The Downton Games

Part 1 **Anna's POV**

It all happened so quickly. One day the family and the servants were going about their lives, the next we were gathered in the square along with the rest of the village. In the centre of the square was a raised platform with two enormous glass balls full of slips of white paper.

Standing on the platform was a woman the likes of which I had never seen. She looked like a sweet-shop come to life with her electric blue hair, scarlet lips and glittering magenta eye shadow. Her outfit too was as if it was from another world - it was a psychedelic multicoloured blouse and a bright bubblegum pink pencil skirt. The woman tottered over to the centre of the stage on six-inch heels with a strange contraption in her hand, like a ball on top of a stick.

"Welcome, welcome Downton Abbey and village to the 76th Hunger Games!" she chirped into the stick. "I am Valerie Loch, and I will reap the tributes today. If I call your name, you have been selected for a great honour - the honour to fight to the death for your house until a lone victor remains." Valerie giggled and walked over to the left side of the stage to one of the balls. "Ladies first, shall we?" she said before she reached into the bowl. Valerie fished around for a few seconds, picking up and dropping slips of paper before she finally selected the first female tribute.

"Lady Sybil Crawley!" she announced. Lady Sybil. Not her. Not to fight to the death. I couldn't believe it! It appeared that Lady Sybil couldn't believe it either, as she stood stock-still until she was prompted to go on the stage by Valerie. After the little hitch, Valerie said ten more names until there were 11 women in a line on the stage. Lady Sybil, Lady Mary, Mrs. Hughes, Gwen, Mrs. Crawley, Lady Grantham, the Dowager Countess, Lady Edith, Mrs. Patmore, Miss O'Brien and even poor Daisy were up there. Finally, it was time for the last female name. Valerie fished around in the bowl and selected a name. "Lucky last, Anna Smith!" she said. I was stunned. I imagined fighting her Ladyship and decided I couldn't do it. Reluctantly, I walked up onto the stage and took my place. It was then that I decided that I would not kill anybody in this game.

Valerie drew the names of the twelve men who lined up on the stage in front of us. Mr Crawley, Lord Grantham, William, Thomas, Mr Molseley, Mr Carson, Mr Bates, Mr Napier, Alfred, Mr Branson, Doctor Clarkson and Sir Richard Carlisle were the men called. At least I wouldn't be alone in this horrid business. After the last man was up on the stage, two burly men in white suits directed us to what they called a train.

It was unlike anything I had seen before with a long, tubular shape and a front like a bullet. We stepped inside and the interior had plush footrests, velveteen armchairs and something like a counter at a pub. All 24 of us streamed in and spread out along the length of the train, the servants all marvelling at the luxury of the carriage. We began moving at such a fast speed I could hardly see the landscape. Others were talking to each other, evidently talking strategy as they occasionally glanced up at everyone. I spoke to Mr Bates for a little, but we didn't come up with any strategy. We sped along the tracks for a couple of hours before a sprawling metropolis with crystal buildings sped into view.

Valerie bounced into the main carriage area in her usual explosion of colour. "Welcome to the Capitol!" she chirped. The train pulled in to the station and the doors opened to a mass of people with fluorescent clothes and hair, like a whole city of Valeries. We were escorted to a glass building that was as high as the clouds and we stepped into a small moving cable device that took us up to our rooms. I was with Mr Bates luckily, and our quarters were so enormous; we had our own dining table and a living room with a big glassy screen. After a couple of hours of failed strategy talk, Valerie came in with supper - a banquet of mutton, asparagus, potatoes and chicken with orange sauce -, dessert - crepes Suzette - and a tall man behind her. She introduced the man as Johnathan Ashcroft -  our mentor for the Games. We introduced ourselves to him and he profiled the other tributes to us, though we already knew more about them than he did. We went to our beds, which were enormous and softer than goose feathers.

When we woke up, Johnathan informed us that we were due downstairs at 10 for training with the others. We caught the cable device down to the ground floor and met Lady Edith, Doctor Clarkson, Mrs. Hughes and Mr Napier. Everyone was down before 10, so we started training early with a tall, muscular woman named Alexandra. She gave us a quick run through of all the stations and equipment and told us what the most useful skills were for the Games. There was a small balcony a level above the training centre where the Gamemakers spectated, silently calculating what would make these Games the most entertaining yet. Around a third of the group flocked to the knives and swords, others ran to the ropes course and some went to survival skills. Daisy and Mrs. Patmore passed the edible plants test with ease and excelled at fire-making and camouflage, though they struggled with weapons. Across the room Lady Mary was vicious and pinpoint accurate with the knives and crossbow, as was Thomas. Mr Molesley was clumsy on the ropes and fell badly on his knee, which Doctor Clarkson patched up in a second. Mr Branson was very handy with survival skills as well and was teaching Lady Sybil to make a fire. Mr Bates and I tried our hands at archery and we were average at it. The Dowager Countess attempted the throwing knives and was surprisingly good. Everywhere I could see people calculating who the biggest threats were and the weak ones to pick off. Nobody looked at us much, so I hoped we were flying under the radar.

It was time for luncheon at around one, all the tributes sitting together. Mr Bates and I sat with Gwen, William, Alfred, Daisy and Mrs. Patmore at a table and we discussed the other players between bites of sandwiches. 

"Who d'you reckon are the strongest players are then?" Asked Mrs Patmore as we huddled together around our table.

"Thomas definitely. Did you see him with them knives? Lady Mary too if she's against us." Said Daisy, eyes already darting to and fro. William put his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry Daisy. Anna will talk to Lady Mary and Mr Matthew. They'll surely be on our side." Said Mr Bates. "As for Thomas, he'll ally with O'Brien without a doubt. They're thick as thieves. Probably scheming and plotting this very minute." He spat. 

We conferred more and came to the conclusion that Sir Richard seemed to be playing alone, focusing on weapons. Lady Edith was quite a weak player and appeared to have no alliance yet, as was Mr Molesley. By the end of luncheon we had a strong group and figured out a rough plan for who to approach tomorrow and who to pick off first. I did feel guilty plotting against the family and everybody else, but this was business now. Us or them. Life or death.