Bloodbath
Twenty four tributes stood around a tiered indentation in the ground, the center occupied by a tall spire that stopped just before the ceiling. The walls were dark stone bricks, cracked and worn, looking as though they could tumble at any moment. The ceiling was high, and most of it was made up by a section of red stained glass, casting the room in a bloody glow. Large enough to hold all of the podiums and the tiers in the center, the room had several staircases on the sides, twisting with the rounded walls and going up into a slightly lighter looking area.
The faces of the tributes were all solemn, taking in the cornucopia. Littered with packs and weapons, the tiers of the ground went downwards, the steps of the tiers shallow enough that one could walk down through them. It was barely discernible as being day with the red glow that made shadows on the faces of those within. Each podium was raised off of the ground, a small cast iron fence surrounding it with intricate metalworking, just enough to signify that they shouldn't step off of their podium yet.
Aphroditon's eyes immediately scanned the arena, looking for his allies. Every tribute was also dressed in the strange gothic fashion that he wore, each outfit different and looking highly impractical for the arena. He couldn't see Verd, but guessed that she was directly across from him in a straight line, the spire in the center just wide enough to block his view of her.
To his left and right were Serge and Wynd, looking apprehensive and scared. Cyana was a few spaces to his left, and Lansita was a quarter across the circle from his right. Basalt and Teuthis were farther away, but still visible. The major threats of Bridge and Caballus were across the arena from each other, with Bridge two spaces away from Lanista and Caballus close to Basalt.
An eerie silence hung over the arena, everyone too scared to move. It went on for what seemed like an eternity, and Aphroditon began to feel impatience growing in his chest. The countdown hadn't started yet, and he was beginning to worry.
However, a loud voice soon boomed across the room, coming from some secret place that couldn't be identified. It started the countdown, and Aphroditon let himself tense up, preparing to move as soon as it was time. He didn't want to move too soon, though, because stepping off his platform before the timer was up was a certain death sentence.
Making eye contact with Basalt, he nodded, looking at the closest weapons to him. As careers, they didn't have to worry too much about dying in the bloodbath, instead worrying about how many kills they could get. They'd secure the supplies either way. It was important that they grabbed enough within the time limit, because they only had twenty minutes until the building would collapse.
The countdown made it to five, and the other tributes began to tense as well. Aphroditon spotted a bow and quiver out in the middle of the room, and smaller weapons closer to him. He needed to get that bow. There were also several odd objects littering the ground, such as a book, a gem, and a flask filled with some red liquid. To his left, Serge was shaking, while Wynd had locked eyes with Pyre across the arena.
Three. Two. One.
With a bang, the countdown ended, and the gates surrounding their podiums dropped, allowing them to leap off of the podium and immediately head for the weapons on the ground.
Aphroditon ran toward the center, only to almost run into Serge. Grabbing the younger teenager's wrist and twisting, he flipped Serge over, leaving him incapacitated on the ground as he howled in pain and clutched his arm. Then picked up a dagger, he grabbed a pack next to him, then continued down the tiers toward the center. He saw Bridge cross in front of his vision, instinctively holding up the dagger and a fist, but Bridge was more focused on getting to Serge.
With a loud crack, Bridge's fists made contact with Serge's face, and a large piece of jagged metal was then slammed into the boy's neck. The first cannon boom was heard across the room, echoing above the yells and other sounds of violence. One down, twenty two to go.
Uneasily, Aphroditon looked at Bridge, prepared to fight, but Bridge merely nodded to him and jogged over to where Doyle and Caballus were currently shoving things into a bag. He let him go, not wanting to pick a fight with the district six tribute when he didn't have a big enough weapon.
Wynd had paused a few feet in front of him, picking up a large gem off of the ground. With a short gasp of breath, Wynd nearly collapsed, the gem still clutched in her hand as a strange light emitted from it. Aphroditon was close enough to see that a strange vein-like pattern was going up her arm, glowing golden but not strong enough to attract the attention of other tributes.
Leaving her be in favor of running over to Teuthis, who had just picked up a book and had a strange expression on his face, Aphroditon grabbed the bow and quiver full of arrows on his way over. Another cannon boomed across the arena, where Galvan had just been skewered by Teuthis by the sword in his other hand. Many of the tributes were less focused on killing each other and more focused on getting to the stairs. There was already a group including Doyle that had disappeared into the light above.
Still clutching the book, Teuthis swung around the pack on his back and shoved the book inside. Unsure of why he needed the book, Aphroditon continued to move across the middle of the tiers that made up the center of the room, finally spotting Verd. The girl held a jewel-encrusted sword and was currently grappling with Via, who held a dagger above her head.
Verd managed to gain the upper hand, pushing Via to the ground and stabbing her with the sword as the dagger fell out of the district six girl's lifeless hand. Another cannon, another death. He could see that other tributes were injured as well, but weren't dead yet, being helped by their allies out of the arena.
Olsie, the district seven girl, had found a curved blade somewhere and had struck Arrow with it, leaving the older teen to hobble away from her. She picked up a backpack and ran up the stairs, too fast for anyone to stop her and apparently not interested in getting the kill.
Aphroditon ended up next to Verd, who had taken her sword out of Via's back and was now running after Norra, who was screaming as she ran away. Verd was faster, however, and managed to cut the girl in the back, going through her fancy clothes. He noticed that Verd was also wearing a wide hat, pushed to the back of her head and held on by a tied string. She hadn't seemed to lose any spatial awareness from it, though.
Scanning the area for his next target, many tributes had already gotten out, or were in the process of leaving. It had only been a few minutes, and he had no idea how much time was left before the building collapsed. Chevron had found Norra as Verd turned away, and the two were supporting each other up the stairs. Deciding it wasn't worth it to go after them, he spun around after hearing a noise behind him.
Bridge had managed to slice Arley, who had fallen to the ground and was losing a lot of blood. He held a giant sword in arms, and slung it across his back as he backed up and ran up the stairs. Before Aphroditon could get there and take care of it, however, Basalt sprinted over and put a foot up to her throat, pressing down as she coughed up blood.
The careers and only three other tributes were left now, with Pyre and Antimony standing at the top of the stairs as Wynd tried to get to them. Lanista had intercepted her, and was holding a knife up to her throat from behind. Luckily for Wynd, Teuthis had noticed, and used his momentum to kick Lanista in the side, making her double over and cough and Wynd dashed toward the exit. She looked at Teuthis with surprise, and he held out a hand to her, but she ran away before he could get to her.
Kadmiel had disappeared, and Arley's cannon had gone off, leaving Yvette as the last non-career tribute to try and get up the stairs. Finally grabbing his bow, Aprhoditon strung an arrow, aiming for her back as she moved. Predicting where she would end up, he let the arrow fly, hitting her squarely between the shoulder blades and leaving her with a yelp as she toppled back downwards. Her skull hit the floor with a harsh sound, and another cannon went off.
If he'd counted correctly, only five tributes had died in the bloodbath, much less than the normal amount. Turning back around, he saw Teuthis and Lanista glaring at each other, almost ready to leap into action and try to tear each other to shreds. Cyana had found her way over, after picking up several other bags and useful items, and stood in between them.
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way. If you want to fight, try me," said Teuthis under his breath, directed towards Lanista. Throwing her hands up into the air, Lanista shook her head, lowering her weapon and spitting on the ground.
"Not worth it. Just don't do that again. You can't keep protecting your little crush, just kill her and get it over with," replied Lanista with venom in her voice. Teuthis raised his eyebrows, but lowered his arms as well, leaving the careers to all stand awkwardly around the center spire.
Aphroditon heard a sound from the walls, and noticed that they were beginning to strain and crack even more. Pointing it out wordlessly, the careers immediately grabbed a couple more weapons and bags, and then sprinted toward the stairs. Rubble began to fall from the ceiling, the glass cracking as they took the stairs two at a time.
Lanista was in the lead, and Aphroditon was right behind her, having made sure to only pick up as much as they could comfortably carry before moving. Once they were out into the gloomy daylight, barely noticing their surroundings, they turned back around as Verd and Basalt darted out as well.
Cyana was in the rear, and as the ceiling and walls crumbled, she slipped on a rock, almost going back down the stairs that were loosening underneath her. Teuthis grabbed her with both hands, pulling her to safety as the stairs collapsed. The tributes ran out of the upper level of the building and out into the elements, where they all stood to watch the building destroy itself.
It hadn't been twenty minutes, more like ten, but he supposed the gamemakers had wanted to make things more interesting. No other tributes were visible when Aphroditon finally scanned his surroundings.
The sky was gloomy and gray, with the sun being hidden behind the clouds. In the distance, a path led to what looked like the ruins of another building, and cliffs surrounded the other side of the now-collapsed building behind them. A forest was visible over a hill, and so was a river. Everything was tinged with gray and looked depressing, even the grass being a dusty shade of dull green.
They couldn't see the edge of the arena because of a wall of mist that lingered ominously in the distance. Gathering with his allies, some of which were trying to catch their breath and recuperate after the bloodbath, he took a deep breath of his own. Only five dead, only five cannons. He'd only gotten one kill, and it had been someone that wasn't even a threat.
Knowing that he had to pick up the pace, Aphroditon straightened up, and then slung the bow over his shoulder, sharing space with the pack that he'd put there. Their alliance was tense, and on a knife's edge, but he could make it work. Lanista and Teuthis had both calmed down, and now were trying to figure out where to go next.
"To the ruins, then?" asked Aphroditon, pointing in the distance. The clouded sun was high in the sky, and they still had many hours of daylight left. There were bound to be more tributes at the ruins, and that meant eliminating more of the competition. The others nodded, and then they set off.
Day 1
A misty shroud hung over the arena as the career tributes made their way toward the ruins in the distance. Fanciful columns and crumbling marble marked the ruins as being something that resembled justice building architecture, but if it had been thrown into disarray and left to rot for centuries. There were a few broken pieces at the entrance of the ruins that looked slightly ominous, with carvings set into the stone.
As the career pack traveled, they were careful to keep an eye out for any other tributes. Most tributes were probably smart enough to avoid them, but there was always a chance that there would be an ambush or something of that nature. It was always best for them to be on their guard. The journey to the ruins took under an hour, and they encountered no other signs of life on their way.
Aphroditon still felt uneasy about the lack of bloodbath deaths. It seemed like the tributes that weren't careers were more focused on getting out of the room than grabbing supplies and killing each other, which couldn't be as entertaining for the Capitol. Some games ran longer than others, and he had a sinking feeling that this would be on the longer end of things.
The careers walked in a tight formation until they reached the entrance of the ruins, at which point they dispersed a bit. They all stayed in the same area, but Teuthis and Verd fanned out on opposite sides to check behind the marble slabs to ensure that there weren't more tributes hiding there. So far, they hadn't heard a single cannon outside of the bloodbath. Cyana seemed to be just as worried as he was, while the others mostly showed neutrality.
"We should do an inventory of our packs and food once we get settled," said Aphroditon, quietly enough that it wouldn't alert anyone else in the area to their presence but loud enough that the careers could all hear him. They nodded, and Basalt narrowed his eyes as if he heard something in the distance. Holding up a hand, the district two tribute motioned for them all to stay silent, and then pointed at a set of fresh footprints leading into the ruins.
They all raised their weapons, carefully creeping towards where the footprints led to. Whoever had been there had probably heard them coming and had run away. A few paces farther led them to a group of footprints. There had been more than one person here. Most of the footprints led away from the ruins, but one set went deeper into them, weaving in and out of the stone structures.
Kneeling down, Verd examined the tracks. Aphroditon had a vague memory of the tracking classes back at the career academy, and of Verd excelling at them. She knelt for a moment, then stood back up, pointing toward the very center of the ruins, where a small mausoleum type building was still mostly intact. The footprints went straight into the building, and there were no footprints going back out of it. There could have been a back entrance that they couldn't see, but chances were that someone was in there.
In a pincer like formation, they walked in the direction of the small building, which was really the size of a garden shed. Basalt and Lanista went around the side and back of the building to ensure that there weren't any hidden exits. Confirming that there were none, they signaled back to Aphroditon, who gestured to the rest of the careers,
This was their first experience working as a team. In his eyes, it was going rather well, and hopefully they'd come out of it with at least one kill. It wouldn't be one of the major threats, most likely. If they could get whoever it was to disclose the location of their allies, though, there might be something more worthwhile about the encounter.
The sound of a bird in the sky made them all go on alert. They quickly confirmed that it was just a bird, however, and immediately returned to the task at hand. Teuthis and Cyana prepared to open the door to the marble building, holding their weapons in a preparatory stance. With a quick motion, Cyana creaked open the heavy door.
In a flash, a figure came running out, immediately tripped by Verd and pinned to the ground with a foot by Cyana. It was Arrow Parker, the male tribute for distinct eleven. His district partner was still alive, probably with their other allies. He must have allied with some of the other resource districts if he'd made it this far.
"No! Please, don't hurt me!" squirmed Arrow, making Lanista roll her eyes. Cyana pressed her foot farther into Arrow's chest, causing him to cough heavily. Teuthis drew the sword from his back with a smile, clearly intending on taking the kill himself. Before he could do so, though, Verd held out a hand to stop him.
"Don't kill him yet. He can tell us where his allies went," she said , eyes narrowing. Arrow let out a small yelp. In training, he'd barely done anything, preferring to stand around and talk to the other tributes. It didn't seem like he cared about the games at all. Aprhoditon supposed that Arrow's lack of training was coming around to bite the district eleven tribute. Teuthis sighed, and didn't sheathe his sword, but waited a moment for more direction.
Lanista bent down next to the tribute, scowling. She poked him with a long finger, and then swiftly drew a dagger from her pack. Looking to Aphroditon for confirmation, she also scanned the surrounding area, which Cyana and Basalt were still standing guard in.
"Tell us who your allies are, and where they went," said Aphroditon, giving Lanista a pointed look that made her put her dagger away. Torture wasn't necessary, not this early in the games, at least. They could get information out of him without cutting him open so brutally. The sponsors were watching, and appearing confident was important to get them on their side.
"Strider, Kadmiel, a-and Florence! I don't know where they went, I promise!" he squeaked, sweating under the pressure. All of the careers highly doubted that he didn't know where they'd gone, and their faces reflected that.
Knowing the members of one of the other alliances was important, though, and at least gave some insight into the rest of the arena. They'd seen some other groups leave together, but it was hard to know if they'd all stayed together or not. It was odd to Aphroditon that Strider and Kadmiel were in the alliance without their district partners, but he didn't know much about them.
"One last chance. Tell us where they are," said Lanista, crossing her arms. Arrow shook his head, causing Teuthis to level the blade at him. Lanista glared at Teuthis, taking her dagger out again, and Aphroditon felt the need to step in and make sure that they weren't going to harm each other instead of Arrow.
"Make it quick," Aphroditon directed to both of them. Almost gleefully, Teuthis slammed his sword down into Arrow's head, which proceeded to instantly kill the tribute and spurt blood out onto the shoes of the careers. Lanista cursed at Teuthis, mainly because some of the blood had splattered on her face, but stood up and walked over to where Basalt was waiting.
The cannon rang across the arena. Arrow's now-faceless body was left by the career tributes as they walked over to another section of the ruins, knowing that it soon would be picked up by whatever vessel was taking care of the bodies during this set of games. Like all of the other tributes, Arrow had worn an intricate outfit, with a ruffled shirt and flared pants.
Aphroditon took a second to notice what his fellow careers were wearing. Basalt was wearing a slightly open shirt with a high-collared cape, while Lanista seemed at home in her black high-low dress and heels. Cyana wore a pair of loose-fitting pants with a corset over them. Teuthis' pants were a fake leather material and had cutouts in the sides, and his shirts were layered over an undershirt made out of mesh. Overall, they all looked like quite the spectacle, now slightly covered in blood.
Finding a spot to make a camp for a few hours, the careers first checked the area, and finding nothing, they settled in a good vantage point that let them see the rest of the ruins. Not making a campfire, they put their packs in the center of the circle and started going through them. Basalt had gone into the small building and had come back out with another bag, dumping its contents onto the ground in front of the group.
"Is this blood?" asked Verd, holding up a set of vials with dark red liquid in them. Lanista took one, smelled it, and promptly took a sip, shaking her head once they all looked at her incredulously.
"Nope. Doesn't taste like it. Smells like it, though," she replied, almost laughing at their expressions. Aphroditon wasn't sure why she'd drink something that smelled and looked identical to blood, or how she knew what blood tasted like, but he figured that it was best to just leave it alone and not ask.
In the bag had also been a set of folded parchment, which he took out and read through. The words were faded, yet still legible. Scanning them, his face fell. It was all documenting something about some sort of cult. This was the second cult he'd heard of in several days' time, and he wasn't very excited about it.
The document itself talked about an execution and the eventual end of days, all in cursive and flowery language. Once he had finished reading it, he passed it to Verd, who gave him a concerned glance. This couldn't be a coincidence. Some gamemaker had put this here to intimidate them, writing about an imaginary cult similar to the one that existed once in district one.
"Hey, pass that over here," said Teuthis, reaching for the papers once Verd was done with it. Upon reading it, he laughed, and shook his head. Clearly he hadn't seen the glance Verd had shot Aphroditon, which was probably a good thing. Teuthis didn't need to know about that whole mess.
"A cult. Interesting. I doubt that there are any other people in the arena, but maybe there will be more lore and stuff like this? The gamemakers probably have little secrets hidden all over for us to find. It's a shame that we don't know what's in the rest of the arena," Cyana mused after being handed the document and reading it herself.
"They wouldn't make it that easy for us," replied Verd, shaking her head. Suddenly, the boom of another cannon shook the arena, startling some of the careers. Aphroditon didn't move, but was immediately on alert.
Another death. He wondered who it was, and whether the cannons would get more or less frequent from here on out. The number of deaths was still disconcertingly low, standing only at seven, meaning that there were still 17 tributes left. This could be the highest number of tributes left on day one in recent memory.
As they rifled through the packs and took inventory of their food, he made a mental note to not let anyone in the group go off on their own, or go off with only their district partner. His goal was to keep the group from splitting at the moment, though he'd already heard Teuthis quietly complain to Cyana about not being the leader, which worried him a bit.
The sun was going down in the sky, and soon enough, it was time for the sun to set. The sunset was red and barely visible through the clouds, but was visible enough to make the arena tinted red in a foreboding way. The careers were awake, and didn't seem like they would sleep anytime soon.
Night 1
As night fell on the arena, the evening presentation of the dead tributes soon began. It started with the districts in numerical order, and while there were obviously no dead tributes from districts one or two, district three had a casualty in Galvan. That had been one of Teuthis' kills, and the young adult smiled upon seeing the dead boy's face in the sky.
Aphroditon thought it was a little insensitive to smile about the kills one had gotten, but Teuthis didn't seem the type to worry about appearing insensitive. There were no district four or five deaths, but district six had lost Via, who Verd had taken out in the bloodbath. She hadn't appeared to be as weak as some of the other bloodbath deaths in training, but still wasn't skilled enough with a weapon to make it very far.
Nothing from district seven, and then it went to district eight. Serge had been the first to die, and somehow his district partner was still alive, though probably injured at this point. The next surprise was seeing Norra from district nine in the sky. She hadn't died in the bloodbath, so she must have been the cannon that they'd heard earlier in the evening. He wondered who killed her.
Arley from ten was dead, and Arrow from eleven had died in a way that they already knew about. The final tribute to appear in the sky was Yvette. Aphroditon could remember the arrow that shot her, the feeling of it as he let it fly in his hands. That had been the first time he'd killed someone. He felt a little bit of remorse, but he'd have to get over that quickly.
"Norra was only allied with Chevron, right? That means that Chevron is probably out there alone. I bet she'd be an easy kill," said Basalt once the slideshow and Capitol theme were over. His remark was said in the same way that someone would talk about the weather, in a way that was much too casual for talking about killing someone.
Aphroditon closed his eyes for a second. He needed to stop thinking about death in the same way that he did back home. This was the games, and there wasn't any room for pity. Other tributes were going to die, and he was going to kill them. That was the way things worked, and that would be how it worked if he wanted to win. He couldn't say that he didn't feel the rush of power when killing Yvette, but he also didn't want to be like Teuthis and have no conscience at all.
"If she's out there, we'll find her eventually. She probably didn't make it very far," replied Lanista. Since none of the careers were that hungry, but needed to eat something to keep up their stamina, they'd all taken a small piece of bread and split it amongst them, eating their designated portion quickly.
"So, Aphroditon, what's the career training like back in one?" asked Cyana, trying to make friendly conversation as they sat around the pile of bags and weapons.
"It's pretty rigorous. I've trained almost every day for the past four years, since before I even was eligible for the games, and the trials are a big test of whether we're ready. They go through survival skills and weapons training in an equal amount, along with coaching us on social skills and presentation," he began, with Verd nodding along next to him.
"The trials are something big themselves. For a week, we stayed at the career academy building, going through tests and all sorts of things. We're graded on practically everything, and we also do written tests. Both the trainers and some of the victors monitor the trials. We also have to win a bunch of duels with various weapons, and even do debate competitions to keep our minds sharp," finished Aphroditon, thinking back to the intensive days of the trials. It felt like forever ago now.
The other careers listened, probably thinking back to their own trials. He knew that district one was more intense than district four, and that district two did some things differently as well.
"District four is a lot more relaxed. The trainers mostly focus on making sure we don't severely injure each other. Sometimes, we don't even know if we're eligible for volunteering until after the trials, and then we have to go through a screening from the trainers and victors. They typically decide who they want to volunteer out of the volunteer pool, and it goes from there," replied Cyana.
As the night went on, they talked more about the career trials, eventually deciding that they needed to get some sleep. Cyana and Lanista took the first guard shift, making sure that nothing happened to them in the night. Aprhoditon laid down, his mind racing about the day that had passed, but forced himself to get a few hours of sleep so he'd be rested enough in the morning.
Verd and Basalt took the second shift, leaving Aphroditon and Teuthis for the third. When it was time for him to wake up, Teuthis was already awake, holding the book that he'd gotten from the cornucopia. It was much too dark to read, but there was a small light from the moon above, making it possible for them to see each other. For a second, Aphroditon could have sworn there was a glow from the book, but it disappeared just as quickly as he saw it.
For about an hour, Teuthis and Aphroditon sat in silence, staring at the ruins around them and occasionally making accidental eye contact. They didn't talk, as they had nothing to say and didn't want to wake up the other careers.
Suddenly, they heard something rustling in the bushes, causing them both to sit straighter and look at each other. Teutthis grabbed his sword, while Aphroditon nudged Verd to wake her up. Sleepily, she stared up at him, and he motioned toward the bushes. She then nodded, and cleared her eyes, taking their guard shift while they went to investigate.
Aphroditon grabbed his bow and quiver, and then followed Teuthis out to the bushes. He was wary about being alone with Teuthis, but hoped that the other career wouldn't do anything drastic when the whole alliance was still together. Following the noise stealthily, it led them to a clearing, where there were clear footprints in the dirt.
Someone bolted out of the bushes, running away from them, and the two careers immediately gave chase. They couldn't quite see who it was, but they knew it was an enemy, and was much too short to be one of their allies. Aphroditon went behind Teuthis, and held up his bow as he ran, getting ready to notch an arrow.
The figure tripped on a stone, the end of the ruins in sight and the rush of the river being able to be heard, toppling over and landing on the ground. Without a second thought, Aphroditon let his arrow fly, skewering the figure in the side as he let another arrow go after the first one. With a gasp, the figure twitched, and then slowly stopped moving.
The two volunteers walked over to the body as the cannon boomed, Teuthis using a foot to kick it over so they could see who it was. It was Chevron, the girl from eight. He was surprised that she'd lasted this long, and that she'd willingly get so close to the careers. Eyes still following the area around him, he tensed, ready for someone to jump out at him if this was a trap.
When no one emerged, he knelt down and took the arrows out of Chevron's body, both still usable, and he went with Teuthis to another part of the ruins on their way back to the group. Still wary of the other man, he waited as Teuthis examined the ground for more evidence of other tributes.
"You're lucky you're such a good shot. It would have been a shame if she'd gotten away," said Teuthis, standing back up and shaking his head. Aphroditon frowned, the words of the district four tribute tinged with a hint of venom.
"I've been training for years. It's not like I was going to miss my target," he replied. Teuthis scoffed, and Aphroditon tightened the grip he had on his bow, hand itching to go to the quiver. He could tell that Teuthis was also still holding up his sword. Fighting here wouldn't be productive at all, but he was worried that the other career would do something.
"Right. You know, it's a shame that everyone wanted you to be the leader. I could have done a much better job," Teuthis remarked, almost casually. Rolling his eyes, Aphroditon stayed in one place, not wanting to move and provoke him any more than he already was. He highly doubted that Teuthis' leadership strategy involved anything other than stabbing the other careers in the back.
"We both know that you don't care about the group. You'd happily sacrifice any of us, other than maybe Cyana, if it meant you got to ally with Wynd. I don't know why you keep insisting on toying with her, she obviously hates you," Aphroditon spat back, saying more of his thoughts than he meant to.
For a moment, they both stood and stared at each other, and then Teuthis laughed. It wasn't a loud laugh, not enough to alert anyone nearby of their presence, but broke the tension slightly.
"You really think that Wynd hates me? Right, sure. You're right that I'd like to have her in the alliance, but you're wrong that I'd sacrifice the group. I need the group to survive the first few nights, just like you do. I'm not going to hurt my allies when they're still being useful," grinned Teuthis. He put his sword back in its sheath, and Aphroditon slung his bow back over his shoulder.
The two began to walk back to camp, and Teuthis stopped to pick something off the ground. It was a piece of paper, unable to be read in the moonlight, but he pocketed it for later. As the two walked, Aphrodtion thought about what the other tribute's motives could be.
Teuthis obviously was right when he said that he needed the group, but Aphroditon couldn't imagine a world in which Wynd didn't hate him. However, it was highly likely that Wynd would die in the next day or so, and then Teuthis would have to focus on something else. That would probably make everything easier for all of them.
Back at their small camp, Verd was still awake, and Lanista had also woken up. Basalt had somehow managed to sleep through the cannon. Relieved to see them back, Verd looked from Teuthis to Aphroditon, who shrugged and sat down.
"I got Chevron. That was the cannon," he responded. He wondered if she'd thought that the cannon had been one of them. Too awake to go back to sleep, and knowing that his guard shift wasn't over, he went to clean the bloody arrows he'd pulled out of Chevron's body with a scrap of fabric from his coat.
It would be daylight soon, and they could already tell that the sky was lightening. The night had gone by quickly, and still there were no other cannons than the one that they'd caused. He was beginning to have a knot in the bottom of his stomach. Normally, he wouldn't worry about something like this, but there had to be something else at play in the arena to make this happen. The capitol citizens would get bored soon, and then the gamemakers would have to do something that was dramatic enough to entertain them.
Once they could read the paper with enough light in the sky, they could only make out a few words.
"Beware… of the… vampire," read Lanista, looking around at the group. Making eye contact with each other, Aphroditon grimaced. Just another thing that they had to keep an eye out for. The arena did seem vaguely vampire themed, but he couldn't tell what else the arena held. He supposed that they'd find out more about the arena soon, and that nothing about it would be good.
Day 2
The next morning, the careers set off through the ruins, hiding any evidence of their camp from the night before. Aphroditon and Teuthis still hadn't acknowledged their conversation from the night before, and probably weren't likely to do so anytime soon. As they marched through the ruins, the group kept an eye out for any other tributes, and were careful to not leave much evidence of their presence. They went diagonally where last night they'd gone straight ahead.
Soon enough, the river came into view, and a path with a bridge emerged from the dirt underneath them. In the distance they could see a village on a hill, located across the river, and a swampy looking area in the other direction. Not wanting to brave the swamp, they decided to go toward the village.
Aphroditon thought that the village was the better choice for a few reasons. First, the village would have tributes in it, most likely, meaning that they could eliminate more of the competition. It might be dangerous, but they were career tributes, and could aptly handle it. Second, the swamp probably had all sorts of dangers in it, and looked even gloomier than the rest of the arena. Additionally, the village would have more provisions in it, if they hadn't already been taken.
Before they crossed the stone bridge, they searched around for another less obvious way to cross. Ideally, they wouldn't use the bridge because of its central location, but nothing better had emerged. Aphroditon readied his bow as they prepared to cross, aware of any movement in his surroundings.
Thankfully, they crossed the bridge without incident, going up the sloped hill to the village. They deviated from the path, instead choosing to go in a direction that had more coverage from trees and wouldn't let them be seen as easily. Whatever tributes were in the village probably already knew they were coming, though it couldn't hurt to make their presence a little less obvious.
"There's bound to be at least one alliance in the village, if not more. They'll have the upper hand because of their position, so we need to be careful going into this. Find them as fast as possible and take them out," instructed Aphroditon, quietly enough that he wasn't yelling but loud enough so the other careers could hear him.
The others nodded, all having their weapons at the ready. Going into a formation, like a tightly oiled machine, they crept up the hillside and entered the village, eyes peeled for any signs of movement. They'd seen no animals in the arena yet, and it was often eerily quiet, so any movement would have to be a tribute.
A few small shacks were passed before they saw the first evidence of life. A badly aimed arrow came whizzing down at them, and the careers immediately moved to cover, Aphroditon tracking where the arrow had come from and firing one back in return. It made a thunk into something and a scream came from the second floor of a nearby building. Motioning for Cyana and Basalt to go and investigate, he continued forward, making sure that his position wasn't exposed.
As soon as Cyana and Basalt opened the door of the building, someone came running out, an ax held high and swinging at random. Kadmiel had a look of uncharacteristic fear in his eyes as he swung the axe toward Teuthis, who quickly dogged it and tripped the other tribute.
Sprawling over into the ground, Kadmiel lost control of the axe, and Cyana quickly slammed her spear down into his back. A cracking sound could be heard, and a cannon rang across the arena. However, it didn't seem like Kadmiel was the tribute who'd been hit with the arrow, so there had to be at least one tribute left.
Lanista had somehow climbed up the side of the building and was going through the open window, knives strapped to her person as she gestured down toward the rest of them. She slipped through the window, at which point yelling could be heard. Then, a body was thrown out of the window, crashing down and nearly hitting Cyana as it fell onto the pavement. Footsteps could be heard from another alleyway, and Basalt went to check it out, seeing Florence running away as fast as she could.
The tribute that had been thrown out of the window was Strider, who was now grimacing in pain. He looked like he'd already been injured before the arrow had hit him and before he'd been so quickly removed from the building, and couldn't even crawl to save himself. Lanista climbed back down from the window, instead of using the stairs, as the rest of the career tributes waited for her.
Basalt had thought about going after Florence, but she was too fast, and they didn't know if she had more allies farther away. When Lanista's feet hit the ground, they all stepped back, recognizing that she deserved the kill. She took out a knife and slit Strider's throat, ending his misery and causing another cannon sound to go off.
She'd also grabbed several things from inside the building, such as a set of bloodstained dice and more parchment. Picking the tallest building nearby, a clocktower, the careers ushered inside and went to the middle floor, high enough that they would have a good vantage point but close enough to the nearby roof that they could get out the window and escape if necessary.
Aphroditon recognized the dice as being something Strider always had on him, and they must have been placed in the arena specially for the now dead tribute. From what he'd heard, the district nine tribute was an obsessive gambler, and was always using the dice to decide what to do. Now they were useless, an artifact of the past.
"I saw more blood on the walls when I grabbed Strider. There must have been a fight previously," said Lanista, confirming what they'd suspected. Unsure of who had been in the fight, they instead chose to focus on how many tributes were left. If they counted right, there should be fourteen left, a little over half.
That number was still much too high compared to other games that Aphroditon had watched in the past. It was already the second day, and who knew where in the arena the other tributes had ended up. A lot of ground could be covered in the twenty four hours since the bloodbath.
Taking something else out of her pocket, Lanista revealed more blood-like potions, which she put in the center of the group on a rickety table. Teuthis took one to examine it, swirling it around in the vial.
"More papers. This one says something about a castle, and then there's an unrelated document that seems to talk about some sort of group. What are the Children of Victory?" asked Basalt, squinting at the documents that Lanista had recovered. Verd and Aphrodtion glanced at each other in surprise, trying to hide their shock.
Why were there papers talking about the cult here? Making a quick decision, both district one tributes subtly chose to hide their worry, and pretended that they didn't know what he was talking about. This had to be something the gamemakers had put here for them, and while he wasn't sure why it was related to them, Aphroditon knew that the cult was a district one thing and that none of the other tributes would have a clue as to what it meant.
"An execution, death, the chosen, something I can't read. And then this one is talking about 'The Damsel' and 'The Hunter'. What could that mean?" Cyana read over the papers herself, trying to make out the words. They were slightly obscured with blood and were faded enough that the whole thing was almost impossible to decipher.
Lanista shrugged, choosing instead to down one of the vials. A shiver went through her, but it quickly passed. Teuthis curiously looked at her, and then took a cautious sip, nodding before finishing the rest of the vial. Cyana nudged him in the arm, concerned about why he was drinking the potion.
"It doesn't taste bad. It's actually quite nice. I feel more awake, too," said Teuthis with a grin. Lanista nodded, confirming his words, but the rest of them were still hesitant. Something that looked that close to blood was probably not the best thing to put into their systems. There were only a few vials left, though Lanista probably had more in her bag, so they left them for now.
When Teuthis raised his arms to stretch, Aphroditon noticed some strange markings on his wrist. He swore he'd seen something similar the night before, but now they were more pronounced. They were similar to veins, but in a dark grayish color, trailing up his arm and disappearing behind his sleeves.
Quickly glancing at Lanista, mainly to make sure it wasn't the vials doing this, he was relieved to see that she had no strange veins. Whatever was causing them on Teuthis was something that the rest of them hadn't been exposed to. He wondered if Teuthis knew about them. He must have, given that they were in a visible place.
Walking to the tower window, Aphroditon looked outside, staring out into the distance. He could see a lake and a forest from here, along with several more paths. There looked to be something beyond the forest, and some more cliffs behind the lake, but nothing immediately popped out at him. If there was a castle here, it was out of his view.
As he looked out, however, something streaked across the sky, making him instinctively duck. It wasn't an arrow or a bird, however. Something dark blotted out the sun for a second, making it seem like it was night, then disappeared shortly after. The sun was still hidden behind the heavy cloud cover, but when it went away, the careers all fell silent.
"What was that?" said Verd, rushing over to the window. Aphroditon shook his head, unsure of what the blur had been. It hadn't gone in any particular direction, and didn't look like a creature, so he was left confused. The rest of the careers also gathered around the window to peek out at the sky.
"Do you think we should move out?" asked Lanista, looking to Aphroditon for reassurance. Considering it for a second, he weighed the pros and cons in his mind. If they left the tower, they might be more vulnerable, and they'd lose their vantage point. However, there might be more supplies in the other village buildings. There could also be more tributes hiding in the village, too, which would be both a good thing and a bad thing.
"Let's stay here for now. We'll move once it gets later in the day," Aphroditon responded. His fellow careers nodded, and then took up spots around the room, mostly in view of the window to ensure that they weren't going to miss anything outside. Sliding down the wall, he still felt like he couldn't rest, but at least had slept a little that past night.
It was hard to believe that he was actually in the games. He'd trained for this for so long, and already he'd spent over twenty four hours in the arena. His kills didn't weigh very heavily on his mind for now, mainly because he didn't really think of Yvette or Chevron as real opponents. Once he killed someone that actually was a threat, he might struggle with it more.
As the careers sat in the room, Cyana checking her inventory again and Teuthis sharpening his sword, they all fell silent. In their hearts, they knew that only one of them could win, and that they'd have to eventually kill the people that were their allies in the present. Aphroditon strengthened his resolve. He wasn't going to let himself fall prey to that sort of mindset. Fourteen tributes left, ten tributes down.