Chapter #4West by: Joy   toward the west.
"I am not a scared little girl, Steven. I want you to know. And you didn't tell me, about everything you heard. Now tell me more, about this dense forest. What were they talking about in town?"
“Talking about the seven deadly sins -- wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, gluttony.”
“Are you pulling my leg, Steven?” Laura said, looking around totally disgusted. “Don’t tell me of the Ten Commandments, while we’re in this crappy situation.”
Steven sighed. “I’m only repeating what I’ve been told.”
“Well. go on…”
“There’s a prehistoric beast personifying each deadly sin, right here in the woods. Although, I am not sure the beast is prehistoric. It may be from space, otherworldly or from anywhere. I guess, we may find out when we…”
“Cut it out! Are trying to scare me or what?”
“As if anyone can scare you, Laura.”
Cresting the top of a small hill, still covered in dense woods, they came upon an impressive pile of red sandstone.
“This must be the ruins of a castle,” Laura said. “See the remains of a building?” She gestured with her hand, then pointed to a hollowed strip of land. “Here must be where a moat used to be.”
Steven’s gaze, however, was focused on something off to the side, partially obscured by trees from where they stood. He pulled Laura by the arm toward the place he had been looking at. After a few steps they both saw the large stone trough from which came the steady trickle of water.
“A secret fountain,” said Steven.
“It must be a spring,” said Laura. “It all looks so peaceful, so perfect. And I am so thirsty!” She shook off Steven’s hold of her arm and ran to plunge her arms into the deep water trough, enjoying the sting of the coolness on her skin.
Steven stood by, watching her in amusement as she washed her arms, her face, and her neck.
“Do you now feel clean enough, now?” He asked with a smirk.
“At least, my Lancelot likes watching me,” Laura said with a tense smile. “Lancelot, the leerer and the ogler.”
A noise intruded their banter. “He’s no Lancelot,” said a voice from behind them.
When they turned around all they saw was a giant shadow, like a dark cloud hovering over them. Was this the fabrication of their minds and not reality, after what Steven had said? Yet, the moist clinging air and the stifling heat were real. The woods, the ruins, the trough were real.
“Who are you?” Steven asked in a voice unfamiliar even to himself.
“A low-status member of a caste…Many rumors are whispered about us. If you wish I can show myself to you.”
“No!” Steven mumbled. Then he looked around at the now darkened, humid, vine-choked, dense forest.
“Yes, please do,” Laura said, cutting through the awkward pause.
“All right! You asked for it, Milady.”
Then, the voice took form. It was…
492 words 
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