If Adventure Comes Your Way - Fragment Seven

Started writing: 8:30

Finished Fragment (including procrastination): 12:00

Inward Attitude Towards The Writing: Pretty Cool (as usual)

Outward Signs: Deathlike Groaning (also as usual)

Amount Of Words: 1,791

Amount of Characters (with spaces): 9,297

Number Of Times That One Song Was Repeated: Unknown

Okay...So there's this one song (I don't feel like revealing its name just yet)  that I think really goes with Maree. I've been wondering just how many times I've played this 'one certain song'. I listen to it over and over every time I'm writing these Fragments, so the number would be quite large (especially now that I've worked out how to put it on repeat so it literally plays constantly). It's a really cool song though, so I like it when it gets stuck in my head for the rest of the day. And it's been quite inspirational at times, and I'm still using snatches of words or lines from the song in the stories. Maybe one day I'll tell you what it is...probably once I've revealed more about Maree's past. (Dunno when that's gonna happen.)

Yeah, anyway, option two won (was that a surprise?). Sadly that option was the one that I had the least idea about. Option one and three I had 0 idea, but for option two I had -1. But once I actually began I discovered that, buried deep in the darkest depths of my mind I did have an idea. After a bit of head-to-desk contact I was convinced to come forward onto paper (or rather, a Word Document). So here you go, the completed and finished Fragment Seven.

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

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

“Now, whateever ‘e seys, jest beleeve me. Eef them soldiers find oot as ye’ve hid us, they’ll noot spare you. Eef ye hand us oover to ‘em they’ll be back an’ they won’t be coomin’ ter thank ye,” she said quickly. Then, very slowly, she removed her hand from the boy’s mouth.

He heaved in a shuddering breath and looked at his father. “They saw me,” he said, his eyes wide. “An’ they asked me if I’d seen a pair of girls around. The Captain told me as if I did, they’d pay me in gold if I told ‘em.”

I glanced toward Maree, licking my suddenly dry lips. “What did you say?” I asked, nervously.

Jack looked at me. “I didn’t say anything,” he said stoutly. “I just shook my head and ran. Luckily they didn’t see your horses.”

“You’ll have to run,” Sir Creighton said, turning to us. “If they come in here, I’ll be enough to distract them for the time being.”

Judith sprang into action. “Into that room, and hurry,” she cried, pushing me into a small bedroom.

Jack ran in with us, slamming the door shut and running to a tiny window. He jerked the curtains open and glanced out of the glassless opening. “All safe,” he said. “Out you climb.”

I struggled out, thankful that I was no longer wearing a long dress. When my feet touched the ground I looked back through the window. The bedroom door opened and Sir Creighton strode to Maree, passing her a long parcel. “You may need these soon,” he explained. “I wish I had time to tell you how I escaped, but that is the one thing we do not have. Let it suffice for me to say that the stronghold of Hacaz is not so strong as once supposed. There is a weak point—” he broke off at the sound of hammering. “Fare well my friends, I do not think we shall meet again,” he said, and with that, he turned and left the room.

“Come on,” I hissed at Maree as she frowned at the door.

She turned and was about to spring out of the window when she hesitated. “Get out,” Jack whispered urgently.

Maree raced to the small wooden chest along the wall, flinging it open. She grabbed something out of it, shut it and vaulted out the window.

“Hey! That’s my favourite...” Jack began but we were already racing for the trees.

I found running much easier without my skirts wrapping around my legs and trying to trip me over. Maree still outran me, but I was pleased with the progress.

We dived into the trees, twisting through them and dodging around the larger trunks. Had I been the leader, we would have doubtless ended up right where we began, but Maree seemed to have some kind of internal compass.

“Where’re we going?” I called to her.

She slowed to allow me to catch up and pointed ahead. “Thet way.”

“What’s ‘that way’?” I asked.

“The eedge o’ the forest an’ a vellage by the river. They ‘ave a treede set oop between ‘em and another toown on the eedge o’ the lake, so they’ll be havin’ a boat we coold borrow,” Maree said.

I looked curiously at the two bundles she held. One long and oddly shaped – from Sir Creighton – and the other which looked strangely like clothes. Maree stopped and passed me the second bundle. “Hold thet, will ye?” she asked, and turned her attention to the one from Sir Creighton.

She unwrapped it and revealed first a bow and then a quiver of arrows. I watched a grin pull the corners of her mouth. “Ah, he’s goot a sense o’ humour after all,” she murmured, tying the belt around her waist so the quiver hung at her right side.

“Huh?” I asked, puckering my brow.

Maree looked up as she strung the bow deftly. “We met, he an’ I, oover a bow. I were tryin’ ter borrow ‘is ye see. Weell, noot borrow, steal really, but I liked t’ call eet borrow ‘cause I deed always plan ter geeve eet back. And eet were only rare occasions as I forgot.”

I tried to imagine how such a meeting would have ended, but I couldn’t decide who would be more likely to win. “What happened?” I asked, when my own imagination failed.

“Sir Creighton gave me a loong steeck, some streeng and a half made arrow – eet deedn’t ‘ave the point yet – an’ he told me ter run oof like a good leetle girl,” Maree laughed aloud.

I considered the bundle of clothes in my hands. Maree took them from me, grinning widely. “D’you theenk they’ll fit?” she asked, shrugging off her own mud coated leather jacket and donning the thick felt coat.

“Well, it fits better than the last one,” I commented. 

Maree’s grin widened. “Hope Jack don’t mind too much. I theenk ‘e were sayin’ somthin’ aboot ‘is favourite somethin’...” she left the sentence hanging, her facing looking like it was about to split in two if she smiled any more. “I’ll be keepin’ the old one though, jest in case.” 

“Are we planning on getting to this village any time soon?” I reminded her.

“Oh, yeah,” Maree said, delving into the bundle again and slipping the leather shooting glove onto her right hand, and a long armguard for her left. “There,” she sighed in satisfaction. “Thet feels much better. And noow...Dúinn aller.”

“What does that mean anyway?” I asked, frowning as she set off at a brisk walk.

“Ye’ll work eet oot sometime,” Maree replied without hesitating in her stride.

I hurried to catch up, my feet crunching on the sticks and leaves on the damp ground. There was a strange feeling in the air, it was not terribly cold, but it certainly was colder than it should be. Maree kept glancing up at the clouds just visible through the leaves of the trees. She quickened her pace, and I noticed that her fingers were clenched tightly around the grip of her bow. Maree seemed to do that when she was worried, so I decided that something must be wrong.

Eventually Maree spoke. “I dinna be likin’ the look of them clouds,” she remarked, her dark eyebrows lowered.

I started fiddling with my unfastened hair – a habit I’d gained when I was unsure about something – and didn’t reply, waiting to see if she continued.

“Eet looks like—”

A slivery white dot landed on my hand. “Snow,” I finished. I released the small plait that I had unconsciously made and brushed the flake off my skin. “I guess that doesn’t make our chances of reaching safety very high?”

Maree shrugged, as another snowflake descended from the heavens. “Beest we can be doin’ es leg eet,” she said. Thus saying she spun around and started to run. 

I started after her, tripped over a rotten stump and only just caught myself on a nearby tree. I scrambled upright again and stumbled after Maree.

The snowflakes drifted down in greater numbers, glinting as they floated and settled on the leaves of trees and began to create a white blanket on the ground. 

Maree’s hair had a dusting of snow in its dark curls and I figured mine wasn’t much better. “How close to that village are we?” I called.

“Hard to sey,” Maree replied. “Thees snow es makin’ eet deeficult.”

“Approximately?” I asked hopefully.

“D’you be wantin’ me to make ye feel better or ter tell ye the true fact?” Maree returned.

I hesitated. “True fact,” I decided, better to know the worst scenario.

“Appox’mately two hours, theen,” Maree said over her shoulder.

I slumped inwardly, and couldn’t help but slow my pace a little. “Two hours? We’ll never make it.”

“Not neever,” Maree assured me. “Jest noot in the next two hours.” She paused for a moment and the only sound was our running footsteps on the snow specked ground. “Thet’s eef it weren’t snowin’,” Maree added.

I stopped, despair defeating me. Maree followed suit and turned to me. “Dinna be loosin’ heart though,” she said, gripping my shoulder, her earnest black eyes on mine. “Have courage. Ye’ve got eet en you, I know ye do.”

I realised that Maree was stronger than I knew, there was something about her past and all this business that I needed to find out about. One piece of a puzzle to make all the other pieces fit together.

Maree sighed. “I’ll expleen when we git ter the village,” she said, as if reading my thoughts. “I guess ye deserve to know.”

“Oh, don’t tell me if you don’t want to,” I answered, although I desperately wanted to find out.

“Nay,” Maree shook her head. “Eet’s time I told someone.” She turned back in the direction we’d been following for what seemed like hours now. This time she didn’t run, just walked, her eyes fixed on the ground. I was unsure whether she was looking for a path or just deep in thought, either way that was doubtless the reason she didn’t see the danger until it was too late.

A huge figure jumped out of the trees, an enormous club raised over his head. Maree barely had time to look up before the club began its journey downwards.

“Careful!” I shouted pointlessly.

The cudgel swept down and landed with a sickening thud on Maree’s head.

Maree’s legs crumpled beneath her from the massive force of the blow and she fell to the ground in a heap.

“No!” I yelled in horror, before I could stop myself.

The huge man turned to me with a guttural sound and, club upraised, he charged.

***

1. “Help!” I screamed to no one in particular, and ran.

2. “Oh no you don’t,” I said resolutely, grabbing a branch from the ground and holding it in readiness for his incoming blow.

3. The fact that I didn’t stop to think showed that, even then, I had already learnt something from my adventures. Sometimes there wasn’t time for thinking. I dived for Maree’s bow.

***

So...that last bit was a little unexpected even for me, when I found myself writing the words. Don't worry, she doesn't die but I have forseen some difficulties ahead...after all it is an Adventure. Looking forward to your comments, and thanks for reading. 

Dúinn aller!