The Shadows- *Started, but spots still open!*

Haha, Ish, you keep spelling my name 'zEnea.' it's 'zAnea' haha XD
Zaneak

I held the little wolf pup as I ran. Rapid, that was the name that I had giving him. I knew it was stupid to carry him as we ran, especially when we could get caught, but my mother had always called me Little Wolf and we had been friendly with the wolves in our territory. I had almost been one of them. And I needed some comfort, anyway.
The little boys were crying. AnnaRose looked more afraid than I had ever seen her, her face pale and her voice a small whisper. She asked Han something, and he replied. I wondered what was going on. I wondered how this could have all turned into some weird, sick story, when it was supposed to be great- we were free. And being chased.
Rapid barked suddenly and we all froze. They were close, I could hear their voices. We all hid in a grove of trees, waiting. The little boys were hissed at to be quiet. I stared through the branches as soldiers walked by, slow and deadly.

Oops! Sorry sun!

ANNAROSE

I sat down in the trees, trying hush Jacob. He sniffled, but he stopped. Zanea was still clinging to her wolf. I glared at Erika...if she gave us away... The soldiers were passing and we all went rigid.

Most of us were breathin heavily, I prayed that we wouldn't be heard. "Idiots! You scared them off!" A man hissed. I knew that voice anywhere. The prince.

I glanced at Han. He stared straight ahead. Erika's eyes kept darting around aimlessly. I closed my eyes. The prince would not be overly thrilled to see me.

"They can't be far, keep searching!" The prince barked. I blinked. Was this really happening?

Erika

"Idiots, you scared them away!" I heard the Prince say.

The prince. How I hated him. Because of him Han and I were treated like dogs. My father's foolishness, and then his weakness against the Emperess. Finally the soliders and Prince left. I sighed and slowly stepped out from our hiding.

"Well that was a close one." I said only to be met by silence.

"Look, if you don't want me here, I can leave. I'm perfectly fine without you all." I said to no one in particular.

"Especially so called family." I said shooting a look at Han.

"Who forget family and rely on friends." I added, glancing at AnnaRose.

ANNAROSE

I glared at Erika. "Ha, yeah no. You aren't going anywhere."

She turned to glare at me. "Who put you in charge?" She snapped.

"Considering Han and I were the first to join our little group, we are technically in charge. You know too much, you're the emporer's daughter. Yeah, you are staying here." I shot back.

Zanea looked at me. "She's right, Erika." she whispered.

I smiled. "Thanks Zan. Now, we're all sticking together whether we like it or not. Erika, who knows? Maybe somebody in this group does want you to stay?"

She kept glaring at me. "Whatever. I still think it's hardly fair that you self-appointed yourself."

I rolled my eyes. Whatever. We could deal with leadership issues later. Jacob tugged at my robe. "What's going on?" I looked at him and smiled.

"I'd like to know the same thing," Parker muttered.

I sighed. "I thought I already gave to a brief explanation, Parker."

"Of course, and I owe you my life. But I'm still confused. Not everday you get thwomped on the head this hard."

I ignored him and crawled to the edge of the grove and watched the soldiers walk away. They had come that way, so we could either follow them or go back the direction we came. But there might still be others scouting that area. "Han? What's you intuition tell you?" I muttered. I trusted him most in situations like this.

Erika
I stared at Han and then at AnnaRose and then back at Han.
Smirking I said, "Looks like you two are very close. Besties, eh?" I said.

"As a matter of fact, yes very much." She said shooting a look at me and then at some other girl who looked down on the ground.

I raised my eyebrows.

"Could someone tell me what's going on?" Some guy, Parker I think his name was, asked.

AnnaRose said something and then shooed him away like a fly concentrating on the little kid.

"I'm confused." Parker said looking at me.

"Looks like we're on the same boat." I replied.

"So what got you into this mess?" I asked, waving my hands around to the group of people.

Guys, just in case you missed it, Helen is black, and as Isha said in the original post, that makes a difference to the Emporess.

Helen

“So what got you into this mess?” asked Erika, indicating the whole group. Helen rolled her eyes. Honestly.

“Well, I think it’s pretty obvious for me, considering that the queen is majorly racist,” she said, holding her hand up and twisting it this way and that. “They were going to ‘make room for the barons,’ and our village just happened to be in the way.” She shrugged. “Next thing I know, I’m running into those two,” she pointed at Anna and Han, “And then, well, you all show up. But I think we should get a move on,” she said, nervously glancing through the trees. “We can talk while we walk, though. What brought the rest of you here?”

ANNAROSE

"Well, I think you know mine and Han's story. One blade to royalty's throat and you've got a death sentence to run from," I muttered, crawling out from the bushes. "Okay, so we can follow them and risk getting caught or we can go back and risk getting seen by anybody who had stayed behind."

I glanced back at the group. Then to Han. He pointed to the left, "Neither, we go this way." I nodded and scooped up Jacob.

We started back quietly, unsure of what we would find. I started thinking about Erika and Helen. Maybe Helen wasn't so bad after all, but Erika... She wasn't a horrible person, just a threat.

"Where are we going Rosey?" Jacob asked me, yawning.

"I don't know Jakey, but we'll find somewhere safe. I promise," I told him.

"Can I go play with Lex?" He asked, starting to squirm in my arms.

"Yes, but you guys aren't allowed to wander. You stay with the group okay?" I said, putting him down.

He nodded and ran over to Lex. The boy had seemed cold at first, but Jacob seemed to be able to get him to open up a bit. I smiled and kept walking. Maybe the others weren't so bad after all.

Zanea

"My little family."
I muttered the words with sarcasm. I barely knew some of them. Okay, they seemed alright. Erika seemed okay, just a bit prickly. And I felt bad about being mean to Helen now. She probably thought I was racist too. How come I messed up almost every friendship I got into? Except AnnaRose. "What now?" I asked.

"What now?" Zanea asked, snuggling her puppy.

"We walk," I muttered. I needed everybody to stop asking questions. Of course I could just let somebody else answer for a change.... My brain was fried.

More footsteps behind us. We all stopped for a moment, listening. "They're here!" A man called.

"Dammit! Run!" I shouted. I didn't even regret swearing infront of Jacob and Lex. I scooped up Jacob and slung him over my back. Atashi did the same with Lex. We all thundered through the bushes.

Somebody grabbed my arm and I jerked back. Jacob rolled onto the ground and started crying. "Jakey run!" I shouted, pulling out my sword.

I stabbed slit the guard's throat and he fell limp to the ground. I started running again, Han already had Jacob in his arms.

Zanea

I ran, my heart pounding. But this time, when I ran, no Deja Vu came. I guess it was because this time, I wasn't mourning- this time I was saving my life and ours. Rapid snarled. "Be quiet, dumb mutt," I whispered, but lovingly (which is hard to do when you're running for your life, let me tell you).
I heard AnnaRose shout. Cursing. I hope Jake had covered his ears. Not that it mattered, much. Not right now, when we might get shot in the back by an arrow or stabbed by a sword at any minute.
We continued to run. I could hear a scream- had someone been captured?! Somehow I couldn't stop running to find out what had happened. Somehow I was frozen to teh spot.

ANNAROSE

Another hand grabbed my wrist and I spun around, ready to behead anybody who dared to touch me. To my surprise, metal met metal. The sound was horrible. "Hello sweet-cheeks." The prince! No way was this happening!

"Get off me you slug!" I screached. He smiled crookedly.

"Not a chance," He turned to the soldiers. "Go get the others! Watch for Han, he's good at hand-to-hand combat."

They nodded and scampered off. I screamed at them to keep running. I hope they heard. I turned back to the prince, squirming free of his grasp and bringing my sword against his. "Funny you showed up. I was hoping to end your life eventually," I hissed.

He laughed and two other guards approached, swinging their swords. I blocked, then flung myself into a crouching position, swinging my sword across one of the guard's legs and cutting it off at the ankle. He screamed and fell to the ground. I would finish him off later.

Jacob

One minute I was playing with Lex and the next I was scooped up by Rosey, then she dropped me because a nasty man was there and I was scooped up by Han. We started to run but there was something wrong,

"Stop Han, we can't leave Rosey behind!" I said tears streaking down my face as I thumped his back trying to get his attention. Han didn't answer me, he just kept running.

"We can't leave Rosey behind we can't leave Auntie Rosey behind!"

Han turned his head briefly to talk to me. I saw his eyes widen as he saw something over my shoulder.

"Dammit, run!" He yelled to the others. I looked back to see what was wrong and saw that many guards were following us. I heard Rosey's distant cry of "Keep running!"
I hoped that she was ok.

Helen

Helen peered over her shoulder only to see the form of AnnaRose disappear behind the trees.

“Keep running!” she heard the girl call, and then there was the muffled sounds of fighting. Helen’s steps faltered. Well, running would be the smartest thing to do, but…

“Duck, Anna!” she yelled as she made five arrows rise and hurl around the corner at a deadly speed. She heard some muffled thumps and a scream of pain – in a man’s voice, thankfully. Then she turned and darted after the rest of the group, praying that Anna would follow.

ANNAROSE

The prince reeled around. "The idiots!" He screeched. "They let themselves be shot down already?" He turned back to me, fighting with more fury. Metal hit metal once again and sent a loud clanging through the forest. The guard who's foot I severed got hit in the arm and screeched.

Somebody must have gotten to the soldiers then. Helen probably, she had her bow and arrow. I suddenly didn't hate her anymore.

The prince snarled something at his soldier, who wasn't being much of a help. He was too busy helping his partner bandage his leg and arm, and his own shoulder. Helen had hit him, too? If the soldier heard, he didn't awknowledge.

I ducked a swing to my neck and let my sword graze the prince's side. He yelped, but didn't back down.

Why didn't you kill him? That would have been the perfect time! I scolded myself. Because you want this fight. Except for I didn't want this fight. Not anymore. I blocked his sword as it came down on the top of my head, stood and twirled to the side. I half-willed Han or anybody to come back for me, although it would be wiser for them to stay back. It would have been wiser for me to have run when I had the chance.

Sorry people, I'm used to writing in present tense.

Pierce

From a tree in the middle of the forest, I hear a loud clang in the distance. Interest and curiosity flood through me, and my decision to check it out is a no-brainer because
1) Sitting in this tree right now is incredibly boring (though I usually like it I've been staying up here for days)
2) It means people
3) People mean excitement which usually mean fighting which
4) I like.
I jump down from the tree and my legs start moving even before I hit the ground. Several figures come into view, and I stop when I can make out details. Two people, a boy and a girl, are fighting. Dead guards are everywhere.

I almost immediately catch the blue eyes of the girl with long, straight black hair. She looks surprised, giving her opponent an easy opportunity to bring his sword down over her head. Quickly, she catches herself and drops to the ground, rolling, to avoid the attack. There are actually several people who look around my age, some younger, but they are running from a living band of guards. My hand instinctively flies to the dagger on my belt in case of attack.

A guard spots me and runs over, but I stare at his eyes. You have been stabbed three times in the head. His brain processes the message and he falls to the ground screaming, writhing in pain, clutching his hair. The opponent of the girl with black hair looks up at the same time she does. Is that...the prince? I don't care. You have a concussion and will be out cold for a while, I think, focusing on the prince. His eyes roll back into his head and he falls.

Then I turn my attention to the girl. "It's only an illusion, you know," I tell her, "so he won't be out for long. I suggest you run." She does, only because I make her, and she looks mad. She keeps looking over her shoulder like she desperately wants to kill the prince. Maybe these people are good. For the sake of excitement, I follow her.