CH 10
Katrina and Angel ran through the forest to the Hill looking over the beach. There was only one tree on that Hill so they had to be careful about being seen. Angel looked around the land area, there were only six of them there... One was missing.
“How many were there before hand Ang?” asked Katrina.
“Seven… one of them is missing” she replied back.
“But the council usually goes inn either six or twelve, never unlucky numbers like seven” she said with suspicion. Angel nodded. She could see the two dead men being burned on the beach. The other two people were alive but, judging by their expression, they were furious. Suddenly, they were hit over the head by a metal bar by one of the Court of Justice men. Katrina searched the water.
“The metal bird is gone, that’s good…” trailed off Katrina. Angel didn’t reply but looked at the two other survivors. One of the survivors was a female. She looked pretty torn up. Clothes were soaked and ripped, blood poured from her nose and she had quite a nasty cut on her forehead. She seemed in and out of consciousness. The other one was male, she could tell by his body shape. He was worse off than the woman though. He had many cuts on his face that were quite deep. The cut above his eye seemed infected. He also seemed to slip out of consciousness more than the female. She yelled at them but due to the harsh wind, she couldn’t make out what she was saying exactly, but whatever she said was enough for her to be hit on the head again. Both of them fell out of consciousness while the Council examined them. Finally they council declared something and one of the men lifted them both by a levitation ring and began to walk back to the Village. Katrina and Angel softly got off the tree and begin to run back home.
“Who do you think they were?” asked Katrina as they slowed down to a jog.
“No idea Kat, but I just hope that they weren’t outsiders but just trespassers.” Angel replied with a voice with a slight ring of hope. They began to walk slowly to be able to hear if the Council was coming close to them or not.
“I hope so too Ang, but what if they were related or some people that the boys know. It’s going to be difficult getting them back. And you know that the Council wouldn’t hand them over. They are the council’s prisoners. And if the boys are going into the Deadly Games, only they can go home if they win, not the people that the Council had just taken” said Katrina slowly.
Realization came onto both of them just as Katrina had finished her speech and they were horrified. They stopped and looked at each other, their expressions showing the horror they felt.
“They are black mail for them!” said Angel horrified. Katrina just looked shocked.
“But if they aren’t anyone important to them, do you think they’ll let them go?” Angel asked in a small voice. Katrina looked like as if she was about to cry.
“No… they will torture them, or worse, kill them, in front of the village no doubt. They haven’t had a whipping in quite some time so I wouldn’t be surprised” Katrina said slowly, trying to hold back her tears.
“We better warn Maria as soon as possible!” Angel said in a sharp whisper. Katrina nodded but as they were walking, they heard footsteps, about twenty meters to the right of them. Katrina pulled Angel up into a tree and they began to slowly follow the footsteps.
“My Lord, what if they speak the truth? That they are the adoptive parents of the Anders homestay boys?” whispered a judge. Angel recognized his voice as judge number 9.
“Then they will be used as black mail. No one can leave here remember?” hissed out the Judge 2.
“Silence the both of you!” the Leader said to them. “The boys may wish to go home but if they do, they will be missing these two people. I can tell the boys have a sense of honour and bravery and they will want to protect them as if they were their actual parents.”
Katrina and Angel shared a look. They just wanted more fun in the games! Katrina jumped to another tree silently and beckoned Angel to follow and she jumped away again. Angel stayed just a second longer, planting the image of the other two survivors in her mind, before she jumped away after her sister. Surprisingly, she found Katrina by Andrew’s grave.
“Kat?” asked Angel cautiously.
“Ang… how do you think Maria is?” she asked looking at Angel.
Angel looked surprise at her sisters’ question but answered anyway.
“I think she’s internally struggling with the fact Liam looks so much like Andrew. But I also know she is seeing Liam as Andrew. I think she feels like she has the opportunity to save Andrew again but through Liam since they look the same.” Angel replied to her question. Katrina nodded and looked at Andrew’s grave again. She sighed and hugged her sister. Angel hugged her back before they walked back home. They just prayed that the boys wouldn’t freak out about this new discovery.
