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*****

Ugh. This is taking forever. I'm army-crawling my way through the field of purple flowers and I have been for a while. My destination is the bigger clump of huge trees and I'd rather not go back in the thicket for fear of the bear-bull and more scratches. I'm crawling because I'd be a sitting duck for any armed person in the forest if I stood up. This meadow is huge. I did make it to the brook and I filled up my water bottle and managed to skewer two fish, clean them up a bit, and ate one of them. I should cook the squirrels soon.

The midday sun is beating down on my back and I'm sweating. I take a sip of my water and rest for a minute on my back. The sky is a bright blue and perfectly cloudless. It's so peaceful.

"I hate cloudless skies." Fitch is looking up at the sky with me. Just watching the world go by.

"Why?" I ask. "You get a good tan." He rolls his eyes. "Plus it seems like the world pauses. When there are clouds, they speed by and remind you about rushing around and that time is being wasted."

"I like rain," he says. "It's so mysterious, and everything is sharper. Besides you can't watch the world go by when time is paused. Isn't that what we're supposed to be doing?" I laugh and tousle his sandy hair.

The memory makes me stop short of bringing the water all the way to my dry, cracked lips. I sit there a bit more. Just staring at the sky. Then I put the bottle back in my satchel and start crawling again.

When I'm finally getting close to the trees, I hear a sound. It sounds like a moaning animal. I'm kind of scared it's another bear-bull so I army-crawl my way to a huge tree and slowly, very slowly, stand up. It's easy to stay behind it. The trunk is more than three times bigger than me. The moaning stops for a second and I'm scared whatever it is has heard me. Then it starts up again and I manage to suppress a sigh of relief.

I can't just stand here behind this tree. I have to look and see what's making the sound. Even if I don't like it. I can't hide from it in this field. I find enough courage to get down on my stomach and look out over some huge exposed roots. I find that all of the trees are as big as mine and have the big, spidery roots. There's a little clearing not too far away from me and I can tell the moaning is coming from there. I look a bit closer and find that there is something there. I can't quite tell what it is though. It looks pretty small and like its just lying there.

I have to get closer. I don't know if sprinting from tree to tree is the best idea or if I should just army crawl. I think it over for a second. These trees are too far apart. I'm going to crawl. I start crawling, smushing purple flowers as I go. I don't think it's noticed me. These big roots give pretty good cover. I stop to rest at each tree and zig-zag my way to the clearing. When I get to the final tree, I stand as slowly as I possibly can and wait. The moaning stops.

I take a deep breath and look warily at the thing. I can tell my face registers surprise, because there, in the little clearing, is none other than Patin, the small girl from training. I quickly make my face into an unreadable mask and notice that her right arm has a huge gash that's much bigger than mine. I can also see that her right hand looks like it's been smashed with something. It's bloody and gross and bleeding like crazy. No wonder she's moaning.

She's noticed me. Her eyes make contact with mine and I step forward a little. Should I kill her? Or try to save her? My eyes go back and forth between my knife and Patin. Before I can decide she shakes her head slowly and moans "Noooo." No what?

Before I can say anything, a spear is flying towards me from the treetops. My fast reflexes save me, but it grazes my shoulder and I'm left with a small cut. I look to where it came from and see a figure jump from a tree. I wonder who it is, but really, I already know the answer.

The figure runs at me and tackles me just as I raise my knife. I hold Beam's wrists about a foot from my face. In his hand is a knife with intricate patterns carved into the metal. He holds my wrists and my knife the same distance from his face. He looks so much different from the scared boy from training. Wild eyes and a scary smile. Was he always like this?

My arms are shaking now. I grit my teeth. He's pretty strong, but I'm holding my own.

"So your friend Urso," says Beam as if he's holding a normal conversation. "We ran into him today." I don't respond. "I chopped off his head." Beam gives a maniac laugh and I fight even harder. It can't really be true, can it? Beam and Patin against Urso and Cayne? But it still makes me angry. In a rush of adrenaline I push Beam off me and jump to my feet. He jumps up just as fast and I take a swipe at him but he dodges it at the last second.

I keep the knife in my hand instead of throwing it. Where would I be if he dodged my throw?

We're in the clearing blocking and dodging each other's swipes and about ten feet away from Patin. She's not moaning anymore, but she's still alive. I make a careless stab towards his unarmed side and his right hand quickly shoots up towards my head, but I duck and strike back. He pushes me towards the edge of the clearing and I dodge some roots as the knife nears my right side. They look very easy to trip over. Hold on a second. Very easy to trip over! I have a plan.

He kicks at me with his leg just as he stabs with his knife, but I anticipate it and easily dodge them. I push him towards the trees. I keep advancing and we're almost there. He backs up a couple more steps and trips over the huge roots of a tree. The look on his face is so shocked I would laugh if I weren't about to kill him. He makes big circles with his arms, trying to regain his balance. I easily disarm him and just as his body hits the ground I stab his heart. I rip my knife out and stab again just to make sure I kill him. His eyes glaze over and the cannon sounds. He's done. Well I did get a ten in training. I smile.

I clean off my knife with my shirt and walk away from Beam's body so the hovercraft can get it. I see the metal claws grab his corpse and put him into its metal belly. So long Beam. I'm oddly satisfied and again, I smile.