𝐒𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐄 || Narnia x The Hunger Games Crossover

Chapter Twenty-Two

They refilled their water bottles at the pool, and Aravis led the way down a sprawling maze of open rooms and passages to the south, down at last into a bare courtyard which lay wide open to the southern end of the arena.

"Should be elevated enough to see a fire from a good long distance," she said. "And we'll have time to see them coming, if they do."

"When they do," said Edmund, trailing his fingers along the edge of a fallen pillar. A hint of color tinged his once pale skin, sun-kissed and slightly rosy after days of exposure, and he turned to survey the area.

Crumbling heaps of rubble provided cover around the outskirts of the main courtyard, three different paths cutting back up through high walls to the north.

"Alright, then," said Caspian when no objection came, and they all set about collecting as much kindling as they could carry back from the scattered gardens around the higher levels of the vast castle ruin.

"At least it's dry," panted Lucy as she lugged an armful of branches into the middle of the courtyard and tossed them down on top of the towering pile nearly an hour later. 

"Won't have any trouble lighting this," agreed Aravis. "Hasn't rained in a week."

"It rained?" asked Caspian.

"You missed that too, huh?"

Edmund dropped his own branches onto the heap and scratched his head, pulling the sweaty hair out of his face. "Yeah. Missed that too."

Caspian pulled out the larger pieces to build the base of a real bonfire, and Edmund went back after more wood in case they would need to keep it burning overnight. Lucy and Aravis took the long trek back up to the tower, retrieving the weapons they hadn't carried down the first time, and leaving the backpack with everything but the food they would eat that night, stashed well out of the way so that nobody else could stumble over it by accident. 

Lucy paused to brush her hair before they went back down, grinning at Aravis. "Gotta look pretty for the careers, right?"

The girl smirked, and by noon they'd rejoined the boys in the southern courtyard, Lucy with her bow and quiver full of arrows, Aravis with her makeshift spear.

"You don't seriously think that's going to do anything?" scoffed Edmund with one glance at the spear.

"I don't know, I could always practice on you again."

He pursed his lips, and she twirled it in one hand.

"Not all of us have rich sponsors to give us whatever we want."

"Sounds like a you problem," said Edmund.

"Are we ready?" asked Caspian, the bonfire set up behind him, unlit.

Edmund motioned for him to do the honors, and Caspian knelt with his lighter to start it from the bottom, dark flame smoking black and climbing up from branch to branch as they all stepped back to watch it catch.

"Yep," said Edmund after a few minutes of ash billowing into the clear blue sky. "Nobody's missing that."

They had nothing left to do but wait.

The sun peaked over the barren wasteland, and they sheltered in the shadow of one of the fallen pillars.

Edmund flipped a knife idly to pass the time. "How did they look when you last saw them?"

Aravis shrugged, etching lazy patterns into the stone with the tip of her spear. "Ragged. Not too beat up, just… messy, I guess. Didn't have much on them. I think Susan cut her hair, and the boys looked really dirty. All the boys except Rabadash, anyway."