KPOV
I continue to scan the forest for any signs of movement as I wait to Marc to reach the bottom of the cliff, my arm is beginning to feel the strain of holding a drawn bow for such a long time but I persist through the pain, he is my ally and he is relying on me to protect him. It takes him just over half an hour to make it safely to the ground, I wait for him to steady himself and pull his trident free before I allow myself to begin my agonizing decent. I take a deep breath and close my eyes to collect my thoughts knowing that this is going to be much more difficult than climbing down from a tree. This is going to take a lot of strength, strength that I fear I do not have. I am going to be vulnerable as I decend and it will only take one attacker with a bow to take me out. I don't know how far away the other Cornucopia is from here but if we are able to reach the cliff separating the two arenas. I just pray that Marc is observant and able to take anyone out before they reach him and me.
Hooking my bow over my back allowing for quick access I swing myself over the ledge with my good arm and stabilize myself before I begin to lower myself. To minimize the strain on my injured arm I wrap my left leg around the rope and trap it between my feet allowing me to control my decent. It takes me much longer than Marc to make the decent the fatigue I'm feeling from my now stabbing pain in my arm. Not far to go and then it's just walking I remind myself as I slip into a simple routine, slide the hands down slide the feet, hands, feet, hands, feet.
I don't dare look down, just focusing on slowly lowing myself to the ground I know is somewhere beneath me. I take a small break to adjust my position and that's when I feel it, two pairs of eyes on me. I turn and scan the tree line trying to pin point my attackers position, nothing is visible, it must have just been my imagination though just as I am turning my attention back to my abseil I catch the glint of light that could only have come about from a piece of metal but before I am able to warn Marc of the imminent attack they strike.
"Marc!" I gasp.
Marc sees them coming but he is out numbered, three assailants all with swords and spears. Marc only has his trident, I have to do something. I wrap my leg more around the rope and stabilize myself before pulling off my bow and stringing an arrow. This isn't going to be easy but I have to do something, he can't take them all on. I take aim on a black haired man as he readies to take advantage of Marc defending himself against the second assailant. Unsure if they have spotted me I let me arrow fly forgetting to compensate for the swinging of the rope I only manage to pierce his shoulder but it's enough for him to drop his weapon and give Marc a chance. Notching another Arrow to my bow I seek out the third but I manage to catch a glimpse of them as they disappear back into the trees, clearly too frightened, they must have just thought it was Marc alone. I see Marc struggling and hurry to descend so I can help more. I unwrap my leg and using my arms hurry to lower myself, I manage to abseil 20 metres in a matter of seconds before the worst happens. I miss-grip the rope and fall. I let out a scream as I fall I should have known better than to try to get my feet under me before I hit the ground. My right boot is the first thing to come into contact with the solid gravel and I feel a sharp shooting pain followed by a loud audible 'snap'. I don't have time to react to the stabbing pain in my lower leg as the black haired man who I has disarmed with one of my arrows was now running towards me, spear raised in his good arm. Instinctively I roll up onto my left knee and in the same fluid movement roll my bow down my arm forcing a tight grip and reaching for an arrow with the other. Swiftly I take aim and before I realizes that his life is about to end, I let loose my arrow and watch as it hits home, right in his chest, right where his heart is.
"I'm sorry." I mutter as he crumples to the ground mere metres from where I now collapse exhausted.
That's when I remember Marc. Marc! I roll onto my front just as I see him spear his attacker and throw his limb and lifeless body aside before turning to look for me.
"Down here." I smile as he frowns at the lack of body clinging to the rope. His expression turns to one of a grimace as he takes in my appearance.
"Are you OK?" He asks as he comes running over and skids to a halt before kneeling beside me. Silently he takes my injured arm in his and starts work redoing the bandages. I sit there and allow him without so much as a whimper, I know this is going to be the most painless part of this whole procedure. It only takes him a couple of minutes to do this but to me it feels like hours. Luck definitely isn't with me during these games. I think.
"What happened?" He finally asks breaking the comfortable silence we had settled into.
"I slipped and fell." I begin. "I saw the attackers and knew you would need help, three vs one and all so I managed to stablise myself enough to injure one but I knew that I would be much more effective on the ground with you so I began to climb down again, rushing my movements I must have not grabbed the rope properly and I fell landing on my leg, I heard it snap. How bad is it?" I then ask as he slowly moves to roll up my trouser leg.
"Honestly?" He asks, I just nod feeling the pain already. "The bone has broken clear in two but it hasn't broken the skin. We are going to have to make a splint of some form in order to move you and make sure that the skin remains unbroken, that would be worst case scenario, it would only be a matter of days in this type of environment for infection to set in." I nod, taking in his words and holding back the urge to be sick from the pain.
"Will my arrows work?" I ask, eyeing up the two protruding from the dead tribute. They should be strong and robust, there's two spare in him we could use?" I ask hoping he will get up and get them for me.
"Yes that will work, and we can use some of this rope to bind and hold it all in place. We may have to use the sleeping bag too, a bit like a bandage to hold it all together and giv a bit of padding from the splint. Again, I just nod, screw up my face and clench my teeth preparing to hold back the screams of pain I know are going to bubble up through.
He quickly gathers everything together before properly rolling up my trouser leg and pulling at the two fragments before carefully wrapping the black sleeping bag round my lower leg by aligning the two shards of bone. I know this has to be done from watching my mother repair breaks from men in the mines but I still let out an involuntary scream before biting down hard on my lower lip.
"I am so sorry Katniss but it is necessary, if we don't line up the bones before I create the splint it could cause the bone to set wrong and you may never walk properly again without having to re-break it which would be even more painful." I blink away the tears, I know that it's necessary but that doesn't stop it from being the most painful thing I have ever experienced and that includes child birth!
"Just get it over and done with. We need to keep moving." I manage between gritted teeth. I know he can't hurry the procedure, if this isn't done right now i will slow us up for the rest of the games which will make Marc more likely to turn on me and kill me if I become too much of a hindrance.
"There, done." He states rocking back on his heels to admire his handy work.
"Shall we see if you can put any weight on it?" He asks as his pushes himself to his feet before offering his hand for me to take. Gingerly I take it and he lifts me to my feet, I avoid putting any weight on my injured leg and allow him to stabilize me before I test it out. I start with just shifting my weight so that both legs are taking an even amount of my weight, not so bad. The pain is definitely bearable. I force a smile.
"I can stand OK." I assure him.
"That's good, how about walking? Let's see if you can make it to the waterfall, we can then relax there for a while before continuing."
"Deal." He lets go of my hand though allows it to hover nearby just in case the pain is unbearable but as I take my first step I realize the quality of the splint. The pain is excruciating but I am able to put my full weight on it without screaming out in pain. Slowly but surely we make our way over to the base of the waterfall where we settle and get about filling up our water bottles.
