The Queen's Red Lake

XIII

Later that night, we meet Dimitri at the cemetery. It is the same as I remember minus the storm and mud. Dimitri rushes up the hill with a heavy bag on his shoulder. He is wearing his normal attire but when he comes closer he throws off his hood which shows his mostly healed face and white hair. He smiles at me and greets everyone.

"Hi, Dimitri!" Zaria speaks excited before pulling him into a hug. It is odd seeing the trust most of us have for Dimitri now. Iris is still cautious but she waves anyway, Javier does not say a word, and Sakiya chooses to open her mouth and mutter, "Yeah yeah. Get on with it zombie boy."

Dimitri rolls his eyes but I give him a cocky-smirk and nudge his shoulder, "What you got?"

Dimitri throws out a huge blanket for us to sit on. We all get comfortable as he begins to work in silence. Iris takes advantage of this time and explain the final level of the Elder's Fest. "The solo battle is always fought on the battlegrounds of Red Water Arena for everyone to witness."

I roll my eyes, "Great." I mutter sarcastically. "I'll be defeated in front of the entire town."

Iris gives me a sympathetic smile, "The Elder's from Kalahari, Rulers, and of course, Eliza will be in attendance.

I wanted to scream, instead, I just lay back and stare at the stars as Iris continue on, "There will be a ceremony afterward that you will have to attend if you lose or win. This will be your chance to meet all the Rulers, Elders, and Eliza the Crowned. It is respectful to speak to each and every one of them."

"Yeah yeah." I mutter counting the stars and connecting them with my fingers. I smile thinking of how my mother and I use to do this for fun.

"Now." Iris poke me and I groan but sit up anyway. "The weapon of your choice will be hidden on the battleground, the same as Sasha. The goal is to retrieve the Horn of Flames before your opponent, then you shall blow into it."

I sit up fully, "So, I do have a chance. It is more of a race than a battle."

"Not quite." Iris answer. "You can only retrieve and blow into the Horn of Flames if your opponent is down. If you are too knock Sasha down and she is to get back up. You cannot retrieve the Horn of Flames."

I groan into my hands. "I'm going to lose."

"Stop being a whiny bitch." Sakiya cuts into the conversation. She towers over me and Iris and her hair is in a high ponytail and she is still wearing her attire from earlier today. "Come here and see what Dimitri is boiling."

We walk a few yards across the cemetery to see Dimitri, a campfire, and a black pot boiling on top of it. I get close and almost puke at the smell. "No way." Dimitri ignores me and put on a pair of oven mitts and remove the pot and pour it into a metal container before sealing it shut. He tosses me the container and smile, "That will give you a boost of strength, speed, endurance and the ability to read your opponent's attacks before they move."

I twist the jar open but Dimitri's eyes widen and he snatches the container away, "You can't now. It only lasts a few hours. Enough time to drain out your system once the competition is over."

Javier folds his arm with a scowl on his face. His hair is down today and falling at his shoulders, "Don't do this Hal. Losing a battle that everyone knows you're going to lose is better than getting caught cheating. You will be expelled and your reputation will be destroyed."

"I told you before, Javier." I hiss. "I don't care about the competition. I just need access to Level K."

Javier follows behind me, "Why not just break into Level K?"

I roll my eyes. As if I haven't thought of that before. "If you can find me away into Level K before the competition I will not take the stupid potion."