As terrifying as wandering the empty streets was for Lalna, hobbling along a smooth stone road, he much preferred it to the alternatives of scaling one of the buildings with his ankle, still throbbing with pain, or braving the underground tunnel system. Lalna had seen Sjin head back down there, and clearly Minty's death had scarred him, transformed him into a rampaging killer, so the scientist thought it smart to stay away from him – even if his sword had broken, he had managed to loot Lomadia's corpse, which meant he was now in possession of a flint and steel, a tool, Lalna had no doubt, Sjin would put to immediate and destructive use.
Honeydew was still a little shaken from his experience in the tower. After Xephos had been shot, Honeydew had managed to escape from the building, but not before a couple of spiders had decided to snap and snarl at him, delaying his escape and wounding him, though not too severely. Compared to their blue, cave-dwelling brothers, their venom was weak, and only made the Dwarf suffer from a little queasiness as he warily made his way down the road. Though he had hoped to save his precious food rations for later, his stomach objected by growling and grumbling insistently, and his head panged painfully in response. He was about to take a bite from a cooked porkchop when he noticed someone approaching him in the distance.
Lalna approached the dwarf cautiously, now knowing the effects the death of someone so close could have on people in these Games. Honeydew may have been his friend, but no one could be a closer friend than Xephos, who had been killed right in front of him, and although skeleton and Creeper may have been the cause of the spaceman's death, Lalna was as much an enemy to the dwarf as them, as was the dwarf to him. Honeydew stared back at him, equally unsure of how to react. Slowly, he raised his arms in a surrender, and tossed a porkchop onto the smooth stone road, in what Lalna hoped was a gesture of friendship rather than coaxing him into a false sense of security before betraying him. Lalna picked up the food and threw down his own food, a piece of chicken, which Honeydew graciously accepted.
As the two tucked into their food, feeling the strength of having eaten making their respective wounds heal up a little faster, and dulling the pain, Ridgedog landed neatly next to them, watching the exchange amusedly. The two tributes exchanged worried glances, as if Ridge would do something that would cause them to turn on each other. Ridge only smiled sweetly.
"Your partners will be pleased that you managed to form an alliance." He said, looking at each of them condescendingly, as though judging their actions, when his own were far more despicable.
"Our former partners, you mean." Honeydew said gruffly, taking the final bite of his chicken. The raw crunch was a little disgusting to chew on, but it was satisfying enough to get his strength back up.
"Our partners are dead." Lalna said bitterly, thinking of Xephos and Lomadia as a couple not in love, but in graves, as victims of the Games.
Ridge raised his eyebrows, and looked skyward as though deep in thought, which was a terrible sign. "I know. I cleared away the bodies."
You're the one who dug their graves. Lalna thought to himself, but didn't dare say it out loud, especially when he was in such a precarious position, and he knew the full extent of Ridge's power.
"No worries. I think you'll see them again soon enough." Ridge said, slowly and deliberately, as he rose gently into the air. "Remember – there can only be one."
Lalna and Honeydew looked at each other anxiously, as though they expected the other to suddenly whip out a sword and slaughter the other, but the only sound was Ridge's laughter as he flew away, disappearing very quickly into the blue haze of the sky.
Honeydew watched him disappear before turning to Lalna. "Let's stick together, friend." He said, preparing to continue down the road.
Lalna shrugged, buried his hands in his pockets, and followed the dwarf down the road. Neither of them said anything for a while, each lost in their own racing thoughts.
I can always betray him later.