Within the Shadow

Chapter 7

" If you say so," Astrid muttered. Dante rolled his eyes.

" Alright, we should head out before dawn," he said. " Then we can leave before the fighting continues."

" Alright," she said as she she waved her hand in front of the fire, extinguishing it.

~

Back within the dark forest, Luna sat down on a branch, looking down at the ground--for any sign of enemies approaching. Once there were none, she sighed and leaned back to rest on the trunk. She felt that her eyes were gonna fall out of her head.

" Luna!" She staightened her body, and found Celestina, whom hopped onto the branch that she was resting on.

" Have you found anyone?" she asked.
Luna shook her head. " No, there is no sign of anyone approaching this area, but they might come this way since they attacked Holden."

" You're right. Joshua is planning an attack along with Stella."

" Then, it should make those men afraid to step into this forest once again."

Celestina crossed her arms, frowning slightly. " It won't be that simply."

" What do you mean?"

" The group that attacked Holden is lead by George himself. He could get pasted our traps, and find us easily."

" B-but we have Joshua and Juliet. They're our strongest zodiac! Are you saying we can't beat George, despite whatever we do to him and his men."

Celestina stepped back a little. " Luna, calm down. I'm not saying such a thing. But, George is a strong man--has been alive since the war has started. He's no older than Joshua and Juliet."

" Really? I can't believe such a man exists." Celestina bent down and put her hand on her twin's shoulder.

" Don't worry. He's human like us, that means we can defeat him."

" You're using the term human quite a lot lately. You already know that we're not human, because of these marks."

" We're human too. We can die and never wake up. These marks don't decide about our race Luna."

" But.. they decide our fate. Every since our village found out about these marks, we were kicked out. You haven't forgotten about that, right sister?"

Celestina bit her lip. She remembered well. Not even ten years of age yet, both of them were kicked out of their village, and were left in the forest.

" I don't want to remember something like that ever again," Celestina muttered. " Those people were cruel. Mother and Father didn't even have the guts to help us."

" Now do you understand?" Luna asked. " These marks have decided our fates since the moment we were born!"

" That may be true, but we have them for a reason. There are other people like us."

" They already died by George's hand."

" But the Sagittarius is still out there," Celestina said. " We have not gained another scar on our bodies. That means they're still alive."

" You sure do have high hops of seeing them," Luna said. She scoffed and looked away. " They're bound to die."

Celestina lightly elbowed her sister. " Everything is not decided by these marks."

She stood up and left her sister on the tree. When she left, Luna scoffed. They were all bound to die. They had no choice but to wait for death to come get them.

Near the village Sanlow, there was villagers that were chained and walked barefoot through the forest with guards on each side of them. As they walked, someone had kept the people back. It was an elder, who sat down on a rock in order to caught his breath. The people looked at him with fear as the guard walked over, pulling his sword out.

" What do you think you're doing?"

The elder looked up at the guard. He wasn't afraid, but he knew something was bound to happen to him. " I just needed to take a breath," he said. The guard looked at the elder's appearance. The elder was in his sixties, and needed his rest.

Without hesitation, the guard slashed the man's arm, causing blood to run down his arm. " Why did you do that?!"

" Get up and keep walking," the guard said. The elder tried to stand back up, but his legs made him stay seated. The bones stayed in one place. The guard scoffed and slashed the man through his stomach. When he fell, some of the villagers fell in the process. Though, it didn't stop there. The man was still alive until the guard continued beating him with his sword. The villagers looked on in fear as they man was dismembered. Another guard looked behind him and sighed when the man's arm came off.

" Enough, he's dead."

" If we don't do this, then we have to drag around a dead body."

The guard shrugged, " So, let it be. We're almost to the next slavery camp. The boss would be pleased that you showed no mercy."

The guard nodded and walked back to his position. " Back to marching."

The villagers in the front continued to walk, but the ones in the back were staring at the man's body. As they walked, his small body walked along with them, but some of this body parts were left behind in the forest. The youngest of these slaves was a little girl who looked like she was in her teenage years.
She showed no reaction when the man was beaten. A woman behind her whispered, " Winter, are you okay?" she asked.

" Of course, this is nothing."

" You have a cold heart."

" You have to have a cold heart in order to survive," she said. Her white hair fell in her face, covering her right eye. It was only natural not have any feelings when you're in slavery. If they made you cry, then it was your turn. They showed no remorse for the slaves. " If you don't you die. It's that simple."

The guards stopped and turned to the slaves. " We're taking a rest here. We're only giving you two mangoes per section."

When the villagers sat down, they were handed a mango. The guard gave one to Winter. Seliah watched her as she sucked the juice out of it, and snatched it away from her. Winter looked at her with no reaction of any sort. It was common for them to steal the fruit from others. That's why they were given food. The guards enjoyed watching them fight for food.

Winter looked around to find the guards chuckling at one group, where they continued fighting over the two mangoes. In her group, they passed around the mango but none was given to her. Her body became skinnier ever since she was captured. Seliah looked at Winter as she wiped the juice from her chin.

" You didn't have to take it from me like that," she told her.

" You were taking your time, and there were other people feed. You're lucky Winter, you have some weight left on you."

" You do as well."

Seliah laughed, " Look at me, I'm a mess. Everyone here is one too. You're the one who recently has been captured. They seem to like you the most out of everyone else here."

Winter looked at the guards and frowned. None of them had shown her any kindness, which was excepted from the guards. If she was the youngest, then they could use her for their own needs.

They finally arrived at Sanlow and found the village burned to the ground. Almost all of the villages have been burned down since the war.

It didn't matter that the village was burned down already, it was that they were in danger when they were caught.