The Destiny Games -Darren Shan Fanfiction [ON HOLD]

Chapter 10-Fire

Fleur's P.O.V

My heart beat wildly as I remembered the horrible memories. After Mr. Tiny had started the games, my father and I had edged off to the East. We had not looked at the map, a move I severely regret when I think back about it. If we had…..

Father and I ran blindly, aiming only to get as far away from everyone as possible. I did notice the red haired man I met last night, Larten Crepsley, had grabbed a young girl dressed completely in red like him and disappeared, but I had no time to ponder over that. On we ran, non stop, for what seemed like hours. Father might have been getting old, but he was still as energetic and strong as I remembered him as a child.

At this thought, memories of my childhood came back:

I was 6 years old. My mother had passed away a long time ago. In the evenings, we would go to a secret place only me and my father knew of. We would lie on the grass, and stare up at the stars, and he would teach me astrology. Sometimes, father talked about mother. He did then, but what he talked about really stuck to me.

"I remember when I first met your mother. She was still young, a fine girl of 19 summers. She was helping her mother wash laundry in the river. I even remember what she was wearing then. It was a beautiful pink dress, sweet and sensible, with roses on the hem of the skirt. Her mother had left her for a while, when a rough brute came up to her and started sweet talking her. She ignored him, but he would not be ignored. He tried to drag her up, but she resisted, and that's when they both fell into the river. It was about as deep as my thigh, around your neck, young one!" he chuckled as he ruffled my hair. I pretended to pout but was enjoying it.

" What did you do then, father?" He had a dreamy look in his eyes as he fell back into the memory. " Then, i ran to your mother's side and helped her up. Apparently, the brute couldn't swim. It wouldn't have been right to just leave him there, so I hoisted him up as well. He ran off, and that was the last I saw of him. Your mother never thanked me, but we were friends from that moment on." He smiled and turned to face me, gently stroking my head. "You're the joy in my life, Fleur, because without you, I would have nothing to live for. You look so much like your mother…."

Sometimes, we would sleep in the fields, and that was what we did that night. My father hummed me a lullaby as I fell asleep. There were no words, it was just a soft, beautiful melody.

At that, I was jolted back to what happened in the East. As we ran, we slowed down to a walk. The farther we went, the hotter it seemed to become. We assumed it was just the afternoon sun, and took no notice of it. Eventually, we came to a ring of fire. There was a corner with only a small flame, an inviting opening. If we had only tried to go around it, but the wall of fire seemed endless, so we just went through the opening.

Immediately, we felt a change in atmosphere. Small flames licked our hard soles. Surprisingly, there was no smoke. We wielded our weapons. My father had a mace, and I had a bow my father crafted for me when I reached the age of 16. As we had not met any monsters, we were unprepared when monsters…no other word for them, surrounded us. We quickly discovered neither my arrows nor a close range weapon could harm these monsters. Father protected me, as we slowly walked backwards. We were nearing the other end of the ring now.

Suddenly, father pushed me backwards through the wall. It was hot, but not as hot as I expected, and I quickly ended up at the other side. My last image of my father was of the monsters pouncing on him as he screamed. I was in shock…..and as I stood there, numb, I saw the castle. I walked slowly towards it, still in shock, but I knew for sure my father was gone.

"Would you like some water?" a voice brought me back from the memories. I looked up, KayLi, Larten's accomplice, was holding out a bottle of water towards me. I took it, nodding my head in gratitude. We sat in silence for some time. KayLi broke the silence. "Well, I want to take a nap. Wake me up if anything happens." Everyone nodded, and she settled herself with her back to the wall. After a while, Larten gently shifted himself next to KayLi, and laid KayLi's head on his broad shoulders. KayLi murmured a thanks to him, and Larten smiled softly as he looked down at her.