Chapter Twenty-Seven, Worse to Better
Caskar wandered in the woods, alone. Not that he had had much of a choice in that matter… No, "choice" was not exactly the right word… Assuming that his alliance had decided to part ways when he had ordered them to split up, that he had never managed to find Artemis and that he had let him escape more than once, one could say that it was Caskar's fault if he no longer had a group at his command. However, despite the fact that he had no one to give orders to, Caskar was still armed with his daggers and the two strong arms that wielded them. He even had one more weapon since a sponsor had sent him a beautifully sharp and extremely deadly knife. Too bad no tributes were around for the District 1 boy to try his new toy.
The young man dug a hand in his pocket and reached for a snack bar. In a momentary surprise, he realized that the one he had caught between his fingers was the only one left from his stash. The only one left, he thought with a sneer-like grin, that will be how they will describe me after I get out of this arena. That would be his philosophy from now on. After all, victory was almost already within his reach.
Caskar briefly thought about who remained. There was Kalheb, who would not be too much of a problem to fight with a tad of blackmailing, that idiotic Harbor, who had thought himself worthy of the alliance during his miserable training days, then Zinque, who was probably hiding like a coward in a corner of the arena and the last three were none other than Caskar's original kill list; Silver Canemon, Artemis Fowl and Silyah Natho. He did not care much about the District 3 girl; she would be an easy kill and so would be Artemis for that matter, but the fact was that Caskar much more fun destroying him than her! Silver, on the other hand, would be a challenge, but that also meant that by killing her, the District 1 boy would both feel satisfied and would improve his Hunger Games reputation.
As he mused about his future victims, Caskar kept on walking in the woods and munched on his snack bar. Wasn't it for the weapons he carried, one could have mistaken him for a hiker taking a stroll in his favorite forest. An extremely long stroll, thought Caskar. Truth to be told, the Games had gotten kind of boring for him…
Suddenly, the young man heard the sound of leaves ruffling coming from the tree above him. Quickly, he looked up. On the branch closest to his head was a squirrel. Its big black eyes were staring straight into Caskar's.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" he muttered to the creature, which was stuffing acorns in his big puffy cheeks. "Got a problem?" he barked.
The squirrel seemed to take a moment to shrug and then gracefully ran up the tree.
"Hey!" Caskar began to climb the tall oak, being absolutely less graceful than the small creature he was chasing. "Keep on laughing," spat the boy, pulling out his hunting dagger as soon as he knew that both of his feet were balanced on the tree's branches. Then, being as fast as he could, he grabbed the squirrel by its tail. Clearly, it did not please the animal, which begin to scratch and bite Caskar's fist. However, the squirrel's desperate fight did not last for too long… Going deliberately slowly, the District 1 boy plunged his dagger into the rodent's neck and cut his head off. His trophy now in hand, Caskar jumped down from the oak. "You, sir, will be my dinner," he told his prey.
"So, this is what it means to go nuts, uh?"
Caskar turned his head in one sharp movement, looking in every direction. In confusion, he brandished his squirrel rather than his dagger in front of him. When he noticed his mistake, he corrected his position and spotted his new opponent as she walked in his direction.
Silver Canemon burst in laughter as she got closer to Caskar. "Oh, dear!" she gasped. "You've totally lost it, haven't you?"
How did the girl get here with such timing? Caskar tried to come up with a quick witty reply to hide his surprise. "Lost it, no. I'm not the one who lost it," he said, kicking his squirrel's severed head towards her. "Hum… I wonder what you would look like without a head, Canemon." He tossed the rest of the squirrel away. "Want to try that look?" He pulled out a second dagger from his pockets.
Now, both Silver and Caskar had found one of the opponents they had been looking for.
"You know, I've been hunting you down since the major killing spree," said Silver, matter-of-factly.
Caskar almost looked flattered. "Then I won't disappoint you." Slowly, Caskar walked until he was within Silver's reach. "Do your worst," he dared he before raising his arm and attempting to slash one of the girl's limbs with his dagger.
Silver moved swiftly, her hands finding her blow cane in a matter of seconds.
Caskar swore as the girl from 6 dodged his attacks.
"Hey, Caskar," said Silver, her voice strangely sweet as she hit the side of his head with her blow cane.
Caskar shook his head and cleared his throat. "We're in the middle of a fight, could you please shut up?" he spat through gritted teeth with his usual sarcastic tone.
Silver shot him a sneer. "And I thought that you couldn't make yourself into more of a Cato wannabe."
Oh, that is it! Caskar dived on Silver, aiming at her neck, but only managing to scratch her cheek.
"Bad Caskar!" growled the District 6 girl as though Caskar had been a disobedient dog. "Bad!" Once again, she hit him with her cane, this time fueling her strength with her fury.
Caskar swore one more time, hearing the sound of bones cracking as he fell on the ground. Had a girl just knocked him down? The tall boy coughed. This fight was not over yet! He tried to get up, but his violently spinning head prevented him to do so. When he finally managed to look up, Silver was nowhere to be seen… And so was the stupid squirrel.
With Silyah's hand supporting his back, Artemis had succeeded in the task of sitting up. After days of stillness, it felt odd to move once again. He was currently wearing the ankle brace he had received earlier and was in the process of delicately stretching his limbs. Silyah had made the boy a crutch using two of her spears and another piece of wood. She wanted him to try to walk again even though Artemis was quite sceptic about the improvised crutch.
"You have two choices, use the crutch to try to walk on your own, or use me to support yourself." It was not as if she would let him fall; she would catch him. It would be like a payback for every time she almost fell face first in front of him.
Artemis gave her a "humpf" and got out of the tent.
Silyah followed him closely. He was already getting better, judging by his humor. He actually he truly did seem to have taken back some strength. He had slowly got up and had walked about four meters with the crutch. A confident grin had even appeared on his face.
"See, it's not hospital-worthy, but that crutch is as good as any," said the brown-haired girl, still following him.
Artemis resisted against the urge to give her an annoyed look. So did Silyah.
After a few more meters, Artemis's assurance had grown and he therefore decided to try walking without the support of Silyah's creation. The ground was covered in damp leaves and soft earth, allowing Artemis to place his left foot on a cushion-like substance rather than a hard soil. The boy took some careful steps, trying not to put too much weight on his sprained ankle.
"Do you think you would be ready to move our camp?" wondered Silyah.
The boy's reply came in a form that required no words. Artemis's foot had suddenly decided to stop cooperating and now, he was tipping over Silyah, taking her aback.
Now both on the ground, Silyah could not help but laugh at Artemis's expression. At least she had absorbed most of the shock when he fell on her. "This time it's not my fault!" she grinned.
"For once," replied Artemis with a slightly humorous tone.
The girl shook some leaves from her hair and clothes before getting up and offering her hand to Artemis. "No damage?" she asked.
"Nothing that was not there before."
"Good," she whispered, pulling him back up on his feet, well, foot considering that Artemis had to put all his weight on his right leg.
"I think that we should spend one more night here and move tomorrow morning…" conluded Silyah as she dug one of her hands in her coat's pocket, keeping the other one near Artemis, just in case.
"What happed to your arm?"
Silyah gave Artemis a questioning look. Then, she saw her forearm. A patchwork-like pattern of blue, purple and yellowing flesh had formed on her usually pale skin. The girl scanned her memory, trying to recall how her arm became so badly bruised… She had been barely conscious of her doings when she had crossed the bridge of ice after the Second Bloodbath, but she did recall having fallen multiple times on it. "That's… That probably happened after I thought I had seen you die," she said, uneasy. "I was not really paying attention to where I was stepping."
Artemis frowned.
"Don't worry about it, it can't be changed anyway," she said, sending him a comforting smile.
By the camp was a big flat rock on which Silyah sat. She took a spear at her feet and pulled out a knife from her equipment. This had become one of her daily habits; spear sharpening.
Artemis sat down beside her.
"So… What did you do since you got in the arena?" Silyah asked Artemis casually as she sharpened the tip of her favorite weapon.
"I lived in a cave," replied Artemis with a slight shiver.
"That is a very ancient way of living," grinned the District 3 girl.
"I can't but agree."
"I saw that you had made some type of machine… What is it for?"
"Oh, you mean the box made of copper and stone? It is a simple device that can heat up rocks and replace a fire to cook food while remaining unnoticed." He avoided mentioning his electro-net.
"Hum… Clever… And very useful… For your information, after a small upgrade, I discovered that it could also be used to reanimate someone." She had spoken the last sentence rather quickly.
"How would you – Oh…" The answer to his question hit Artemis rather abruptly. Silyah had used it to revive him.
"You scared me so bad when you died…"
"Well, it's not like I chose to die," Artemis nearly snapped at her, not understanding the strange feeling building up inside of him.
"Woah, relax. Be glad I was worried for you."
"I know," Artemis's voice softened as his head turned away from her. "I'm glad you did."
The next realization struck Silyah as sharply as a spear. As much as she hated to admit it now, she understood… "Silver was right," she muttered under her breath.
"Beg you pardon?" Artemis moved his mismatching eyes back to her.
Silyah shook her head. "Nothing…"
"Nothing is nothing; this is certainly something."
"Don't bother with it, it's not important. It's just a small personal defeat."
Artemis sighed. The girl would tell him sooner or later.
Silyah looked down on herself, catching a glimpse of a chain dangling around her neck. "Oh, while I'm thinking about it…" She unclasped the necklace and gave it to Artemis. "I didn't really know where to put it no to lose it so… There you go."
Artemis looked at the small round item at the end of the chain. "Thank you," he said as he tied it around his neck, securing his golden coin where it belonged.
"Just out of curiosity, may I know the story behind your token? I've never seen anything as such in our District."
Artemis's hand moved to the coin Holly had given him. Could he tell Silyah?
The girl's greyish blue eyes followed the pendant, expecting a simple answer.
"It's complex…"
"Well, for one thing, I recognize those symbols on it. You taught them to me on the train and they are the very reason as to why I came to your rescue in time."
Artemis's stare met hers. His eyes looked centuries away, just as they had during one of their conversations in the train to the Capitol. "It was given to me some years ago by someone for whom I have an immense respect as a reminder of the spark of decency I have…"
Silyah did not know what to reply to that. She was aware that there was much more than the little she knew about Artemis's story, but she simply acknowledged this new piece of information.
The boy sighed, looking into space as Silyah's gaze traveled from him to the weapons on the ground.
"Do you want to try your bow?" she asked.
"I don't see why not."
Silyah disappeared in her tent and came back with Artemis's wooden bow. She retrieved a few arrows, as well as her homemade weapon from the ground before heading back to the rock on which Artemis was still seated.
"Let's see if you can teach me something about these," smirked Silyah.
"You are well aware that I am just as bad as you when it comes to this."
"That only means that we can't get any worst."
Artemis actually let out a small chuckle and it was on that note that the two worst archers in this year's Hunger Games notched arrows on their bows and shot nowhere in particular until they had to pick their projectiles back up.
