll be all right. She's probably just as worried about you. I'm not known to be the friendliest person, after all."

Xephos looked at him with a new found layer of respect,

"If it means anything, I don't think that was Zoey either. I get the impression that if you peel away the crazy, your left with quite a woman." he paused as if savouring his own words, "But then, in these games, being a bit nuts probably doesn't hurt either!"

They thoroughly searched the house, before descending a ladder found in the storage room. Down this there was what appeared to be a firing range. There were three targets set at varying distances with a chest which might have once contained weapons.

"I wonder if Duncan knows about this..."Xephos wondered, admiring the state of the range and the number of bullet holes that had hit bullseye. He opened up the chest and, with a smile, produced a worn down musket and a pouch full of ammo. On the side, in gold text, were the words: Ol` Faithful. Rythian saw this and took a step back, still slightly wary.

"Do you want it?" Xephos asked, demonstrating possibly misguided trust, but it was enough to prevent Rythian from fleeing.

"I don't need it, thanks. Just don't shoot me just yet!"

BOOM.

The second death. All colour drained from the two men's faces and they continued to scout around, all humour lost between them.

"Hey! This looks like a passage!" shouted Xephos, shining his trusty torch into the 2 by 1 path. Rythian appeared and scouted slightly down the tunnel.

"We may as well see where it goes. It looks like it goes on quite a long way."

"You know, me and the dark have never really.." Xephos began, before Rythian rolled his eyes and chucked all of his spare torches at him.

"Use as many as you please." he commented with a knowing smirk. The spaceman echoed his grin as he followed him down the passage, placing torches every 3 or 5 blocks depending on how brave he felt.

BOOM

The cavern shook and they moved on a little quicker than before.

The passage seemed to drag on forever before they emerged in the light of the setting sun.

"Just in time." Rythian noted, looking around. His face lit up with obvious delight as he saw his home standing proudly before him. He was about to run over to it, when he noticed Xephos had frozen, looking up at the glass dome.

"They'll be showing the fallen." he muttered, "I wont move until I know she's safe."

A two note whistle sounded through out the arena and there was a moment where time itself stood still.

"For those of you remaining, these are the fallen of the first day." Ridge's voice declared, an unfriendly reminder that he was always watching.

The first face that appeared on the dome was not much of a surprise. The one with the thick-rimmed glasses and green tie – Nilesy, with a smaller picture of Sjin in the bottom right.

"How am I not surprised." Rythian muttered, glaring at the picture of Sjin with such malice it could cut the air in half. The second face that appeared on the dome was actually a surprise. A smiling man with a thick ginger beard. Honeydew had fallen. The picture that accompanied his was Sips, who was smirking.

"No..." Xephos muttered, his eyes screaming for blood. Rythian saw an anger in him he'd never once expected. It reminded him of what the Games did to people. It only took a glance at the third picture for Rythian to taste the blood in the air.

The little picture in the corner was his own companion, Teep, which was a surprise to him. Perhaps he'd taken his oath to protect Zoey a little more seriously than he should have done. In the large picture, was a woman with flowing blonde hair, smiling happily. She was holding hands with someone who had been cut out of the image. Whomever it was, they clearly made her happy. In the trees behind her, an owl sat contentedly, eyeing up her own knitted owl hat.

It was Hannah.

Lewis screamed and Rythian took the opportunity to run.