If Adventure Comes Your Way - Fragment Fourteen

Being sick really sucks.

Seriously.

Having an epic water slide is pretty fun, but getting sick isn't. Playing 'Human Hungry Hippos' is also fun, but getting sick isn't. Pointing and laughing at people playing other crazy games is fun, but getting sick isn't. Even getting a rope burn across your eye is funner because then you can at least pick off the scabs later on, but getting sick doesn't even have that positive side.

Getting sick is just plain Not Fun.

As you may have gathered from the previous sentences I have been sick. (Not fun.) I dunno why, but I got sick for some reason and (guess what!) it wasn't fun. Getting sick is never fun. Unless of course it's just before a dentist appointment and that has to be cancelled. That's fun (fun for being sick, not fun like epic water slides or anything like that).

So, on to more cheerful topics, I'm sure you (all you who don't already know) are wanting to find out what song it is that I listen to every time I write this. I mentioned it several months back and now I will finally reveal to you the song! It is... *dramatic drum roll*

"Superheroes" - The Script

There we are. Now you know. Apparently it can get really stuck in your head after listening to it for hours on end...or so I've been told. The crazy thing is that I can finish writing and go away with a completely random song in my head, but my sisters will have this stuck in their heads for the rest of the day.

Option three was the favourite this time, with only one vote for anything else. Enjoy!

Maree stepped forward, grabbing the woman’s shoulders. “Why? Why are ye sorry?” she demanded, her eyes wild.

“The soldiers,” she sobbed. “I told them to hide…they found them…I’m so sorry.” Ma Greey buried her face in her hands.

Maree’s heart went cold. “Where be the others?” she asked urgently.

“When I saw the soldiers coming I – I told them to hide in the hay loft,” Ma Greey said through her sniffles. “B-but the soldiers looked there and – and they—” A wail broke from her lips and she hid behind her hands once more.

Maree stood, her face blank, trying to grasp what it all meant. “Are ye sure?” she asked numbly.

“You can check if you like,” came the muffled reply. “I haven’t dared to hope.”

Maree ran around the back of the house, dread fueling her speed. She scrambled up the ladder, vaulting over a pile of hay. She fell to her knees, staring hopelessly at the flattened mark in the hay left from where her siblings had been.

A red spot of blood on the hay held her gaze.

One single tear dripped down her nose.

“I’ve gotta find ‘em,” she said aloud, trying to keep her voice steady. Maree returned to the farm cottage and found Ma Greey sitting at the table, sniffing.

“Which wey did they be going, Ma Greey?” she asked, laying a hand on the woman’s shoulder.

Ma Greey looked up. “They went...East,” she managed, wiping her eyes.

“How loong ago?”

“At least an hour,” she replied.

Maree nodded and turned to the door. Ma Greey caught her tunic in her hand. “You can’t go after them, lass, they’ll catch you too.”

Maree looked back and shook her head. “I have to go, ye dinna be understandin’, I jest have to.” Her anguish showed in her eyes. Without waiting for an answer she slipped through the door.

Forgetting her former exhaustion, Maree ran through the dawn, heading toward the lightening eastern sky.

She pressed on as the sunlight flooded over the grass. Higher it rose and Maree’s speed dropped off her until she was barely doing more than walking. On the point of collapse, she saw the distant figures of soldiers.

Hacaz’s men were on the move again, leaving the Freespirit farmhouse deserted. Maree cared not for her own safety, she’d been told to look after her brothers and sisters and that’s what she was going to do.

A man yelled a warning and soldiers turned to see a running figure coming toward them. A command was shouted and they went to meet her.

Maree didn’t resist when they grabbed her arms, twisting them behind her back. She needed to find out where the others where.

The tall lord of Sean Iister approached with long strides. “So,” he drew out the word, relishing it thoroughly, “The runaway returns.” He rested his hand casually on the hilt of his sword.

Maree scowled at him. “What did ye do with them?” she demanded.

“Do with who?” Hacaz asked innocently.

Maree clenched her jaw, refusing to answer.

“Hmmm, let me see...you wouldn’t be asking about the animals, or the farmhouse, or the contents, perhaps the bodies I suppose,” he faked a frown of deep thought. “Oh, would you be talking about the scrawny little kids that we discovered last night?”

“Aye,” Maree burst out through gritted teeth, tugging away from the men holding her. But their grip was tight and didn’t slip.

“Them?” Hacaz shook his head slowly in mock sadness. “I’m terribly afraid to tell you this, but we seem to have lost them.”

Maree knew that he didn’t mean they’d escaped. “What did ye do?” she said fiercely.

“They took a liking to the river while tied to a couple of rocks,” was the blunt answer. Hacaz smiled ruthlessly. “Dreadfully sorry, were they of some importance?”

Maree stared at him, all her brothers and sisters, every one dumped into the river to drown? Little Nia was barely two, and Jonny and Ellie weren’t more than three and four. How could anyone be so...heartless?

Hacaz watched the face of the young girl, waiting for the inevitable breakdown. A flash of something showed in her eyes but was quickly concealed.

Maree focused on breathing, as long as she could do that it should be fine. Hacaz had to be lying, no one would do something like that. No one. Not even Hacaz. But if that were so, where were they?

A stray thought crossed her mind. “But why?” she asked.

Hacaz frowned.

“Why would you do this?” Maree continued, her confidence growing.

Her captor’s face darkened and Maree saw a light of madness in his eyes. “The world killed her,” he said. “I will kill them back.”

Maree opened her mouth to say something but stopped as Hacaz went on.

“It is only fair, do you not think? If she dies, everyone deserves the same. And when I am king the whole world will know the bitter taste of death. I lost my love once, the world will lose theirs a thousand times more.”

Maree’s heart stopped beating. Standing in front of her was not a man scheming against a family or a town. Hacaz wanted to kill the world. He’d already started, in fact.

And she was the only one who knew.

The shring of a sword being drawn from its scabbard drew her from her horrified thoughts. “Now that I’ve told you that,” Hacaz snarled. “You cannot be allowed to escape. Get ready to say hello to your family.”

He levelled the sword and her, preparing to drive it forward. Maree knew that she couldn’t afford to die. The world couldn’t afford that.

She closed her eyes to conceal the tears that threatened to overflow. Bidding a farewell to her family under her breath, Maree allowed her legs to collapse.

The sword plunged forward but the sudden movement saved her life. Blood streamed from a deep slice in her left shoulder and Maree cried out in pain. She threw herself to the side to avoid a mad swipe from Hacaz’s blade and wrenched her arms from the soldiers.

Maree ran blindly through the soldiers, dodging the attempts to secure her again. Lord Hacaz roared in anger behind her and the sound forced her on faster.

Her feet pounded on the ground and her breath came in gasps. The soldiers had horses, they’d remember shortly and use them to run her down. Maree swallowed and ran faster. She couldn’t be caught now.

Hoof beats pounded the ground behind her.

Maree heaved in a lungful of air. No chance, ye be havin’ no chance, her mind told her but she shook her head and ran on. She’d keep going as long as she could.

The river appeared in front of her, and Maree dashed along the bank, splashing through the shallow ford without hesitation.

In moments she was on the far side, but the horses were following her through the water. With an aching glance at the water that had taken the lives of her siblings, Maree dived into the trees on the far side.

Her arm throbbed and sticky blood ran down her arm. Maree knew that she’d have to stop the blood flow soon or she’d lose too much.

The sound of a horse in front of her made her heart skip a beat. Surely they couldn’t have gotten there that fast. A wave of dizziness washed over her and she grabbed onto a tree to stop herself from falling over.

A chestnut horse crashed through the trees and Maree had no time to move before a hand reached down and dragged her upwards, pulling her onto the front of the saddle.

Maree tried to pull back but one gloved hand wrapped around her, preventing her movement.

Her vision blurred as the horse spun on the spot and charged off in the direction it had come from.

“Who are you?” Maree gasped, blinking her eyes to clear her head.

***

1. “They call me Sir Creighton.”

2. The reply did nothing to calm her beating heart. “My name is of no importance, my master will decide what to do with you.”

3. “It might sound crazy to say this, but I’m not actually allowed to tell you,” a young voice replied near her ear.

***

Apologies if it's getting depressing. I think it'll start looking more cheerful after this one...probably 'cause I've got no one else to kill. I'm getting pretty close to the end of Maree's story so we'll be back in the present soon enough...possibly end of the next instalment, but it may be the one after that.

Hope you're all enjoying the story.

Fare Thee Well!