If Adventure Comes Your Way - Fragment Six

Here we are, already up to Fragment six. I'm kind of wondering how long this story is going to go on for...and what it'll turn out like in the end. But with things like this, you never know until you get there, so I'll just have to wait and see.

I spent part yesterday morning doing Church Cleaning and when I got home I started on the writing. By the time I'd finally finished (and you see the pain in every letter of that 'finally'?) my school work still hadn't done itself! Can you believe it? That's just plain meannnnn. 
Today I finished my science for the year. Yay! I'm also quite close to finishing my history and literature/English as well, and technically my maths but I've still got about three weeks or so of that.

So...last week option two got the majority. I wasn't really expecting that, and I had no clue what was meant to come after that option. But I just made it up as I went along. I hope you like what I ended up with!

Sir Creighton was leaning casually on a tree, one foot propped up on the trunk behind him. Or, at least, I thought it was Sir Creighton. His build, hair and even posture was the same, but surely Sir Creighton, Hacaz or whatever, couldn’t have gotten here that fast.

Maree gaped at the man who looked strangely similar to our enemy. “What een all o’ Feâ Sirih be you doin’ here?”

The man straightened. “Come on,” he beckoned to us. “There’s a bridge, just up the river a little.”

I glanced at Maree. “Who’s he? And why does he look so much like Sir...umm Hacaz?”

 “Shh,” Maree hissed. “I’ll expleen later. But whatever ye do, dinna be mentionin’ thet name.” Maree grabbed her horse’s bridle and jogged up-stream in the direction the Sir Creighton guy had pointed.

“How do you know it isn’t a trap?” I asked, literally slipping off my horse and following. “I didn’t think it was a smart idea to do what your enemy asked you to.”

“Generally eet ain’t,” Maree called back. “But ‘e ain’t our enemy.”

I resisted the urge to ask, ‘Then what is he?’ and pushed through the undergrowth behind my companion.

Maree walked tentatively over the rough bridge, testing each step carefully before putting her weight on it. Her black horse followed her example and they both reached the other side safely.

I placed a foot on the uneven planks, following Maree’s muddy footprints. I breathed a sigh of relief as I stepped off the other end.

The strange man was waiting impatiently and beckoned again. “Don’t take so long,” he said. “We’ve got to get to where I’m staying before the soldiers reach the river.”

Maree nodded reassuringly. “I’ll expleen later,” she repeated, and set off after our guide.

The voluminous skirts of my dress were not enthused about a trek through the forest, and they voiced this as well as they could. I walked on, pretending not to notice when the expensive fabric caught on bushes and bracken, reluctant to release their hold. A loud ripping sound and a hard tug stopped me in my tracks. Maree too paused, looking back.

The hem of my dress was jammed between the ground and the hoof of my light brown horse. Sadly – for the dress – Ripper, as I started calling her, had taken a little longer than I had to come to a complete standstill. This explained the ripping sounds. Not to mention the huge tear that reached halfway up the skirt.

For once I was thankful for underskirts as I pushed Ripper back a little and rescued the muddy remains of my hem. I held the reins in one hand and lifted my dress clear of the ground with the other. When I looked up Maree’s expression told me that she’d been grinning widely just seconds before. I rolled my eyes.

“P’raps we shoold find new clothes sooneesh,” she said innocently.

I sniffed. I’d never done that before, but it sounded good when Governess Kathryn did it so I decided to give it a go.

Maree’s eyebrows shot up at the sound, and just for the reaction I sniffed again. “A feegure o’ ledylike deestain,” Maree said. “I’m almoost scared.”  That said she turned away, not waiting for my answer. Which was just as well, because, after all, what could one say back to a remark like that?

In another minute or so we emerged from the dense trees and out into a tiny clearing. A log cabin nestled between the trees, a faint curl of smoke floating from the chimney. “Ye leeve here?” Maree asked the man leading us.

“Not live,” he replied. “I’m just staying temporarily.”

I frowned at his back; I still couldn’t work out who he was. He was even wearing the exact clothes that Hacaz had been back in the manor but somehow he was a different person? Sorry, but I found that hard to understand.

The door opened and a lean man came out. Seeing us, he jerked his head toward the cabin. “Come on in,” he invited, he turned back to the interior of the building. “Jack! Come look after these horses.”

A tall, young boy of about twelve ran out the door and took the reins of our horses. “They aren’t ours,” I said. “We’ll need to return them to the farmer.”

“Jack’ll do that in a day or two, don’t you worry,” his father replied. “Please come in. I’m afraid we weren’t expecting guests, our other visitor did think he heard someone around, but he’s always hearing strange things.” This last was said with a friendly clap on the back for our escort.

I shook hands with our host and thanked him profusely. Maree went to do the same but realised her hand was covered in a thick layer of mud, she wiped it on her trousers but only succeeded in getting it even more filthy. “Sorry about her,” I said, laughing. “She fell in the river.”

“So I see,” the man said, looking over Maree with a half smile. “I’m sure we could find some cleaner clothes to fit you.”

Maree grinned cheerfully. “No need,” she said. “I be fine wi’ theese.”

“Actually, I think there’s a very great need,” a woman appeared in the doorway. “Come in, and we’ll look to getting some food and clothes. For both of you,” she added after a glance at the state of my dress.

The inside of the hut was open and friendly, sunlight trickling through the leaves of the trees eventually made its way through the wide windows, lighting up the room. “I’m Judith,” the smiling woman introduced herself. “And this is Dan, my husband, you’ve already met Jack. And there’s Jayne, Jenny, Jill and Juliana,” she continued, pointing in turn, to each of the four girls around the room.

They each curtseyed and I automatically did the same. Maree, standing beside me, looked awkwardly from them to me and back again, as if wondering if she was supposed to do the same.

“I’m Louise D—” I began, but Maree cut me off.

“She’s Looise Conweell, and I’m Maree Freespirit,” she said quickly, and I realised the wisdom of not revealing my full name.

“Pleasure to meet you,” the four girls replied in unison, dropping another curtsey.

I smiled at Maree’s bemused expression then touched her arm to attract her attention. “You were going to explain?” I prompted meaningfully.

“What? Oh, yees,” she said, frowning as she tried to think how to start.

“Why does he look like...Sir Creighton?” I asked in a low voice, remembering that she’d told me not to mention the name ‘Hacaz’.

“Thees ees Sir Creighton. He’s a reel man, Hacaz deedn’t make the name oop. He deescovered as Sir Creighton were almost identeecal to ‘im and so took over hees identity and...deesposed o’ the true man,” Maree explained quietly.

“What’s he doing here then?” I asked, glancing at the knight out of the corner of my eye.

“I’d like ter be knowin’ the answer to thet as much as ye,” she replied. “But ye canna find a more troost-worthy man. I met ‘im a coupla weeks back.”

‘Excuse me,” Judith approached. She had several items of clothing draped over her arm. She looked through the garments and then tugged out some and passed them to me. “They look like they’d fit you,” she said. “They’ll be better for travelling too.” She glanced at Maree, “I imagine you’ll be doing a bit of that?”

“Aye,” Maree agreed. “We’ve jest goot a whole unit o’ soldiers after us. No hay problema.”

“You can try them on in there,” Judith gestured to a door. “They should fit. They’re Jayne’s and you two look about the same size.”

I nodded, still thinking about this real Sir Creighton, and crossed the room to it, closing the door behind me. I changed quickly, glad to have clean clothes on again. The fabric was much more hardy than that of any of my clothes back where Governess Kathryn decided my wardrobe. And to add to that, it wasn’t exactly a dress, it reached down to my knees and under it I wore the tight leggings Judith had provided. They were made of a dark leaf-green colour which I liked; besides it would be easier for hiding in.

When I emerged our hostess was holding up odd garments to Maree, frowning severely and shaking her head. Maree scowled darkly at the pink shirt that Judith was holding. I grinned at both of their expressions, apparently Maree’s new-clothes-fitting wasn’t going too well.

“Agh,” the mistress of the house exclaimed. “None of these would do. They’re either too big or too small, and the ones that might fit she outright refuses to even hold!” She turned to me in exasperation.

Jack burst through the door and stumbled into the room. “Something wrong?” his father asked, grabbing the boy’s shoulders.

***

1. “They’re comin’!” Jack gasped, waving a hand toward the door. “Soldiers, heaps o’ them.”

2. Before he could say anything Maree jumped at him, clamping her hand over his mouth.

3. “Nope, everything’s fine,” he gasped. He was terrible liar.

***

To tell the truth, I have no idea whatsoever of what's going to happen after any of the options. Yeah, not cool. I'll probably forget about that until next Thursday though, and then I'll sit at the computer for a couple of hours, moaning and groaning (yup, I make strange noises when I'm writing this stuff) between moments of inspiration. Yesterday it was after 2 o'clock before I ate lunch...Also not cool. By that stage I was starting to hear the words 'food', 'eat' and other such things in everyone's conversation. I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed my lunch. ;)

Fare Thee Well!