The Lady Of The Lake
So here we are, chapter 37 and we've broken the 150,000 word barrier.
This chapter was very challenging to write, you'll see why. There is a lot of action in it, and I prefer emotion to action. Hopefully though, it is alright!
If you want spoilers guys...I'll give them to you...but you have to ask on the tumblr ask...and not anonymously, because then I can answer privately. Or you can PM me here. I'm always willing to chat via PM
the tumblr is located, as always, here at.
thgladyofthelake
This chapter features more monsters, more running for your life, harrowing moments, an unlikely ally and some hard lessons for Sky.
Review responses are at the end as always!
Enjoy!
Chapter 37
We're all subdued come morning and a little more tired than we were yesterday morning. Watches have to be kept throughout the night and Gloss had to get some rest, having stayed up the entirety of the previous evening to give me and Blight a chance to sleep.
Peeta and I both look worse for wear in the bright light of morning reflecting damningly off the white snow, illuminating all wounds, and I pull a face at my reflection as I scoop up some water from a hole in the ice. There is a slash across my cheek, vivid and red, and it kind of makes me look a little wild, very different to the blandly pretty girl I'd been.
There are bruises too, scattered across my body and great puncture marks from the Snowcat's whopping great teeth. All in all it's been a rough initial two days into my second Hunger Games.
The Fallen, shown in the sky last night, had only revealed Theo and Adria, and their cannons had sounded after their pictures vanished. It meant I could let out a breath of relief.
Cato is still alive, somewhere out there, and so is Finnick.
We check on wounds, eat a quick breakfast and then we set off again, me scouting ahead with Peeta, Gloss following doggedly with Blight bringing up the rear.
It's an icy slog through winds that are beginning to stir up the snow around us, obscuring the way.
Visibility was poor, but not so bad as to find shelter and bunker in. We needed to find more people; we needed the safety that numbers could provide. The Snowcats had shown then, that pack…that more teeth…could be terribly effective.
So we press on doggedly, squinting through the icy storm swirling around us. It's hard to see more than a few metres each way really.
Which is how I manage to stumble into the centre of a herd of huge shaggy creatures, almost completely camouflaged until suddenly a pair of red eyes glow at me out of the mists.
"Oh shit…" I swear stumbling to a halt as one of the yeti-like creatures opens its mouth, letting out an eerie moaning sound that all the others take up. Suddenly there are lots of glowing red eyes and then they all begin to lumber forward, reaching for me.
I turn on my heel and run, staggering back around the outcrop and grabbing Peeta's wrist as he comes into view.
"Run!" I shout at him as the creatures behind us moan again, and the sounds of heavily lumbering feet pick up their pace.
The pair of us slide down an icy slope and I shove at Gloss while Peeta hauls at Blight, dragging them up from where they've been resting as we scouted.
"Run!" Peeta shouts and Blight looks back once, and yelps before taking off through the snow, the rest of us racing after him.
We overtake him easily as the herd of yetis charge behind us, their roars and heavy feet echoing around the frozen peaks around us.
"Come on, come on." I drag on Blight's hand as he falls further and further behind, "Blight! Come on!"
"I can't…" he is gasping for air and struggling through the snow when suddenly two men come charging out of the snowstorm, two men that I know all too well.
"Cato!" I almost sob his name, relief filling me, "Finnick!"
The two of them put themselves between the yetis and Blght, a pair of warrior gods, Finnick like Poseidon, with his bronze hair and trident, and Cato like Ares, two swords in his hands, tall and gorgeous and perfect…
Then Gloss is there, grabbing at me, and shoving me towards a rise, "Up, Up Sky!"
"Blight!" I shout, but he ignores me, dragging me up as Blight falls behind, "Gloss, we left Blight!"
"You first."
"NO!" I struggle but he's bigger, stronger and tougher and easily manhandles me up the rise, "Gloss I swear- Blight!"
Sounds of fighting reach my ears, the roars of the yetis and then Cato's battle cry, that primal sound that makes me tremble from the force of memories. Suddenly the ice seems to fade and all I can see are shadows, snarling wolves with eyes that are painfully familiar, and Cato fighting….fighting, fighting, until suddenly he goes down.
"CATO!" I scream it and even Gloss can't hold me as I throw myself towards the cry, sliding down the hill, half out of control as the warrior from 1 swears and follows me, still trying to do his duty to protect me.
Figures burst out of the mists, and there is Cato, dragging a wounded Blight, while Finnick guards with his Trident.
"They've retreated for now." Cato grunts, shoving Blight's heavy form at Gloss who takes the weight without complaint, "Don't know for how long. We've gotta get the fuck out of here."
"Cato…" the relief is staggering and I almost do slip over, making him growl and sling me up over his shoulder, "Cato! The baby!"
"Not on your uterus." He growls back, "Behave!" and he carries me up the hill as I mutter about him being a bloody cave man brute.
Peeta's waiting anxiously at the top and Cato puts me down as we all pick up the pace again, Cato, Gloss and Finnick sharing Blight's limp form between the three of them until finally Finnick calls a halt with a sharp voice.
"We have to stop! He's choking on something!"
Gloss lowers him quickly and we all crouch over the Victor from 7.
Now we have time to look, the problem, the injury, is painfully obvious. Especially when the jacket is removed.
"His chest is crushed," I say quietly, "A-A rib has punctured his lung…he's drowning in his own blood."
Out of the mists behind us we hear another hunting call from the yetis. It makes us all look at one another once more.
"How long?" Cato asks me, and then asks Finnick, "How long?"
Different questions, but the same answer.
"Not long," I say, looking at Blight, "But we can't wait."
"Not long," Finnick nods, looking back towards the way we'd come, "Not long enough."
"Very well."
It's over so fast that I almost don't see it. One moment Blight is struggling to breathe on the ground and the next moment Cato's dagger is embedded in his chest.
I gasp in shock, as Blight's stuttering breaths stop.
Carefully Cato withdraws the blade, his face impassive as he gets to his feet.
"Let's move."
I'm in shock, my hand still resting on Blight's shoulder; I don't think I can move. But next thing I know, Gloss is there, helping me up and pushing me on.
"Blight…" I whisper.
"He's gone." Gloss' face is hard, but something ticks in his jaw, "You can't help him now."
"Come on," Peeta grabs my hand in his and then we're running again, leaving the body of Blight behind us as we race onwards.
Cato killed him, like Gloss killed Adria and Theo, out of mercy, out of necessity. But it's hard, seeing someone you love so much, casually shove a blade into someone's chest.
Neither Gloss or Peeta comment on my tears, and by the time we all stumble to a halt they have frozen on my cheeks.
"What is it?" I ask, moving forward as everyone stands, unsure, "What…?"
"It's a bridge…" Cato nods into the mist and I step forward to make out the shape of a rickety wooden bridge, "We need to double back."
"We don't have the time for that," Gloss reminds him as the yetis moan in the near distance, "Those things are right on our tails."
"Slow and stupid they may be," Finnick observes, "But we can't take them on hand to hand, and none of us have the kind of ranged weaponry that could be effective right now."
"Fuck I never thought I'd be wishing for Bitch on fire to be here with us." Cato grumbles, looking back at the bridge, "That girl is bloody handy with her bow. But she isn't so…we have to chance it."
"One at a time," Gloss warns gruffly, "That wood looks suspect at best."
"I'll go first," Cato hefts his backpack, "I'm the heaviest…if it can take me, it can take you lot."
They nod, and Peeta grips Cato's arm gently before the Victor from 2 turns to me and gently brushes a kiss against my mouth, "I'll see you in a moment love."
And then he's gone, walking quickly but carefully across the wood. Some slats break, I hear them, and I hear the others gasp. I can't watch. But eventually I hear him call, "Gloss, you next."
Gloss goes, lighter and faster, only one or two slats break, tumbling down to crack the ice, and revealing rushing water below.
Peeta goes next at my urging, and he is light and quick, with no slats breaking at all. I hear the yetis roar nearby and shove at Finnick.
"Go, Go!"
"No!" He grabs at me, "You first, I'll hold them off."
Then suddenly I hear Peeta scream, and Gloss shouting, and I shove at Finnick again, "Go! They need you!"
He's torn, for another long, agonising moment and then he races across the bridge, disappearing into the mists and the dulled sounds of the combat happening across the way.
Slowly I count to five, giving him time to get back off the bridge at the other side and then I start to inch along the wood, just as the red glowing eyes start to appear in the mists.
"Quick, light….quick…"
I move fast and then I hear Peeta's anguished scream, "SKY!"
I turn, and freeze, there on the end of the bridge is a yeti, holding a giant rock.
"Oh…" Is all I have time to say before it hurtles through the air, punching into the bridge just short of me.
For a heartbeat everything is fine and then, I begin to fall.
My chest clenches with panic and my fingers reach, scrabbling for anything, anything!
I hang there, clutching at a loose slat of wood, dangling over a dizzyingly high drop. I hear Finnick yell my name, and then I hear Cato, a roar of fury and fear, just as my fingers slide off the end of the wood and I fall.
One heartbeat, two heartbeats, three heartbe-
The icy water hits me like a yeti's blow and I open my mouth to scream but all that rushes in is water, water that is so cold it almost burns and makes my chest seize with frozen panic.
I'm racing downstream, buffeted by water that is paralyisingly cold, until I twist and use my feet at the bottom to push up, trying to break the surface.
My fingers find ice and my mind shrieks with panic.
No!
I'm swept on and then my back hits a rock and I scream, more water filling my mouth. But I've stopped and my fingers scrabble around, finding a fist sized rock.
I smash it upwards, once, twice…
My body is weakening, my chest aching… three times…four times…
The world…is fading…one…more…blow…
And my hand breaks through the ice.
I scrabble upwards, fuelled by sheer desperation and panic and rip chunks of ice away, lunging into the air and gasping, gasping and coughing as I drag myself…pathetically out of the water.
"F-fuck…" I shudder, frozen and shivering there on the icy water.
Slowly I drag myself up towards the banks, and look up at the embankment. It's high, really high…I have to climb…fuck I have to climb…shiveringly cold and with fingers numb from being soaked in an icy river.
How is this my life? I regret every descision ever, because it brought me here.
Now I sound like Finnick.
I shake myself out of my mental moment and grit my teeth, walking to the wall.
Time to climb.
And I do.
One step at a time, one handhold at a time, one breath at a time, I make it to the top.
And when I get there, I simply crawl my way to a nearby outcropping, find a small cave and collapse there.
My hands are shredded from ice and rock, they're bleeding sluggishly on the snow. My head throbs, my back is a mass of bruising I'm sure. But my first concern is the baby.
I hunch over, curling around it, as I did when I fell, and I whisper, needing to hear my voice, even as it shakes, and tears with roughness and cold.
"Stay with me…stay with me little one…don't leave me….don't leave me…"
I break the litany only to open my soaked on the outside, but blessedly dry on the inside, bag, tugging out some supplies for a fire. I don't know how I light it, desperation I suppose, but as soon as it's lit I curl up as close as I dare and keep muttering, keep whispering to my son, my daughter.
"Stay with me…please…stay with me….don't leave me…stay with me…"
This is how Katniss finds me…several hours later.
"Oh my god…" I hear her voice and look up blearily, meeting her shocked grey eyes, before my body….feeling safe…gives out…and I slide into unconsciousness.
Night appears to have just fallen, when I rejoin the land of the living. I'm tucked up in the little cave, the fire, larger now, nearby, with Katniss crouching beside me.
I'm wrapped up warmly in blankets, thick, heavy blankets and I blink at Katniss in drowsy surprise.
"You have good sponsors," is her reply to my look, tucking a small slip of paper into my hand, a note from Mags, "You okay Sky?"
"Feel rather like a clobbered fish." I mumble thickly, and blink at the note drowsily.
'You scared me so much little one, please look after yourself Love – M'
"Mags…" I mumble, and smile slightly, tugging the note to me, "She sent the blankets."
Katniss nods, "And some hot soup, I've been heating it and waiting for you to stir. Here…" and she edges forward, propping me up slightly so she can feed me soup.
Spoon feed me.
I chuckle wetly after I swallow.
It feels so good, the hot liquid warming me from inside, but Katniss frowns worriedly at me, "Sky?"
"Why are you helping me…?" I mumble, my head resting back against her shoulder, "Why…"
"Because…" Katniss swallows, and tucks a damp strand of my hair back behind my ear, "Because you would help me…because you…because you were right…sometimes it's not just getting to the end that matters...but how you get there. I…you're my friend…I'm not going to just let anyone else die."
I smile drowsily up at her and snuggle into her warmth, opening my mouth obiediently as she nudged another spoonful of soup into it.
"Thank you…" I mumble…slipping into unconsciousness again.
The next time I stir it's night, proper night and the anthem is playing.
Slowly I force my head to look up at the sky, feeling Katniss shift uncertainly beside me, against me. Together we stare at the heavens, waiting.
The Fallen, it reads and then Blight's face appears and my relief is intense. No Finnick, no Peeta, no Gloss. I can only imagine their relief is great as well. They will not have known until this moment if I were alive or dead.
I'm alive…and now they know.
But the relief is fleeting as a heartbeat or two later, his face melts away to be replaced by Cecelia's warm smile and dancing eyes. Katniss beside me gives a faint sob, a little hitch of breath and my arm curls around her. Comforting her.
But it's not over yet.
Cecelia's face melts away to reveal Rilka's delicate little face. My heart clenches as it did with Ria, that first night. Rilka…sweet, intense little Rilka. No…NO!
Then her face fades too and Seeder appears, tough and fierce and proud, with warmth in those golden brown eyes. But she is just as dead, just as gone, as Rilka, as Cecelia, as Blight, as Theo and Adria, as Woof and Chaff. As Ria.
The Fallen fades away…Peeta is still out there, still alive and well. Both of us are painfully grateful for that.
"I tried to protect them." Katniss whispers to me, "Cecelia…Seeder. I was with them. We were in the fire part of the Arena…there's a bridge not too far from here I crossed over on. But…Cecelia got swarmed by these…fire ants. Huge ants the size of a cat, or dog….they swarmed her and Seeder…Seeder and Rilka charged in after her…told me to run. I shot ant after ant, but when they cleared away…they were gone…Rilka killed them…and then killed herself."
Something niggles in my head but I push it away, too exhausted to worry.
"I'm sorry," I whisper back, "We lost Blight today…yetis…."
"Yetis?" Katniss stares at me, "Abominable snow men?"
I arch an eyebrow at her.
"They're ghost stories they tell in 12…" Katniss looks thoughtful, "Something the Capitol has breathed life into for our benefit."
"Peeta was pretty freaked…" I murmur, intrigued. Katniss' face shifts, hungry, eager, relieved.
"You saw him? Is he…how is he?"
"He's safe for now…as any of us can be I guess…he was with Finnick, Gloss and Cato when I left him."
"Those are pretty safe hands…" Katniss muses, pursing her lips, "Cato would never let something happen to him."
"Neither would Finnick," I murmur, "Katniss? We should get some rest."
"We should…" she tamps down the fire slightly and gets up to pack snow up against the entrance to the cave, blocking us in, "I heard one of the survival instructors blathering about this." She murmurs, seeing my surprise, "Should protect us somewhat."
She crawls back around and snuggles around me, and I tuck my blankets around her too.
Together we huddle, and slowly sleep claims us.
We get moving the next day but our pace is slow, trudging through snow and ice is tiring.
Eventually we find Katniss' bridge, a much sturdier one this time, that stretches from the frozen reaches to the island of the cornucopia.
As we cross, I hear something though, something that makes me pause, turning back. A cry of defiance, or battle, two voices raised, before suddenly they cut off.
I stand, feeling uneasy. No sound cuts off that quickly unless the person has been knocked unconscious…or killed.
It's then that I look down and then I frown, peering down again.
"Sky?" Katniss calls, and I wave her over.
"Do the water levels look different to you?" I ask carefully.
Katniss stares, "There didn't used to be any water in there at all, just…darkness."
"That's what I thought." I purse my lips and eye the water a few scant feet below me, "That's risen rather quickly don't you think?"
"Probably a trick of some kind." Katniss mutters, but I don't really listen to her.
I'm remembering Plutarch Heavensbee's words.
Fire and Ice.
End of the world.
Which legends had the world ending in fire and ice? There were a few, but the one that sticks in my head is the retelling of Ragnarok, the Norse legend for the end of days.
"And just before the battle was done…" I whisper, "The seas rose up and wiped the world clean, free of all evil, ambition and waste. The sea cleansed the mortal world, the realm of the gods and all the rest…only then…could they begin again."
Katniss stares at me.
"What was that?" she whispers uncertainly.
"The end of Ragnarok." I mutter, but at her confused look I just shake my head rather than explain.
This arena…was Ragnarok, the final epic battle of the gods, and of fire and ice. But it ended with everything being drowned in water.
And the water levels were rising. Perhaps…we have a time limit.
We continue up the hill however, panting heavily as we do, as the thing is bloody steep. And I have to put my thoughts away for now to concentrate on breathing and sweating. Strange after being so chilled for days.
"Balls…" Katniss flops down on a small flat part and fans herself, "That is…seriously…"
"I know hey?" I collapse too with a whine, rolling onto my front, just in time to see something glint in the shadows, "Katniss!"
It's like a moment from a Capitol entertainment program, all slow motion.
Katniss starts to turn, grabbing for her bow, but it's too late.
Johanna, her face dirty and wild, eyes fevered in her face, drops from a tree, and the shining, polished axe slides through the air, burying in Katniss' body.
The girl tenses for a moment as I scream, grabbing for my bag, for the daggers inside, but then Johanna crumples. A knife is buried in her body. I twist around and there, there is Sigrin, bleeding heavily, before she collapses, dropping her last knife.
For a moment I just sit there, gasping, unsure of how to move, before I scramble to my feet, racing over to Sigrin, fingers shaking as they try to find a pulse.
Nothing.
Johanna, then…nothing…no pulse…no breath…
Katniss…is still breathing, but it's faint.
"Katniss," I cup her face in my hands, "No…no…you can't…please…oh god…"
She blinks up at me, her eyes unfocusing slightly and I realise she can't see me…she doesn't know who I am. A small smile curls up her lips and she sighs softly.
"Prim…Gale…Peeta…"
Peeta's name ends with a sigh, a long drawn out sigh.
And when it ends…her chest doesn't rise once more.
I sit for long moments, staring down at the body of the girl who was supposed to be the inspiration for a rebellion, the girl who had been on fire, who was my friend, my enemy, my competition, my inspiration.
She's…she's…
No.
And that's when I feel it, a crack through my chest, a crushing heart rending pain and I scream, and scream as loud as I can.
It hurts, it's agony…this grief, this pain, this anger.
When is it going to stop? When will it stop?
"Darrien!" I scream at the heavens, tears pouring from my eyes, sobs wracking me, as I feel my mind fracturing, "DARRIEN PLEASE! HELP ME!"
The sky has no answers, Darrien is gone, a year gone, and Marvel too…Clove…Thresh...Zara…Teesa…Ria…Rilka…Blight…Katniss.
And I'm alone.
I scream again, needing to hear myself, to feel something that isn't the feeling of failure, of pain that I feel at Katniss' death. At losing her because I was not fast enough, strong enough.
She'd saved me. She saved me and I'd failed her!
Where was the rebellion! They'd promised!
The Victors were here because I'd suggested we stand as a unit, to have rebels in the Victor positions, so no innocent lives were lost.
But now…where was our rescue? Where were they!
My fault. My fault.
"Sky…" A voice drifts past my ear and I realise I'm curled on the ground, a ball of abject misery, "Oh fucking balls of fire…Sky…here...fuck…Fells, Enrid…I found her."
My fault.
Strong arms lift me and I sob into a warm chest and cling to the shirt.
It's not Cato…but…it's familiar.
"Sefir," Enrid sounds strained, unhappy, "This isn't right."
My fault.
"It's the way it has to be," Sefir's voice is hoarse too, tight with something, "It's the way it has to be…you'll see."
"I know…" Enrid's hand brushes over my hair, but it feels distant, "Still…"
My fault.
"Yeah."
My fault.
"Oh sweet…" Fells' voice then and I'm lowered, tucked against something metal, cool, familiar as my eyes open.
The Cornucopia.
Three faces peer over me, all anxious, but I can't…I can't deal with them.
I feel my body shut down, curling up to protect itself from this newest heartwound, but even as I feel Fells, gently begin tending to my wounds, the sensation fades.
Disappearing into black unconsciousness that for once…is entirely, blessedly empty.
My.
Fault.
Sarah'1595 – He doesn't like being separated from her! That's for damn sure!
Squirmyorchid – It really isn't! Defiance is dangerous…always.
SkullKey4758 – Reunion and separation again in one hit!
Ciaraaawrrr – Ahahaha I doubt it! I always felt very sorry for the Morphlings.
Coco2008 – Here is the next update, hope you stick around xD
ManAndWomenMerelyPlayers – You're going to HATE me after this chapter aren't you There is a plan! You have to trust in me…there is a plan! Yeah Gloss is similar to Cato except for the explosive temper…Gloss is more measured…cooler. Deccia is very smug at Sky's newfound defensive capabilities.
Child of Dusk – I'm very fond of the District 1 siblings too, Gloss has been very fun to write. And yes, Sky is definitely more proactive now…she's older and harder than before. And as for Gloss/Sefir…I ship it! Sefloss? Glefir?
Loopyloola – Sad Theo and Adria
Germany leger – Because it was dark and they were running for their lives!
Cookiecrazy224 – Glad you're liking the Quell…although you may not be so happy after this chapter…
Luli Cullen – Thank you! Xoxo
I-have-a-dark-side – Thank you! :D Love is always welcome
Angel2u – Updating!
brunetteAnnabeth – Soon enough for you?
Kirsty – He doesn't like her being out of his sight in a Hunger Games Arena. He says she attracts trouble.
WonderGirl556 – Aw, Ria was sweet, I love her too!
Thelittlealbatross – well the term Mary Sue has a bit of negative connotation behind it…but I'm glad you don't think she's completely terrible. I know that technically it's against the rules…but I see a ton of stories that do it…still…I may go back and edit chapters afterwards to remove them.
Pugs101 – Thank you! Glad you like it!
Ravenclaw Slytherin – Thank you!
Elora Moolenaar – I can't say I'm a big Clato fan…mostly because I tend to get the ship shoved down my throat. Bit annoying. But I love Cato…and I love Clove so
Imaginemeruler – Here is an update!
Redashrose – Sometimes it's painful…but I hope it will be worth it in the end!
FrostIvy – Ah wasn't sure if you were a slasher or no. Doesn't matter, not everyones cup of tea…but I do slash a few
Eve – It is hey? Fire and Ice everywhere! You'd think he would be hey?
Sparklyteardrop – Updated! As you can see!
Mt – She totally would have nailed the water part…although the jabberjay segment would have been devastating for her. 1000 reviews?! I can't even imagine! I was stoked to hit 100!
Reviewer08 – Sefir is a love…I love him. I'm not sure Deccia would be a comfort to anyone. She'd be likely to punch him in the arm in solidarity. Ow.
Bradly93 – One day! Wow! Dedication! More is here!
Greenstone4856 – xxxx Thank you! And I love the poem Glad you're enjoying it!
