Chapter 9

Hurt

Zelda woke up to the sounds of hundreds of birds singing.

"Don't move." Someone said. Zelda opened her eyes and hardly saw anything. Her vision cleared and she looked to see Bryce looking at the wound of her leg, his hands covered in her blood.

"What the hell are you doing?" Zelda screamed and backed away from him only to cause sheer pain in her leg. She screamed worse from the pain as the arrow moved deeper in her leg, tears streaming down her face.

"Listen to me! I'm just trying to help you not kill you!"

"You liar!" Zelda screamed grabbing her sword and pointing it at him. He threw his hands up.

"Why would I lie to you?"

"You want me dead… They all want me dead because I'm the one Cole wants to win. If I'm gone then all of you have a better chance of winning."

"That is true… But you have the crest on your hand. You're protected by the Goddesses." Zelda looked down and saw her it was unharm and glittering in the sun. She was still on the rocky cliff and not in some place where she had no idea of escaping from. She looked up and only saw a few members of the audience were left. All the families of the fallen were gone…

"You're family left a while ago… They thought I was going to kill you off." Bryce said crawling closer to her and looking at her wound again.

"Is Zefa…"

"Okay? Yeah she's fine. She must trust me or something. She gave me that look of trust before your parents left. Impa and Ralph did as well… I'm… I'm sorry about Rusl."

"He knew he was never going to win."

"Everyone thought Fatino was going to die in the first round of death. He was in the remaining ten."

"How many are left?"

"Eight. The group that killed Fatino is still out there, probably near the area where all the food is. The boy from Minish Village is hiding out by the other river and Twilight Girl is still out there somewhere. I haven't seen the other one yet."

"How long was I out?"

"About two days… Hold still this is going to hurt." Bryce pulled out the arrow and Zelda covered her mouth to keep from screaming. He covered her wound in white cloth and started pouring something purple on the bandage.

"You'll be better by morning. You're lucky Impa saved enough money to buy you this."

"They can send you stuff?" Zelda never heard Impa talk about that rule coming into place before the games.

"Actually my mother made it official before the games started. If your tribute was wounded or starving you could use the sponsor money to send something. Russell sent me extra magic after I lost my sword and… Well… I was being hunted down by a couple of lunatics."

The pain was subsiding in her leg as Zelda leaned against a rock. The sky was turning a faint orange and deep purple.

"This will all end tomorrow… We'll kill the tributes who killed Fatino and go look for the triforce."

"We'll need to make a group. What about Minish Village kid?"

"NOT EVEN! That boy killed two people without even touching them! He'll turn his back on us in a heartbeat."

"But if we tell him we'll split the power…"

"He'll still kill us. Impa told me greed will take over anyone once they find it. Me? I honestly want to get back home alive. I have no intention of finding this triforce." Zelda said putting a hand towards her chest and found the medallion was still there.

"Russell heard gossip from the other trainers that Cole gave you a mission to complete. What about that huh?" Bryce pulled back his messy black hair and looked up at the skies.

"It seems too much for me. He's asking me to piece back Hyrule with six medallions. I only have two."

"You mean those six medallions that people say the guardians of Hyrule kept hidden all this time?"

"The most powerful objects in this land? Yep. My sister and Cole each gave me one. Now… I have to find four more…"

"Are you talking about this thing?" Bryce asked and pulled out something from his pocket and handed it to her. It was a red medallion with the symbol of a fire on it. "When I was on my way here we stop in some sauna place and I found it in a cave while my mom was relaxing. I didn't know much about it until Russell said I had to keep it hidden and it was some sort of lucky coin."

"If we find all six of these… We can stitch back Hyrule. Cole said we had to find all six before finding the triforce."

"Well the first place I'm going to after this is a library. We don't know much about them except they bring back a kingdom and easy to lose. Well… Let's eat." Bryce said and he made a small fire and cooked two squirrels he hunted down. The two of them talked quietly about plans on what to do with the three tributes.

"I say we set up a trap and let Minish boy kill them off. That way our hands won't get dirty and we'll be able to set up a truce with him too."

"What about blow up their stuff?" Zelda asked him.

"What stuff? If anything all they have is a little bit of food and weapons."

"Get rid of what they survive on. Then lead them to Minish kid and trap him in also. You think you have enough magic left to drain energy from a certain area?" Zelda asked. She wasn't sure she should trust Bryce at all. He was pretty handsome she must admit but he was Lilith's son and everyone knows she's bad news. She looked down and saw on his right hand he had the triforce embedded on him too!

"They're protecting you also you know."

"They stopped putting their trust in me long ago. I'm not even Hylian."

"Just because you're not Hylian doesn't mean they think you're evil. If you got that then you must be important. My friend Link has it on his hand too. People make it seem like our symbol and say we're the Goddesses last hope."

"When my mother saw it she demanded I cover it or they'll be talk among the people. Since then I thought it was a curse they gave me…"

"I wish I could see Link now… He would know what to do."

"This guy… Is he the one always wearing green?"

"Yeah with blond hair. He's my best friend."

"I thought he was your fiancé. He gives you that look of love and protection whenever I saw you two in the arena." Zelda laughed.

"No… We're never getting married. It'll be too weird marrying my best friend."

"Enough talk! This marriage talk is making my head hurt." Bryce said laughing also as he put out the fire. The two of them decided to keep their weapons close in case someone tried killing them in their sleep. Bryce was a light sleeper and slept closer to the edge while Zelda slept on a smooth rock. She looked up at the stars and thought about the plan for tomorrow. Blow up their stuff and lead them to River Killer. There was no way River Killer was going to set up a truce with them. He'll team up with Bryce maybe since he was also a sorcerer but she didn't know a thing about magic except that her grandma tried teaching her a spell or two and ended up giving her potions lessons instead. Bryce… What a strange kid. He knew Zelda was powerful but why save her? If he just killed her then she would be out of his hair and one less tribute to kill. Instead he healed her… and even teamed up with her. Zelda never once thought she was going to team up with Bryce. If anything she knew he might've lived and they would fight to the death later on. She wished Rusl was still alive. His soul was twinkling in the skies above watching over her as she prayed silently. She then prayed for dear Fatino. He was one of the youngest tributes in the games and died on the hand of the meanest tributes out there. Zelda's anger bubbled inside her as she thought about them. One was the leader, he was the better match for Bryce but Zelda knew she could take on the girl. She remembered her having a mouse face and greasy black hair. The last one was another boy with strange blue hair. Zelda clutch the sword. Three more people… They were free after three more people…

Eight Tributes left…