Shouts and screams jolt him awake. His eyes snap open as he sits up in bed almost knocking his head on the bunk above. Swinging his legs around, he gets to his feet, turns and shakes Gini awake in the top bunk.

"What? What is it?" she moans sleepily.

"Gini! Gini! Something is happening. I heard screams and others shouting."

Gini stretches up yawning as she pulls off her blanket. "I'm sure it's nothing, Artos. I don't hear any—"

"Ahhhhh! No, no, don't. Please!" The sound cuts off with a gurgle.

Gini's eyes go wide, the sleepiness has gone from her now as he hops down to the floor.

"I told you, Gini. what do we do?"

"It's okay, everything will be okay, Artos. I promise." She looks around their small tent. Their shared room is divided by a strung up sheet of old tarpaulin. "We need to find Mum and Dad." She looks around for the clothes she had scattered around. "Get dressed, will you."

"Oh, right. Yeah," he replies with a smirk. "Like an adventure," he whispers.

Another blood-curdling scream rings out with more shouting behind it. It stops Artos' heart, freezing him to the spot. Then the sound of hoofbeats pound past their tent and it gets him going again. He looks to his big sister and sees her already half-dressed and that he hasn't even started yet. It thrusts him into action. He pulls on the dirty jeans from yesterday and the t-shirt that lays crumpled at the foot of his bed. Then he pulls on his trainers and grabs some socks to put on later. "Gini? Gini," he whispers. "Where are Mum and Dad?"

She turns to him with a worried look in her eyes. "We'll find them. Come on," she holds out her hand and he takes it. He lets himself be pulled along to the other side of the tent where their parents sleep. Their bed lies empty, the thin blanket is thrown back at the bottom of the bed. And their clothes are missing. The tent door flaps about in the wind, being pulled to and fro like a kite. Gini stops as she peers into the darkness outside the only light coming from a small lamp set behind them.

"Where are they, Gini? Where are Mum and Dad?"

"Shh, little brother. Don't be scared. We will find them. Grab a—"

She is cut off as another scream rips through the camp, this one closer than before.

"That sounded like Dana, was it her?" Artos asks, his grip tightening.

Gini looks around at him, her green eyes vibrant in the darkness meet his. "I don't know." She pauses, her eyes darting left and right looking for something, anything. "I, ah. I don't know," her head drops as she tries to look anywhere other than him.

"It will be okay, Gini. We will find them. Come, let's go?"

She smiles at him now, her black hair shining in the light.

"Wait, why is your hair shining? There is a light outside, look," he points.

She turns and steps towards the door with her hand entwined in his. "It's... It's fire, Artos. The camp is on fire!" she shouts. "Fire! There is a fire. Help!" She pulls him along with her as she bolts through the door. "Come on, we need to get help."

Artos follows her, his feet beating against the grass faster to keep up with her longer strides. He lets her drag him towards the fire knowing somewhere in the back of his mind that it was wrong, dangerous. But he goes anyway because she is his big sister and she knows better. He runs just behind her, the back of his heels begins to rub, "Should have put the socks on, damn shoes," he says under his breath.

His sister ignores him or doesn't hear. She forges on towards the flames that he can now see are licking up the side of Terry's tent, his friend.

"Help!" shouts Gini again. Her face is alight as the flames reflect across her face. "Help!"

That's when he hears them again, the many hoofbeats rumbling towards them, the sound growing with every heartbeat. "Gini?" he whispers. "Gini?" his voice louder this time. He pulls at her hand furiously and fills his lungs, "Gini!" he bellows. She turns just in time to see the looming shapes bursting from the darkness. Massive beasts taller than a man galloping full tilt towards them and the men that sit on their backs. They are all clad in dark clothes, their heads covered apart from the eyes and even that small patch is painted dark so not to give them away.

Gini screams and Artos joins her as the horse's pound into the ground towards them. Then Artos sees it, a slim reflection of light coming from the hand of the closest man. It lifts and Artos screams again as they reach them. He clamps his eyes shut as a wave of air washes over him.

His throat is raw when he realises he is the only one still screaming. He stops and opens his eyes, slowly inching them up, not wanting to see what he knows in his heart is waiting for him. His eyes sparkle in the firelight that seems to have caught hold of every tent now. He turns only now realising he no longer holds Gini's hand.

"Gini," he says tentatively. He looks down and sees what he feared, his big sister lying face down in the long grass. "Gini? Gini? Please say something. Please?" He kneels beside her and reaches forward, his hands touch her long dark hair smoothing it down. "Gini, please wake up," he sobs. The tears fall freely soaking his face, watering the ground beneath him. He buries his head into her, his nose smothering her neck. "Please, wake up," he says, his voice muffled as he sobs again.

Screams echo all around him and fire blazes in every direction, but he cannot move, his body is frozen, unable to even look up from the hair that smothers his entire face. He lies there unmoving for what seems like an eternity, his entire body aches as he peels himself away from Gini, strands of her hair still stick to him like glue. He touches her head, brushing her hair the way his mother used too.

"Oh, Gini. You have to wake..." he stops himself as he lifts his hand. In the firelight, he can see the dark-crimson colour of her blood dripping slowly from his palm. He balls his hands into fists and smashes the ground. One, two, three, he hits the same spot over and over again until his hands are numb, then he stops and flops onto his back panting for every breath.

"Ahhhh!" another scream echoes off to his right making him twitch. They come fewer now and in varying directions.

He gets to his feet stepping around the pool of blood that emanates from his sister. He touches her head once again before whispering, "Goodbye. I will go and find Mum and Dad now." He shirts around the edge of the blood and moves off to his left and away from the screams. He walks no more than twenty steps before the sound of hoofbeats blocks out every other noise. He turns to see a group of men mounted on the large beasts that tower over everything around them. He squats down behind a barrel, trying to hide clumsily as they make their way towards him. He tries to get his body behind it but he is big for his age and the flame light gives him away. The riders close in on him and they start to howl and shout like animals on the hunt.

"Found another one here!" shouts one as they rein in their horses.

"Looks like we already got him, he's covered in some sort of shit," says another.

The first man moves the horse closer, his beady eyes sparkle, reflecting the flames as he stares at Artos making him recoil. "Yep, blood that is. I'm sure of it." He looks back over his shoulder, "Can I do it?" he asks, his eyes alight with a menacing glow.

"Hold on there, Hass. maybe we can use a boy like him. It is a boy, right?"

"Uh, yep, I reckon so. Maybe seven I would say."

"Eight," Artos blurts without thinking, then clamps a hand over his mouth.

"Haha! Would you look at that, Tand? The little runt speaks," Hass laughs.

Tand stares at Artos now as a distant scream rings through the night. He gets down from his horse and starts to walk across to where he hides. "Something is different about this one. That I can see. Hmm, yes. I think I can use this one. Take him to Franik, Hass. And be quick about it. We have been here too long. Time to go home, me thinks."

"Aw, Boss. do I have to?" Hass whines.

"Grrrrrr!"

"Alright, alright. I'll take him to Franik. You're the boss."

Tand stares at Hass, his bright blue eyes making the man physically take a step back with the intensity. "And don't forget it, Hass. Don't any of you forget it," he says turning to each of them.

Tand turns back to Artos now, his eyes fixing him with a greedy glare, a need for something more. "You will go with him. You will not fuss or try and run. Do you understand?"

Artos can only nod, all speech forgotten about as he stares back.

"Do you understand?" he asks again, his words harsh.

Artos nods again and squeaks out a tiny, "Yes." His head moving like an out of control pogo stick.

"Good. now go!" Tand commands.

Artos obeys. Standing, he steps out from behind the barrel and makes his way towards Hass. His menacing eyes watching his every move. Hass leans down and says, "Hands." Artos does as he's told and lifts his hands. Hass pulls a length of rope from his saddle, loops it around Artos' wrists pulling them tight and knotting it. "There we go. No running for you now, eh?" he laughs, the sound is low and without a hint of joy. He yanks on the rope, pulling him closer. "Maybe you try and run, Eh? Then I get my wish. What do you think?" he whispers.

Artos sucks at his throat. His tongue moving frantically as he tries to swallow. Hi, head nods back and forth before he speaks, his throat so dry, "I won't run, I promise."

"Shame. A shame that is, I tell you. A shame." He turns from him, loosening the rope a little so he can walk without being trampled to death. "Maybe there will be another chance, we'll see," Hass mutters to himself as he digs his heels into his mount.

Artos follows behind the horse's rear end, the tail swishing back and forth in the early morning heat mixed with the heat from the flames. His eyes look around as he is led through their camp. The destruction and slaughter of almost everyone he knows almost make him give up right there on the spot.

No, think about Gini. And you have to find Mum and Dad. You told Gini you would find them."

But his heart breaks for the second time in a night as he passes the next wreckage of a tent he witnesses a raging fire in the middle of the camp. And at its centre are the bodies of everyone he knows. He pauses, looking for two faces in a mass of bodies, then he finds himself flat on his face after being pulled from his feet.

"Ow," he moans through stilted breaths.

"What are you doing?" shouts Hass. He pulls on the rope tugging at his hands. "Get up, boy. Get to your feet you little maggot!"

Artos sucks in a breath as he gets onto his hands and knees. He wipes at his face, his hands coming away with a mix of blood and ash. Artos looks up at Hass now cursing him silently with words he knows he shouldn't use.

Hass stares him down, his beady eyes seeming to know exactly what he is thinking. "Yeah, I know, boy. I've been around a long time and I know what that look means. Ha! If you knew the things I had done." He turns around at a shout from behind. Another group of horsemen rein in to watch the bonfire. "Come to watch the burning, eh?" he shouts to them.

"Always the comedian eh, Hass?"

"You know me. Always try and make you laugh, Barrett."

"Ha! You couldn't make a fucking hyena laugh."

"Fuck you, Barrett. Fuck you." But there was no malice behind the words, just a sudden tiredness there.

Artos watches the exchange from the corner of his eye. The rest of his focus is on the fire in front of him warming him sticky clothes. He scans the bodies one after the other, looking for the two people he really doesn't want to find. Mum, Dad. Where are you? he wonders absently, his mind running through two things; his sister's death and where are his parents.

"Boys!" Hass shouts, pulling him around with the length of rope still tied to his wrists.

Artos turns to face him, but at the last second his eyes catch what he had feared. "No!" he shouts and yanks at his bindings trying to run towards his dead and burning parents. "No! Not them." He gets maybe five steps before he is pulled once again this time landing on his back with a heavy thump. He lies there breathless and sobbing as he lets the emotion flow from him freely now. His heart beats faster as he crawls into a ball.

"Stupid little fuck. Come here," Hass says towering over him now. "I'll show you. I told you not to run you little fucker. How about this?"

The next feeling is numbness, a spiralling vision and the feeling of wetness running down over his forehead into his eye. He blinks once then darkness takes him.

^^^

Artos bolts upright, his hand reaching for his dagger hanging by his head. His hand finds the hilt and pulls it from its scabbard. He blinks as the dream fades and he stares out at the bare room he finds himself in. His body bare and slick with sweat he scans the room. Nothing. He sighs, resigned that it was just a dream. Memory. He sheathes the sharp blade then falls back onto the soft pillow that reminds him of a simpler time. 

Thanks for reading.