Chapter 32- Dexsia Greentree
It's closing in on dawn when we finally get back to the Cornucopia. Damn it! Saying the expedition was a failure is a massive understatement.
Cossus and I finally drop Calypso in the sand right outside the horn, startling Velvet. He comes at us waving his sword before he realizes it's just us.
"What happened?" he says, crouching down by Calypso. She's trembling all over, and then there's the matter of the massive gash in her leg. Cossus and I are worse for wear too; my arm is hurt and Cossus is so red he looks like a tomato. In fact, we all are red, covered in dried blood.
"This bloody bird!" I say, sitting down next to Calypso. "It attacked us!"
When the bird came down, we all ducked, screaming, including the boy from 9. Its talons clutched at air, then it soared up, getting ready to strike again.
"What is that?" Calypso yelled, waving her trident.
"I think it's a roc!" Cossus yelled back.
"A what?"
"A roc! It's from mythology!"
"It seems pretty real to me," I shouted, then I had to drop to the ground, narrowly missing the bird's talons as they grabbed at my head. When the roc swooped up again, I finally got a proper look at it.
It looked like an eagle, but about ten times the normal size, with a giant beak and claws that could rip us apart with no problem at all. It was dark red and gold, and would have been considered beautiful except for the major fact that it was trying to kill us.
While Cossus and I were busy trying to get the bird, the boy from 9 decided that it was the best time to attack; before we could react, he had slashed Calypso in the leg with his knife. Despite bleeding from the leg, she stabbed at him with the trident, missing as he moved out of reach.
"Drop!" Cossus yelled, and I hit the sand again. Some dust shot into my eyes, making them gritty and painful. No time to get it out, though. Cossus threw his spear at the roc, but he missed, like an idiot.
"I thought you could aim that thing!" I yelled at him.
"I can! Go help Calypso!" he yelled back, and he took off to retrieve the spear. If you could throw the spear properly, you would have killed the bloody thing first shot, I thought.
It's very difficult to fight somebody when you're also fighting a giant eagle thing, in case you didn't know. Calypso was on the ground, holding the boy from 9 off with her trident, but the gash on her leg was bleeding pretty badly, and her hands were shaking.
Aulus didn't call me the best girl with a sword for nothing, though. When the roc swooped down again, with Cossus still far away, I swung my sword and lopped off one of its talons, just as the other grazed my shoulder. The bird screamed and flapped wildly, spraying all three of us on the ground with blood. I cried out too, what with the cut in my shoulder and being soaked in bird blood. Not an experience I want to repeat.
The boy from 9, despite being covered in roc blood, attempted to stab Calypso again while she was down. I got there first, slashing his arm and making him yell.
"Get back! Get back or I'll kill you!" I yelled, brandishing my sword. I had every intention of killing him, backing away or not, but then I got distracted by Cossus coming back, running full speed through the sand. It was still raining drops of blood wherever the eagle thing flew, and now it was flying erratically.
"Did you do that?" Cossus yelled at me, pointing to the large leg lying on the ground.
"Yeah!"
"Good one!" he said, with the most impressed tone I'd ever heard from him.
The bird was screaming with rage as it barrelled down towards us for the last time. Cossus stayed calm, then just as the beast was about to grab him, he threw the spear straight through the bird's eye.
It dropped like a stone, skidding through the sand as it fell, and was still.
"Where is he? Where did he go?" I yelled, looking around for the boy from 9. Calypso pointed weakly to the figure stumbling away, hand clutching his arm, drops of blood making an easy trail to follow.
"Let him go," Cossus said, grabbing my arm.
"I'm not going after him; it's not worth it," I said, pulling away. This would have made an excellent time to kill Cossus, but then our attention shifted to our wounded ally. I could have killed both of them out in the desert, so why didn't I?
Honestly, I didn't fancy being alone out there.
"He didn't get you too badly," Cossus said, examining Calypso's wound.
"Yeah, well, it hurts anyway," she said between gritted teeth.
"Dexsia, get out the medical supplies in your pack," he said. Without arguing I pulled my pack off and took out the first aid kit we brought.
"Damn, nothing to stitch it up with. Best thing we can do, Calypso, is disinfect it, put a bandage on it, and get you back to camp as soon as possible," Cossus said.
"Fine, just let's go. Give me some water first," Calypso said, taking the bottle with shaky hands. Her teeth chattered on the metal rim. Cossus treated her wound the best he could, then turned to me next, eyeing my shoulder. "You okay there?"
"Yeah, it's not deep."
"Let's get going then."
It was hell getting back; just at the peak of one of the sand dunes the sun started to set. Calypso couldn't walk by herself after the first half hour, so Cossus and I had to carry her, one on either side. I wanted to leave her several times, but I decided it would be a pretty cold thing to do, so I gritted my teeth and just kept going.
Once the sun had really gone down, we had to make camp for a little while. Calypso was breathing heavy by then, crying out in pain as we walked.
"Oh shush," I said, setting her down with Cossus. "Drink something and get something in your stomach and we can keep going. It's not safe out here without a fire." Of course, none of us thought we would be out here at night. I expected to be back at camp by now, merrily sitting around a fire and plotting my allies' deaths.
Once the sky was properly dark, the Capitol seal lit up. It looked like it was floating in midair, but it was really just a big screen attached to a hovercraft. There was only one face in the sky last night, the girl from 11 who must have been the cannon I heard yesterday morning.
Once the seal had gone again, I said to Calypso, "Think you can move again?"
"Yeah. We should get back."
Cossus and I hoisted her up and she put her arms around each of us, hopping along as we walked. It was slow, and it was honestly aggravating, but we did it. All night long we moved slowly through the cold desert, not even sure if we were going in the right direction. All we could see was a sky full of stars, which was beautiful, even to me.
Finally, around dawn, we've gotten back to camp.
Treasure's gotten up and she's fiddling with her hair compulsively. "What happened to her?" she asks, looking at Calypso's leg.
"Boy from 9 got her," Cossus says. "Treasure, go find a proper medical kit. There should be one to the right."
"Why didn't you kill him?" Velvet asks, looking at me.
"There was kind of a big bird trying to kill us at the same time, Velvet!" I say.
"I thought you were the best, Dexsia," Velvet says, and he's looking at me suspiciously.
"Oh, are you upset that I got a higher score than you?" I say, my temper rising. I grip my sword tighter, ready to strike if I need to.
"Be quiet, Dexsia," Cossus says, stepping between Velvet and me. "Quit fighting; we need to get Calypso stitched up."
"And who are you to be telling us what to do?" Velvet asks, getting in Cossus's face. The former is much taller than the latter and has to lean down a little to see him eye to eye.
"I'm not telling you what to do, I'm telling Dexsia what to do," Cossus says calmly. His eyes flash dangerously, but otherwise he stays neutral.
"I'm watching you, Professor. You may be smart, but you're not stronger than me," Velvet says, poking Cossus hard in the chest and walking away. Cossus is somehow still calm, and goes to get the first aid kit from Treasure without a word.
While he stitches Calypso's leg up, I examine my shoulder myself. It's not deep, so I just wrap a bandage around it awkwardly. I'll be fine.
But by the way Velvet is glaring at Cossus, I'm doubting whether I'll have to take my district partner out myself.