Elsinor Tarqqantes

I must admit that I have never been fond of animals. There's something about them that manages to unsettle me, other than the teeth, claws, and other weapons with which evolution has gifted them to protect themselves from us humans. They are far too wild. People I can predict with very little trouble; when each decision is motivated by a reason I can grasp, it is easy to call the shots. With animals, this is not something I can do. I'm not afraid of them, of cours, but, either way, I do not like animals.

"Something tells me that this unicorn isn't exactly friendly."

"In the trials, Evora, nothing is friendly. This seems to be the point."

As we both stare at the black, horned mare ahead of us, it hits me that, for the first time, I have no plan set in place. Evora is looking to me for guidance, and for once I am drawing a blank.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aria Gracen

Aria had always loved horses. They were her second-favorite animal, next to the bird, and Aria had always admired their beauty and grace, their strength and endurance. Turns out, the first animal that Aria had been able to charm was a horse as well - an old, gentle shire mare by the name of Zoey.

The Pegasus in front of her didn't look old, or gentle at all.

Actually, it looked anything but. It's pair of wings, once that would've been pure white in color, were stained with crimson that made Aria's stomach churn. She knew that they were not the Pegasus's first victims. Its brown eyes were wide and rimmed with red as it tossed up its head, rearing up on its two front legs. Atlanta scurried backwards as a hoof came dangerously close to her head, nearly tripping over her extravagant satin dress as she did so. Although Atlanta made no comment as she shakily slipped behind Aria's trembling figure, Aria knew that the mage was sending her a silent plea of desperation.

I'm a hydromancer. Aria could practically hear Atlanta's voice. I'm useless here. But you, you're a zoomancer. You can save us both.

The Pegasus snorted, spray shooting out of it's nostrils as it slowly advanced on where the two girls stood quivering, one hoof pawing the dirt. Aria swallowed, knowing that running was useless, and that the weight of her and Atlanta's life had fallen upon her shoulders. Most of all, she yearned for Antonia – not because of the guitar's sentimental value, but also because Aria found that she sang better when she was stroking the strings, creating a beautiful, flowing melody that had captured so many animal's attentions.

It took all of her willpower to step forward and not pivot around and burst into a sprint, and even as she took a step her entire body jerked like a marionette being operated by a madman. The Pegasus stopped, eyeing Aria like a lion would eye a plump deer, but before it could make a move Aria found herself singing.

There were no lyrics, only soft hums and ahs that flowed through the canopy of leaves and into the cool night air – towards the pinpricks of stars winking at her in the night. The Pegasus stopped, and its ears twitched right and left as if confused. Aria made no move, grey eyes staring deep into the Pegasus's irises, as she let the melody and the harmonies calm the poor Pegasus's mind and cleanse its soul. Poor thing. Aria's heart swelled with compassion and pity for the winged horse, who seemed to be torn between decapitating the two magi and collapsing to the ground. I bet it was never evil in the first place. I bet the Guardians are controlling it.

It was then her thoughts were interrupted by a furious, high-pitched whinny, breaking her song and causing her to whip her head around in confusion. "Wha-"

She never got any further, for the next thing Aria knew was pain, burning, fiery pain that exploded like a thousand firecrackers inside of her skull. She didn't even register the fall, only that her vision was swimming and with every breath came inevitable agony. Her nails dug into the sodden earth as Aria gasped, her ears ringing like bells, opening and closing her eyes to focus on what was happening. When her vision finally cleared, Aria suppressed an urge to scream.

Atlanta al Thea was lying in a pool of her own blood that trickled from a gash in her head, motionless on the forest floor. The Pegasus stood over her still body, tossing its head up and prancing from side to side. It bent down, and Aria's heart leapt into her throat as its yellow, chipped teeth clamped around the collar of Atlanta's dress.

"No!" Aria stumbled up, head swimming at the sudden movement. The Pegasus whirled around, nostrils flaring and eyes wild once more as it let go of Atlanta's dress and advanced towards her, tail swishing. Briefly, Aria wondered if her song would work once more, but before she had a chance to open her mouth and find out for herself, two figures stumbled into her line of vision.

A girl that Aria knew as Evora from Lirima stood gaping up at the Pegasus in what could only be described as awe. The beast, distracted by Evora's sudden arrival, neighed loudly and ignored Aria's presence, leaping towards Evora instead. The girl's screams jolted Aria back to life as she tore her eyes away from the gruesome sight and forced her legs to carry her to where Atlanta was laying. To Aria's relief, the hydromancer's cut on her forehead wasn't extremely deep, despite the excessive flow of blood. Doing her best to ignore Evora's dying cries, or the ripping of her flesh, Aria Gracen inhaled deeply and grabbed Atlanta al Thea by her armpits. Casting one last glance back at the carnivorous Pegasus, Aria grunted softly and slipped away like a nimble forest elf into the shadows of the trees, dragging Atlanta's limp body behind her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elysia Brisa

Well goodness, I sure love being woken up by the sounds of people screaming. I wonder what great "gift" they've given us today. I crawl out from underneath my pile of leaves to see the sun setting, they're making us do this in the dark?

"Hello all! We just wanted to inform you that Elswyth has given you some pets to play with. These, ahem, lovely creatures will be loose until sunrise, but don't be fooled by their enchanting appearance. Good luck and good night. Lastly......"

The rest of Tigaern's message was drowned out by the sound of beating drums; I feel a soft tickle of wind on the back of my neck. I quickly turn around, grabbing my quiver and slinging it over my shoulder. There's nothing around me and it's almost too dark to see anything. The beating is getting louder and is soon accompanied with a sound that almost sounds like a horse.

My eyes snap up to the tops of the trees and there in the setting sun, I can see a dark shape with a humongous wing span. They sent a freaking pegasus after us? What's it gonna do? Fly me to death?

As if it heard my thoughts, it glares down at me with blood red eyes and swoops in faster than any animal I've ever seen. I duck and roll out of the way, jumping to my feet and I'm immediately running away.

I head over into the thicker part of the woods, hoping the dense brush will severely hinder the pegasus's flying ability. Who would have thought that someone as sweet as Elswyth could summon up something so awful?

Suddenly, I'm sent flying by the pegasus's hooves. I land with a skid, scratching up my whole face. I turn over in time to see it coming down for the kill. The pegasus lands right in front my and rears up on its hind legs preparing to trample me. I dig for my puzzle piece with one hand and with the other I throw a arrow in a high arc over its head. It watches it flys high over its head, making a sick gurgling sound that I can only assume was supposed to be laughter.

It caused enough of a distraction for me to manipulate the wind and send the arrow flying back into the horse's side. I scramble up, overjoyed that I defeated the monster only to see it rip the arrow out with it's teeth and tosses it aside. The pegasus glares back at me with pure hatred in its red eyes. Fuck.

Weaving in and out of trees isn't doing me any good, especially when my lungs are burning and my heart is trying to leap out of my chest. I look back to see the pegasus coming in for another swoop. Out of the corner of my eye I see a swirl of blond hair maybe 20 feet away running behind a tree.

I will the wind to bring her to me, dumping her off right behind me. Hopefully that will distract the horse. I won't feel bad about this, I can't. If I do I'll die out here, now is not the time to start caring.

The sick, murderous screams behind me sends a shot of pain through my heart. I reach for another arrow as I slow down; turning around to make sure I don't miss. I throw an arrow and blow it straight through Althia's heart, effectively putting her out of her misery.

"I'm so sorry", I whisper. Although, sorry doesn't mean shit once you're dead. I turn and start to slowly jog through the woods, trying to ignore the sickening sounds of Althia being eaten.

Once, I'm far enough away I check on my arrow supply and realize that I only have 8 left. I gotta start remembering to call them back to me. I hear branches snapping behind me and I'm off again. I glance back and it's a unicorn. I'm about to be killed by a purple unicorn, what kind of twisted fairytale is this?

The unicorn is gaining on me and I can't go any faster, I muster what little strength I have and attempt to will the wind to push me upwards. Before i can even get 5 feet off the ground I feel a sweaty hand grabbing at my ankle. I look down to see Garnet grabbing a tight hold of me, her hazel eyes looking up at me desperation.

"Please, you have to take me with you!" She screams.

I can feel what little energy I have left draining from me. Without any explanation I slam my other foot into her face over and over again, trying to get the wind to blow her away from me.

The unicorn impales her from behind which frees me of her, I fly high above the torturous screams below me and I hide up on a branch. After a few moments, Garnet's screams stop. I force myself to look down at her as the Unicorn rips her apart. I think I'm gonna be sick. I clutch my stomach, forcing the bile in my stomach back down.

Of course it would be too easy for me to hide out up here. I hearing the beating wings of the pegasus coming for me. It's dark shape coming into view through the forest canopy.

I shakily stand up and will an arrow into one of it's eyes, the pegasus lets out a whinny of pain. The pegasus drops a few feet before regaining its composure. I send the same bloody arrow into the other eye. I keep willing the arrow deeper and deeper into the horse beast, almost emptying my quiver into the creature. It finally falls to the forest floor with a mangled cry.

I float down, never letting up on the arrows, at some point it's just overkill, but I don't stop. I feel myself filling with rage over every horrible act I've had to commit since I stepped foot on this forsaken island. With tears streaming down my face, I finally stop. I put all of the arrows back in my quiver and I drop to my knees, just staring at the mangled corpse in front of me. I can't feel anything anymore. I may be a thief and a liar and a cheat and whatever else they want to call me, but I am not a murderer. At Least, I wasn't until I got here.

I turn to see the sun finally rising above the horizon and I get up and numbly walk to the nearest river. I look down at my reflection in the river and I barely recognize the bloody face staring back at me.

I bring the cool water to my overheated face, attempting to cool my self down. I give up and dunk my whole head in, staying there until my lungs are burning for air. I shakily bring my hands up in front of my face; they're covered in so much blood and dirt. I plunge them into the river and vigorously begin scrubbing the blood off, even once my hands are clean I keep scrubbing. No matter how hard I scrub, I know I'll never get their blood off my hands.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vistorice Morale

DID NOT HAND IN

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Garnet al Thea

The first and only other time she had seen a unicorn, she had been with her father. That had been seven years from now, but the mental image of the unicorn remained clear. It matched up perfectly with the unicorn in front of her, hoof for hoof.

She had never been a particular fan of animals of any sort. They had always been rather irritating creatures, always getting in the way of good grace and proper poise. They were loud as well, often making noises quite irksome to the ears.

The unicorn was different. Its silver hooves kneaded at the ground in a manner of perfection humans could only dream of. The white skin it wore effortlessly reflected the sunlight into moonlight. This was what royalty should look like.

Garnet's breath lodged in her throat and crawled back down to her lungs. The unicorn turned its head, the glimmering hair ruffling in the breeze, and fixed its blue gaze onto Garnet.

Her limbs went stiff as if the chilly morning air had frosted them over. The memory of her only other contact with a unicorn crowded in her mind. He had kept her safe then, but he wasn't here to protect her now.

She lowered her gaze. Animals liked a show of submission, didn't they? Normally Garnet would not admit inferiority to a four legged creature, but this creature happened to be the epitome of perfection, which made it superior to all others.

There was a moment of silence. The unicorn's hooves pawed at the ground. Garnet clamped her teeth together to keep them from chattering.

The unicorn let loose a sound that was both high pitched and guttural, melodic even as it made the frost spread to Garnet's insides. Garnet looked up and saw the unicorn was pointing its majestic metal horn straight at her.

Well, crap.

Garnet spun on her heels and ran. Hooves thundered behind her. How fast was a unicorn? Fast as a horse? Faster?

She darted around and through an outcropping of trees. Behind her, the hooves slowed as the unicorn had to follow her jagged path. She emerged from the trees into a clearing, with the early sky clouded with nothing but the remnants of stars.

Garnet turned around. She could see the unicorn fast approaching. Even as it was trying to eat her, she couldn't bring herself to harbor any ill feelings for the beast. The unicorn was just doing what it had to do to maintain perfection, after all.

Garnet herself had committed murder and broken a heart in her own journey for perfection. She had no right to blame the unicorn for trying to eat her in its maintenance of its perfection. Perhaps that was the way it worked, for the unicorn. Eating creatures close to perfection kept it perfect. If that was the case, perhaps this wasn't so bad a way to die. If she contributed to a unicorn's perfection, perhaps it would count as close enough to reward her with transformation into a star after death.

No. Garnet shook her head, her black hair flying around her like a second cloud of night. Thoughts like that were too close to giving up, to quitting. Quitters could never be perfect, because perfection contrasted with the act of quitting.

Garnet stared the unicorn in the eyes and spread her hands out in the air. The unicorn seemed to slow. Perhaps it recognized the authority of the gesture.

"Stop," Garnet said, her voice ringing like a queen's. "Stop."

The unicorn reached the clearing. Rather than obey Garnet's simple but regal command, the insolent animal bounded forward at an increased speed.

"I warned you," Garnet muttered under her breath. "Stop."

The unicorn leapt into the air. Garnet dove underneath its body. She burst into a run. Her ears picked up on the noise of the unicorn clumsily trying to turn itself around and follow after her trail.

"So there was this horse," a vaguely familiar voice began.

"A horse?" Another mildly recognizable voice snorted.

The voices fell into place in Garnet's mind. She swerved to follow their sound. It was two of the other tributes from Aavayoh, Mei and Atlanta. They must have teamed up on the island for some incomprehensible reason.

Garnet darted around a tree into a miniature clearing. Mei and Atlanta stared at her with baffled expressions, but neither of them did the intelligent thing and snatched up whatever weapons they possessed.

She stopped and spun around. The unicorn rushed into the clearing. One of Garnet's hands touched her Focus, and the other pointed at the unicorn. She muttered a spell underneath her breath.

There was a hum of magic, but nothing came out. The unicorn shoved its head straight at Mei in what would have been a head butt, but the unicorn's horn impaled Mei's head before it could make contact with the unicorn's.

Atlanta screamed. The stupid girl only stood there and waited while the unicorn turned its dark gaze on her.

Garnet gave herself a running start and leapt. She landed on the unicorn's back just as it plunged its horn until Atlanta's chest. Blood sprayed everywhere. Something curdled in Garnet's stomach at the disgustingness of it all, but on the outside she didn't wince.

She wrapped her arms around the unicorn's neck and squeezed. Magic and an immunity to it could be helpful in most situations, but a magically immune creature could die just like any other once it couldn't breathe.

The unicorn struggled feebly, but it couldn't pull her off. Unlike humans, it had no hands to do so.

It happened quickly. Within minutes, it was done. The unicorn collapsed to the ground, sending Garnet tumbling off its back. She tried to crawl away from the body, but in her weakened shocked state she could scare make it a few feet away.

Her chest moved in heaving jerks as she stared at the remains of the unicorn. Its preciousness was all gone, its skin no longer reflecting light, its eyes no longer beaming with beauty.

All she'd ever wanted was to achieve perfection. Instead, she'd destroyed it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mei al Thea

Mei stumbles and falls, hitting the ground hard. She scrambles desperately back to her feet and keeps running, trying to ignore the pain in her ankle. Blood trickles down her face from a scratch on her forehead, but she doesn't notice.

She risks a quick look back. She can hear the rumbling, and feel the heat. Clouds of birds darken the sky, desperately fleeing the inferno. Mei turns her attention forward again just in time to stop herself from crashing headlong into the pyromancer, Sierra.

"Run! It's almost here!" Mei screams at her.

Sierra smiles, and turns towards the oncoming lava with open arms, welcoming it. Mei finds herself frozen, unable to keep running. She collapses a few yards from the Pyromancer, accepting her fate.

The lava demolishes the nearby trees, burning them to nothing in an instant. As it reaches Sierra, it engulfs her in slow motion. Mei can see the flesh melting off her face. As one of her eyeballs explodes with an impossibly wet sound, Mei wakes up.

She bolts upright, breathing hard, looking around frantically. Relief floods through her as she realizes it was only a dream. However that relief is quickly replaced by anxiety as she realizes how dark it is. She figures she must have passed out after pulling herself out the water.

The pool is beautiful, serenely reflecting the light of the moon. As Mei stares at it, something is bothering her. She shudders, remembering the last moments of her dream. "That girl... Her eye..." she murmurs quietly to herself, though it sounds loud in the stillness of the night.

The loudness of her voice makes her realize how quiet it is. Jungles are full of animals and insects, it should not be this quiet. The surface of the pool trembles, warping the reflections of the stars. Mei tenses as a horrible realization hits her. The sound of the eye exploding wetly in her nightmare was not her imagination. The squelching sound was real. Something is in the water.

Mei scrambles away from the water just as a terrifying creature bursts out of the pool and clamps its jaws on thin air right where her foot had been only a moment ago. Her heart beating like a hummingbird's, Mei's face contorts with horror as she looks at the thing.

It has the head of a horse, but it has only little holes for ears and the color is all wrong. It's skin is a slimy looking, sickly blue-green and it has gills running down the length of its neck. It's large teeth and hooves are very horse-like though, and Mei knows if it had caught her in its strong jaws there would have been no hope.

It snorts and begins to heave the rest of its warped body out of the pool, and Mei starts to panic. She suddenly remembers the ring from the volcano and pulls it out of her pocket. It's turned back to black, presumable meaning it has recharged. Not caring about the pain of the transformation in the face of this creature, Mei slips the ring onto her finger.

As her body convulses, the monster continues to advance. It's almost completely clear of the water now, it's horse-like front half dragging a back end that's more like a dolphin's, with a large tail and fins. The moment her last wing feather appears, Mei the raven takes off, flapping for her life. Jaws snap together loudly right behind her and the creature whinnies in frustration, having just barely missed for the second time.

Mei keeps climbing, flying high above the canopy of the trees. She has only a moment's reprieve before a flash of light to her right catches her attention. Something big erupts out of the treetops, and for a moment its form is silhouetted against the light of the moon. Mei falters, almost crashing down into the trees. It's another horse-creature, and this one has wings.

Bursts of light shoot out of the trees towards the thing. It would seem another tribute is fighting it. There's only one Photomancer left, so Mei figures it has to be that arrogant girl from her home nation. Her attacks don't seem to be having much effect on the beast. After circling in the air, it dives back to the ground. A piercing scream echoes into the night.

Pain consumes Mei as she feels herself start to change back into a girl. She starts to fall, unable to keep her changing body aloft. She hits the ground with a thud, a full grown woman again, grateful for the thick vegetation on the jungle floor. Before she can catch her breath she hears a sound that fills her with terror.

The sound of hooves, slightly muffled by the lush undergrowth. Mei scrambles to her feet and draws her sword. It glows as she hurriedly chants her spell. Grabbing some rotting leaves from the ground, she throws them into the air above her. As they rain down, her form fades. Her camouflage spell complete, Mei backs into the shadows.

The owner of the hooves appears, and Mei holds her breath, not daring to move an inch. Rather than the winged beast, as she expected, this is a new creature. It's a white horse with a long, sharp horn jutting out of the top of its head. She silently curses Elswyth, knowing the appearance of the horde of bloodthirsty equines is no coincidence.

It stops no more than a few yards away, pawing the ground, searching for prey. Mei shifts her weight nervously. A twig snaps under her foot, and the creature abruptly turns to look in her direction. Mei's heart stops as it looks at her, seeming to see right through her spell, through her body even, into her soul. It whinnies and rears up, preparing to charge.

Suddenly someone else stumbles out of the trees, panting, right in front of the beast. It's a black haired Vasiliean girl that Mei hasn't seen since they arrived on the beach. Her normally neatly braided hair is a wild tangle full of leaves and dirt. She's soaking wet and bleeding from what looks like a large bite mark on her arm. She groans and takes off running again. Distracted, the horned creature gallops after her.

In that moment, Mei makes a decision. She draws her sword and shoves the tip into the ground. She focuses intently on the fleeing girl, glowing power building up in her hands. She mutters a spell, and the light flows from her hands into the sword, then down the sword into the ground.

"Lucia," Mei says the girl's name as the final word of the spell. Tendrils of light burst from the ground underneath the Vasiliean girl, entwining themselves around her legs. Stopped in her tracks, she doesn't even have time to figure out what happened before a horn explodes out of her chest.

She grabs it, futilely trying to pull it out as she chokes on her own blood. The monster whinnies in satisfaction, lifting her impaled body with its head, displaying her as if she's some macabre trophy. It gallops off with her still attached, arms and legs dangling like a rag doll's, leaving Mei to sink to the ground in relief and guilt.

She killed someone who was only trying to run away. Though it was the horse's horn going through her back, Mei felt as if she'd driven it through herself. She takes a moment to pity herself and what this island has done to her before getting up, brushing herself off and setting off into the jungle, sword at the ready. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Atlanta al Thea

It was a scream that woke me from my deep slumber. A scream, and then a whinny.

I sat up so fast that I nearly unsettled myself, brown eyes darting about to locate the source of the noise. Aria, beside me, was also sitting up, grey eyes wide and worried. The location we had settled for the night was not the safest of all places – for it was a small, cramped cave sitting right out in the open, vulnerable to attack. However, the two of us had been so worn out from the initial Bloodbath that had occurred a whole day ago that we had been quick to ignore the downsides of our resting place.

Another whinny echoed through the forest, and shivers ran down my spine. Not because of the fact that the neigh was steadily getting closer, but also because of the fact that the scream had been silenced. One hand subconsciously wrapped around the blue sapphire gemstone, hanging around my neck. Once more, my mother's words rang strong and true in my ears: We Do Not Fail.

"Atlanta?" Aria's voice was soft, barely above a whisper. "Where are you-"

"Shh," I lifted a finger to my lips, effectively silencing the redhead, and cautiously exited the mouth of our cave. Twigs cracked as I heard Aria do the same, hurriedly scurrying after me as I stepped out into the open, rays of silver moonlight illuminating the clearing and casting eerie shadows on the forest floor. Gently, softly, like a tiger stalking its prey, I prepared to take another step forward and investigate, only for a great lumbering beast to burst out of the trees.

At first I just thought it was the trick of light, an optical illusion – but upon hearing Aria's startled gasp and yet another high-pitched whinny, I knew what I saw seeing before me was real. A real, genuine, snow-white Pegasus with wings that were folded neatly against its body. It was so beautiful that it almost took my breath away, until my brown irises caught sight of the crimson splatters against its coat. My stomach seemed to twist itself into little knots as realization dawned on me. The scream, the blood, the crazed glint in the Pegasus's eye – this was no friendly neighborhood creature. This was a monster, a creation of evil. And it was about to kill us.

Panic was the only emotion that I could feel as I took a step backwards, attempting to keep myself from shaking but failing. I slipped behind Aria's trembling form, praying that since she was a zoomancer that she would be able to tame the bloodthirsty Pegasus. Was that a cowardly move? Probably, but I knew it was a safe one. These Trials were all about wits, and I knew that if I was to win and bring pride to the family name, Aria had to die. So, with my back pressed tightly against a trunk of a tree, I watched with wide eyes as Aria shakily stepped forward towards the snarling creature, fists clenched so tightly that her knuckles turned white. With my heart pounding at a thousand miles per hour in my chest, I held my breath as Aria inhaled deeply, and then began to sing.

Her voice was unlike anything I had ever heard before. Sweet and melodic, sounding like bells tinkling merrily in the breeze, there was no surprise when the Pegasus stopped in its tracks, its white furry ears twitching back and froth, left and right – like the animal was confused or possibly even afraid. Though for what reason, I was not sure – for Aria's voice was definitely not frightening. In fact, it was quite the opposite. It was calm, soothing, and peaceful, so that even I was starting to drift away into my own little world when unexpectedly the Pegasus snapped up it's head, eyes blazing with fire, before charging forward and sending Aria crashing into the undergrowth.

Then, before I could fully comprehend what was happening, the Pegasus turned towards be and reared up on its hind legs, whinnying shrilly as if to announce my death in advance. I tried to run, tried to scurry away or duck, but time was not on my side. Before I could move the Pegasus's front hooves smashed into the skull, sending stars and smoke bursting into my line of vision. Then, just like that – I was gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dhruva al Thea

Lucia's hands flew as she shook me awake, signing a frenzied sentence that I couldn't understand for the life of me. She'd been teaching me simple signs - danger, food, attack, quiet - but this paragraph of motion was impossible for me to comprehend.

"Slow down," I told her, rubbing my eyes. "I know four words, Luce."

She frowned - presumably at the nickname, which was mostly a product of the two hours of sleep I'd gotten and probably not permanent - and signed, with exaggerated slowness, Danger.

"Where? Did you-"

Quiet.

I sighed through my nose, but let Lucia drag me up and push me towards the lightly treaded paths that wound through the jungle. We'd been sleeping beneath the thick-trunked trees that offered the most protection, but Lucia insisted upon taking watches, and I suppose if she saved us from whatever was out there, I'd thank her.

Her hands waved again, and I watched them as they repeated the same word about ten times. Listen.

I kept my mouth shut, but could only hear the soft night wind, with an accompanying beat that wasn't anything I'd heard in the island before, but still familiar.

My ears strained to identify the sound - it felt like a memory was trying to surface, but I didn't know from where - my days were all normally spent in a strict routine, and this noise had never been been a part of that.

"What is it?" I asked, finally, and Lucia signed something that I didn't understand - holding her first two fingers up, she held them near her head and bent them twice. When my look of confusion didn't change, she placed her palms on the ground and started beating them in the rhythm that I could faintly hear. As the sound was louder with Lucia helping, I remembered suddenly.

"It's a horse!"

Lucia rolled her eyes and signed, No.

"You know, it's hard to identify sarcasm when you don't talk, Luce."

Pack.

"So we're just running?" Lucia nodded as she pushes me towards camp, where I begin rolling our things into the two bags - food in one and supplies in the other. I handed the lighter one to Luce, and she slung in on her back, holding the bow and arrow I gave her at the ready. My sword was already in my hand.

Lucia signed something, forgetting for apparently the fourth time in ten minutes that I was a beginner in Vasileio's sign language. I couldn't help but wonder how she expected us to survive together if the conversation could only go one way.

Noticing the now-seemingly-permanent look of confusion I wore, she walked past me and into the forest, her perfect posture a testament to how much of a spoiled princess she had been back home. The girl was an enigma - as an aristocrat, she had everything, and as a mage, she had even more, yet she still acted like being on the Island was a piece of cake and being with me was a chore. I wasn't even that bad - she was a little flirt too, at times. Now though, she was completely serious.

I hadn't even noticed that Luce had stopped, but she was examining the ground, her gray eyes more prominent is her now-pale face. She stepped back from the dirt-covered path and pointed, reaching for her quiver with the hand that didn't hold her bow.

Two sets of hoofprints were there, but they weren't the normal kind - these were huge, at least twice the size of my hand spread out. I stepped closer to Lucia and unconsciously rubbed her arm briefly.

"It's okay."

Quiet.

"Sorry." I grimaced as I realized how much I must have looked like I was hitting on her. "Forgot you were a strong, independent woman for a second."

Stop. She tried to glare at me, stay serious, but her dimples couldn't help from peeking out through her frown.

"You know it's funny."

Dhru- She started signing my name, her exasperated expression mimicking what would have been her tone of voice, but she stopped halfway through, her hands falling to her bow again.

"Is that my new nickname?" I joked. "Dhru. It's a bit too Liriman for my liking, Luce, darling."

She only pointed above my head, and I turned to see a large horse in front of me, white body a striking contrast against the black midnight sky, large, feathered wings holding it silently aloft.

"It's a pegasus." I spoke too loudly, a bad mistake, because the feathered horse whinnied loudly and dove towards Luce and me. Luce's bow was immediately up and an arrow shot at the flying creature, and I took more than a few seconds to gather my energy before I threw a fiery ball at the animal.

Neither did anything - the arrow seemed to only annoy it, and for some reason, even my stars did nothing. Luce pulled me out of the way of the diving creature and sprinted along the path, her hand tangled in mine as we ran. The flying horse beat its wings so hard I could feel them pushing air towards us, until Luce ducked into the woods and started running.

"Where are you going?" I shouted, dodging the branches that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Lucia was insane. There was no way we could outrun a flying horse - and yet, Luce still dragged me through the jungle.

As we ran, the smell of saltwater that lingered above the entire island got stronger, and I could soon feel sand shifting underneath my feet. The beach was far quieter than the jungle had been, but there were other tributes there, and as Luce pulled us to a sudden stop, I realized they were facing their own demonic equestrian.

A large horse, eyes silver in the moonlight, rose above the water, teeth snapping at two tributes who were slashing at it wildly with swords, though they did as much damage as Lucia's arrows. The pair was an odd-looking combination - the white-haired boy from Crarog, and Branwen, who'd spoken to me once on the boat. She was kind, but wasn't doing much good against the water-horse.

"Distract it!" the Crarog yelled, stabbing at it desperately. It was strange, the phenomenon that seemed to be going on - the swords were actually harming it, but the water that flowed down the horse's flanks sealed them almost instantly.

"Luce!" I whisper, pulling her closer to me. "Draw the horse out of the water. If the other one comes, I'll distract it, but we can save the lives of those two as well."

She nodded and started towards the water-horse, shooting arrows at it and backing away every few steps to try and drag it out of the water. It seemed to be working, and the pair that was near us also got the message, dancing in to stab the horse, then back-stepping out. Soon, its front legs were out of the water, and the injuries it got seemed to stick faster, but we were still in danger, because the pegasus had returned.

"A little help?" I called, twisting my earring slightly before firing a ball of star at the pegasus. The boy from Crarog ran over and started summoning icicles to fire at the pegasus, which made sense, considering his ashen blond hair.

"What are these things?" he shouted at me as we attacked the flying horse, not doing a lot of damage.

"Demons. Horses. Same thing, really. Another Guardian trick." I tried to figure out a plan - the thing had to have some sort of weakness like the water-horse did, but it wasn't making itself very clear.

A shriek came from where Lucia was, and my heart dropped. "Luce!"

She wasn't the one who'd screamed, though - Branwen was flat on the ground with her neck bleeding. Lucia was still firing at the water-horse, but she seemed more shaken with the girl from Lirima dying on the ground.

Turning away for Lucia had been a bad idea - before I knew it, I was flat on the ground, my back feeling like it'd been broken by the two powerful hooves that'd knocked me flat. My sword tipped out of my hand and landed, point down, in the sand nearer Lucia than I. The Crarog yelled something unintelligible as I heard four hard feet land in the soft sand that cushioned me, and I swallowed my fears. If I was going to die being eaten by a flying horse, I was going to do it with dignity.

A grunt and a frantic whinny came from behind me, and something wet splattered the back of my neck - something warm. I slowly raised my head and Lucia was holding out a hand to me.

"Even, then?"

Brushing off my uniform was easy enough, but there were more questions I had. "Where's the blond boy? I'd like to thank him."

Lucia pointed at the ground near Branwen, signing something quickly as I stared at the body, which didn't look injured at all. "How, Luce?" I asked, interrupting her paragraph.

She mimed a kick, and I nodded. Horses had powerful hooves - I was sure I was sporting a bruise on my back already.

"The water-horse-?"

She signed again, but I could barely understand it, even in the morning light that was seeping through the clouds. Luce eventually resorted to pointing at the rising sun, then the ocean, multiple times.

"It disappeared? When the sun rose?"

A nod.

"Odd." I wiped off the back of my neck, examining the bright silvery blood, and smiled grimly.

"It could have been worse, Luce."

She sat on the sand suddenly, burying her face in her hands, and I took her gently in my arms, watching the sun blot out the stars as it rose and dispelled the horse-beasts - the only time I'd probably ever like the sun. Luce wrapped her arms around my side and we sat there, bloody and tired and bloody tired.