The Moors

The Moors

The sky in the village was ungodly black; raindrops the size of bullets fell from the sky. There were a few small lanterns that lit up the streets. Aurora sat there in the dark alleyway, tears running down her face. Her last piece of wet bread slipping through her fingers, it would have been her first meal a week.

Aurora wiped her nose with her torn, dirty sleeve. Clutching her empty stomach, she sneaked her way towards the edge of the town. She watched the rapids water flow between the kingdom and the dark forest. Being this close to the water was forbidden, not because of the dangerous waters but what leaked beyond them.

The Moors. The king, like his father before him, banned the crossing of the river. Villagers have spoken of the mysteries of the dark forest. But they were theories. No one has ever seen the inside of the moors, or at least lived to tell of it.

"Hey!" a nightguard yelled, strutting his way towards Aurora, other guards following behind.

Aurora quickly stood up, almost slipping. Aurora turned around quickly; her head hung low as the guards grew closer. Making eye contact would only anger them more. The guards were to be avoided, much like the plague.

"What are you doing there, young dove?" The man was tall, with ginger hair and a beard to match. A sick sadistic smile grew on his face, as it did in his voice.

Aurora knew this wouldn't end well. "Just l-looking sir, I didn't mean to get so close." She knows she should run, run until her shoeless feet were sore. Her chances of making it are slim; these men lived within the walls; they are more robust and faster. It would be an easy catch.

The guards grew closer, leaving her only route to escape, the river. The men shielded anyone that could be walking by, not that they would do much anyway. Her feet were already slippery from the thin layer of mud that covered them.

"Then why don't you take a closer look?" Before she knew it, she was traveling downstream. She was a poor child; she never learned how to swim. Her head sank underwater again, again, and again. The men watched as she traveled, sickeningly laughing as they walked away.

The lack of oxygen made her start to feel light-headed, and before she knew it, she'd passed out. Her seemingly lifeless body floating downstream.

*         *         *         *

"Borra, please give the girl some space." a rich female voice spoke. Wasn't she dead? Whose voice was that? Did she survive the river?

"Mal, I'm just making sure she is okay. What if she wakes up scared." Another voice that she didn't know. Aurora kept her eyes closed in the hope that these people would leave. "That doesn't mean you have to hold her." the lady chuckled.

What?

Aurora's eyes shot open. Then she was able to see who-or rather what was holding her. She scrambled to get out of his arms, but he grabbed her tight. "Whoa, calm down, love, I won't hurt you." Aurora looked around and found that the woman was the same way.

They both wore long horns on top of their heads and wings sprouting from their backs. The woman, who I assume is "Mal" as the man "Borra" had called her, was very pale with dark brunette hair and cheekbones as sharp as glass. She smiled when she noticed my staring, her fangs proudly shown. The man was tan and muscular, with a sculpted jawline, and his face had scars on them.

"You're - You're monsters, beast of the moors." I whimpered, looking into their piercing eyes. Were the stories true? Borra placed her on the ground. She scrambled away as fast as she could. "I'm no monster beastie," Mal said.