Eliana's head hurt. She couldn't see, it was dark, but she could feel the presence of other people.

"Hello?" she asked weakly, but it came out rather muffled.

"Ellie? Is that you? Thank god you're OK!"

"Allie?" Eliana asked.

"Yes! And Cole's here too"

"What happened?" Eliana asked as she sat up, rubbing her head.

"The careers must've caught you, I couldn't see. They hit you over the head and you've been out cold all night."

"That explains why it hurts so much"

"Ssh!" Cole put his hands over Allie and Eliana's mouths. "Someone's coming!" He was right. Seconds later Shiloh's head appeared from above.

"Hey, I'd shut up if I were you. Jade's pretty grumpy in the morning; and so am I" He reached his fist forward, quick as lightning, and punched Cole in the eye.

"Shit, man! What was that for?" Cole screamed. Shiloh said nothing, only left moodily. Allie immediately checked Cole over.

"You'll get a black eye…"She fretted. Cole smiled bravely.

"Not so bad. It'll be a cool battle scar." Allie frowned worriedly. "And it's not even the least of our worries. We still need to get out of here and escape" He added, trying to distract Allie from his eye.

"Allie and I need to get out of the rope" Eliana said, gesturing to her hands and legs as best she could with her head. Cole's feet were tied, but not his hands.

"What about your knife?" Allie asked, brightening slightly at the thought of escape.

"Nah, they took it off me yesterday" Allie stared off into the middle distance as she began thinking again.

They all became focused and alert within moments when a rustling from the trees above caught their attention.

"Is it someone coming? Is it Jade?" Eliana whispered, as her eyes grew wide in fear. Cole frowned, and then regret it because it hurt his eye.

"I don't….I'm not sure, it sounds a bit like…" Then he smiled and only just managed to stop himself from wooting with joy. The mentor he'd thought was useless had proved his worth. It was a shining sword, floating down in a silver parachute.

"Result!" Cole hissed happily. He reached out to grab it and cut the ropes around his legs, and the ones around Allie and Eliana's arms and legs.

Cole moved so that he could see out and around to the career's camp. "Right, if we're quiet, I think we can get away" He moved to get away, but Allie grabbed his arm.

"I'm sorry, no way. I want to stay and fight them" Cole turned to her.

"Allie, I'm sorry, I'd like to get at them as much as you, but we can't" Allie glared at him steamily.

"No way. Those guys are asking for a fight, we might as well give them a tough time of it" Eliana nodded and stood by Allie. Cole looked between the equally determined girls, and sighed.

"I'm not looking for death. So I'll do as you say" He smiled and so did Allie and Eliana.

"Let's go then"

Jarsen woke up. His eyes gravitated to the still empty tent with the still empty sleeping bag. Eliana still hadn't come back.

He'd woken in the night when he heard the cannon, and he had no way of knowing if it had been Eliana. Or if it had been Allie or Cole. He'd promised himself the night before that if Eliana hadn't returned by morning he'd go looking for her, so he supposed he should get getting if he wanted to move anywhere fast.

His backpack was filled and his tent was folded up when he heard the blades crashing. Somewhere, somewhere fairly close, there was a fight going on and knowing his luck that was exactly where Ellie was. He began running towards the noise.

It was the last thing he'd expected. They'd escaped; and instead of running away which would've been the sensible thing to do, they'd attacked.

He was currently fighting one of the girls, the blonde one. She was more vicious than she looked, and she didn't look vicious at all. She had bouncy blonde hair for crying out loud!

The boy, Cole? Seemed to have acquired a sword, and Corey realised their mistake. They should've obstructed the entrance, so that sponsor parachutes couldn't get through.

The girl's had originally begun fighting hand-to-hand, which Corey was good at. But when Eliana had got her hands on a weapon, she was much more threatening.

She didn't use technique, like him and Roxana, she attacked fast and furiously.

Cole was managing to hold off Shiloh and Roxana at the same time, but Corey could see he wouldn't hold out much longer. Allie was fighting Jade; the anger was evident in her eyes. Allie had a bone to pick.

Corey was winning, Eliana was wearing out. If he could keep her going a few more minutes she'd be too tired to dodge a quick and deadly attack.

A scream from Roxana made him hesitate for just one second, but Eliana pushed him to the ground and held her knife to his throat. Corey rolled away; Eliana hadn't held the knife close enough. But Corey was worried when he saw why Roxana had screamed. Their plan had worked, Jarsen was there, but he'd appeared at the wrong time. Roxana was unconscious on the floor and now they had the upper hand Jarsen joined Allie in fighting off Jade and Cole was more evenly matched with just Shiloh.

Corey looked about in confusion. Eliana had gone; she was fighting off someone new. She looked a little bit like an elf but Corey couldn't put a name to the face. Who was still alive? Brita? And other than that? Corey had a scary feeling that there was someone else.

He used their distraction to carry Roxana away to where she wasn't in the middle of the battle. He then ran back into the fight, sword held high.

Jarsen had found her! He'd found them, and they were now winning against the careers.

Eliana was fighting Brita, and she was good. Eliana was sweating, but no one was coming to help, Cole was busy fighting Shiloh and it took both Jarsen and Allie to fight against Jade. Now that Eliana was fighting Brita, she was scared for whenever Corey attacked. Corey was strong and powerful, it had been sheer luck that had kept her alive in their earlier fight.

"Don't think you can beat me!" Brita hissed. Eliana stayed silent. Brita was right and Eliana couldn't waste her energy arguing.

Allie was in a tough situation. Jade was strong, and before Jarsen had come to the rescue she'd been in a desperate situation. Now she might be more evenly matched against Jade but Eliana had her hands full fighting Brita and Cole was at a stalemate with Shiloh. Allie was dreading the moment that Corey came back with his devilishly sharp sword.

"Allie, when Corey get's back…get him" Jarsen hissed from between his teeth, he wasn't even looking at Allie, all his energy was concentration on dodging and striking. Allie nodded, refusing to show her fear.

Corey's battle cry drew her attention and she ran towards him, trying to look fierce and brave. She could do this. Just kill him and be done with it, Allie told herself.

Corey was a tough fighter. He had some sort of limitless strength, not to mention a lifetime of training. Allie had luck and what she managed to pick up over the last week.

The fight was fast and dangerous. Allie was injured, her ankle had been cut at and she couldn't move anywhere fast without screaming out in desperate pain, and from the way Corey's attacks were leaning, it wouldn't be long until she had a matching slice along her chest. Corey's long sword was about to cut into her chest and Allie tried to move but her death looked certain. Just as she was expecting the blow, Corey fell onto his back; Allie managed to duck quick enough to escape punishment from his cruel sword.

A small boy, maybe only twelve, with dark hair and intelligent navy eyes stood behind Corey's body. Allie couldn't remember him at all, but he must have been at the training sessions with everyone else, but Allie still didn't remember him.

"You can thank me by not killing me" He said quietly, yet firmly. Allie continued to stare at him blankly. The boy took her vacant face as an answer, and shrugged, before hopping stealthily away into the darkness of the forest.

Now the only careers left were Shiloh and Jade, and Eliana was matching Brita in battle. Allie turned to see who needed help and limped towards Cole who was struggling with Shiloh. Just before she could reach Cole, Shiloh raised his trident high and brought the blunt end down on Cole's head with enough power to kill. Allie opened her mouth to scream but no noise came out. Cole couldn't die. He had to get home for Sam, for his friend Skyrah. He had to stay alive for her.

"Cole" She managed to whisper. She limped forward as fast as she could, gently pushing Cole's limp body away with her foot. Shiloh's eyes were fiery as he eyed up his new opponent. Allie prised Cole's sword from his fingers and struck Shiloh as hard as she could.

He matched the blow and deflected. But Allie hit again, aiming for Shiloh's heart. Again, Shiloh deflected the strike. Allie wasn't giving up until Shiloh was lying on the floor in twice as much pain as Cole. She was relentless and Shiloh was beginning to tire from defending himself. Allie continued to hit with steely determination. Finally she hit Shiloh on the head, not hard enough to down him, but hard enough to confuse him. Allie hit again, and again. She stabbed at his chest, stomach and legs, but was careful not to kill him. She wanted him to feel pain. And when Shiloh was moaning in pain on the ground, Allie lifted Cole up and walked away with his arm around her neck. He was barely conscious, only moaning. Allie pleaded with his to try and walk, but his legs swung helplessly and uselessly. She left the battle and followed the direction she thought that the little boy had gone earlier.

OK, another sorta cliff hanger. There's about ten left now, and I have deaths planned for about five next time, maybe six. Lots of death there!

Questions? Ok, for thirty points each again.
What weapon does Cole receive from sponsors?
Who does Allie follow into the forest? (Either his name or how he's described in this chapter is OK)
How is Cole injured before the fight starts?