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Eveneye cursed. Then a grand idea came to him. He ran to the scroll and picked it up. He tore a piece of the scroll off and then went to the fire and lit it. He then rushed over to the shallow hole and dropped it in. Sure enough, the hole was too shallow. The walls of the hole were already starting to smoke. The hole was a trap. Thinking the other hole was too deep, Eveneye lit another piece of the scroll and headed to the hole he had lined up with the banner of the Flames. Anticipating the outcome, Eveneye backed away from the hole as he dropped the burning piece of scroll. A jet of flame shot out of the hole. The hole had been filled with some highly flammable substance. It was another trap, although, this seemed to confirm his theory about the banners.
    The fire was closing in on him now and he didn’t have much time. It seemed the hole that lined up with the Fighting Fish banner was the right choice. Fish were food, they were life, it must be the right choice. He began to lower himself into the hole and then heard a large splash come from the bottom. There was water down there, but he didn’t know what was in the water. He decided to drop the rest of the scroll to the bottom of the hole. He heard it splash as it hit the water and then the water became a thrashing frenzy. There was something down there and whatever it was, it was not friendly. All that was left was the deep hole.
    Eveneye spun and looked at it from across the platform. Flames were everywhere now and the smoke was burning his eyes. Just then , a giant, cracking sound ripped the air and the pyramid jolted. The flames were consuming it. I’m out of time , thought Eveneye. He quickly resigned himself to his fate and dashed for the deep hole. As he ran to it, the pyramid continued to break underneath him. Without a second thought, he launched himself into the hole and disappeared into the blackness.
    The crowd could see nothing. The pyramid had become a great bonfire. Everyone expected the worst. Irontooth smiled from his high seat and turned his gaze at Goldenheart. Her face was wet with tears , though she made no sound. Whiteclaw sat emotionless.
    “Let this be a lesson to the both of you,” sneered Irontooth.
    Irontooth turned back toward the crowd and inhaled the smell of smoke that had filled the air. He smiled and sighed in satisfaction, relishing the moment. He wanted to watch the pyramid until it became a pile of ash and he wanted every bear in the kingdom to watch it too.
    As Eveneye fell , he closed his eyes, bracing for an impact that would never come. He had flung himself down the hole, headfirst, in a free fall. However, his body quickly came flush with the wall of the hole and it began to change his direction. Eveneye realized that the hole did not go straight down and was, in fact, an angled slide. The slide eventually came level and Eveneye skidded to a stop. He was in complete blackness but he could feel the walls on either side of him. He knew from which direction he had come and decided to continue in the opposite one. It was not long before Eveneye ran into a staircase, and as he began to climb it, pride welled up inside of him as it became clearer that he had chosen correctly. He came to the last step and hit his head on the ceiling. He pushed at it with his paw and it gave way. It was a trap door in the floor of the arena, and Eveneye pushed himself up and out of it.
    Members of the crowd began to point as they noticed his presence , some sixty yards from the burning pyramid. As more of the crowd noticed, they began to cheer, no longer able to conceal their natural inclination to support the underdog. Whiteclaw and Goldenheart began to cheer as well. The guards raised their spears to the bears’ throats and they were quickly silenced.
    Irontooth shook with rage, unable to speak. Eveneye ran across the arena floor until he was under Irontooth’s box and shouted at him.
    “Irontooth,” he called. “Tell my brother, Whiteclaw, that