"A
one-in-three chance," Skywise says. "Ohh, that sounds really sweet."
Ember: It was very strange, only three of us in the cave. I miss Venka - I wish that she didn't have to go, but that's just the way the game goes. Rayek was very depressed last night... he must feel so alone. But tomorrow all three of us have to go into the final challenge and try our hardest to destroy each other.At dawn, the elves rise to find their final tree-mail waiting for them. A map outlined a route through the scrub forest, up over a grassy hill, down to a small river emptying into the sea, and around a headland to reach an empty beach. They have to leave immediately, and they are advised to bring their belongings with them. Along the way, the poem says, they will travel a "walk of memory." Ember, Rayek and Skywise pack their bags and began to hike. "You know, it's pretty likely one of us won't be back here to the caves," Skywise says, "if we vote as soon as the challenge is over."
Ember: If I'm the one to go, I think I'll miss these caves.They begin their route through the scrub, and pass a torch standing upright in the ground. They stop to look at the little tag hanging from the torch. Moonshade. The three elves pause a moment to remember the first elf voted off, then continue. Soon they pass another torch, decorated with a tag and a little flower. Tyleet. As they continue, they pass Aroree's staff, then Treestump's. "Want to bet they'll dub in some inspiring music," Rayek whispers to Skywise, and they chortle under their breaths.Rayek: Either way, the most we'll have is one more night.
Ember: One more night. I never thought of it like that.
As they hike up the hill, knee-deep in long grass, they pass Krim's torch. At the summit of the hill sits Redlance's torch, from which several little clay beads hang. On the slope down the hill they encounter Mender's torch. Ember flicked at the top of the torch affectionately. As they pass Leetah's torch, Skywise nonchalantly knocks it over, and he and Rayek snicker.
At the base of the hill, Ember pauses a moment at Zhantee's snuffed out torch. Skywise and Rayek pat the torch head affectionately. Soon they pass Cleabrook's torch, and then Skot's. They reach the little river and find Nightfall's torch, decorated with her old tattered bandana. Ember whispers something inaudible to the torch, then followed the river to the beach. There sits Scouter's torch. Further down the beach, they find Cutter's torch. This time Rayek knocks over the torch, and this time Ember joins Skywise in laughter. As edge around the headland they see Dewshine's torch, and then Pike's. This time all three elves stop and exchange a few words as they recall their favorite memories with Pike. Finally, they came to Venka's torch.
Skywise: Rayek just wanted a little time alone when we found Venka's torch. So Ember and I kinda moved away and gave him a moment. Poor guy, he found his daughter only to lose her again. Whew, just as well this is just a game, hey?They meet Teir on the empty beach. "How are you all doing? I'll take that immunity necklace back, Skywise. Well, tomorrow night is the big night - two of you in front of the jury, a million dollars at stake. But there's one last seat on the jury to fill, and that's what we're here for." Behind Teir are four platforms, with lacquered wood boxes suspended overtop on a framework of bamboo. Teir demonstrates the challenge by crouching on the platform, then standing up so that his entire body above the knees is concealed inside the heavy box. "Now, there's not much room to move around in here," he shouts from inside the box. "And I have to say it's already starting to heat up." He comes back out. "The challenge is simple. Who can stand inside the box long enough? You each have your own box, tailored to your height. You can't bend your knees or even flex them - both knees have to stay inside the lip of the box, and both feet have to stay on the platform. It'll be unconfortable, it'll be painful, it'll be claustrophobic. And don't think you can just lean against the inside of the box." To demonstrate, he gets back inside one of the boxs, then leans his body against one of the walls. Immediately the bamboo framework collapses and the box topples over, pulling Teir down to the ground. He sprawls on the ground, and Rayek and Skywise laugh. Teir snaps his fingers and the human stagehands come in to remove his platform and the box and framework. "All right, now it's your turn," Teir grins.
Ember: This is going to be harder than it looks. I can tell.The elves crawl underneath their boxes, then slowly stand up, so that everything above their calves disappears into what Ember dubs the Cabana from Hell. Teir starts the count, then pulls up a lawnchair and waits. "Hey, Ember, talk to me or something," Skywise says by the fifteen minute mark. By the thirty minute mark Teir asks for a cold drink, and Skywise growls at the host from inside his cabana. By the thirty-five minute mark, the elves start singing "99 bottles of beer on the wall," but by the time they get to 74 bottles, Skywise stops singing. By the fifty minute mark, Skywise staggers and also loses his footing. "Careful, Skywise," Teir calls.Skywise: Why is it with boxes? Did someone leak that I'm totally claustrophobic? No, Cutter never cured me of that in New Blood! That was a dreamberry tale! Oh what - are you going to look it up in the Wolfrider's Guide? Don't you dare!
"Shut up, blackhair!" Skywise shouts back. "It's five hundred degrees in here... oh stars, I'm right back at Blue Mountain."
By the hour mark, Skywise crawls out from under the box and collapses
on the sand. "I'm out," he gasps. "Can't... can't breathe in there." Teir
helps him to his feet and offers him a pina collada, which Skywise gratefully
accepts. The human stagehands pull out another chair for him. Ember and
Rayek continue the duel inside their Cabanas from Hell. By the two hour
mark their voices are clearly strained, but they are unwilling to come
out, even when a roadie delivers a pizza to Teir and Skywise.
Teir: So why did you try to turn every single Wolfrider against me, anyway?At the three hour mark, Ember and Rayek are no longer speaking, except for occasional stammers or gasps of discomfort. They are clearly becoming very dehydrated, and very stiff. Finally, at the three hour, thirty minute mark, Rayek sways, falls hard against the side of the box, and falls over, still inside the Cabana from Hell. Skywise burst out laughing as Rayek pulls himself out from the box. "Stop laughing and bring me a stiff drink, you imbecile!" he gasps.Skywise: Ya know, something about ya just rubs me the wrong way.
Teir: Inadequacy issues? Afraid you have competition in the "sex symbol" field?
Skywise: Bite me.
Teir: Immunity: Ember!
Ember
staggers out from under the box, and her knees buckle. Teir helps her up,
and Ember embraces him, before stumbling over to hug Rayek and Skywise.
She jumps up and down a few times, high on adrenaline, then lets Teir lower
the necklace over her head.
Teir: Ember, you are guaranteed a spot in the final two, a 50% chance of being the sole Survivor. Rayek, Skywise, one of you is going to fill that last spot in the jury. You can go back to camp now and collect your belongings. I'll see you at tribal council tonight.The elves are very quiet on their hike back to camp. "Since Ember's the winner, she's the only one who votes," Skywise says. "So it's all up to her. She and I made a deal quite a while ago - we'd take Venka and Rayek to the Final Four and then we'd go into the final two together. Will she honour our bargain? Well, we'll just have to see and trust. I mean - I trust Ember. But I also trust that this game makes everyone a little ruthless."
Rayek: I am not going to try to bargain my way into the final two. I am just going to sit back and wait. If she is ready to keep Skywise with her to the end, then I am going out tonight. But if she wants to win, well, then she might just take me with her to the final two, because she might have a better shot against me than against Skywise.Rayek and Skywise go hunting and manage to kill a small deer, which the three elves roast in celebration of their last night together as a tribe of three. Finally, it is time to go.At tribal council, the jury comes out to greet the three remaining survivors. At the end of the line is Venka, dressed in a yellow strappy sundress. Teir asks them about how they've been doing since he left them a few hours before. Then it time to vote. "Rayek, since Ember has immunity, you can only vote for Skywise," Teir says. "Skywise, you can only vote for Rayek. So you cancel each other out. So Ember, you'll be the only one voting tonight. Ember, it's time for you to vote."
Ember gets up and walks to the voting booth. She writes a name on a piece of paper and folds it up before the camera can pan over it. She then addresses the camera. "Sorry to have to do this. I really respect you as a player in this game, and I love you to death. But I'm shooting for sole survivor, and I just don't know if I'll win against you. So it's time for you to go. No hard feelings, kay?" Her voice starts to waver by the end, and she places the vote in the canister. She then returns and sits between Skywise and Rayek, and took their hands in hers.
Teir returns with the final vote in the canister. "I'll read out the vote. Once the vote has been read the decision is final." He unfolds the paper, looks at it, then slowly turns it around. SKYWISE, with a little heart dotting the I, and a happy face in the corner. "Skywise. It's time for you to leave."
Skywise
pointedly disengages his hand from Ember's and brings his torch over to
Teir. "Time for you to leave," Teir says, snuffing out his flame. Skywise
waves goodbye to the final two, though his eyes don't meet Ember's. He
disappears into the shadows, and Teir bids Ember and Rayek goodnight. "I'll
see you tomorrow night."
Rayek: I was really excited that Ember chose me. I know a lot of the jury doesn't care for me. But I know Ember's ruthless politics have alienated a lot of people as well. I'm sure I can convince Scouter and his cadre to vote me the sole Survivor... perhaps even Skywise or Nightfall.
Ember: Voting Skywise out was one of the hardest things I've ever done, but a chief has to be ruthless sometimes.Rayek and Ember return to the beach and spent their final night on the beach, out under the stars. At dawn they wake up to see the sun rise and go for a early morning swim. "Then we got out and had a nice breakfast of some of the last of the rice and some fish. Rayek tried to do a stir-fry like Venka, but... well, it was very sweet, but he's not the best cook."
Rayek: Breakfast was... it was one of those things we'll laugh about later. So afterwards we went into the forest and picked some fresh fruit for a little fruit salad. It... absorbed any of the ill-will that our stomachs felt towards stir-fry.Ember: Around noon we decided that the New Blood flag would go to whoever won at council tonight. Then we went on one last hunt. It took us forever - I mean the jungle must have known we were leaving tonight, so it decided to play with us.
Rayek: One rat-creature, one little squirrel-thing, and that was it. But it was enough for it. We still had the very last of the flour and oil, and we improvised. We cut out all the slimy pieces and fried the meat up into something vaguely approximately chicken fingers.
Ember: It wasn't too bad. Not as good as we could have made it back at the Holt, of course. But pretty decent for the last night at summer camp.
Rayek: That's what Ember's calling it. Last night at summer camp. It's cute.
Ember: Rayek's a babe. I just love him - I think I kinda always have every since he stuffed that snowball down my back.
After
dinner, the two elves gather all the tribe's belongings - blankets, woodwork,
fishing nets, and everything else left behind - and then builds a pyre
to which they set fire. "Fire, fire, fire!" Ember laughs. "It felt kinda
primal. Like we were old worshippers of Gotara or something! Yee-haah!
Burn the Holt! Burn it to the ground! Wahh-haaahaa! Yeah, we both got a
little crazy. It was totally cathartic!"
Rayek: We... um... we started chanting "burn, burn, burn..." and before you know it, we lapsed into a chorus or two from "Disco Inferno." Then we just collapsed on the sand and started laughing. I swear, I will never live this down.
The final two gather their torches, which they lit from the pyre, then gather their belongings and begin the march towards tribal council, leaving the remnants of New Blood beach to burn.
"51 days," Rayek says. "Time to go."
| SKYWISE'S LAST WORDS |
| Oho... damn, I underestimated you, Ember. You really are Bearclaw's granddaughter, aren't you? I don't think even Cutter would have been that ruthless. You kept me right to the end, then you cut me loose. Well, I was the one who said this game makes you crazy. If I had been the one with the immunity necklace on... I might have done the same to you. If I found you in the desert, dying of thirst? Sure, I'll give you a drink. Will I give you the million dollars? Well, let's see how well you dance at final council. And I'm going to make you dance, honey. |