Thread: Annwn (Guinevere & Laika) [T]

Daylight on the shores of Norway—a large sailboat is on the docks, cluttering up the place as it always has done for the past eleven years. But it wouldn't be much longer now.

The crew celebrates. They had reached their goal. Eleven years after their journey had started, they got the funds they needed to reach the lost kingdom of Annwn. A place they believed held eternal peace, where life is carefree and safe. A place they believed they could have gotten to eleven years ago if they had not had a bad history with the bank.

A young teen boy runs through the woods. Barely breathing, barely alive, he races as far away as possible from the nightmare he left behind, scarf flying wild behind him.

This is where our story begins, the tale of a pirate crew's paradise, and the fateful encounter of one Seidi Meredith with Alfred Truelsen.

***

Alfred set himself down on the cold rock. His breath came out in quick, shallow gasps. His scarf had begun to turn dark with blood. The clearing in the woods was bathed in the light reflected from the clouds, and it was so quiet that he could hear a leaf quiver, a bird perch, the chatter of the city from many miles away. The faint scent of the sea wafted his way. It was dawn on a day that would change his life forever.

Tearing through the mossy undergrowth like a deer evading a hunter, Seidi glided over the uneven ground, an infant grin plastered across her dirty face. Her worn-out jacket bounced around her torso as she ran, her untamed hair blowing out behind her as the wind ripped past her. Stopping for a moment to catch her breath, she glanced briefly over her shoulder, checking for anyone who could still be in pursuit of her. Escaping the ship had been too easy, a simple matter of locking Dog in her cabin and climbing down the netting at the side of the vessel. Grinning at her own expertise, Seidi triumphantly removed her rucksack from her shoulders, taking out a stale piece of bread. She took a bite out of it, quietly admiring the soft morning breeze and faint smell of seasalt in the air.

Hearing the commotion, Alfred turned around. Peering into the dense forest, he saw nothing, but he kept his eyes narrowed and was ready to run at the slightest sight of his pursuers. Tightening his scarf, he waited.

Seidi's ears perked up and she immediately dropped the bread and turned her attention towards the blinding sunlight highlighting the meadow barely within a stone's throw's reach. Tensing herself, she carefully began creeping towards the sunlight. Stepping into the meadow, she froze.

There was someone else there.

Amidst another flurry of noise, Alfred saw a flash of bright red. It wasn't them. They all wore the same dull brown that he was also confined to, except for the purple scarf he had found to cover up his wound. After a few seconds' waiting game, he swiftly made his way over.

Grimacing, Seidi surveyed her surrounding area quickly for somewhere to hide, but found nothing but bracken clinging to the ground and ivy suspended high in the trees in the dense woods behind her. Cursing under her breath, she stood her ground, crossing her arms and puffing out her chest. At a glance, the stranger didn't seem too suspicious, but the scarf wrapped around him made Seidi wary. It was one of the hottest days in summer, a scarf at a time like this was almost unheard of.

As he got closer, Alfred opened his mouth to yell, but then he stopped dead in his tracks, clutching at his scarf in pain. No noise came out. Stumbling the rest of the distance, he collapsed in front of Seidi. Breathing heavily, he pulled a small notepad and pen out of his jacket pocket and wrote, "Who are you?"

Taken aback by the stranger's sudden collapse, Seidi hastily extended a hand to take the notebook from his hands, raising an eyebrow at him without offering to help him up. Turning her attention towards the inscription on the paper, Seidi frowned. Letters span around in a whirlpool in her head, blurring together and becoming incomprehensible. Sighing, she tore the paper in two, chucked it behind her and put her hands on her hips.

"What you gettin' at, randomly givin' me a piece o'paper out o'the blue, eh? Why dont'cha just tell me yer name, you shy or somethin' mate?" She cleared her throat quickly, attempting to sound more threatening. "Name's Seidi."

He stared. It was like an anchor had just been flung at his head. Did she read the paper? he thought. After scribbling his name on the notepad and handing it to her, he stood up and tightened his scarf again. His wound didn't seem to be bleeding as much anymore. Trying to keep it covered up, he glared at Seidi, wishing he could just shout at her.

Seidi growled. Her eyes scanned the paper furiously, tearing the scrawlings to pieces in her mind, trying to decipher something, anything from the page. After a minute of studying, she gave up, handing the paper back to him with a short sigh. A moment passed before a boisterous smile fought its way onto her face and she chuckled to herself. Raising her eyebrows and giving a triumphant "hmph", Seidi took a step towards the stranger, poking him square in the chest.

"Well, if ye ain't gonna tell me yer name, I'll just 'ave to guess at it, eh?" Her tone was playful and mocking. "Eh, ye don't look like much of a Tom, Jack or 'Arry ... oh, I got it." She stepped back again, pausing to emphasise herself. "Yer name's Jente, right?"

Alfred wrinkled his face in disgust and ran a hand through his hair, then narrowly avoided slapping her by punching a tree instead. This only served to cause him more annoyance with the pain relocating itself from his neck to his knuckles.

Suddenly, he heard another commotion far behind them. Turning swiftly, he heard the sound of hooves in the distance—clop, clop, clop.

Shit, here they come, he thought, and he ran past Seidi into the woods in the direction she had come from.

Watching Alfred dash past her with bemusement, Seidi blinked in confusion at him and gave her head a small shake, trying to motion that she didn't understand why he was in such a hurry. This stranger was becoming weirder with every passing moment. Wonder what 'e's after ... She thought to herself.

"Didn't yer mum ever tell ye it's bad to leave a lady on 'er own?" Pouting slightly, she glanced towards the direction of the commotion, and frowned. There's no way it was any of the crew, none of them could afford a horse, let alone ride one. Huffing, she turned on her heel and begrudgingly followed Alfred into the woods.

Alfred dove inside a large hollowed-out tree with large bushes around it and held completely still. He could hear Seidi running up towards him. As she grew closer, he pointed in the direction of the hooves, then made a cutting motion across his neck.

Stopping for a second, Seidi warily eyed Alfred. Whoever the people on horseback were, they were clearly dangerous, evident by the boy's abrupt retreat. She brushed a strand of her messy hair out of her eye and carefully crawled into the hollowed-out tree beside him. Even if the unknown riders posed no threat to her, she didn't want to risk anyone seeing her so far out from the port.

"Aye, where is the boy, fiend, thief? I oughta cut his throat open with a saw! Ye can't hide forever boy, I know you're here somewhere..."

Alfred put a finger up to his lips and silently grabbed a rock lying on the ground next to him. Not taking the time to aim precisely, he threw it in the general direction of a tree on the other side of the clearing and hoped for the best—instead he hit the ground hard in front of one of the horses and caused it to buck its rider off.

Shit, shit shit—gotta get out of here, fast, let's go! he thought, grabbing Seidi's hand and racing out of the tree and away towards shore.

"Aye! There he is!"