Chapter 47- Dexsia Greentree
Velvet pulls the blade out of the boy from 8 just as the wind picks up again and knocks Treasure and me over. The cannon fires, and I scramble to my feet. The boy didn't even attack before Velvet stabbed him; the look on his face was absolute determination. No fear whatsoever.
Calypso screams over the wind, "Where's the girl?"
"She must have been one of the other cannons!" I yell back, bracing my feet against the biting wind. Four dead today? That sounds about right.
"Let's go! We have to get back to camp!" Velvet yells, and we charge away from the mountain, helped along by the wind that's now at our backs. My ears are like ice, my fingers stiff and unyielding. I look back, just to make sure that there isn't the District 8 girl standing there, but all I see is the boy, and blood spreading out over the snow. Then the blizzard grows too thick and I can't even see that anymore.
The four of us jog to keep warm, and it's not difficult with the wind pushing us along. The only hardship is the snow that keeps getting deeper and deeper. Velvet is leading us, and I just follow him blindly, charging through the storm. It will be so nice to get back to the Cornucopia and get warmed up again.
And then I can kill the others.
"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Treasure screeches over the wind.
"Yes!" Velvet yells back.
Calypso moves closer towards me; now it's Velvet in the lead, Treasure a little off to the left, and then Calypso and me keeping up the back and right.
"When we get back, we'll kill them," she whispers to me. I nod.
Suddenly, Treasure falls with a shriek. Calypso grabs Velvet's arm and makes him stop, and we all carefully walk over to where Treasure is, buried up to her waist in snow.
"Help!" she screams. "Get me out! It's pulling me down!"
"What's pulling you down?" I ask.
Treasure feels around then screams, "There's sand! The sand is loose and it's pulling me down! Get me out!"
"Quicksand?" Calypso says, examining the area around Treasure more carefully. Most of it is covered in snow.
"We'll have to go right," Velvet says, and we all just stand there, looking at Treasure who's flailing around and yelling. The storm seems to let up suddenly, and I can see my ally clearly. Her face is pink with cold and streaked with dark flecks of sand and mud.
"Aren't you going to get me out?" Treasure says, reaching her arms up to us. She really is sinking; she's buried up to her chest now.
Velvet, Calypso, and I all look at each other, and for once I feel that all three of us are allied together.
Calypso looks back down at Treasure. "No, I don't think we will, thank you very much," she says sweetly. Treasure's face changes from confusion to shock to anger.
"That's not a very nice expression for your pretty face," I say, stepping back from the quicksand pool; I don't want to risk falling in myself. I don't know how big it is, but I don't think it goes past where Treasure is.
"Get me out!" she screams, thrashing around, which does no good. In fact, she starts sinking faster; now she's up to her neck.
"Shall we?" Calypso says, gesturing with her trident towards the Cornucopia, which we can see in the distance now that the snow isn't as thick. Turns out we were going too far to the left; the big gold horn is farther to the right. Velvet nods.
"Let's go," he says brusquely, and we start walking through the drifts, leaving Treasure behind. I can hear her scream for a few minutes more, even as we get farther and farther away from her. The wind starts to pick up again, but not as violently as before, just a mildly ominous breeze. Velvet, Calypso, and I are all quiet, pondering what we've just done by leaving Treasure.
Abruptly, Treasure's shrieks stop, leaving the landscape silent. I wait to hear the cannon, but it doesn't come. Could she have gotten out?
"Where is it?" Calypso mutters, using her trident as a walking stick.
Boom.
"There it is," I say. So Treasure is dead. One less person in the arena, which is excellent. It's one step closer to District 2 for me. Velvet is next, and then Calypso. And, of course, the other living tributes in the arena, whoever and wherever they are.
Still, somehow, Treasure's death isn't as satisfying as I thought it would be. I feel almost bad about leaving her to drown in sand. Then I think about her irritating ways and how she spent her entire time in the arena combing her hair, and I think I can live with myself. How are they going to get her body out of there?
Now that the storm has subsided, it doesn't take us long to wade back to camp, through the knee-high snow. Everything seems normal here at the Cornucopia; the only thing out of the ordinary that I see as we approach is that the oasis is frozen.
"We'll have to cut some holes in that," I start to say, before the blade whizzes over my head.
"What the hell?" I say, then I see the boy from 12, Dussel, standing in the opening to the Cornucopia. He has a knife in one hand and a sword in another, weapons he's no doubt stolen from us.
Dussel is tall and broad, maybe a little taller than Velvet, even. He doesn't look like he's been having too hard a time, except for the fact his eyes are wild and his lips are cracked with thirst. Calypso and I back up while Velvet moves left, surrounding the boy from 12. I get a good grip on my sword, and wait to see who makes the first move.
Dussel does, throwing another knife, this time at Calypso, who hits the snow. The knife goes over her head and lands somewhere in a snowdrift. Just as she's getting up, Dussel runs at me, sword held high, ready to attack.
I meet his blade midair, the two swords making a horrible screeching sound of metal against metal. He pulls away and I lunge forward, putting Dussel on the defensive. Velvet uses this opportunity to come at Dussel from behind, but the latter blocks him too, kicking Velvet backwards. Dussel is stronger than I figured, which makes me worried.
Velvet crashes to the ground, only to be covered by Calypso, who goes after the boy from 12 with her trident, getting a hit in on his leg. Dussel yells and Calypso pulls the trident out from his calf, sending three identical streams of blood into the snow. Velvet's jumped to his feet, holding his sword in a ready position, but I can tell he's hurt somewhere; he's slow. And Dussel realizes this as soon as I do.
I come at Dussel from behind, but he turns just as quickly. He slashes high, I duck and go low, stabbing him in the leg and bouncing backwards. It's three against one, Dussel. We can take him, we can kill him.
"Velvet!" Calypso cries, but he's too late to react; Dussel slashes Velvet's leg and stabs him again and again. Velvet slashes at Dussel, trying to stem the flow of blood at the same time, but for all his might and strength, he collapses like a doll into the snow and lies still. The snow is full of blood, crimson against the white. A strong metallic smell goes up, mixed with the clean air that's coming in from the direction of the mountain.
I glance over at my ally, while keeping Dussel in check. Velvet is shaking, but he's strong. Slowly, he gets up, and I think he'll be okay, but then his injuries overtake him and he collapses back down. Dussel laughs.
"I'm stronger than all of you! I'm the victor!" he says. Smug bastard, I think. I want this tribute dead, and I want him dead now.
I strike at him again, but he catches my sword in just the wrong angle. It shatters, brittle from the cold and hit in the one unlucky spot. I stand, shocked, holding the remains of my sword; just the hilt and a broken metal shard. Calypso goes at Dussel again with her trident, but he disarms her and kicks her backwards. The trident lies at his feet, while my allies and I are unarmed. How did this happen? We're better than this!
"Any last words?" Dussel says, swinging his sword around. I back up, boots crunching in the snow. I'm not cold anymore; the adrenaline pumping through my veins is keeping me warm and alive. This sword fragment isn't going to do me any good; I toss it to the side and face Dussel square on.
"Not yet," I say, and dodge Dussel's next blow. His blade hits the snow and he growls at me savagely, pulling it out with fury. I think his time in the arena has turned him at least slightly insane. His eyes are certainly not stable; dark pools of madness. The snow starts again, but softly, drifting down around me like feathers.
"Stay still so I can kill you!" he screams, striking at me again; once again I dodge. Calypso tries to slip around to grab her trident, but he goes and kicks her again, sending her into a snowbank. She's still breathing, thankfully, but Velvet doesn't look so good, judging by the pool of blood around him.
Dussel is breathing heavy, blood still streaming out of the wounds that don't seem to be affecting him. Adrenaline is a hell of a drug though; once it wears off, he'll be screaming. I want to hear the cannon before it wears off. I want him dead!
I just need to keep alive until I can get my hands on a weapon again; I'm contemplating going for Calypso's trident when, like a miracle, the parachute descends from the sky. We all stop and watch it come down; come down to me.
The sword comes down to rest in my hand, the blade perfectly balanced for me. Just like Aulus knew it would be. I rip the parachute away and stand my ground, meeting Dussel's dark eyes with my own.
"Bring it on, 12."