Don't murder me because I haven't posted in ten days! I've been... err... preoccupied with... stuff... that I'm trying to forget about...
Anyway, its nice to be posting on Through the Trees again! So I just noticed that I have a character in this story with the same first name as one of the characters in my SYOT Quiet Like the Snow. Freaky. PLEASE review, favorite, subscribe... you know what button to hit XD
When she awoke she yawned and sat up. It was about three o' clock in the afternoon, judging by the position of the sun. Feral's throat was completely dry. She leaned toward the river and filled her cupped hands with its cool water. She raised it to her lips and was about to drink…
"I have water purifier, you know," said a voice behind her. She was on her feet in seconds, an arrow notched and ready to penetrate the skull of whoever had just spoken. It was Zephyr, who sat cross-legged on top of the boulder she had been leaning against. He held a spear in his left hand, but when Feral raised her bow to aim, he quickly dropped it on the ground and held up his hands. "Whoa, Feral, no hostility intended."
Slowly she lowered her bow and arrow but her muscles remained tense and she was ready to run, or shoot, if she needed to. "Then why are you here?"
"Well," He said calmly stepping off the boulder. "I was… worried about you. And we'd be much safer with two of us. Surviving would be easier; hunting would be much simpler…"
If Feral was in the true wild she wouldn't trust him. She had to remind herself, however, that they were on camera. If he killed her the whole of Panem would hate him. She dropped her bow and embraced him. She wasn't sure how long they stood there hugging, just enjoying each others presence, but they eventually pulled away.
"Here," He said, pulling a backpack from behind the boulder. They sat on the pebbles across from each other "This is what I have: this backpack, water purifier, a canteen, this bag of raisins, a dagger, a flashlight, a few bandages and my spear." He laid each item down in between them.
"I have a bow and some arrows," Feral announced placing them in front of her. Compared to his pile, hers looked pathetic. "But I had a squirrel yesterday."
"Cool," he nodded. "How many arrows do you have?"
"Um… I don't know," she admitted feeling foolish for not having counted already. "Let me look…" She pulled her quiver onto her lap and carefully counted the arrows. She ended up having twenty arrows in all. "Twenty,"
"That's a good number," He nodded.
"What'd you have to do to get so much stuff?" Feral asked curiously, tilting her head, remembering she was supposed to be like a fox. He chuckled at how she cocked her head before answering.
"Well," he said, his face growing solemn. "I was one of the first tributes to get to the cornucopia so I originally grabbed two spears. Suddenly, Wrath came up behind me and tried to hit me with this really big club. I ducked out of the way and impaled his shoulder with my other spear. We were really close to the edge of the net and he fell off, but he hit a branch instead of falling all the way to the ground. He didn't die yesterday, but I don't know if it was him the cannon sounded for this morning or not..."
"If you hurt him like you say you did," Feral said, picking up a smooth, grey stone and turning it over in her hands. "Then I'm surprised he survived past yesterday at all. He should have bled out already; it must have been him." Zephyr nodded in agreement.
Feral stretched out on the warm river stones and looked up at the blue sky above her. When nightfall came around she would know who it had been who had died that morning. Zephyr lay down beside her and she rested her head on his shoulder. The sky was dotted with clouds and on the far horizon loomed a thunderstorm. It looked like it was just breaching the edges of the arena. Feral watched for what seemed like an hour as lightning flashed down from the clouds and licked at the earth.
"We're going to have to find shelter," Feral breathed as the storm drew closer. "We can't sleep in the rain, we'll get sick." Zephyr smiled and rose to his feet. Feral sat up, brushing her hair out of her face.
"Then follow me, beautiful," He said gently, holding out a hand. Feral took it and he helped her to her feet. He didn't let go as he lead her further upriver, away from the swamp. They walked for what felt like thirty minutes before reaching something that took Feral's breath away. It was a huge, jagged cliff that scratched at the sky with black-stoned fingers. A waterfall fell over the side, painting a rainbow in the air and feeding into the river that roared past them. Zephyr led her closer to the cliff face and Feral realized that the water fall almost curved away from it, leaving a small ledge behind it that was only hit by the spray. Carefully balancing on the ledge, they edged forward until they reached a small hole in the wall. Zephyr crouched down and disappeared into it. Feral took a step forward and crawled on her hands and knees, trying to see into the hole. Suddenly, it light up and Feral could see inside the immense cave. She gawked at its beauty as she crawled inside. Stalagmites and stalactites were everywhere, glittering with water particles that coated the entire cave. Crystals grew on the ceiling and in deep cracks in the walls and the floor, shining gorgeously in the light from Zephyr's flashlight. The entire floor was an array of pebbles and stones, worn down by unseen forces until they were perfectly smooth. In the center of the room was a small pool of water, fed by the dew dripping off the largest stalactite that hung only three feet from the surface of the water.
"Welcome to the Crystal Cave," Zephyr smiled. Feral stood beside him, a huge grin alight on her face.
"It's beautiful," Feral breathed. She stepped deeper into the cave and sat down next to the pool. Zephyr joined her as she let her fingers dance across the surface of the water.
"One of us needs to go hunting," he said after awhile. Feral glanced up. "We don't know how long the storm is going to last, we need to be prepared for the worst."
"I'll go then," Feral said, standing up and throwing her quiver over her shoulder. She picked up her bow from where she had carefully placed it on the stones. "I'm quieter and faster. I'll be able to catch more." Zephyr looked unconvinced and horribly uncomfortable with the idea, but his growling stomach put in a few words of its own. He hadn't eaten since he arrived in the arena.
"Alright," he said finally. "But please, Feral… be careful."
"I will." She nodded. She headed out of the Crystal Cave and past the waterfall until she was once again walking along the edges of the river. The trees in the area weren't very close together, not providing much cover for her to hide in. She got lucky when she found a song bird sitting on the branch of a tree. Carefully, she took aim and hit the bird on the first try, knocking it to the ground. She went to pick it up. She frowned when she tried to get her arrowhead out of the bird and it broke off inside the poor creature. Feral frowned and threw the rest of the arrow into the river.
By the time she made it back to the Cave the sun was setting, but the clouds blotted out the sky. Feral stepped inside the cave and dropped the dead sparrow in Zephyr's lap. "This is only going to be enough to feed one of us," He observed.
"I'm not really hungry," Feral lied. He looked at her uncertainly and looked like he was about to say something when the Anthem of Panem ripped across the quiet landscape. Feral helped Zephyr to his feet and the two of them made their way outside. Staring up at the sky they watched as the seal of Panem was broadcasted in the clouds. When the anthem ended only one face was shown. It was Wrath's.
"Well," Zephyr murmured. "I guess that answers that question." Feral buried her face in his shirt and sobbed. He held onto her tight, like he was afraid she was going to slip away from him. When they finally moved it was to go back into the cave, where they spent the night side by side, sleeping in the shadows of the Crystal Cave, safely hidden behind the waterfall.