The women slaves were pushed to one side of the village while the men were on the other side. There were three guards in each other, waiting for one of the slaves to escape. Winter stood near Seliah as she watched the guards. They eyed her the most, waiting for her to make a move.
" Seliah," Winter whispered. " What will they do to me?"
" If you don't obey them they will kill you."
" Death seems like a better choice now."
The women stood in a line while the guards looked at their appearances and pulled out the ones that looked too weak to work. Seliah was taken away from the line with a tug. " Seliah!" Winter shouted. The guard pushed Winter back as she tried to get her friend back. The ones that were weak, were killed in front of them.
Seliah gave Winter a small smile before she was forced to kneel down with the other women. A guard stood behind her and kept his sword in his hand.
" Another execution," a woman muttered. " They picked the good ones."
" The good ones?" another woman scoffed. " That Seliah girl was never good. Taking food from the youngest child here."
Winter stared at the two woman before one was killed. The blood pooled around her and stained her clothing. There was a slash across her chest. The next one was Seliah. The guard put the tip of this sword on her shoulder, ready to slash. " Are you ready for your doom?"
" I've been ready since the day I was captured," she told the guard. The guard raised his sword in the air and slashed Seliah down on her neck. Her keeled and slowly fell onto the ground, her head was still attached by a thread. Winter stepped back, but was stopped by a guard. She looked up at him, and was earned a glare. She knew that she shouldn't show any feelings about death, but she couldn't help it. She felt her eyes sting and the tears running down her face.
That was her only friend.
Nova, Cassandra, Austin, and Casper stopped in the forest and lit a fire. The dark made the forest seem mysterious. Nova looked up from the fire at her friends, " What is suppose to happen now?" she asked. " Holden is gone, and now we're walking in the middle of the forest."
" First, we have to make sure that you can use your magic," Cassandra told her. " We can't have you go out of control when you're fighting an enemy."
" It's the same for me then," Austin said. " I can't control my magic either."
" You're experienced a little," Casper said. He turned to Nova, " We should get you a weapon just in case. A bow and arrows would be nice for you."
" George and his army will come after us, no matter what. We're all in danger, and the royals are doing everything they can to make this place safer."
" They don't care about us," Cassandra told her brother, " They want us to suffer. That's why they don't get involved."
" Then you don't like Princess Faith?"
" I didn't say anything about her. Princess Faith is going to find her parents, and that's all. The Demon Sisters are their problem right now."
" It's the same with the royals then," Austin assumed. " They only care about their objective, like you said. But, the Princess is doing everything she can. We have our own Princess and Prince in this kingdom."
Cassandra stared at her brother and scoffed when he was done talking. Though, he was right. Each of the royals only worried about their goals, but also they would want to make the world safer so that they wouldn't be targeted.
" Then we have to get to the kingdom," Nova said. " If we can stop George's group that way."
" Won't they take you and use you as bait?" Casper questioned.
" It's better than getting hunted down."
" Dell, are you okay?" Vesta looked at her brother with confusion on her face as he stared at the gray clouds. Usually, it would mean that something was coming. Vesta shook her brother's arm. "Brother?"
" What is it?"
"What are you looking at?"
" The clouds. Don't you remember what Mother and Father used to say?"
" That the gray clouds are always a sign of death? I wonder who died today, if it's an elder or someone important."
" Most likely someone close," Dell said and picked up the basket. " Come on, Freya is waiting for us. And most likely Carver is too."
The brother and sister walked hand in hand through the forest. They entered the room and found the husband and wife sitting at the table. " I see the gathering went well."
Dell placed the basket on the counter once again and took one without his sister noticing. Carver noticed his brother in law taking one, but didn't say anything. Vesta placed her hands on the table, excited to hear about Carver's adventures at the guild. She almost squeezed it out of him, before Freya stopped her.
" They have been following George's group," he told them. " News is that Holden has been taken over and burned to the ground." Dell popped the berry in his mouth before reacting. Holden was nearby their home. Their group could easily come there and destroy the house. " Then we have to move," Dell said before putting another berry in his mouth.
" Move where?" Vesta questioned. " No matter where we go, they will find us too. Everyone is dying."
" I wonder how those kids are doing," Freya said aloud.
" What kids?"
" The Hale children. If you remember, our parents had always given them something and in return they would give us some of their food, since we were poor."
" We're still poor," Vesta told her. " You can't just say something and make it all seem okay."
" I'm not saying that Vesta. I was just telling Dell about the Hale family."
" But how can you talk about our parents so freely? The didn't die years ago!"
" I understand that, but-"
" You can't say anything to make it better!" When Freya looked at her sister, she noticed something forming on her forehead. It was a symbol that ran in their family, that determined one's growth. Vesta held her head in her hands and cried out.
" Vesta, here have something to eat," Dell said, handing her some berries. Vesta slapped them out of his hand and attacked him.
" Vesta, release him!" Carver stood up and pulled her off of him. Dell was stronger than her, but he didn't want to hurt his sister. The pain in her head continued to get worse as she tried to get herself away from Carver.
" Let me go!"
" Not gonna happen."
Freya stood and supported her weight with the table, " Vesta, calm down. If you don't your heart rate is gonna rise up again."
Dell grabbed Vesta's arms and tried to stop her. " Vesta, stop it. if your heart gets worse, then you can get a heart attack." The symbol on Vesta's forehead continued to increase and her pain as well. She cried when her body gave out, causing her to black out. Dell caught her before she hit the ground.
" Is she okay?" Freya asked.
" I don't know," Dell answered. "Remember what happened when I first got mine? I ended up fighting everyone who I met."
Freya could see the symbol at the side of Dell's head when his hair fell. He was only seven when he inherited the family's symbol. " She needs to rest before she loses control over her body." He picked her up and walked her to the bedroom. Trying not to wake her up, he lightly placed her on the bed. Her temperature was rising and her face was getting flushed.
" Sister, bring some towels! She's getting a fever!"
For the last ten minutes, the men rushed to get Vesta back to her original health. Her heart rate was slowly decreasing and she was able to breath once again. Dell put the wet towel on her forehead. "I didn't know that the Blackwood family has to suffer like this."
" Freya didn't tell you anything?" Dell asked. " Our family had this mark for centuries, of course many families have it as well."
" But Freya doesn't have it."
" She does, but she can control her powers." Dell grabbed the towel and ringed the water out. " Honestly, if she didn't freak out like that she won't have been able to control her powers."
Carver leaned against the wall as he watched Dell take care of his younger sister. Carver didn't have any family. His only family was his wife and her younger siblings, the only family he could ask for. He put his hand on Dell's shoulder. " She should be alright," he said. "If you and Freya went through the same thing, then Vesta has it in her blood to surpass this."
Dell nodded and turned back to this sister. She had the Blackwood blood in her.
She was bound to survive this.
Astrid and Dante walked through the forest after they found a source of fire. " Do you really think someone is there?" Astrid question as she moved a tree branch out of the way.
" Where there's fire, there's people," he answered. " If it's George and his army, we can use our magic to escape."
" You sure do have high hopes for us," Astrid commented. The two fire users carefully walked through the forest, trying not to stomp on a branch to alarm them. Dante stopped when they got close enough. He found Nova and the others sitting around the fire, talking among themselves. Nova stopped talking and looked into the forest.
" Come out. I already know you're there!"Astrid froze and held onto Dante's tunic.
" They found us. They're from George's group," she said.
" No, they're not. They're like us." Before answering Astrid, the two of them walked out of the bushes. Cassandra grabbed her dagger and pointed to them. " Who are you?"
" Two travelers," Dante answered. " It seems that two of you are like us." He pointed over to Nova, her mark visible to them, " the one with the symbol on her shoulder and the boy with the brown hair, both have abilities like us."
Nova quickly covered her mark while Austin frowned. " Nova is obvious, but how do you know about our brother?" Cassandra demanded.
" I can feel the power coming from him. It's not hard to miss." Cassandra frowned at the two of them, her dagger still clenched in her hand. She simply couldn't trust them.
" We're friends," Astrid said.
" We mean no harm," Dante said. " We found the source of your fire and came here."
Casper cursed under his breath. He was the one who suggested to start a fire in the middle of a forest. He didn't realize that someone was bound to come and find them. Dante took a step as Cassandra held her dagger up, ready to strike if he came any closer. " Why should we trust you?"
" I told you, we're alike."
" That doesn't mean anything."
" Cassandra, leave them be," Nova interjected. Cassandra glanced at Nova from the corner of her eye.
" Why should I? They could be enemies."
" But I can sense his magic as well. They're one of us."
Cassandra scoffed and set her dagger down. It was still clenched in her hand, that if anything happened they would be dead within seconds. Dante and Astrid walked over to the fire and sat down next to Austin and Casper. The boys looked at them with confusion on their faces.
Cassandra sat down across from them and watched them closely.
" Why do you believe us?" Astrid asked Nova.
" I don't, but I can kill if you try and hurt us." This was said with a smile on her face, that resembled the devil. Astrid tugged Dante's tunic in fear.
In her mind, this girl certainly wasn't normal.