Stained in red

Seraphina and Zoe

Rain and mist hung in the air, that was filled with a silence and stillness that was very rarely seen. An odd group huddled together on the forest floor, put into rows and groups. Friends huddled close, with their remaining family members or neighbours and strangers filled in the gaps. Serta walked at the front, along with Gwin, Jax, Finnic and Winziy (Win for short.)

I felt oddly aware of the eerie silence, but tried to focus on the blade in my hand. I had the feeling that someone was watching me, but I was sure that was Roseanne.
"Oy!" Finnic shouted "whatz zere?" He whispered and pointed to a silhouette, about the size of a man, just a few feet away.
"It's nothing, Fin. Just a tree." Gwin whispered back.
"You sure? Lookz like somefings zere!" Finnic moved closer and pointed his sword towards the silhouette. "Show yourzelf!"

I ignored the two, and looked to Jax beside me. She had returned. Finally. It had been a week since she'd returned, she had changed. I knew that. But I couldn't place what it was.

Her face was serious, focused. Her bow at the ready, she stooped forward. I wondered what she was thinking, but turned back into the mist. I lead as a King.

It was a slow move. Travelling small distances in the space of days. We had young with us, and old. We had sick Green Bloods and cold, ill, and hungry ones. It was a very slow process.

"Told you." I heard Gwin snigger.

"Finnic, I think you need your eyes tested! That's the seventh tree this week!" Dana laughed. Finnic and Dana had got close over the past few days. I wasn't around much anymore. Not that that meant that we weren't close, it's only she had found someone else to talk to.

"Oy! I fink when a foe comes, I'll be the one who spots them! Juzt  you wai' and see! I'll be the one zayin' told you so!" I held up my hand.

Everyone went silent.

Jax had seen it too. We looked to each other. Then back to the gloom. Everyone was still. Gwin beside me didn't dare to breath.

It moved again. Something...

"Hello?" A muffled voice.

We all stiffened. I kept my hand up.
"Show yourself!" I demanded, in the strongest voice I could muster. A shuffle. A skitter.

"Hello? Who are you?" It said. A female. Young? Perhaps. I searched the mist, but it had moved.

"I am King Serta, Green Blood. Show yourself!" A figure stepped forward. As they got closer, I saw a woman, around twenty, and a child holding her hand. Her other arm was up in surrender.

"Please, we mean no harm! I am Seraphina. And this is Zoe. Please. We need your help." The young child hid herself behind Seraphina. Jax stepped forward.

"What blood do you bare?" She jabbed, her weapon raised high.

"Please! We have Golden Blood. We mean no harm." At 'golden' everyone moved. Gwin and Finnic raised their weapon, and the survivors shuffled closer, but I stood my ground.

"Golden?" I ask. Lowering my voice.

"We don't recognise ourselves as Yellow. Please find it in your hearts to help us." I was silent. Thinking. The young girl, Zoe, reminded me of Dana, the way her black hair bounced and her face looked worried and scared. But her eyes held the truth. That deep down, she had the spirit of a deer and the strength of a Lion.

I approached the two.