Chapter 10

Mass Destruction

The grass was blanketed with dew when Zelda and Bryce walked through the forest. Zelda stayed behind Bryce limping from her leg wound. She knew her leg would forever carry the scar but at least Bryce was able to heal it enough for her to walk. She held the master sword in her left hand hearing tiny cries of bugs and birds hiding in the trees above.

"The girl hides in the trees." Bryce said. Zelda nodded and looked closely up at the trees. They reached the area where Rusl and countless others were murdered. Zelda killed five tributes in total. The arena's supplies were scattered everywhere along the rim of the hill. The three tributes were nowhere to be seen. Bryce pulled a lone knife from the tree next to him and looked at it carefully.

"Beware." Bryce said reading the word printed on the knife… in blood. Another knife flew out from the trees and sliced through Zelda's right shoulder before hitting a tree. Zelda let out a small cry of pain as blood poured onto her jacket.

"YOU CAN'T RUN THIS TIME!" A boy shouted. He appeared from the trees, his eyes glittering in greed and hunger. His hair was close to white, his eyes red and fearful. The girl appeared from behind Bryce, her knife at his throat. She had blue skin and green hair that look liked seaweed almost, her eyes black like night.

"Lead them to the River Killer… Lead them to the River Killer!" Zelda thought. Her mind moved in slow motion as she looked over at the entrance to the nearest escape route. Quickly she took off in a run, the tributes screaming. She heard footsteps behind her moving closer. The river was getting close as Zelda made a left and then a right. The sun was shining on the water blinding Zelda for a second as she bumped into someone and landed straight into the water. Whoever she hit they fell with a thud and cursed.

"Die you stupid, Bitch!" One of the murderous tributes said raising his trident at her. He screamed in pain as the other cloaked tribute raised his hand. The River Killer. The boy with the trident was still for a moment before blood fell from his eyes, nose and mouth and slowly he fell to his knees and hit the grass softly. A blue spark flew across the sky. Seven Tributes left. The River Killer looked over at her, his face hidden under his hood. He picked himself up and slowly made his way down the riverbank ignoring Zelda completely. She heard screams from a distance as the sky turned a bright red and orange and a fireball fell straight towards her. She rolled away missing the fire by centimeters. Another blue spark flew across the sky and silently Zelda prayed Bryce wasn't killed. She ran quickly back to where Bryce was and saw him trying to fight off the girl who had a knife closely pinned to his neck.

"I'm going to kill you… then you're annoying girlfriend and that good for nothing sorcerer by the river too!" The girl said. Zelda quickly took out her bow and arrow and shot the girl's hand that held the knife. She looked over at Zelda, her hand bleeding green blood. She hissed in pain and kicked Bryce in the ribs before taking off in a run.

"Zelda…" Bryce said coughing and getting up slowly. Zelda saw his neck held a deep cut and his face was bleeding from a broken nose. "The blonde kid burned to death…" Six Tributes left...

"The other boy was killed by the Minish kid. He… he didn't try to kill me."

"He knows we probably teamed up. He must be using alchemy techniques to save his magic and his energy. Come on lets blow this stuff up and get back to the cave." He snapped his fingers but only a small flame erupted in the air.

"Dammit I used the last of my magic." Bryce hissed. Zelda looked around and noticed a few trees were burning. A little farther away stood a bombs sitting in a pile near a large amount of food.

"I have an idea..." Zelda said walking over to a burning tree, pulling out an arrow from her sack. "Get out of here, Bryce." She warned as Bryce started retreating into the forest staying near Zelda. She lit the tip of her arrow on fire and took her aim at the pile of bombs. Slowly she let go and the arrow traveled quickly hitting the target. The two of them took off in a run and the bombs exploded causing the trees around them to burst into flames and cause an explosion so powerful both Zelda and Bryce flew forward and slammed into a nearby tree. Zelda couldn't hear anything and her vision was blurred and disoriented. She tried feeling her shoulder but pain almost split her in two. She felt someone touch her finger and then her arm, slowly lifting her up Zelda was carried her vision blacking out.

"Stay with me, dammit. STAY WITH ME!" Someone shouted from far away. Bryce? She blacked out.

The fire on her skin and the smelt of cooking rabbit made Zelda warm and roll over on her back. She opened her eyes and saw the sun slowly rising in the west and a flock of birds flying overhead.

"Caught breakfast and found out where blue skin is hiding." Bryce said handing her some rabbit.

"You would think River Killer is out hunting us down right now." Zelda said taking a bite of her food. She got up and leaned against a rock.

"Nah he's looking for food most likely. He must've been stealing from the other tributes to survive but he doesn't know how to hunt see."

"How come you know so much about the other tributes?"

"I spend my whole day exploring and if I see a tribute I study them and see if they show any weaknesses. River Killer if that's what you call him uses alchemy to kill his enemies but he won't hunt something down. That blue girl loved the blonde boy I burned. Once I saw them making out in the forest but his weakness was fighting without a weapon. I haven't seen the other two tributes we know are still alive so better to just leave them and go on our merry way." Bryce explained tossing a bone to the side. They finished eating and went down to the river to drink water and clean up their wounds. The marks on Bryce's face and neck were shallow and bleed a little bit whenever he turned his head to quickly or scratched his face. They spent most of their morning by the river washing and collecting fish before they heard the splashes and turned to see a tribute approaching them. Zelda pulled out her bow and arrow stepping in front of Bryce who wasn't carrying a weapon.

"No please don't shoot!" The tribute shouted. He lowered his hood and held his hands up. His hair was long and purple, his eyes a beautiful red. His skin was almost white; the black marks made his face look even paler. "My name is Vaati, I'm the tribute from Minish Village. You have to help me or I'll die." Vaati said pulling aside his cloak to show the two of them he was hit by one of Bryce's fireballs because his torso was completely burned and rotting away.

Impa sent Zelda a special type of medicine to help save Vaati who agreed to team up with the two of them in exchange for the triforce of power. The burns were slowly dissipating and leaving ugly scars and red marks that squirted out water. Bryce and Zelda took turns watching over Vaati as he explained how he used alchemy to kill the tributes he came across. He took down five at once the night before and in total twenty tribute lives were taken because they ran into the wrong person to mess with. He boiled their blood to make their death painful but quick. The body would melt on the inside in seconds and wouldn't be able to make a counterattack because they were frozen with fear. Zelda shivered thanking the Goddesses that he was on their side now only because of a truce.

"Why did you let me go?" Zelda asked him handing him a whole fish.

"Because… you have the triforce on your hand. The people in my village say that it's rare for people to be born with it and it's a sign that the Goddesses gifted them with a power."

"I wasn't born with any special powers."

"You haven't used them… yet. Besides… I've seen the way you hunted down and joined forces with Bryce. You were a match for me. I also don't kill pretty girls." Vaati sighed and ate his fish before turning over and going to sleep. Morning arrived and the three of them started carving wooden spears preparing to battle the blue skinned girl. She was the last one they needed to kill before they could leave the arena.

"I don't understand why you want to kill the hardest tribute to battle. I saw a injured one near the other river on the other side of the arena." Vaati said carving symbols on his spear.

"We know where this one is. The injured one could've easily gotten better and ran off." Bryce said sharping the end of his spear.

"Please that boy will never recover. I left him there to die because he was stabbed with a trident in the leg. Dummy deserved it for teaming up with that lunatic. Last time I saw him he was covering himself with mud to blend in with the ground." Vaati said throwing his weapon aside.

"When we kill her let's go looking for him then and put him out of his misery." Zelda suggested.

"What did he look like anyway?" Bryce asked.

"He was wearing some green hat. He had blond hair and scary blue eyes." Vaati said. Zelda's eyes widen and her mind raced.

"Was he wearing a green shirt…?" Zelda whispered.

"Yeah… and brown pants and horrible boots."

"No… No, no, NO!" Zelda screamed and grabbed her bow and arrow. "I have to go help him!"

"Wait what? Zelda we can't help random strangers!" Bryce said.

"He's not a stranger to me! He's my best friend." Zelda said walking near the mouth of the cave.

"That Link guy you told me about? I thought your teammate died the first day though."

"He did… But Link must be here to protect me."

"So are you in some love triangle?" Vaati asked Bryce.

"Shut up. Zelda we'll look for him when blue girl is dead. She's dangerous."

Zelda climbed down the rocky cliff before making a run towards the woods. Link was her best friend and he wasn't going to leave her like the others did. Bryce and Vaati looked at each other before grabbing their weapons and following Zelda.

I'm coming Link… I need you! I'm not letting you die on me! Zelda's mind was running as Link's laugh, his smile and his most idiotic moments showed through her like a slideshow. She was running faster to the river. Who cared about the blue girl?

"ZELDA!" She heard the two boys scream behind her. They were trying to slow her down, she wasn't going to let that happen!

"LINK!"