〚FEATURED + WATTYS SHORTLIST 2021〛
Someone tried to kill him. Someone nearly succeeded.
A traitor walks among them.
The question is, who?
⭒⭒⭒⭒⭒
"A sky full of stars and he was looking at her."
He was a man with a deep and profound love for the stars...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"GET DOWN!"
The knife embeds itself in the bark of the tree behind where they were standing, seconds ago.
Another knife follows shortly after, hitting the spot right below it.
Axel grabs Stella as gently as he can, pushing her behind him protectively, as they duck under a bush.
"Stay behind me," he instructs softly, as he holds up his gun once more, following a sharp movement behind the trees.
BANG!
His bullet lodges into another tree, narrowly missing the shadowed figure.
"I can defend myself just fine," Stella mutters, but her eyes keenly follow the movement of the figure that darts behind the shrubbery, as she tucks her daggers back in.
In the scarce rays of sunlight in the clearing, she could barely discern any features.
But something metallic glints in the pale light once more, and it takes her a moment to recognize the object, before another knife whizzes straight towards their ducked figures.
BANG!
Hurried footsteps echo across the clearing as another bullet lodges itself into a tree, missing the figure again. Axel's low muttered curse is muted by the rustling of the bush behind which they had ducked.
Stella reaches for the knife that had embedded itself in the bush, pulling it out and towards her in one sleek movement.
In another swift step, she reaches for the two knives buried in the bark of the tree, tugging them out and ducking just in time, as another knife zips past.
"What are you doing?" Axel hisses, glancing away from the figure for a moment to look at her.
He could only see her features faintly because the clearing was dark. It always had been, with the thick greens and looming trees- and that was the reason Axel has chosen it as his spot in the first place.
To see the stars, one must welcome the darkness.
But right now? It was more inconvenient than ever.
"You'll see," Stella murmurs in reply, twirling the knives, before hurling them straight towards where he had last seen the dark figure.
They sail through the air, in perfect synchronization, implanting themselves into one of the thin, higher branches of the tree- centimeters apart, but completely missing their mark.
"Stella," Axel says, as his finger curls around the trigger when he spots the figure underneath the same tree, "As much as I appreciate the effort, you've got terrible aim."
BANG!
Another bullet roots into the tree, but the figure doesn't move from behind it.
"That's false," Stella twirls the last knife in her hands, with a firm glint in her eyes green eyes, before flinging it in the same direction.
