Valiance

Chapter 33

Chapter Thirty-Three

Sephy looked up towards the black sky; the trees were getting closer together, creating dark shadows across the forest. Her footsteps were lite as she tip toed past twigs and leaves, creating no sound but her heart beat. She strained her ears for the dreaded moment when Eragon's announcment would render her completly alone in the competition.

A bad thought came to her; she has always been alone, even if she was fooled by the friendships that had been created. She was always alone in this Tournament- always determind to beat down all of them.

If she was capable of killing Gage, she was definetly able to kill anyone else. She just would have to remind herself of that. Her mind drifted to Galen and Joshua burying him. She would give anything to be there, to say goodbye. She knew she couldn't get distracted by everything on the outside of the Arena now. This was the final Arena; this was her moment. She would win and she would free Faith, killing all of her friends in the process.

Sephy froze when she heard a howling wolf. She stayed still as she listened to it talking to the moon. It wasn't near; at least not close enough to worry about. She continued on once she was sure it was safe. Her fingers flexed around the trident as she took a sip of water. The cold liquid done nothing to quench her thirst but only burned her as it travelled down to her stomach.

She closed her eyes and tried as hard as she could to listen to the wind; her father once told her that if she listened hard enough, she would be able to hear the words that he whispered to her. Ofcourse she knew she would never be able to hear him, but she liked to think that while she stood there, her father was watching her, saying something sweet. This time, however, she cringed to imagine what he would be saying to her after all she had done in the Arena- who she had hurt, who she had killed.

After a moment of silence, Sephy sighed and opened her eyes. When she did, she saw the moon; it was brighter than she had ever seen it. It looked closer to her this time, too. Finally dragging her eyes away from it, Sephy started creeping through the forest again. She knew she should feel tired, but the adrenaline through her veins made her feel as though she would never be able to sleep again.

Her hair flicked her in teh eye as she swung her face around to watch the bushes around her. She listened carefully for any unknown, suspicious movements in her surroundings, but didn't notice any; she was paranoid. Without letting the built up tensioned breath loose from her body, she kept forward, not losing one pace.

With Martin out of the picture, only six more people had to die for Sephy to win. Alec and Clint would take out as much as they possibly could to help her and then she would have to kill the rest. She knew she would have to do this; when she entered, she wanted nothing more than to get rid of the monsters that coveted her sister, and now...she still wanted that, but it had already cost her so much.

“You've nothing else to lose, Persephone...” she told herself as she passed a fallen tree. “The only person left is Faith.” She reminded herself. Her breath steadied itself and her heart slowed as she faced the reality head-on. You get rid of the contestants, you save Faith.You get rid of the contestants, you save Faith.You get rid of the contestants, you save Faith. She kept repeating the same thought in her mind. This would give her enough strength to carry on; after all it had gotten her this far, it would get her the rest of the way.

There was one person who she couldn't wait to face. One man she would get satisfaction from killing. Jensen would be put down like the animal he was. Sephy stepped on a twig, crunching it under her foot. She was pulled out of her daze and looked at the twig under her foot.

She couldn't see the twig under her foot as she lifted it up; the darkness had taken control and with the moonlight being blocked by the trees, it was hard for her to see her own hands, nevermind anything around her. She needed to be able to move fast and quietly around the forest so she didn't get stuck, facing someone she couldn't see.