Chapter 713

After Kat’s statement about the risk of forest fires there wasn’t much else to really get into. Kat would have happily narrated everything she’d been up to so far but Lily was already yawning and Kat felt she owed it to the rest of her team to have the best sleep possible for the tournament. Well, that and she didn’t want to wake Blue. Using mental communication meant it wasn’t a big risk but it did weight slightly on her mind. So, the two curled back up together and fell asleep again till morning.

This actually meant Blue was the first one awake the next morning. When the light started streaming in through the window acting like a natural alarm clock as the sun or fake sun, whatever Thyme was using seemed to concentrate right on her eyes. Groaning Blue got up and rolled out of bed before looking around and finding Kat peacefully asleep. Face down. Avoiding the accursed light.

“Clearly she had the right idea,” grumbled Blue as she headed for the bath to wake herself up more. It wasn’t until after she got out that Lily started to wake up, bringing Kat with her. The pair managed to wake up just in time for Blue to pull on her robes. They didn’t see anything they shouldn’t, though Blue paused as if she was being caught doing something naughty, arms halfway to closing the dresser.

Kat just gave her a raised eyebrow as Lily looked over with a similarly curious expression. “Yes?” asked Blue confused.

“That’s what I want to ask, why did you freeze? We just woke up. Why do you look like you got caught with your hand in the cookie jar or something?” asked Kat.

“I... I...” Blue stammered trying to find a good excuse. It was just instinct really, she was getting dressed and her mindset hadn’t quite shifted back to normal. Kat and Lily had just woken up though, and didn’t realise how close to a show they’d were. All they saw was Blue standing weirdly over a drawer. “Don’t worry about it, please.”

Kat raised an eyebrow. *Well now I really want to know what’s going on. Clearly you’re hiding something and last time I let Sky betray us. Well, it wasn’t really betrayal but I let her get away with putting Grace and I in danger. Still...*

.....

Before Kat could make a decision regarding how appropriate it would be to push Blue, Thyme summoned themselves back into the room grabbing all the intention. This time they had an old set of plate mail armour that was clearly a size too small. The joints didn’t line up nicely revealing slips of green fleshy bark. The armour itself had scratches all over it. Most looked like they’d been buffed out somewhat leaving only the slightest imprints but were easily spotted by two sets of enhanced eyes.

Thyme carried a halberd in one hand and a tower shield in the other. They stood tall, with dirt and grime and what certainly looked like dried blade caked over the outfit. The only thing preventing Thyme from looking as ragged as the armour was the distinct lack of these substances anywhere else. It was only the armour, making it look more like Thyme had stolen it from somewhere or was using it as a prop instead of real armour.

“Come forth ye na?ves!” said Thyme in a weird mix of a French and Danish accent. Kat wasn’t quite sure how she knew it was Danish, considering she wasn’t sure she’d ever heard a Danish person speak, but somehow she knew, and none of it made any more sense for knowing that fact. “The next round awaits you!”

“I have questions,” said Kat seriously.

“Well I don’t have answers,” returned Thyme with a smile and a clap.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

At the sound of Thyme’s hands clapping together a bright light coated Kat’s vision before she felt herself being dragged into teleportation. When she was spat out the other side, it was onto a dirt floor on a raised platform. Looking around there wasn’t anything else. Just, dirt and all the contestants from all four teams.

Thyme summoned themselves back into the centre before tripling in size to speak louder instead of using a microphone or a spell like a normal person, “Welcome to the next round!”

The ground started to shake and Kat found herself being moved. The dirt shifted as she was sent flying over to a grouping of the Men With Hats and her own team members. Kat stumbled slightly when the dirt escalator ground to a stop.

*Lily?* Kat asked somewhat concerned as she noted her girlfriend wasn’t anywhere nearby. She’d disappeared at some point. [I’m fine. I’m in a room with sitting on a pillow, there’s some food and water nearby, in both a cat bowl and a plate and I’ve got a few big glowing screens showing me what’s going on.]

*Oh, that’s nice.* Thought Kat as she relaxed noticeably, looking around at the other groups. The dirt stadium was moderately large, about half the size of a football field, though larger in the sides to compensate for the oval shape.

[Oh, sorry, a Thyme just popped in and said I won’t be able to talk to you once the round starts. If that gets too hard Thyme offered to just let me go back to sleep. Which... I mean, I don’t necessarily like the idea and I feel fine, not tired really... but if that’s what needs to happen I’m not too bothered I guess,]

Kat frowned, *I don’t like the fact that you’re being forced back to sleep.* She could also feel the shrug Lily sent back. [Thyme just said it’s because I’m not allowed to interfere. Commenting or freaking out or whatever clearly constitutes interference and I can’t say that’s wrong. I imagine if it was safe Thyme would temporarily cut or mute the link but I’d imagine that probably isn’t the case.]

*At least this will be good practice for not sending me every one of your thoughts?* Offered Kat trying to project an air of cheerfulness he didn’t truly feel. Of course it failed spectacularly because unlike the mental sharing part where sharing just some thoughts was somewhat easy, the emotional component was much harder to adjust. Lily did get some cheer, but the undercurrent of unease was very apparent as well.

Kat’s thoughts were pulled away form Lily when Thyme’s voice boomed out again, “Welcome welcome one and all. Now that you’ve had a chance to centre yourselves I can speak on this round. Currently, two teams are tied for first place, ‘Men With Hats’ and ‘Demon and the Misfits’ together they can pull further ahead, but as they are paired for this round we will not find a winner between the two.

“After this we have ‘The Wild Ones’ and then ‘The Numbers’ coming up last. Still, if they can pull out a victory right here, right now, it could be anyone’s game... probably. Anyway, that’s not important to you RIGHT NOW. What you need right at this moment is to prepare yourselves for a good old fashion BRAWL!”

The ground shook as their dirt platform started to rise. Kat held her grown, tail letting her balance well now that she was prepared. Most others managed alright, Green had to lean on Gareth... but that was probably more a case of want then true need, or perhaps just a different need. Once the platform had further raised and it was clearly separated from the ground Thyme sucked in a deep breath to continue.

“You’ve been separated into two teams. You’ll both have five minutes to strategise then you’ll be turned loose onto each other. Knockout occurs when your opponents fall unconscious, they become unable to battle in some other way, such as freezing them completely solid, or tying them up with rope, or trapping them in a hole, for at least five seconds in every case. It’s not much of a trap if they can deal with it so swiftly. Additionally, anyone who falls off the platform is considered to have lost. It doesn’t matter if you can fly, or move the dirt to catch yourself after you fall. If you leave the ground near the edges, you’re out,”

Thyme waited for this information to sink in, staring out at the contestants through the slitted eyehole in their armour so you couldn’t properly see where they were looking. It was all up to the point of the helmet to give you a clue, though as Kat knew Lily had multiple viewing angles, she could also guess Thyme was watching from other places.

When people started fidgeting Thyme snapped their fingers, the ground rumbled again and vines shot out. They moved exceptionally fast, faster then Kat could with the band suppressing her and maybe faster then she was even without it. The vine grabbed her leg and pulled her into... the elven team member, the one with a snow globe.

Kat watched as the vines circled their legs and bound them together. She gave it a light tug and found a surprising amount of give. *What is Thyme’s plan with this?*