Safehaven

Chapter 33

The rest of the class went by without incident, and I was happy about that. And, even better, I got a full period of sleep in "Secrets of Safehaven", which was my last hour. From now until dinner, I was free. Nobody was happier than me to be done with school for the day. As Gwindol and I bounded down the hallway towards our wing of the castle, we passed Mark and his grizzly. The look on Mark's face as we shot by was priceless. Out of breath and hearts hammering, the dragon and I reached the poster that guarded our rooms. The riddle came through, and Gwindol answered it effortlessly. We stepped into the common room, and what little breath we had left was taken away. Hanging from the ceiling with her foot caught on the light fixture, Sage squawked and flopped around. Dash was calmly on the ground, investigating the bowl of fruit above the hearth. At the sight of me, my friend froze for a second before regaining her common sense. "Help?" Her face was turning red, and feathers were slowly floating to the ground from her wings. For a moment, I almost launched myself up to save her, but at the last moment, I chickened out. I'd never really thought about flying before. Come to think about it, I'd never really paid attention to my wings at all. They were just, there. But Gwindol saved me. With tendons taught, the dragon leaped up to help Sage. He nosed her until she found a hand hold. She and Gwindol drifted to the floor with wings out and fluttering. Once her feet were planted firmly on the ground, Sage looked loads better. The blood was starting to drain from her flushed face. "I tried to go for a test flight." She said sheepishly, staring at the floor. "But I sort of lost control and, yeah." The girl looked up, and smiled. With the fruit bowl firmly clamped between her teeth, Dash trotted over to Sage and offered the master an apple. Just then, Antigone, Quinton, Holly, and Jada came into the room. They started chattering and bickering. They'd never know about the little accident, and I could tell Sage was grateful. My 5 friends and I all talked for the next half hour, rerunning strategies for tonight, and discussing our not so terrific day. Finally, the sun kissed the horizon, and our preparation began. The Games were supposed to be before dinner, and competitors had to be there 1 hour early. So we had to bust a move. Ever since we had found out about the Games, we had known that we would eventually enter. And so Holly and taken initiative. Over the course of time, she had managed to pull together a uniform for our team. Back home in the Below, Holly had had 4 siblings, so she knew how to sew pretty well. Socks, shirts, underwear, you name it! And now, she had made 6 identical uniforms for our team, and collars for the soul mates. And, thankfully, the girl had considered our gifts, so everything fit just right. The clothes were all black, with fitting shirts and drawstring pants, which allowed free movement. And to finish, black boots completed the look. Written across the back in shimmering red letter, the name "Ember Keepers" gleamed. Everything was perfect. Within minutes, the whole team was assembled in the gathering area, dressed and ready to go. It did take some times to coax Gwindol into the collar, but I finally did it. The black leather complimented his silver sheen scales nicely. "So, we all ready to hit it?" Antigone had her hand on her hip, and her tail curled around her feet. Her features were bright and cheery, and Kai sat perked by her side. I looked around. We all looked tough as nails. Smiling, I spoke. "I do think we are." With that, our impressive looking group strut through the door and into the hallway, gifts on show. We walked through the corridors, with the last light of day streaming through the windows. Tonight, as we had found out earlier, the Games would be something called Seekers. Somewhere, hidden well, was a glass orb. The first team who found it would win. And just to confirm the winners, because there had been trouble in previous years, the ball would turn the same color as the team. I was so pumped, I hardly even noticed the other teams that were also coming down the hallway. There were only around 5 other teams, but they all looked stronger and fiercer than us. Their uniforms showed off their buff arms, and their animals howled and grunted at one another. Eventually, we all made it to the castle's back doors(Yes, castles do have such things as back doors). The Games would be held outside tonight. Clustering tighter together, my team made our way down the grassy slope and towards the tree line, where Nathen and several other teachers stood. When every team made it down, the rules were explained. The first team to find the orb won, dur. But there could be no intended maiming or anything of the sort. Unfair advantages were ruled out, like bringing charms to boost your strength and stuff like that. You were only allowed to use your own natural abilities. I turned to smile at my buds. We were in luck. Our gifts were certainly natural. And finally, the "Creature Feature" instructor, a class my friends and I wouldn't take till next year, informed everyone that she had released several dangerous beasts into the forest where we would be playing. We were told to be extremely cautious. If anybody was severely injured, emergency airlift via Giant Teratorns, thought to be extinct, would be ready. And with questions cleared up, we were all ready to go. The team that came in last would be kicked out of the Games until next year. On that happy note, my friends and I wandered down to the lake until the Games started. "You think we'll make it?" Quinton questioned. He started to pull off his black gloves to examine his claws. There was silence. "We've at least got a chance." Leave it to Jada to be optimistic. Her ears twitched with nerves, though. I couldn't blame her. We were about to plunge ourselves into something way deeper than we were prepared for. But we couldn't back out now. Near the forest, a horn sounded, and there were cries of joy. The games were about to begin. The Ember Keepers marched back to the starting line, no smiles of laughter to be had. All teams lined up on a dirt streak and waited further instructions. I looked up. Above my friends and my head, bands of red light floated. We were official Games competitors. Also in the air, glowing balls of light floated to and fro. These, as Nathen had explained, were like cameras. They projected video back to the mess hall, where the rest of the students could watch. Great, my humiliation was not going to be private. Seconds from the start, the other teams began to crouch down, ready to spring at the Go signal. I followed their example. Nathen stood on the side lines, a gold flag in his hands. He raised it, and everybody tensed up. It came down so fast, I hardly saw it before taking off. All the teams around me and my friends were off into the woods before we were even off the starting line. Man, that was embarrassing. But we shook it off and foraged forward, putting our plan into action. Sure, the others had strength on their side, but we had strategy. And brains beat brawn any day. As we ran, Antigone started to do her part of the plan. She and Kai had been put in charge of the stratigic part of the game. Since the girl had to most experiance, hunting and stuff, she had been voted for the job. "The thing has got to be somewhere high, judging from all the water on the ground. The game keepers couldn't risk it getting wet." Everybody took that in and continued to run. "And looking at the layout of the place, I'd say that they hid it over there." Antigone spread her hand towards a more heavily forested area, where little light could reach. Already, the sun was almost gone. Our team changed direction and took off to the area Antigone had predicted. Once inside, we all slowed to a stop to catch our breath. This was when Jada came in. Her ears swiveled 360 degrees, finding any signs of possible pursuit. Any intruder could not get 30 feet away from us without Jada knowing. With that assurance of safety at our backs, we got down to business. Searching high and low for the sphere, we had little luck with the diminishing sun. I could produce a little light from a small flame in my palm, but not much more. After 10 minutes, we didn't have any success. We moved on to plan 2. Sage and the animals with wings took to the sky. I would stay behind, partly because my flying was non existent. That left Antigone, Jada, Holly, Quinton and I along with Rinal and Felix as soul mates. This way, with 2 groups, we could cover land quicker. After 15 minutes, my group met their first monster. It was a huge black dog that reminded me too much of Angel. The thing emerged from the undergrowth and charged Quinton. Faster then light itself, the boy repelled it back with his force field, and clawed it to shreds. The beast became a mound of ashes in seconds. Quinton dusted the ash off his hands, and replaced his gloves. "Stupid dog." He muttered, kicking the pile of used to be monster. We moved on. Jada sat, staring at the pile in awe. Apparently, demons could be quite silent if they wanted to. They could slip under the radar of even Jada! She did look a little miffed as we continued on. Sage and the others still hadn't come back yet, which sort of worried me. My wings fluttered in the cold breeze, and I wrapped my hands around my arms to keep warm. I had extinguished the flames long ago out of exhaustion. I couldn't maintain a fire for long. Just when I was about to loose hope, a shimmer of silver caught my eye. Set just beyond a clearing, a glass ball shone in the moon light. I turned to my team and pointed, at loss for words. I beamed with happiness, all tiredness gone form my bones. Everyone charged towards the orb with glee and excitement. But as we burst into the clearing, I realized something was wrong. There was another team already there. They sat calmly amongst the tree line, backs against the trees. My team and I stopped dead in our tracks. One of the other team's member rose, and snapped its fingers. Instantly, the others sprang to their feet and grabbed us. They bound us with rope, which they probably had smuggled into the Games, and sat us in the middle of the clearing. Felix and Rinal were tied up to a nearby tree like cattle. That was when I noticed that the back half of the clearing gave way to a cliff, overlooking a sea. How could that not have been seen from the castle? I struggled against my bindings. My wings were trapped against my back. I couldn't escape. The leader of the other team stepped forward. As the moonlight hit his face, I recoiled with distaste. It was Mark. His bear closely followed. He came straight up to me and looked me in the eye. "I didn't expect you to find us so fast." He grunted, with half respect. "We've been waiting for you, though." I looked over at the orb. It hadn't changed color yet, so that meant that Mark hadn't yet touched it. There was still hope. I thrashed out with my legs, but only succeeded in receiving a sharp blow to the head. "Cut it out, will ya?" Mark shook his head a walked back to the rest of his group. "Get on with it, Joe." He muttered to one of his burly accomplices. Joe came forward and inspected us with glee. Finally, he bent down over Holly and set her free. He then herded the girl to the edge of the clearing, where the cliff was. "Let's see what you've got, girl." Joe growled. He thrust up his hands in a boxing position. He wanted Holly to challenge him! The poor girl whimpered and took a step back. Joe stepped forward. "Come on!" He bellowed, swinging his fist at Holly's head. Luckily, she ducked just in time. Now, angry like an ox, Joe charged my friend with fists at the ready. Out of terror, Holly retreated hastily, but her foot caught a stone, and she stumbled towards the edge of the cliff. Her arms pin wheeled, and I watched in horror as Holly slipped off the ridge of the cliff, and plummeted towards her certain death below.